The Afflicted: A Zombie Novel

by Watts, Russ

  “You think it’s safe?” she said.

  “I don’t know,” said Evan. “George, you got anything in that backpack we can use as a weapon?” He rustled around and came out empty-handed.

  “No.”

  “I’ll go out and check around,” said Evan. “If we’re going on foot from here, I’d better see how the land lies. You two keep an eye on him. If he moves, throw him in the river.”

  Evan got out of the car and the overhead sun beat down on him. The air was hot and dry. George turned around in his seat and stared at the demoralised Father who was slumped back in his seat, head pounding. He did not intend to go anywhere. Amane watched as Evan walked to the front of the hearse.

  He surveyed the crash; the car doors were open and every car was blackened and burnt out. It was silent, save the gentle lapping of the water against the riverbank. He approached the nearest car and picked up a piece of wood, no more than a foot long. Evan banged the stick on the car door, the harsh clanging sound sounding abnormal in this stultifying atmosphere. Nothing happened. No zombies raced out. No soldiers came over the hill, shooting guns and mouthing off. No rescue came.

  Evan trod cautiously. He was acutely aware of their unnatural and potentially lethal surroundings. He walked toward the river where one car was partially submerged, its trailer sunken into the riverbed. The car was empty and he climbed into the drivers’ seat. As there was no way round, he decided to take the direct route and go through.

  On the other side, he stepped out onto soggy ground. The embankment ahead was clear but what interested him more, was the small wooden pier with a boat tethered to it. Evan looked around again and called out.

  “Anyone here?”

  The sound of silence filled his ears. The pier went all the way to the rivers’ edge and he walked over to the steps, out onto the pier toward the little boat. It was not much bigger than the hearse, but it would do. A propeller was at the back and a small cabin that would shield them from the sun. Looking down at the sluggish water, he saw two bodies floating face down and bloated, a woman and child. He could see bullet holes in the back of their heads and the little girls’ blonde hair was tangled in the reeds. He squatted, and leaning over the side of the pier, prodded the mother with the wood. No response. Whoever they were, they were dead. As dead as dead can be, he thought.

  Evan went back to the hearse and explained to Amane what he had found. They agreed it was a good idea to stick to the river. As far as they knew, the zombies could not swim and it should prove easier than driving the congested streets attracting unwanted attention. Amane and George headed through the burnt car to the boat whilst Evan helped Father Thomas.

  “I hope you weren’t lying, Father. If you can steer this boat down the river, then you have a chance of a future. But if you try anything at all, then I will have no hesitation in leaving you behind for them.” Evan pointed back down the river where they had come from. A massive crowd of zombies was in sight now, heading their way. Some of them splashed into the riverbed and disappeared under the water, not to return. Most though, kept their footing and would not be deterred or distracted.

  The Father disconsolately nodded and limped alongside Evan to the boat. When they reached the pier, George was on board in the cabin investigating, whilst Amane began untying the rope so they could cast off. Evan shoved the Father on and told him to get on with it. He sat down, monitoring the Father closely as the priest started the engine, moaning and cursing under his breath. Evan thought about Charlie and Anna. It really felt like he was getting somewhere now. Maybe this time tomorrow he would find them. He was sure his father’s boat was much bigger than this, equipped much better with a far larger cabin.

  “I’m scared, I’m scared.” The words haunted Evan, day and night.

  Amane’s unexpected terrifying scream pierced the air, shocking everyone. The dead girl floating in the river had burst out of the brown sludge and grabbed Amane’s arm whilst she was untying the boat.

  “Help!” Amane couldn’t shake her off. She struggled but she was losing her balance. The girl’s hands were hooked around Amane’s and her sodden weight was pulling them both to the water. Amane looked into the girl’s face. It had been shattered by a bullet and her eye sockets were soggy and dark red. The girl no longer had eyes and she splashed about in the shallow water like a dying fish. Amane began to topple overboard, cold water splashing her face as she headed down to the river and the zombie’s clutches.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Amane braced herself, waiting for the icy water to suck her down, or the zombie’s teeth to sink into her arms. A flash in front of her eyes and the girl was knocked sideways, her neck broken. George struck again with the oar and the girls face fell apart. He cleaved the girl’s head off exposing dead brain and the zombie lost its grip, plunging back beneath the river’s surface. Amane fell backwards and Evan grabbed her. George stood by the side of the boat looking at the zombie beneath the rippling water. He chucked the oar down onto the deck and threw the last of the rope off.

  “What are you waiting for, let’s move it!” he shouted at the Father who was looking on in amazement. The Father turned back to the wheel and slowly the boat drew away from the pier. George sat down, a mean, serious, look on his face. He scanned the riverbank looking for problems or solutions, whichever presented itself first. He knew that one would come soon enough, as sure as the sun would set.

  “You okay, Amane?” Evan held her on the deck where they had fallen. She was shaking and glad he was holding her.

  “Yeah,” she said holding onto Evan’s arms. She felt reassured he was there.

  “I wasn’t paying attention. I thought we were safe, you know? Stupid really.”

  “It’s not your fault. We all have to be more careful. I should’ve checked properly first.” Evan stood up and brushed himself down. The boat was chugging down the centre of the river now, away from the pier. The zombies were at the burnt out cars, trying to climb over, through and under, any way they could. A few struggled through, but the obstacle was proving difficult and they couldn’t keep up with the boat as it headed toward the city.

  Amane stood letting the sun dry her and standing close to Evan, spoke in a hushed voice so that only he could hear her.

  “I’m worried about George. I’ve never seen him like this. I mean, it’s great that he can handle himself but it’s like he’s not bothered by it all now. Remember when we met him? I thought he was a bit of a mummy’s boy. He’s changing. When I told him about Joe, he just clammed up. We need to keep an eye on him.”

  “True,” said Evan, “we owe it to Joe at least. I think in George’s defence, he’s getting stronger which is a good thing. Look, I’m going to watch Father Thomas. Firstly, to make sure he knows where he’s going and isn’t trying anything funny, but secondly, because I want to know how to steer a boat. I’d hoped that being on deck like this might bring back some memories of my father’s boat but I’ve got nothing. Maybe I never learnt? I seem to remember dropping the kids off for the holidays, so maybe I didn’t actually sail anywhere with them? I just can’t remember. If anything happens to the Father, we need to be able to handle ourselves.” Evan put his hand on Amane’s shoulder, looking at the sunshine reflect off her pale skin.

  “Can you talk to George? Keep him company. Don’t try anything heavy; just get him to open up if you can. Try and bring a bit of normality back into his life, even if just for a few minutes?”

  Amane nodded. As Evan left her, she felt an urge to kiss him but swallowed it down. He had a family to find; thoughts like that would only cause them both problems. She watched as Evan walked up to the Father and began talking to him. She wondered how he did it. She couldn’t talk to him like that, not knowing what he had done to Lily; how he had pretended to take them in and kept them captive whilst he plotted their demise. Amane wondered if he really was a priest. Maybe he was an imposter? Perhaps he had killed the real priest and took his place, took his house, took everything and perv
erted it for his own evil ends. She walked over to George.

  “How’re you doing, mate?” He had his hands in his pockets and was watching the embankment closely. He just shrugged and ignored her. Amane sat down beside him on the warm wooden deck.

  “George, thank you for helping me, if you hadn’t...”

  He turned, finally, to look at her.

  “Then you’d be dead.”

  “Well, yeah. Are you okay about what happened back there?” Amane had to shield her eyes from the sun as she talked to him.

  “Why wouldn’t I be? I’m not stupid you know.” George sat down beside Amane, apparently satisfied that nothing was going to jump out at them for the time being.

  “Sometimes dad used to go away for work: Hong Kong, Singapore, places like that. When he went, he used to say to me, ‘you’re the man of the house now, son. Look after your mother and sister for me.’ I didn’t really get that until now. I didn’t do a very good job either. Mum’s dead. Lucy’s dead. There’s only me left.” He idly kicked at a piece of frayed rope lying on the deck.

  “Well, I think your dad would be proud of you, George. What happened to your mum and Lucy was out of your control. But you helped me, didn’t you? You’ve got to think about the future, George. You can’t help them now. But you can help me and Evan. And you can help yourself.”

  “Mmm.” George picked up the frayed rope and looked around. He couldn’t see much over the riverbank. Occasionally, a tall building would peek over, and he could see smoke, but that was all. In another time, this would have been a beautiful day to cruise down the river. Today, he felt as if someone had opened the gates from another world and unleashed hell. Today was the first day he was able to see things for what they were. Evan and Amane were nice but they couldn’t help him. They couldn’t protect him. Amane was right. He had to think about the future now.

  “How did Lily die?” he asked. “She was pretty cool. I liked her.”

  Amane let out a huge sigh. “I don’t really know, George, and I don’t want to know. All I know is that he is responsible for it.” She looked at the Father with hatred.

  “Lily was my friend. I wish we could have protected her but...sometimes things don’t go as you planned. We talked a lot. She asked about you. She thought maybe you were my son!”

  George laughed. “No offence, but do I look like you?”

  “Not very much,” laughed Amane. “She missed her family as well you know. She was a bit like you I thought. I miss her.”

  George let the silence hang in the air for a minute, the water splashing by the boat and the sun beating down refreshing him. He found the heat invigorating.

  “What happened to her family?” he asked.

  “Well, she lost her mother. When all this started, her mum went out and just never came back.” Amane didn’t feel the need to give George all the details.

  “And her dad too?” George threw the useless frayed rope into the river.

  “Not quite. Her dad was a politician. He was, or is, in Canberra. She actually believed he might still be alive, even after all this. She said they built a bunker there. I don’t know if it’s true. Sounds plausible I suppose. What do you think?”

  George mulled it over before answering. “I believe her. Why would she lie? It’s a good idea. We’ve got a safe room back home and it’s got enough food and water to last six months. If my dad thought of that for us, then imagine what they’d do at parliament.”

  Amane was glad George was talking, sounding more like his old self. She had to get him to focus on the future and not dwell on the past.

  “She told me something else too; something that I haven’t told anyone else.” Amane lowered her voice, noting that Evan and the Father were still out of earshot over at the tiller. “Can you keep a secret, George?”

  He nodded enthusiastically.

  “Well, she told me that before we lost power, you know, all the mobile phones, and TV’s and everything, that she had a phone call at home. Before we picked her up, her dad called her from Canberra. It was very brief and she couldn’t hear well: too much background noise at both ends. She told me that her dad had said there was a plan. They had an idea how to deal with all the zombies. It was something about burning them. He’d said, ‘From the centre we’ll start a fire and burn them all out.’ I’m not sure what that means exactly. She was confused too. Her dad got cut off and that was the last she heard from him. She didn’t get to find out where he is or what was going on. The next day, we picked her up and that was that.”

  “Wow,” said George. “I think we should definitely go to Canberra. Think about it, Amane, if there is a bunker there, then they’ll be safe: Lily’s dad and all the policemen. We can hide with them and when the zombies have gone, we’ll come out and we can go back to normal again.”

  “I’ll tell you what I told Lily, that maybe, we’ll go there, but only after we’ve found Evan’s kids. We’re better off sticking together right now. If we start splitting up, we’ll get nowhere. Once we get to Tasmania, we can regroup and work out a plan, okay? Right now, there’s too many of them, and too few of us to get anywhere. Do you understand, George?” Amane put her arms around him.

  “Yeah, I guess so.” He stood up, shrugging off Amane’s arm. “I’m going to keep watch. I’m okay. I just want to make sure the coast is clear. If you know what I mean.”

  “Okay, mate.” Amane stood up and gave him a reassuring smile. “Shout if you see anything or need anything, yeah?”

  George didn’t answer. He had plenty to think about and wanted to be on his own. Amane walked up to Evan who was steering the boat. Father Thomas was slumped down in the cabin, next to George’s backpack, sheltering from the blistering sun, holding his arm.

  “How’s it going, sailor?” she said smiling at Evan, mock-saluting him.

  “Not bad actually,” he said, concentrating on the river’s path ahead. “He showed me how to work the engine, how to steer. I think I’ve got the hang of it. It might be a bit early to put me behind the wheel of an ocean liner though.”

  They slipped under a low bridge, the shadow cooling them instantly, before sending them back on their way into the heat of the day.

  “How’s Father Thomas doing?” Amane stood beside Evan, watching how he handled the wheel.

  “Don’t ask. Physically, he’s banged up, but he’ll live. Mentally..?” Evan shook his head. “He’s on a different planet. I had to make him go inside, he was doing my head in. He kept telling me how the kingdom of heaven was lost to mankind. He said we are being punished for our sins so the angels won’t let us into heaven anymore. That’s why when we die we’re still walking the Earth, apparently. I think he was trying to inspire awe in me. Put the fear of God into me. All he inspired was the desire to throw him overboard.”

  “So what’s the plan now? We can’t take him with us. Well we could, but we’re not going to, right?” Amane looked up at Evan earnestly.

  “You’re right, we’re not. But can you just leave him here? Could you really throw him into the lion’s den? I was full of big plans about how I was going to kill him, but now? If we do, we’re stooping to his level. We can’t take him to the police: there aren’t any. I say, when we reach the city, we find a bigger and better boat that will get you, George, and me, to Tasmania. We’ll leave him there and he can fend for himself, do whatever he likes.”

  “I suppose.” Amane leant her head against Evan’s strong shoulders. “How long do you think ‘til we reach the city?”

  “At this speed, about an hour. There are plenty of marina’s where, if there are any left, we should be able to find a boat. He says the owners sometimes leave keys in the harbour master’s hut. Keep your finger’s crossed is all I can say.”

  Evan paused, feeling Amane’s head on his shoulder. It felt normal. It was the first time since he had woken up at the airport that anything had felt remotely normal. In that moment, he was eternally pleased he had met her; doing this alone would be horrific. With he
r at his side, he felt stronger, more courageous and purposeful. He could talk to her as if he’d known her his whole life. It was difficult to grieve for his wife. However, the many years they had spent together were all condensed into the briefest of memories.

  Time passed slowly as they wound their way down the river. The embankment began to flatten out and they chugged through more and more built-up areas. They could see more buildings and roads now. The bridges overhead grew bigger and were full of dead traffic and dead drivers. The odd zombie appeared at the sides of the bridges and stared at them, but could not threaten them from so far away. The boat glided past tantalisingly out of reach.

  Finally, nearing the city, Evan spied a marina and the masts of yachts. As they drew closer, he saw that there were indeed some boats still around. The harbour itself appeared deserted, but beyond it, the streets were, as usual, clogged with cars and dead bodies, some animated, some not. Buildings burnt alongside perfectly preserved shops and blood-splattered high-rises. He slowed the boat down and turned off the engine so they could drift a little closer without making any noise.

  “What do you think?” asked Amane. George was putting their only backpack on, whilst the incongruous Father staggered to his feet to look at the city.

  “I think I don’t know what the hell we are doing,” said Evan. “Look for the harbour masters hut if you can. I’d say our best bet is if only one of us goes ashore. We grab as many keys as possible and try the yachts until we get lucky. If we don’t, then we carry on. If we do, then we go now. No point hanging around.”

  They scanned the harbour looking at the boats standing tall and proud. Sails flapped briskly in the wind and the whole city seemed remarkably quiet. They sailed closer, keeping a keen eye out for danger. Twenty feet from the dock, Evan saw a hut.

  “That it?” he said to the Father pointing it out.

  “Yep. Come on, let’s hurry, I’m sick of being cooped up on this shitty thing,” said Father Thomas nursing his arm.