Savage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (22 page)

Hugo nodded emphatically.  “Absolutely.  I
cannot let anything happen to my young ladies.”

Anna patted the man on the back and started him
moving.  “Let’s go and decide what we’re going to give the captain. 
Here, this way.  We can rest a little.”

Anna led Hugo and his family down the deck and past
the burnt-out diner.  Hugo looked worried as they moved closer to the
zombies at the gate, but his anxiety turned to abject horror when he spotted
the three bodies lying in a row.  A hand went to his mouth and he looked
like he was going to be sick.  Both his daughters started to cry, while
Houdini sniffed at the bodies and backed away.

Anna cleared her throat.  She felt bad for what
she was inflicting on the French family.  “You’re a guest, Hugo, so you
should meet all the family.  Allow me to introduce you to Alistair,
Chris…” she stepped forward and pointed down at Poppy’s partially-burned
body.  “And this little angel is Poppy.  She’s nine.  How old
are your girls, Hugo?”

Hugo swallowed and spoke in a voice thick with
saliva.  “E-eight and nine.”

Anna pursed her lips.  “Same age.  What a
coincidence.  I’m sure Poppy and your daughters would’ve gotten on really
well.  Pity she’s dead.  Your captain burnt her to death.”

Sophie and Daphne sobbed and buried their heads in
their father’s chest.  Houdini barked.  “Why are you doing this?”
Hugo asked.  “You…you promised not to harm us.”

“We’re not going to harm you, Hugo.  You have my
word.  All I’m trying to do is show you why we need your boat.”

From the look on Hugo’s face, he didn’t
understand.  “My boat?”

Anna nodded.  “You need to give us your boat,
Hugo.  We won’t take it from you, but you need to give it to us.”

“Why?”

“So we can sail to the
Kirkland
and give
ourselves up,” said Tim, obviously understanding the plan that Anna had already
formed in her head.  “Samuel wants me,” he continued to explain, “so Anna
will take me aboard and hand me over.  She’ll be brought aboard to speak
with the captain.  He’ll want to thank her – and gloat about the
fact he’s battered her into submission.”

“Then I’ll kill him,” said Anna, “and make sure that
no more little girls have to die.  You’re a father, Hugo.  What would
you do if this were
your
girls
lying
here?  What if Samuel decides one day that your daughters belong to the
fleet?  Samuel needs to be stopped.  Give us your boat and I will
give him what he deserves, and believe me it goes much further than this. 
He’s responsible for much
much
worse.”

“But that’s a story for a different day,” said
Tim.  “Please help us.”

Hugo was shaking his head.  “I cannot give up my
boat.  It is my home.  My daughters need a home.”

“Then stay here with us,” said old man Bob. 
“There’s another dozen of us due back soon.  We’ll all set out together
and find somewhere safe.  Somewhere without a captain making all the
decisions about who lives and dies.”

Hugo’s mouth opened and closed like a fish.  He
was faltering.

“Give them the boat,
papa
,” said the older
girl, Sophie.  “I don’t want to go back out to sea, ever.  Just look
how happy Houdini is?”

They all looked at the little dog, which was happily
squeezing out a turd at the side of the deck.  When he saw them all
looking, a strange expression of pride seemed to come over him.

Hugo sighed.  He’d gone white as a sheet. 
When he reached into the pocket of his jeans, his hand was shaking like a leaf
in the wind.  He pulled out his keys and handed them over to Anna. 
“I pray I do not regret this.”

Anna shrugged.  “No more than you would staying
with the fleet and witnessing senseless slaughter whenever it takes the
captain’s fancy.”  She turned to Tim.  “We’ll leave in a few hours,
so get some rest and make your peace.  We’re not going to make it back
again.”  She nodded to Hugo.  “Thank you.”

Hugo nodded back, but the uncertainty was written all
over his face.  “You are welcome.  Good luck to you.”

“I am coming, too,” said Rene.  “We started this
journey together, Anna.  I would like to end it that way.”

Anna gave Rene a hug.  “You’re always welcome by
my side.  Just make sure I kill that son-of-a-bitch before he kills me,
then I can die happy.”

“I promise,” said Rene.

“I would like a cup of tea if you have one,” said
Hugo, wobbling on his feet and growing pale.  “And perhaps something to
eat for my girls.”

“I’ll see what I can find you folks,” said Old man
Bob.  “Come on, follow me.  We need to gather together what we can,
ready for the journey.”  Everyone agreed that was a good idea.  They
all headed over to the
Sea Grill
to spend their last few hours together
as a family.

K
irk stopped the minivan next to the
chain-link fence and everybody got out.  There was an entrance to the Army
base ahead, but the small guardhouse had been reinforced with planks of wood, a
huge engine block, an antique cannon, and endless bundles of razor wire –
the entire compound was ringed with razor wire.  Garfield grimaced when he
spotted decaying dead men ensnared in the barbs every hundred feet or so. 
It was clear that at some point a last stand had been made, but now the place
seemed deserted. 

The foragers stood in a group outside the chain-link fence,
and peered in at the place they’d been searching for.  “Didn’t think we’d
make it for a minute there,” said Kirk.  “She’s quite a place, though,
ain’t she?”

Garfield stared through the metal links and found
himself
agreeing.  The base was huge.  A wide main
road with multiple side roads branching off from it gave the appearance of a
small town centre.  There must have been close to a hundred buildings, as
well as several large open spaces, some of them paved, others just overgrown
fields.  An Army ambulance lay abandoned ahead and a row of 4-tonne trucks
lined up in front of a nearby building.  There was also a bright green
fire engine poking out of an open shed.

“I’ll get the cutters,” said Lemon.  Everyone
waited while he headed to the back of the horsebox and began rooting around
inside his baggage.  Kirk and Sally stood side by side, discussing
something quietly.  Cat, David, and the others leaned up against the
fence, pushing their faces against the mesh to see
better
. 
Garfield patted himself down and made sure all of his weapons were in place.

Lemon returned with his wire cutters and quickly got
to work snipping the metal links.  Garfield glanced around nervously while
they waited.  So far the journey had been damaging, and now that they were
finally at their destination, he could not shake the feeling that something
even worse was going to go wrong.

“We’re in,” said Lemon.  He stepped back proudly
to reveal a large hole in the fence wide enough for each of them to duck
under.  Kirk went first, with Sally close behind.  The others quickly
followed with Garfield going last.  As he stepped through he made sure to
make a note of his bearings.  If they had to retreat there would be no
time to cut a new hole.  They would need to remember where this one was.

“Wonder where the goodies are,” Sally said, glancing
around with his hands on his hips.  “We’re looking for guns and ammo,
right?”

“Primarily,” said Kirk.  “But keep your eyes
peeled for anything worth taking back.”

“Back to this pier of yours, yer?  How many
mouths you got to feed back there?”

“About another ten.”

Sally blew air into his cheeks and then said, “But
it’s you guys that have to go out and risk your necks all the time, yer?”

Kirk shrugged.  “The people back at the pier fish
and look after the place.”

“Screw fishing.  Anyone can do that.  They
should be out here risking their necks with you.”

“Poppy’s just a kid and old man Bob is…well,
old.
 
Not everyone can make it out here.”

Sally flapped his hands and slapped them against his
thighs.  “Then they die.  Who made them your burden?  Are you
telling me that if we find heaps of treasure here, you’re gunna trek it all the
way back to the coast and divvy it up?”

Kirk looked embarrassed, but Garfield was angry. 
“We look after each other, Sally.  You might have been alone this last
year, but some of us are still human.”

Sally put his hands up.  “Hey, don’t hit me
again, big man.  Was just making an observation.  Still allowed to do
that, ain’t I?”

Kirk stared at Garfield.  “No playing up,
okay?  Let’s just do this and get ourselves heading back for home.”

Garfield snarled, but didn’t push the issue.  He
was glad Kirk made the statement of heading back home.  It sounded like
Sally was in favour of banding together and becoming a group of marauding
nomads.

“Where do we start?” asked Lemon.  “This place is
h-h-huge.”

“We start there,” said Garfield.  “At that
building.  There’re guns inside.”

Kirk frowned.  “How do you
know?”                

Garfield pointed.  “Look there, can you see that
narrow sandpit that runs all down one side?”

“You want to build a sandcastle?” asked Sally. 
“Somebody get this man a spade.”

Garfield ignored him  “When soldiers return their
rifles, they dry fire them to make sure the chambers are clear.  They aim
at the sandbank in case a round fires off accidentally.  Also, that
building is small with no windows and a big steel door.  No easy way to
break in.  If you’re asking me, that’s where the guns are.”

“This place is huge,” said Sally.  “That building
isn’t big enough to hold all the guns for this place.”

Garfield shook his head and snorted.  “How much
of a good idea is it to put all the weapons together?  If some gang of
criminals with brass balls tried to rob an armoury, why make it easy for
them?  The guns will be placed in separate caches.  Probably one per
regiment.”

Kirk nodded.  “Makes sense to me.  Okay,
people.  We need to find a way inside that building.”

“What about that fire engine?” said
Sally.
 
“If we can get that sweetheart running, we could just ram into the side of the
building.”

Garfield whistled.  “Just ram the side of a
building full of explosives.  Smart.”

“Do you have a better idea?” asked Kirk.  “That
door don’t look like
it’s
gunna come loose with
Lemon’s skeleton key.”

Garfield thought for a few seconds but was forced to
shrug his shoulders.  “I guess not.”

“Okay,” said Sally, clapping his hands together. 
“Let’s go jack us a fire truck.  Reminds me of this time in high school
when…actually, never mind.”

Kirk put down his backpack and started giving
orders.  “Okay, Cat, David, go check out those trucks parked over there,
but be careful.  Lemon, do you think you can hotwire that fire engine, or
whatever it is you do?”

“Looks, pretty old.  I’m sure it won’t be
difficult.”

Kirk nodded.  “Do it.”

Lemon tottered off towards the shed containing the
fire engine, carrying his bag of tricks over his shoulder.  The man was
never happier than when he had something to break into.

“What about the rest of us, mate?” asked Sally. 
“You want us to go explore?”

“That would be a bad idea,” said Garfield.  “We
need to stay close in case we get cut off.”

“I was asking the boss, fella,” said Sally, turning
and smiling at Kirk.

Kirk chuckled.  “Stop trying to wind Garf up,
will you?  Anyway, he’s right.  I think it’s better if we take things
slow and stick close.  The rest of us can set up a cache here for
everything we find.”

Garfield agreed with the plan.  It wasn’t the
quickest, but it was the smartest.  Maybe Kirk wasn’t as impetuous as he
thought. “We need to be ready if Lemon gets that truck moving.  The noise
of the engine alone will bring any dead in the area to come running.”

Kirk nodded.  “I know.  I’ll have someone go
back to the minivan, make sure it’s ready to go the second we beat a retreat.”

“Or we could stay and fight,” said Sally. 
“There’re enough of us to handle a few moaners.  Are we men or possums?”

Garfield sighed.  The Australian was really
beginning to get on his nerves.  “Perhaps, but what if we lose
someone.  Is losing a person worth it?  We don’t fight the
dead.  We avoid the dead.”

“What’s one life if it means getting this place locked
down?  This place is a goldmine.  We could set up a camp here and
defend it till the end of time.”

“Then why is it empty?” asked Garfield.  “The
entrance is barricaded up, so people were here once.  They’re not no more,
though.  Why?”

Sally kicked a stone across the floor with the toe of
his boot like a surly teenager.  “I
dunno
,
mate.  Old age?”

Garfield rolled his eyes.  “The infection hit
less than a year ago.  I don’t think anyone died of old age.”

Sally shrugged.  “Aliens, then?”

“
Aliens?
  Genius.”

Kirk waved a hand.  “Shut the hell up, you
two.  You’re giving me a headache.”

Garfield flushed with anger, but then remembered that
he wasn’t in charge anymore, Kirk was.  “Fine.  I’m going to go see
if Lemon needs help with anything.  That okay, boss?”

Kirk nodded.

Garfield spun around and marched to go find
Lemon.  On his way he passed the three trucks that Cat and David had been
told to check out.  Neither of them were anywhere to be seen. 
They
must have jumped up inside the truck beds for some
rumpy
pumpy
.
  It wouldn’t be the first time the
two of them had snuck off for some alone time.  Who could really blame
them?

Garfield wondered if he would ever have a woman in his
life again.  It would be nice to have another heartbeat beside him while
he slept, but it just wasn’t something he could imagine right now.  His
priority was Poppy.  There would be time for
his own
needs later, when she was grown.

The fire engine was up ahead, it’s nose poking beneath
the shutter of the open shed.  Garfield eyed the front passenger seat but
couldn’t see if Lemon was inside.  Knowing Lemon, he would probably be
rummaging in his rucksack somewhere inside the shed, trying to find the perfect
tool for the job at hand.

Garfield reached the shed and stepped inside.  It
stunk of engine oil and petrol.  Lemon’s rucksack was laid out on the
floor, just as he had suspected, but Lemon wasn’t beside it.  “Hey,
Lem
,” he shouted.  “You need a hand?”

No answer.

Garfield turned and walked further into the shed,
towards the back of the fire engine.  There were tools lined up on the
back wall above a workbench.  He went to get a closer look and couldn’t
help but smile at the pristine tools and blades.  “Hey, Lemon,” he shouted
again.  “There’s some grade-A stuff here.  You should take a look
when you’re done.”

No answer.

“Hey, Lemon.  You deaf?”  Garfield turned
around, frustrated.  He walked around the back of the engine and headed
for the driver’s side door.  He placed a foot up on the running boards and
felt the air shift behind him.  He spun back around, yanking free the
carving tongs he had strapped to his triceps at the farmhouse.

There was no one there.

Garfield frowned.  After so many days surviving
on the road, sensing danger had become like a sixth sense.  He couldn’t
say why, but something was unsettling him.

Something was wrong.

“Lemon,” he shouted a third time.  “Say
something, man.”  He crept back up onto the running boards and peered
through the driver’s window.  There was the shadow of a man inside that
could have been Lemon – it had the same stumpy shape – but if it
was Lemon, he was making no effort to answer Garfield’s calls. 
What’s
wrong with him?

Garfield placed his hand around the door release and
took a breath.

When he opened the door he found Lemon inside as he’d
hoped, but had not expected to find him gagged and bound.  Before he had
chance to try to process the situation, a gloved hand covered his mouth and
dragged him backwards off the running board.  He tried to strike out with
the carving tongs, but his arm was quickly yanked behind his back and he
dropped them.  He pulled out his wooden tenderising mallet with his other
hand but that was quickly taken from him too.  Violently, he was yanked
around, smashed in the temple with a fist, and then tripped head over
heels.  Before he even knew what was happening he was on his back with a
boot at his throat. 
Who…what?

The man glaring down at him was like death: two white
eyes gleaming out from behind a black mask.  Garfield tried to plead with
him, but a gag went in his mouth and his arms were suddenly zip-tied behind
him.  The whole thing had taken about five seconds. 
I’m
dead.  Whoever has me is meaner and badder than anyone I’ve ever met.

When Garfield realised that there were three men
wearing black balaclavas, he knew once and for all that he was done for. 
Cat and David had also been bound and gagged and were lying at the rear of the
shed by a side door.  There were tears in David’s eyes, but Cat wore an
expression of steely determination.  Garfield knew the woman would never
give into a man easily.  She had survived the early days of the infection
all by herself, fighting off a half dozen rape attempts of desperate men. 
She would not allow her female sensibilities to weaken her.

The three men produced assault rifles and Cat’s eyes
went wide, but still she did not weep.  Garfield eyed the assault rifles
anxiously and imagined how quickly they could tear him apart.  Their
muzzles were polished metal with thick plastic grips positioned beneath. 
The scopes on top of each rifle were like menacing eyeballs staring at
him. 
We’re so screwed.