"All Hands report to stations please."
The Cruiser pulled away from the power station's jetty with a roar, Patil opening up the engines in a surge of power as Sergeant King and Mark waved them goodbye.
Darcey was standing at the prow of the cruiser, her son standing next to her with his eyes closed, smiling as the sea spray hit his face as the Coxswain guided the ship to the north.
"So what's the plan Captain?" asked Merryn.
Lily bent over her map and traced her finger along the route. "We'll head north, have a quick look at the islands of Steep and Flat Holm - there's buildings on both islands so there may be some survivors - then we'll head north to Cardiff and see what we can see. After that, we'll head west along the Welsh coast and see if we can utilise Darcey's somewhat unusual skills to find any walkers who might be gathering there."
Merryn nodded. "Shame to see King and his company left behind, but I'm sure they're keen to help Marjorie get those machines back from the deadheads on C site, and up and running again."
"I think the Sergeant will relish the challenge there. That man's a born combat soldier. I reckon him and Marjorie are going to get on well too, she seems determined."
"What's our ETA Patil?"
"About thirty minutes to Steep Holm Captain. Eddie's prepping the drone for a quick fly-over. She'll be up here in a moment."
"Thank you." Lily turned back to Merryn. "We'll do a quick check of the two islands then keep moving."
~
By the time Eddie reappeared and had checked the drone and equipment were working, Steep Holm had appeared amidst the choppy brown waters of the Severn Estuary. Forbidding cliffs rose from the sea, and Eddie launched the drone as soon as Patil rounded the island and slowed the cruiser.
A quick check of the old world war two gun positions confirmed no signs of life and Patil moved them into range of the more hospitable-looking Flat Holm. Eddie once more launched the drone.
"There's a few buildings here capable of housing people, Ed," said Merryn. "There's a lighthouse on the south side of the island with some cottages, and a more substantial house and gardens on the north side."
Merryn looked across at Lily. "This is one of those places that would be good to resettle at some point."
"Noted," said Lily. "Eddie, could you check the south side first, then as Patail moves the ship to the north side you can zip the drone across to the larger house and check that."
Eddie nodded, her attention on the screen in front of her as she guided the drone.
"There are no signs of life on the south side Captain, I'll take the drone north."
"Patil, take us around please." The Cruiser's engines sprang into life again as the Coxswain guided the ship around the island and Eddie steered the drone on an intercept course.
"There's the house," she muttered, I'll check the outbuildings first as they're open."
As Patil slowed the ship and held position in the choppy waters, Eddie moved the drone into a large barn and then stopped with a gasp. A man's body was swinging from one of the large cross beams in the barn, a makeshift noose made from what looked like an old tow rope. The body didn't appear to have been there too long as the skin was showing little or no signs of putrefaction or degradation.
"We were too late to save him," said Eddie.
"Bring the drone back in Ed, there's nothing we can do here." Merryn put an arm around the teenager, who was pale and tight-lipped. "Sometimes we can only do what we can do."
"I know." Eddie guided the drone back to the ship but as it touched down on the deck, the speaker on the bridge burst into life.
"Lookout to the Bridge. This is Harris, we have smoke at 11 o'clock, repeat, smoke at 11 o'clock.
Lily grabbed her binoculars and scanned the northern horizon. "There!" she pointed. "Must be Cardiff. Patil, full speed ahead."
The Captain grabbed her microphone. "All hands. Action stations."
As the Cruiser powered through the waves, the crew jumped into action, guns were manned, and unnecessary equipment was stowed.
"Eddie, let me do this next one okay?" said Merryn. "Go and find Andrew and take five."
Eddie nodded and left the bridge, leaving Merryn, Lily and the Coxswain to watch as the Welsh coastline drew closer.
"See if you can get us into the docks please Patil," ordered the Captain. "Then we'll launch the drone and see what we can see."
As the Coxswain steered the Cruiser into the dock area of the city, Merryn launched the drone. Patil brought the ship to a stop with people clustering the port side of the boat and Merryn lifted the drone to a hundred metres and sped towards the smoke.
The football stadium was ablaze. A wave of walkers had hit the west side of it, piled up and over the wall and roof, and were now streaming across tended rows of vegetables on what would have been the football pitch. The whole stadium was covered with shambling forms and Lily gasped in horror.
The Captain pointed to one side of the screen. "Quick, take the drone east, see if anyone has made it out."
Merryn nodded and veered east, watching as the streets around the stadium filled with deadheads.
"There!" Lily pointed to a side street where a group of people, several adults and the smaller forms of two children were running.
Merryn lifted the drone higher, checked the streets to either side of the group, then dropped the drone to a few metres above street level in front of the approaching people. One of the children pointed, and Merryn dipped the front of the drone to let them know they'd been seen, then lifted it up to rooftop height so she could look ahead. She guided the family along the streets towards the docks as Lily ordered Patil to take the ship alongside one of the large granite walls that formed the dockside. A couple of soldiers leapt ashore as the group staggered around the corner of a warehouse and gestured to the boat.
With the group safe on board the cruiser, Merryn sent the drone back towards the stadium and scouted around for more survivors.
"Did anyone else make it?" A woman in her forties walked onto the bridge, a toddler clutched in her arms.
"I can't see anyone yet," said Merryn.
"Then they're dead," said the woman matter of factly. "The damn deadheads were right behind us. There were two others trying to get out the exit north of us, but they looked like they were struggling with the doors.
"How many of you were there in the stadium?" asked Lily in a quiet voice.
"Eighty. Most of the group went up on the roof and tried to fight, but once we saw how many walkers there were, we decided to try and get everyone out. It failed. They died to save the kids."
Merryn looked down onto the deck. The other 'adult' was a teenage boy, very tall, who was kneeling down and hugging two smaller children who were crying.
The Captain looked to the dockside as her team returned. "Merryn, keep monitoring the swarm please. Patil, the crewmen are back on board, let's put a little distance between us and the dockside."
She held out her hand to the woman holding the toddler. "I'm Captain Lily Sands, part of what's left of the naval forces. We represent the government who are on the Isle of Wight. This is Merryn, one of our scouts."
"Jane." The older woman clasped Lily's hand. "This little one is Jasper. Do you have somewhere I can put him please? The little sod still managed to go to sleep on me despite the chaos."
Lily called a couple of soldiers to the bridge and Jane and Jasper were taken below.
"There must be hundreds of thousands of them," whispered Merryn watching on the tablet screen as the walkers washed over the stadium, a tidal wave of moaning horror.
"I need to call Command," said Lily.
Merryn nodded. "Let's loop in Captain Summers too."
Lily reached for the radio. "Command, this is Captain Sands, request secure frequency with Calstone base, and we'll need the General on this one too please. "
"Captain, this is Command, Lieutenant Davies here, the General is standing next to me, looping in Calstone now."
"Calstone here, Mal on duty and Captain Summers is also here, go ahead Captain Sands."
Lily cleared her throat and looked at the screen in front of her. "We're in the harbour at Cardiff. We have a drone in the air. We've picked up four survivors from Cardiff stadium which was, until today, home to about eighty people. The stadium is being overrun by a massive swarm. I estimate somewhere between two hundred and three hundred thousand walkers."
"Davies here, please confirm numbers."
Lily confirmed her report and the line went quiet for a few seconds.
"Captain, this is General Arnesen. Do you have a feel for the direction of this swarm?"
"Well sir, they can only go east or north from here. If they head east they'll hit the River Usk first, then the larger estuary of the Severn both of which will drive them further north. Unless they manage to thread their way across either of the two motorway bridges or somehow ford the river without getting washed away, that would take them well north of the River Severn estuary and into England. Our best course of action is to keep monitoring as best we can for now to make sure the swarm doesn't somehow manage to head south to join our new friends at the power station. I don't think that is too likely given the topography, but we should be prepared for it."
"Noted Captain, thank you." There was a muffled discussion and then the General came back online. "We have an outline plan, Captain, but I need to get the prime minister's buy-in. Please stay online, and we will get back to you within the hour."
"That sounds ominous," said Merryn.
Lily nodded, looking pale.
Merryn gave her a look. "What's going through your head Lily?"
"Patil, take a break please, I need the bridge." The Coxswain nodded and left the bridge leaving the two women alone.
Lily took a breath and calmed herself. "If it comes to it the general will order in a bombing run. If that doesn't work then he'll suggest to the prime minister that we go nuke."
"What? We can't let him do that."
"That's not our call to make."
"But even regular bombing would be dangerous. That sort of noise would attract any walker for tens of miles! We'd end up with an even larger swarm than we have now. Or is that the idea, we try and get them in one place, blow the hell out of them, then keep blowing up whatever comes next? Typical damn forces response, let's blow everything up!"
"Merryn," Lily's calm voice cut through her rant. "We may have no choice."
"There's always a choice. We don't know how many people we might be destroying on the ground. And nuclear? That's in breach of every convention. Even what's left of the world's governments stated at the start of the Outbreak that we'd never resort to nukes."
"Merryn. Let's wait and see what comes back from the Isle. The RAF has little capability left these days, so a bombing run may not be an option."
Merryn calmed herself and stared at the screen. The drone was still hovering where it had been left. Little remained visible of the stadium, as it was covered in a carpet of deadheads.
"I'm sorry," she said a few minutes later. "That was out of order."
"No, it was impassioned." Lily laid a hand on her arm. "For what it's worth, I agree with you, but we need to be patient despite what's going on over there. God, those poor people."
The speaker on the bridge crackled. "Cruiser, this is Control, do you read me?"
"Control, this is Captain Sands."
"Do you have Scout 2 with you, Captain?"
"Yes Captain Summers, it's just us here at the moment."
"Good. I've had a discussion with the General and the Prime Minister. The General wanted to utilise what's left of our squadron here to bomb the hell out of Cardiff and try and take out as many walkers as we can, but the PM and I have talked him down in favour of an alternative plan. We will need you to lead the horde along the coast to the east. In the town of Newport is a large deserted area that once housed an old steelworks. The works were demolished many years ago ready for redevelopment, but at present, it is a large, empty, level area. It is now going to be a zombie killing ground, but we have a couple of special weapons we'd like to try before we start blowing stuff up."
"I'm glad you and the PM managed to talk the general down there Captain," noted Lily. "But what are these special weapons?"
There was a distinct pause from the other end of the line then Summer's voice rang across the speaker. "They're called Hope and Stan, and they're on their way to you now."