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.One thing the jerk hadn’t realized on was how we were going to start the bastard.Expensive, high end boats were pretty much like top of the range motor vehicles, with keys and alarm systems that no “Joe Street Ass” could just jump in the thing and drive it away.I sighed and folded my arms across my chest, giving Julia and Rosenberg a knowing glance as Soames bashed around with the controls, fruitlessly trying to spark the boat into life.Smith or Eazy probably could have flashed up the engine in less than five minutes with some manual hot wiring but none of us here on the jetty had any experience in criminal activity and for the first time since we’d split, I realized that fact made our party of leftovers extremely vulnerable.None of us knew how to operate machinery or start vehicles by bypassing keys and alarm systems.None of us, with the exception of Soames, who didn’t seem to have a clue what he was doing otherwise, could effectively fire or operate a gun of any kind.Standing on that jetty, in the warm sun, I knew we’d made a critical mistake.Splitting from the others was a huge, gaping mother of all errors.All sound ceased as I watched Soames thrash around the interior of the boat, cussing, looking for the keys under the seats and in cupboards.I knew the keys would be locked in some safe in the marina buildings.I knew what Rosenberg and Julia’s facial expressions were without looking at them.I knew without hearing, the hordes of zombies were rattling at those marina gates.The sea breeze blew the back of my shirt up slightly and sent a shiver up my spine.What I didn’t know was how the fuck we were going to get out of here.Chapter Fifty-FourSmith switched on his flashlight when the daylight faded a few yards into the Holland Tunnel.No power lit the overhead lights to illuminate the way.He slowed to a steady walk still trying to ignore the pain in his side.Batfish and Eazy followed suit and slowed the pace either side of him.Smith delved his hand into his side pocket and felt for a few more of the painkilling tablets he’d rifled from Rosenberg’s bag before they left the RV.He didn’t know how many he had in his hand but shoveled them in his mouth anyway.Smith didn’t like the fact his party had lost all the medical help they had acquired in Soames and Rosenberg, but he had to go this route through the tunnel.He knew his loyalty would be rewarded on the other side.Batfish stifled a cough.She was more scared than she’d ever been in this dark tunnel under the river that stank of carbon exhaust fumes, blood and sweat and desperation.She wanted a cigarette to calm her nerves more than anything.Her hand shook as she reached for the pack in her top pocket.She silently handed a smoke to Eazy and Smith on either side of her.Ever since Donna died she’d been a complete wreck on the inside, simply going through the motions and thankful she could be of some use as the driver.She would have stuck with Eazy and Smith no matter what they decided to do.She felt safer with them.Julia didn’t mean much to her and she hated that bastard Soames with a passion.Brett Wilde was a cute guy and in another time or place, she probably would have made a move on him.Rosenberg was sweet but he wasn’t going to last this crisis much longer and had “victim” or “future zombie” written all over him.If they could get through this last mile and a half of tunnel, they’d be okay.Batfish had always pretended to be the tough girl growing up at High School.She looked up at the tunnel roof and thought of all the millions of gallons of water over her head.How dangerous was it to be under all that water? Her thoughts drifted back to her childhood, of her father and she wondered whatever happened to him.He served in submarines in the Navy and she only had slight recollections of him before he split with her mother when she was little.Plain old Suzy Collins had acquired the name “Batfish” after the US Navy cap she wore throughout her adolescence, one of the relics left around the house in Brynston after her father had long since gone.Her mother never much spoke about Jim Collins, her father and referred to him as the “Evil, Irish drunken sailor, who deserved all he got at the bottom of the sea.” Batfish never knew if she meant he was dead or just a submariner.Either way, Batfish always liked her nick name.Eazy was a friend but Smith was something else.He was dangerous and smoking hot.Batfish got turned on slightly when Smith was near her.She didn’t like him at first when he’d disrespected her VW camper van way back in Brynston but when he’d stuck up for her in the compound at the airport, she’d melted for him then.She tried not to think about his muscled, scarred, naked tattooed body in that room when they all had to strip off.This wasn’t the time or the place for horny fixations.Maybe after this was all over, she and Smith would possibly have one night of lust together.Smith flashed the beam over the stationery cars as they plodded slowly on.The light was eerie shining through the windows of abandoned cars and trucks, some with the doors flung open where the previous occupants had simply fled and raced in either direction down the tunnel.New York Yellow Cabs, trucks, station wagons, 4x4s, sports cars, regular family sedans and shiny new, top of the range cars solidly blocked the two-lane underground road as far as Smith’s torch beam shone.Some vehicles were empty and some had half eaten mangled bodies inside.“Why were these people trying to get into the city?” Eazy whispered.“Surely you’d want to get out of heavily populated areas?”Smith sucked on his smoke and shone the flashlight around the tunnel.“Maybe they thought it was safety in numbers, like they were going to the city for protection, lots of cops lots of places to stay.Or maybe they figured Manhattan is an island and somehow the military would cut them off from what was happening.”“Whatever they figured, it was too damn late,” Eazy sighed.“Shh! What was that?” Batfish hissed.The three of them stopped walking and listened.Smith and Eazy drew their pistols.Spot whimpered in Batfish’s backpack.They stood still in silence
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