The swarm reached the café and restaurant at the end of the pier, their burning eyes and hungry mouths screaming. It sounded like a train, the loudest thing Callan had ever heard. He moved away from the group standing at the edge of the dock: Jacob lying with Bec, Harlan on Kristy, Blue sitting patiently in waiting. They were sick, bloody, and beaten. He had been expecting this day; sooner or later, he had known it would come. He began walking down the pier towards them. Blue ran up to him and trotted by his side, looking up with those adoring eyes. They would face death together, he and his little mate, and Callan would have it no other way.
FIFTY-EIGHT
Dylan hung over the edge of the railing at the port side of the boat as it drifted away from the pier. He watched the gap of water open up with the docks as the ship swung around, leaving Melbourne behind forever. Several columns of smoke rose in sooty plumes from the city. The wind picked up, and on it, he heard the distant howl of the breeze. There were no more choppers. No more Army. He wondered what had happened to it all—the government, the police, the military. He supposed it didn’t matter anymore. What was done was done.
It was bittersweet, of course. He still had his sister, and they were on their way to Tasmania, a place that promised safety, and refuge, but they had lost so much—Kristy and Callan, and Blue too, along with almost everyone else. Whilst he hadn’t expected Callan to show up at the last moment, part of him had hoped, and with the disappearance of that hope, a deep ache in the pit of his stomach remained. He tried to push it away, as he had done with his mother and father, but this was different. They had shared things beyond the realms of normality—life-changing moments, each saving the other countless times. He wished he had paid them back. He wished he had taken the opportunity to tell them that he loved them—Kristy again, and Callan, his brother for the first time.
He looked out at the horizon of the land, noting movement along the esplanade. His eyes seemed to have deteriorated over the last few weeks, probably from all the smoke and dirt he had peered through. He couldn’t remember his last good wash. He squinted into the sun. Was that—Yes. Threes. A mass of them moving along the shoreline towards the pier. Jesus, they had been lucky to leave when they did.
Lauren came up beside him, holding the baby. The ship swung the other way, and they walked along the railing, bringing the pier back into view.
“How do you think Gallagher will go?”
Dylan tipped his head either way. “He was an admiral in the Navy once. Said he had commanded large ships, and had handled them in seas worse than this. We don’t have much else.”
“Is that someone on the pier?” Lauren asked.
“Huh? Where?” He strained hard, scanning the place she had indicated. He saw movement at the far end of the pier. The zombies had almost reached it. “The zombies? There’s a shitload of them running along the—”
Lauren’s voice was frantic. “No. This way. Closer. The small dots.”
His eyes were crappy, but eventually he picked up a huddle of dots standing at the edge of the dock. Further on a lone figure walked towards the oncoming horde. He strained his eyes more and… a dog. Blue Boy. He tried to speak, but his parched throat failed. “Oh fuck… oh fuck… oh fuck.”
“It’s them!” Lauren screamed. “Oh Jesus, Dylan, we’ve left them behind.”
Dylan stumbled backwards, not taking his eyes off the distant pier. He ran back towards the deck. They had to turn around. They had to go back for them. “GALLAGHER!” he screamed, grabbing hold of the metal rail of the stairs. “GALLAGHER! WE HAVE TO TURN AROUND!”
THE END
Authors Note
You made it. I hope it was worth the effort. I am grateful for your time, and interest, knowing how far you’ve come. I’m sorry about the cliffhanger, but I avoided them in the first two books so thought it was about time… I wrote at the end of book two about my plans to take the story away from this group of characters. More on that in a moment.
This book was a tale of two parts. I finished a short, haphazard first draft in record time. But there it sat for almost a month as I climbed Mount Daunting, knowing how much work I still had to do, how many plot holes, meaningless characters, and ridiculous scenes still existed. I wondered how the hell I was going to get the novel into an acceptable state to carry on the story. I realized around the third week of October that if I didn’t get to work on a serious basis, I would miss my early December editing deadline and Christmas publishing date.
Thankfully, I got there. As challenging as it was, I had fun, and the more I read and reread the story, cutting, adding and polishing, the better I felt about it. I could take a shambling mess and turn it into something respectable.
Hopefully you’re able to leave a review for this book on Amazon, and my thanks to those that have done so for the other books. It doesn’t have to be a story, just a sentence or two about what you liked (or disliked). Right or wrong, people purchase based on the number of reviews a book has, so the more reviews, the greater chance of it getting into a new reader’s hands. And for an Indi writer, that is everything, because we don’t have the large money it takes to promote our work the way a publishing house does. Click here to leave a review for Escape.
Now, onto the fourth book …
At the end of Survival I said I’d be switching to another location to follow a different “group” of survivors for the following three books. Hmmm… seems kind of mean given the cliffhanger for this book. I’ve got to think seriously about how I proceed here. At the very least I think I will tie up the fate of our intrepid group at the beginning of the next book.
I’ve also had another idea, which happens from time to time when I shake my head hard enough. I know what happens, but if anyone is interested, e-mail me about how you think the group will get out of the situation. Will the boat even turn around? Will anyone perish? What will happen in the next scene? Just a couple of lines about what might happen. The closest will receive a signed (or not, if you choose) paperback copy of the next book. I’ll release the winner on my website after the new book comes out or maybe as a teaser beforehand.
For now, I need to finish a couple of books separate to this series, but I’ll make an effort to get book four out as fast as possible.
If you haven’t signed up to my mailing list, feel free to do so. It generally covers new book releases and every so often I do a giveaway of paperbacks from the series. Click here to sign up. Your e-mail address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe easily at any time.
Reader engagement is one of the best parts about writing books. As always, I’d love to hear what you thought about the story, good or bad, what else you’re reading, or about any authors you’re enjoying. I received lots of feedback via e-mail on the first two books and coming home from work to find reader comments in my inbox is always a pleasure. You can e-mail me at [email protected].
Here are some of my links to social media; there are so many these days it’s hard to keep up. I try to vary the content on each:
Facebook: Owen Baillie Author or Owen Baillie
Facebook: Invasion of the Dead
Website: owenbaillie.com
So before my author’s note becomes a novel of its own, I’ll wrap it up.
Thanks for reading,
Owen
Melbourne, Australia, December 2014.
DEAD ISLAND: Operation Zulu
Ten years after the world was nearly brought to its knees by a zombie Armageddon, there is a race for the antidote! On a remote Caribbean island, surrounded by a horde of hungry living dead, a team of American and Australian commandos must rescue the Antidotes' scientist. Filled with zombies, guns, Russian bad guys, shady government types, serial killers, and elevator muzak. Dead Island is an action packed blood soaked horror adventure.
Allen Gamboa
SIXTH CYCLE
Nuclear war has destroyed human civilization.
Captain Jake Phillips wakes into a dangerous new world, where he finds
the remaining fragments of the population living in a series of strongholds, connected across the country. Uneasy alliances have maintained their safety, but things are about to change. -- Discovery leads to danger. -- Skye Reed, a tracker from the Omega stronghold, uncovers a threat that could spell the end for their fragile society. With friends and enemies revealing truths about the past, she will need to decide who to trust. -- Sixth Cycle is a gritty post-apocalyptic story of survival and adventure.
Darren Wearmouth ~ Carl Sinclair
SPLINTER
For close to a thousand years they waited, waited for the old knowledge to fade away into the mists of myth. They waited for a re-birth of the time of legend for the time when demons ruled and man was the fodder upon which they fed. They waited for the time when the old gods die and something new was anxious to take their place. A young couple was all that stood between humanity and annihilation. Ill equipped and shocked by the horrors thrust upon them they would fight in the only way they knew how, tooth and nail. Would they be enough to prevent the creation of the feasting hordes? Were they alone able to stand against evil banished from hell? Would the horsemen ride when humanity failed? The earth would rue the day a splinter group set up shop in Cold Spring.
H. J. Harry
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT SERIES
The world is at war with the Primal Virus. Military forces across the globe have been recalled to defend the homelands as the virus spreads and decimates populations. Out on patrol and assigned to a remote base in Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson’s unit was abandoned and left behind, alone and without contact. They survived and have built a refuge, but now they are forgotten. No contact with their families or commands. Brad makes a tough decision to leave the safety of his compound to try and make contact with the States, desperate to find rescue for his men. What he finds is worse than he could have ever predicted.
W. J. Lundy
Invasion of the Dead (Book 3): Escape Page 31