Domain of the Dead (29 page)

“Angel!” Bates shouted as he pulled himself up from the deck. He rushed up to her and planted a wet kiss on her forehead before wrapping his arm around her and hugging her tight.

Sarah too hauled herself to her feet. She looked around the body-strewn bridge. The florescent lights flickered with the salt-water spray blown in through the broken window.

“Everyone okay?” she asked.

A chorus of affirmative answers filled the bridge.

Bates finished pounding Angel on the back. “What happened?”

“Didn’t get to radio room,” Angel explained. “We got jumped. There were too many, too close.”

Sarah looked down at the radio. “Bates.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” He picked up the receiver and resumed his radio call. “Research vessel Ishtar to the Pskov. Come in, please.”

This time the radio came to life instantly. “This is the Pskov. What can we do for you?”

Bates spoke into the microphone. “Stand down targeting. The ship has been overrun. Requesting assistance. Remaining crew abandoning ship.”

There was a long pause.

“And the virus?” the voice from the Pskov asked.

“The virus remains the same,” Bates answered. “It has not—I repeat,
not
—gone airborne. The outbreak is by direct contact only.”

There was another worrying silence. The survivors looked anxiously at each other.

The radio sparked to life again. “Will contact Ascension command regarding your situation.”

“What does that mean?” Sarah asked.

Bates slammed the microphone into the console. “It means they’re too chickenshit to come and help us.”

“It means they might still nuke us,” Angel added.

“You mean they’re just going to fuck us over!” Nathan’s voice was hoarse and crackly.

Sarah couldn’t tell if it was sweat or rain that drenched him, but Nathan had a definite tinge of green to his flesh.

“No, no. That’s not what she means. We still stand a chance. It’s military protocol, that’s all.” Sarah looked over at Bates for confirmation. “You always have to check with your superiors, right?”

Bates stood with his head hung low and a dejected look on his face. He caught Jennifer looking up at him. She was thin and wiry, her hair ruffled from the evening’s trials. But behind the muck and scruffiness, her doey brown eyes were bright and clear. Bates raised his head to look at Nathan and then Sarah in turn. They were all hoping for an answer.

Finally he looked back down at Jennifer. “Yeah, that’s right. They have to check with high command.”

Angel saw the optimism Bates was trying to foster. “There might be a vessel close to us that could be diverted to pick us up, or a rescue chopper from aircraft carrier.”

Bates nodded his head to reassure everyone, including himself. “They’re not going to nuke us. They need to get intelligence reports and debriefings from us.”

“And they’ll want Frankenstein Work,” Angel added.

Sarah brought a smile to her lips. “Okay, what now?”

“Pressure is rising,” Bates said. “This storm hasn’t much strength left in it. We head for the life rafts and wait for them to come rescue us.”

“Which way to the life rafts?” Nathan coughed out.

“This way,” Angel said as she made towards the opposite door.

* * *

Outside it was dark and windy. The rain had eased off, but the waves threw lashes of spray across the decks. A thick plume of smoke made its lazy way out of several broken windows. Behind the smoke could be seen the flickering light of orange flame.

A zombie deck hand shambled its way over to the group, only to have its head obliterated by a shot from Angel.

Ignoring the freshly decapitated corpse, Angel walked over to the railings.

“You two are going to have to do the bulk of the work,” she said to Sarah and Nathan.

Sarah nodded, looking at the woman’s plaster cast. “What do we do?”

Nathan coughed violently. Bent double, he crashed to his knees, spitting out mucous and blood.

Not noticing the crimson fluid by the dim emergency lighting, Angel patted Nathan on the back.

“Smoke getting to you?” she asked.

Nathan wiped a sleeve across his mouth. “Uh… oh, yeah.”

“Everybody quiet!” Bates barked.

Sarah and Angel stood up, guns in hand.

The excited moan of a zombie called out from within the smoke. The wind changed, whipping spirals of smoke towards them and with it more sounds of the undead.

“Stay close, Jennifer,” Sarah said, pulling the young girl close.

“Where are you, you dead fuck?” Bates muttered, levelling his gun at the murk.

Jennifer screamed as out of the smog a dark figure emerged. The zombie was scorched from head to toe, its flesh a crispy black shell. Its left jaw was partially missing, but it still had enough teeth to deliver an infecting bite. Its jerky motion split the seared skin from its muscles as it lurched at Sarah.

The blackened corpse lunged. The ship rolled, amplifying the force of the creature’s attack. Thrown against the guardrail and tilted back by the ships pitch, Sarah felt her body pivot rearward. Her hands were out in front of her, keeping the zombie at bay. She threw down a han,d trying to grasp the railing.

“Sarah!” Jennifer cried.

Sarah tried to seize hold of the railing, but her splinted fingers wouldn’t grip. Already falling backwards from the initial collision, the zombie fell into her, sending them both over the railing.

Sarah fell open-mouthed, watching as the outreached hand of Jennifer hurtled away from her.

The swelling ocean punched her in the back as she landed. The force and the cold shock thumped the breath out of her and Sarah sank into the freezing blackness.

Feeling her strength drained by the cold waters, she let out a scream. A gulp of icy liquid rushed into her mouth, fuelling her panic.

She kicked out and felt her head breach the surface. Retching out the seawater, she thrashed her arms against the encompassing waves, trying to suck in a full lungful of air.

A scorched but cold hand slapped her in the face and grabbed hold. She screamed in horror to see the burnt zombie reaching out of the water to bite her. Its blistered and peeling hands grabbed onto her and pulled her back under the water.

Sarah punched and kicked, trying to free herself from the cadaver’s grasp. As they sank deeper she managed to dislodge its grip only to have the creature latch on to the bottom of her combat vest. She looked up to see the burning ship fade to the water overhead. Paddling with her arms, she fought to maintain her buoyancy while kicking at the undead anchor that pulled her down. The creature’s hands were knocked free again and Sarah kicked out hard, propelling herself to the surface. She started to rise back up but then she felt a clawing at her ankle. Pulling itself up to get a bite, the zombie had its scorched mouth open, eager for its repast.

Sarah’s cold and tired muscles couldn’t struggle any longer. She tilted her head up to see a bright light floating down towards her.

Her lungs were scorched.

Her energy was spent.

An angel coming to take my soul, Sarah thought.

The flare sank past Sarah’s face, quickly followed by a hand that grabbed the fabric of her vest.

The strong hand yanked Sarah’s motionless body free of the zombie’s grasp. The creature descended down into the depths, arms outstretched in a vain attempt to seize back its prey.

With gritted teeth, Bates heaved Sarah’s limp body above the water. Angel hung over the side of the life raft and added her own strength. They laid her down in the middle of the raft.

“How the fuck do you do CPR with one arm in a fucking rubber dingy?!” Bates shouted.

The rubber raft gave way with each blow, dampening the force of the compression. Bates knelt forward and placed his lips around Sarah’s.

The flesh was cold and tasted salty. He pinched her nose and sent a breath down into her lungs. He lent back, ready to try again, but before he could Sarah’s eyes jolted open.

Bates whipped round, and grabbing his gun, thrust it into Sarah’s face.

Sarah’s mouth opened and she vomited seawater.

“Thank fuck!” Bates proclaimed.

Sarah coughed and spluttered, trying to get her breath as Bates cradled her in his arm.

She looked up at the sky. The rain had stopped and the clouds were lit pink from the sunrise. In the raft with her, Bates, Angel, Jennifer and Nathan looked weary and wet.

“I’m okay,” Sarah finally managed to whisper out.

Bates rocked her as he sat clasping her tight to his chest.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered back to her.

“Look!” Jennifer shouted. She pointed towards the rising sun.

The survivors looked out across the ocean, past the burning hulk of the Ishtar. Gradually the sound of rotor blades brought their eyes to what Jennifer had spotted.

The ship’s helicopter was on its inbound flight.

“Idris! He’s back!” Angel said in amazement.

“We’re saved! Here’s the rescue!” Sarah said.

Jennifer stood up in the rocking raft and started waving at the chopper.

Sarah looked over at Nathan, who was lying at the far corner of the raft. He looked exhausted.

“You hear that, Nathan?! We’re saved!” Sarah said, a little louder for his benefit.

Nathan let out a soft moan.

Jennifer looked down at Sarah. “Nathan is sick, Sarah.”

“I know, honey. It’s the sea.” Sarah pulled herself up to join Jennifer in waving. She croaked, “Over here!” before starting another coughing fit and spitting out leftover seawater.

“No,
real
sick,” Jennifer said, plaintively looking back at Nathan’s necrotic hand. But her fear was lost to Sarah’s coughing and the noise of the chopper.

Bates sat rubbing Sarah’s back to help ease the coughing.

“We’re saved!” she said looking at him with a smile.

The expression Bates wore wasn’t quite as cheerful.

“‘Fraid not,” he said apologetically. “That’s our chopper and we burnt down their landing pad. He’s going to have to ditch.”

Sarah’s smile melted. “What?”

“There’s nowhere in three hundred miles for him to land, and even if he could there’s nowhere to refuel.” Bates reached over and picked up an oar. “Grab a paddle. We’re going to have to rescue them.”

Behind them, Nathan let out a last laboured breath, his fight against the spreading infection lost.

After a few moments, slowly edging closer to the waves, the helicopter touched down on the water. Its top-heavy engine pulled the craft sideways and it started to sink.

Bates, Angel, Sarah and Jennifer paddled furiously to reach the sinking helicopter. As they watched, the tail rotor sunk out of sight beneath the ocean. In the distance thoug,h between the rise and fall of the waves, there could be seen objects floating in the water. Buoyed on by the hope of survivors, all but one of the life raft’s crew paddled.

Behind them, Nathan’s body lay still and lifeless.

Then his eyes sprung open.

The story continues in

REMAINS OF THE DEAD

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