This Plague of Days, Season Two (The Zombie Apocalypse Serial) Read Free

seen along the Thames. And for all that was lost? They could not miss what they had never known.
    But maybe that was just something people said. It sounded wise until he considered that his baby was alive in Ava’s womb. He ached for the child and the waiting world.
    Sinjin-Smythe left Aadi with his daughters and climbed above deck. He couldn’t bear to look at the sleeping father with his children anymore.
    Dr. Neil McInerney stood at the wheel of the Shepherd of Myddvai . Since his wife had been taken by the infected, the dentist rarely left his post. He refused to look at Aadi. McInerney watched the sea, the compass and the sails.
    Dayo stood at McInerney’s side. She turned to greet Sinjin-Smythe. “That’s the southern coast of Ireland off to the right!” Despite the cold wind and the ugly circumstances of their escape from London, Dayo’s smile was broad.  
    McInerney grunted. “Starboard. Right is starboard. Left is port.”
    Dayo rolled her eyes but said, “Yes, Captain.”
    Sinjin-Smythe pulled up the collar on the jacket he’d borrowed and stepped close to McInerney. “How much longer?”
    “Another few hours to Cork. We can load up on supplies there.”
    “Cork’s too big. Big is dangerous.”
    “Why?”
    “Big means…more contagion, more infected people coming at us.”
    “So what’s my course?”
    Sinjin-Smythe peered over McInerney’s shoulder at the little map pinned under glass by the wheel. He tapped the glass. “There! Make for Dungarvan.”
    “Why there?”
    “Its bay is too shallow for big ships. Shiva couldn’t have put any of the infected ashore there, I don’t think.”
    “How do you know?” Dayo asked. “Are you some sort of genius about everything?”
    Sinjin-Smythe gave a bitter laugh. “Not at all. About some things I’m terribly stupid, but Dungarvan is a beach resort. I went on vacation there with the woman who was to be my wife. She asked me to move in with her on the beach at midnight. I was stupid enough to agree.”
    “Where is she now?”
    “I understand she’s leading an army. She’s on a ship somewhere out there, beyond the barricade. She said we’d meet again.”
    McInerney huffed. “And you believed her?”
    “I know her…or at least I thought I knew her. But knowing what I do now? It makes sense. I should have known it on the beach in Dungarvan. She didn’t really ask. She told me I was moving in with her.” He shrugged. “It would take a different kind of man to say no to Ava. She didn’t hear the word ‘no’ a lot from anyone.”
    Dayo patted him on the shoulder and went below to the warmth of the cramped cabin.
    “Dr. Sinjin-Smythe,” McInerney said. “I have questions.”
    “I thought you might.”
    “Why did you call me for this? You barely know me and I don’t even remember working on you.”
    “Two cavities last autumn. You told your assistant to demonstrate proper flossing technique for me. As if I didn’t know how to floss.”
    “Doesn’t ring a ding,” McInerney said. “I told people that several times an hour.”
    Sinjin-Smythe gave a lopsided grin. “You looked at me as if I was the only person on Earth who had missed the memo about the wisdom of flossing.”
    McInerney tore his gaze from the horizon and stared, his heavy gray eyebrows knit over eyes burning with anger. “I asked why me? Why us? My wife and I were safe in our flat. If you hadn’t — ”
    “You had a boat. That’s all. I didn’t know anyone else with a boat. I remembered the picture of your boat on the office wall when you did my fillings.”
    McInerney cursed. “How long have you known about those zombie things?”
    “Not long.”
    “Long enough to warn everyone? You’re a virologist. How many people could you have saved if you’d run to the BBC instead of breaking into my office and calling me and my wife out of our warm bed? Calling us out from behind locked doors!”
    It was Sinjin-Smythe’s turn to search the horizon. He found no answers