Ex-Isle by Peter Clines (electronic reader TXT) 📕

comes to rescue you. He pointed at the railing.

The man sighed and swung a thick leg over the railing. He tottered for a second, then slipped and splashed below. “I’m okay,” he yelled up.

Good. Don’t think about Jaws while you’re down there. Zzzap turned to the cage. Sorry about all that. Hopefully we’ll have you out of there soon, okay?

“What’s going on?” asked the boy.

A couple things. I’m sure your parents will explain it all to you when you’re older.

St. George rolled his shoulders. His back was stiff as hell from sitting on the deck. He took in a deep breath and let it billow out as smoke. Ash watched with wide eyes.

Madelyn ran up to him. “You didn’t even wait for me to get the last guy.”

“Yeah. We were a little impatient after a day and a half in the cage.” His eyes dropped away from hers, down to her chest.

Madelyn stared back, and her brow wrinkled up. Then she blinked and glanced down at the gash in her swimsuit. “Oh!” she said. “I’m fine. Just a flesh wound.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Didn’t even hit bone.”

A blur of light shot past them, lighting up the deck.

She watched Zzzap hover over the distant crane tower, and then the gleaming silhouette flitted away. “So what’s the plan, boss?”

“Barry’s going to keep making sure the kids are okay. That nobody tries to carry out the threat after the fact. If you can keep an eye on Lily and Ash, I’m going to go get the others out of their cages.”

“Okay.”

Zzzap shot by again. In the flash of light, St. George saw people heading toward them across the deck. It had been too fast to see who. “Maybe I’ll stay here for another minute or two, though.”

Madelyn raised her head. “Two men and a woman,” she said. “About a hundred feet away.”

“Do you recognize them?”

“C’mon, boss,” she sighed. “It’s a miracle I recognize you and Barry.”

He managed a tight smile. “Stay with the kids.”

Madelyn crouched down, and Lily’s wide eyes locked on the Corpse Girl. “Are you a zombie?” the little girl whispered.

“Nooo…” Madelyn said. “I’m not an ex. I’m…I’m a ghost.”

“Are you a friendly ghost?”

“Of course I am.” She smiled at the little girl.

“No you’re not,” said Ash. He reached out and poked her in the shoulder.

“I am. Do I smell like a dead person?”

“Your clothes do,” he said. “You’re a zombie.”

Madelyn kept her smile up. “Not exactly.”

“Ash,” called a voice.

“Dad!” The boy ran toward the figures as they marched out of the gloom. Devon scooped him up and hugged him.

“It appears our jailbreak comes a little too late,” said Hussein.

“Still nice to see a friendly face. I wasn’t sure you were coming. You did kind of an about-face.”

The Middle Eastern man nodded. “We have long since learned, when Nautilus talks, it’s best just to agree. And I did wink. I thought you saw it.”

St. George nodded once and turned his attention to the woman. “I’ve got to admit, you’re one of the last ones I expected to see here.”

“I’m not stupid,” said Eliza. She brushed her leather jacket back and set her hands on her hips above her holsters. “I owe Nautilus a lot. I’ve always trusted him. But you being here brings up a lot of…I just want the truth.”

“Good enough.”

“Thank you,” said Devon. He extended one hand out to St. George while he held Ash with the other. “Thanks for watching out for my boy.”

“She’s a zombie,” Ash stage-whispered to his father, pointing at Madelyn, “but she’s a pretty one.”

“Awwww,” said Madelyn.

Eliza stared at the Corpse Girl. “He ripped you in half,” she said. “Tore you in half and broke your neck.”

Madelyn looked down at her torso. “Did he?”

“You were dead,” said Devon. “I helped…” He glanced at his son. “I helped clean you up.”

“The dead never stay dead,” said Madelyn with a confident smile. “Especially not when they’re dead sexy like me.”

“Stop,” said St. George.

The deck brightened, and Zzzap was above them. There’s some people over on the tanker. They say they’re there to free the kids. Are they with us?

Eliza nodded. “They’re with us. Should be two or three people at every cage.”

So now you’re with us, too? Zzzap looked to St. George and got a nod. The silhouette gave a quick salute and zoomed away.

“How many of you are there?” asked St. George.

“A few dozen,” said Hussein. “People are nervous about admitting their true feelings. There’s us, the people rescuing the children, a few more watching the gangplanks between ships.” He gestured behind him. “Huojin was our inside man. He was going to help us take out Mitchel and Russ before they could sound the alarm.”

“He was a good guy?” Madelyn looked past them and frowned. “Sorry.”

“He knew what might happen,” said Eliza.

“So where’s Nautilus?” asked St. George. “Aren’t you worried he might hear all of this?”

Eliza shook her head. “He’s gone fishing.”

“What?”

“No, seriously,” said Devon. “He’s gone off to catch a couple tunas or something. We fish off the boats all the time, but once a week or so he’ll go catch a couple huge fish and we all eat well for a night.”

“Since we could be gone for several days,” Hussein explained, “he thought it would be best to go now, so there is extra food here while we are away.”

“That seems…thoughtful,” said St. George.

“If kind of odd, timing-wise,” Madelyn added. She knelt with one hand out, and Lily studied the pale flesh with all the intensity of a focused four-year-old.

“He’s gone for now, that’s all that matters,” said Eliza. “Hussein says you’re willing to make sure we can all leave safely.”

“Yeah,” said St. George.

“We’ll need to go see the mainland and come back,” she said. People are going to want proof.”

“Besides us?” asked Madelyn.

“Yes,” said Hussein. “They’ll need to hear it from people they know.”

St. George nodded. “Of course.”

Zzzap flashed through the night sky and lit up the deck. Kids are all safe, he said. Anything cool going on here?

“Just a little rebellion,”