Deadlock a zombie apocal.., p.1
Deadlock: A Zombie Apocalypse Thriller, page 1
Contents
Title page
Copyright
Disclaimer
Phil Maxey Books
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Thank you
DEADLOCK
Infernal Contagion Book 5
by
Phil Maxey
Copyright © 2024 by Philip Maxey
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The Work of Phil Maxey, aka Philip Maxey, may not be used or accessed in any manner which could help the learning/training of artificial intelligence technologies.
First Printing, 2024.
https://www.philmaxeyauthor.com/
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental.
OTHER BOOKS BY PHIL MAXEY
Cascade Universe (In order)
Cascade Prequel Book 1: Encounter
Cascade Prequel Book 2: Extinction
Cascade Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 8
Earth Clash Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 4
Cascaders Book 1 (on going series)
Other Series
The Scourge Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 6
Extinction Gene Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 6
The Glitch Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 4
Blood and Power Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 5
Infernal Contagion Book 1: Deadfall
Infernal Contagion Book 2: Deadweight
Infernal Contagion Book 3: Deadrise
Infernal Contagion Book 4: Deadlier (on going series)
CHAPTER ONE
Location: Firth of Clyde, heading west.
Day Seven.
12: 03 a.m.
The deck heaved, the fibreglass hull momentarily levitating, being held aloft by another huge wave before gravity took hold and it crashed back down, the force threatening to rip Joe’s hand from the wheel he was holding.
We will make it… we will make it…
An ice cold sheet of water crashed into him as the boat’s engine strained to push the vessel onwards against the storm that wanted to consume those trying to survive. His fingers being next to useless due to numbness, he hugged the steering wheel, desperately hoping the compass in the console was correct, that beyond the all consuming void there was land, not an endless expanse.
Somewhere within the white noise of the swirl, people could be heard retching, or was it screaming?
The deck suddenly tilted to the port side. An extreme, violent movement that he tried to correct with swinging the wheel in the opposite direction, but it had no effect and the boat continued on its skewed trajectory.
He strained to focus against the spray. Was that the impression of a cliff? Had they hit some—
Before he could take evasive action, the hull of a much larger vessel loomed out of the darkness, the bow of Joe’s boat smashing against it with a distinct crunch as he scrambled to steer to the port while pulling back on the throttle of the engine. A wall of rusting, barnacled steel slid by, rising and lowering, as the yacht scrapped along it.
Lauren appeared from the cabin below, holding onto the rail to stay upright. “We’re taking on—” Another sudden impact caused her to lose her footing, falling backwards as the boat slammed into the stern of a similar sailboat, then sliding down the side of it, immediately ramming another, all of their masts rocking from the gale force winds.
Lauren appeared again. “What is this!” she shouted, successfully scrambling up the remaining steps as a wave once again blanketed her and the deck.
“I don’t know! They’re everywhere!”
“This has to be the island!”
Through eyes that stung from salt, Joe tried to see the buttons on the console but gave up and flicked a bank of them upwards, causing light to spew from all around the hull.
A forest of masts receding into the darkness were in most directions he swung his attention to. “What the…”
Lauren threw a hand ahead of them. “We have to get to the shore!” she shouted through the constant barrage of icy salt water.
As the hull crashed against others, Joe grabbed one of the handrails and climbed above the cockpit cabin as it pitched and yawned, then lunged and grabbed hold of the mast. Lights twinkled in the distance. He wiped the water from his face to better see then looked back to the colonel. “I think there’s something out there!”
Baldwin appeared from the cabin below, a trickle of blood on her forehead. She staggered onto the deck as it jumped then dropped again in tune with the rolling waves, and looked bewildered at their new surroundings. She looked up at Joe then spotted what he was looking at. “We have to get closer!” she shouted.
Somewhere within the sound of the waves was another noise, another engine and a cone of light swung in their direction, momentarily blinding those on deck.
“Someone’s coming!” shouted Joe, his words being taken by a gust of wind, laced with hailstone.
Lauren looked at the console and the radio, then fighting the angle of the deck moved closer, picking up the handset. “Hello?” she shouted into it, then bent over to place her ear near the speaker.
The other outboard engine grew louder, and forms could be seen within the glow of torchlight.
Joe looked back to Lauren who was nodding then talking into the handset again. She stood, pointing towards the oncoming lights. “They’re coming to—” A wave crashed onto the deck, knocking her sideways against the handrail, where she teetered, her upper half threatening to pull the rest of her into the waves crashing nearby. Baldwin lunged but it was Joe that grabbed Lauren’s forearm first, pulling her back to the deck as a man’s voice with a Scottish accent, emerged with the crackling from the speaker on the console.
“Drop… your anchor and tie… your boat to the boat… in… front! Over.”
Baldwin jumped up to the roof of the cabin. “I’m on it!”
As she staggered from mast to handrail, trying to stay upright and get to the bow, Joe threw the switch for the motorised anchor, which began lowering.
Mathew appeared on the steps, his eyes wide with fright, his complexion that of one of the undead. “What’s happening?” he shouted at Joe.
Joe pointed in the direction of the bow. “I think we’re at the shore! But we have to—” A particularly high wave raised the deck then slammed it back down but it was Mathew that first saw what was about to happen. Before he could issue a warning to help those on deck, another yacht smashed into the stern, snapping and crumpling that section, the wave then dragging that vessel away, taking part of the stern with it which tilted backwards, water rushing onto the deck.
Joe’s legs trailed into the sea, the water wanting to take him away, but he clawed his way up the smooth drenched surface, picking up the handset that had fallen from its clasp. “Mayday! Mayday! We’re sinking!” No words came from the speaker which appeared to no longer function. He flicked his attention to Lauren, pointing at the steps. “Get everyone up here! We have to get off this boat!”
“And… go… where?!”
The distant lights had multiplied, perhaps on a beach, perhaps closer but between them and himself, there was a mass of bobbing masts and hulls of various sizes being angrily tossed around by the storm.
Having finished tying the bow to the stern of the boat in front, Baldwin fought the constant deluge and moved closer.
Joe pointed past her. “We climb to the other boat! It’s close enough!”
She nodded but Lauren’s expression became one of fear, shaking her head at the seemingly impossible task.
Joe held her arm. “We got no choice!”
She nodded just before the next wave hit and the yacht jolted lower into the surf, everyone on deck grabbing what they could to stop from sliding into the rolling abyss.
Mathew re
“Get up top!” shouted Joe, clinging to the handrail on the console to stay upright. “Get to the bow!”
As Lauren helped them climb up to the roof of the cockpit, Joe descended into the cabin, looking at the shivering individuals with water spilling around their ankles and beckoned Liz towards him. “Quickly! We have to climb across the other boats to get to the shore!”
With Tia’s help and support she stood, hobbling forward while the others climbed the stairs, which were now almost horizontal, waves lashing at them from the jagged hole where the stern used to be.
Mathew lifted Owen and Hope onto the roof then helped Mavis. Lauren helping from there, while Clara let Liz and Tia go next, helping them up, with Joe, both of them then jumping up and staggering forward to join the group gathered at the bow.
The stern of the yacht in front rose and fell, the bow of their boat straining against the rope tying them together.
Baldwin looked back to everyone. “I’ll go first!” Leaning forward, she grabbed the handrail of the other boat, stepped over the bow, then waiting for the other stern to dip, jumped onto the new deck, immediately gaining her balance and turning back to the others, offering both hands. “Give me, Hope!” she shouted against the wind.
Lauren and Joe lifted the girl up, waited for the other boat to be lower then hoisted the child across into Baldin’s arms, where she lowered her and turned back for the others. Tia was next, not wanting to move too far from her mother.
With Joe’s help, Liz sat on the handrail, then tossed her cane to the other deck. The bow suddenly climbed, the deck behind them sinking into the surging waves.
Joe climbed up on the handrail next to his wife, then placed his boot on the stern of the other boat, holding his hands out. “I got you!”
Liz took one of his hands, trying not to look down into the oily undulating depths, then reached for Baldwin, who took a firm grip and pulled her—
The bow shuddered making Liz’s single boot slip from it and for a moment she was falling before both Joe and Baldwin grabbed an arm each, and hoisting her to the other handrail and then onto the other deck.
Joe immediately turned to the others, looking between their windswept faces. “Mavis!” With Clara’s help, he lifted the older woman who hardly weighed as much as his daughter, from the bow and into Baldwin’s embrace where she was lowered to the deck to be with Liz.
A wave momentarily enveloped those that were left, the boat now almost completely submerged, with only a small section of the bow left above the waves.
Joe beckoned Ember and Martin forward, the former handing her bag to Baldwin who handed it to Liz who was seated, then Ember and Martin quickly followed, jumping onto the other deck.
“Owen!” shouted Joe. The young man stepped onto the edge then jumped, joining the others and Joe looked back to—
The bow dropped, snapping the rope, plunging into the waters and taking Joe, Clara and Mathew with it.
CHAPTER TWO
DONALD
Donald Cunningham was sure the skiff would either be swallowed by the towering waves, or smashed by the wall of hulls he was trying to navigate between. The storm had come out of nowhere, an unusual freak weather occurrence for June, but he was damned if he was going to lose the newcomers to it. Young Tom had told him there was a small yacht approaching the coast. How he spotted it within the doister he did not know, but then he had eyes that were fifty years younger than his, so maybe that was how he saw it.
The people had jumped to the boat in front. Clever, but now they were screaming for him to bring his small boat closer. He turned to Tom, his twenty-two-year-old apprentice lightkeeper. “I think some of them fell in!” he shouted.
The young man beneath the dark-grey rain mac, nodded, throwing the buoy into the swirl near the bow of the other boat which was visible beneath the turbulent surface, from the glow of its still functioning lights.
A man burst from the waves, looking around him, treading water, looking for others.
“Here!” shouted the seventy-two-year-old chief lightkeeper, his words being blunted by the winds. Whether the man did not hear or ignored his request he did not know but he dived back into the surging waves, as a hand grabbed the side of the rubber boat, Tom bringing the woman aboard as others screamed to be allowed to do the same from the yacht nearby.
The outboard motor at the back roared as Donald kept his hand on the tiller, using all of this experience to power into the waves, which in-turn enabled him to keep the boat stationary.
The woman lifted her sodden arms and head. “You have to help them!” she shouted, pointing at the yacht.
“That’s what I’m doing!” shouted Donald. He nudged the tiller a little, the port side of the rubber hull hitting up against the larger vessel. Tom stood, as a young child with jet black hair was lowered to him then placed on the one of the three benches. Another child, an older girl, stood on the outside of the handrail, not wanting to let go.
“It’s okay!” shouted Tom, trying to keep his balance as the spray battered him. “I’ll catch you!”
Before the girl could respond, Donald spotted out of the corner of his eye, the same man from before, now with another, a larger, younger man, both men clinging onto the buoy. Donald gestured to the woman, pointing past her. “Pull the buoy back in!”
She reacted immediately, tugging on the rope, fighting the pull of the ocean, helping the two exhausted individuals to the bow, where the older helped the other onboard, then with the woman’s help, climbed up himself where rather than catching his breath, he stood, and moved to the port side, holding his hands up to the girl balancing on the edge of the yacht.
“Jump!” shouted the man.
The girl did, the man catching her, making her sit then whipped around towards another child, a boy, who did not need any prompting, jumping into the man’s arms. The boy was placed next to the stout man who had pulled a pair of glasses from somewhere within his drenched belongings.
“We can only take another two adults!” shouted Donald at the man, who appeared to be in charge of the group.
The man nodded then turned back to a young woman with a large bag around her neck, hanging across her chest, and within the howls of the wind, Donald was sure he could hear another kind of howl or maybe it was a shrill crying.
The young woman stepped off the yacht, falling and missing the edge of the skiff as a wave took the small boat further away. As she plunged into the sea, both the man and the woman lunged, grabbing the bag and her, stopping her from sinking any further, and pulled her onboard.
“One more!” shouted the lighthouse keeper to his younger helper, who nodded in response then held up a hand to those crowding to leave their refuge.
An elderly lady hovered on the edge of the bow, not wanting to leave. Donald wondered how such a group had managed to survive. Most that he had helped to the small isle, were young and fit, but from what he could make out through the ice cold flecks of rain that were constantly clouding his vision, this group was anything but. He steered the boat closer. “Now!”
The frail looking woman appeared to hear the request and stepped off the bow, falling and almost immediately being caught by the man and Tom in unison. Before the woman had found her seat, Donald turned the tiller, pivoting the small boat. “We’ll be back!” he shouted at the others.
CHAPTER THREE
JOE
Joe carried his wife, leading the group of nine with the children, some of whom were also being carried, up the rocky path, leaving behind the roaring symphony of wooden and steel hulls crunching and clashing within the tumultuous waves, following the two men, one much older than the other.
Both were in rain macs, holding lanterns. The oldest of the two was called Donald, a ruddy faced man that looked as if he was born on this craggy small island, while his apprentice, Tom, looked like a younger version of his senior. Both men had undoubtably saved his and everyone else’s lives.
The lighthouse loomed above them as they rose higher, a dark tower against the constantly moving clouds. Joe had already asked Donald, why the lighthouse was dark, and the response made complete sense. They had no more fuel for the generator. It being needed on the main island. The one with the camps.
