Escape From Dead City

by John McCuaig

  “What the hell did you do to him?” Mary shouted as she edged up to get a closer look. “He’s not going to last for long all shot up like that.” Then she realized that it would take a lot more than just blood loss to finish it off.

  Her voice had dropped down to barely a whisper by the time she next spoke. “Thank you Colonel, and now would you please get some of your men to take it down to the mess hall and secure it permanently in there? That’s where we’ll be rebuilding our laboratory; it’s by far the largest room on board.”

  “Off course ma’am,” he said with more than a hint of sarcasm as he nodded to the men at his side. They took his silent orders, grabbed hold of the ropes and quickly dragged the zombie away and out of view.

  Page and Mary just stood looking at each other as they heard the main engines kick into life below them.

  “That sounds a bit better Harry. Can you please get us moving now?” she said, trying to change the subject.

  “Well, that’s the plan,” he mumbled as he turned and went back up towards the wheelhouse. “I’ll go up and see how long it’ll be.”

  The HMS Clyde roared with life and power as it moved well away from the pier while the Colonel was climbing the stairs. Glancing back down, he saw the undead were still toppling off the concrete into the water as they frantically sought to get aboard for a taste of warm flesh. It sure was a sight to behold; there must have been a couple of thousand of the monsters down below him. He saw that Pauline and Gordon, along with a few of the others, were standing silently over by the railings, watching as the undead horde started to disappear out of sight.

  “We’ve done it, darling,” Gordon said as his arm wrapped around Pauline’s shoulder and pulled her as close as possible. “We’re safe now, both us and your sister.”

  “I sure hope you’re right,” she said as she returned his tight but still tender cuddle. “But Gordon, I ain’t gonna start counting our chickens just yet. Not until we are all safe and sound and standing on solid ground over in France.”

  “I’d guess it’ll still be a few hours before we get right across the channel. I’m going to go up and see if I can help them out in the wheelhouse somehow.” After another little kiss on her head, Gordon left her and headed up the stairs after the soldiers.

  Pauline did not hang around either; she went down the stairs to the compartments to see if she could speak to Mary. She wanted to know what her plans were going to be now.

  ***

  17:05 P.M

  Inside the new lab

  Passing through the low passageways, Pauline entered the old mess hall and heard its call. However, she knew straight away that the noise from this new undead specimen sounded far different to that of the poor boy they had left back on the train. Entering the mess hall, she saw they had him trussed up on a wall so that it could be examined easily and as safely as possible.

  Getting a little bit closer, she saw its eyes were stuck staring down to the ground. It was not as she expected, and watching its approaching prey. Also, it did not deeply groan, all of its moans were low and subdued.

  “What the hell is up with this one?” Pauline asked the Professor who was busy scribbling down some notes in a little black book. “It sounds and looks somehow...not right.” She immediately knew just how crazy that must have sounded.

  “I’m not too sure,” Mary replied, not bothering to lift her eyes up from her book. “It’s all a little weird. It appears to be dying for some reason, and it can’t be just due to its wounds. We’ve all seen plenty of the undead with injuries that are just as bad or in fact much worse.”

  Pauline got herself as close as she dared, examining its limbs, she confirmed that they were now useless, bones and muscle were detached and each was just held in place by thin strings of putrid tendons and skin. There was not much blood to be seen either, its heart had long since stopped by the time the bullets had cut through its body. Her own heart felt like it skipped a beat as her eyes moved up and came into contact with its. For just a couple of seconds, it stared at her with its grey, clouded eyes until they gently dropped down towards the floor once again.

  Slowly stepping backwards, Pauline stopped beside Mary and whispered. “It’s somehow giving up.”

  “What?” the Professor replied, at last breaking away from her little book. “What are you talking about my child?”

  “I said I think it’s giving up,” Pauline grabbed Mary by the arm. “Just think about it for a minute. Somehow, it knows it’s never going to be a threat to us, that it will never be able feed on flesh again. I know how stupid that must sound Professor, but it’s the only answer I’ve got.”

  Mary looked over at the undead sailor, looking deep into its still, blank face. “It no longer has a purpose left,” she muttered. “The virus forces the host to search out and infect new victims, to continue to spread its self. If it can’t do that, then what is the use in it even continuing? My god, you are a clever girl, I think you may be onto something there.” Frantically she scribbled away in her book again before calling over a couple of her staff to assist.

  Pauline just left them to it, she found herself a nice comfy chair and sat there for a while watching the commotion grow wildly around her. Somehow, she felt a little better, better than at any time since this nightmare had started.

  It then slowly dawned on her why, it was seeing the beast suffer that was making her feel better.

  12- Onwards across the sea

  19:45 P.M

  Halfway across the English Channel

  “Mayday...mayday,” Gordon repeated the unanswered call on the ships fancy looking radio. All through his attempts, he kept turning all the dials and flicking the lines of switches, he did not have a clue what he was doing but he just needed to be trying something. However, it did not matter what he did, whatever he attempted, all he got in return was a steady blast of static. He was still unsure of the reason why. He even asked some of the army guys for help but it turned out their only man trained as a radio operator was killed way back at the industrial estate.

  Margot came in and joined him over at the equipment.

  “Hey Margot,” he said as he flashed a little smile. “How are you holding up?”

  “Not too bad, thanks Gordon,” she said as she perched herself up on a tall seat beside him. “What are you up to?”

  He spent the next few minutes telling her about the radio and his total lack of knowledge and success.

  “So are you and my sister serious then,” she said, changing the subject in a flash. “I mean are you two the real thing, is it going to be wedding bells and all that.”

  Gordon nervously sniggered and smiled. “I’m probably not the best person you should be asking about this,” he said. “Are you sure you shouldn’t be talking about this with Pauline?”

  “So I take it that’s a no then?”

  “No...I mean no it’s not a no,” Gordon stuttered. “It’s just that it’s a wee bit more complicated than that. Anyway, I think we have got a bit more to worry about for now instead of thinking of any wedding plans.”

  “Ah, I see,” she said. “You want it to happen but you somehow think that she doesn’t. So come on tell me, have you even spoken to her about it.”

  “Hey, you come on,” he laughed back at her. “You’re worse than the Colonel with all your damn questions!”

  “Okay...okay,” she said as she hopped down off the stool. “But let me warn you this, you aren’t getting away with it that easy, mister doctor man. I’ll find out if your intentions are honorable or not one day soon. I’ve got to look after my big sister you know.”

  They shared another laugh as she left him alone with the still crackling radio. Looking down at it, he felt like chucking it all in, but soon enough, he picked up the mike to try again, and again.

  ***

  20:00 P.M

  Back up on deck

  “Over there,” one of the soldiers high up on the bridge shouted out. “Look, everyone, over there!” He ke
pt pointing away over to his left and hollering. All of the last survivors aboard scrambled over to that side of the ship and peered out into the dimly lit distance. “It looks like some sort of car ferry,” he called out again as he watched its journey through his field binoculars. “And it seems to be heading away from France!”

  Colonel Page and Mary were deep in conversation by the time Pauline joined them up on the observation deck. As she moved towards them, Page left the Professor alone and went over to the side to talk to a small group of his men.

  “What the hell do you think they’re up to?” Pauline asked as she walked up to about six feet away from Mary and joined her in peering out into the gloomy distance. “Why are they heading this way, surely it would be safer for them to just stay where they were? They must have heard by now what’s been going on back at home?”

  “And that was actually my very question as well my dear,” Mary came over to stand directly beside the doctor and rested her weary arms on top of the railings too. “The Colonel here thinks they may be coming over on some sort of a rescue mission.”

  Pauline and Mary just looked at each other; they both knew only too well that any sort of rescue mission would not be led by some decrepit, forty year old car ferry.

  “So what are we going to do now?” Pauline asked as her attention was drawn away to the newly formed group of soldiers standing around Page, obediently awaiting their orders. She felt more than a little uneasy at this sight.

  “Well it seems that we’re going to be moving towards it, he’s already told the wheelhouse to change our direction,” Mary replied, not even attempting to hide the sadness that was in her voice anymore. “He wants to go over and see for himself who’s on board. I guess that he’s just clutching at whatever last few straws we have left.” She then moved back away from her and headed over towards the stairs, before stopping for a second and slowly turning back to look at her again.

  “I’ll see you in a little while, my dear girl. I’ve got some work that I need to be getting on with. I want to check on how our new specimen is doing.”

  Pauline also went down the stairs just after her, but this was to go and get both Gordon and Margot together and up on the observation deck to watch as the car ferry approached. She wanted them both to be there when this big ship got close. She needed them to be at her side when it arrived.

  Once together, they all stood up on the deck in an eerie silence, and they just watched and waited.

  ***

  20:45 P.M

  Outside the wheel house

  “Still no sign of anyone on board yet, sir,” the soldier with the binoculars called out as they gently eased to within a couple of hundred yards of the tall red and white ship. “I can’t see a single person up on the deck. I guess they haven’t see us coming yet.”

  “I don’t like the look of this,” Gordon mumbled, as the huge vessel got closer and closer towards them. “For Christ’s sake he must realize that we need to get the frigging hell away from it now.” For once, Pauline totally agreed with him, this time he was not just being his usual nervous self. She thought about speaking to the Colonel but she also knew she would just be wasting her time.

  “Get us a bit closer,” Page shouted to his man in the wheelhouse. “We’ve got to make contact with them.”

  Their ship’s mighty engines roared again as it edged itself nearer and nearer to the massive hull of the car ferry until they were close enough to see its name painted on the side- it was called ‘The Pride of Kent’.

  “For God’s sake man, surely its plain enough for even you to see that there’s no one alive on there,” Gordon had seen more than enough. He had to try something; he marched over to join the Colonel. Page was peering down over the railings; standing below them on the deck was all of the other scientists. They had come up from down below to see for themselves what was happening, it seemed that they needed a little bit of good news after the shitty day they had just had.

  Gordon was still ranting at the old soldier. “We need to keep our distance from that ship. Come on Colonel…Harry; please I’m begging you, get us the hell away from here.” As he appeared to be at last thinking the exact same thing, his man up in the wheelhouse started shouting again.

  “Sir, I can see some movement,” with his free hand, he was pointing up to the section of deck which was now almost directly above them. “Someone is making their way over; they’re almost at the edge now.”

  Everyone else on the little ship strained their neck up trying to get a glimpse of whom he had spotted. They did not have to wait for long to see him for themselves, he fell right onto the deck beside them.

  With a heavy thud, the undead man landed near the huddled group of scientists. They could hear both of its legs or ankles snap from the high fall but even so, the zombie still attempted to crawl towards its prey. As it moved slowly in its prone position, all could see that its once crisp white shirt and trousers were plastered in a heavy mix of blood and guts. One of the soldiers ran over and fired a short burst from his machine gun directly into its head. Within a wispy cloud of blood, its brains flew wide and far across the wooden planks.

  “Shit!” Screaming came down from the high up soldier. He turned and hollered towards the packed wheelhouse. “We need to go now, just hurry the fuck up. Move it!”

  The engines started to roar into action once again and they tried to back the ship away, however, they were not nearly quick enough to escape from what was coming. Looking up everyone could see that the crew and passengers from The Pride of Kent were already arriving.

  They joined them in a blur. A massive waterfall of dead flesh flowed down towards the living from high up on the ferry. Scores and scores of the undead had appeared from deep within the bowels of the mighty ship to gladly jump over the railings and pummel down for the chance to get to the plentiful food below. Most of them missed their intended target and fell straight into the welcoming sea, but at least a couple of dozen of the undead made it aboard. Now the little supply ship had an army of the zombies scrambling around on its deck or grabbing a hold of the steel railings and attempting to pull themselves on board.

  The second they landed, two of the zombies got a good hold of the fat, hairy scientist that used to carry out the inspections. They showed a bit more vigor than he was used to and wasted no time in feasting away upon his warm and inviting flesh. Their hungry mouths bit down onto his neck and face, bright red blood spraying up and all over their bland, colorless skin. No one could hear his petrified screams for help above the rabid calls of the undead and the heavy sounds of gunfire.

  Not everyone aboard ran away from the undead. Colonel Page walked right towards them firing his pistol. Once again his expert aim hitting the beasts heads as they crawled and staggered between the panicking, dodging and terrified civilians. Taking his example, the rest of the close by soldiers came forward too, their machine guns blasting away as they walked. However, their aim was nowhere near the skill level of their Colonel, their bullets were indiscriminate. Once more, the army was doing as fine a good job of killing the living as the zombies were. Again, they did not care, as long as they destroyed the threat, it did not matter one iota what else got in their way.

  “Colonel, please…no!” Mary screamed out from behind them, her voice struggling to be heard. “They’re hitting my people, please stop them! I need them alive.”

  Page’s eyes glanced at Professor Doyle then back at the carnage before him, he seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before he gave the order.

  “Hold your fire, lads. Give the civilians a chance to get away,” he hollered to his men but a couple still fired away, seemingly oblivious to his words. “Hey, I told you to stop firing!” He grabbed the closest one by the scruff of his collar. “Don’t you dare ignore me boy,” he coldly whispered in his ear. “I’ll be keeping a close eye on you from now on soldier. I promise if you ever do that again I’ll feed your sorry soul to a zombie myself.”

  The teenage soldier just n
odded. He was far more scared of his leader than the blood hungry beasts ahead.

  With the bullets stopped, the eight civilians that were left took the chance to get by the crawling beasts, or rather the ones who were not already feeding away on their twitching colleagues. One woman was tripped up as she ran; one of the undead snatched at her ankle and pulled her down as if a lion would to a gazelle. The rest of the pack immediately pounced on the fallen prey, as the woman struggled and fought with them they tore into her throat with their teeth. It was not too long before she thankfully stopped moving.

  “Move your frigging arses, people,” Page screamed at the last of the running scientists. “Hurry up or I’ll kill you all myself!”

  However, no words or threats could have made them move any faster. He took a quick glance at each of them as they darted by; he was checking them for any signs that they were infected. The one who used to do the checks now lay dead before him. In only a matter of a few seconds the alive were past him and Page started with the firing again. With a wave of his hand, he ordered the rest of his men to join him in cleansing the deck of the boat.

  When the bullets stopped again, the whole boat was full of the smell of diesel fumes, sulphur, and blood, but most of all death. The air was also alive with the sounds of crying along with their calls of anguish, but none of this could stop Page and his own call of duty.

  “Get them all over the side,” he ordered to his men as he pointed to the carnage. “That’s every single one of them, be they zombie or not.”

  As his men edged closer to the piles of bodies and once again, they fired a shot into each of the still bodies, one single shot blown into each unmoving head. Again, the Colonel did not want to take any more chances, he did not want one of the undead to suddenly move and attack his men as they grabbed a hold.

  Nervously his men disposed of the bodies, one grabbing the arms with another on the legs as they threw them into the angry and hungry sea. It took them quite a while to get the twenty-six zombies and eight dead scientists off of their boat, however even then Page was not finished with the clean-up yet.