The rotting creatures were coming up on all sides of us now. Connor shoved at the one nearest him, and thankfully he was still wearing the work glove he had been using on the cables. His left hand sank into the creature’s chest, but the force was enough to send it toppling overboard, but not before it sucked the glove clean off. Connor snatched his hand away from the next creature and stepped back.
“What’s grosser than gross?” he asked. “Now I know.”
The squelching sound of the glove pulling off was still fresh in my ears and I did my best to keep from vomiting from the ick factor of it all. I turned to Jane. Nothing had come up on her side, but I could see the movement of more hands clawing for purchase along the side of the boat. It was only a matter of time before they came up.
“Jane!” I shouted. “Go to the front of the boat!”
“I can help,” she insisted.
“I know you can,” I said, “but this isn’t me being chivalrous. We’ve got enough baddies for all of us to fight. Just check and see if we’re okay up there.”
“On it,” she said. Jane kicked into motion and dashed off toward the thin walkway that led around the wheelhouse to the bow of the ship.
Connor grabbed up his trench coat, balling it around both of his hands. “I’m gonna miss this one,” he said. “A good trench is hard to find.”
“Maybe it’s time to trade up to a better coat,” I said. The two of us moved to the center of the deck back there, positioning ourselves back to back.
“Yeah, right, kid,” he said. “Soon as you give up the leather.”
“It works like armor,” I said. “Not like that dangly death trap you wear.”
Connor dodged out of the way of one of the creatures. “I prefer mobility,” he said. “Jesus. There’re a lot coming up on my side of the boat.”
“Mine, too,” I said.
“Screw it,” Connor said, stepping away from my back. I heard a meaty crack behind me followed by a splash. “We don’t have to fight ’em if we just knock ’em off, kid.”
I went to move, then stopped as a horrifying thought hit me.
“Wait a second,” I said. “Did I just send Jane up to the front of the boat. . . alone?”
“Yes,” Connor said. “Yes, you did. Now go!”
“Right,” I said. I pulled out my bat and ran for the front. I stepped with care around the slim walkway to the left of the cabin. The head of one of the creatures came up over the side and I flashed my foot out at it, catching it square in the center of its face. The tip of my Doc Martens sank into the flesh like I was kicking a Nerf football, the sound of snapping bone cracking out from it. The body let go of the railing, but didn’t fall now that my foot was holding it up by its face. I shook my leg, fighting down the urge to vomit, before the creature came free and fell back into the water.
The other aqua-zombies were still working their way up the sides, but they were no danger. . . yet. I pulled myself forward along the outside of the cabin, pausing only to grab a four-foot-long gaffing hook. I continued on, making sure my grip was secure on both that and my bat, and then jumping down onto the bow of the boat. I landed on both feet, dual wielding and ready for a fight. Jane was surrounded by a ring of rotting aquatic humanoids as she fell to her knees on the deck, her hands clawing at the back of her shoulder about where the mark was.
“Jane!” I shouted.
She looked up, her face straining as she struggled against whatever the mark was doing to her. Without pausing, I grabbed the long shaft of the hooked pole arm and tossed it to her. It clattered to the now-slime-covered deck and Jane wrapped both hands around it, using it to help her stand before menacing the creatures around her with it. Now that she was armed, I didn’t hesitate. I leapt into action, slamming my bat into the closest creature. The tip of it caught up in its guts, but it crumbled the monstrosity over, leaving me struggling to regain control of my bat. When I pulled it free, I moved on to my next target, but I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye. Jane wasn’t moving. She was just standing there, stock-still, clutching the pole in both her hands like she was waiting to swing on a trapeze.
“Jane?” I shouted. “Anytime you want to join the fray, you just leap on in there . . .”
Jane still didn’t move. “I. . . I can’t,” she stuttered out.
“What?” I said, feeling a little panic set in. Without her help, I was going to be hard-pressed to fight off all the aqua-zombies by myself.
“I want to help you, but I can’t,” she said, almost crying. “I think. . .I think it’s the mark.”
“Son of a bitch,” I shouted. I cracked the next monstrosity in the head and pushed it overboard using the heel of my boot. Adrenaline kicked in and I felt a bit of a rush while I moved on to struggle against two more of the creatures. I only hoped that when I was done I wouldn’t have to turn my bat on Jane as well.
“Fight it, hon,” I shouted. “You’re stronger than her. Are you going to let that aquatic she-bitch run the show here?”
Jane raised the gaffing pole over her head with a concerted effort, but with each inch she lifted, her face squinted with pain. After a few seconds of holding it up, she collapsed back down to her knees, dropping the pole. “I can’t,” she whimpered.
Connor shouted from somewhere close behind me, startling me. “Is she okay, kid?”
I turned. He had made his way to the top of the cabin, taking the higher ground in the fight and using it to his advantage in undead crowd control.
I dodged one of the swiping zombies while hitting another with my bat, squishing the flesh. I looked over at Jane again. She was still paralyzed in place. “You know what?” I called up to Connor. “I have no idea. She’s powerless.”
Connor looked down at me. “Well, help her, then.”
“I’m trying,” I said, wiggling my way out of one of the zombies’ grip. “There’s too many of them.”
“That I can help with,” Connor said and jumped down from atop the cabin. The deck shook from the impact of his landing but Connor kept his momentum and plowed himself into a whole row of the creatures on my right. Half of them spilled over the side of the boat, all of them clawing nothing but air as they tried to stop themselves.
“That worked,” I said, tossing one of my remaining foes overboard. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “All I’ve done is prolong the inevitable. I’ve bought us a little time.”
“Right,” I said and spun to help out Jane.
By the looks of her, she didn’t need my help. Jane had made it back up to her feet once more and was surrounded by a ring of the creepy creatures. The odd thing was that the rotting monstrosities—outside of their simply being there—were all facing Connor and me, none of them even remotely interested in attacking my girlfriend. Jane wasn’t in need of protection; the damned things were protecting her.
“Jane?” I asked. Her eyes were fixed in our general direction but they were unfocused. There was nobody driving the car, or if there was, Jane wasn’t in the driver’s seat.
“Steady,” Connor said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “What’s up with her new entourage?”
“I was hoping you might be able to tell me.”
“I’m not sure,” he said, looking for a weakness in the ring of them, “but I think we better make the first move before—”
Jane interrupted him, speaking out loud in a language I wasn’t familiar with. “That’s not her machine language,” I said.
“No,” Connor said. “It’s not. It’s Greek. She’s ordering her undead bodyguards to attack.”
“What?!” I swung my bat at the two zombies closest to her before they could even begin to move. “Oh, hell, no.”
I grabbed Jane by the arm and yanked her from within their circle. Her face was still blank, but her body stumbled along willingly as I moved her toward the back of the boat.