kept
clawing at the door.
"Can Joan work the latch?" Malik asked, glancing at the door.
"I don't think so." I turned back to Mitch. "There has to be a way.
Amputation? Fire?
You can't just give up."
Teeth clenched, he finished tying off the bite. The linens were stained red,
but
the bleeding seemed to have stopped.
231
"I ain't giving up," he said. "Just making better use of my time. Don't know
how
long I got, so let's not mess around. Get the guns out. All of them."
Malik stopped crying completely. "The grenades, too?"
"Yeah, Malik." Mitch grinned, despite the pain. "The grenades, too."
I lifted up his mattress and pulled out the rifle and the shotgun. Then I
grabbed
the ammunition and grenades. Mitch propped himself up against the wall and
nodded.
"You'll have to load them. And Tasha, you're gonna have to carry a rifle this
time.
I can fire the pistol, even with this bum arm. But there's no way I'll be able
to
handle a rifle."
"I can do it," Tasha said, "if you teach me how."
"Won't be much time," Mitch said. "But I'll try."
"Maybe you shouldn't have a gun at all," I suggested. "I mean, no offense,
Mitch,
but you said it yourself. We're on borrowed time here."
"Yeah, but I ain't dead yet. What--you think I'm going to turn on you guys? I'
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ve got to die before I become a zombie, Lamar. So I might as well take out as
many
of these damn things as I can before that happens. Who knows how many are
loose on
the ship."
"How did they get onboard?" I asked, echoing the kids.
"Well, let's think about it for a moment. However it happened, they got to
Joan first.
By the looks of her, she hasn't been dead long. We saw her at dinner, right?"
232
The three of us nodded.
"Okay," Mitch said. "Then it happened between the time she left the galley and
now."
"Was there anybody else in the passageway?"
"I don't think so." Mitch shrugged, clenching his teeth as more pain shot
through
him. "I really... didn't get a chance to see. She attacked me... right away.
She
must have been coming down the corridor."
I frowned. "Do you remember which direction she came from?"
Mitch paused, thinking about it. "Forward."
"Her compartment is aft. So she wouldn't have been coming from there. After
dinner,
Joan and Alicia were going to check in on the professor and Basil "
My voice trailed off. The realization jolted me. My stomach lurched and my
head swam.
I thought I might pass out, so I sat down on the floor.
"Lamar," Tasha cried out. "What's wrong?"
"The professor and Basil. Both of their berthing areas are in the forward
section.
Joan was coming from their compartments."
"Maybe," Mitch said. "But that still doesn't explain--"
"The fish." I slammed my palm down on the floor. "The tuna--the one that
swallowed
the hook. Don'
t you see? It kept thrashing around even after it had been out of the water
for so
long. It was wounded. Bleeding! And the professor had an open wound on his
hand.
His hand was covered with
the fish's blood."
233
Malik frowned. "What are you talking about?"
I jumped up. "Remember when the dead first started coming back to life? There
were
cross-species jumps. Well, that's happened again. Hamelin's Revenge has spread
to
the fish. It'
s in the fucking ocean now. The tuna was already dead. We just didn
'
t realize it. Remember that sore on its tail? We thought it was some kind of
fungus
or parasite, but you were right. You said it was a bite, Mitch. We should have
listened
to you. We should have paid attention, especially after all we
've seen. Horses were supposed to be immune, but the other day, the chief said
he'd
seen a zombie horse. It can jump species.
We should have fucking thought.?'
"Lamar." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Get a ... grip on yourself, man.
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You're
hysterical, and that's not... going to help us ... right now."
"Lamar," Tasha pleaded. "You're scaring Malik. Please help."
"Sorry." I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, guys. It's just not fair."
"No," Mitch said. "It's not. But it happened anyway, and we can't... change
that.
Right now, we need to stop it before anyone else gets... killed. Please,
Lamar--while
I can still think and move?"
"Okay." I forced myself to calm down.
Mitch smiled. "You keep ... asking everyone why we fight to survive when ...
it all
seems so hopeless. Why we continue to go on? This is why. Because you're a
hero ...
and that'
s what heroes do. They rise to the ... occasion."
234
I nodded, unable to speak around the lump in my throat.
"What are we gonna do now?" Malik asked, running his fingers over the
grenades.
Mitch struggled to sit up farther. "Well, the first thing is that... you're
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