by Brad Knight
There were boats of all sizes, with the exception of yachts. Some were old, wooden and in bad shape. Others were newer fiberglass vessels with clean white surfaces. Most were somewhere in between those two extremes.
A midsized fishing boat made from fiberglass caught Mack’s eye.
“Did you find one?” asked Amber, as she noticed Mack had stopped to admire one of the boats.
“I think so.”
She read the boat's name. “Sarah’s Gambit, huh? Why this one?”
“I don’t know. It just seems right.”
Amber walked down the dock to the side of the boat. She put one of her feet on the side, and the vessel moved slightly. Under her foot she felt it pitch a bit. It made her nervous.
“I’ll go get the keys,” said Mack. He left her by the boat and headed towards the guard kiosk. Would he be able to find the set that matched up with the Gambit? That was the question he asked himself as his boots made a unique sound against the wooden dock.
Where are you? You got to be here somewhere. Mack’s eyes did their best to find the set of keys that went with Sarah’s Gambit. But there was a problem that should have been obvious. The keys were organized by numbers, not names.
“Amber!” he shouted from the guard kiosk.
“Yeah!?”
“Do you see any numbers anywhere near the boat? Maybe they’re on the dock or a sign.”
“No, I don’t see… wait!” After looking around, she saw a number painted on the dock below her. “One hundred and four!”
One zero four, one zero four, ah there you are. Mack found the appropriate keys, and was about to head back to the Gambit when something caught his eye. Walking up to the main entrance of the docks were some people.
He quickly knelt down inside the kiosk, causing his feet to slip a little bit on the rancid bodily fluids on the floor. The smell alone was almost enough to make him hop out and take his chances with the approaching strangers.
Periodically, Mack peeked out of the guard kiosk. He could see that the strangers were indeed human and not infected. He took a longer look than was safe. That was because he thought he recognized two of the strangers.
***
Karin, Freddy, Stephanie, Simon and Dr. Bawja headed towards the docks. They had decided to leave Los Angeles behind. Their choices were limited to leaving by foot, car or boat. The group chose the safest of three shitty options.
“This isn’t right. We should be out there killing those fools. Not running away.” Freddy wasn’t happy with leaving LA with unfinished business. He wanted revenge. What he didn’t realize was that everyone else in the group wanted it too. But they realized that doing so would be suicide.
“We’re not running, Freddy. We’re surviving. That’s what they’d want,” said Karin as she led her group. “As soon as we get a boat we’ll head north.”
“Why north?” asked Simon.
“There’s less people. Right now, less is what we need,” answered Karin.
Dr. Bawja wanted to warn her group that they couldn’t go too far north. She knew that Oregon and Washington were practically run by Galatea at that point. Problem was, she couldn’t say anything. If she did, they might ask how she knew. Only Lincoln knew about what she did before joining the New Babylon survivors. If the rest of them found out, who could say what they’d do?
“I see it,” said Stephanie as she pointed at the docks.
“Stop! Let’s make sure it’s safe.” Karin ordered a halt to the group’s process. She looked through the scope of her rifle. After making a few adjustments to the aperture, she carefully scanned the area ahead.
“Is it clear?” asked Simon.
“Looks like it.”
“I’ll take point,” volunteered Simon. He did just that with the barrel of his gun leading the way.
Stephanie followed her twin brother. Karin, Dr. Bawja and Freddy trailed behind. Like Amber and Mack before them, there was no security to keep them out. They simply waltzed up, then into the entrance. All of them passed the guard booth without even looking inside.
Mack held his breath as the group of strangers passed his hiding place. Once he was sure that they had moved on, he stood up and climbed out of the kiosk as quietly as he could. He crept stealthily, stalking the group. They were on a path that could lead them to a confrontation with Amber, and he didn't want that to happen.
Amber heard multiple footsteps coming down the dock. Seeing that Mack only had two feet, it obviously wasn’t him. She decided it best to hide. The only good places were in the water or on the boat she was standing next to. It was an easy choice. She climbed aboard the boat.
It was filthy inside Sarah’s Gambit. Not only did the lack of upkeep after the outbreak take its toll, but its owner hadn’t been much of a clean freak. Amber didn’t care. The new world wasn’t exactly pristine. She was used to it.
She tried to stay out of sight as she observed the new strangers through Sarah’s Gambit’s windows. While looking at them she noticed something. Two of them she’d met before.
“Stephanie?” asked Amber as she crawled out of Sarah’s Gambit.
One of the women turned around to see a teenage girl she hadn’t seen since the cabin out in the middle of the woods. Her comrades, except for Simon, didn’t know Amber so they had their weapons trained on her. Young girl or not, any unknown human was a threat.
On instinct, Amber reached for her sidearm. What if she was wrong? What if Stephanie and Simon weren’t the friends she once briefly knew? Her fingers wrapped around the grip of her pistol.
“Don’t!” yelled Karin.
“I know her.” Stephanie walked in front of her groups’ guns.
“What are you doing?” asked Freddy. “This girl, she isn’t our friend.”
“Yes, she is,” said Simon. “Put your damn guns down.”
Karin, Freddy and Dr. Bawja reluctantly lowered their weapons. Amber took her hand off of hers. The potentially explosive situation was defused.
“How’d you, where’d you, why are you guys in Los Angeles?” asked Amber, bewildered.
Stephanie smiled. “It’s kind of a long story. But in short, you and Mack helped us in more ways than you think. When you guys saved us from the arena, you showed us that is was possible to be strong, to survive. And then you guys left.”
“Look, that wasn’t my…” Amber stuttered a bit as she tried to explain herself. Stephanie interrupted.
“No, no, you don’t have to explain a thing. You guys leaving made us realize that we had to learn how to survive on our own. To do so, we had to adapt. We fought and ultimately learned how to live in this messed up world. Thank you, Amber. We’re stronger because of you and Mack. Speaking of, is he still…”
“Alive? Yeah, he’s alive. In fact, there he is,” said Amber as she pointed behind Stephanie.
Dr. Bawja’s group turned around to see the tall muscular Mack standing just feet away, with his rifle in hand, pointed directly at them. Once he got a clear look at Simon and Stephanie he cautiously lowered his weapon and gave the slightest hint of a grin, mixed with slight confusion.
“I don’t believe it,” he said. “Stephanie? Simon? I thought for sure you guys were dead.” He remembered passing by the money counting vault back at the Golden Pony. He remembered the malnourished man he saw imprisoned there; the man he would have sworn was Simon.
Did Mack see Simon back in Las Vegas? Or did his guilt push that idea into his eyes and mind? Either way, there was no doubting that the man before him was Simon. Since Amber saw him too, he knew he wasn’t going completely insane.
“Don’t look so disappointed,” said Simon.
“Sorry it’s just… well, last I saw you two, you were different.”
“We were weak and you left us to die,” Simon’s face was stern. And he wasn’t wrong.
Mack half shrugged.
“Relax man,” Simon smiled. “Not only would I have done the same exact thing, but because of you, we got stronger. My sister jus
t explained how to Amber here. I’m not going to have her say it again so you’re just going to have to trust me. You leaving was the best thing for us.”
Simon held out his hand and Mack shook it.
“I hate to break up the love fest but who the fuck are these people?” asked Freddy.
“Freddy may be rude but he’s right. Who are you?” asked Dr. Bawja.
“My name is Mack, this is Amber. Like you, we’re survivors.”
“How do you know the twins?” asked Karin.
“We met them in Oklahoma, months back,” answered Amber.
Freddy approached Amber. He held out his hand for her to shake. She didn’t. With a smile he retracted it. “The name’s Freddy.”
“Yeah, I know. I heard her say it.”
Dr. Bawja laughed, “Down boy.”
“Why are you here?” asked Karin. She still didn’t trust Mack and Amber. Stephanie and Simon might known them, but to her, they were strangers. And strangers represented danger.
“I imagine we’re here for the same reason you are. We need a boat.” Mack pointed at the rows of boats in the docks around them.
“You know anything about boats?” asked the former LAPD member.
“Not a thing. You?”
“My husband and I used to own one years ago. We sold it after the divorce.”
“We think we found a good one. But you know more then us, so maybe you can tell us whether its good or not.”
Karin cocked her head sideways. “You assume that we’ll help you?”
“Look around you, miss…”
“Karin.”
“Look around you, Karin. This city is done for. Galatea probably has the whole place surrounded. Right now, they’re out there hunting survivors like us. You want to get out of here? We do too.”
Karin squinted her eyes as she sized Mack up. “What do you know about Galatea?”
Memories of being strapped into a surgery table and getting injected with the nanite virus flooded into Mack’s mind. He remembered Wydell and the church full of bodies. He remembered trying to escape from the helicopters outside of Vegas. Most of all he remembered Ted Gorman’s smiling face.
“We’ve had some run-ins.”
Karin quietly studied the strangers. She tried to decide whether or not to trust the newly introduced duo. In the end, she decided to work together. If worse came to worst, they outnumbered the strangers two to one. And though the man was big, she’d taken down bigger in her days as a police officer.
“Want to show me that boat?” she asked.
Mack nodded and headed down the dock. He brought the New Babylon survivors to Sarah’s Gambit, and Karin started to look her over with a practiced eye.
As Karin checked the boat for seaworthiness, Mack and Amber was introduced to Dr. Bawja and Freddy. They were told the cover story about the doctor that she and Lincoln concocted. She was a doctor at Los Angeles Mercy Hospital.
Freddy’s origins were discussed. He, his mom and sister came from a low income section of LA. They lived through the outbreak and made their way to a shelter, where they met Lincoln. He took them in, and for a little while they lived happily and safely at New Babylon.
Tensions were eased after the intros. All that remained was for them to learn to function together. Unfortunately they didn’t have much time to practice. Out of view but within earshot were meat puppet screeches. Only they weren’t the normal sounds made by the human infected. These were more primal.
“Sounds like our time is up,” said Simon. “Is this thing ready to go?”
Karin was at the controls of the Sarah’s Gambit. “It just needs gas.”
“Where the hell do we get gas for a boat?” shot Freddy.
Karin came out onto the deck and pointed towards a gas pump on one of the adjacent docks. She threw Freddy three plastic gas cans from inside the cabin. He caught one. The other two landed at his feet and in the water next to him.
Mack fished one of the cans out of the water. “There’s no way he’ll be able to carry three of these. I’ll go with him.”
There were more screeches. They were closer. “Hurry up!” Amber knew she couldn’t stop Mack from helping Freddy out. But she wanted him to be quick about it. After what they’ve been through, she wasn’t going to lose him over something as stupid as gas cans.
Freddy filled up the cans as Mack kept watch. With nanite enhanced eyes he looked towards the city only four or five blocks away. At first there was nothing, then he saw something that made his stomach turn.
Pairs of glowing blue eyes emerged from the shadows of the Los Angeles buildings. He thought it was weird. Not only hadn’t he seen that color of eyes yet from the meat puppets, but they were low to the ground, on something short.
Mack checked his rifle in preparation for the approaching trouble. “You almost done?”
“Just give me a minute,” answered Freddy, annoyed.
“Not to rush you kid, but we don’t have much time.” Mack aimed his gun at the blue lights.
Jesus fucking christ. Are you kidding me? Infected chimps? Mack lowered his firearm out of sheer disbelief at what he was seeing. A group of five infected chimps came bounding out over the boardwalk towards the dock at dizzying speeds. He knew that they couldn’t outrun the little monsters.
“Done!” yelled Freddy as he put the cap on the last gas can. He picked up the other, totaling one in each hand.
“Good. Run,” said Mack as he picked up the third gas can and followed close behind him.
Mack had his back to Freddy and shot at the infected chimps. Since he tried to shoot an assault rifle with only one hand, his aim was off. Not one of the meat puppet primates were hit. But his gunfire alerted the rest of the group.
“We’ve got trouble, guys,” said Amber when she saw Freddy and Mack hurrying down the dock.
“I still need a little time. You need to hold them off.” Karin ran back into the boat’s cabin.
As soon as they reached the Sarah’s Gambit, Freddy and Mack unloaded the gas cans. The former looked for, found and started filling up the gas tank. The latter went down on one knee on the dock and started taking well aimed shots at the infected chimpanzees.
Two of Mack’s bullets found the head of one of the puppet chimps. The primate’s skull burst open and it fell into the water. That still left four of them.
Stephanie, Simon, Dr. Bawja and Mack all tried to hit them. The problem was their agility. Being infected didn’t seem to take away any of their mobility or speed. Instead of hitting the little monsters, most of their bullets sailed through the air or hit other boats.
Realizing that they weren’t going to hit the chimps, Mack turned his attention to the gas pumps. In a matter of seconds, the meat puppets would pass them by. So he aimed at those instead. But he wasn’t going to use bullets. He tossed his one and only grenade.
The vicious explosion ripped up the wooden planks of the docks and sent pieces of debris in every direction. Whether by shrapnel, blast wave or flames, two of the four chimps were taken out. One went flying out into the ocean on fire.
“Did you fill it up!? Is it full!?” asked Karin.
Freddy threw the empty plastic gas cans onto the deck. “Yeah!”
“Everyone get in!” ordered Karin as she turned the key in the ignition. The engine stuttered. It didn’t want to start.
First onto the boat was Freddy. He was followed by the twins. Amber was next. Mack was still on the dock trying to hit the remaining infected chimps. His time was up.
The first chimp to reach Mack jumped on him. It caught him off guard as he tried to change his magazine. What happened next occurred so fast that there was nothing he could do about it.
With a ferocity he’d never seen before, the infected chimp on Mack started ripping pieces off his body. First went a piece of the Viking’s cheek. Then the little beast took a couple of his fingers. The second chimp went straight for his legs and bit into his calf.
“Mack!” screamed Amber.
She tried to get out of the Sarah’s Gambit. It took both of the twins and Freddy to keep her from leaping off.
Mack dropped his rifle. He managed to fight through the intense pain and unsheathe his knife. With a grunt he stabbed one of the chimps in its blue glowing eye. It fell off onto the dock. The other chimp climbed up his leg and torso on its way to Mack’s face and nose.
With one strong tug, it ripped Mack’s nose clean off. Blood sprayed out of the severed capillaries. The pain was indescribable. It was enough to almost make him pass out.
“What are you doing? We can’t leave! Mack!” Amber started to wrench free from the other members of the group.
“We’re still tied to the dock. Someone cut that rope!” ordered Karin. The former cop was behind the wheel of the Sarah’s Gambit and ready to get the hell out of there. Her attention was on the scene playing out outside the cabin on the deck. She didn’t pay attention to what was happening out in front of her.
Unnoticed, one of Ted’s meat puppet bears swam towards the bow of the Sarah’s Gambit. Even as it climbed onto the boat, no one saw it. It wasn’t until it smashed through the glass that separated the cabin and front of the vessel that it was noticed. And by then it was too late.
After squeezing the front half of its body through the broken glass, the infected bear grabbed Karin by the shoulder with its teeth. The former cop screamed out in pain and was helpless as the powerful undead beast dragged her out onto the bow. In a matter of seconds it savaged her, leaving behind nothing but a torn apart corpse.
“Karin?” Simon heard the commotion in the cabin. He went in to check out what it was. There was a broken window and a streak of blood that went over the console and led outside to the bow in front of it. “What the fuck?”
“Simon? What’s wrong?” asked Stephanie. Seeing her twin brother slowly back out of the cabin gave her reason to think something wasn’t right.
“Karin… I think she’s…” Simon was equal parts confused and terrified.
“She’s what? Karin!?” Stephanie let go of Amber and headed towards her brother and the cabin.
With only Dr. Bawja and Freddy holding her back, Amber easily broke free. She jumped onto the dock and started firing away at the remaining chimp assaulting Mack. Once the last of the little monsters was dispatched, she caught the big man moments before he passed out from blood loss.