Deadland's Harves(46)

“The crew quarters should at least be comfortable when it gets colder,” Griz said.

“Where’s that?” Tyler asked.

Griz pointed. “I’m guessing either the first level or below decks. I’ve been on bigger boats. Towboats are new to me.”

“This boat wasn’t empty when the outbreak hit,” I pointed to the round, first-level window as a shadow lumbered by.

“We’ll start on the top and work our way down,” Tyler said. “I’m thinking we’ll set up common housing in the barges. They’ll be drafty, but open enough to have fires running for heat should we have to stay into the winter. Our first imperative is to get this boat cleared so we can get some power turned on.”

“Then, let’s do it,” Griz said.

“Yeah, I’m getting hungry,” Nate added.

“What are you making us tonight?” I asked.

Nate scowled. “MREs are all we have for tonight. The real food is still boxed up.”

“C’mon, then,” Griz said. The seven of us walked across the deck and climbed the first stairs.

“This room looks to be a good area for Doc’s clinic hospital,” Tyler said as he peered inside.

“It was probably the captain’s quarters,” Griz said.

The sun was beginning its descent, casting a softer glow on the wide river. Except for the road and bridge to the north, all I could see was water and trees for miles. “The view is really beautiful from here,” I said, climbing the second stairs.

“Yeah, a regular vacation getaway,” Jase said drily.

I grinned at his sarcasm but my smile faded as I kept focus on the task at hand. We slowed as we approached the bridge. It was a good sign that I saw no zeds in the windows. Since zeds rarely sat down, it meant that if there were any in there, they were either under three feet tall or in bad shape.

Tyler was the first to walk up to the window. He stood for a moment, and then turned to face us. “We don’t want to stay in the bridge tonight.”

“Why not?” Wes asked, and we all moved closer to look through the window.

Inside, three bodies lay sprawled on the floor, each one with a gunshot wound in the skull. A single revolver lay in the hand of one. They’d been dead for some time, with how their discolored skin clung to their emaciated forms.

Zeds were easier to deal with than corpses. I could convince myself that their humanity was gone, but corpses…they reminded me of what I was doomed to become someday.

“All right. Let’s check the next level,” Tyler said.

At the bottom of the stairs, we all went up to the glass to peer inside.

“Looks fine to me,” Wes said, his nose pressed against the glass. “I wonder if the captain is one of the fellows we came across in the bridge.”

Inside, the table and couch seemed undisturbed with no signs of violence and no place for zeds to hide.

“Good. At least one room that shouldn’t stink like a shit storm,” Griz said.

I glanced at the stairwell. “Ready for the galley?”

“We don’t have much time until we lose our sunlight,” Tyler said. “Let’s go. Tack, you take point. Griz and I will cover. Everyone else, stand back until we clear this level.”

Tack was Tyler’s go-to guy for taking point, so he was used to it. He moved smoothly and rarely talked, but more important, he never freaked out. The slender man walked up to the door, held up his hand, and then motioned forward. Griz opened the door and Tack swung. A zed that had been on the other side of the door went down. Tack headed inside, followed closely by Tyler. Jase held the door when Griz followed.

I watched through the window as Tack and Tyler finished off the lone zed in the room.

“All clear,” Griz called out, and we entered the large room. “Ready to check below decks.”

“It’d be nice if there were only four in the crew,” I said.

Tack was already at another door. Tyler and Griz joined up with him. He opened the door, and after a quick second, he touched his nose. A signal we’d come up with at Camp Fox for scouting runs.

The smell that caused Tack to signal us wafted through the air from below decks. The all-too-familiar rotten stench of zeds.

Damn it.

There were more than four in the crew.





Chapter XI


Tack held up four fingers. He turned to face us. “They’re all at the bottom of the stairs.”