Read Online Bay of the Dead by Mark Morris - Free Book Online Page A

free-standing flatscreen a few metres away. This map, etched in ice-blue light, was speckled with random clusters of ant-like blips. Even as Ianto watched, more blips appeared, seemingly from nowhere.
'Zombies,' Jack said. Ianto winced. 'As you can see, they're just. . . popping into existence all over.'
'They're coming through the Rift, you mean?'
'You'd think so , wouldn't you?' Jack shook his head. 'But here's the weird thing. There are no signs of recent Rift activity.'
Ianto stared at him. 'But that's impossible.'
'All the same. . .' Jack shrugged, waving a hand at the screen, as if to say: Here's the evidence. Deal with it.
Ianto crossed back to the computer readouts, stared at them, matching one to the other, trying to make sense of what they were telling him. Finally he said, 'But according to these readings, each of the visitors does possess a residual trace of Rift energy. It's almost as if. . .'
He tailed off, seeking an explanation. Jack nodded, picking up his train of thought. 'As if the zombies haven't actually come through the Rift, and yet are still linked to it in some way.'
Ianto looked bewildered. 'But that doesn't make sense. Does it?'
'Maybe not,' Jack said, and grinned suddenly. 'But when all's said and done, what the hell does make sense in this crazy universe of ours?'
Ianto looked thoughtful, and then sighed. 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'
'Reckon I am,' Jack said, adopting a good-ole-boy accent. 'Let's you and me head on out into them there badlands and go bag us a cotton-pickin' zombie.'
'Remember what Rianne told you,' Trys said. 'Breathe through the pain.'
Sarah Thomas scowled at her husband. She was slumped in the passenger seat of their Passat, hands gently stroking her swollen belly. The contractions were more frequent now, and more acute.
'I am breathing through the pain,' she said through gritted teeth. 'You just concentrate on driving.'
She was being snappy, but Trys could hardly blame her. He said nothing, fixing his eyes back on the road. He was driving steadily now, after a panicky start. Soon after they had set off, Sarah had put a hand on his arm and said, 'Calm down, Trys. It's more important to get us there in one piece than it is to break the land-speed record.'
'Sorry,' he had replied. 'I'm not handling this very well, am I?'
'You're doing fine,' she'd told him, as if he was the one about to give birth. 'There's no one else I'd rather be with tonight.'
One thing Trys was thankful for was that at this hour the suburban roads leading to the hospital were blessedly quiet. Aside from a couple of drunks they had seen lurching along the pavement, there was no one about.
'We'll be there soon,' he told her. 'How you doing, love?'
'Doing fine,' she said, and then her weary smile turned into a look of alarm. 'Trys, watch out!'
Trys had only glanced away from the road for a split second. Now he turned back, and was astonished to see that he was bearing down on a quartet of figures crouched in the path of his headlights. Fortunately the figures were still far enough away that he had plenty of time to react. He eased his foot gently down on the brake and gave a warning bip of his horn. He expected the figures to look up, perhaps acknowledge him with a wave and move aside, but they remained where they were, as if oblivious to the car's presence. As the Passat got closer to them, slowing all the while, Trys realised that the figures were crouching over something, that a dark shape was lying in the road at their feet.
'Looks as though someone's hurt,' he said, slowing to a stop.
Even now, in the glare of the headlights, the figures did not respond. Sarah shifted in the passenger seat, one hand spread protectively over her belly.
'More likely drunk,' she said. 'Or maybe this lot have mugged the guy in the road and they're going through his pockets.'
'Always so cynical,' Trys said with a wry smile.
'No, just realistic,' replied Sarah bluntly. 'Not everyone's as nice as you, you know,