Free For Those In Peril (Book 1): For Those In Peril On The Sea by Colin M. Drysdale Page B

in my throat. I’d just beaten a man to death. I knew I’d had no choice, but I never thought I’d have been capable of being so brutal. Then again I’d never imagined I’d find myself having to fight for my life against a person infected with some mutant virus that made them want to kill me. I looked at the man’s body. His hair glistened with the blood seeping from his shattered skull. I could see fragments of bone sticking out in several places and there were grey flecks that I presumed were parts of his brain. A moment later, I was on all fours, retching uncontrollably.
    ‘Are you okay?’ My head was finally starting to clear and I could tell it was CJ who’d asked the last question. My stomach muscles gradually stopped contracting and I was left kneeling there, breathing deeply and noisily. I wiped away the last of the vomit from my mouth and I glanced down at my blood-spattered clothes. I thought about how I must look to the others and was about to tell CJ I was okay when I heard someone else speak.
    ‘Move!’ The voice was deadly serious. ‘Did he get bitten? If he did, he’ll be infected. He’ll become one of them. We need to kill him now before that happens.’
    I stared over my crewmates’ shoulders and saw Mike standing there with the rifle aimed straight at me. His voice was cold, his hands unshaking.
    I realised what he was thinking and struggled to get to my feet. ‘I’m fine. He never even got close to me. I bashed his head in, that’s where all the blood came from.’ I could see Mike didn’t believe me and his finger started to tighten on the trigger. I tried again, ‘I’m okay, honest ...’
    Mike fired just as CJ tackled him. A few inches from my head, the fibreglass of the transom exploded as the bullet struck home. CJ wrestled with Mike and the gun slipped from his hands. Jimmy started forward as if to grab it but Bill got there first, scooping it up and holding it out of Jimmy’s reach. By then CJ had Mike pinned to the deck and he stopped struggling. 
    I looked across at her. ‘Thanks.’
    ‘You didn’t get bitten, did you?’ CJ eyes flicked over my body as she spoke, looking for any injuries. She was concerned she might have done the wrong thing.
    ‘No, I’m fine, or at least I will be in a few minutes.’ I tried to clear my throat but it felt too raw. ‘Could you get me some water?’
    CJ let Mike up and went inside, reappearing a few seconds later with a glass. I rinsed out my mouth and spat over the side. Next, I drank some down, trying to settle my suddenly empty stomach.
    ‘Where did it come from?’ This time it was Bill who was speaking.
    ‘There were two of them in a life raft. It floated against the side of the boat and when they realised we were here, they attacked.’ I could feel myself babbling as I explained what happened. ‘I got one of them with the flare gun before he got on board, but the other one moved too fast. I can’t believe how fast he moved.’
    ‘How’d they get into a life raft?’ CJ’s question gave us all pause for thought. We would never know with any certainty, but the implication that there may be infected drifting around out there sank in as Bill and I carefully threw the man’s body over the side and then hosed down the cockpit. Once this was done, I stripped off my blood-soaked clothes and pitched them into the sea.
    During all of this, Mike and Jimmy held back, not wanting to get too close. They’d heard people talking on the radio, saying the infection was spread through bodily fluids, blood, saliva getting into a wound or a cut, even a tiny nick; anything that would let it through your skin. The most common way of infection was being bitten by someone with the disease, but if you had a cut already, even a spot of blood on it could be enough.
    As we went back inside, Jon spoke, sounding deflated. ‘We’re not as safe out here as we thought we were, are we, Bill?’
    ‘No, we’re not.’ Bill had a solemn look on his face.