Wake by Elizabeth Knox

her teeth were chattering. Next, Jacob tried to take Sam’s hand and lead her to the shelter of the cabin, where there were seats. It was then he noticed the blanket-wrapped bundle—Adele Haines’s body—and stopped, aghast.
    Theresa roughly wiped her eyes. She pulled herself together. ‘Look, she said, ‘I know I’m not really better qualified than anyone else to take charge—’
    â€˜You have a gun,’ said William.
    She only glanced at him, then went on. ‘But Bub is right. We need to make plans. Plans based on what we know for sure. And what we know is this: we are trapped here, for the time being.’
    â€˜Quarantined,’ said William. ‘Shut in with whatever turned the town murderous.’
    Theresa kept her cool. She just raised a hand and made gentle hushing motions at William. ‘We have to think about what we can do to make ourselves safe.’
    â€˜Safe where?’ said William. The man wasn’t about to be silenced, Bub saw.
    â€˜Why can’t we just stay here?’ Warren said.
    â€˜ Champion is too small for all of us,’ Bub said. ‘Plus she’s too exposed to the weather. The crazies are terrifying, but a cold southerly will kill you just as dead.’ He looked into their faces again and regretted talking about killing. Tears were coursing down Lily’s cheeks, and Warren looked like he was about to throw up, though Bub doubted the man had anything in his stomach.
    In the pause Sam said, almost inaudibly, as if speaking only to herself, ‘I should be writing this down.’
    Bub gave himself a moment. He went up to the bow to toss out his anchor. The tide had turned again. The Champion would swing bow on to the swell once she was moored, then they’d all feel a little more comfortable. Bub could tolerate the rolling, but he was positive the others would get motion sickness. Who needed that misery on top of everything else?
    When he rejoined them Theresa said, ‘Lets not get tied up just yet with explanations. Right now there isn’t much point in speculating about how many are dead, or what killed them. Or the—thing.’
    â€˜Lily’s named it the No-Go,’ William said.
    Bub thought it was good to have a name for the thing. He’d started to feel that the indispensable word ‘thing’ was being spoiled for all its normal uses. No-Go was like Never Never—odd, and descriptive. Last night, when he’d been on watch, he’d tried ‘anaesthetic zone’ and ‘inertial field’ in his head. Science fiction terms. They’d felt wrong—slippery, and used .
    â€˜We have to gather the others,’ Theresa was saying. ‘I’ll get Belle to take her quad bike up through the scrub to the subdivision and help the old lady down.’ She touched Sam’s arm. ‘You know this Mrs McNeal. Can I get you to go with Belle and help reassure her?’
    Sam nodded.
    Jacob said, ‘What’s under the bandage, Sam?’
    â€˜Never mind me. Let’s just go get Mrs McNeal,’ Sam said.
    William said, ‘She’s being a stoic. It’ll need sutures.’
    â€˜I’m a nurse’, Jacob said, like a punchline, and gave them all a brief sunny grin. Then he blinked and his smile faded. Bub caught Theresa’s eye and saw her look of immense relief. A nurse . She said, ‘Jacob, would you go with Sam and Belle? I think retrieving Mrs McNeal might be a bit of a challenge.’
    â€˜Sure.’
    Theresa turned to Warren. ‘Will you go with me to get Dan and Oscar?’
    Warren’s eyes looked black in his pale face, but he nodded.
    â€˜Join us where ?’ said William. ‘I have a count of thirteen. We’ll need space.’
    â€˜Fourteen,’ Bub said. ‘There was a guy who helped me put out a fire yesterday, then took off. So—fourteen we know of.’
    â€˜I was staying at the spa,’ William