Part 20 (1/2)
”Right.” And the boy ran off before his mother could formulate an objection.
McInery insisted on going, and Chester didnt bother arguing. Nor did he try and stop Stewart. Out of all of them, he seemed most affected by the theft. Whether that was due to his fear of starvation or from that personal enmity that existed between him and Graham, Chester didnt know. He saw Stewart as a man whod been twisted so far he was going to break, so better that happened outside where they could make use of it. Finnegan and Greta brought their numbers to eight. Kevin and Aisha made ten.
”No, thats too many,” Chester said, looking down at the raft bobbing gently on the river. ”Theres going to be s.p.a.ce for eight on the way back, no more, not if you want to bring back a few bikes.”
”And Im sorry,” Hana said. ”But I wont allow Aisha to come.”
”Wont allow it?” Aisha said, her face flus.h.i.+ng with anger.
”No. I wont,” Hana stated. ”You might think me old-fas.h.i.+oned, but its too much of a risk for someone whos pregnant. Im sorry.”
There was a tense moment when Chester thought Aisha would explode, but it was defused by the murmur from those in the group mostly the men, Chester included whod not realised.
”Congratulations,” Chester said. ”But theres s.p.a.ce for one more in the raft. Kevin?”
”No. Ill go,” Hana said. ”I may not be much good in a fight, but if I can lift a sick pig, I can carry a full pack. Were not going that far from the river. How dangerous can it be?”
Chester looked over at Nilda to see if shed insist Hana stay behind. Nilda just gave a shrug.
”Then get in the boat,” he said, not happy at all that the vet was coming with them.
It took a long, fraught hour to get to Westminster. Chester would have preferred it if hed been able to row, but no one would allow it. They said hed need his strength for the journey ahead. He sat in the middle of the raft as the others slowly paddled their way up the newly swollen river. The storms theyd witnessed must have been the tail end of a far larger deluge, and they had no trouble pa.s.sing over the rubble around the collapsed bridges. The difficulty was caused by the soup of partially dissolved cardboard, shredded cloth, plastic, rubber, and items Chester couldnt guess at, mixing with the white-foamed sc.u.m bubbling on the surface.
”You should keep an eye on this,” Chester said, addressing everyone. ”It might be better to drink rainwater for the next few weeks.”
”Thatd save on...” Nilda began, paused, stroked. ”Filtering.” Stroke. ”Itd still have to be...” Stroke. ”Boiled.”
”But give it another couple of storms and the river should be cleaning than before,” Chester added.
”The...” Stroke. ”Sea...” Stroke. ”Wont...” Stroke. ”Be.”
”Let me take over,” Chester offered.
”No.” Stroke.
Chester didnt stop asking if he could take a turn at the oars. No one would let him, and he felt like giving them a lecture in the futility of stubbornness, but decided against it. Hed only get one on hypocrisy in return. Nevertheless, by the time they reached the stone steps leading up to Cleopatras Needle a short distance from Embankment Tube and Whitehall beyond, they all looked exhausted.
Everyone s.n.a.t.c.hed a moment of wary-eyed rest as Jay set up the drone. With Chester directing, Jay flew it up and towards the old heart of the dead city.
”Thats the hotel,” McInery said. ”Its five minutes walk. No more.”
”But too far for such a small prize,” Chester said. ”Turn it left a bit, Jay. There. Thats the edge of Horse Guards. Now, fly it along the edge of the park for a couple of minutes, then point it towards the Eye and bring it back. Everyone else, lets go.”
”No, hang on,” Jay said. ”If you wait twenty minutes, Ill come with you.”
”Sorry lad, theres no more time to waste,” Chester replied.
Nilda mouthed a quiet 'thank you as the eight of them climbed onto the bank There was a solitary zombie on the embankment. Its right foot dragged behind, giving it a twisting limp as it staggered towards them. Its right arm rose in a half-hearted swipe whilst its left hung loose at its side. As Nilda walked briskly towards it, the fingers on its right hand clawed out towards her. She drew her sword, batted the arm away, and stabbed out, spearing the blade through its gaping mouth. A twist of the blade, and it collapsed. She began to kneel.
”Theres no time for that,” Chester said, knowing she was going to look for the creatures name. He grabbed her elbow and hustled her towards the Tube and the tunnel behind with its cafes and the bicycle shop. Chester went inside, grabbed the first bike he saw, and took it out into the light.
”Someone start pumping the tyres,” he said. Tuck was standing guard, looking back towards the river, Hana and McInery were watching the Westminster side of the tunnel. Nilda grabbed the pump as Chester went back to get another.
”Take it back to the boat,” he said, thrusting the bicycle into Stewarts arms. He gave Finnegan the second, Greta the third. On the fourth trip he turned his attention to the repair kits, water bottles, and lights on a display behind the counter. He stuffed them into a pair of mouldering pillion bags and went back outside.
”Wheres McInery?” he asked. Nilda looked up. Finnegan looked around. Stewart just looked vacant.
”She went that way,” Hana said, pointing towards the hotel. Chester almost smiled with relief.
”Do we leave her?” Nilda asked, looking first to Chester, and then to Tuck.
”We cant,” Hana said. ”We have to wait.”
”Theres no time to wait,” Chester said. ”The zombies will come back. Theres the food in the coaches, and Im wasting daylight standing here.”
”You go, Chester, well be fine,” Hana said. She had the sword in her hands, gripping it firmly, her eyes, however, were not on the road she should have been watching. It was clear of the undead, but Chester could hear rustling and snapping coming from not too far away.
”No, I want my last sight of you lot to be on that raft, heading downriver. I dont need any extra worries on this trip.”
”We cant leave her,” Stewart said. ”Cant leave anyone. Got to stick together. Work together. Keep everyone alive.”
”Hes right,” Greta said.
”Fine. Come on,” Chester said, not bothering to keep the irritation from his voice, and moved quickly towards the tunnels far side and the roads beyond.
The streets of Westminster were in a far worse state than theyd appeared on the pictures taken by the drone. The wind had blown the contents of upper storey rooms out of broken windows to join the leaves and litter on the street. Rain had pooled in the rubble and around blocked storm drains, rehydrating dust and dirt and other dry detritus into noisome decay.
”At least the drone got rid of the undead,” Chester murmured as he clambered up a pile of masonry. Theyd pa.s.sed a couple of dead creatures, but none of the still-animate kind since the one by the river. As he jumped down the other side of the heap of rubble, he realised hed spoken too soon. Ahead, turning right down a side road, he saw McInery, her axe swinging as she smashed into the head of a zombie invisible from his vantage point. But there were plenty more behind her. These were the broken, crippled creatures missing legs or feet, crawling a slithering path through the muddy debris. Theyd tried to follow the drone, and now they were following McInery. Chester started to run, smas.h.i.+ng the maces spiked head down on the skull of a zombie missing both legs above the knee. He glanced over his shoulder. The others were close behind but each staying a cleaving weapons length apart.
Sometimes dodging a grasping hand as he ran through that carpet of the immobile undead, other times swinging the mace with a brutal finality, he reached the turning McInery had taken. Shed stopped, partially hidden in an alley on the left-hand side fifty metres ahead. He couldnt believe she was waiting, but then she waved them over. He ran to her.
”Mac, what the h.e.l.l are you-” he began.
”The hotel is the next block over,” she interrupted. ”One trip, yes? One trip to gather all we need. And we need weapons and ammunition. We can run in, grab the ammunition, get out through the lobby and grab a few more of those rifles. Five minutes, thats all itll take.”
”Five minutes? Its worth the risk,” Hana said with uncharacteristic decisiveness.
All Chester wanted was to know that Nilda was back on that boat. But if McInery went to the hotel, Hana seemed likely to follow. Greta and Finnegan would follow her. He could hardly leave them all, and he wasnt sure Nilda would either.
”Mac, you keep an eye on Hana. Stewart, you too.”
And once again, he led the way.
A zombie stumbled out of a pubs broken doorway. Chester swung the mace. It fell. Another yard and Tuck overtook him, skipping a step, and bringing the axe around and up, hitting a zombie in the chin with such force that it split the creatures head right open. The axe kept going, and the soldier spun with it, twisting her grip to bring the blade down on a zombie half-crawling along the rubble-strewn road.
Chester saw the hotel and a closed door almost immediately in front of them. For a glorious few seconds he thought they were free and clear. It was only when Tuck ran ahead, angling to the left, that he realised something was wrong. There was an alley almost too narrow to be called that, and down it in a jostling single file came the living dead. Tuck waved a hand towards the hotel as she raised her weapon and ran towards this new and imminent threat.
Chester reached the closed door. There was no handle. He pushed. It didnt move. Nilda reached his side and tried to twist her sword into the thin gap by the lock.
”No, we need an axe. Greta! Eamonn!” Chester barked.