HAYWIRE: A Pandemic Thriller (The F.A.S.T. Series Book 2) (43 page)

But the rest were catching up.

Just keep climbing and don’t look down.

Craigson reached the top.

Myers was close.

Craigson yanked free his ice hockey stick.

‘Hurry,’ Craigson yelled. ‘They’re catching you!’

Myers reached the top and began to haul himself over the ledge. A hand grabbed his boot. Another grabbed his leg.

Shit! They’ve got me!

One of the crazies had him. A woman wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit began climbing up Myers like a ladder. Her weight dragged him away from the ledge.

He had nothing to grab.

The surface beyond the ledge was flat.

He scrambled with his hands for purchase, but his fingers just slid toward him.

One hand slipped off.

This is it,
Myers realized.
This is really happening. I’m going to fall down right into them.

Myers watched his left hand slide toward the edge....

Stomp.

Craigson stomped on Myers’ hand, pinning him in place.

Whack!

At the same time, Craigson swung his ice hockey stick. He hit the crazy woman in the yellow jumpsuit climbing over Myers. She flew backward, flipping through the air until she smashed into the crowd below.

Craigson jerked Myers back into the wall, not releasing Myers’ vest until he was safely over the top.

Myers scrambled from the ledge, amazed to be alive. He stood and pulled out his baseball bat as two more crazies reached the top.

‘Don’t let them grab you,’ warned Craigson. ‘They’ll pull you right over the edge.’

Then the real fighting began.

Myers attacked any crazy who reached the top. As their heads appeared, he smashed down with the baseball bat. Craigson did the same with his hockey stick, over and over again, sending dozens and dozens of crazies tumbling and spinning backward off the climbing wall. They could barely keep up. The entire wall was covered with insane passengers, all trying to reach the Marines.

Suddenly they had a reprieve.

Two falling crazies started a cascade of falling bodies that stripped the top half of the wall free of hostile climbers.

‘Let’s go,’ yelled Myers. ‘This is our chance!’

From the top of the wall, a single corridor led to a locked door with a sign: ‘Training Room’.

Craigson swiped open the heavy door.

It slammed shut automatically behind them, obviously designed to prevent passengers accidentally reaching the dangerous climbing ledge.

Seconds after the door slammed shut, crazies slammed into it from the other side. They beat upon the door and hurled their bodies against it.

‘They won’t get through,’ said Myers. ‘That door weighs a ton.’

Together they dashed around the piles of rappelling equipment, looking for the exit. They found the exit, but Myers snatched Craigson’s arm and pointed.

‘Look!’

 The training room had two glass walls. One overlooked the climbing wall. The other overlooked the food court.

‘Holy crap,’ said Craigson, looking at the crowd of crazies rampaging in the food court. ‘There’s Justin.’

Craigson and Myers rushed into the food court.

At least fifty crazies occupied the area, but none noticed the Marines.

They all chased Justin.

How Justin had survived this long was a miracle. The boy had his hands bound behind his back. Somehow he’d climbed onto a food buffet and was running along the stainless steel top. More food covered the floor all around the buffet, causing the crazies to slip and slide as they charged after Justin. The crazies trying to climb up were struggling to grip the smooth stainless steel with their slippery hands.

Justin ran backward and forward, kicking down any who managed to start climbing. He couldn’t keep up. Craigson spotted two crazies clamber onto the buffet at either end. Justin couldn’t kick both of them down in time.

In desperation Justin scanned the food court over the crazies’ heads.

He spotted the Marines.

He’s going to jump
, thought Craigson.

He did.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Justin leaped right over the heads of the sick passengers trying to reach him. He collided with one on the way down, but that only served to break his fall. Before the crazies knew where he’d gone, Justin had rolled onto his feet and was running toward the Marines.

Craigson and Myers charged toward him.

Justin ran straight between the Marines. He ran like he had a plan. Craigson couldn’t ask, because the crazies were right behind him.

Again, Craigson and Myers lashed out with their hand-to-hand weapons. Craigson whipped his hockey stick around and tripped the first crazy who reached them.

This time the Marines couldn’t hold their ground.

They didn’t have the high ground advantage.

They had to retreat.

They had to retreat fast.

Craigson heard a dull thump. He glanced back. Justin kicked at the low window again.

Thump.

Craigson saw why.

Outside the glass hung a window cleaning rig, just like the kind used to clean windows on tall buildings.

‘Come on!’ Craigson shouted at Myers.

Craigson turned and sprinted for the glass. He wasn’t just fleeing from the hostiles, he was building up momentum. As he reached the glass, he channeled all his speed and momentum into one mighty swing of his hockey stick.

Crack!

He expected the glass to shatter.

It didn’t.

Instead, it popped from its frame in one solid square and landed on the cleaning rig.

Justin ducked under the window frame and jumped onto the rig.

‘Go!’ Craigson shouted at Myers.

Myers ducked under the frame.

Craigson swept his hockey stick into the feet of the closest crazies. The stick tangled among their feet. Two went down. More tripped over them. It bought Craigson just enough time to duck under the frame and leap onto the rig.

‘Up! Up!’ yelled Justin. ‘The red one!’

Myers slammed his palm on the red button. Instantly the rig began rising. It wasn’t fast, but they only had to clear the window to escape the pack.

Craigson kicked at the crazies trying to grab the rig.

‘Shit. They’re grabbing on,’ warned Myers.

Small rubber wheels kept the rig off the glass, but also gave the crazies enough room to grab the frame.

‘Cut my hands free!’ yelled Justin.

Craigson flicked out his pocket knife and cut free Justin’s hands. Justin instantly began stomping on the fingers grabbing the rig. Craigson and Myers began crushing hands and fingers under their heavy boots.

The crazies didn’t care. Broken fingers didn’t seem to bother them at all. They began pulling themselves up around the rig.

‘They’re climbing up!’ warned Craigson.

Myers pulled Justin to the controls. ‘Hold the button.’

Justin held the red button.

With both hands free, Myers started beating the crazies down with his baseball bat. Two crazies fell away and splashed into the sea below.

‘We’re stopping!’ yelled Justin.

He’s right
, realized Craigson.
We’ve stopped rising.

Craigson looked over the edge.

Oh, my God!

The crazies hung off the rig like a human curtain. The crazies who couldn’t reach the rig had grabbed onto the legs of those who had. At least a dozen people hung down from the rig in long human ladders.

Craigson had never seen anything like it.

‘It’s too much weight!’ he yelled. ‘Pry their fingers off.’

Myers pulverized fingers with his bat. Justin stomped and kicked at them.

Craigson knelt and stabbed into the nearest fingers with his knife.
I’ll cut their damn fingers right off if I have to.

But it was already too late.

CREEEECK!

Ominous sounds of machinery pushed beyond its limits began emanating from the rig. Craigson heard wires straining, the motor grinding, and the sound of steel warping under their boots.

‘It’s going to fall!’ shouted Myers.

He was right.

The rig suddenly plummeted.

Straight down the side of the ship.

It felt like riding a roller-coaster without a restraint.

Craigson hadn’t realized they were so high.

They hit something on the way down.

The entire rig flew away from the ship.

Completely airborne now, with the rig not touching the ship at all, Craigson just managed to grab Justin’s arm and the railing before—

Crash!

The rig jolted up underneath them, knocking everyone off their feet. Craigson collapsed, but kept his grip on Justin. As he hit the unforgiving steel, he glimpsed over the side.

The crazies hanging from the rig were jolted loose. Still clinging to each other, they plummeted down into the ocean.

Craigson didn’t hear the splash. He just saw their bodies disappear in the churning white water beside the ship.

Myers rolled over.

He’d also grabbed Justin. ‘You all right?’

Justin nodded shakily.

Myers rubbed his shoulder and sat up. ‘How did we stop?’

Craigson pointed to a thick wire rope still attached to the rig.

‘The safety line caught us,’ he said.

Myers shook his head in amazement over the side of the rig. ‘That is the craziest thing I have ever done in my life.’

‘Look,’ pointed Justin.

Where the rig had swung back into the ship, one corner of a window had been smashed in.

‘Let’s get off this thing,’ said Justin.

Craigson couldn’t agree more.

Myers didn’t say anything. He just started smashing out the window with his baseball bat.

Ben peered carefully around the chair to ensure no crazies lingered on the bridge.

It seemed clear.

He needed those scissors.

Not far from Ben, the helicopter pilot lay dead with a pair of scissors embedded in his back.

Maybe I can reach them with my foot.

After removing his left shoe and sock, he stretched out as far as the restraint allowed.

His foot reached the pilot.

His toes hit the scissors. He put his big toe through one of the handles and pulled. His toe slipped free.

They were really stuck in there firmly.

Ben put his toe through again. This time he wiggled the scissors backward and forward, trying to loosen them from the pilot’s back.

He tried pulling them again.

They slid free and hung from his toe.

Got them.

He carefully unhooked the scissors from his toe and began hacking into the heavy cable tie.

Even scissors barely cut the restraint.

Ben kept hacking and slicing until finally the scissors cut through.

His bullet wounds really hurt now, but he couldn’t stop. Not with the bridge unsecured.

He crossed to the bridge door.

A body lay over the threshold. Bracing himself, he grabbed the woman’s ankle and pulled her clear of the door. He pushed the door until the automatic lock engaged
.

Now the bridge was secure.

Slowly he walked across the bridge and knelt beside his wife. He leaned forward until their foreheads touched.