lighting up the horizon. Several of the fungal zombies were incinerated on the spot. Others fled, burning as they ran.
The pounding on the door recommenced, but it had taken on a different, more urgent tone.
“Hear that?” Sarah grinned, running to the door. “The fucker is scared!”
“Don’t open it,” Henry said.
“I’m not. I just want to listen.”
Henry looked outside again. The two figures were out of sight, which meant that they were most likely on the stairs. That would certainly explain Earl’s reaction. He glanced toward the horizon. The ship he’d seen earlier, the one he’d thought was a derelict, was still there amidst the other debris, but now he noticed something else. Parked on their shore and tied to the top of a mostly-submerged oak tree was a small rowboat. When he turned back to Sarah, she had her ear to the door.
“Get away from there!”
“I told you what Earl did to my friends and me. Whatever has him spooked, I want to hear him get what’s coming.”
“Mr. Garnett and Mr. Seaton were my friends, too,” Henry reminded her. “As for what’s outside, it’s two fellas. One of them has a flamethrower.”
“The Army?”
“I don’t reckon so. They’re wearing some kind of—”
He was cut off by a scream from right outside the door, followed by the pounding of boots on the metal stairs. Earl shrieked again—a terrible, high-pitched squeal that faded away into a sizzling sound. Sarah backed away from the door. She and Henry exchanged a frightened glance. He put his finger to his lips and motioned for her to come to him.
“We should hide,” he whispered.
“Where?”
Before he could answer, there was another knock at the door. Unlike Earl’s, this knocking was quick and self-assured. Five raps, a pause, and then two more.
“Shave and a hair cut?” Henry frowned.
The melody was repeated, and before Henry could stop her, Sarah—still in the grip of whatever emotional breakdown she’d suffered—ran to the door and flung it open.
“Shit!”
Henry brought the handgun up, pointing it at the two figures as they stormed into the room. Both of the new arrivals had their weapons ready, as well.
“Are either of you infected?” It was the figure with the flamethrower who spoke. A man’s voice, muffled slightly through the welding shield and respirator. “Are there any more of those things here?”
Slowly, Henry shook his head.
“How about you drop that pistol, kid?” This time, the voice belonged to the one with the rifle. Henry was surprised to learn she was female.
“Are you here to kill us?” Sarah asked. Her expression was enraptured.
“No,” the man said. “My name’s Novak. This is Gail. We’re survivors, just like you are.”
CHAPTER 73
“R-rescue…?” Sarah’s voice had a disbelieving, dreamlike tone.
“Sure,” Novak said, “unless you’d rather hang out here. Your call. But you should know we risked our asses coming here like we did, so the very least you could do is let us haul you out of here.”
“Yeah!” Henry nodded, tears running down his face. “Hell, yeah! Take us with you. But how did you get here? How did you—?”
“We’ve got a ship anchored out there. We were able to spy you with our binoculars. These observatory windows don’t give you much privacy. Anyway, we saw that there were two of you, and that you had lots of supplies. We could use them.”
“What if we’d been infected?” Henry asked.
Gail shrugged. “Then we would have killed you the same way we killed those things outside, and then taken the supplies.”
“Fair enough,” Henry muttered. “I reckon I’d do the same.”
“Look,” Novak said, “we don’t have time to stand around talking. I’m sure you two have been through a lot. We have, too. Why don’t we start by lowering that pistol?”
Nodding, Henry lay the weapon on the radio console.
“Good,” Novak said. “Now the two of you strip out of those forest ranger uniforms and let us check you out.”
Sarah made a squawking noise.
“It’s okay,” Gail soothed. “We just need to make sure you aren’t infected with the fungus before we take you back to the ship. We won’t touch you.”
“Come on, Sarah,” Henry said. “It’ll be okay.”
Slowly, he and Sarah stripped. Henry felt his ears turned red as he exposed himself to the two strangers. They stepped forward, had the two of them raise their arms and stand with their legs apart. Then they did a quick but thorough examination. When they were done, Novak stepped back and removed his mask.
“Good. You’re both clear. Go ahead and get dressed. Then you can help us load this stuff into the lifeboat and we’ll get you back to the ship.”
Henry and Sarah got back into their uniforms. Excited, Henry was full of questions, but he decided they could wait. It occurred to him as he buttoned his shirt that perhaps he was trusting the new arrivals a little too quickly. But then he decided that he didn’t care. He had no choice. He could go with them, and hope their intentions were true, or he could stay here and die.
The station shook again. All four of them grabbed on to supports until the trembling stopped. Then Henry and Sarah finished getting dressed.
“Is there anybody else here?” Novak asked.
“Nope,” Henry said. “Just us. There was a little mouse running around, but we haven’t seen it in a few days.”
“Okay. Gail will stand guard in case any more of your friends show up.”
Sarah moaned, and then collapsed. Her head struck the floor with a loud whack. Henry rushed to her side.
“Is she okay?” Gail asked.
“I reckon. Her head’s not bleeding or anything. I think she just passed out.”
“Is she sick?”
“No… at least, not physically. She’s had a rough patch. Couple of weeks ago, she had to kill her best friend. He was turning into one of them things. It’s been eating at her ever since.”
Novak stepped forward and put his hand on Henry’s shoulder. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Henry, sir.”
“Well, Henry. Help us get this stuff loaded up, and then we’ll introduce you and her to a bunch of new friends.”
Henry swallowed. “That would be nice.”
CHAPTER 74
Sarah regained consciousness while Henry helped Novak and Gail pack the supplies. She moaned, and her
