Escape From Dead City

by John McCuaig

  “Right lads,” he pointed to two of his men, one of them was the young one who disobeyed his order earlier. “Go and get yourselves some mops and buckets and clean this frigging mess up.” With an outstretched hand, he gestured towards the many shiny pools of blood and guts that were left dotted around on the wooden deck after the carnage. “I want it to be spotless by the time I get back.” Turning around he left them to it as he went over to see Mary.

  The Professor was trying her best to reassure the remainders of her research team, they were now down to just a dozen poor souls from the twenty who started this day. And this small number even included her new guests, Pauline, Margot and Gordon.

  “Would everyone just please calm down for a minute,” she pleaded to them as a couple openly wept, but for some she could see the deep anger was already setting in. “We’re nearly there people, just keep it together for a little while longer and we’ll all be safe soon enough.”

  “Safe!” Ben Holmes, the old dour faced researcher pushed himself forward through the others to come face to face with her. “Please tell us where the hell we will be safe? That damn boat came from France you fool!”

  “We don’t know that for certain,” Mary mumbled back. “It might have been coming over from England and when the infected took over, it turned back.”

  “Oh I see,” Ben laughed out loud. “Well there you go, I never realized that the zombies could steer a boat. Fucking hell, they’re sure a lot cleverer than we thought.” The others around him nodded and seemed to agree with his view. “So Professor Doyle, are you going to tell us what the hell are we going to do now?”

  Before she had a chance to answer him, another sobbing voice opened up way to her left. Turning around, her old heart must have felt like it had broken on seeing the sight standing before her.

  “Ma’am,” the young researcher Chloe was calling out from near the ships side rail. “Please...you need to help me. I don’t want to die...please Professor Doyle…please.”

  She was holding her left arm way out in front. A fairly small but fresh bite mark was clearly visible and set high up on her forearm. Everyone stared at her, they all knew her fate was certain, soon she too would become one of the undead horde.

  Mary saw the young woman’s pain only too clearly, immediately she went over to comfort her and held her tightly, as the river of tears soaked into her shoulder.

  “Please move away from her now, Professor. I’ll deal with this,” Colonel Page marched over to them with his faithful gun already back in his hand. “You know the rules ma’am; it was you who made them up after all.” Stopping about six feet away from them, he raised the gun up and aimed at the young girls head. “I think moving now would be a good idea.”

  “Don’t let him shoot me,” Chloe sobbed, trying to hide herself behind Mary’s back as she peered over her shoulder. “Please ma’am, do something, just stop him.”

  Mary immediately held her hand up and spoke as softly as she could to the stern faced Page. “Just wait a minute Colonel, please,” she said, as she made doubly sure she was still positioned between them. “You can at least wait for a minute.”

  “Get out of the way, Professor,” he snapped back. “I’m going to shoot her whether you’re holding her or not. I can only imagine you don’t want to be splattered by her infected blood. I’m sure that you wouldn’t like that at all.” Edging over to his left he tried to get a better position to fire, his gun constantly held up at the ready.

  “I said wait for just one damn minute!” Mary screamed as she continued to use her body as a shield. “Look at her. She’s only a child, Colonel. Just let me speak to her for a minute, give her at least that.”

  With a little shake of his head, he dropped his arm down to his side. “Okay ma’am, but make sure it’s only for a minute. All you’re doing is putting off the inevitable.” His other arm came up this time and he looked down at his watch. Mary knew only too well the poor girl had just sixty seconds left, she doubted she would be able to stop Page again.

  “I’m so sorry my dear,” Mary said to Chloe as she pushed her away just far enough so that she could look right into her eyes. “We have no other choice. You must know it’s far too risky to keep you with us. You must prepare yourself now my dear, it’s almost time.” Her eyes glanced back over to the still waiting Colonel.

  “Wait...I’ve got an idea ma’am, you can just tie me up beside the other one downstairs,” she was still pleading to her, those streams of tears still racing each other down her bright rosy cheeks. “You can all study me and try out some of those new experiments that we’ve been planning. You can watch the infection as it spreads through me first hand. It’ll give you a load of new information to work with, stuff that we’ve never had before. When you brought David back to the train he was already dead, think about all that you could learn from me.”

  “But you’ll still die,” Mary shook her head; she had gotten a soft spot for the girl and now hated seeing her plead. “And I can assure you what you’re suggesting would be a lot more painful than a bullet from the Colonel. I’m sorry my child, but no.”

  Dropping down to her knees Chloe wrapped her arms around Mary’s thin legs. “I don’t care about that,” she screamed. “Please, just let my death be worth something ma’am. Remember my family and why I told you I was here. Everything that I do is for them.” Her puppy dog eyes stared up at the Professor.

  “It’s time,” Page said as he raised his gun once more and stepped forward. “Please move away.”

  Mary turned to face him. “She’s right; it would be useful to study her, Colonel. We would learn a lot, how the virus works right from the start of the infection. Perhaps we should let her do it.”

  “It’s time, just move away,” was all he said again.

  “No,” snapping back she pulled Chloe up to her feet. “We’ll tie her up with the other one downstairs. I promise you she’ll not be a danger to anyone. I’ll make sure of it Harry, you need to trust me on this.”

  For what seemed like an eternity, the Colonel and the Professor stared at each other, both deciding whether they would be the one to back down. After the long silence, it was the Colonel who was the first to blink; dropping his gun to his side he slowly shook his head.

  “Okay Professor, if that’s what you want, but I suggest that you get that thing down to your lab and tied up before something else goes wrong around here.” He summoned over three of his soldiers as he holstered his gun. “These men will go along with you, just in case it gets any crazy ideas and tries to escape.”

  Chloe started crying again, this time it was because of what he said. She was already being called an ‘it’.

  “Come with me, child,” Mary put her arm gently around young Chloe’s shoulders. “Let’s get you down below, I promise that I’ll make you as comfortable as I possibly can.” Together and under the stare of the rest of the soldiers and passengers of the HMS Clyde, they set off towards the stairs.

  Just before the little doorway, Chloe caught sight of Ben Holmes. He still stood at the front of the crowd to ensure that he got a good look at what was going on.

  “Don’t worry about me,” she called over to him. “It’s what I want to do, Ben.” He never replied, one look at her and her still bleeding arm made his eyes drop to the ground, he just ignored her completely.

  “Ben,” she shouted, “Please, will you come down and see me before it’s too late, please can you just do that for me.” He did his best to ignore her pleas, his eyes never moved from staring at the deck. Once she had disappeared down the staircase, Ben marched right over to Colonel Page.

  “You should’ve killed her,” he snarled towards the old soldier, not bothering to hide his disgust. “I don’t care what the hell the Professor said, that poor girl doesn’t deserve to die like one of them.”

  It was the Colonel’s turn to ignore a plea.

  ***

  22:05 P.M

  Inside the mess hall of the HMS Clyde

 
; “You must try to be brave my dear,” Mary said to Chloe as she watched the soldiers roughly lash her arms tightly to an overhead pipe. They were in a hurry and her comfort or pain was the last thing on their minds. “I’ll be right here beside you every inch of the way.”

  Mary’s eyes glanced to the left. The other beast would also be right at her side too.

  “I’m getting really cold,” Chloe said as the infection began to surge throughout her body. “It’s a damn quick little bugger, I’ll give it that,” she said with a forced little smile. She then began to tell Mary where they had got to with the new experiments and what the results were so far, again they were all coming back negative.

  “Please, there’s no need to talk anymore,” Mary whispered to her as she saw her starting to struggle to talk. “Just keep your strength up my dear, just keep on fighting.” With another little nod to her side, one of the other scientists came across and gagged the girl’s mouth tightly. “I’m so sorry about this, Chloe,” she softly continued, barely able even to look at her while they did it. “But you must understand that we’ve got to protect ourselves as well.”

  Four of the scientists came over and started taking samples from their colleague; this was the second time they had to do this after working on the one they called David. Blood, skin and various other bits of D.N.A were carefully removed and placed into a range of slides, test tubes and bottles. All through this, they never once looked up at the face of their friend, even when the shakes started. They were low and irregular at first but grew faster and stronger by the second.

  “Mark them up,” Mary told them with a twang of sadness vibrating deep in her voice. “I then want the exact same samples taken once she’s dead and then the same again once she has been reanimated.” She looked at Chloe as she grew closer and closer to her death. “We need to see what, if any, differences there are during the three stages.”

  However, Mary was acting quite different to the rest of them. For during all this sad time, not once did her eyes move away from looking at the girl, the brave young girl that she hardly knew. Over to her left there was another pair of eyes that were also locked on Chloe, the zombie not three feet away was watching her life slip away too. It grunted and groaned, and it seemed to the others that this deadly little show had given the dead sailor another lease of ‘life’.

  “I see that you’re getting yourself a bit of a collection down here,” the Colonel spoke out as soon as he entered the mess hall. Without asking for any permission, he carefully inspected the bonds securing both the beast and the quickly dying young girl. He nodded over to the two soldiers that had followed him in and they took up their positions near the main doorway.

  “What the hell are you up to now, Harry?” Mary had at last changed her line of sight; something else was now the focal point of her anger. “And what are those men doing down here in my lab?”

  “Having those things on the train was bad enough,” Page said as he still watched the zombies. “But I’m not taking any more chances while we’re stuck in the middle of the sea on this damn boat. My men will be staying in here twenty-four seven just to keep an eye on things. And let me tell you if it starts to get out of hand...well, let’s just say that they’ve got their orders.”

  Mary thought about arguing with him but saw in his eyes that it would be no more than futile. Anyway, she had more important things to take care of for now.

  “You just do whatever the hell you want,” she snapped back. “Just make sure that they keep well out of our way.” She turned away from him and watched the last few wild, pain riddled convulsions of Chloe. She no longer worried about the smirking Colonel.

  Getting a little closer, she checked for a pulse and found, as she suspected, that the girl had at last passed away, the Newtonmore Seven virus had taken yet another victim. With a little wave of her hand, the other scientists moved in and began to take their second set of samples. They worked as fast as they possibly could, they did not want it coming back to life just as they were cutting it up.

  “Goodbye my brave little girl,” Mary whispered under her breath as she slumped down on a comfy chair and waited for her to fully turn.

  Glancing back to get another look at the Colonel, to see if he was enjoying the little show, Mary found he had already left them to it. However, just as he had promised, his two men remained behind.

  Good, she thought, she could at least have some time with Chloe without Page looking over her shoulder.

  Suddenly, the two scientists stepped back and away from Chloe. Her head was slowly rising to face the ones cutting away at her skin. Her bonds strained tight as she pushed herself towards her attackers. They held secure which caused Chloe to twist and pull as she fought to free herself.

  “I’m so sorry,” Mary said as she rose and stood directly before the young girl. “I should have protected you better my dear.” Without thinking, her hand went up and stroked Chloe’s still slightly warm cheek. Those once bright eyes were now a cloudy grey and bore deep into Mary’s with hatred and hunger. “I promise your sacrifice will not be in vain, I promise you we will find the cure.”

  Turning away, she nodded again to the waiting scientists and they carried on with their work and removed the fresh specimens from the now moving cadaver.

  Mary slumped back down on her chair and fought back her tears.

  ***

  22:35 P.M

  Up on the observation deck

  Staring out to the open water, Pauline could not see a thing, the night had fallen and thick, low clouds kept away any light from the moon or stars. She was now feeling way too tired, it had been about thirty odd hours since she woke up ready for her night shift at the hospital, and it was now quickly catching up on her. However, even just the thought of sleep brought a shiver racing down her spine. She had seen far too much killing and destruction today to try and grab her own little slice of death.

  “Hey,” Gordon said as he joined her at the railings and peered into the dark sea below them. “So how are you doing darling?”

  “Hey,” she replied, flashing over a halfhearted smile. “Not too bad thanks, how about yourself?”

  “Having a ball,” he sniggered. “I must say that I haven’t enjoyed myself so much in ages.” She did not laugh at this feeble attempt at a joke; once again, he was pushing it just a little too far.

  “Where’s Margot got to?” she said as she looked around for her sister.

  “She’s hanging out down in the mess hall, lab or whatever they want to call it now,” he said. “I guess she’s there because it’s now the busiest place on the ship. I think she just wants to be around some real people for a while, even if there’s also a couple of dead ones twitching around down there.”

  “What do you think we’ll find when we get over to France?” she said turning around slightly, making sure Margot did not suddenly appear as they chatted. “That ferry seems to prove that they must be deep in the shit as well.”

  “I don’t know darling, sorry but I honestly don’t have a clue. It could have been originally from England like Page said and was just going around in circles until we found it.”

  “And what about the radio then?” she muttered. “How come then no one is answering us? For Christ’s sake Gordon, there should be someone, somewhere that can hear us. Think about it man, you must have tried every bloody frequency on the planet.”

  “As I said I don’t bloody know,” he snapped back as he himself now looked out into the dark distance. He did not want to think about what they may find out there. “Anyway we should be hitting the coast in less than an hour. I guess we’ll be finding out the answer soon enough.”

  The two lovers just stood there peering into the darkness, their hands moved towards each other along the railings and tightly entwined.

  13- Arriving in France

  23.40 P.M

  Entering the port of Calais

  As the ship slowly entered the wide-open mouth of the port, they soon saw some lights on
land. There were plenty of those bright orange streetlights on, and quite a few of the buildings were lit up both inside and out. However, there were still no signs of any life to be seen. It was like some sort of ghost town.

  Both Mary and Colonel Page were now making their way up to the observation deck and they both came to a stand pretty close to where Pauline and Gordon were.

  “It doesn’t look too good I’m afraid,” Gordon spoke to Mary, but also made damn sure that the Colonel could hear him. “I’ve been over here quite a few times before and it’s always been a hive of activity, even this late at night. It’s more than damn creepy ma’am, I can’t see anyone around- either alive or dead.”

  “Perhaps we should just leave now, just get away to somewhere else?” Pauline said to Mary. “Come on, we can all see for ourselves that there’s going to be nothing but bad news here for us.”

  Page got back on his faithful little radio. “Wheel house,” he turned his back to the others but they could still hear every word he said. “Get us closer lad, get us right up to the dock, we’re going to need to get a closer look.” As he twisted back towards them, he spoke to Mary again before she had a chance to say anything.

  “We’re not going anywhere until I’ve got the proof one way or the other what’s been going on here.” Without waiting for a reply, he marched back over towards the line of his amassed men.

  “And here I was thinking you were the one in charge of this mission,” Pauline said to Mary, the disdain clearly vibrating in her voice. “Well I’ve got to say it sure don’t frigging look like it to me, ma’am.”

  “We’ll just have to let him find out the truth for himself, my dear,” she whispered back. “As I told you earlier, everyone changes. I’m just giving him a bit of room until he realizes that my way is the right way, and the only way.”

  “And perhaps you’re changing as well? Have you thought about that?”