Carlie Simmons (Book 5): One Final Mission (9 page)

Chapter 23

The sound of waves slapping against
concrete and the familiar moaning of undead stabbed into Eliza’s psyche as she
regained consciousness. She raised a hand to her throbbing head and struggled
to focus her eyes in the dim setting. The moonlight was filtering in through
the rotting floorboards of the dock overhead and she could see the outline of
Jared before her. She felt his hands on her arms as he helped her to sit up.

“I was hopin’ you’d awaken from your nap
soon,” he said. “You got dinged up pretty good.”

She slid her fingers up to her temple and
felt a swath of damp cloth wrapped around her head. “How long have I been out?”

“Not sure—maybe half an hour. I’ve been
scanning the area for the others and just laying low until you came around. Too
many creatures hovering near the airfield.”

“What happened to the plane? I remember
spinning in circles after we landed and then having the sensation we were sledding
but don’t remember anything else.”

“Our bird turned into a pretzel and tore
apart. I got sucked out the rear like you.” Jared rubbed the back of his neck,
letting out a long exhale and looking back at Osaka Bay, whose vastness was
being revealed in the pre-dawn light. “While I was swimming with you over here,
I saw the plane sink. I…uhm…I don’t know if the others made it.”

Eliza could feel the muscles in her face
tightening and her heart racing as she looked into Jared’s terrified eyes and
then out to the unrevealing waters of the bay. She nervously reached for her
ear-mic and began tapping on the call button.

“I already tried that—don’t you think I
already tried that?” said Jared, who slumped back against the concrete and hung
his head down. “I haven’t seen or heard any signs that anyone else is still
alive but us. Amy—she’s gotta be out there somewhere. I…I don’t even know where
or if she made it out of the wreck. God, what if she’s injured and all alone?”
He went silent, continually clenching and unclenching his fist.

Eliza leaned forward in a half-squat,
making sure not to bump her sore head against the low beams. She did a tactile
inventory of her gear, running her hands along the familiar hilt of her knife,
the butt of her pistol, and the assorted items stowed in her vest. She saw her
rifle leaning against the wall beside Jared’s. Eliza scanned her immediate
surroundings and then raised one eye up to a crack in the cement foundation
where it met the boat dock.

She could see thousands of figures milling
about the airfield, all of them within fifty yards of their location. She
retreated and turned the other way, crouch-walking on the narrow strip of
foundation until she could see part of the boat docks. There were four parallel
docks that shot out into the bay. Each was around two hundred feet long and six
feet wide. There were several dozen sailboats moored to the farthest dock and
three speedboats tethered to the one closest to her.

“What are the chances of one of those jet
boats being able to work after all this time sitting here?”

Jared didn’t answer and she swung her head
back to see him resting his head in his hands.

“Hey—what are the chances of getting one
of those started?”

“About as good a chance as us getting our
asses back to Fort Lewis—we’re fucked.”

She moved back towards him, her head
injury pulsating with each step. “Jared—I need you to focus. We can’t stay here
and we don’t have much time before daybreak puts us in the spotlight.”

Jared raised his head up, sweat streaking
down his pale face. “We’re fucked. Everyone’s missing, maybe even dead, and now
we’re gonna buy it on this island of noodle-heads.”

Eliza grabbed him by the vest and pulled
him forward, still fighting to refocus her vision. “I didn’t come all this way
to get munched on in some godforsaken airfield. We’ll make it through this just
as we always have. And when we do, we’ll go search for the others.” She
released him and reached over for a rifle, shoving it into his chest, then
glanced down at her watch. “Now, let’s get a boat and get the hell out of here—we
still have close to eleven hours to get the package from the hospital and make
it to the sub. Hopefully, the others are headed there too and we’ll link up
with them shortly.”

Jared looked down at his rifle and back up
at Eliza, the tension easing slightly from his cheeks. He nodded at her and
squinted, shaking his head to clear the sweat from his eyes. She patted him on
the shoulder with a clenched fist. “Vamonos,” she said, motioning over her
shoulder to the boats while they crouched and made their way along the
concealed platform.

Jared leaned out from under the lip of the
dock supports and scanned the offerings ahead. “Those three speed boats are all
in close proximity to each other. I’ll swim over there while you cover me from
here. The best bet is to untie all of them and let ’em drift into the bay. Then
we can swim aboard each one and see if they will get started.”

Jared rubbed the whiskers on his chin. “As
I mentioned on the flight over, the gasoline they used over here had more
chemical preservatives in it than our stuff back in the States so the engines
may fire up after all this time.” He looked back towards the vicinity of the
creatures and at the rising sun over the ocean. He handed his rifle to Eliza
and then started sliding down into the water.

“Hey,” Eliza said, resting her hand on top
of his as he clung to the boat dock.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll find her. Amy’s a fighter like you
and she’s probably just as worried about you right now.”

Eliza saw him clench his jaw and she could
see the old Jared returning, his blue eyes focusing on the choppy waters ahead.
Then he turned and slunk into the current, making his way towards the boats.

Chapter 24

Shiro powered down the speedboat as it
neared the weathered posts of the dock. The sun was almost above the horizon
and he could see the road in the distance behind the aquatics center starting
to fill with creatures. Though they had blocked the one entrance road long ago
with buses covered in razor wire, the occasional creature still got through,
especially if they were motivated by unfamiliar odors or noise.

Peering through the rear exit door of the
building was Haru, his eyes widening at the sight of the stranger clad in
military garb. Three slender zombies had slithered over the contorted bodies of
others caught in the razor wire and jumped down onto the street. While the men
disembarked from the boat, the creatures began sprinting. Yoshi was frantically
tethering the boat to the dock while Shiro unsheathed his sword. With the
creatures bounding like starved leopards on all fours, Shane’s suppressed M4
slightly crackled as he deftly dropped two of them with headshots within forty
feet. The third one was on the other side of Shiro and Shane couldn’t move in
time to make sure the man was clear of his muzzle. With blinding speed, Shiro
slid forward a few feet and then sidestepped with only a glint of steel
reflecting momentarily off the sun to indicate that his sword had just swept
through the air. The decrepit figure kept rushing forward, its body seemingly unaffected
by the head dropping off behind it like a ripe cherry. The decapitated creature
came crashing to a halt before the end of the parking lot, its severed spine
throbbing out black ooze upon the cement.

Shiro looked back at Shane without any
sentiment and nodded for everyone to retreat inside. With Yoshi securing the
door behind them, Shiro rushed up to a desk in the lobby. A cluster of radio
equipment, old laptops, and wiring were jumbled together. Shiro flipped a red
switch and then began adjusting a black dial until a CD began playing a karaoke
version of “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash.

Shane raised an eyebrow and looked at
Yoshi. “This music will play on speakers we have mounted on storefronts on the
other side of the barrier. It’ll draw the goryo away from the buses,” the
younger man said.

“My man, Cash, comes through for us even
now,” whispered Shane.

Nora and the other residents had descended
the stairs at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Upon seeing Shane they slowly
crept around him in a circle, visually inspecting him like curious visitors
standing before a zoo observation window. Nora’s son Tyler was the only brave
one to reach out and try and touch Shane but his ambivalent mother quickly
pulled him back into her arms.

The room was silent and Shane could only
hear the droplets of water cascading off the inside windows from the
condensation. The place was humid from the pools and smelled like sweat mixed
with seaweed and fish.

Shiro spoke to the others in Japanese,
explaining with hand motions what had unfolded in the bay and what he had
learned about their visitor. The other members never took their eyes off of
Shane.

“Forgive us—it has been a long time since
we’ve seen another person. Three months perhaps. We don’t get out much during
the day,” said Nora. She put her hands up to her lips and smiled. “And quite a
while since I’ve spoken so much English.”

“My name is Shane Colter. I’m out of Fort
Lewis, Washington.” He extended his hand and shook hers then did the same with
the others, who hesitantly responded.

Shane gazed around at the rest of the motley
bunch, noticing their pale skin from the lack of sunlight. Then he studied the
layout of the room, noticing the welded plates over the remaining exit doors,
the boarded-up windows, and the spring-fed pool. In the far corner were stacks
of canned goods and dried fish beside a propane stove and a makeshift kitchen.

“Looks like you’ve done well holing up
here.”

They all glanced at each other while Nora
translated.

“By the time we made it here, we had lost
seven of our people,” said Shiro.

“How many are at Fort Lewis?” said Nora.

Shane rubbed his chin. “Mmm—somewhere
around six hundred and forty with new groups of survivors arriving every week
or so. Then we have several outposts scattered around the state and a platoon
of troops at the dam which provides us with our electricity.”

Nora’s eyebrows arched up and her mouth
hung open. “Then the radio reports are true—there are areas that escaped the
virus.”

“Not escaped,” said Shane as a montage of
battle scenes and grisly images cycled through his mind from the past year. He
looked into the gaunt faces of those around him and realized just how desperate
their daily struggle to survive must have been. “We seem to have been blessed
with greater numbers and firepower than other places though.”

“Six hundred and forty people,” exclaimed
Nora. “I can’t imagine being around so many folks.”

Shiro motioned for him to follow as he led
them towards the kitchen area. The Yakuza handed Shane a bottle of water and
some dried wedges of mackerel while the rest of the group sat down on tatami
mats near the wall.

Shane raised the water up to his lips and
then paused. “No offense, but you’re mighty friendly towards a guy who was just
holding a gun to your friend’s head.”

“The mountain spirits directed you here. I
trust in their wisdom,” said Shiro.

Shane tilted his head in confusion and
then studied the enigma of a man before swigging down some water. “As much as
I’d like to stay in your spa, I need to get to the hospital. My people are
headed there now and we only have,” he paused, glancing down at his watch, “ten
hours to get what we came for and make it back to Osaka Bay.”

“Then where?” said Nora. “It sounds like
your plane is gone and the nearest islands are over four days from here.”

Shane sighed and looked at the inquiring
faces around him, save Shiro. It seemed like there was little point in
maintaining further operational security and he needed the help of these people
if their mission was going to succeed. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking
forward to the moment when he was reunited with Carlie and his friends,
agonizing over their fate in the tunnels. “One of our last remaining submarines
will be arriving in the bay this evening to pick up me, my team, and a device from
the hospital.”

“What could be so important that you would
fly all the way here from the U.S.?” said Yoshi.

Shane rolled up his left shirt sleeve,
revealing a quarter-sized red welt on his shoulder. “It may not look like much
but this is from a vaccination I received yesterday—a vaccination against the
virus.”

The others grew silent as they stared at
his arm and then back at his face. “One of our scientists, who was involved
with the original virus that started all of this, just completed a cure—one
that will put an end to this misery and give us a chance to reclaim our world.”

“A cure?” said Nora in a solemn tone while
the others mumbled excitedly amongst themselves in Japanese.

“In that hospital is a device that can
allow us to mass produce the serum for getting more people inoculated. It’s
imperative that I get there and help my crew obtain it.”

“And once you have it, then what?” said
Yoshi. “What about us—can we come with you?”

“Our primary mission here was locating and
extracting the device.” He raised his voice as the others started grumbling.
“And then assist any survivors.”

“You mean offer handouts—what does that
mean, ‘assist?’” said Nora.

“Look, I have no problem inviting you all
back to the States.”
Though convincing the commander of the
Olympia
may be another story if we have too many people.

“How do we know that you are who you say
you are?” said Nora with a fiery expression in her green eyes.

Shane gave her a puzzled look and then
glanced over to Shiro. “Is she always so spirited?”

A faint smile crept out from the corners
of Shiro’s mouth. “Nora-san is like a dragon—always breathing fire in her
words.”

Nora just smirked at Shiro and then
resumed her countenance towards Shane.

“Don’t take my word for it.” Shane reached
into his vest and removed a laminated index card with a series of numbers on
it. “This is a ham radio frequency operated by Fort Lewis. I can show you on
your device in the lobby. It should be coming up on the broadcast that’s put
out every two hours indicating the status of the sub that is enroute. I need to
check on things anyway.”

Nora glanced at the card and back up at
Shane, still translating to the others. She took the card and held it up for
everyone to see. “This might be the same place we’ve gotten radio messages from
in the past. That place was supposed to have been somewhere in Washington
State.”

“We don’t have long,” he said. “I must
rendezvous with my people at the hospital. And whatever is happening with that
nuclear reactor in Kyoto is going to turn this entire region into a blast
furnace soon according to my sources. I understand your hesitation—hell, I
can’t believe I’m even standing here havin’ this conversation but, if you
aren’t going to accompany me, at least point me in the direction of the tunnels
on the other side, and I’ll be on my way.”

While Shane headed to the lobby to check
on the radio transmission from Duncan, Shiro and the others spoke amongst
themselves. The conversation mostly consisted of him reiterating what Shane had
said followed by their options.

“What about our original plan to sail away
from here and locate an island?” said Arisu, the nurse, who had pushed her way
past Nora.

“And what will happen to us if we go to
America—to their base?” said Haru. “We don’t even know how they will treat us
or what their lives are like.”

Nora brushed her elbow alongside Arisu’s
ribs as she moved up front. “The point is that they have lives—and much better ones
than what we have here or might find trying to battle our way over to an island
to find another place to live.” She clutched her son close, letting out an
exhale as she stood with her feet firmly planted. “I know this is your homeland
but look at us,” she said, sweeping her hand in front of her. “We’re barely holding
on as it is. We need to go where there are more people—people with resources,
medicine, and food. Six months ago our group was twice this size and now this
is it—we’re all that’s left.”

“Nora is right,” Shiro said. “Our future
survival depends on forming alliances with others, regardless of where it might
take us. This land of our fathers is now nothing more than a tomb but if we go
to America, we can keep the flame of our ancestors alive and begin over.”

Shiro seemed more enthusiastic than usual
and his face grew animated with each sentence as he spoke about having the
others finally free from their ordeal here. He occasionally glanced over Nora’s
shoulder at the Sun Goddess Ameratsu whose shrine was in the corner, hoping
that his debts in this world might finally be fulfilled.