The horde was gaining on them, pacing up the shore as if they knew what the two of them were planning. AJ fired one more round over his shoulder and then chucked the rifle, catching up to Kate and then surpassing her. He plowed through the door to the machine shop, and when she followed, he slammed the door behind her. His hands fumbled around the entrance until he found the wooden bar serving as the lock. He threw it into place, sealing them from the outside.
A second later, something large and heavy slammed against it, rattling the thin metal walls. Kate could hear them pawing and humping at the door, screaming to get in. She and AJ didn't have long. The boat bay was open to the water, and as soon as those things figured that out, they'd forget the door, circle the exterior, and get inside.
The ceiling was full of skylights, but without the sun, it was almost too dark to see. The moon illuminated two or three dim patches of room, and they were small.
“Where's the boat?”
A flame flickered to life as AJ produced his lighter. She breathed a sigh of relief; the boat was there, and it looked intact.
Something slammed into him in the dark, and AJ was suddenly flying into the floor. Kate heard his back crack into the concrete and winced. The figure on top of him hissed, its hands tearing at him with lawnmower speed.
“Your gun!” he called. “Kate, shoot this fucking thing!”
She reached into her waist band and hoisted the Luger. “You have to get it off of you!” she cried. “Get it off!”
AJ looked at her, then planted a boot in the thing's chest and pushed, sending it flying across the room. It landed almost perfectly in a square of moonlight.
“Shoot it!”
She fired, the gun thundering in her hands not once, but three times. All three shots connected, the blackened thing twisting and spinning under the force of the shots. It slumped to the ground, either dead or dying.
AJ jumped to his feet and began running to the boat. There was no time for thanks. She heard splashes in the water and knew the horde was moving towards the bay doors.
“Come on!” he yelled.
But she found her mind wasn't totally numb yet. “The water! We have to lower it into the water!”
“Find the release!”
He ran to the engine and thumbed the engine primer, five presses inside a second. After giving the rest a quick look, he pulled the rope. The engine shuddered but didn't start.
Kate shuffled around the perimeter, searching for something that might look like a switch or a hoist. “I can't find it!”
AJ pulled the starter one more time. “Look! You're probably looking for a rod or something mechanical.”
She saw it then, a thin, brown shaft sticking out of a pulley mechanism. She ran to it and pulled. At first, it didn't give, but when she put all of her weight against it, the thing creaked and slid downwards. The boat dropped with a sudden ferocity, slamming into the water at full tilt. AJ lost his footing and fell, the lighter going dead. I've knocked him out, she thought crazily. I've knocked him out, and in so doing, killed us both!
But then, he was standing up with the lighter in hand, giving her a look that was two parts gratitude and one part exasperation.
“Help me!” she said, trying to get across the gap.
“Help yourself, or we're not going to make it!”
Something splashed in the water not ten feet from the bay doors. She took his advice and jumped, landing just inside the walls of the boat.
AJ pulled the starter and the engine turned over, the propeller spinning up to full speed. He slammed the engine throttle down, and before she could sit up, the boat was flying forwards. It clunked against something soft and organic, and then suddenly, they were in open water. The machine shop was disappearing behind them, the island looming behind it. She watched as the blackened hordes swarmed after them, but it was too late. They were away.
They were far away.
Chapter 24: Cheruta
1
They arrived to pandemonium. Doctor Grey's Carrion had come, and the whalers did not stand a chance.
Lucja's companion pulled the bike up to the wooden docks, hoping to get them close to the nearest departing ship. As they dismounted, she saw they had come too late. The ship was overloaded with seven or eight blackened figures, all clutching and climbing from the water. It began to sink under their weight, and in seconds, the men on board were torn apart.
“Over here!”
She looked further up the walk and saw a man standing outside one of the warehouses, beckoning.
“The last ship is over there! If we hurry, we can—”
A shape pounced off of a nearby roof and landed on top of him. Lucja thought it had once been a dog. It tore off the man's face in two quick bites.
Jan drew his pistol and fired his last three shots, then tossed the gun into the water and began to run, dragging Lucja behind him. The dog-thing, hurt but not dead, started limping after them.
Dead littered the walk. The ships had gone, leaving the stragglers to fend for themselves against the oncoming horrors. She could hear screaming as men were dragged from their hiding spots into the dark. The wood beneath her feet lay stained with blood.
“Keep going!” Jan said. “With me!” He was breathing hard but still outpacing her.
Several men clung to life at the edges of the docks, reaching towards the sea and the brothers who had left them behind. One such man grabbed a bone saw to defend himself but could do nothing against the horde, and soon found himself pinned to a deck bollard, his legs disappearing in a whirl of claws and teeth. He looked at Lucja, his eyes glazing over, then used the saw to cut his own throat.
“It's too late!” she cried, hot tears running down her face. “They're going to get us!”
“They're not going to get us! Look!”
Lucja saw one more boat, and it was a big one, a catcher ship. It had left the pier but was drifting slowly from the shore. It looked just like The Adalgisa, and for a moment, she thought it was The Adalgisa, but that couldn't be.
As they turned onto the final deck, the last straight line to the water, Lucja heard footfalls. She looked over her shoulder and saw three humanoid shapes running after them. They had caught their scent and were tearing up the deck.
“Jump!” Jan yelled. “Into the water!”
They leapt from the end of the pier, flying into the murky dark. An instant before she hit, Lucja remembered her sister and what the water had done to her. And then the cold washed over her, freezing her bones solid. Against all odds, she kept her mouth closed, willing herself not to drown. An instant later, she was swimming. Jan had never asked if she could swim, but it wouldn't have mattered; it was swim or die.
A moment later, she felt her arms grow sluggish, the cold overwhelming her. She wanted to cough but knew if she did, she wouldn't be able to stop. She kept going, focusing on the back of the ship and the name etched into the metaclass="underline" The Cheruta.
Hands were suddenly around her waist, and before she knew what was happening, she was being hoisted into the air. A man from the ship had grabbed her and was now lifting her on board. The man set her feet down to the wood, and before she could blink, she was safe… safe!