Infected Series (Book 1): Mission: New York (13 page)

Chapter Twenty Seven

Travelling through the tunnels they had not noticed any rats or anything else that moved down in the passage. There was no noise. At All. The silence was absolute apart from the low burble of the big diesel engines of the boat. It was the sudden noise they heard from where they had entered the tunnel that shocked everybody. The roar of a gasoline powered boat echoed up the passage toward them. Jones;  reacted by pushing the throttle lever in George’s hand all the way forward and everyone held on tight as the boat shot forward. Roaring the big diesels shot the huge boat forward at an astonishing rate in the small space. People screamed as the walls of the passage flew past rapidly, missing the sides by two feet or less. A wake was forming behind them as they powered forward toward the unknown. George moved over and let Jones take over, his face grim with determination; concentrating on their path forward. George grabbed the light to help guide them into the blackness.

The pursuers were being tossed around on the wake of the bigger boat and they had to slow their pursuit slightly; the motion of the water making their passage dangerous. They clung on to the boat; their stomachs lurching in dismay with their passage continued. They did not have the luxury of a light; but continued to follow the glow up ahead in the passage. Every now and again they saw the light disappear from their view as the other bigger boat went around a slight bend. Conversation was difficult between the pursuers; they were trying hard to concentrate on the difficult task of staying on the trail of the bigger boat. They did have more manoeuvrability; but without a light to lead the way, their passage was much more dangerous. Their speed reduced even further as they realised that they needed to go slower. They watched ahead carefully; not wanting to get caught out by anything. Not knowing the tunnels as well as Jones was a serious disadvantage; they could not have a clue about where the boat could go. Watching as the light dwindled away as the other boat was racing away from them; the noise of the engines fading.

Everybody on board the boat was hanging on for dear life as Jones sped the boat onward; guiding it toward what Simon hoped was a sanctuary for them. He felt Judith’s heart thudding next to his as she clung desperately to him; the water rushing past them rapidly. Simon clung to the railing next to the wheel and made sure that Judith was still there, as well as Ella at his back. Surrounded by them, he was excited and thrilled to have them both near him. He saw Jones pull the throttle back as the boat started to slow. Jones smiled at last; the passage he wanted was coming up. Slowly the big boat came to a shuddering halt as the engines reversed. He twisted the wheel over to port, and the boat glided silently and smoothly into the bigger passage off to the left. The large open cavern-like space was breath taking as Jones shone the light around and he saw the small dock on the opposite side. He throttled the boat right back and slowly moved the boat forward; inch by painful inch. Nearing the dock he shut off the light and said softly to the rest of the group now huddled below to remain quiet. Instructing everyone to head into the various cabins; there the sounds they made would be muffled. Simon was still standing gripping the railing with the two girls squashed in front and behind him. He saw Jones look at him sideways and shook his head slowly. He could see the silent laugh as Jones shoulders were shaking. He motioned to the girls to head downstairs, but stopped Simon from going downstairs as well. A look passed between Judith and Simon; a pleading look that was probably begging him to stay safe. He nodded at her as she headed down the steps.

Jones smiled at the thought of his niece with Simon; he was a good match for her. Her temperament was fiery but loving and he knew they would make each other happy. From what he had seen with Simon, he was a good match for Judith. He walked softly over to Simon and smiled; then placed his arm on Simon’s shoulder. He motioned for Simon to follow him toward the back of the boat. He handed Simon an AR-15, and passed him a couple of clips of ammunition. Simon suddenly realised why Jones had sent everybody down to the cabins. He wanted them out of the way, and to get them to a safer place. Simon could hear the other boat’s engine as it slowly made its way down the passage they had just come from. With the light extinguished there was very little ambient light that was available for their eyes to use. Their eyes had adjusted very well to their situation; enabling them to see better in the darkness. They still could not see much; but could hear the boat engine getting closer. Their boat had settled, and the small ripples that they had made as the boat had settled. Utter stillness enveloped them, the quiet was electrifying and Simon felt the tension in the air.

Pursuing them had been a good idea at the time, but their lack of light was now becoming a serious problem as they had absolutely no idea if the other boat was hiding, or if they had actually managed to escape. Knowing how badly it would be if they did not manage to destroy the other boat; they continued down the passage extremely cautiously. Speed would no longer be of use to them if they could not see where they were going; that was a sure-fire way to destroy themselves. Cursing softly, the pursuing boat’s pilot doubted himself now and if they had missed the boat somehow, and were now wandering around down here getting hopelessly lost. Puzzled, the pilot was wondering if they had gone past the boat, when he heard something that was out of the ordinary. He cocked his head and turned toward the slight noise he had heard and was about to say something to his partner; but the noise that he heard chilled him to his core. There was an infected down here with him. Perhaps more than one; there was no way of knowing. They shut the boat engine off; hoping the infected would ignore them and move on. His biggest fear right at that moment was being attacked by the infected with no light. That would spell disaster as there was no way they would be able to see them coming. Splashing alerted them to the fact that the infected were either in the water or.. Suddenly he realised what he had heard; they were not in the water, but the splashes were pebbles being thrown into the water, and the hissing was being made by a human. Bullets ripped through the boat; decapitating the pursuers, blood spraying out in red fans. The bodies sprawled in the bottom of the boat; their lifeless bodies now devoid of life. Jones had succeeded in his aim to kill the pursuers. Knowing the necessity of their deaths; he had wanted to see if there was anything he could salvage from their boat.

Jones slowly stroked his way to the side of the boat, and hung onto the side. Looking into the boat he saw the attacker’s blood pooling at the bottom of the boat. They had pursued the wrong man, and it had led to their deaths. Jones’ training in the tunnels had paid off in full, with the successful ambush of the pursuers. His wicked smile played over his face as he softly said to the dead mean in the boat ‘Gotcha!’ Even if they had known where the other boat had hidden they would have struggled to find the hiding spot without light. That had been their fatal mistake. Their pursuit had been hazardous at best, but with him keeping his calm and ensuring the boat’s peoples safety had been his number one priority. Killing the pursuers had been a necessary evil, but he would do it again if he needed to. His trade had been killing; which he had been extremely good at. Killing was after all his field of expertise; something he had more than enough years of experience in.

Simon had blanched at the thought of Jones going to hunt the pursuers down, but the logical way Jones had presented it would be to the groups benefit. He had slid silently into the cold water, had kept the AR dry by swimming slowly with it held above the water in one hand and had slowly made his way down the passage to where the other boat was. Thinking back on the training he had undergone; and had kept up with, had helped him tremendously with his plan. It; the plan had been simple; to approach the other boat and distract them long enough to get them to reveal their position to him; then he could kill them all. Jones had known that they would need to be killed for them to get away safely; ensuring the rest of the groups safety. After all, they did want to get to the island safely. His thoughts were such that he needed to concentrate and wait for Jones to get back safely to their boat. Hearing the gunshots he rationalised that either Jones had succeeded or the pursuers had killed Jones. He heard the soft whistle echo down the tunnel toward where they had tied up the boat to the underground jetty. Simon sighed in relief as he heard the noise of swimming coming from where Jones was now coming back.

Chapter Twenty Eight

Jones climbed aboard the boat, reaching for the towel Simon held out to him. Drying himself off, he removed his shirt and trousers and stood in his underwear. Judith had brought clothes up on deck so Jones could dress in dry clothes. Once he was fully dressed again he pulled Dawson and Simon aside; exactly what had happened down the tunnel and how they were now able to proceed toward the island. Their time left would be about an hour to clear the tunnels at the other side and then they could head for the island. George again deferred to Jones; who piloted the boat now at a gentler pace than earlier. Proceeding slowly they discovered more caverns and open spaces with many more tunnels branching off to the sides. Daylight was finally a dull glimmer in the distance and Jones opened the throttle a little more, making a bit of speed toward the light. Drifting to a stop, he pulled the boat around into reverse and looked carefully at the lock there. Grabbing the keys he used previously he had to reach through the gate to reach the lock; finally unlocking it and they had to then carefully push the grate open. The daylight was a welcome relief for them coming out of the dark tunnel. Looking around at their surroundings, Simon realised the other end of the tunnel had deposited them out in Sheepshead Bay; right by Neptune Avenue. He spoke to George briefly; consulting the map that had been left in the boat, and realised that they were actually still a fair distance to the Island. Simon had been hoping that the tunnels would have deposited them closer to the Island, but that was not to be. George took back control of the boat as they started to depart from the bay; wanting to get them away from the nearest part of land.

Screaming; some members of the horde were pushed over the edge of the bay into the water; where their cries escalated into higher pitched cries of distress and agony. On board the boat they watched as the crowd of infected were pushed by the rest; plunging into the water turned them into pink sloughing flesh, and the screaming did not end. Being shoved into the water was obviously a way to kill them; but their utter agony as they disintegrated in the water was horrible to watch. George shuddered as he gunned the engine of the boat as they drew away from the shore.  Leaving the infected far behind them quickly; they settled down after that nerve jangling experience. George tried to head out to sea a bit more to get away from land as much as possible, to avoid similar things happening. He did not want to see any more of the infected go through the horrible process of being shoved into the water again. He shuddered and stared out over the water, he looked dazed and confused. Simon tapped him on the shoulder and looked at George to check if he was okay.

“You okay George? You look a bit dazed. Was it the sight of all those infected being pushed into the water?” Simon asked nervously. “George, George; are things okay?”

George finally looked at Simon and just nodded. He was definitely shell-shocked, and Simon was getting anxious. He needed George to snap out of it, and he needed to do something drastic. Looking around, he spotted Dawson approaching and he quickly whispered to her what had happened. She grimaced as she turned to George; then slapped him hard.

“Snap out of it Soldier, you need to be on point right now!” she commanded, and watched as George’s eyes suddenly focused. “Sir; Yes sir!” He responded squaring himself and standing to attention. He came back to himself and looked at Dawson then at Simon apologetically.

“I’m sorry, I.. I.. don’t know what came over me. It was.. it was.. just the sight of them all crowding in like that.” George stammered. “They just.. got to me. I just wish this was over, this whole mess. They actually scare the shit out of me. I know I seem strong, but just knowing they were people like us, but with no rational thought.” He shuddered then as he thought back to the episode they had just witnessed. Simon realised how much it had affected them; George especially, and knew he had to get George to focus on getting them safely to the island safely.

“George, we need to get to the Island, do we have enough range to get there and enough fuel?” Simon asked sternly, looking directly at George.

“We do, we do indeed, “ George said as he tapped the fuel gauge and pointed out to Simon that it had used hardly any fuel yet.

Simon had the map and he passed it to George, who studied the map; straightened up and turned the wheel and throttled up toward their destination. The boat thrummed with power as it started moving towards the spit of land – Rockaway Point. Simon watched the shore as they headed down toward the point. As they approached, he saw movement on the beach and was worried for a moment that more infected had made their way down toward there. Getting closer he saw that the people were actually waving at them; trying to get their attention. Simon was surprised and immediately called for Dawson. She headed over and stood next to Simon. Lifting the binoculars to her eyes she looked over toward the shore. Simon looked at her; then did a double take as he realised that she was actually holding binoculars. He wondered where she had gotten them and asked her. She had replied that they had been downstairs in a cupboard that she had searched. She had taken it for just such an occasion. She passed the binoculars over to Simon who took them gratefully and looked toward the shore. He saw the people there waving their arms as they stood on the green of the Golf club. He smiled at the thought of more people that looked like they were relatively safe.