Reyes Albert, Prisoner, Ch. 7
The lighthouse was nice, and had a lot fewer dead bodies on it than the prison. It also had some useful survival tools, and he’d seen a billiards table on one of the higher floors. It was a place made to make isolation livable.
He just needed to kill the two zombies stumbling about on the boulders outside. But he couldn’t find them. He hoped they had wandered into the waves, and sunk beneath the water.
Reyes began to load things onto his boat, which would be useful elsewhere. A pro fishing rod. Some pickled preserves. Some condiments. Rice. He ate heartily today, and was hoping to put on some weight.
He wanted to row around a bit more, and give some time for the zombies to wander off into the waves.
Refilling his water at the water purifier inside, he prepared to head out. It was 1:26PM, so he couldn’t leave for long. Sundown was in about eight hours.
He rowed west, to the next small island. It seemed to be like the others. Small, and full of ducks. Their immense quantity of shit was visible on the water’s surface.
He continued rowing northwest, into the expansive lake. He wanted to find shore, and the mainland.
After ten minutes, he was attacked by a jawed terror. A zombified shark, with rows of serrated teeth. It was bloody from a previous kill, which Reyes could see floating nearby.
He didn’t have a suitable weapon to fight a shark. He kept rowing, hoping to outrun it. Driving in a zig-zag pattern, he managed to evade it. Reyes knew he was extremely lucky.
His arms were very hurt. Gnashes scored his body, including a bite.
Reyes was in severe pain. It had been foolish to row so far out. He needed to return to the safety of the prison immediately. It was about an hour’s rowing away…
He popped two aspirins, and rowed. This had been the worst day since the cataclysm. He was struggling to hold on.
The sharp pain of the bites stung him. He applied bandages to his arms, and took an antibiotic. He had fourteen of them, and hoped they would help with the numerous bites as they healed. Reyes popped a codeine, hoping it would help with the severe pain.
Keeping pace, he rowed past the lighthouse and back to the prison.
Arriving, a shark was right on his heels. He dove from the ship, and landed on his ass.
Reyes was badly hurt. It would take a few days for his arms to heal, and he didn’t like the look of his torso wounds.
He staggered into the prison. There was no direct route, so he had to disassemble part of the barbed wire fence. But his pain was fading away, as the codeine activated. Soon, he was painless.
Reyes floated through the prison compound, his arms in tatters. The shark’s gnashing maw had torn him up pretty bad. His military rucksack looked like it was coming apart, as well.
He went inside the prison entrance. The compound was nicely locked down. He felt pretty safe in here.
Reyes didn’t plan on leaving his fortress island any time soon. He poured antiseptic on his chest wound, cleaning the bites. If he wasn’t so sedated, it might’ve hurt.
He picked up a sharpened bit of rebar, which was fairly long. This was a shark-killing weapon. Standing from the shore, Reyes stabbed the zombie shark to death.
Then, he was free to take the rest of the valuables from his boat back into the compound. He had beached it pretty well, but it would be no trouble to push it back out to the water when he wanted to. But for now, the ocean caused him to shudder.
He wouldn’t explore any further until he had seriously upgraded his boat. The risk was too high, and the zombie sharks were too capable of killing him.
For now, he would rest and heal. He needed to watch his bite, and manage any infection with antibiotics.
He picked up a fantasy novel from the medic’s office. But on his way out, he stumbled and fell into the pit. A foolish mistake, and he’d pay for it over the next few days. He was severely injured.
He took another codeine, patched himself up, and dropped into bed in a cell. The next morning, he awoke and habitually went to the cafeteria. It was still strange, coming here after the cataclysm. But this place was his now. He was going to make it a paradise.
One thing it needed more of was natural light. He couldn’t keep up braziers or burning anything. If the lighting could be ambient, that would be much easier.
He ate some more pesto, straight from the jar. Loves the stuff. It was still pretty early in the day.
But he was freezing. He lit a fire in the kitchen. His arms were getting worse.
He sat there by the fire for a few minutes, getting warm. He grabbed a blanket from the laundry room, and put it on. Boy, was he cold. He could hear one of the zombies bashing away in the prison showers, behind bars.
He took off his blanket as he left the prison entrance. He was injured, but wanted to be active today. He took apart some windows, and brought the glass to the roof. But he was getting too cold again, so he grabbed his blanket.
His arms had both ceased to function. This probably happened due to the cold. His vest warms his body up, but his arms are exposed to the frigid spring night air.
This means he’s going to take quite a lot longer to heal. He worked away at creating splints, and soon enough he had one on each arm.
Reyes read a book on swimming. He could now swim, without drowning.
He spent some time wandering the compound, planning projects. He had several holes he hoped to dig in the roof, to allow more natural light during the day. Reyes wanted to turn this prison island into a fortress paradise.
He slept back in the prison, and awoke at 3:30AM. He had a few hours to kill before daylight. He decided to pull together the materials for a light cart, to help him move goods from his boat into the prison. The fewer trips, the better.