Blood Memory: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5) (7 page)

The light caught Joel
’s eye, giving him a sinister appearance. “We’ve told you what we’re facing, but it’s important to see it and experience it for yourself.” Joel put his hand on the Lurcher’s head and pointed its snapping jaws away.

“
Joel, don’t,” Anne said.

“
He has to learn some time. Might as well be while under our protection.” Joel snapped the brittle femur bone, tore his trousers and helped him up onto his remaining foot. “There we are. Your first marauding Lurcher. Or most of him, anyway. They often have missing limbs or body parts, so he’s pretty indicative of what you’ll be facing out there. They’re clumsy fellows.”

“
It’s still dangerous,” Anne said.

“
I’ll pacify it.”

Joel put his hand into the Lurcher
’s mouth. It gnawed on the gloves’ thick plastic casing. Joel flexed his arm and tore the bottom jaw off. A thick red liquid splattered on the floor. The Lurcher’s tongue flapped like a snake without its head. Joel tossed his knives up into the air and caught them by the blade. He beat the Lurcher in the mouth. There was a sickening crunch sound like a bag of marbles thrown against a wall. White lumps flew from the Lurcher’s top jaw. Joel smashed the Lurcher again and again. It fell against the wall but did not fall over. Joel bent down and peered around at its mouth like a dentist giving a check-up. “I think we’re good to go.”

The Lurcher straightened up and hopped toward Joel, arms outstretched, tongue flapping.
Joel stepped aside as the Lurcher made a lunge for him. It almost toppled over.

“
Kill it,” Joel said to Jordan.

It hopped on its ragged foot toward him. The eyes were faded and distant. There was nothing behind them.
It was a grotesque impersonation of a human. A fade. Barely even recognisable as a former human. But still Jordan’s insides clenched.

Jordan raised his chair leg. The Lurcher ambled closer
… Closer… Jordan shut his eyes and swung, making contact. There was a loud
snap
. The head fell forward, its chin resting at an impossible angle on its chest. The body stood for a moment, then folded up at the knees and waist.

“
Congratulations,” Joel said. “You incapacitated your first Lurcher.” His smile disappeared. “But he’s not dead.”

The Lurcher
placed his hands flat against the floor as if to perform a press-up. Its skinny arms struggled under the weight. It rocked forward and back, pushed against the floor, and got up onto its one good foot. It stared at the floor, the flesh of the broken neck stretching to the point of tearing.

“
You must destroy the brain,” Joel said. “Or lead it to deep waters. The important thing to remember with Lurchers is they are supremely stupid and easily distracted.”

Joel
reached into his pocket and came out with a cigarette lighter. He flicked it on. The Lurcher gave a grunt of surprise that could have come from a young child. It stumbled after the light as Joel led it up the stairs.

O
n Light’s deck, Joel walked to the entrance gate, the Lurcher on his heels, still mesmerised by the light. Joel opened the gate and tossed the lighter over the side. The Lurcher, without hesitation or breaking its step, followed it. It splashed into the sea, its groans audible over the gentle lapping waves on the hull.

Jordan watched as t
he Lurcher flailed, but was swallowed by the sea.

“
A little light goes a long way,” Joel said.

Orange beams of sunlight burst through the afternoon clouds and lay across the world like a mother’s love. The sea was calm with a million dimples that came and went in an eternal show of affection. A flock of brown-breasted ducks flew overhead in V formation.
A light breeze drifted unimpeded across the ocean to run its fingers through Jordan’s hair.

Joel and Jordan sat on a wooden door they’d torn from one of Haven’s bedrooms, empty bottles and cans strapped at either end acting as ballast. The welding kit sat between them. They each wore a welding mask and held
welding sticks in tight gloved hands. Light’s hull reared up before them like a frozen wall of ice.

They lowered their visors
, put the welding sticks into the water, and then turned the torches on. The flame was yellow and spat black smoke. They turned the nozzles on the side. The flame flared from yellow to blue to white. It hissed like a snake going for the kill. Jordan felt the flame’s heat on his face and arms, a heavy sweat breaking out.

The metal dribbled as they scoured two
curved lines, small puffs of smoke whispering when the sparks dove into the sea. Within twenty minutes Joel and Jordan’s semi-circles joined. Jordan’s half was irregular and misshapen compared to Joel’s almost perfect circle. The hole was about the size of a large human head.

The
sea lapped against the hull, sibilating when it kissed the white-hot metal. Joel coiled his leg and kicked at the circle over and over. The action caused their door-raft to push away from the hull in vicious thrusts. The pounding reverberated over the entire hull, sending out tiny ripples on the sea’s surface. The opening gave and fell into the engine bay with a loud
clang
. Water flooded through the hole and into the room like it was dying of thirst.

Joel
lifted his visor, caught Jordan’s eye and smiled. “That wasn’t too hard, huh?”

Something
grabbed Joel’s leg, his foot pulled into the hole. Rotting fingers and arms with muscles exposed to the shoulder grasped at Joel’s boot, pulling and tearing at the fabric.

“Jesus Christ!”
Joel yelled, kicking at the flailing arms.

The groans floated up to them from the hole in the hull, echoing in the spacious confines of the engine bay.
Jordan braced the raft’s weight and attempted to push them away from Light, but the Lurchers’ grip on Joel’s foot did not loosen.

A mad yellow bloodshot eye appeared in the hole.
It rolled around until it found Joel, and one of the arms, a ragged slice of sinew without index fingers, shot out for his ankle. Joel picked up his blowtorch, turned it on, and pressed it to the arm. The flesh bubbled and popped and burst open to reveal the bleached white bones beneath. The arm lost its grip. Joel pushed the white-hot flame into the gaping eye. Before the flare even touched it, it melted and ran down a cleaved cheek. Joel aimed the torch at the hands holding their make-shift raft. Jordan curled his lips at the stench of burning flesh. The hands relented. They pushed away from the hull.

The
groans grew quiet as they drifted away, paddling across the expanse of empty ocean to Haven, which sat three hundred yards away. They climbed the rope that hung against Haven’s prow and collapsed on the deck. Joel lay on his back, staring up at the wispy white clouds in a sapphire sky. He chuckled. “Your first real Lurcher attack. How was it?”

“Wonderful,” Jordan said.

Mary brought them cups of water. Stan looked out at the ferry. The water lapped against Light’s hull, submerging the hole. Pockets of air escaped as seawater flooded the engine bay, bubbles rushing out like the sea were foaming at the mouth. “How long do you think it will take to flood the engine bay completely?” he asked.

“Hours, might be,” Joel said
, between breaths. He turned to address everyone on the deck. “Anyone fancy placing a wager?”

At
7pm the water entering the ferry sputtered and gurgled like a baby who’d had too much to eat. Mary put her playing cards down on the table and peered over at the ferry. “You know, I think it’s stopped-”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than the water began to spill into the engine bay
once again, the hole bubbling foam. Mary turned back to the others playing gin rummy.

Joel checked his watch. “That’s
three hours. You’re out, Mare. Who’s still in for the running?”

Jordan and Anne raised their hands. Stan
had thought the engine bay would flood within two hours.

“You look nervous, Anne,” Joel said. “You’re up next, aren’t you? Worried about your
four-hour hunch?”

Anne glared at him.
“Not as much as you should be about me beating your arse.”

Joel raised an eyebrow. “Is that as good as it sounds?”

Anne whipped her cards at him.

At 10pm
Anne started awake. She turned over to go back to sleep, but was immediately arrested by the quiet. The stars twinkled overhead like a billion fireflies leading the way to some distant paradise. A smattering of clouds obscured a third of the view in what would otherwise have been a perfect night sky. The moon was bright, the blue craters clear like the veins of a particularly strong cheese. The silver light cast a smoky monochrome of the ferry. There was no sound save the wet slap against the boats’ hulls. Anne sat up on her elbows.

“It’s finished,” Joel said
in a forlorn tone of voice. She hadn’t noticed him sitting with his back against the cabin. “It finished ten minutes ago. We go in the morning at first light.”

Anne yawned. “All right.”
She settled down to go back to sleep.

“
Oh, and Anne,” Joel went on, “don’t mention this to Jordan.”

“Why?
” Anne smiled. “Because he won the wager?”

The next morning Joel and Jordan
cut off a piece of Light’s upper hull and affixed it over the hole they’d made the previous day. They had both seen finger fragments and chunks of torn skin floating through the hole, but did their best to ignore it.

The water was calm again today, the surface highlighted by the sun poking its head up above the sea’s surface. They once again climbed the rope up to Haven’s deck, this time bringing the door up with them. Stan would reaffix it later. They all sat down to a breakfast of baked beans and barbequed
Vienna sausages, compliments of the former ferry passengers.

“This extra sausage is delicious,” Jordan said, gloating over his wager winnings.
“Do you know, I think it’s the best sausage I’ve ever had?”

Joel scowled.

“Girls,” Mary called. “Come get your breakfast.”

Jessie and Stacey were playing with their favourite new toys: a plastic tube with propeller blades that they shot up into the air with a catapult. They liked to aim them so they fluttered down over
Haven’s edge, and they could catch them as they leapt over the boat’s side and into the sea.

“Girls!” Mary said, this time with heat in her voice.

There was a palpable tension hanging over the group as they ate, no one mentioning the task they were going to undertake, and ignoring Light as if it wasn’t there.

“Well, I’d better get ready,” Anne said a
fter eating. She headed below deck. Joel caught up with her.

“Anne,” Joel said, speaking in a hushed whisper, “can I have a word?”

They moved into the main living area. The suitcase full of their salvaged goods sat on the sofas, their innards open, contents spilled across the dining table.

“
Anne, I want you to stay here.”

Anne
blinked as if she’d been slapped. “What? No. I’m coming.”

“There’s no point in all of us being at risk for no good reason.”

“There is good reason – the more of us there are the better.”

“Not this time. The Lurc
hers will all be dead.”

“You hope. What if they’re not?”

“I want you to keep an eye on Stan, Mary, and the girls.”

Anne folded her arms and looked away.

“Anne, we need you here.”

“What if something happens?”

“Then I’ll feel relaxed knowing you’ve got my back.” He rested a hand on her shoulder. “This isn’t about you. This is about what’s best for all of us.”

Anne, after a pause, nodded, but she still wasn’t happy.
“Fine. But next time you get to babysit.”

“Fair enough.”

Jordan finished off his last sausage. When Joel and Anne emerged from below deck, Joel was wearing his armour, and Anne wore a heavy frown.

Joel approached Jordan and said, “Are you ready?”

“Just about.”

Anne helped
Jordan with his armour. She pulled the fastenings, tugging them as tight as they would go, cutting off his circulation. She glared at him, daring him to complain. He didn’t. That only made her angrier.

Stan cranked the gangplank. It extended with all the slow energy of impending doom. Only one hook of the gangplank fastened onto Light’s soft decking
, the other hung suspended in mid-air. With the added weight of the water in the engine bay, Light had listed even further during the night. The stern had been pulled down, forcing the bow to lift up from the waterline.

Jordan and Joel crossed the gangplank, Jordan with a lot less apprehension than the day before, though still not quite with the same confidence as Joel.