Free Here We Stand (Book 1): Infected (Surviving The Evacuation) by Frank Tayell Page A

came here this afternoon. Said no more boats could leave. Freddie didn’t listen. Joan got sick, you see. Attacked by someone. Freddie couldn’t get an ambulance. The roads… He thought it would be easier to go across to New Jersey. They sunk the boat.”
    “And the other boats?” Tom asked. “There were dozens of craft here a couple of weeks ago.”
    “Most left this morning. The rest tried to leave after dark. They were all sunk. I said they shouldn’t. I said they should listen to the Navy. People don’t listen.”
    The searchlights played across the burning wreckage as if highlighting the good sense of her words. They went out. Now he knew where to look, Tom thought he could make out the silhouette of a warship. It was too dark, with too much light coming from the shore, to identify what kind.
    “Who were those four people? They knew you.”
    “I worked with them. I didn’t like them much. Especially Chloe, but…” She trailed off into something halfway between a sob and a sigh. “I’m Helena Diomedes,” she said, holding out a hand.
    “Tom Clemens,” Tom said. Only after the words were said did he remember he should have used one of his other aliases.
    “You didn’t shoot them,” Helena said, gesturing at the gun in Tom’s hand.
    “I wanted the boat. I didn’t want to murder for it.”
    “And now they’re dead.”
    There was another scream in the distance.
    “Where do you live?” Tom asked.
    “On the boat,” Helena said.
    “Ah. Do you have friends near here? Someone you can stay with?”
    “What? Oh, yes. Tammy, I suppose. She’s not far. Just a couple of blocks.”
    Had he taken the boat, he wouldn’t have turned back when ordered, and so would now be dead. In a small and accidental way, this woman had saved his life. Escorting her a few blocks seemed the least he could do. “I’ll walk you,” Tom said.
    She looked skeptically at him. Her gaze dropped to the revolver, and skepticism changed to outright suspicion. There was a third, louder scream.
    “Okay,” she said, with evident reluctance. “It’s over there.” She waved a hand to the north. “What about you, where do you live?”
    “Harlem. But I was trying to get back to my family.”
    “Oh. Right. That’s why you wanted the boat?”
    “The bridges and tunnels were blocked. I thought a boat might get me further, quicker.”
    “Do you think they’ll stop it?”
    “Stop what?” he asked.
    “The virus. That’s why they’re not allowing boats off. They said there was a quarantine, to stop the virus from getting out of Manhattan.”
    “You don’t know? It’s already beyond the island,” he said. “It’s spreading throughout the country.”
     

 
    Chapter 6 - The Bridge
    Manhattan, New York
     
    The naval blockade and the police withdrawal had kicked Tom’s paranoia into overdrive. He wanted to check the tablet, dreading that he’d have his worst fears confirmed, but knowing that was better than traveling in ignorance. Yet he couldn’t, not while Helena was with him. He made a few attempts at conversation, but they were cut short by the sound of distant gunfire.
    “That’s it,” Helena said as they turned a corner, pointing at an apartment building. “So, um, thanks, I guess. I’ll—”
    “Wait,” Tom hissed. Outside the apartment door were a group of figures. Three? No, four. Their arms moved up, down, raising and falling, as if they were knocking at the closed door. He pulled Helena back into the shadows.
    “What is it?” she asked.
    “Didn’t you see?”
    “I think that’s Mrs Kenton,” Helena said, taking a step forward. “She must have forgotten her key.”
    “It’s not her,” Tom said. “Not anymore.”
    “What? You mean…” She trailed off.
    “Is that the building?” he asked.
    “Mrs Kenton has the apartment below Tammy,” Helena said.
    The figure at the back of the small group jerked around. It moved as if its limbs were on wires being pulled by an unseen hand. Arm and then