As the Light Dies (66 page)

He did. He pushed as hard as he could and between them they had the body out and over the side in seconds. As the infected body slid up and out as Jen pushed, Steve grabbed the end of his boathook before it disappeared overboard and let gravity and the waves do the rest. It worked, the hook snapped free from the eye socket and Steve had his weapon back.

He retched when he saw the end of his boat hook, but there was nothing left for him to bring up, and bile burned away at his throat. Jen dropped one of her mess tins and grabbed the end of Stev
e’
s boat hook taking no notice of the black sludge that squelched through her fingers like mud and she started grinding it around the rim of the hatch as fast as she could forcing infected hands to let go. She cracked knuckles and snapped fingers, and when it did
n’
t work or had no effect on one of the bigger, thicker hands she punched at them with her metal boxing glove when they came in close enough then jabbed at their throats with the boathook and pushed them so far back that they had to let go, and the waves took them, sweeping them off into the icy depths.

Jen worked fast and as soon as she had the hatch rim clear she reached out and snatched at the hatch and pulled it over, slammed it shut and spun the locking wheel faster than a spinning top
.“
Right
,”
she said dropping back down
,“
le
t’
s get this thing started and head for home
!
”

She climbed in to the compact wheelhouse and looked at the controls.

After a moment she said
,“
Ok
,”
and she turned a key beside the steering wheel, then leaned over the control consul and turned a lever fixed to a copper pipe. There was a hiss as air rushed through it and then to Stev
e’
s surprise the engine spluttered and coughed to life.

“How did you do that?”
he asked
.“
We lost all our electrics hours ago
!
”

Jen looked at him and grinned
.“
These engines can be started using compressed air to turn them over, as well as the normal electronic start up. I
t’
s called a black start. Handy back up huh
.
”

Steve was shocked, h
e’
d never heard of anything like it.

“
Think about it
,”
she said seeing the confusion on his face
.“
W
e’
re using this lifeboat to escape from an oil and gas instillation, and if w
e’
r
e
usin
g
the lifeboat you can bet that something drastically wrong has happened! Ther
e’
s a high risk of an oil or gas leak. The last thing we want to do is risk a spark trying to start up the lifeboat
.
”

Steve nodded, it made perfect sense. Jen saw that he understood and went quiet, concentrating while she looked at the compass. Steve could feel that they were moving, being propelled away from the rig through the waves.

“I’
ll face us due west
,”
she said
.“
We ca
n’
t go wrong with that. W
e’
ll make land at some point
.
”

She tied a bungee around the wheel securing it in place, then joined Steve in looking out one of the small portholes. They looked up at the rig as they pulled away from it.

The legs loomed large through the ash like some gigantic robotic crab on a far off alien world with black seas bearing down on them in their escape pod.

The underside of the deck was nearly invisible; they could only just make out bits of its silhouette made up of straight lines and jutting edges. The ashy snow cleared here and there revealing figures falling in to the sea.

“My God!”
said Steve
.“
Do you think the
y’
re jumping in after us
?
”

“
Probably
,”
said Jen
,“
the
y’
re relentless, and nearly unstoppable! I
t’
s bizarre is
n’
t it? What causes people to change colour and turn psycho and tear other people to shreds, and crack their heads open to get at their brains? I do
n’
t think ther
e’
ll be any coming back from this, I really do
n’
t. You and your friend were very brave to come and get me.
I’
ll never be able to thank you enoug
h
ever
,
but thank you anyway. And
I’
m very sorry about your friend, she seemed really nice
.
”

Steve fell down on to one of the seats, and with his elbows on his knees he rubbed his eyes and said
,“
Yea, she was. Her name was Katie and sh
e’
d help anyone, and
I
mea
n
anyone
.
”

“I’
m sure she would
,”
said Jen.

“
She gave Ken hell for not coming with us to help you, and God do I wish he had. Then maybe that would
n’
t have happened and sh
e’
d still be here
.”
Steve slammed his fists against the hull, then buried his head in his hands and wept.

Jen placed a hand between his shoulder blades. She said
,“I’
ll leave you to it ok? If you need me just ask. I ca
n’
t go far
.
”

Steve attempted a nod and she left him and went back to the little control area and wheelhouse where she had to readjust their course, the waves had knocked them of course already.

She hoped that the twenty four hours worth of fuel or so at eight knots or so would be enough to get them back ashore, or at least close enough so that they could drift the rest of the way on the tide or even swim. She sat back behind the wheel strapped herself in to the seat and prepared for a long night....

Dean took a step back to look at their handy work. He, Gavin and Keith had moved the leisure centr
e’
s large and extremely heavy, long curved reception desk with all of the shelving units, two filing cabinets, and five chairs across and blocked off the entrance to the dry side of the building
.“
Looks good enough to me
,”
said Gavin.

“
Yep
,”
agreed Dean.

“Are you sure it’s enough?”
said Keith.

“
I
t’
s all we can do for the time being
,”
said Dean rolling his eyes, and Gavin added
,“
This lot will hold them back for awhile, plus the doors buried under that lot are locked as well
.
”

Then Dean said
,“
If they start trying to come through here, this lot will make so much noise that w
e’
ll have plenty of warning to be able to get outa here. And maybe because they wo
n’
t be able to see us, they might not even try and get through
.
”

“Oh I think they will,”
said Gavin eyeing his brother.

Keith sighed
.
“Oh great!”
he said
,“
w
e’
re sitting ducks
.
”

Dean shot a look at Gavin frowning.

Gavin raised his eyebrows innocently at first and then dropped them. He nodded understanding that his choice of comment was
n’
t a good one.

Dean saw he understood and said
,“
Right then,
c’
mon. Le
t’
s tidy up and head back up to base
.
”

He was eager to get Keith away from the barricade before he started to unravel again and start filling everyone with doubt. They gathered up their crude weapons that the
y’
d taken from the maintenance area. Keith had two steel poles, Gavin had a chromed, industrial scale torque wrench and Dean had a red thirty inch long monkey wrench and h
e’
d given Ann a two foot length of scaffolding pole that he found.

They walked back up the ramp to the Relaxation Suite and as they did Keith looked back over his shoulder at the upended pile of reception they had left there. He was
n’
t filled with confidence
.
“Whoa!”
said Dean as he reached the top of the ramp and saw the Relaxation Suite.

Ann had been just as busy up here as they had been with the reception. Sh
e’
d arranged the white plastic loungers in a row along the balcony overlooking the leisure pools. Each one was layered with fresh towels from the store room and had its own set of cushions that sh
e’
d pulled from the staffroom and one or two of the offices. Each lounger shared a table with the next one along where sh
e’
d placed two plastic cups of water and some magazines to help pass the time
.
If that was possible
!

By the bottom of the end lounger, the one closest the ramp with the best view of the dismantled reception area, there was a crudely fashioned dog bed. Ann had built up a semi circular wall using swimming floats and then filled it in and covered the sides with towels.

Sam saw this and trotted straight to it. He had a sniff at the towels and then at the floats, then he pawed at it with one front leg. Satisfied he looked back at Dean who was smiling. He nodded and said
,“
Go on boy
.
”

Sam stepped in to it turned around twice following his tail and then settled down and looked back at everyone and yawned before he dropped his head down on to the small front ledge and relaxed.

Dean chuckled and said
,“
Thanks Ann, this is great, and I think i
t’
s safe to say that yo
u’
ve got Sa
m’
s seal of approval
.
”

Ann laughed
.“
I think so too
,”
she said. Behind the makeshift beds Dean noticed Ann had placed four office chairs around the Relaxation Suite attendan
t’
s desk. There was an A to Z of the town on the desk along with some notepaper and some pens.

Ann saw him looking and said
,“
I found the A to Z in the office and thought w
e’
d use it to plan a route for the morning
.
”

“
Yea
,”
said Dean nodding
,“
great idea
.
”

Also on the table was an assortment of crisps and chocolate bars. Keith saw them.

“
Oh cool, how did you get these
?”
he asked.

“
I improvised
.”
she said.

Dean looked at her with raised eyebrows. She flashed him a cheeky grin and shrugged
.“
Better we use them than they just sit there and go to waste
.
”

Dean nodded
,“
I do
n’
t think management are gonna mind
,”
he said, then paused. The mention of management made him think of Brian. It made them all think about him. After a brief pause he continued
.“
God only knows wha
t’
s happening out there! Going by what w
e’
re witnessing with the electricity and what w
e’
ve heard about the military faltering and the sickness and even fatalities not to mention wha
t’
s happened to those people through there
.”
He swung a thumb over his shoulder pointing towards the barricade
.“
I think w
e’
re gonna have to learn how to survive in these conditions, an
d
quick
!
And that means taking what we can, when we can
.
”

“
Nah
,”
said Keith through a mouthful of crisps
.“
The army will be all over us by tomorrow, and the
y’
ll turn this place in to a rescue centre. Ther
e’
s an army base just along the road at Fort George...
.”
Ann butted in
,“
There have
n’
t been troops stationed there for a long time. I
t’
s just a museum now
.
”

Keith swallowed
.“
Oh
!”
he said and they all went silent for a moment, before Dean spoke up again
.“
I think there might be a handful of troops stationed there from time to time, but it does
n’
t matter. Whatever the military, or anyone else is doing to rescue people, right now w
e’
re on our own, and i
t’
s down to us to look after ourselves
.”
The others nodded.

“
W
e’
ll sit around the table and agree on a route to take in the morning, and then tonight w
e’
ll take turns sleeping with someone on watch all the time
.
”

Ann nodded as she pulled out a chair, then as she started to sit down she froze mid squat.

They all froze!

Above the howling wind and the crashing thunder they all heard that strange shrieking gurgle! It reminded them all what was waiting for them outside hidden in the black snow!

Keith tensed up and said
,
“Oh shi
t
.
Why do they do that? What’s fucking wrong with them?”

Dean shushed him and said
,“
The
y’
ve been affected by the ash somehow! You know that! Now
C’
mon, le
t’
s plan some routes
.
”

“
Huh
,”
said Keith
,“
plan some routes
!
They’re fucking coming for us now!”

“
Calm down
,”
Dean ordered
.“
Those noises coul
d’
ve travelled on the wind. Besides we know the
y’
re already in the building next door. W
e’
re bound to hear them. No
w
C’mo
n
lets plan some routes, with backups so that w
e’
ve got a plan of sorts in place. Then we all need to try and get some rest. Tomorrow could be a long day, and it might start sooner than we think
.
”