The Living Dead Series (Book 3): Dead Coast (23 page)

At the same time she was caring for Virginia and she was the only one able to calm her enough to get her into a cabin. She didn’t say so but Bea suspected Mei had sedated her. Every time she tried to visit, Virginia was asleep.     

Sighing she finished dragging the body up to the deck and Brian helped her toss it over the side. They skipped the sections near cargo hold number four last night, leaving them locked and off limits but this morning they had gone in and taken down the few infected still there. This body was the last one.

The day had turned gray and the waves tossed restlessly. The ship had moved a short distance out to sea but the shore was still visible. The beach was dark with the roving dead and the water still thick with them. Multitudes of sharks hunted today, sleek dorsal fins slicing through the waves.

Only one of the chickens had made it out to the boat. It pecked about the deck, clucking disconsolately.

Ian was out on deck, holding his daughter in his arms. Her arms were around his neck and she was crying. Ian held her tightly and stared out at the waves. He looked ten years older than he had yesterday.

“Ian, is there anything I can do? Have you eaten today?”

Ian looked surprised. “I honestly have no idea.” He asked Anna gently, “Have you eaten anything today, baby girl?”

She shook her head. “No, I want to see Mom first. I want Mom to wake up.”

Ian held her even tighter. “I don’t think it’s safe for Mom to wake up right now. We have to wait a little longer.”

Bea begged, “Please come below and eat something. Fitz got a lot of our supplies out and on board. At least come drink something warm.”

“Maybe, in a little while.”

Giving up, Bea went below, eventually finding her way to the galley where she encountered Fitz, who was in his element, distributing rations, assigning bunks, and happily predicting an eminent outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease, E. Coli., or both at once. He and the ship’s cook achieved a wary truce over meals only after the cook produced a delicious won-ton soup for all of them and no one had gotten sick, despite Fitz’s dire warnings. Bea wandered back to her assigned sleeping quarters.

The ship, despite the lingering smell of dead bodies, was something of an improvement over the camp. Everyone had a bunk, a few had cabins. They had electricity and showers along with computer access. The Chinese were extremely reluctant to allow them on the computers and when Brian broke through their security to log on and changed the operating language to English they were very angry and threatened to lock him up until Mei intervened.

He managed to change the majority of the system back to Chinese, leaving just two computers set up in English. That was the easy part. Gaining access to the failing internet took several hours and even then the connection was sporadic and slow. Systems were breaking down around the world.

All at once the floor beneath her feet shuddered. She steadied herself and held onto the bunk until she regained her equilibrium. The entire ship now hummed with a slight vibration. They must have re-started the engines. She ran back to the deck, emerging just as the anchor was raised and they began to move.

David had had his way and they sailed north. Except for the big cities, which they planned to avoid, population numbers dropped farther up the coast and rainfall was generally reliable. Earlier today she printed off maps then they had carefully marked target locations. The future of cyber access was uncertain in this new world and it was best to have hard copies of anything important.

The coast slid slowly by. Everywhere she looked were crushed and burnt buildings, splintered wharves and docks, and the dead. Hundreds of thousands of teeming, shambling dead. Borrowing Mei’s binoculars she focused on the dark masses of bodies swarming the shore. Here too, the slow, decaying shufflers were being supplanted by the newer, faster version. There seemed to be no end to them as they continued to pour over the low hills above the beach, surging out into the breaking surf. The once beautiful coastline, the subject of songs, paintings, movies, and television for so many years, affording so many the “California life”, now belonged to the dead.

T
he days slipped by, one after the other as the massive ship made its way slowly up the Pacific coast. The skies were the pale blue of early spring with sunshine only occasionally obscured by fat, drifting clouds. Smoke from countless fires on the mainland was often visible in the distance but the sea breezes usually blew it away long before it reached the ship.

The dead still thronged the coast and each day they found them in the water around the ship, repulsive and fell, clawing in vain at the metal hull. Hoping to escape them at least long enough to fish, they moved farther out to sea and cast nets improvised from nylon webbing found down in a cargo hold. Each cast brought in a variety of fish but also pulled in hideously bloated bodies, often limbless, eye sockets blank but mouths still searching, biting the rope and struggling for release. The crew threw back the entire catch. Eventually they stopped trying and rationed the food ever more severely. They each got one bottle of water a day. There seemed to be no escape from the infected.

Often they came upon other boats, though none as large as this one. They usually hailed them by bullhorn but seldom got more than a wary wave in response if they got a response at all. Once a gun cracked and a bullet went over their bow, a message easily understood. They drifted on.

Virginia, accompanied by Ian, Anna, and Daniel, spent a little more time outside each day. The little family was broken and grieving as were so many others. Some of the men had lost their entire families.

Nevertheless, life on board developed a routine. Brian and Moshe scratched out the lines for a shuffleboard court on the deck and used metal plates from the galley as pucks. It was a welcome distraction for the children. Their Chinese hosts were not pleased when they noticed the damage to their ship but allowed the games, occasionally joining in. Despite this they kept a distance between themselves and the refugees and David sensed there were divisions in their ranks. He got the definite impression that some of the crew did not want them on board. A particularly hostile group, a faction led by a Private Chang, tried to confiscate their weapons the first night but with Mei’s help, David made it clear they were on board only temporarily and wanted to be able to leave quickly when needed. They kept the guns for now.

The demographics of the group were troubling. David knew that populations with too many men and very few women were inherently unstable. Men will compete for women, sometimes violently. The Chinese had already shown Mei constant flattering attention when she treated their burns and occasional small injuries. They branched out to the few other women who had survived most of whom seemed oblivious (like Virginia) or amused. This, coupled with the food shortage, made him as well as Ian very eager to find habitable land and get off this boat.

This morning, according to the map, they were somewhere above Tillamook. There were dead here staggering amongst the washed-up debris on the bank but far fewer in numbers. Seagulls circled and landed, tearing into and devouring the dead that were no longer able to walk. A pack of dogs descended from the low cliffs and, scattering the shrieking gulls, began to feast.

Coming down from a morning visit to the deck, Bea ran into Mei emerging from the infirmary, papers and charts tucked under her arm. She was frowning at something she held in her left hand then stuck into her jacket pocket when she saw Bea.

“How is Virginia?” Bea asked.

“The same. She’s sleeping too much. Sleep is good but this isn’t normal.”

“You’re not giving her anything to make her sleep?”

“No.” Mei started to say something else then stopped. She seemed distracted and looked as if she had been crying.

Shouts rang out somewhere farther down the passageway. They heard laughter and Brian and Moshe rounded the corner, bowling them over.

“Sorry! Gotta go!” They were still laughing as they ran.

One of the Chinese crewmen ran into view and stopped, talking angrily to Mei, demanding something. She shook her head and said something that caused him to stalk furiously away.

“What was that about?”

“He said the boys stole food, noodles, cookies, not much. He wants them caned.”

“I’ll talk to them but that sounds a little extreme.” Bea gave an incredulous laugh. “Caned? Was he serious?’

“Extremely. You should talk to them very seriously and right away.” Mei finished picking up her scattered paperwork. “Who’s up on deck?”

“David and Ian.”

“Oh. That’s good then.” She hesitated just a moment, squared her shoulders, and went above.

Bea turned to go and find the boys when her foot hit something small and plastic. Mei must have left something in her haste. She picked it up. It was a pregnancy test stick. And it was positive.

~

David watched as the tiny port town of Hypatia drifted into view. From this distance it could have been a picture postcard. White picket fences bordered gardens surrounding cedar-shake sided buildings. Whiskered seals sunned themselves on the rocky beach where waves splashed into white foam like steam from a fumarole.

Ian, Virginia and Anna also gazed out at the shore. The view was almost achingly normal, America as it used to be. America the beautiful.

Virginia was pale and thinner. It often took her a few minutes to reply to questions and sometimes she didn’t reply at all, just nodded and looked into the distance. No one could break through her gentle distractedness. Ian’s eyes often filled with tears which he ignored or wiped away without comment. Their daughter was Virginia’s shadow. She had developed a stutter and spoke very little anymore, except in whispers. Daniel trailed after her like a lost soul.

They all had to get off the ship. Over the last few days, their hosts had become ever more restrictive with food, locking the galley unless it was meal time and even threatening to confine Moshe and Brian to the brig if they snatched any more snacks throughout the day. The single surviving chicken had disappeared and no one could account for its absence. David thought it had probably fallen overboard.

They were also pressing Mei for information on the cure for the Z-virus. David begged her to stall as much as possible since no one on board was actually ill and the cure was truly their last ace. She said they were hinting very strongly that they were willing to care for the women and children but the men would soon need to make other arrangements.

Footsteps rang out on the metal steps and Moshe burst excitedly onto the deck. David feared another contretemps with the Chinese and prepared to try to smooth over another situation and extend their increasingly shaky welcome on the ship.

“Listen to this! They made it! The people in the Tower of London!” Moshe exclaimed.

“What?”

“The BBC people are back online. Hurry!”

Ian and Virginia stayed on deck but David allowed Moshe to drag him below where Brian listened to a radio stream on the computer.

“This is BBC London broadcasting from our new location atop Britain’s White Tower. We apologize for the brief lapse in communication but we are back and find our new digs quite cozy.

The Ministry of Health has advised the public against using water from any municipal source as all groundwater is contaminated and unsafe for consumption. We expect this situation shall continue into the indefinite future. Bottled water is the beverage of choice unless any of you have a few bottles of double-malt whisky. In that case please email me immediately and I shall try to reach you. We’ve been without alcoholic refreshment for days. In all seriousness, mates, don’t drink the water.

London as we once knew it is no more. Thousands of bodies fill the streets and the Thames is choked with the corpses of our countrymen…”

Bea wandered in and David moved aside to make room for her around the console. She shook her head and stayed near the door, listening intently to the broadcast. Something was up but he didn’t know what. She wasn’t hostile but seemed genuinely disappointed with him for some reason and that rankled.

He was seeing a new side of her on board the ship. She spent an afternoon playing Chinese poker with their hosts, smoking one of their cigars on a dare (and quietly getting sick over the gunwale later), in an attempt to lessen the growing tension and animosity.

The day after the boys pulled an all-nighter that resulted in breaking one of the deck cranes, she improvised pirate costumes for the children as well as herself and led them on expeditions to root the boys out from any place they tried to hide and sleep. Both boys were exhausted and begging her to stop by the end of the day but she made sure they stayed up late that night, too. The pranks had stopped for now.

She attracted a good bit of attention as well. The scarcity of women in their little group would have ensured
that
even if she didn’t look- well, the way she looked. The white bikini had never made a re-appearance and she dressed discreetly, deftly avoiding being cornered by any of the growingly aggressive Chinese soldiers. David missed the white bikini though.

They all knew it was time to leave. Fitz once again was making sure they had bug out supplies in their packs. He found spare gun oil in one of the cargo holds and all their weapons were cleaned and loaded.

The broadcast concluded with the classic BBC pips. Good to know others were still alive, that fragments of western civilization still existed, at least for now. They were so remote that they might as well be on the moon (also once within the reach of mankind) but the proof of their existence was comforting.

Bea caught the boys before they left and appeared to be admonishing them to behave. They protested their complete innocence and good intentions but didn’t seem too alarmed until she took them by the arms and pulled them aside. David was close enough to hear her say,

“Don’t you dare blow me off again, either of you. These men will kill you if they think you’re a hindrance to their survival and in their eyes you’re both starting to look like one. Straighten up.”

They left the room, walking dejectedly, shoulders drooping but once out of sight the sound of laughter and running footsteps echoed back. Bea made a strangled sound in her throat and headed topside, her angry footsteps loud on the metal ladder.

David followed.

The ship was anchored. David didn’t know why since the regular meetings he and Mei used to have with Private Tsou and the others had ceased. He wondered if they were going to attempt to net some more fish. He didn’t see any dead in the water but of course that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Ian and Virginia must have gone below. Bea stood with Anna by the rail, holding the little girl’s hand and looking at the ridiculously beautiful little town. There was even a picturesque lighthouse painted with black and white stripes perched on a cliff. The seals’ barking was a welcome change from the menacing moaning of the dead.

“Population is just under 2,000, primarily Caucasian, Hispanic, and Black, education level averages 14 years of school completed and the median income is $50,000 per household. Or that’s how it used to be.” Bea spoke, still staring at the shore.

“Wikipedia?”

“No, Census Bureau website. I’d never thought about living on the coast before but this might be a good place. I wonder if the dead are here, somewhere out of sight. I would hate to be literally between the devil and the deep blue sea like we were in SoCal.”

“Going by previous experience, I’d bet there are some here. Still any time the population numbers are smaller there’s a better chance of clearing them out and making a go of it.”

Several of the Chinese emerged on deck, pulling one of the fishing nets with them. They all smiled at Bea but only nodded to David. Securing the ropes to the deck crane, they cast the net, all of them watching it sink out of sight.

Bea spoke in an urgent tone. “We’ve got to get off of here. The boys are living on borrowed time. Mei said the crew has had enough of them and I can’t get them under control. I’m worried about Mei too.” She finally looked up at him. “I think they think that she will stay with them after we go. She has medical skills any group needs and it’s obvious they want her. You have to watch out for her, David.” The last sentence was spoken very emphatically.

David nodded, “I agree. You need to watch out, too. Groups of men without women are prone to volatility and aggressiveness. China already had a huge gender imbalance, almost as bad as India’s. They were aborting their girls because with the one child policy, they felt they had to have a boy since traditionally it’s the son who makes sure the aging parents are taken care of. Now we have a similar problem. Of course for all we know there is a large group of female survivalists just up the coast. Probably not though.”

The crane started again, making them jump. Slowly the bulging net rose into view, lifted up and over the rail. The ropes broke, spilling their catch. Hundreds of silvery fish skidded across the metal surface.

A body struggled in the midst of the flopping, twitching fish. Eyeless and bloated, gnashing broken teeth in its rotted mouth, it slid along the deck, coming to rest at Anna’s and Bea’s feet. The abdomen gaped wide and dozens of gray, slimy eels were attached to the exposed organs, burrowing their way deeper and deeper into its flesh.