“Lucy?” I said, tapping lightly on the door. “Are you going to let me in?”
There was no answer.
“Lucy?”
Still nothing. If she’d taken more Xanax, she was probably out of it by now. I couldn’t sleep in the spare cabin because Sam and Tanya were in there so I went to the storeroom, grabbed a blanket, and took it upstairs to the living area.
After making myself as comfortable as I could in the easy chair and pulling the blanket up to my chin, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep.
My dreams were inhabited by shambling zombies and soldiers whose chests exploded into clouds of red mist. And every now and then, a recurring image would flash into my head; the memory of Brigadier James Gordon standing on a beach watching our boats sail out to sea.
9
I woke up the following morning to find an insidious mist creeping over the sea and the boats. I sat up and rubbed my eyes before checking the time on my watch. It wasn’t even six o’ clock yet but my uncomfortable night in the chair had ensured I’d be an early riser today.
Climbing out of the chair stiffly, I stretched. The joints in my knees and elbows cracked audibly. I staggered into the kitchen area and filled the coffee machine. Although the day had barely started, I already knew I was going to need a large dose of caffeine to face it.
While I waited for the machine to do its thing, I stared out through the windows at the misty sea. The weather conditions had reduced visibility to no more than fifty feet and I could barely see the Lucky Escape through the mist.
At least this would help to conceal us from the military; it would be hard to find us while the boats were hidden by a misty shroud. I had no doubt the mist would burn off later today but by then, we’d be far away from here.
But where would we go? No matter how many times I tried to solve the problem of finding Bunker 53, the only answer I came up with was to get the map from Echo Six’s Land Rover.
And that was out of the question while Brigadier Gordon’s men were combing the area. Besides, now the soldiers were out in force, they’d probably taken Echo Six’s Land Rover back to Camp Victor. I doubted they’d leave a military vehicle in the road.
The four of us were hardly going to be able to break into a military base and get out alive.
That meant our chances of finding Bunker 53 were less than zero. The location of a secret government bunker wasn’t something you could just look up online or find on a regular map.
The inability to find Bunker 53 presented us with another problem; we couldn’t hold onto Marcus Vess’s body indefinitely. If the virus was bringing him back to life, then eventually he was going to wake up. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him when that happened.
When the coffee had finally filled the pot, I poured some into a mug and took it out onto the foredeck. The morning was cold and I shivered slightly. The sea was relatively calm and I could hear small waves slapping rhythmically against the hull.
I leaned on the railing and sipped the hot coffee, watching the Lucky Escape as I did so. On board that boat was the most fearsome creature I’d ever faced, a true nightmare in the flesh. Considering the fact that we had no idea what the virus was doing to Vess’s body, it might be a good idea if Sam and Tanya remained on the Big Easy for a while.
I had little faith that the metal crate and a locked storeroom door would hold him if he came back to life.
I heard movement behind me and turned to see Sam coming out on deck. He’d helped himself to a mug of coffee and took a swig before waving to me. “Hey, Alex. Couldn’t sleep? It’s hella early.”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“I always get up at the asscrack of dawn, dude, so I can workout.”
“You workout?”
He looked at me dubiously. “Hell, yeah! How do you think I look so ripped, man?”
I shrugged. “I thought it was due to having little food and spending a lot of time running from danger.” That was how I’d lost weight. I’d just assumed Sam—who’d always been in good shape—had maintained his toned physique the same way. I didn’t realised he was working at it.
He scoffed. “Once a gym rat, always a gym rat, buddy. I can’t go to a gym anymore, obviously, but I still do some bodyweight exercises. Gotta keep everything tight, know what I mean?” He patted his flat stomach through his T-shirt.
One look at my physique should have told him I didn’t know what he meant at all. I hadn’t worked out a day in my life, unless walking to the Chinese takeaway counted as exercise.
I was going to tell this to Sam but he held up a hand, shushing me. He seemed to be listening for something.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Do you hear that?” he whispered.
I listened to the environment around us. I could hear the waves hitting the boat and seagulls in the distance but nothing out of the ordinary.
Then I heard it. Voices in the distance and the low hum of a boat engine.
“I think it’s those soldiers, man,” Sam said. “They’re looking for us.”
Because of the mist, I had no idea how far away—or how close—the other boat was. I knew that sound travelled well over the water, which could mean it was miles away. But it could just as easily be a hundred feet away, hidden by the mist.
“We need to get out of here,” I said.
Sam nodded. “I’ll get Tanya and we’ll get the Escape started. He downed his coffee and left the deck.
I followed him inside but instead of going down to the cabin area, I walked through the living area and went out through the rear door to the aft deck. Once there, I climbed the ladder to the bridge and sat in the pilot’s chair.
After a minute or so, Sam appeared on the aft deck with a tired-looking Tanya and gave me the thumbs up before they descended the aft ladder to the Zodiac. Instead of using the Zodiac’s motor, they grabbed the paddles and rowed across to the Escape, obviously trying to make as little noise as possible.
I switched on the radio and dialled through the channels to see if I could pick up any sort of transmission from the unknown boat.
I couldn’t pick up any chatter so I returned the radio to its original channel.
It crackled and Sam’s voice said, “Okay, dude, let’s get the hell out of here. I think they’re south of us so we’re going to head north.”
“Copy that.” I started the Big Easy’s engine, inwardly flinching as it roared to life. If the other boat was close enough that we could hear the voices of those on board, then they were sure to hear the Easy’s engine.
Through the mist, I saw the Escape begin to move slowly away and I followed her, keeping a steady pace.
I searched the radio channels again and now I did pick up something.
“Foxtrot Two, do you hear that? Over.”
“Sierra One, this is Foxtrot Two. I hear engines. Sounds like they’re north of our position. Heading that way now. Over.”
“Copy, Foxtrot Two.”
Yeah, they were military all right and they were definitely looking for us. If not for this mist, they’d probably have found us already. Our only hope now was to slip away unseen. That wasn’t going to be easy when we were piloting forty-two foot boats with powerful engines.
I came up alongside the Lucky Escape and we sailed together through the mist. Tanya was at the wheel of the Escape and she waved at me through the window. Sam was standing on the aft deck, peering at the mist in our wake.
I wondered if Lucy was still asleep. I should probably have awoken her and told her the trouble we were in but that would only have made her mood worse. She was probably in a deep sleep, anyway; a sleep aided by the pills she seemed to be taking on a regular basis.