Savage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (28 page)

W
hen Damien awoke, he was surprised
to find that the adjacent cell had been filled.  He was even further
surprised when he saw that it was the woman from the pier and the
cripple. 
Should stop calling him that.  I think he had the right
idea trying to blow up the Kirkland.  Jesus, what am I saying?

Anna looked broken.  The bags under her eyes
could have carried bricks and the determined glint in her eye had faded away to
a weary sullenness.  Despite that, she still managed to make a joke when
she saw he was awake.  “I hear the room service makes up for the beds.”

Damien sat up and stared at her through the gloom
between the cells.  “How the hell did you two get here?”

“I changed my mind,” said Tim.  “I gave myself
up, hoping Samuel would show mercy to those who survived at the pier.  I
feel quite naive now.”

Damien glanced down at his stump, where the broken
shard of his spear lay and felt much the same.  He had tried to eliminate
Samuel but been found wanting.  The captain was far stronger than he
looked.  “Samuel doesn’t have mercy,” said Damien.  “I learned that lesson
the hard way, too, so I guess we’re all fools.”

“I thought you were one of Samuel’s men,” said Anna.

“I was my own man.  Only reason I stayed on this
goddamn ship was to keep my friend, Harry, safe.  When the infection first
hit, Harry and me were close to death.  We were floating out in the middle
of the sea on a cramped dinghy.  Samuel rescued us, so I guess I felt like
I owed him.  Loyalty only goes so far, though.”

“You saw what he did to the pier?”

Damien nodded.  “I’m sorry.  I…huh, it
doesn’t matter.”

Anna looked at him.  There was no defiance in her
anymore, not like there had been back at the pier.  “Tell me,” she said.

Damien sighed.  “I tried to defend you people
when Samuel said he was going to fire at you.  I told him you were all
innocent, but he gave the order anyway.  I didn’t do a thing to stop it.”

“Thank you,” said Anna.  “I don’t think there’s
anything you could have done.  I should have handed Tim over at the
beginning when you came to the pier.”

“No,” said Damien.  “There’s never a good reason
to give into bullies.  You were right to keep Tim from me.  Samuel is
the bad guy here.  Looks like the bad guy’s going to win, though. 
We’ll all be dead by the afternoon.  Samuel will want to make our deaths
part of the morning festivities.”

“Oh, don’t be so sure,” said Dunn, suddenly
appearing.  He was swaggering through the brig towards their cells. 
“I think Samuel may just string your deaths out for a few days, perhaps even a
week.  The people want blood.”

Damien stood up and went over to the bars of his
cell.  “Petty officer Dunn.  How’s the nose?”

Dunn’s nose was purple and bent to one side, both his
eyes were blackened, but he managed a great beaming smile anyway. 
“Nothing that won’t heal, Roman, and
it’s
‘Lieutenant’
Dunn now.  Samuel rewards those who are of use to him.  Those who are
not end up like you - expired.”

Damien smirked.  “It’s a wonder you can get your
nose so far up Samuel’s arsehole after I broke it so many times.”  Dunn
smashed at the bars with the blade of a bloodstained knife.  Damien hopped
back from the bars and noticed that Anna was crying.  “You okay?” he asked
her.

“That’s the knife he killed Rene with.  He
doesn’t even have the decency to clean the blood off it.”

Dunn laughed and held the knife up in front of her
like a prize.

Damien kicked at his bars.  “Hey, show some
goddamn respect and put that away.  You think killing people is a
joke?  You’re a moron.”

“And you’re a dead man, so I would spend your last
words more wisely.”

“Go fuck a goat.”

Dunn hissed and grabbed for the keys on his
belt.  He pulled the bundle loose and levelled one of the keys towards the
lock on Damien’s cell. 
That’s it.  Come inside and I’ll break
your nose a fourth time.  I just wish I had my sword to chop your goddamn
dick off.

Suddenly Dunn stopped.  He started
laughing.  “You think I’m an idiot?  You won’t fool me into opening
your cell, so just be quiet.” 

Damien snarled. 
I’ll get you before I’m
through.  I promise you.

Dunn called for two crewmen to appear.  Both men
were big and burly.

“Evening up the odds, are you?” said Damien. 
“You’re gunna need more.”

Dunn shook his head and sighed.  “Roman, you do
amuse me.  I’m here for the cripple, not you.  He’ll be put to death
soon, although it may take several hours – maybe even a week.  I’m
sure you’ll get your turn as well before long.  Samuel really does hate a
traitor.”

Anna did nothing while the two crewmen took Tim
away.  She was a pale shadow of the woman he’d met at the pier.  That
women would have bitten and clawed until someone knocked her unconscious. 
She’d put Birch’s lights out without a twinge of doubt. 

Once Dunn and the crewman departed with Tim, Damien
turned to Anna and reached through the bars with his one hand.  “Hey, you
okay?  Snap out of it.”

“Just waiting to die,” she said.  “Kind of
looking forward to it actually.”

“Hey, stop thinking like that.  You were a proper
little badass at the pier.  You even made me think twice, so why are you
letting a slug like Dunn bother you.  They may kill us, but do you want to
make it easy for them?”

Anna huffed and shook her head.  She stared down
at her shoes.  “Samuel Raymeady killed billions of people and got away
with it.  He’s still killing people now, so what’s the point in
fighting?  I know you don’t believe me, Roman, but Samuel is evil. 
He released the virus that destroyed the world.  He can’t be
stopped.  Rene and I tried…”

“My name isn’t Roman, it’s Damien, and, yes, I do
believe you.  I’ve seen Samuel taking control for almost the last
year.  I’ve seen him do terrible things a hundred times over, but I didn’t
do anything.  I was the same as you: I thought, ‘what’s the point?’ 
But when he bombed the pier he went too far.  A man evil enough to do
something like that is evil enough to do anything.  I believe he could
easily have been the one who released a plague upon the earth.  Samuel
Raymeady had more money than some countries.  If any man could have been
behind the virus, it’s him.  In fact, I believe that now with my whole
heart.”

“Finally,” came another voice.  “You listened to
me.”

Damien span around.  “Harry?  What are you
doing here?”

“I’ve come to rescue you?  Still against staging
a coup?”

Damien leant against the bars and smiled at his
friend.  “I’m still not interested in becoming the new Grand Supreme
Leader, but I’m more than happy to kill the current one.”

Harry grinned.  “Then let’s get you out of that
cell.”  He produced a set of keys from his jeans and jangled them in front
of Damien’s face.

“How did you get those?”

Harry lifted up a heavy wrench with his other
hand.  “Took it off the guard in the corridor.  I’m pretty handy with
tools, remember?”

Damien stepped back from the bars and waited while
Harry fiddled with the ring of keys.  “Hurry up, man.  I’ve got a
lunch appointment.”

“I’m trying, I’m trying.  There’s like a hundred
bloody keys here.”

Damien turned to Anna.  He reached through the
bars to her but she was still staring at the floor.  “We’re getting out of
here, okay?”

“And go where?  We can’t exactly sneak off the
ship.  Even if we could, the pier is gone.  There’s no point. 
You’re just making it harder on yourself.”

“Yikes,” said Harry.  “Where did you pick up Miss
Sunshine?”

“Leave her alone,” said Damien.  “Samuel murdered
half her family.  We’re taking her with us and she’s going to snap out of
it.”

Anna huffed.  “Whatever.”

Harry was still fiddling with the keys when the two
guards who had left with Dunn returned.  They saw Harry and immediately
started running.

“Shit!” said Damien.  “Get this pissing thing
open?”

“Okay, okay.”  Harry fiddled with another key…and
then another….

Clink!

Damien burst out of his cell and tackled the first
guard around the thighs, taking him to the ground and mounting him.  He
let fly with rights followed by rights followed by rights.  His left stump
hung uselessly in the air, missing its spear.  Eventually the stunned
guard managed to fight back.  He punched Damien in the windpipe, sending
him backwards, spluttering. 

Harry swung his wrench at the other guard’s head but
missed and was quickly taken down with a headlock.

Damien lay on his back, gasping.  His throat
seized and his breath would not come to him.  The guard he’d been battling
rose up and stood over him.  “I’m gunna mess you up,” he said, spitting
out a mouthful of blood.  Then he booted Damien in the ribs and knocked
out what little air he had left in his lungs.  The guard reared back to
aim another kick at Damien’s head, but was knocked to the ground when something
hard struck his skull.

Harry dropped his wrench on the floor when the other
guard had taken him down.  He’d also dropped the keys.  Anna picked
them up and let herself out of her cell.  She grabbed the fallen wrench
and flung it at the standing guard’s temple so hard that it had killed him
instantly.  Now the remaining guard was outnumbered.  He let go of
Harry’s throat and stood up.  He was worried, but still willing to
fight.  Harry lay unconscious, but Anna joined Damien and put her fists
up.

Damien was just about to lunge at the remaining guard,
when he heard shouting. 

Three more guards entered the brig.

Bollocks.

“Time to go,” shouted Anna.  She threw a haymaker
and caught the distracted guard in the chin.  His lights went out and he
fell to the ground.

Damien stared at her in awe.  “Damn!”

Anna grabbed him.  “Come on!” 

Damien allowed himself to be dragged and the two of
them started running.  “We need to get Harry,” he said.

“There’s no time.  He’s out.  We have to
go.”

Damien glanced back at Harry.  The three guards
were coming in fast. There was no way to get Harry and carry him out of
there. 
I can’t just leave him. 
But there was no choice.
 The three guards gave chase.  Damien cursed and sprinted forward,
catching up with Anna as she made her way into the next passageway.  They
ran as fast as they could.  Damien knew the ship, so he took the lead,
heading for the surface.  Several crewmen got in their way en route, but
the men were confused and did not try to stop them.  Eventually, Damien
made it onto the promenade deck at the portside of the ship.  “This way,”
he shouted at Anna.  “If we can get to the aft deck we might be able to
steal a lifeboat.”

Anna nodded.  Her steely determination had
returned to her and she was once again ready to kick ass.  All it’d taken
was seeing an ally in danger.  The woman could not stand by while the
guards kicked the shit out of Damien and Harry. 
If we don’t die, I
should take her out to dinner someplace. 
A nice,
run-down restaurant in the wasteland.
  It’ll be nice.

Damien and Anna took off down the promenade deck and
made it out onto the wide-open space of the aft deck.  Lieutenant Dunn and
a dozen guards were standing there, waiting to receive them.  Dunn still
clutched the bloodstained rigging knife, but two of his men clutched iron bars
as thick as Damien’s arm.

Anna skidded on her heels and stumbled into Damien’s
back.  “What is it?” she asked, but then saw the group of men coming
towards them.  “Oh, shit.”

Damien smiled at her.  “My advice, go for the
balls!”

“Please!  I’ve been kicking men in the balls for
as long as I can remember.  My advice to you is not to get in my way.”

Damien sniggered.  “Nice meeting you, Anna.”

“You too, Damien.”

They turned to face the approaching mob, unarmed yet
ready – ready to die fighting.

Then something struck the ship and all hell broke
loose.

A
nna woke up on her back, surrounded
by fire and debris.  For a moment she thought she was lying on the beach
again beneath the burning pier, but then she blinked the dust from her eyes and
saw that she was still on the
Kirkland
.  The vast grey ship was listing
to one side and as Anna lay on her back she saw the sun rising on the
horizon.  Dawn had arrived and brought yet more chaos.

Anna sat up and looked around.  Many men were
bleeding, some were burned, and lots were dead.  Anguished screams filled
the air, joined by the wrenching and shifting groans of folding steel. 
The large open area at the back of the ship was blackened and scorched as if
some great meteorite had stuck it.  Part of the gunwale was missing and a
gaping hole had opened up on one side of the ship. 
Why do people keep
blowing me up?

Hands grabbed Anna beneath her arms and yanked her to
her feet.  Her legs were weak and she nearly fell right back down again,
but the man kept a tight hold of her.  It was the man with the broken
nose.  Damien had called him Dunn.

“Are you responsible for this, bitch?” he demanded of
her.

Anna shook her head.  Nothing made any sense to
her right then.  “Responsible for what?”

“One of your people just fired on us with a goddamn
tank.”

“T-tank?  What are you talking about?”

Dunn slapped her to the ground.  “Fine, have it
your way.  You and your people are finished.”

Up ahead, members of the
Kirkland
’s crew were
starting to get a hold of
themselves
.  Those
uninjured, or at least able-bodied enough to stand, were regrouping at the
centre of the aft deck.  Anna watched glumly as two guards wrestled Damien
to his knees.  Tim had been shoved down beside him.

Lieutenant Dunn dragged her across the deck by her
hair and left her to fall face-first next to Damien.  Damien reached out
his arm and helped her up onto her knees.  He was all bloodied and she saw
a tooth missing when he spoke.  “I think your friends at the pier fought
back,” he said.  “Did you know about this?”

Anna shook her head in confusion.  “I have no
idea what’s going on.  They said it was a tank.  The pier doesn’t
have a tank.”

“Someone out there does,” said Damien. 
“Something hit the ship hard.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Half-hour.  I tried to put up a fight when the
ship first got hit, but there was a dozen on me before I could blink.  You
were out the whole time.”

“Sorry I wasn’t there to back you up.  I-” A
sudden prod in the small of Anna’s back sent her sprawling forward onto her
front.  Tim and Damien fell facedown either side of her, the three of them
now on their bellies.  The guards stood on their backs and pinned them to
the deck.  Suddenly the hustle and bustle on deck stopped and a hush
descended.  Footsteps rang out against steel and got louder.  Anna
tried to crane her neck but could not make out whom it was. 

Then Lieutenant Dunn made it easy for her. 
“Attention!  Captain on deck.”

Anna gritted her teeth as a pair of highly polished
boots stepped in front of her.  “Let them up, Lieutenant.”

“Yessir.  Guards, let the prisoners up.”

A guard grabbed Anna’s shirt and yanked her to her
knees.  She cursed at him and lashed out with her elbow and caught him in
the shin, but probably hurt herself more. 
She was
surrounded by sailors and civilians on all sides
.  All of them
glared at her and shouted for her blood.

Samuel Raymeady looked down at her.  He was
wearing full Navy Officer whites.  “You’re quite the cockroach, aren’t
you?” he said.  “You come aboard my ship asking for peace, and this is how
you expect to find it?”

Anna sniffed.  The smoke in the air was stinging
her eyes and clogging her sinuses.  “I came aboard your ship asking for
peace, and you threw me in a cell.  Do you really expect people to just
sit back and fold their arms while you murder and kill anyone you please?”

Samuel’s eyes were so full of malice when he looked at
her, that she was sure he would strike her.  Instead he just
laughed.  “I do what is best for the fleet.  All I do I do for the
good of us all.”

Now it was Anna’s turn to laugh.  “Do you
honestly believe that, or is it just for the benefit of those listening?”

“He likes his speeches,” said Tim.  “I think he’s
trying to make up for other…insecurities.”  He covered his mouth and
coughed.  “
Small penis!
”

Samuel smiled like a cat and turned away.  He
raised his hands in the air, imploring the men and women around him. 
“Members of the fleet.  We are of a lucky few.  We are
what’s
left of mankind.  We are the hope and the
courage that will see humanity through to a new day, a new dawn.  Together
we have beaten extinction and turned away our deaths.  Each and every man
and woman aboard this ship is a testament to the strength and will of the human
spirit.  What is left of the world is ours to rebuild.  We will do so
with love and honour and strength.  The fleet is life itself and we must
protect it at all costs, even if that means taken the roads less savoury. 
H. G. Wells once said ‘
If
we don't end war, war will end us.’  We must extinguish our enemies now
lest we lose our own in battle later.  My recent actions are not acts of
war,
they are acts of mercy, to the fleet.  The bridge
is already training our sights on the shore.  We have our attackers in
sight and soon we will unleash hell on them, but first we must deal with the
enemy on our decks.
”

The men and women of the fleet cheered Samuel’s name,
louder and louder.  It made Anna feel sick.  Humanity was backing the
wrong horse.  The horse Samuel rode in on was pestilence and now he’s
riding off on the back of war.

“There are those who wish to destroy us,” Samuel
continued.  “To take what we have and reduce it to ashes.  They are
our opposites; they are evil and self-consumed, and if we have any chance of
forging ahead and creating a new world, we must extinguish evil in all its
forms.”

Samuel!  Samuel!  Samuel!

“They drank the cool aid,” said Tim.  “Now do you
see why I had to blow the entire ship?  No point taking out the Ringleader
if the Circus keeps on travelling.”

Anna tried to stand up, to scream at the stupid men
and women that they were deluded, but Dunn kicked her in the ribs and sent her
back down to her knees.  She wheezed and spluttered.

“You’re all monsters,” said Damien.  He raised
his voice.  “How can you people follow a man who attacks innocent people?”

“The people at the pier were harbouring a terrorist,”
shouted Dunn.  “Terrorists must be dealt with.”

Another cheer from the crowd.

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom
fighter,” said Tim. 

“A terrorist is a terrorist,” Dunn snarled.

Samuel turned around and nodded
enthusiastically.  “Exactly.  A terrorist is an enemy of society and
order.  The fleet deals with its enemies with a firm hand.  Who would
like to see the first example?”

The crowd roared, a baying mob.  Anna managed to
catch her breath and glanced around as the crowd parted behind her. 
Someone was being dragged, half-conscious, towards the centre of the
deck.  It didn’t take long to realise that it was the man who had come to
rescue Damien from his cell. 
Harry.

Harry was bloody and bruised.  His toecaps
dragged along the deck as two crewmen carried him to Samuel.  When Damien
saw his friend his eyes went wide and suddenly he seemed terrified. 
“Leave him alone,” he shouted.  “He hasn’t done anything.”

Samuel laughed.  “He attacked the
Kirkland
’s
jailer and released the fleet’s prisoners.  This he did as part of an
on-going collusion with known terrorist, Tim Golding – the cripple. 
Harry Jobson is an enemy of all of us.”

Kill the traitor!  String him up? 
Terrorist!

“They’re a bunch of animals,” Tim muttered under his
breath.

Samuel smiled and seemed to breath in the chants and
cries for blood like they were sweet-smelling perfume.  “I think the
people have spoken,” he said, sighing euphorically.  “Guards!  String
him up.  Let him dangle above our broken tail as an example to what
happens to our enemies.  Let those onshore see that our spirit will never
be broken.  We will never succumb to evil.”

Damien leapt up.  He swung his arms wildly and
struck guards left and right.  “Harry!” he screamed as he head-butted a
crewman standing in his way.  “Harry, fight.  Get out of here.” 
Harry hung weakly between his guards and blinked slowly.  There was a
smile on his face that was more sadness than mirth.  Damien kicked a guard
in the knee and threw him aside, getting himself a little closer to his
friend.  “Harry, I won’t let them kill you.  I won’t.”

A man flew in from the side and pummelled Damien in
the stomach with a baseball bat.  A second man raced up behind him and
wrapped his arm around his neck.  Damien struggled but another blow to his
ribs dropped him onto one knee.  Still he tried to fight, but it was
useless.  Harry looked at him and shook his head sadly.  “It’s over,
Damien.  We had a good run while it lasted.  I’ll be glad to finally
be free of the headaches.  I’m tired of holding on to all the things I
know.  It’s gotten too hard.”

Damien struggled to try and make it the last three
feet to Harry but the two guards held him back.  Anna considered leaping
up and helping him, but there were men and woman everywhere ready to beat her
down at the first sign of resistance.  She had no choice but to watch
Damien and Harry’s final exchange from her knees.

 “I won’t let these fuckers kill you,” Damien
said.

Harry laughed.  “They can’t kill me.  I got
places to be.  You might think I’m crazy, with all my talk of Heaven and
Hell, but trust me we all get what we deserve in the end.  Just make sure
your final minutes count.  Sometimes our last minute counts more than all
the other minutes that came before combined.  Redemption can take but a single
second, Damien.  Remember that.”

Damien struggled to get closer.  He managed to
gain a foot, but couldn’t get any further.  He reached out, only two-steps
away from his friend.  The anguish on his face was unbridled and clear for
all to see; but nobody cared.

Harry took his guards by surprise and lunged
forward.  He threw his arms around Damien and squeezed him tightly. 
“I’m glad I took a chance on you, Damien.  You’re the one thing in my life
I did right.” 

Anna realised she was crying.  She didn’t know
either man well, but she felt their love for one another, and knew she was
going to see them both die.  What was worse was that the men and women in
the crowd thought it was justice.

As the guards tried to force the two men apart, Anna
noticed Harry’s hand bury itself into the back of Damien’s jeans.  At
first she found it odd, but then she realised…. 
He just shoved
something under Damien’s waistband.

Harry stood up straight and pushed Damien aside. 
He stared right at Tim.  “It was me that told about your plan, Tim. 
I’m sorry.  I thought it was wrong to destroy the whole ship.  I was
worried I wasn’t thinking straight and I told on you.”

Tim’s eyes went wide.  “You?  I…”

“Don’t worry,” said Harry.  “I’ve made it
right.  I fixed it.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Tim.

“If you live long enough, you will.”

Damien reached out for Harry, but the guards stepped
in and forced the two men apart, delivering a quick beat down to them
both.  Damien fell onto his back and shuffled away.  Harry tumbled to
his knees and was dragged towards the
Kirkland’s
stern.

Tears streamed from Damien’s eyes as he lay,
incapacitated, on the deck.  He didn’t make a sound, but his eyes never
left Harry as he was led through the crowd at the back of the ship.  He
kept his eyes open as they threw a rope over the side of the rear gunwale,
looping it through a rigging hook and folding it into a knot.  He kept his
eyes open as they tied Harry’s hands behind his back and fastened a noose
around his neck.  He was given no chance to look away as Lieutenant Dunn
shoved Harry hard in the back and sent him overboard.

Anna wanted to close her eyes, but couldn’t.  She
heard Damien moan behind her and wished she could spare him from what he was
seeing.

Harry’s body disappeared over the gunwale and the rope
went taut.  The
snapping
sound rang out like a gunshot.
 Damien’s moans turned to a growl.  Anna glanced back to see him and
the animalistic look on his face made her flinch.  His humanity had
deserted him with the snap of his friend’s neck.  Anna reached out her arm
to him, but he shrugged it away. 
He’s gone to a dark place.

Lieutenant Dunn walked away from the gunwale and back
towards the centre of the deck.  The man was laughing.  “I thought
his head was going to come off.  Did you hear that snap?”  It was
obvious the man was trying to get a reaction out of Damien, but it didn’t
work.  Damien just stared into space, unblinking and faraway.