Deck Z - The Titanic by Chris Pauls

Author:Chris Pauls
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781452119144
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

23

DECK Z, ELECTRICAL STORAGE ROOM.

SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 1912. 8:04 A.M.

Joe Clench led the able seamen past the first watertight door down the narrow hallway to the storage room, pistol drawn and grumbling all the way. “You ask me, Captain Smith has this all wrong. If there’s more o’ those things to fight, we should be the ones doin’ the fightin’. Who’s going to fend off the next one of those zombie-monsters, the git with the slide rule?”

“Torch tanks are heavy, Clench—don’t expect the little fella could handle one,” sneered Holman.

McGough and Terrell sniggered, but truth be told they preferred retrieving welding torches to another battle with monsters. If Mr. Andrews or Mr. Weiss wanted a go, they could have it. All was calm as the able seamen made their way. Even so, Seaman Holman, as last in line, warily surveyed the hall behind them, his White Star gun at the ready.

Clench wiped his brow with the sleeve of his blue denim shirt. His wool flannel underthings were just right for work on the boat deck, but they were a damned nuisance below; he was too hot by half. He reached the door to the storage room and tucked his pistol into the back of his pants. “Time to haul, boys,” he grunted as he pushed open the door.

There must have been a dozen of them inside the large storage room, feeding on an unfortunate porter who’d come down for a replacement light switch. The creatures were formerly engineers from the looks of their black jackets and white trousers, now discolored from the chaos raging in their bodies. Sickly moans caromed off the corridor walls as the zombies brutally assaulted the seamen. Five of the fiends were atop Joe Clench before the door was fully open. He drove two ghouls against the doorframe, audibly cracking their bones, but he had no way to stop more jaws from latching onto his shoulder, arm, and neck. Though Clench thrashed mightily, within seconds he was overwhelmed.

As more zombies emerged from the room, Terrell and McGough aimed their weapons into the zombies’ decaying midsections, completely forgetting Weiss’s instructions. By chance, two zombies were struck in the head and destroyed, but they were simply trampled over by others in stained white sailor’s caps cocked at crazy angles. Terrell was savagely mauled, as three zombies shoved at one another for the chance to tear into his flesh and brain. McGough emptied his gun into a single assailant, a former junior assistant engineer still wearing wire-rim spectacles and not more than twenty years old. The last shot took the thing’s ear off, but the junior engineer overpowered McGough to return the favor and more.

Holman was last in line and escaped the initial crushing flail. When a zombie sent Holman’s pistol sailing, the seaman had but one thought—run like hell.

He ran for his life, arms pumping side to side, into the potential safety of the room that housed the top portion of the ship’s reciprocating engines. Holman’s labored breathing

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