For Those In Peril (Book 2): The Outbreak (33 page)

I was
just putting the charts away when there was a shout from outside. Back in the
cockpit, I found Sophie scampering along the side of the boat. I shouted after
her. ‘Hey! I’ve told you before: no running on deck!’

‘But,
Ben, dolphins! Look! They’re all round us: they’re everywhere!’ By then, she’d
reached the bow and was leaning as far out as she dared. ‘I can hear them! This
is amazing!’

I
glanced across at Daz and saw he was split between dashing forward to join
Sophie and his responsibilities at the helm. I nodded towards the front of the
boat. ‘Go.’

‘Thanks!’ With that, Daz sprinted along the deck.

‘Don’t
run!’ I called after him.

‘Yeah,
yeah.’ He didn’t even slow.

At
that moment, Tom’s head appeared in the companion way. ‘You lot ready for food?’

‘I
am,’ I looked towards where Daz and Sophie were now jockeying for the best
position to see the dolphins, ‘but I think those two will be a while.’

Leaving their food below, Tom brought mine and his up and joined me in the
cockpit. He surveyed our surroundings. ‘This is some place.’

Off to
the east, on the mainland, lay a squat lighthouse surrounded by a cluster of
white-washed buildings. To the west was the island of Coll, its northern tip
marked by another lighthouse. Ahead, rising up over the horizon, I could already
see the distinctive outlines of Rhum and its neighbouring islands. In the waters
around us, the school of dolphins played, a pale hourglass pattern visible on
their sides each time they surfaced. Looking round, I found it hard to find
anything which had changed since the infected took over. While almost all the
land had been lost, the sea was like it had always been, and I couldn’t see any
reason why it wouldn’t continue that way forever. Out here, I felt safe. After
all, there was little chance of running into any infected this far from the
shore.

With
breakfast finished, Tom turned to me. ‘So, how are you doing these days?’

I
smiled. ‘A lot better now we’ve found other people; I think we’ve got a real
chance. I don’t mind saying it now, but there were times when I really thought
we weren’t going to make it.’

‘I
thought you were doing better. There’s a lot less pressure on you now, isn’t
there?’

‘Yeah.’ I nodded in agreement ‘What about you? How are you doing?

Tom
leant back. ‘Not bad … all things considered.’

‘How’s
your shoulder?’

He
lifted his arm and rotated it backwards. ‘It’s almost as good as before. The
chest wound gives me a bit of trouble every now and then though, especially if I
try to lift something that’s a bit too heavy, or if I turn over too fast in my
bunk.’

Tom
took out the tobacco Mitch had given him as a welcome present when we’d first
arrived in Tobermory, and carefully rolled his single cigarette for the day,
making sure nothing was wasted. He was doing his best to eke it out; making it
last as long as possible, knowing there’d be no more once this packet was gone.
It reminded me of something I’d been meaning to ask him. ‘By the way, how are
you and Mitch getting along?’

Tom
grinned sheepishly. ‘You noticed then?’

‘It’s
hard not to. She’s the first woman I’ve seen make you happy since …’ I didn’t
really want to bring Jane up, not now.

‘You
mean since Jane?’ There was a pause as he thought about this, then he smiled.
‘Yeah, you’re right.’ He looked off into the distance. ‘I don’t know. There’s
just something about her; it’s … it’s like we just clicked.’ He lit his
cigarette and took a draw. ‘Who’d have thought, after all these years, the only
thing it needed to make me finally move on was the world coming to an end!’

I
reached out and patted him on the shoulder. ‘It’s good to see you like this
again. It’s been a long time.’

‘Looks
like I’m not the only one, though.’ Tom nudged me and tilted his head towards
the bow. ‘Those two seem to be getting rather friendly.’

At the
front of the boat, Daz and Sophie were pressed closely together, Sophie leaning
over the guard rail, the ill-fitting clothes she was wearing flapping in the
wind. I shook my head: despite all attempts to change her mind, Sophie still
refused to wear the clothes Mitch had given her, and had reverted to wearing
mine. As I watched, Daz put his hand on her shoulder and whispered something
into her ear. I couldn’t hear what he said, but I saw the look she gave him in
return. I chuckled and turned to Tom. ‘I wonder what Claire’s going to make of
that when she finds out.’

For
the next hour, we sailed with our new-found escorts keeping pace. By then, Daz
had got bored with watching the dolphins and had come back to eat his now cold
breakfast, but Sophie remained on the bow, transfixed by the animals playing a
few feet below her.

We
reached the dolphin’s destination, marked by a flock of several hundred gannets
diving into the water from high in the sky and almost instantly, they deserted
us. Sophie skipped back to the cockpit. ‘That was amazing!’ She was wearing a
grin almost as wide as her face. ‘I always thought you had to go somewhere
tropical to see dolphins. I never knew you could see them in Scotland.’

I
smiled at her. ‘You get killer whales here, too.’

Daz
perked up and started to look around. ‘You get killer whales in Scotland?’

‘Yeah,
not often, but they’re around from time to time.’

Daz
frowned. ‘How come I never heard about that before?’

Tom
laughed. ‘Because it wasn’t featured on the Discovery Channel?’

Right
on time, we slipped into a narrow bay on the east side of Rhum. The shoreline
ahead was dominated by a large and imposing sandstone building; the one Hamish
had referred to as ‘the Big House’. To the north, was another small cluster of
buildings, but other than these structures, the bay was uninhabited. On the
beach in front of the main building, one of the large black ribs was pulled up
beyond the high tide line, its heavy machine gun causing it to lean to one side.
We might have dropped by out of the blue, but at least it looked like someone
was home.

As we
neared, I scanned the shore with the binoculars and I could see that they’d been
busy. All the windows on the lower floor of the Big House had been boarded up,
and barbed wire had been strung out along the grass in front of it. Between the
building and the foreshore, men in military fatigues moved between piles of what
looked like machinery and supplies, carrying things back and forth. To the left,
three makeshift corrals had been set up and filled with sheep and goats, and
several cows were tethered to stakes which had been hammered into the ground.

I
lowered the binoculars and handed them to Tom. ‘You know, they seem to be doing
pretty well around here.’

Tom
took the binoculars and after a few minutes handed them to Daz. ‘Where d’you
think they got all that stuff from? D’you think they’ve been going ashore in
places where there are infected to get it? If they have, you’ve got to give them
credit for having guts.’

‘It
helps when you have some pretty heavy duty fire power to back you up.’ Daz had
the binoculars raised, but not towards the shore: rather, he had them pointed
back out to sea. I turned and saw the second rib had just rounded the headland
on the north side of the bay. As it neared, I could see what Daz was talking
about. Each marine had a machine gun slung across his body, while one also had a
large pack on his back from which hoses protruded, linking it to what looked
like a spray gun of some kind. I thought back to what we’d seen as the frigate
was overrun and wondered what they’d been up to that needed a flame-thrower. In
addition to these weapons, all the marines carried a pistol in a holster
strapped to their waist, and I had no doubt there were other weapons stowed in
the compartments which lined each side of the rib.

As
soon as they saw us, the rib changed course. As it neared, Tom and Sophie
dropped the sails while Daz went up front and released the anchor. Once we were
at rest, all we could do was wait to be boarded.

The
rib bumped hard against the side of the yacht as many hands reached out to hold
it in place. The man at the helm was the first to speak. ‘So, you finally
decided to take up Bucky’s offer? He’ll be glad to see you.’ His accent was
southern English, almost cockney. He leaned forward and reached out his hand.
‘I’m Nick, by the way.’

I
shook it. ‘Ben. This is Tom, Daz and Sophie.’ Each waved in turn.

‘That
doctor woman not with you? Bucky won’t be pleased. He’s got all his hopes pinned
on her putting in a good word for us. Me,’ he shrugged, ‘I’d take a different
route, but Bucky’s the one in charge.’

As I
wondered exactly what he was talking about, Sophie piped up. ‘She’s over on
Canna helping someone give birth. We’re just on our way over to pick her up.’

I
scowled at Sophie, feeling she shouldn’t have given away this information after
what Nick had just said. I half-expected the rib to go roaring off, but instead
Nick put his hand back on the wheel. ‘You lot want a lift ashore?’

Before
I could say anything, Daz and Sophie were clambering over the side and into the
rib. Knowing it would seem impolite to object, I did the same, followed shortly
by Tom. As we skimmed over the water towards the shore, I could see Daz eyeing
up the weapons and I wondered how long it would be before he asked if he could
fire one of them. Sophie, meantime, seemed to be casting a critical eye over the
marines themselves, while Tom looked to be enjoying the feeling of the wind
rushing through his hair.

Within
minutes we were at the beach, and the marines were jumping into the shallow
water. Tom, Daz and I followed suit, but Sophie hesitated; Nick noticed this and
stepped back towards the boat, holding out his arms. ‘You want a lift ashore,
ma’am?’

Sophie
giggled. ‘If you’re offering.’ With that, she flung one arm around his shoulder
and climbed into his arms. Daz shot Nick a look which said he’d wished he’d
thought of that rather than just leaping into the water and leaving Sophie
behind.

On
reaching the shore, we stood around, not quite sure what to do, while the
marines busied themselves unloading gas canisters and other items they’d
scavenged from god knows where. These were added to the heaps of similar items
on the grass above the beach. After a couple of minutes, the first officer came
striding towards us. ‘Sorry about the mess. We’re still getting everything
sorted out. If we’d known you were coming, we could have been better prepared.’

I
didn’t tell him that this was exactly why we’d turned up unannounced. ‘We were
just passing and had a couple of hours to kill.’

‘No
matter. The important thing is that you’re here.’ His hand shot forward. ‘We
haven't been formally introduced, yet. I’m Commander Buchanan-Smith, but you can
call me Gordon.’

I
shook it and introduced the others.

‘Hmmm,
no doctor then?’ He looked disappointed and I wondered why he was so keen to get
Claire here. After a second, he clapped his hands together. ‘No matter. D’you
want to take a look around?’

Tom
peered at a cluster of what looked like farming equipment. ‘Where’d you get all
this stuff?’

Gordon
smiled. ‘From all over. We’ve been raiding all the buildings and settlements we
can. Mostly we’ve been concentrating on farms, but there are also a few small
factories we’ve been able to get to.’

Daz
looked at him in amazement. ‘Is that no’ dangerous? I mean, aren’t there
infected everywhere?’

‘They’re around, but we’ve been specifically targeting places where there’s not
going to be more than we can handle.’ He nodded to where a number of the marines
were messing around, two of them throwing a hat back and forth, while a third
tried to get it back. The rest watched and laughed. ‘They might not always look
it, but they’re a pretty tough and well-disciplined bunch when they need to be.
I really couldn’t have ended up with a better group of men.’

All
the time he’d been speaking, Sophie had been keeping her eyes trained on Gordon.
She crossed her arms. ‘Why are you so interested in my mother?’ Her tone
reminded me so much of Claire I almost laughed.

The
first officer drew himself up to his full height and started what I soon
realised was a well-practiced speech. ‘As far as I see it, I’m still a serving
officer in the Queen’s navy and, as far as I know, the country’s still under
martial law: that means I have a duty to do everything I can to keep people
alive and safe. We’re trying to get in touch with London, or whoever else might
still be out there, but until then, we’re on our own, and it’s up to us to do
the best we can.’

Gordon
glanced at us, trying to read how we were taking this. Daz seemed impressed, but
both Tom and Sophie looked less convinced, and I had to say I felt the same way.
He pressed on. ‘I’m under no illusions. I know this isn’t going to be easy, but
with this island, I think we can really achieve something. Think about it: it’s
isolated, so there’s little chance of the infection reaching here; it has a very
low population for its size and plenty of resources. The Big House there,’ he
pointed over his shoulder, ‘is built like a castle already and it’s been quite a
simple job to fortify it. So far, we’ve been finding it remarkably easy to pick
up the supplies we need, and I think we have a chance of having a pretty good
life here, at least in comparison to anywhere else, until all this blows over.’