“Better get that fucking boat started. Those infected we saw under the trees have decided to come looking for us.” He shouted.
Running to the other rope that tied the boat to the pier I quickly started to untie it. Amy had scampered onto the boat and up the ladder and just as I finished pulling the rope loose the engine roared to life. Chris ran past me and jumped the rail, landing on the deck. Standing, I looked back toward the A.P.C. and saw a horde of infected flow around the corner and onto the pier. I clambered on board as Amy slowly edged the boat out into the marina. Even above the noise of the engines I could hear the moans of that many infected. The thing was as the front row came to the edge and stopped, the ones behind seemed to push them into the water. It was like watching the strangest domino fall ever. They seemed to just keep pushing the ones in front into the water. And when they hit the water, there was no flailing of limbs, they just sank like stones below the waves. Every now and then some rotten flesh or clothing would float to the surface.
Amy piloted us toward the open sea and away from the bizarre scene. The moaning steadily receded the closer we got to open water. As we cleared the outer edge of the marina the smooth water turned to heavy waves. Chris opened the doors on the lower floor and carried our gear inside. Spirit managed to follow him without sliding all over. Climbing the ladder, I saw Amy sat in front of the wheel with her hand on the throttle. I edged over and stood beside her.
“Well?” She asked without turning her head.
“I just wanted to keep you both safe. Even you have said that this is going to be hard.” I said.
“You already said that back at the dock, and if you noticed, we would be in deep shit if we hadn’t followed you. That horde of infected would have managed to get to us sooner or later even if we stayed inside the A.P.C.” She said.
She had a point. I hadn’t thought that the infected hidden under the trees would have followed us into Hornsea.
A small door next to where Amy sat opened and Chris’ large figure came up on deck.
Smiling, I said “Here’s a thought. If you hadn’t followed me you would have been trapped. So it was a good thing you did follow me.”
Chris looked over at me before turning to Amy and asking “Can I hit him, please? Just once?”
I backed up until my backside hit the wall.
“Sorry, Chris, but we might need his stupid plans, and if you knock him out you might shake something loose in there that we might need.” She said, smiling.
“I suppose so. The time I’ve known him, he definitely has something loose up there.” Chris replied, looking at me.
“You do realise I am standing here?” I said, slightly upset that I was getting ganged up on.
Chris and Amy just started to laugh so I thought that it might be better to leave them to their backslapping. Squeezing through the small doorway, I found some steep steps and followed them down. They came out in a small bar like area. Looking round I saw Spirit under a table at the far end of the room. She had her head on her front paws and looked as though she was asleep. Leaving her alone, I decided to have a look around. I had never been on a boat before and the side to side rocking as well as the up and down motion were starting to make me feel slightly ill.
Chapter Five
Behind the bar was another doorway leading to a small corridor. Halfway down the corridor was a staircase leading down and at the end there was a small kitchen. I wasn’t in the mood to look for food so I doubled back and headed down the stairs. There were three bedrooms; two doubles and a small single. There was also a door that lead into the engine room. Opening the small bedroom door, I flung myself onto the bed and closed my eyes. No sooner had I closed my eyes when Chris opened the door and squeezed inside making the already small room feel even smaller.
“You know, I feel like punching you for being such a fucking tit.” He said, leaning against the wall.
“I gathered that from the way you slammed into me on the pier.” I said.
“It’s called a dock not a pier and you deserved it.” He said.
“I know fuck all about boats and shit so don’t be patronizing me. Like I told Amy, this might be one time no one makes it back and I don’t really want either of your deaths weighing on my heart.” I said, rolling on to my side to look up at him.
Chris crouched down and smiled.
“Look, Marc, you have saved my life and plenty others since this all started…” He began.
“Yeah, and it’s because of me that it did all start.” I said, interrupting him.
“Just shut the fuck up and let me finish. You have saved plenty people from the beginning. I owe you, Amy owes you and we are not people who forget those kinds of debts. Now, I would follow you into the jaws of death. I know, a bit dramatic but it’s true, and Amy is so in love with you she will follow you there as well. You, on the other hand, feel that you have to atone for the accident that happened back at the labs and therefore put yourself in harm's way every chance you get. So now that I have said that, get used to the fact that we are coming with you.” He said.
I looked at him and said “Mate, that was the nicest thing you have ever said to me. Do you want a hug now or later when my stomach isn’t doing cartwheels?”
Chris looked at me and then burst out laughing and said “Fuck you!”
We both laughed for a while in that small bedroom.
“Why don’t you come upstairs?” He said.
“To be honest with you, if I get up from this bed, I might have to get a bucket to carry around with me.” I said, feeling sick at the thought of standing up.
“A bucket, what the fuck for?” He said with a puzzled look.
“Because I’d have to be sick in it every other step.”
He started laughing again but this time I didn’t feel like joining in. The laughing we had done earlier made my stomach feel like it was full of mashed potato and milk.
“Seasick, eh? Ok. I’ll go check on Amy and see if she can guess how much longer we will be out in open water.” He said, standing up and leaving the room.
I rolled over and faced the wall and finally closed my eyes. A realisation came to mind as I lay there. How the hell would I have managed to pilot the boat if my seasickness was this bad?
I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up the rocking of the boat had stopped and my stomach had almost returned to normal. Sitting up, I rubbed the back of my neck. Opening the door, I headed for the stairwell and climbed up to where the bar was. Through the windows I could see daylight and on both sides of the boat I could also see land. Spirit was still under the table at the rear of the bar. She was watching me through half opened eyes. Moving to the other small staircase I climbed up to where Amy had been sitting the night before. Opening the small door, the first thing I noticed was the smell. I’d been to the seaside before and recognised the smell. I then saw Chris lying stretched out in his sleeping bag, snoring. Amy wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but that didn’t exactly worry me. Where could she go? The boat was in the middle of what looked like a river, albeit a fucking big one.
Walking out of the room I felt the chilled air fill my lungs and heard the water lapping against the sides. Looking toward the front I could see a grey smudge against the horizon. That must be Hull. I stood leaning on the side rail looking at the smudge and tried to figure out how far away it actually was.
The next thing I needed to worry about was finding a way to get on board a ship that had been overrun with infected. I suppose that I would come up with something when we actually got near to where it had been docked.
From what Jake had told me, we were looking for a ship called Bentons Cause. Trust that fucking company to name the ship after themselves. It was a small cargo ship that had been refitted into a research vessel. The amount of personnel on board should have been one hundred and thirty, but with the added research people, bosses and their families, that had been increased up to one hundred and fifty eight. Out of those, one hundred and twenty on
e were now infected and roaming the ship’s deck and hallways.
This was going to be hard going, unless we could trick the infected into becoming lemmings like they had back at Hornsea. Just like that, a plan formed and I stood there smiling. The only problem with this plan would be if the majority of the infected were below deck. With my plan we might be able to get rid of some but not all. The ones below deck would be the dangerous ones. I heard movement inside the steering room and headed inside. Chris was sitting up rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hands.
“Morning.” I said, smiling.
“What have you got to be happy about? Last night you couldn’t even stand up because of seasickness.” He said.
“True, but today is a different day and this boat isn’t bobbing all over.” I said.
“That still doesn’t explain the happy-fucking-go-lucky smile.” He said as he climbed out of his sleeping bag.
I shrugged my shoulders and said “I might have come up with a way to get rid of some of the infected on the ship.”
“And?” He said, standing.
I gave him a rough outline of what I had planned and the more I told him, the more he smiled.
“I like it. Get the bastards to kill off their own kind.” He said, grinning.
We heard movement from below us and we headed down the small stairs and into the bar. Amy was placing food and bottles of water on the table. For Spirit she opened a can of stewed beef into a bowl and put it down on the floor.
Sitting down at the table, I asked her “How long will it take to get us to the harbour?”
She looked up and said “About two hours against the tide.”
“Are you going to tell her your plan?” Chris asked me.
“What plan?” Amy said, putting her bottle of water down and looking at me.
“Remember what happened back at Hornsea?” I asked.
“I remember.” She said, her face going stony.
“Not that. The way the infected just pushed the others into the sea?” I said.
“Yeah, it was like watching lemmings dive off a cliff.” She said.
“Well, the ship is in the harbour, so if we pull up nearby and get the attention of the infected, maybe we can get them to do that lemming thing again.” I said.
“That’s actually a good idea but I can see a problem with it.” Amy said.
“Yeah, it’s the infected that are below deck.” I said.
“Any thoughts on what you want to do about them?” She asked.
I stood there thinking and I couldn’t think of anything. In the past all I had done was to get the infected to chase me. The problem was the infected had a lot of places to hide on board.
“So we clear the deck first and then try to clear a path up to the bridge.” Chris said.
“It looks like that might be the only way unless there is a way they can climb down from the bridge.” I said.
“Sorry, Marc, but they don’t have any external ladders.” Amy said.
“Let’s get to the ship and see what we have to deal with.” Chris said.
Amy walked to the pilot’s seat and started the engine. Pushing forward on the throttle, the boat lurched forward and headed off upriver. I went downstairs to see how Spirit was doing. She had crept out from under the table and was sniffing round my rucksack. I walked over and crouched down and opened my rucksack. Reaching inside, I pulled out a tin of hotdogs. Opening it, I halved what was inside with Spirit. She ate all of her hotdogs in two bites. With a low whine, she looked at the remaining hotdogs and then at me. Shaking my head, I put the remaining hotdogs on the floor in front of her. Spirit moved forward and licked my hand as I pulled it away and then dove straight into eating the hotdogs. Chris stomped down the stairs and into the room.
“Amy is still a little pissed off with you for trying to pull that stunt last night.” He said, sitting down in a chair.
I stood up and walked over to the chair next to his and sat down.
“She’ll get over it.” I said.
“Mate, you don’t know anything about women. If she gets over it any time soon, it’ll be a miracle.” He said, looking at me with sad eyes.
I looked down at my feet and decided it was probably time to come clean with some thoughts I had been having.
Looking up, I said “To tell you the truth, if she doesn’t forgive me, then that might be a good thing.”
“What the fuck are you on about?” He asked, leaning forward.
Spirit must have sensed my mood because she padded over and placed her head on my knees. I leaned forward and stroked between her ears.
Letting loose a huge sigh, I continued “You’ve seen what I’m like. I go out of my way to do stupid shit, all in the name of saving people. Sooner or later it’s going to catch up with me and I’m going to either get badly hurt or dead. I couldn’t put any of you through that. Chris, you’re like the annoying brother I never fucking wanted and Amy I can say without a doubt is the love of my life. The reason I did what I did last night was because I don’t want to see either of you die, or you to see me die.”
I sat back in the chair and continued to stroke Spirit. I could see from the look on his face that everything I said was something that he wasn’t counting on me saying. After a while he lifted his hands and rubbed his face.
“I never knew you felt like that.” He said, lowering his hands to his lap.
“Yeah, well.” I said.
He nodded his head before saying “So the reason you did what you had back in Hornsea was to spare us?”
“Well, some of it.”
“You do realise I should get up and knock you the fuck out for that.” He said.
“Eh?” Now it was my turn to be confused.
“I do class you as my brother, you fucking tit. And that is exactly why I would have to come with you. You became part of mine and Jay’s life back in Catterick, and with doing that became our brother. With Jay gone, you’re the only family I have left in the world. You saved my life when Tracy had me. That means I will follow you into hell if it meant saving your arse. I can’t speak for Amy but I do know that she wouldn’t like the idea of you making decisions for her. No woman likes a man to make decisions for her. So, little brother, you need to go and talk with her before we get to the ship.” He said, sitting back in his chair.
I sat there thinking on everything he had said and came to the conclusion that he was probably right, but when in the history of mankind had a little brother ever said that his elder brother was right.?
I stood up, flipped him my middle finger and said “Fuck you, brother.”
I walked out of the bar and started up the stairs to the pilot’s wheelhouse, all the while listening to Chris howling with laughter in the bar. I was smiling as I clambered out of the small doorway.
“What’s got you smiling?” Amy said, watching me stand up.
“Just something that Chris and I were talking about.” I said, watching her steer the boat up the river.
Looking out over the front of the boat I could see the grey smudge slowly become buildings and warehouses. The boat powered up the river with no problem.
“Amy, I need to say I’m sorry for last night.” I said, turning back to face her.
“You left us behind, Marc.” She said, slowing the boat down.
“I know, and I thought I had a good reason to.” I said.
“What was the good reason?” She asked.
I looked at the deck and my feet, actually I looked everywhere but her face. I didn’t want to see the look that I knew would be there.
“I thought that if you two were safe… well then I could take more risks and not have to worry about you both.” I said and I knew it had come out wrong just by her silence.
Looking up, I could see tears in her eyes and her face was etched with disappointment. I stood there waiting for a reply.
After what seemed an age she said “Fine! I’ll tell you what... after this I don’t want anything to do with you. You ha
d my heart, Marc, and you just…..you know, fuck it. We’re through.”
She turned back to the wheel and slammed the throttle forward and the boat seemed to leap in the water. I slammed off the wall and slid down it. Sitting there on the floor I didn’t know what to say or do. Amy had just slammed the proverbial door in my face and locked it up tight. Pulling myself upright, I staggered over to the small stairwell, and with a last look at her headed back down to the bar. Chris looked up from stroking Spirit as I came down the last few steps.
I walked over to the bar and was about to place my hand on a bottle of scotch when I thought of why we were here. Pulling my hand back, I walked over to the chairs and sat down. Chris stopped stroking Spirit when he saw my face and sat back in his chair.
“What happened?” He asked.
I told him everything that had been said upstairs and how I felt, which was like someone had kicked me in the nuts and then poured sour milk down my throat.
“I haven’t got a clue what to say.” He said.
“Nothing to say, I suppose. Maybe I said it wrong? Maybe I deserve it after all the shit I’ve put her through? To be truthful, I’m a pretty shitty boyfriend.” I said, feeling tears in my eyes.
Chris stood up and clapped me on the shoulder and headed upstairs.
I called after him. “Don’t say anything, it’s probably better for her this way.”
He just waved his hand a disappeared up the stairs. Spirit lifted herself from where she had been getting her stroke and came over to me. Again she placed her head on my thigh and looked at me with sad eyes. At least this was one female I could get along with. We sat there with me running my hand every now and then through her hair for what seemed a long time. The engine noise changed and the boat seemed to dip nose first into the water. I looked out of the windows and saw several large ships moored on both sides of the harbour. I stood up and headed upstairs. Coming through the small door, I saw Chris with a pair of binoculars looking at the ships.
The Infected (Book 4): Wrecked Page 4