EDEN (32 page)

‘What about my brother?’ Bethany asked. ‘He might be here in Boston too.’

‘That’s a long shot,’ Jake said to her. ‘Cody finding Maria was probably a one in a thousand chance.’

‘But he did,’ Bethany said. ‘I can’t just leave without trying.’

‘He could be in the country by now,’ Hank insisted. ‘Cody’s daughter’s probably here because she was too young to run far. Lucky she’s still alive, got people caring for her.’

‘My brother’s seven years old,’ Bethany said.

‘Sawyer’s men don’t appear to have eaten any children,’ Charlotte pointed out, ‘or women. Maybe Beth’s right.’

Hank shook his head.

‘You’ve all got to make a choice,’ he warned Bethany. ‘You’re either leaving or staying because we can’t do this piecemeal. One way or the other, my ship is going to sail out of this hellhole and it’s not coming back. I intend to be aboard, and anybody who isn’t there when we weigh anchor is stuck here for good. Make your choice.’

Hank turned away from them and walked to the bars of his cage. He thumped them with one hand and caught the attention of one of the guards.

‘I need to speak to Sawyer,’ he said. ‘He’ll be real interested in what I have to say to him.’

The guard looked at Hank for a moment as though considering whether to ignore him, but then thought better of it and stalked away.

***

‘Something’s gone wrong.’

Saunders stood by the Phoenix’s stern rail and looked out across the channel to the city skyline. The deserted skyscrapers and city blocks were cast in sharp silhouette against the fiery sunset washing across the horizon, mankind’s harsh and angular architecture clashing with the elegant freehand strokes of creation that spanned the skies.

‘Maybe they decided to stay overnight in the city,’ Reece suggested.

‘I doubt it,’ Saunders said as he lowered his binoculars and packed them away. ‘It’s likely cold, dark and uncomfortable wherever they go. They’d have signalled if there was a change of plan.’

‘So what do we do?’ Reece asked.

Saunders turned from the rail. ‘We wait, and we keep a permanent watch up just in case.’

As they turned they saw the crew watching them silently from the main deck, shadows amongst the shadows, dark expressions haunting their features. Muir, Ice and the others hovered like vultures near a kill.

‘I don’t like this,’ Reece whispered. ‘We’re outnumbered.’

Saunders grinned. ‘Only by hands. We’ve got the bullets, remember?’

Reece looked down at the crew, who refused to meet his eye as they lingered in the lengthening shadows.

‘Who keeps watch when we’re sleeping?’ Reece asked him as he swiped his black hair away from his eyes.

Saunders’ grin slipped a little. ‘I’ll skip sleep for tonight, until the captain gets back. ‘Kay?’

The first mate made his way over to the wheelhouse, Reece staying close by as Saunders kicked a chair into position behind the wheel and eased himself into it. He hefted his shotgun into place, resting it between the handles of the wheel to point down the ship.

‘Believe me, son, there ain’t nobody coming at us from here. Now, go into the wheelhouse and get everything ready, just like I said. If the men decide they’re going to try to leave port we need control of the wheel to stop them.’

Reece nodded. ‘Barricade, right?’

‘Damned right,’ Saunders nodded. ‘That’s where we’ll stand until the captain comes back, okay?’

Reece nodded and walked back into the wheelhouse, shutting the door behind him as he began dragging heavy boxes alongside the door and on top of the hatch to the ‘tween decks before it got dark, praying with every step that they would not have to defend them.

*

Taylor rowed the launch silently through the silky black water, Seth matching his smooth pulls and watching over his shoulder as the Phoenix loomed large before them. In the darkness, Seth could only pick the ship out when her masts eclipsed the stars in the night sky.

The skyline of Boston was as black as the sky above. Even now it seemed odd to know that the vast city lay so close by in utter silence and desolation. Once, bright street lights would have flickered in reflection across the waters of the channel, thousands of office buildings glowing like a galaxy across the shoreline. To see it so dark unnerved Seth, as though he were floating alone in an immense and unpopulated universe.

He had led Taylor out of the city as soon as he’d realised that Hank, Cody and the rest of the idiots they’d picked up in the Arctic were pinned down. Seth knew an opportunity when he saw it, just like he knew a lost cause. Chasing around for some mythical damned city would get them about as far as looking for goddamned Atlantis, and with Boston now the domain of the insanely dangerous or terminally infected he saw nothing useful to hang around for.

The launch had been where they’d left it. Sure, they had been forced to wait out the sunset before rowing to the Phoenix, but in total darkness and silence their approach had gone unnoticed.

‘We’re almost there,’ Taylor said between heaves.

‘Keep your voice down,’ Seth whispered. ‘Sound travels further at night, especially across water.’

The Phoenix was illuminated by a pair of faint lanterns hung from the stern, their dim light only visible from close proximity to the ship. Seth guessed that Saunders would not want to advertise the ship’s presence to anybody on shore in Boston after dark, a wise move as they had found out to their cost.

The city was just as brutal a haven for thuggery and violence as Seth had feared, filled with sick citizens wandering in infected crowds and dangerous gangs preying upon them. The sooner they got out of here the better and to hell with Hank and his goddamned Eden.

Taylor eased up as they approached the ship in silence, the boat slipping through the water without a sound as it drifted to the Phoenix’s bow. Taylor knew that the Phoenix was large enough that boarding her at the stern would be impossible, but beneath the schooner’s bowsprit was a series of looped rigging lines that provided a way up onto the deck.

With the launch hidden beneath the ship’s bow, Taylor stood up and balanced in the boat as he reached up and gripped one of the lines. With a heave of effort he hauled himself up and swung his legs around the rope, crawling up to the bowsprit in the darkness and then easing his way down onto the deck.

Seth followed Taylor up onto the Phoenix’s deck, and they crouched in the darkness as Taylor slipped his rifle from his shoulder and checked the mechanism.

‘I don’t see anybody,’ Taylor whispered.

‘Probably at the wheel house,’ Seth guessed. ‘Saunders won’t let anybody else in there as long as the captain’s away.’

‘So what do we do?’

Seth crept away across the deck in silence, and Taylor gripped his pistol tighter as he followed.

*

Reece leaned against the bulwarks, the deck bathed in a faint but comforting glow from the pair of lights hanging from the stern rail. Beyond, the inky blackness of the water merged seamlessly with the darkened decks.

There, near the mainmast, several of the crew lingered. An occasional flare from a cigarette glowed against their faces, making them look like demons lingering at the gates of Hades.

Reece was not fooled by Saunders’ confidence in the captain. The crew were regularly swapping watch, catching some sleep as others watched. They knew that it was only a matter of time before exhaustion got the better of Saunders, and without him there was no way that Reece could hold off the entire remaining crew on his own.

He looked down at the heavy pistol in his hand, and wondered not for the first time just how the hell he had gone from a career in biochemistry to a sailor on an antiquated ship holding off a mutinous crew with a handgun he’d never fired before.

None of this had been their fault, and yet since the storm he had seen Bobby Leary cover for him only to be mauled to death by a polar bear, and then seen his remains eaten by the crew of the Phoenix. God only knew what had happened to the captain and his friends ashore, but after everything else Reece guessed that it was not good.

He looked up at Saunders. The old man was sitting with his eyes closed, his chin resting on his chest. Reece looked at the crew. They remained in place, watching, waiting and biding their time. It would not last much longer, a few hours maybe? Then Reece and Saunders would be overrun, and then…

He shivered as he thought of what might become of them and forced the thought from his mind.

A movement to his right caught his attention and he looked across the decks to see the crew vanish into the darkness. Reece squinted, trying to see where they were going, but only silence and blackness loomed. He turned and gave Saunders a nudge with his boot.

Saunders blinked awake, looking up as Reece indicated the deck.

‘Where have they gone?’ he whispered.

‘Just walked off,’ Reece replied. ‘Maybe they got bored of waiting.’

Saunders’s finger touched the safety catch of the shotgun as he shook his head. ‘Not likely. Stay here.’

Saunders eased himself out of his chair and crept forward to the edge of the light, peering into the darkness near the mainmast.

‘Careful,’ Reece whispered, his grip on his pistol fierce.

Saunders edged further into the darkness, careful to keep his back to the stern and cover any retreat he might be forced to make. He took another step and then a sharp crack rolled out over the deck. For a moment Reece thought that one of the rigging lines had snapped, but then Saunders cried out as his leg buckled beneath him and he crashed down onto the hard deck.

Reece leapt forward to help the old man, but froze as Taylor and Seth loomed out of the darkness amidships, Seth’s pistol aimed at Saunders.

‘Don’t move!’ Taylor growled.

Saunders rolled on the deck, one hand clasping his wounded leg as the other swung the shotgun around to point at Taylor.

‘Don’t even think about it!’ Seth yelled as he changed position. ‘You shoot and I’ll put a bullet in Reece’s brain!’

Saunders glanced up at Reece. Reece stared back in horror as the rest of the crew swarmed in behind Taylor and Seth. Muir nipped forward and stamped the shotgun down against the deck before Saunders could respond, then yanked it from the old man’s grasp.

‘Give up the pistol,’ Seth snapped.

Reece stared at Seth’s tattooed visage, half in shadow from the stern lights, his eyes glinting like evil points of light and his tattoos looking like dark veins lacing his skin.

‘Man the wheel!’ Saunders managed to shout above his pain. ‘Don’t quit, Reece!’

‘Shut up!’ Muir roared as he stamped a foot down on the old man’s knee.

Saunders screamed in pain and Reece felt rage and fear flush through his veins as he stared at Seth.

‘Drop the pistol!’ Seth shouted.

Reece raised a placating hand at Seth and crouched down, pointing the pistol at the deck. His shadow across the crew vanished as he ducked below the lights from the stern and into darkness. Seth’s features squinted as he tried to watch Reece.

Reece whipped the pistol up to point at Muir and then he pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to grind into a slow-motion blur of silent movement as the gunshot rang in Reece’s ears. The recoil snapped Reece’s wrist back, a flash of muzzle flame spurting from the weapon to illuminate Muir’s face as Reece’s vision momentarily blurred from the bullet’s shockwave.

Muir’s head snapped back as the bullet smashed through his forehead and exited the back of his skull to smack into the mainmast. A fine haze of black blood splattered the deck and his legs quivered as they collapsed beneath him.

The crew scattered in surprise as Taylor whirled to aim the shotgun at Reece. Muir dropped like a stone onto the deck as the pistol dropped from his grasp. Saunders grabbed for the weapon as Taylor backed up and fired the shotgun.

Reece hurled himself to one side and hit the wheelhouse door as the shotgun’s blast peppered the panelled wall beside him. Reece aimed the pistol at Taylor just in time to see Saunders fire at the big man.

Taylor folded over as the bullet impacted low in his belly and he collapsed on top of the shotgun. Saunders fired twice more, Taylor’s huge bulk shuddering with each impact of the bullets before he fell silent and still.

Reece aimed the pistol out across the decks but he could see nothing of the rest of the crew. Saunders groaned and sucked in painful breaths of air as Reece hurried across to him.

The old man’s knee was a bloodied mess that soaked his jeans and had spilled onto the deck.

‘Stay at the wheel,’ Saunders gasped. ‘Get the guns and get back in there!’

Reece tried to grab the old man by the arm to haul him to a safer spot but Saunders shook him off angrily. ‘Man the goddamned wheel!’

Reece staggered backwards. He turned and managed to pull the shotgun from beneath Taylor’s inert body and retreated up the steps to the wheelhouse, back into the glow of the stern lanterns. He realised that he was shaking, his face damp. He touched his hand to his face and his fingers came away wet with tears.

‘Lock the door!’ Saunders yelled.

Reece reached out for the door and slammed it shut, then pushed down hard on the door brace until it slid into position. He turned the key in the lock and backed away until he bumped into the wheel.

In the darkness he glimpsed through the windows the faintest hint of light across the eastern sky. Maybe a couple more hours and then he would be able to see everything again.

He was about to let hope creep through his veins when a voice called to him from outside.

‘Now, Reece, we’re going to make this just as easy as we can for y’all!’

Reece lurched to the wheelhouse windows and saw Seth standing over Saunders. Seth had Saunders’ pistol in one hand and a belaying pin in the other.

‘How ‘bout you open that door for us?’ Seth yelled.

Reece gave his best shot at a confident answer. ‘No can do!’ he shouted. He sounded like a five year old cornered by the high school football team.

Seth cackled a laugh. ‘That’s a shame, boy. Don’t want to get all medieval on your asses!’