The top spun across the deck.
“No!” Adam said, but, too late it spun madly, releasing a cloud that smelled strongly of beets.
“Run,” Adam said and picking himself off the deck, led the Captain and the crew overboard and into the St. Lawrence. Pushing his face off the deck, Caius watched the cloud mingle with the flames and burst into a chain of explosions that enveloped the ship in flames.
* * *
CHAPTER 9
“My ship!” Angela screamed from the water as pieces of the Slush Brain burst into shards and splinters of kindling. In silence, the crew and Aria gazed upon the wreckage, the last of their sanctuary consumed by fire and flame.
“Hey,” A voice called to them from behind.
The crew turned to a small dingy rowed by Mad Matt. Still dressed in the scarf, Matt waved from inside the boat signaling to the crew, the black bag of random hodgepodge beside him.
“Ahoy!” He shouted.
The crew swam toward Matt’s boat.
“Cin. Help Aria,” Angela said.
Cin swam to Aria’s side and lifted her into the boat.
“There you go, love,” Matt said pulling Aria out of the water.
“Here,” Cindy said, bracing her arms to pull herself in behind Aria. Already Stanushka was in the boat, helping Chess into the vessel when something closed around Cindy’s ankle and pulled her back into the water.
“He-!” Cin gulped in a mouthful of water.
“Cinders?” Stanushka asked, turning to where Cindy had been a moment ago. Bubbles covered the surface.
“Cinders!” Stanushka cried.
Taking a deep breath, Angela dove under water.
From the bottom of the river, Weeches had spotted the crew. One had grabbed hold of Cinder’s leg, pulling her down to the river’s bottom. More Weeches swam toward Cindy who had managed to pull a dagger from her boot. But too late. a Weech grabbed Cindy’s wrist holding the dagger. Withdrawing her sword, Angela thrust the blade, piercing the Weech holding Cindy’s ankle through the chest. Almost instantly, the wound healed around Angela’s blade.
Angela withdrew the sword, reopening the wound and spilling Weech entrails into the water.
An arrow with a modified head sailed through the water, severing the hand holding Cin’s ankle. A second arrow severed the hand at Cin’s wrist, buying her enough time to return to the surface as pieces of Weech spilled into the St. Lawrence.
Standing up in the boat, Norry aimed a crossbow loaded with a third shot. Beside him, Stanushka loaded her crossbow.
The third arrow sailed into the chest of a Weech that grappled with Angela. It released the Captain who swam to the surface. As Chess and Adam pulled Cindy into the boat, Angela climbed out of the water. But the Weech, delayed by the impact, too quickly recovered and followed. Norry dropped to his knees, the crossbow abandoned, and punched the Weech in the face.
“Easy now,” Adam soothed patting Cindy’s back as she and Angela coughed oxygen back into their lungs. The surface of the St. Lawrence settled as the Weeches returned to the river floor.
Air came back to Angela and slowly, she glared up at Matt still wrapped in her vintage collector’s edition Doctor Who scarf. Standing upright, she walked across the boat and punched Matt in the nose.
“Captain!” Adam said.
“Angela!” Chess cried.
“You blew up my ship!” Angela screamed as Matt held his bleeding nose. “Our home! Our weapons! All our supplies! Gone!”
“Angela,” Cindy eased. “How do you know he blew up the ship?”
“He was the only one missing on deck!” Angela screamed.
Silence followed as they all turned to Matt for an answer.
“Seemed like a good idea at the time,” he said.
“Give me that,” Angela said, taking back her scarf from Matt, leaving him in his boots and his loin cloth.
“So now what do we do?” Chess asked, averting the crew’s attention to the dingy and few supplies surrounding them.
In the distance, the Slush Brain burned, lighting up the night with flame.
“Abandon ship,” Angela said. “Those flames will draw in every Weech for miles. The sooner we get away, the greater our chances of slipping past the Weeches coming our way.”
“We need a place to stay,” Cin said.
“We need to conduct an inventory,” Adam said. “See what supplies we have.
“We need food,” said Stani.
The ship’s mast creaked then snapped as it crashed into the deck of the Slush Brain.
“I know where we can go,” Aria said.
One by one, the crew piled out of the boat onto land.
“Without weapons, we need to lay low,” Angela said. “Any sound will draw the Weeches. Any movement will draw in Caius. We have little options and high priorities.”
Balancing on Cin’s firm grip, Aria clambered out of the boat with her new sea legs.
“When my father and I toured the St. Lawrence, we found a marina,” Aria said. “Cigar boats. Day cruisers. Tour ships...Any of these will be loaded with supplies.”
“No telling how much has been stripped clean since the start, but it’s worth a look,” Norry said.
“That leaves weapons…” Cin said.
“Fort Drum.”
All eyes turned to Adam who straightened his monocle.
“We can hit up Fort Drum,” he said.
“All the forts were taken,” Chess said. “The military bases and forts were the first thing the Weeches hit.”
“I checked the fort on my way to the St. Lawrence,” Adam said. “It was swarming with Weeches when I passed through, but it may be empty of Weeches now. It could be stocked in weapons. It’s worth a look.”
“Any survivors in the area would have the same thoughts,” Stanushka said.
“Food first. Then weapons,” the captain said. “Shelter.”
“No matter where we settle, Zombies or vampires,” Cin said. “Take your pick.”
“Oh, could we please not use the ‘Z’ word,” Aria cringed. “It makes this whole thing sound so stupid.”
“What would you call them then?” Stanushka smiled. “Walkers?”
“Stalkers?” Adam suggested.
“Living Dead?” Chess added.
“My in-laws?” said Cin.
“Weeches is fine,” Aria grumbled.
“Food first,” Angela said. “Then we’ll haggle about over next room mate.”
With bazooka in hand, Stanushka helped Norry and Adam pull the boat ashore. After shoving the dingy into the nearest bush, they buried it under a collection of branches.
“Come on,” Angela said, waving the crew on. “Early morning is creeping in. In an hour, we’ll have no mask from the Weeches.” Quietly, they hurried along the banks of the St. Lawrence: Cin, Norry, Adam, Stanushka, Mad Matt, Chess, Aria, and the Captain.
In the distance, Aria gawked at the silhouettes of Weeches turned shadow in the first of morning light. As if fighting the force bearing down on their shoulders, the Weeches slumped beneath earth’s gravity as they pulled the remnants of their shredded bodies toward the river.
Even from there Aria could make out the skin clinging to bone like rags.
“Aria,” Cin whispered, pulling Aria’s attention from the collective heading their way.
“Why didn’t we stay in the boat?” Aria asked.
“Ever seen a horde of Weeches attack a dingy?” Stanushka asked.
“They’ll pull the boat apart then pull it under,” Angela said.
“And leave you nowhere to run,” Cin added.
“Land gives you an out,” said Adam. “Last thing you want is to be stuck out in a boat with a pack of Weeches on all sides.”
Aria envisioned a horde of Weeches shredding the only source of survival left. A shiver ran up her spine. Picking up pace, she stared at the ground, her thoughts instead turning to the whistle that blew and the rain that stopped too abruptly the night her
father vanished. Despite all the crew had done for her, she had her misgivings. If she was to find her father, she would have to venture out alone. Guilt settled itself into her gut at the thought of abandoning those who had already done so much to help her.
“You won’t survive out there alone.”
Aria startled at the sound of Norry’s voice. He was suddenly beside her walking like an armed guard.
“How?” She asked staring up at his blond beard.
“You had the look,” he said. “We all have it from time to time. You want to run. Go back to an old home, an old city, an old past.”
“Do you let them go?” Aria asked.
“Sure,” Norry said. “But they never come back.” Norry looked at Aria dead in the eye. “No one ever comes back. No one survives alone long enough to ever make it back.”
Norry released Aria from his gaze as his words sank in.
“These few here,” Norry said, nodding to the captain at the front of the line who had stopped to inspect a wall of forestry. “We are those who didn’t go back.”
“Didn’t you want to?” Aria asked.
“Every day,” Norry said.
Aria stared at her feet unsure of what to say.
“And every day that I don’t is a regret,” he added.
“Why?”
“Norry!” Angela called from the trees.
Dropping their conversation, Norry clutched the scimitar at his hip and jogged ahead to meet Angela.
“What do you make of this?” Angela said as Norry shifted a branch and peered through the bushes.
“Holy Mary mother of God,” Norry muttered. “Fuck damn.”
“What is it?” Cin asked.
One by one, the crew made their way to the Captain where each, in turn, gazed through the trees. Aria pulled back a branch and gasped.
An unexpected white light had illuminated the forest allowing the crew to see miles ahead. And there, before their eyes, a vast saucer, nearly six miles in length, hovered over the Earth. A beam of light poured from its belly onto the forest floor where Weech upon Weech, hundreds at a time, stood. Each Weech, buckled under Earth’s gravity, stumbled around for a moment in disorder before settling on a direction. South.
A shadow within the beam caught Aria’s eye, and she stared into the light pouring out of the underside of the saucer. Buried within the light, Weech poured from the ship as if the light itself carefully carried them to land.
“We are so fucked.”
“Where are they going?” Norry asked.
“Where indeed?” Angela said, staring at the horde turning South.
“What are we going to do?” Aria asked. “There’s no way we can get around this,” Chess said.
“It looks like a tomato.”
All eyes turned to Matt. He looked sane now more than ever.
“No, it doesn’t,” Cin argued.
“It does,” Matt said. “It looks like a squashed tomato.”
“No it doesn’t. It doesn’t look anything like a tomato.”
“It does,” Matt said. “Look. If you tilt your head just right to the left...”
Chess and Stani tilted their heads and squinted in an attempt to see.
“I don’t see it,” Chess said.
Aria stepped away, following the line of trees as she watched the Weeches ride down the beam of light that poured from the saucer’s bottom.
“It does too,” Matt said, his voice fading further away as Aria walked down the rows of trees, her own thoughts drifting back to the storm, the screaming whistle, and the rain.
“Aria.”
A voice Aria knew too well called out from the bushes.
“Dad?” Aria called.
“Aria.”
Aria gazed into the forest where the shadows were thick in detail.
“Aria.”
Aria stooped to her hands and knees and peered into the shrubs where the voice beckoned her.
“Dad?”
A sickening squelch carried from the foliage, and Aria reached forward, pushing back a branch. Growling, a Weech turned up its blood shot eyes and fixed his gaze on Aria who was kneeling less than an arm’s reach away. Between them, a deer lay sprawled out dead. Its remains dripped from the jaw of the Weech that growled, exposing a set of blood soaked canines.
Aria froze, unable to move, unable to scream.
“Aria,” Cin said. “Slowly, move away.”
Aria didn’t move.
“Just pull back, sweetheart…”
Shaking, Aria shifted. The Weech lunged, and a flash of scarf and butt flap blocked Aria’s vision as Cindy pulled Aria back from the carcass.
“Come on!” Mad Matt said, holding the Weech in a headlock. “Be good to the nice lady.”
“Matt!” Aria screamed.
“Run!” Matt shouted as he wrapped the scarf around the Weech’s face.
“They’re coming!” Chess said.
Aria looked to the horizon. The horde of Weeches had abandoned their direction South and were heading toward them.
“Run!” said Matt, wrestling the growling scarfed Weech.
Weeches pushed through the trees. Norry withdrew his scimitars and slashed the first of the limbs reaching toward him.
“Let! Him! Go!” Aria shouted, kicking the Weech’s legs.
“My scarf!” Angela shrieked and slid her blades through the chest of a Weech. “Adam! Help him!”
“I’m on it,” Adam said, straightening his monocle before shoving a silver rod into a Weech’s neck. “Now then everyone.” Adam withdrew the stick and raised it to the sky.
“Shield your eyes,” he said and pressed an invisible button on the stick, sending a shower of red rain pouring down over the crew and the Weeches.
“Beets?” Aria said. The Weech she was kicking fell dead to the ground and Adam’s beet shower drenched it.
Unraveling the scarf from the limp Weech, Matt dove for Adam’s silver gadget. “Hey! My screwdriver!” Matt shouted, tripping on the scarf and toppling to the ground.
“Right then. Gotta go,” Adam said. “Like...Now.”
The crew lowered their weapons and quickly followed Adam down toward the river as Matt clambered for Adam’s gadget.
“Where are we going?” Stani asked.
“There,” Adam said, pointing to the other side of the river.
“Wait,” Aria said. “You want us to cross the river?”
“Now, please,” Adam said. “Before the tincture wears off.”
Already the Weeches stirred, rising again to follow them down to the water’s edge.
“Faster!” Angela shouted, leading the crew waist deep into the river.
“Adam! We can’t keep going into the river! The current is too strong!”
“We won’t go far,” Adam replied.
As the crew jumped into the water, the Weeches reached the banks.
“Deeper,” Adam said. “Deeper…”
The current pushed as they walked further into the river. It reached their waists.
“A little more,” Adam said. The crew lined up as the Weeches stepped into the water.
“Form a pyramid,” Adam shouted.
“A what?” Cindy screamed.
“A pyramid!”
“I’m not standing on anyone’s shoulders!” Cindy said.
“Not shoulders,” Adam shouted back. A ‘V.’ Form a ‘V!’ Angela to the head, Cindy! Stani! Behind Angela! Matt, Aria, Chess! Line up! Norry! Stand with me! Now everyone, push against the current. Use each other to break the water tension and strengthen our resistance to the current. And move! Deeper now! Together! We have to move past the current.”
As one, the crew pushed through the current as the surface rose to their chests. The Weeches continued to follow through the river.
“Now,” Adam said. “Watch.”
The moment the first Weech stepped into the current, the water ripped him apart and shoved his feet out from under him. More followed, each Weech proce
eding through the river on their own. The crew watched on as each Weech were ripped to shreds by the current and pushed down stream.
“Adam!” Chess called. “We can’t do this forever!”
“No, we can’t!” Adam said.
“When I say jump,” Matt shouted.
“No!” Aria, Adam, and Norry cried.
“Do you have a better idea?”
The crew looked among themselves, each waiting for the other to form a plan.
“Alright then!” Matt said. “When I say jump…Jump!”
The crew jumped and the current pushed them down the river and away from the landing site. The Weeches proceeded to follow, but the current too quickly pushed the crew down the river.
“Ada—” Angela swallowed a mouthful of water.
As the current tossed and turned the crew, Adam battled the water’s course and reached for his boot. From within his boot, he withdrew a long silver tube. The water pulled him under, and Adam forced his head to the surface, aimed, and fired a claw like hand toward the banks.
“A Dale—” The water pulled Matt under the surface.
“Hold o—” Adam’s head went under. He resurfaced. “Hold on!”
Angela grabbed Adam’s arm and reached for Norry who grabbed a hold. Aria and Matt came next as Chess grabbed Norry’s belt. Cindy grabbed Chess’ hand then took hold of Angela’s hand. Angela reached and took hold of Stani who was most concerned about keeping her bazooka above the water’s surface.
Pressing a button, Adam’s line fed by the silver tube churned, reeling the crew in on the line.
“I’m a fish! I’m a fish!” Matt squawked, delighted by the human chain they had formed in the water.
One by one, they reached the bank and pulled themselves ashore. In turn, they plopped to the grass, gasping to catch their breath as they rested there in the grass.
“Remind me,” Chess said. “To punch Matt when I have the strength to move.”
“Hey, Captain,” Norry said from the ground. “How about we call it a night?”
“Yeah,” Angela said, between breaths. “Let’s do that.”
“Is this even safe?” Aria asked.
Safe.
Silence stretched over the crew.
“Safe,” Matt mused. “Is anywhere safe anymore?”
“Come on then,” Norry said, pulling himself to his feet. “Let’s build a fire. Check supplies. Build a shelter.”
“Come on, Garlic Man,” Norry said. “We can cut down some of these larger pine branches to form a lean-to for the night.”
“Right-o,” Matt said.
“I’ll scout the area,” Chess said, rising to her feet.
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