Zombie Files: Exiled at Sea - The Finale

Down With the Ship

 

 

    The unlocked door to Moore's room swung open as Gerard walked though it with his pistol drawn. The guards had absconded once the fire had consumed The Hyperion's lower levels, so there was no one to impede him. Gerard saw Moore sitting behind a large, mahogany desk drinking a glass of single malt scotch contently.

    “I was wondering when someone would walk through my door looking to put a bullet in my head,” Moore said as he took a long sip from his glass. “Come in, have a drink before you kill me.”

    Gerard closed the door behind him and took a seat. Admiral Moore tipped the bottle of scotch over into an empty glass as liquor splashed carelessly over the sides.

    “Do you know who I am?” Gerard asked the man.

    “Well, I know you're not the Butcher. You have his mask, but I'd be dead already if you were really him. If I had to wager, I'd say the explosion that's currently sinking my ship was the result of the real Butcher. So, to answer your question, I don't really give a fuck who you are.”

    Gerard took off the mask that concealed his identity and placed it on the table. “I know the truth about my parents. My father told me what you did, you bastard!”

    “Well now, look what the sea tossed back. I'm sure your father spun you quite the tale, painting himself as the victim and martyr. Did he tell you what happened to your mother, Gerard?”

    “You killed her.”

    “I did no such thing. In fact, I have something I want to show you. Can I trust you won't shoot me while I reach for it?” Moore asked him. Gerard nodded as Moore pulled an envelope from his drawer and handed it to him.

    The handwriting in the letter belonged to Gerard's late mother. She always had such beautiful penmanship.

To my Richard,

           

            I still remember the first time I laid eyes upon you. We were so young and in love. You were quiet, shy and all together handsome, and I hung off your every word like it was gospel. That memory has kept me alive since our abduction and heartbreaking death of our son. But since then, you have changed into something I cannot comprehend. I hear stories from the others about the awful things you have done, but I didn't want to believe them at first. You can't run from the truth forever though. Eventually, it catches up with you. Tonight, when the guards are changing shifts, I will slip away and finally do what I should have done the day we lost Gerard. Goodbye, my love. We will be together again one day.

Eternally yours,

Sara

    “She killed herself...” Gerard felt his hands tremble uncontrollably, so he put the gun down on the table, still pointed at Moore. He grabbed the glass of scotch and guzzled it down to drown his sorrows.

    “You destroyed my family, you monster! What kind of a person does that?” he asked through tears.

    “I didn't start out this way, Gerard. I've always done what's best for my people, but eventually, we all become monsters. My own daughter can't even stand the sight of me now. I've accepted that this is the end for me, and I will go down with this ship. But you need to accept that one day, no matter how hard you fight it, you will be no different from me,” Moore chillingly told him.

    “No...” Gerard felt his brain skip like a record player as the room started to go black. Moore effortlessly took the gun from Gerard's hands. “You... drugged me.”

    “Yes, I did. Now, I'm going to spend the last few hours of our lives slowly torturing you to death. This is where it gets fun, Gerard. Well, for me anyway,” Moore admitted. Before he could get started though, there came a knock at the door. 

    “It's me, we need to talk,” a muffled, female voice demanded.

    “Shit. I'm going to store you in the closet for a bit while I talk to someone. You don't mind, do you? No, of course you don't,” Moore told Gerard as he shoved him inside and locked it shut. Gerard forced his fingers down his throat to vomit up the volatile chemical in his system. He passed out shortly after that.

    The heat startled Gerard awake as smoke billowed under the doorframe. Gerard kicked at the door, and eventually, the door splintered open. Flames licked the wall closest to the engine room, and Gerard realized that he didn't have much time. Before he left, he noticed Moore's lifeless body lying behind his desk. Just as Moore anticipated, an angry passenger had finally shot the admiral in the head. Gerard thought this moment would feel different somehow. Instead of relief, Gerard felt nothing. There was a photograph on the floor next to him. It was a young girl with a beautiful smile, and on the back it read: Cadence, Age 11. For some reason, Gerard didn't want to leave this picture behind to be burned and forgotten, so he shoved it into his pocket for safe keeping. Gerard bolted out of the room and raced to the ship's railing. Once he made it past the encroaching flames, he pulled out his flare gun and pulled the trigger. And for the second time in his life, Gerard jumped from The Hyperion into the ocean below.

    Gerard aimlessly drifted while he watched the great cruise ship finally slip beneath the cool waters. It took hours, and sunlight started to creep across the horizon as morning arrived. The rest of the fleet had sailed away for good after rescuing all the survivors from The Hyperion. In the end, Gerard was actually relieved that he didn't have to kill Moore. Gerard didn't want to turn into a shell of his former self like his father had become. From that day forward, Gerard vowed that he'd never kill the living again. He owed his family that much. Suddenly, Gerard spotted the white gleam of a sailboat in the distance. He called out to them, screaming at the top of his lungs. 

     Aboard The Selene, Gerard was reunited with Rose, Carver and seven other islanders looking to make a break for it. Forrest and Summer stayed behind to lead the remaining islanders in trying to rebuild their decimated island. Without constant interference from Moore, they hoped they could make it work.

    “What do we do now?” Carver asked him.

    “We need to get ahold of Pitchford on your radio and tell him we're on our way,” Gerard told him.

    “Thank you, Gerard. We never could have accomplished this without you,” Rose said sweetly, and Gerard attempted to downplay his heroism, but Rose grabbed him as they shared a passionate kiss. As they set sail, Gerard said a silent goodbye to his mother and father.

    “This is the exact coordinates that Pitchford gave us, but I don't see a single ship in any direction. It could be a trap, Gerard. What should we do?” Carver told him.

    “We should wait a little while longer,” Gerard hesitatingly answered. If it were a trap, they would surely be slaughtered. They had few weapons and little manpower, and everyone was already exhausted from their exodus. As if Gerard had summoned it from the depths, a submarine emerged from the ocean to greet them.

     Inside the cold, steel room of the sub, they met General Pitchford and his top scientist, Oscar Puerto. Pitchford was an older, mustachioed man, and although he was short in stature, his presence showed he was a man of great authority. His eyes told the story of a man who'd seen it all.

    “It's nice to finally meet you fine folks,” he spoke with a rich baritone voice. “As a precautionary measure, Dr. Puerto is going to test your blood. If there's even a slim chance one of you is infected, we can't take the risk. And who knows, one of you may even be immune to the plague. Thanks for your cooperation.”

    The syringe pierced Gerard's vein as Dr. Puerto drew his blood. The doctor's hands seemed to tremble a bit once he finished. “So, you really think you can cure this thing?” Gerard asked him.

    “In a way, I already have. I actually created a serum that can prevent you from turning into one of the infected back at my lab in New York. However, it was unstable, and the side effects were unpredictable. I know this because my brain is dying as a result of administering the serum to myself. Hopefully, before I die, I'll have perfected my creation, so I'll be able to heal this broken world.”

    A small boy, who looked to be about three, walked in and started playing with LEGOS. Oscar smiled at the boy, and Gerard could tell that the doctor cared deeply for the child. “Is this your son?” he asked.

    “No, he's my daughter's boy. His name is Ezekiel,” Oscar said as a look of sadness fell over him. Gerard decided not to probe the issue any further.

    “Gerard, when you meet with Pitchford after this, he's going to ask you to find a man. If you do this for us, I need you to tell him something for me,” Oscar told him.

    “Okay, what is it?” Gerard curiously asked.

    “Tell him... tell him it's not his fault. He'll know what I mean.”

   

    As Gerard left Dr. Puerto's office, he noticed the general sitting back on an uncomfortable metal bench that didn't befit a man of his caliber.

    “If you're wondering, I rest out here so my crew can have a soft bed to sleep in. When you're in charge, you always have to put everyone else's needs ahead of your own. Although, you seem to know a little something about heroics, son. I'm sure Dr. Puerto has already spilled the beans on the mission I'll be assigning you. He's a little defiant that way, but he's a genius, so we let it slide. The man you're to find is named Heartless, and he was last seen in New York.”

    “I'm not going to kill him for you. That's not who I am,” Gerard told him.

    “No, we don't want him dead. We're definitely going to need him in the long run. I know I'm asking a lot, Gerard, but I'm all out of brave men. And you seem smarter and more cunning than most men twice your age. So what do you say, Gerard, do you accept this mission?” General Pitchford asked.

    “Sign me up,” Gerard said with confidence.

Epilogue

 

Thirteen Years Later

 

   Gerard trudged through garbage and debris at a mall in Sacramento, California. The smell of stagnant dust filled the air. The great wildfire that had started months earlier was fast approaching, and soon, the entire state of California would be on fire. It painted the night sky a ghostly, orange haze. Gerard missed his wife Rose and their two small children at home, but he had a job to do. If there were any survivors still remaining in the states, it was up to Gerard and the remnants of the Bartle Four to rescue them. Gerard walked outside into a parking lot next to the mall security offices. After carefully scanning the area, he noticed a rope ladder tucked away on top of the roof.

    A survivor, Gerard thought.

    The staircase had been rendered inaccessible due to a totaled SUV. Gerard pulled out his custom crossbow and attached a grappling-hook arrow that he'd designed himself. The arrow whisked through the night sky and hooked onto the ledge of the building. He climbed the sturdy rope, and eventually, he made it to the top of the staircase. Inside, the room had swivel-chairs, desks and computer equipment strewn about. However, there was a large, plastic tent set up near the back of the place. Gerard unzipped the plastic opening, and a breeze of cool air washed over him. The tent had its own ventilated O2 system to filter the harmful pollution outside. Gerard took off the mask that protected him from those toxins and took in a deep breath of clean oxygen. There was all types of different lab equipment inside the tent, but it was a book that caught Gerard's attention. It was a journal written by a young woman named Maya. As he thumbed through the book, he heard a voice from behind him.

    “Put it down,” the voice demanded. Gerard placed it back on the table and slowly turned around to find that he was being held at gunpoint.

    “I'm here to help,” Gerard assured him. “This place isn't safe. By next week, everything here will be ashes.”

    “I know that, but I couldn't leave until I'd finished my work,” he told Gerard. “Who are you anyway?”

    “I'm Gerard, my people and I live at a place called Elysium that we built together in northeastern Canada. It's probably one of the last safe-zones on the planet. I could take you there if you want.”

    “You're Gerard!” he said enthusiastically as he lowered his pistol. “Can you take me to Heartless?”

    “Well, sure. He's out looking for other survivors like myself at the moment, but were supposed to meet back up in Denver, Colorado in a few days,” Gerard told him as the young man began packing up his things.

    “The name's Ezekiel. Now, let's get the hell out of here,” he said as he grabbed the katana from the corner of the tent. Gerard suddenly realized that he had just found the long-lost grandson of a deceased man named Dr. Oscar Puerto that he had met years ago.

    They had been walking for three miles when they heard the monstrous howls from a giant horde of feeders nearby. There were thousands upon thousands of them all coming their way. The wildfire had forced them to migrate from the decimated cities in southern California.

    “Shit!” Gerard yelled. “Go! I'll distract them while you get away. Take my GPS tracker, so my group will be able to locate you with our helicopter.”

    “No... I've got a better idea,” Ezekiel claimed as he pulled out two vials containing a clear liquid inside. After he opened the vials, he poured out the contents over the both of them.

                                                                                     

    “What is this stuff?”

    “It's a pheromone that I developed. It masks our human scent and tricks the goons into thinking we're like them,” Ezekiel told him.

    “That's amazing! With this pheromone, we will finally be able to start rebuilding society,” Gerard said as he radioed his group. “Spades, come in, over. Once you've pinpointed my location, I'm going to need an extraction. I think I found the key to humanity's future today.”

    The sea of feeders parted as Gerard and Ezekiel passed through completely unscathed.

Special Guest Writer - Alex