She threw the supplies at him first then risked a glance over her shoulder. The hollows crept after her, their overgrown nails clicking on the wood. Clare swallowed thickly and jumped. Dorran caught her, throwing his body weight back in the same motion so that he ended up on his back with Clare sprawled over him. They lay there for a moment, laughing giddily, Dorran with his arms around her, before the chattering broke through their relief.
Dorran rolled to the side, carefully lowering Clare onto the wooden deck. He gained his feet in a graceful rolling motion, pushed the gate shut again, and peered over the boat’s railings. Clare joined him, and they watched the monsters pace along the pier’s edge, clawing at the painted walls whenever they drifted close enough.
“I don’t think they know how to get up,” Clare said. One of the hollows reached forward and tried to dig its nails into the boat’s side, but only succeeded in scraping it.
Dorran watched them for a second, his lips twitching, then walked along the boat until he found the immense rope mooring it to the dock. He unravelled it, spooling out as much length as he could, and let the river’s slow current carry them downriver. By the time he tied it off again, the Adelaide no longer touched the dock.
“Better not to have to worry at all,” he said and helped Clare pick up their supplies. “We could both do with some undisturbed sleep.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Adelaide hadn’t changed since Clare had last seen it. The upper deck was partially covered with rows of plastic benches bolted into the floor. Clare remembered sitting there with Beth, who had chosen seats as far from the railings as possible, despite how phenomenally safe the boat was. It had a wide, flat base, moved at a molasses pace, and barely even rocked on the water. Clare was glad to be able to visit the boat again, even under their current conditions.
She turned on her torch and led Dorran through the door to the lower deck. Rounded windows overlooked the river on all sides, though with the moon half-obscured by clouds, she glimpsed only glimmers of light on the rippling water. Most of the floor was taken up by tables and chairs, and a bar with a large freezer chest stood beside the staircase and hallway at the room’s back. Clare pointed out the areas she remembered. “Bathrooms are down that hallway. The captain drives from the little room up top. I think there are kitchens somewhere—probably not large, but they should have running water and maybe some other supplies.”
“I’ll make sure we’re alone,” Dorran said. “Stay here. I will be back soon.”
Axe in one hand and torch in the other, he disappeared down the hallway that led to the bathrooms. Doors creaked as he searched inside. Clare exhaled and stretched, flexing muscles that hadn’t seen much use over the previous days. The lower deck had carpet that might not have been the cleanest but was still better than the car’s. The riverboat was virtually immobile in the water, which was a mercy, because the slowly moving shadows left Clare unsteady enough as it was.
She approached the bar and glanced across the supplies. A chest freezer had been positioned against the wall. She tried opening the lid in case the food inside might still be good, but it was locked.
Probably for the best. Its contents would be thoroughly thawed and rotting by now.
Clare placed her supplies on top of the freezer chest then returned to the floor. She found an area she liked in a corner and pushed the chairs out of the way, then she began shaking out their bedding. With only two pairs of arms and the need to carry food, as well, they hadn’t been able to bring much. Still, two quilts were better than nothing—and they were the ones from Beth’s house, which hadn’t yet had a chance to become dirty. She laid one out as a cushioning underlayer and reserved the second for a blanket.
Dorran returned from the hallway. He shot her a quick glance before turning to the stairs leading to the upper floor. Clare didn’t like his expression. It had lost the easy relief from just a moment before. She followed him to the narrow metal stairs and stared up them, listening as he moved through the second deck.
Did he see something? She looked right. The hallway held four doors: two bathrooms and two doors simply labelled Staff. She opened both bathroom doors, but they were empty and unremarkable. She tried the room at the end of the hall.
Inside was a kitchen, just as narrow and poky as she’d expected. The ship must have brought most of its food pre-prepared. The stove was tiny and wouldn’t have been able to serve a quiet day’s worth of customers, let alone a full one. Four microwaves stacked on the shelf gave Clare a clue of how the food was really heated. A bench ran along three walls, cluttered with bowls and utensils. And blood.
Droplets streaked across the walls. A bloody handprint marked the fridge. A pool of it had collected on the floor and dribbled down the drain. Clare’s heart missed a beat. The blood looked dry, but she knew that didn’t signify any kind of safety around hollows. She tilted her head up, to where Dorran was searching the upper floor.
A sudden, deep rumble rose from under her feet. Clare yelped and pressed her back against the door. It took her a second to understand what was happening. Lights blinked on through the kitchen, and the fridge started rumbling. Dorran had turned on the power.
She hoped that as a good sign and moved back along the hallway
