Lori grabbed Rachel’s hand and they dashed out of the restaurant, injured and shaken, but by some miracle, alive.
FINAL CHAPTER - EVERYONE
5:05pm - 10 hours, 18 minutes since outbreak in London.
3 hours, 55 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
. . .
. . .
Lori struggled to keep up with Rachel as they made their way back down the stairs towards the lifeboat, limping and appearing off balance.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked.
“I’ll be fine, just a fracture or something. I’ll worry about it once I’m off”, Lori replied, wincing.
“Just a fracture? Lori, that’s serious!”
“When you consider the fact that we both just managed to make it back here by the skin of our teeth and don’t know if we’ll have a lifeboat to escape with, given the fact we’re already late, I’ll take a fracture any day”.
“Come on, stay with me”, Rachel insisted, returning to Lori’s side and placing her arm around her. “We don’t have much further to go”.
They slowly made their way over to where they had left the lifeboat, avoiding remaining crazies along the way and much to their surprise and delight, there hung the lifeboat that should have long since departed without them.
Rachel sighed with relief as they approached the closed door to the lifeboat and gently knocked, trying to avoid attracting any more attention.
“Mum, gran, it’s us, it’s safe”, Rachel whispered close to the door. There was a few seconds of unnerving silence, before they heard a click and the grainy sound of the door slowly sliding down.
Out popped the head of Martha and Rachel wasted no time in embracing her, much to her grandmother's initial shock.
“Oh… I’m glad you two are safe”.
Rachel burst into tears.
“You waited for us”, she replied.
“We did, we’re in no rush. I’m old and your mother has lost enough already without a daughter she could have saved to add to the list”. No sooner did she say that, Rachel’s mother came out and embraced Rachel as well, saying not a single word.
“We should go, the longer we stay here, the more we put our lives in jeopardy”, Martha insisted.
Christine climbed back into the lifeboat followed closely by Martha.
“Come, Lori”, Rachel insisted.
“Right behind you”, Lori replied, giving Rachel a reassuring smile, everything was going to be alright now, they were finally getting off this hellish voyage.
Rachel stepped inside the lifeboat and before she could sit down, she heard the jerk and grainy sound of the door sliding shut behind her. Not even given the chance to see what was going on, she was pushed forward, landing on her hands and knees with a painful thud.
“What the fuck?” She exclaimed, before spinning around to see the door halfway up towards shutting and Lori nowhere in sight.
“Wait… what? Lori? Where are you? Lori!” She clambered to her feet and scrambled over to the door. “Lori! What are you doing? What are you doing?”
“I’m breaking my promise… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry”.
“What do you mean? What are you doing, Lori?”
“I’m protecting you. I can’t go with you”.
“Why? Don’t do this! Don’t joke around, Lori!”
“I lied earlier. This wound is more than just a fracture, I don’t know if I was infected somehow, but I can feel it inside me and sooner or later I’ll become a danger to you all, just like… just like those others… so…”
“No Lori, then I’ll stay with you, I’ll stay here with you. We promised to be together to the bitter end, we talked about being an old bickering couple! Lori!” Rachel yelped as the gap between her and Lori shut. It was the last time Rachel would see Lori’s face, a meek smile concealing a shattered heart.
Lori, fighting tears, rested her head against the door as it slid shut and pressed the locking mechanism from the outside before Rachel could attempt to reopen it from the inside.
“You can’t stay with me. You have your mother and grandmother to look after now. Repair your bruised relationships, take all this hurt and turn it into something special. Your father sacrificed himself for your mother and grandmother, now it’s my turn to do the same for you”.
“Don’t be fucking selfish! I never asked you to sacrifice yourself for me, Lori! You don’t need to! That’s not your choice to make, don’t be a hypocrite! Let me open the door!” Rachel screamed, thumping at the door and weeping harder than she could ever recall. This feeling was akin to someone ripping her heart from her chest and stomping on it, what could possibly be more painful than this moment? Was there a pain in the world that could ever compare to this? If losing her father wasn’t enough heartbreak as it was, to lose the love of her life was life itself kicking her whilst she was down.
Unable to open the door, she began kicking at it and slamming her entire body against it, when that didn’t work, she tried looking for the unlocking mechanism on the side of the door.
“This isn’t what I wanted either!” Lori replied. “I wanted an entire life with you, I wanted everything with you and now… now it’s all gone to shit. But this is the least I can do, I can save you. Don’t unlock that door, you’re not just putting your life at risk, you’re putting your mother and grandmother’s lives at risk as well. Martha, please stop her”.
Martha grabbed hold of Rachel, fully aware she was outmatched in physical prowess, but if she could hold her granddaughter back for just a moment, it was more than enough.
“Let me go! Get off of me!” Rachel screamed.
Lori placed her head against the door.
“Rachel, listen to me, listen to me through the door”. Rachel quietened down, her
