If that wasn’t enough, at the end of this strip was a gap between the counter and the corridor opposite that left them completely exposed to the twitchers. They would have to look for a chance and quickly dash across the opening without being seen.
Taking a deep breath, they decided do or die, with Edward going first and as quietly as possible, slowly sweeping the broken glass out of the way to widen the gaps for Christine and Martha to follow behind. There wasn’t a chance in hell Martha would make it across the obstacle course of glass without drawing attention to herself or harming herself.
Occasionally the twitchers would look around and almost catch a glimpse of them, but with their hearts pounding, the three managed to make it across the first chapter of the complexed series of obstacles, now only confronted with traversing that exposed gap.
Christine went first, more agile than he, the lesser of Edward’s concerns and a pillar of aid and assistance from the other side of the gap. She made it across without being spotted and turned to beckon her hesitant mother.
A terrified Martha however, missed every available opportunity to run across, paranoid she would be spotted, so by the time she did take the chance and cross over to the other side, the twitchers were already becoming less distracted.
Edward remained now and opportunities to cross were fewer and farther between. He desperately needed a new distraction.
The glass! He could throw the glass and create a distraction.
He picked up a handful of broken glass from behind him and tossed it a safe distance way beyond where the twitchers stood, successfully temporarily distracting them with a loud enough clatter of noise.
Unbeknownst to him, his little deterrent had inadvertently attracted the attention of twitchers on the opposite side, that in the moment of bright ideas, he hadn’t stopped to consider.
Neither of them spotted the twitcher until it was already too late, a small creepy girl with an open laceration at her neck, stood face to face with them, just as he scrambled to cross the gap. They all froze, transfixed to their spots as she stood there glaring at them dead eyed and twitching erratically.
Everything in Edward compelled him to grab the other two and sprint, rightfully so, for no sooner did he bolt past her and grab his wife and mother-in-law’s hands, the girl threw her head back and screamed as loud as her lungs would allow, sending chills right down their spines and filling them with a sense of dread, the likes of which only the harbinger of death herself could instil.
Like hell opening its gates, twitchers from every direction stampeded towards them.
“Run! Fucking run!” Edward screamed.
4:28pm - 3 hours, 18 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
Things on the other end had developed significantly, with the group of survivors finally laying down their arms, giving them passage to the lifeboat.
With the lifeboat almost boardable, they wasted little to no time preparing for departure.
Rachel’s eyes darted about looking for her parents and grandmother.
Where the heck were they and why weren’t they answering any of her texts? Her heart began to race. Was she prepared to board this lifeboat without them? Was she prepared to abandon ship without the people who gave her the gift of life, for everything that they were or weren’t? Panic was setting in and her palms were getting sweaty.
A beep signified the lifeboat was safe to board and immediately the staff members set about releasing the door latch and all trying to get in at once.
Like a capsule, the lifeboat was filled with plastic orange seats and the basic essentials any sea dweller would require, from first aid kits and life jackets to walkie-talkies and various other life saving necessities.
“Hold on! Hold on! One person at a time! Kids first!” The security officer instructed, wedging himself between the lifeboat and the crowd.
He pointed towards Molly and Tyler, “Kids first I said. We’re all scared, but if we can be patient for just a few moments longer, we can all get out of this nightmare safe and sound”.
Molly and Tyler gazed up towards Rachel nervously.
Rachel shook her head at them in acceptance.
“It’s okay, you can go in, you’ll be safe”, she couldn’t guarantee that, but it made the process simpler. Hesitantly, the children released her hands and were led forward into the lifeboat. Rachel looked back expectantly.
“Rachel...” Lori murmured.
“They’ll be here...” Rachel replied.
They were down to seven minutes.
4:29pm - 3 hours, 19 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
Panting, Edward, Christine and Martha tried to catch their breath in a storage closet with only a tiny circular window leading out to the starboard outer deck. Edward had pushed a narrow metal locker down in front of the door, as well as anything he could find in the small closet, but it certainly wasn’t going to be enough to keep the twitchers at bay for very long, they were playing with tender minutes here.
Running as fast as they could with Martha in tow - that Edward had to lift and carry a quarter of the way - pursued by a swarm of twitchers, had left them utterly exhausted.
“They’re going to get through!” Christine yelped.
“We have to break through that window, find something to break through it with”, Edward instructed.
“Can we break through that?”
“We can, it's just glass, not the reinforced ones on the lower level. Hurry!”
The two women searched the room top and bottom and found nothing of use.
Christine ran her fingers through her hair hyperventilating and pacing back and forth.
“What are we going to do? What are we going to do?”
“There’s nothing we can do, this is it”, Martha replied.
“No! There’s still a chance”, Edward replied.
“And what would that be?” Martha insisted.
Edward looked around before his eyes locked on the door, he then glanced back towards the window and back to the door.
“I have an idea, it’s going to sound crazy, but I’ll need your help. That metal locker is easy enough to move around and perhaps heavy enough to probably break through that window, but only if it is pushed over and drops down on it. The problem is that it’s the only thing separating us from those twitc... crazy people outside. We move it and we practically open the flood gates”.
“So what? We just sit here? How is that a solution?”.
“Christine, I’m going to need you to take the lead here, use your strength to push it over”.
“What about you?”
“I’ll block the door with my back for as long as I can”.
“Are you crazy? You’re being the hero again!”
“Not now, Christine, for once on this dreaded trip can we not argue”. He turned to the locker. “We need to move fast, be ready. On the count of three”.
Christine rushed to his side, realising arguing was fruitless in this desperate situation.
“One… two...” he glanced towards her, “Three!” He yanked at the locker, lifting it from the door and standing it up, before immediately throwing his back against the door.
“Go! Push it into place and drop it down on the window!” He ordered.
Christine wasted no time, making her first attempt to push, but with little traction, she had little success. She stopped, knowing what she had to do now, rolled up her sleeves and threw off her cumbersome slippers to create more friction on the ground and then she attempted again with all her strength and the locker moved into place, she then threw her back into the top side with all her strength, lifting it off its feet closest to her until it balanced on its two remaining feet and finally after much effort, dropped down onto the glass, successfully cracking it, but not yet shattering it.
“You’ll need to go again! Quickly! I don’t think I can hold the door much longer!” Edward ordered.
Christine ran around to the other side of the locker and tried lifting
it, but was visibly struggling from the awkward angle. That was when much to Edward’s surprise, Martha rolled up her sleeves and jumped in to help.
With their combined strength, they managed to push the locker back onto all four of its feet. All the while Edward struggled to hold the door at bay as the twitchers threw themselves against it, screaming obscenities and making threats. He could hear the splintering of the wood and the creaks of the door frame struggling to hold the door in place.
Together the two women pushed the locker down again with even greater force this time, widening the crack and creating a visible hole in the glass.
“Once more should do it! Quickly!”
They repeated the process once more, sweat trickling down their faces and this time much of the glass successfully shattered outwards. The rest round the sides they used a broom handle and anything they could find to remove. Their exit now secured, they need only climb out.
Placing cleaning towels over the shattered glass rims of the window, Christine first helped her mother through. There was a standard human height drop on the opposite side, so it was certainly no soft exit, but at least one of them was out.
“Okay, I'll go first, you come next okay?” Christine insisted.
“Just behind you”, Edward replied.
Christine hoisted herself out of the window, not noticing Edward’s eyes watching her one last time, silently bidding her farewell and wishing he had had the chance to have one more fiery bed session with her like they used to all the time.
She landed outside of the window with a thud and quickly clambered to her feet to help him if needed, but he wouldn’t move from that door. She poked her head back through the window.
“Edward! Come on! Now is your chance!”
He glanced towards her without a word and she knew immediately what he was about to do. “God no, Edward! Don’t do this, you don’t have to be the hero!”
“Christine! Go!” He shouted back.
“Not without you!”
“Can’t you see? I’m literally at the end of my tether here, it’s any wonder how I’ve held them back so far. Run, honey, you’re already out of time, if you go now, you might just make it”.
“Just let go and climb, quickly!”
“The moment I let go of this door, they’ll break through, I won’t have enough time to climb through. I’ll hold them back, prevent them from coming out to get you. I have a little more fight in me and fire to go around, I’ll set everything ablaze before they lay a hand on me, but you need to go!”
“Then I’m coming back in there!” She insisted, attempting to climb back up and through the window.
“No, Christine!”
“We made vows! Vows before God! Till death do us part!” She shouted “You die, I die!” She began hoisting herself up towards the window, forcing his hand. He abandoned the door, ran over to her and grabbed her face to pull her into a deep kiss. She barely had time to process it, before he pushed her back out onto her back.
“I love you… I always have. My only regret is not being a better husband, father and son to you both”, he said gazing down at the two women, before the door behind him smashed open, scattering bits of wood everywhere from the door frame and door. Edward spun around and emptied his flamethrowing can of deodorant on his assailants, engulfing them in flames as they lunged at him.
“Take this, you bastards! Fucking burn!”
“Edward!” Christine screamed, clambering to her feet once more.
The twitchers poured into the room, each getting engulfed in flames and quickly turning the room into a raging inferno. It wasn’t enough to stop their attack however and it wasn’t long before they were ripping him apart, his spine chilling screams sending Christine into a mental breakdown. Martha had to drag her, just to get her to move, her words not reaching her daughter.
“Christine! We have to go!”
Christine was paralysed with anguish and terror, her eyes wide, her body shaking like a leaf, her heart thumping in her chest.
Slowly Edward’s screams died down and it was difficult to tell what was more traumatic, his screams of agony, or the silence of his death.
“Christine!” Martha snapped, slapping her daughter with all her strength to snap her out of her traumatised trance. “Let’s go!”
Dragging her daughter, they left, 3 minutes overdue.
CHAPTER 23 - LORI & RACHEL
4:35pm - 9 hours, 48 minutes since outbreak in London.
3 hours, 25 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
. . .
. . .
Rachel stood staring up at the ship as the lifeboat descended down into the water behind her. It had crossed her mind that her decision would have dire consequences, but she had been prepared to face that.
Just a mere four minutes before that, Rachel was faced with the dilemma of getting onto the lifeboat.
“Now that the children are on board, next the adults, women first”, the security officer ordered.
“Fuck that sexist bullshit!” Shouted Darren.
“I said women first! Otherwise I’ll shoot!” The security officer snapped, pointing his gun at the man. “Try me, motherfucker, I’ll put you to sleep faster than your mother ever could!”
The man backed off without even so much as a murmur.
“Like I said, women first”. The women made their way over to the entrance of the lifeboat and then each took it in turns to climb into it. Rachel allowed everyone to go ahead of her, one of the people holding a flare gun, Faye, was last to step in ahead of her, giving her an inquisitive look as she passed by.
Lori, leading from the front, hadn’t noticed Rachel’s reluctance until she glanced back, by which point she was already inside the lifeboat taking seat.
“Rachel?”
“They said they’d be here”, Rachel replied, barely moving from her spot, stalling for time.
“Ma’am, are you getting on or staying, we are strapped for time and still have the males to get on”, the security officer demanded.
“I… I can’t… not without my parents and grandmother”.
“Where are they?”
“They’re coming, they’re just… delayed”.
“Ma’am, you have to get on now, if they show up we’ll possibly let them on board, but we can’t promise anything”.
“You can’t promise? They’re my family! I can’t leave them behind!”
“Will you stay on board then? We need to get the males onto the lifeboat now”.
“N… no, I’m not getting on until they arrive”.
“Rachel!” Lori gasped in alarm.
“Sorry Lori, go without me”.
“What? No way!”
“Go without me, you deserve better, you don’t owe me anything, I won’t hate you for thinking about your safety, you have commitments”.
“What the fuck are you talking about? If you’re not getting off the ship, neither am I!” Lori snapped, clambering back out of the lifeboat.
“No stay! Please Lori, stay”.
“We are in this together! I’m not fucking off into the sunset without you!”
Rachel began to sob.
“But Lori, if you stay...”
“Let me make that decision for myself and live with the consequences! Read my lips, I… am… not… leaving you behind!”
“Lori...”
“That’s final, end of discussion”, Lori snapped, standing face to face with Rachel. She wiped the tears from Rachel’s cheek and smiled. “I’m committed to you”. She turned back to the crew and the others, “We’re not leaving without her family”.
“Are you two sure about this? We’ve made it all the way here, this might be your one chance. Are you certain about this?” Adam enquired.
“Those two girls couldn’t be more sure if they tried”, one of the men standing aside replied.
“They’re not girls, they’re fucking boss women”, the woman arguing with Darren earlier replied, a reassuring smil
e on her face.
“With the tenacity a million times greater than these men trying to push in front of others and more balls than the lot of us. I respect that. I hope you two find them and get off safely. Here, take these”, the security officer chimed in. He handed the two women the fire axe and his pistol, believing they would prove more useful to the two of them than to him and the others.
The two women stepped back.
“If you need to lower a lifeboat, there are step by step procedures on the panels. Good luck, you two. Now the rest of you sons of bitches. Quick, get on”.
The men boarded the lifeboat and once they were all on board, it began to lower, leaving the two peering over the edge, looking down at it descending into the ocean, a sense of dread welling up in the pit of Lori’s stomach, as stinging droplets of water hit her face from ocean spray and rain.
Rachel turned back to the ship and stared up at it. Yes it had indeed crossed her mind that her decision would have dire consequences, but she was prepared to face that.
The two quietly and cautiously made their way to a safer spot, somewhere where they were not so exposed, all the while feeling tremendously uneasy about the eerie silence that had swept over a once noisy and bustling ship.
They had both been lumbered with weapons they’d rather not have to use if possible; a gun neither of them had any experience whatsoever in using and were far more likely to shoot themselves accidentally with and the fire axe that was used to brutally murder their late male companion, but what other choice did they have at this point?
“I don’t even know how to use this thing”, Rachel whispered, checking out the gun in her hands, “it’s a lot heavier than it looks on television… I can’t believe I’m actually holding one. I’ve never even held a squirt gun, so much for a handheld death tool. What the fuck am I supposed to do to fire it? I can’t even practise because it’ll alert those crazy people to where we are, so how the fuck am I supposed to know if I can fire it or not? I don’t even know if there are any bullets in it”.
Cryptophobia | Book 2 | Hell & High Water [Fear The Unknown] Page 23