by Perrin Briar
It was a very nice sword, well-proportioned and perfectly weighted. Dana used the pommel to knock the swordsman aside. He landed on Hugo’s lap. The large man, unsure what to do, had hesitated a moment too long. Now he was trapped too. He should have either attacked or turned and fled, but did neither. He hadn’t expected this turn of events, especially at this speed.
He held up his giant hands.
“You’ve got the wrong end of the stick here,” the large man said.
“Easy to say when you’re holding the stick,” Dana said. “Which looks like it’s me now. I don’t want to hurt you, but you left me with little choice. We really are who we said we were. We are here by accident and want nothing from you.”
The large man nodded.
“I can see that now,” he said. “Let me take you to the captain.”
“No,” Dana said. “It’s too late for that. Your intentions are very clear. Get down. On your knees.”
The large man was big and dark with curls of hair falling like a waterfall on either side of his face. He grinned, showing his stained yellow teeth. Dana tensed her muscles, ready and waiting for what she knew might come next.
Except the large man knew she could defend herself. Call it instinct or survival skills, but he fell to his knees and put his hands behind his back.
“Tie him up,” Dana said. “Tie them both up.”
Hugo first approached Dana, who sliced through the fish line at his wrists. He massaged them, working the blood back into them, before tying the two men’s wrists.
The large man never took his eyes off Dana’s.
“We’re going to head upstairs, get our friend, and get out of here,” Dana said. “We’re not going to hurt anyone. It’s not our intention, but we will if forced.”
“Sorry about this,” Hugo said. “Tell the other guy we’re sorry too.”
“We’re not the bad guys here,” the large man said.
“That’s good,” Dana said. “Because we aren’t either.”
“You would have been a good ally,” the large man said with a nod.
Dana and Hugo moved around the big man, still almost as tall as they were despite being on his knees. They were at his back now, closest to the door.
“Thank you,” Dana said. “Try not to threaten people you want to work with in future.”
“Can’t agree to that,” the large man said. “It’s a whole new world now.”
“Amen to that,” Dana said.
She flew forward and brought the pommel of the sword down hard on the man’s head. She’d brought it down with all her strength and weight. She worried she might have cracked his skull. He fell forward, on top of the smaller man. Dana checked for blood pooling from his skull but saw none. Instead, she saw only the rapid rise of the lump forming a knot on his head.
“That’s going to sting in the morning,” Dana said.
She and Hugo hustled out of the room and shut the door behind them. They worked together to turn the wheel lock before checking their current location. They were in the middle of a corridor that stretched in either direction. Dana’s internal compass, usually good in such situations, could not tell her which way to go.
They turned and walked down the corridor with the ladder that led up to the deck. They didn’t know how many other potential assailants were onboard. They needed to be careful.
The ladder led to the main deck. Soft music played from the cabin. It was a large room that had been expanded over time. Perhaps even recently. It left little space on either side to walk. A warm golden glow burned from inside. Chimes and clinks rang, the signature of children’s games and toys.
Dana approached and edged into the room. Through the grimy windows, she could make out little figures moving and playing amongst themselves. Inside, sitting in a corner, was a large woman with drooping breasts. She smiled with glee as she watched the children play. The remnants of her beaming smile ran away from her face as she noticed the two dirty prisoners enter. The children continued playing, unconcerned.
“Hello,” Dana said. “You must be the captain.”
Chapter Twelve
The woman eyed Dana and Hugo with jaundiced eyes. Then her eyes flicked to the sword in Dana’s hand. The playing kids didn’t take any notice of them and kept running their toys over the floor panels. There had to be half a dozen of them. They looked well taken care of, happy.
They crossed to Poe, who sat amongst the kids. They were cleaning him up, brushing his hair, painting his face. One slept in his lap.
“We’re not here to hurt anyone,” Dana said. “Everything we told you is true. Zombies attacked us, and now we’re just trying to find our way to the mainland. We wish you no harm, but we will attack if forced. I don’t much like the idea of leaving these kids without a mother figure to take care of them. They look very happy. I don’t know your story, and frankly, I could care less. We just want our friend Poe here, and we’ll leave. We’ll take one of your rowboats to the northern shore of this lake and leave it on the beach there. You can come pick it up tomorrow. We’ll be long gone by then.”
“And my husbands?” the woman said. “Are they…?”
“Your husbands are fine,” Dana said. She didn’t even trip over the plural form. New world, new rules. “They’ll wake up with nasty bumps on their heads and bruised egos, but nothing more.”
The woman relaxed. It was then Dana caught sight of a glint in her hand at her side.
“You were going to use those knives on us?” Dana said.
“In your own words, if forced to,” the woman said. “No one harms my babies. No one.”
“That’s good news because we don’t harm babies,” Dana said. “In fact, the reason we’re passing through is to find my baby sister. Now, I want you to listen. We don’t expect anything from you. Stay still, stay quiet, and we’ll be out of your hair in a jiffy. You’ll never see us ever again. But we would really appreciate some food to take with us. A lot of ours will have been made soggy by the lake water. Only a little food, nothing major. I know you have a lot of mouths to feed here.”
The woman, slowly, began to nod.
“Good,” Dana said. “Will your kids be okay here by themselves?”
The woman stiffened.
“Okay,” Dana said. “No problem. My friend here, Hugo, will stay with them while you take me to the food. Is that okay?”
The woman looked Hugo over, seemed to sense the kindness in him, and then nodded.
“Good,” Dana said. “Poe will stay here too. The kids seem to like playing with him.”
The woman got to her feet.
“You can leave those here,” Dana said.
The woman looked at Dana with a questioning expression that would have fooled her if she hadn’t already seen the blades in her hands.
“The knives,” Dana said. “You won’t be needing them.”
The woman looked on the cusp of arguing, but then glanced again at the children. She nodded and put the knives down on top of a table.
“Make sure the kids—” she began.
“Don’t accidentally grab the knives,” Dana said. “They won’t. Hugo will take care of it.”
As the woman turned to lead the way, Dana chanced a glance at the knives. They were not normal cooking knives but specially-designed instruments. Throwing knives, she thought. Dana’s interest had been peaked after questioning herself as to why such an obviously motherly, caring figure would carry knives while her kids were playing. This woman, whoever she was, had some kind of training. Dana followed her out the door and across the deck to the room next door.
The kitchen was a tight fit. Dana opted to stand outside, leaning slightly on one leg so she could evade any attack the woman made.
“I’m afraid most of our food is fish-related,” the woman said.
Dana grimaced. She feared that would be the case.
“Whatever you can spare will be fine,” Dana said.
The woman reached for some dried fish and began
chopping it into strips. It didn’t smell as bad as she’d expected. Dana was so hungry she could have eaten anything.
“How did you come to be here?” Dana said.
“We worked in the circus,” the woman said. “Traveling from town to town. It’s a hard life, but a fun one. The whole troupe becomes a family. Each person played their part, from the father, to the grandfather, to the mother and children. Even the pets.”
“What was your act?” Dana said.
“Knife thrower,” the woman said.
Dana nodded and smiled to herself.
“That explains the throwing knives,” Dana said.
“You’re very observant,” the woman said. “I could hit your windpipe from thirty paces.”
“I believe you,” Dana said. “And do a lot worse besides if your kids were ever in trouble.”
“You’d better believe it,” the woman said. She placed the fish in a ziplock bag before reaching for some yellow liquid. “This is water we boil with tea leaves. It’s a bit sour, but the water’s clean.”
“Thank you,” Dana said. “Don’t you want to know where we come from? What the world’s like now?”
“No,” the woman said. “We’ve seen enough of the world already. When the bombs started falling, we hitched up and moved on down to the next town. We traveled by railway. The trouble is, the military started taking over the rail lines to serve their own purposes. We had to get off the tracks. We got caught in the middle of a zombie versus military attack. It was chaos for all. We ran and somehow ended up here. We escaped with the children and hijacked this boat. We decided to stay in the center of the lake. We’ve been here ever since.”
“Are there many people on the sea?” Dana said.
“I’d imagine so,” the woman said. “We’ve tried to keep away from anyone we don’t know. We see other boats from time to time but never had much interest in trading with them. We’ve got everything we need right here.”
She tightened the plastic bottle cap and offered the tea and fish to Dana, who took a step back.
“Carry them back in the playroom,” Dana said. She knew the woman wouldn’t try to attack her there. Not in front of her adopted children.
“You don’t trust people very much, do you?” the woman said around a twisted smile.
“Not if I can manage it,” Dana said.
“Good,” the woman said. “You might actually survive this whole thing. Was what you said about my husbands true? That they’re below?”
“Yes,” Dana said.
The woman nodded.
“I’d hate to lose them,” she said. “You get close after a while.”
“Who were they in the circus?” Dana said.
“The strongman and blade master,” the woman said.
“I should have guessed,” Dana said.
She gestured with her sword for the woman to lead the way back to the playroom.
“How did you manage to beat them?” the woman said. “I can’t believe you overpowered them.”
“Outsmarted them,” Dana said.
“Well, that’s certainly believable,” the woman said, nodding.
She handed the food and tea to Hugo, who packed it in a new, dry My Little Pony rucksack.
“Thanks,” Hugo said.
“You’re welcome,” the woman said.
She turned to head back to her original seat. Dana noticed her eyes glance toward the throwing knives she’d set on the tabletop. They were no longer there.
“Where did you put the knives?” Dana said to Hugo.
“Somewhere safe,” Hugo said. “She’ll find them later.”
Hugo was as smart and untrusting as Dana was. The fact the woman had glanced in the knives’ direction meant Dana would be foolish to turn her back on her now. A pity. She liked her.
“Hand over your knives,” Dana said.
“I already did,” the woman said.
“Your other knives,” Dana said.
“I don’t have any more,” the woman said.
Dana’s eyes narrowed. Dana was a bad opponent to play chicken with.
“All right, children,” Dana said, raising her voice. “Your mother here wants to play a game with you. Who wants to play?”
They all said, “Me! Me!”
“I have good news for you,” Dana said. “You can all play! Mummy, why don’t you come on the floor here a minute?”
The woman glared at Dana. Then she succumbed, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
“Now,” Dana said. “I want all of you to climb on top of your mummy. We’re going to play a little game now. You’re going to search every inch of mummy’s body and find some little metal objects. Be careful. I don’t want you to hurt yourselves. Find some sharp things, and you get to choose one of your friends who I will use it on.”
“No!” the woman said. “You said you wouldn’t hurt them!”
“That was before you intended on hurting us,” Dana said. “If forced, remember?”
“I swear to God if you hurt one hair on their heads…” the woman growled.
“Then it will be your fault,” Dana said coldly. “For attempting to stab us in the back. Not ours.”
“I found one!” a small kid at their mother’s ankle said.
“No!” the woman said. “I’ll take them off! I’ll take them off!”
She sat up, letting the kids roll harmlessly off her and spill across the floor. She reached for her ankles.
“Slowly,” Dana said.
The woman removed her knives slowly. By the time she was done there was a surprisingly big pile in front of her.
“There!” she said. “Happy?”
“Take off your jacket,” Dana said.
The woman glowered at Dana like she wanted to kill her with her eyes. She removed her jacket, revealing a simple, yet elegant dagger delivery system that fed blades directly to her hands.
“Cool,” Hugo said.
“Take it off her,” Dana said.
“How?” Hugo said.
“Poke around,” Dana said. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
He eventually did manage to remove the contraption. Dana ordered him to put the knives in the kitchen. Then she had him bring more fish wire. They tied the woman up, explaining to the kids it was all part of the game.
“This could have been much easier and less stressful for you,” Dana said. “If you’d just listened to us from the start.”
“Easier yes,” the woman said. “If we’d killed you the minute you arrived.”
“The value of hindsight,” Dana said.
She garnered the kids’ attention by tossing a ball across the room. She smashed the woman across the head, knocking her unconscious.
“I like this thing,” Dana said of the sword.
“Do you think the kids will be okay in here by themselves?” Hugo said.
“We’ll give them extra food, water,” Dana said. “The adults will wake up sooner or later. They’ll get free of their bonds easily enough. Let’s face it. You tied them.”
“Hey!” Hugo said.
Then he shrugged. He couldn’t fault Dana’s logic. He helped Poe up onto his feet.
“Come on, big guy,” he said.
With Poe looking like a poorly-evolved clown, the trio lowered a rowboat into the water. They climbed down the rope. Poe sat in the stern, his usual dour expression at odds with his getup. But Dana wasn’t much in the mood for smiling. Her body already ached as she rowed once again for a far and distant shore.
Chapter Thirteen
They stowed the rowboat on the beach just as Dana had told the strange boat people they would. She was tempted to set it on fire so the boat people might find it easier, but she didn’t have her fire starter’s kit on hand. They set off and traipsed through the dark on their way to the northeast corner of the island where a large bridge would take them to the mainland.
They heard a lot of strange noises in the darkness. From snapping twigs to the growl of an aggressiv
e beast. Bushes shook and the sea lapped at the beach. The moonlight was strong and they could see by its silvery light. To the undead, they would have been all but invisible. Still, they could hear them, smell them, and for this reason, none of them uttered so much as a whisper.
It was the dead of night when they reached the bridge. It was much larger than the previous one. This one had the advantage that it hadn’t been destroyed. It was jampacked with cars. Scraps of paper jostled on invisible fingers of wind, howling in the V of open car doors. The bridge was long. They would be completely exposed while they crossed it. Best to go as fast as possible.
Thup thup thup thup thup!
The propeller blades of a helicopter displaced the air beneath it as it passed overhead. Dana waved her arms and shouted to get the mighty machine’s attention.
“Hey!” she shouted. “Over here! Hey!”
The helicopter paid her no attention. It swiftly disappeared behind the forest canopy—a smudge of green in the distance from where they stood. It could have been a stalk of giant broccoli. The helicopter would undoubtedly fly to the secret base. Dana supposed there was no need for the military to hide their secret location any longer. They only to be careful to ensure they did not bring the undead down on themselves.
Where her feet had previously felt heavy like they’d been encased in concrete, now Dana found she was supercharged with a vibrant new energy. It had always been in the back of her mind that Debbie might have lied about the location of the base, that by forcing her to tell them what she was desperate to know, she had lied to them instead. But now, upon seeing that beautiful, wonderful contraption, Dana knew the old hag had been telling the truth. Furthermore, she now had a way to identify where the base was.
“Stop!” Hugo hissed. “Stop! Stop! Do you want to bring them down on us?”
“Who?” Dana said.
The groaning of the undead was more than enough to answer Dana’s question. The undead. They were already there, on the bridge.
Hugo gestured in the direction they needed to head. The undead formed a horrific conga line that might have led directly from the gates of hell. They were approaching their location.