Dead Island

Sam grimaced and carried on with the story, his voice a low rumble. He told Logan about killing the men in the police station and rescuing Jin, about stocking up on weapons from the armoury, then going back to the church and delivering provisions and medicine and weapons to Sister Helen’s rag-tag group of survivors.

‘It seemed weird taking guns to a church,’ Sam said, ‘but in a way those guys are fighting God’s war, I guess … fighting against the demons.’

‘The infected aren’t demons,’ said Xian Mei. ‘They’re victims, like everyone else.’

Sam shook his head. ‘That’s not what I meant. That thing that’s got inside those people — that’s the demon. The people themselves … well, they’re dead. They’re just shells.’

‘No such things as demons,’ muttered Purna. ‘What’s got inside them is just a virus, that’s all. A germ. There’s nothing biblical about it. It’s not evil. Only people are evil.’

Sam shrugged. ‘Well, I guess that depends on what you believe.’

The expression on Purna’s face suggested she was prepared to take the argument further. To prevent her from doing so, Xian Mei said quickly, ‘So what about you, Logan? Has anything happened here?’

Logan raised his eyebrows. ‘Apart from the clam bake and the beach volleyball tournament, you mean? Yeah, our mystery man’s tried to get in touch a couple times. Reception was so bad, though, he didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Said something about the satellite transmitters being down and some fucking offshore storm causing radio interference. You ask me, it’s here where the fucking storm is.’

‘He say anything else?’ asked Purna.

‘Only that he’d try to call back around noon today.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Hey, which I guess is about now.’

They all looked at the radio expectantly, but it remained silent. They had to wait another fifteen minutes before it crackled into life.

Instantly Sinamoi scuttled across and put on the headphones. He twiddled dials and knobs, trying to get the best reception. At first the voice trying to get through was so engulfed in static they couldn’t make out what it was saying. A few more tweaks from Sinamoi and all at once it came through loud and clear.

‘Hello,’ it was saying. ‘Hello, can anyone hear me?’

Logan nodded at the chunky old microphone on its stand, his raised eyebrows forming a question, and Sinamoi nodded. Talking into the microphone whilst simultaneously carrying it over to the table, its long lead trailing behind it, Logan said, ‘Hearing you loud and clear. Well … clearish anyway.’

‘Who is with you?’ asked the voice. ‘Is everyone safe?’

Logan glanced around. ‘Yep, the gang’s all here.’

‘And everyone is safe? No one has been infected by the virus?’

‘Well, it’s pretty hard to tell with Sam,’ Logan said, earning himself a finger and a grin in response, ‘but … yeah, they all seem pretty healthy.’

‘How come you don’t already know?’ Purna said challengingly. ‘I thought you were monitoring us? Last time you called you seemed pretty aware of our movements.’

‘Nothing sinister in that,’ the voice reassured her. ‘We simply have some extremely powerful monitoring equipment here. We’re able to intercept satellite signals from anywhere on the island, including CCTV footage. Unfortunately the satellite transmitters are behaving somewhat erratically at present. Adverse atmospheric conditions, I’m told.’

‘And where’s “here” exactly?’ Purna asked.

‘Please,’ the voice said, ‘as I explained before, our windows of opportunity for speaking to one another are so limited that you must refrain from asking quest—’

‘Fuck that,’ interrupted Purna. ‘You expect us to trust you for no reason? To follow your instructions blindly?’

‘I’m trying to help you,’ the voice said.

‘Yeah, that’s what you say,’ muttered Sam.

‘See, the thing is, we’ve been talking,’ Purna said, ‘and we’re maybe not as stupid as you’d like to believe.’

‘I don’t think you’re stupid at all,’ said the voice smoothly. ‘On the contrary, I believe you to be intelligent, resourceful individuals. That’s why I think you have a chance to escape from this mayhem — and that’s why I’m prepared to help you.’

‘Bullshit,’ said Sam with feeling.

‘Sam’s right,’ said Purna. ‘You don’t want to help us because we deserve it for being so resourceful. You want to help us because we’re immune.’

There was a moment’s silence. Purna looked round at the others, a quietly triumphant look on her face.

‘Nothing to say?’ she asked.

The owner of the voice sighed — or perhaps it was simply a surge of static — and eventually replied, ‘All right. I admit there is some truth to what you say—’

In a rare burst of anger Xian Mei suddenly blurted, ‘You caused this! You or whoever you’re working for! You manufactured this situation! And you threw us into the mix just to see what would happen!’

‘No!’ the voice said, shocked. ‘No, it wasn’t like that at all.’

‘So what was it like?’ asked Sam.

‘It’s cards on the table time, mystery man,’ said Purna. ‘Why don’t you start by telling us who you are?’

The pause was so long that at first Sam wondered whether the caller had rung off. Then at last he said, ‘My name is Ryder White. I’m a colonel in the Banoi Island Defence Force. I’m currently speaking to you from Banoi prison.’

‘That funky-looking place with the tower?’ said Logan.

‘That’s right. My wife —’ he cleared his throat — ‘my wife is the prison doctor here.’

He paused again, as if composing himself.

‘Go on,’ said Purna.

‘As I said previously,’ White continued, ‘the first full-blown victim of the virus was identified in the downtown area of Moresby around —’ he did a quick calculation — ‘fifteen hours ago now. However, we have reason to believe that the contagion became active in the population at least twenty-four hours previous to that, that carriers were — unbeknownst to them — infecting everyone they came into contact with. Many of the resort’s maintenance staff — cleaners, gardeners, janitors — commute between the city and the resort every day. The maintenance staff at the prison are similarly recruited from that area of the city …’

He paused again. Purna was the first to make the leap. ‘So you’re saying the virus has spread to the prison?’

‘I’m afraid so.’ White’s voice was hollow. Once again there was a pause and then he said, ‘My wife has been infected.’

‘Shit,’ said Sam. ‘Sorry to hear that, man.’

‘Me too,’ said Purna curtly. ‘But that still doesn’t explain why you want to help us.’

‘Or how you knew about us in the first place,’ said Xian Mei.

‘As I told you, our monitoring equipment here is sophisticated and powerful enough to intercept satellite signals. We are also … ah … able at times to intercept certain sensitive information from elsewhere.’

‘Computer hacking,’ said Logan, snorting laughter. ‘You a dirty hacker, Mr White?’

Almost primly White said, ‘I would prefer not to go into details, if you don’t mind.’

Logan laughed again. Sam asked, ‘So what is this information?’

‘I think I can guess,’ said Xian Mei. ‘It was information about us, wasn’t it? About our immunity to the virus?’

‘Yes,’ said White simply.

‘And where did the information come from?’ asked Purna.

White hesitated, and then said, ‘Even in these circumstances, I’m afraid some information is too sensitive to impart, and therefore must remain secret. Suffice to say that my desire to help you is a purely selfish one.’