Bay of the Dead (21 page)

Jack looked across at Ianto and raised an eyebrow. 'No prizes for guessing what they're guarding,' he said.

It was odd in a way, but the constant state of tension, of apprehension, had become boring after a while. Tired of the crush of people in Reception, and more particularly of their endless theorising and analysing, Rianne and Nina had retreated to the empty maternity ward, and were now sitting in the semi-darkness, staring out over the car park, cradling mugs of tea.

They hadn't talked much in the last half-hour or so. In fact, Nina had spent much of the time dozing. A nurse had cleaned and re-bandaged her leg for her; despite what Nina's friends had thought, she hadn't needed stitches.

'I wonder what happened to the Thomases,' Rianne said.

'Huh?' Once again, Nina's eyes had been drooping closed. Rianne reached out and gently took the half-empty mug out of her hands.

'Sarah Thomas. She's one of my ladies. She phoned earlier this evening to say she'd gone into labour. I hope she's all right.'

Before Nina could rouse herself to answer, the faint screech of brakes from outside drew Rianne to the window. At the top end of the car park was a big shiny-black vehicle, all lit up like a Christmas tree. In fact, it was
pulsing
with light, as if it contained some kind of mobile disco.

Rianne tensed. Clearly the occupants of the vehicle had seen the creatures massed around the hospital.
Turn back
, she urged them silently,
turn back
.

The big black vehicle began to rumble forward.

'No!' Rianne said, loud enough to snap Nina fully awake.

'Wassamatter?' Nina muttered.

Rianne gestured at the approaching vehicle in dismay. 'Another lamb to the slaughter.'

Nina hauled herself out of her chair and hobbled across to stand beside Rianne. They watched the big black car edging towards the hospital, rippling and strobing with inner light, almost as if it
wanted
to draw attention to itself.

The creatures encircling the hospital had been still and silent for some time, but now twenty or more of them jerked into motion and peeled away from the main throng, shuffling towards the newcomers.

'Get away from here. Get away,' Rianne urged, her fists clenched in dreadful anticipation.

Nina's voice was as bleak as her words. 'Whoever they are, they don't stand a chance.'

In his hospital bed, Oscar Phillips thrashed and writhed. His lips curled back over clenched teeth gleaming with spittle, and his eyes rolled madly behind their closed lids.

FOURTEEN

'This isn't good,' Ianto said nervously as zombies swarmed over the SUV.

Jack, however, seemed unperturbed. 'Relax, Ianto,' he said. 'This thing's tougher than a tank. There's no way in hell they can get in.'

'Yes, but there's no way we can get out either,' Ianto replied. 'In fact, there's so many of them I doubt we could even drive through.'

Jack acknowledged the observation with a shrug. 'There
is
that, I guess.'

He nodded at the orb, pulsing madly in the box on Ianto's lap.

'Maybe buddy boy there will protect us.'

'Or maybe they'll tear us apart to get to it,' Ianto said. 'It certainly seems to have agitated them.'

It was true. In the presence of the pod, the zombies seemed more animated, more ferocious than usual. They were crawling all over the SUV, pounding and scrabbling at the windows, leaving greasy smears of themselves behind. Their rotting faces glared in at Jack and Ianto, the pod's light flashing silver in their lifeless eyes.

Jack unholstered his Webley. 'Only one way to find out,' he said.

Ianto blanched. 'You're not going out there?'

As ever, Jack seemed to relish the prospect of extreme danger. 'It's either that or sit here till doomsday.'

'But you'll be killed,' Ianto said.

Jack shrugged. 'So what's new?'

'This is different, Jack, and you know it. They'll tear you apart. They'll
eat
you.'

Jack was unmoved. 'Well, you know what they say about life – the best way to enjoy it is to fill it with new experiences.' He held out his hand. 'Give me the pod, Ianto.'

'This is madness, Jack,' Ianto protested.

Jack's face was set, determined. 'Give me the pod,' he repeated.

Ianto sighed, momentarily undecided, and then unhappily he handed the box over to Jack. Jack lifted out the pulsing pod and slipped it into an inside pocket of his greatcoat. He tossed the box onto the back seat, then leaned forward, pulled Ianto towards him and kissed him on the forehead.

'You wait for me here. If I don't manage to find Oscar and stop all this. . . well, just do what you can. Drive. Get back to the Hub.'

But Ianto shook his head, suddenly decisive. 'No. If you're going, I'm coming with you.'

'No way,' Jack said. 'My own stupidity I can live with. I'm not having you risking
your
life.'

Now it was Ianto's turn to look determined. Drawing his gun, he said, 'It's my decision, Jack. I chose to do this job. I know what the risks are.'

Jack looked as though he
wanted
to argue, but couldn't find a firm basis from which to do so. In the end he simply flapped a hand at Ianto and said, 'OK. If that's what you want, let's
both
go out in a blaze of glory. You ready?'

'Ready,' Ianto said grimly.

'Now!' Jack shouted.

They shoved their doors open simultaneously, causing zombies to tumble back like skittles. Instantly more of the creatures surged forward to fill the gap, teeth bared and eyes staring, hands reaching out.

Ianto pointed his gun and started shooting. And horrible as it was to see fleshless skulls shattering into fragments and heads disintegrating into bloody meat before his eyes, he
continued
shooting, trying to console himself with the knowledge that the creatures weren't real, that they felt no pain, that this was, in effect, nothing but a three-dimensional – albeit potentially lethal – computer game.

He was still shooting as he swung his legs from the SUV and stood up. And behind him he was aware that Jack was shooting too, the sharper crack of his Webley revolver underpinning the deafening boom of Ianto's semi-automatic.

Zombies fell in swathes before him, but they kept coming out of the darkness, kept pushing him back. One grabbed at him from the roof of the SUV; he turned and shot it from point-blank range.

Another swiped at his face, raking jagged fingernails down his cheek, before he was able to swivel and shoot it in the throat.

Yet another, a goth girl with black lipstick, panda eyes, and entrails leaking from a festering wound in her stomach, latched on to his left arm and sunk her teeth into his shoulder. He dislodged her by slamming her into the side of the SUV before she could break the skin, and then shooting her through her spiky forest of black hair while she was scrabbling on the ground.

At last the inevitable happened. While Ianto was pointing his gun, a flailing arm knocked the weapon from his hand. Ianto watched in despair as it flew through the air and clattered to the ground, among the shuffling feet of the walking dead.

Oh God, this is it
, he thought as they surged towards him. He turned, grabbed the still-open door of the SUV and used it to haul himself up towards the roof of the vehicle, in the final desperate hope that he might be able to defend himself better from up there.

Just as he reached the roof, kicking out at hands that were snatching at his legs, he became aware of three things simultaneously: an incredibly bright light, a loud, clattering whirr, and a raging wind that swooped down on him from nowhere. The light dazzled him, and the wind knocked the breath from his body and threatened to wrench him from his precarious perch. Clinging on for dear life, Ianto dropped to all fours and managed, with extreme difficulty, to turn his head.

For a second or two the light was so blinding that he couldn't work out what he was looking at. Hovering in the air above the SUV was what appeared to be an illuminated metal wall painted in white and orange stripes. Then Ianto saw landing wheels and the whickering blur of rotor blades, and suddenly realised he was staring at the underside of a helicopter. It had a bright red nose and tail, and a white body. The words 'COASTGUARD RESCUE' were printed in bold black capitals on the fuselage side of the aircraft.

Ianto sensed scrabbling movement beside him and twisted his head again, thinking that one of the zombies had climbed up after him. But it was Jack, bathed in the glare from above, and with rainbow light from the pod pulsing through his thick coat, still firing his Webley into the throng below. He turned briefly and grinned, hair flapping wildly around his head. He shouted something about 'cavalry', but the roar of the helicopter was too loud for Ianto to make out his words properly.

Then Ianto saw a line descending from the side door of the helicopter, and attached to the line was Gwen, black hair flying and leather jacket gleaming, haloed by the helicopter spotlight. Gwen was pointing her gun and taking potshots at the zombies below. Despite the fierce wind, Jack stood up on the roof of the SUV, waving and laughing.

Gwen was grinning too when she alighted on the roof of the SUV.

'Hello, boys,' she shouted. 'Having fun?'

'We are now,' Jack laughed, and hugged her tightly. Then in the same movement he swivelled and shot a zombie, which had poked its head over the edge of the roof. It fell back without a sound.

'Right,' Gwen yelled. 'Who's first?'

'Ianto,' Jack said decisively.

When Ianto looked about to protest, Jack shouted, 'You're mortal and you don't have a weapon.'

Ianto couldn't argue with that. 'Fair enough,' he said.

He was attached to the supplementary line and winched aboard the helicopter, rising up through the buffeting wind and the roar of the massive engines. It was roomy inside, and contained more people than he'd been expecting – Rhys, for one, and a rather dazed-looking family of three.

A few minutes later, Jack too was aboard. The three of them had a brief but joyful reunion.

'How the hell did you wangle this?' Jack marvelled, grinning from ear to ear. 'You're amazing, you know that?'

Gwen indicated Rhys, who was standing a little apart from the trio, watching them with an indulgent expression. 'Actually it wasn't me,' she said, 'it was Rhys.'

'
Rhys?
' Jack tried his best not to look astonished.

Rhys nodded at the helmeted pilot. 'That's Nobby. He's a mate of mine. He owed me a favour.'

'Musta been a really big one,' said Jack.

'Let's just say it involved a cocktail waitress and a bottle of vodka.'

Jack laughed uproariously and threw his arms around Rhys in a bear hug. Rhys looked startled, but pleased.

Ianto noticed the family all staring with astonishment at Jack, whose entire body seemed to be pulsing with light beneath his greatcoat.

Straight-faced, he said, 'Just ignore him. He likes to show off. He's not even a real American.'

FIFTEEN

Less than a minute later, the helicopter alighted on the flat roof of the hospital. Jack was standing by the still-open door, leaning out as though taking the air, his greatcoat flapping like a cape.

As the aircraft touched down, he turned back and said, 'Gwen, Ianto, with me. The rest of you, wait here.'

Rhys jumped up from his seat. 'No chance,' he said. 'I'm coming with you.'

Jack shook his head. 'Not this time, Rhys.'

'You can't stop me,' Rhys said, glancing at Gwen, as if for support. 'I've come this far. I want to see it through to the end.'

'You don't have a weapon,' said Jack.

'Neither does Ianto,' said Gwen, earning herself a frown of annoyance from Jack. Undeterred, she said, 'If it hadn't been for Rhys, you and Ianto would've been torn apart down there, and we'd still be stuck in the Samuels's attic. He's saved the lot of us.'

A little acidly, Jack said, 'I thought you, of all people, would want him kept safe.'

'Of course I do!' snapped Gwen. 'But he wants me kept safe too. I just think, after all we've been through, that it's not fair to exclude him now.'

Jack rolled his eyes. 'OK. But he's your responsibility.'

Gwen smiled at Rhys. 'As always,' she said.

Rianne clapped her hands as the helicopter rose into the air with its passengers safely aboard. 'They got away!' she exclaimed gleefully. 'Oh, thank God!'

Nina, standing beside her, said thoughtfully, 'They had guns. I wonder who they were.'