"Must just be a crazy night for them. It's got to get better, once they get things sorted out. If the power comes back on."
"I sure hope so." She spotted the panhandler and watched with fascination.
"You don't seem so optimistic."
"I've never seen anything like this. If what those people in the restaurant said was true, there might not be power for a very long time."
"You believe them?" William zipped up his coat.
"I'm starting to. I mean ... this thing seems to be messing with everyone. Even the fire stations and the hospitals are messed up. I'd have thought that they'd be the last to be affected. Aren't they supposed to be ready for something like this?"
"I don't know if anyone is prepared for something like this."
"She might be." Becky motioned towards the panhandler.
"Her?" William scoffed. "She's just a street beggar. She can't even deal with regular life. How's she supposed to be ready for something like this?"
"She's used to surviving with nothing. What's she got to her name? The clothes on her back? She looks like she's been living on the streets for a long time. Could you do that?"
"I don't need to start living on the streets. Don't be ridiculous."
"You sure? Look at her. This is her home court. She looks positively happy. It's like she knows something we don't."
"She has no clue about what's going on. If she did, she wouldn't be pestering people at a hospital."
"I'd have to disagree with that. Right now, I'm liking her chances better than ours."
"Hey, c'mon now. The only reason she can survive living the way she does is because there are people like us that give her money."
"It's not about the money."
"Exactly. She used that money for the same stuff that we did. She spent it in restaurants or liquor stores or whatever. Places that need power to function. Without those places, she won't be any better off than we will. She may know how to make a shelter out of cardboard and survive the night, but everyone needs to eat to survive."
"I don't know. It's her world out here, and I have a feeling that she's better equipped to deal with it than the people in that line ... or you and me."
William winced, shaking his head. "She certainly doesn't seem upset about things at the moment."
"Why should she? She doesn't need to get into the hospital. She's in her element."
They watched the panhandler work her way up and down the line. A few of the people gave her money, but most did their best to ignore her.
"You ever wonder what separates her from us?"
"Well, other than the obvious? That she spends her days bumming money off of others?"
"No, I mean, how did she end up there in the first place. She had parents and family to start. Probably went to school, did homework, watched cartoons on TV." Becky rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm sure she never planned on ending up here, begging from others."
"Never really thought about it, I guess. Just sort of figured that people like her didn't want to work. Couldn't be bothered."
"Lazy?"
"Yeah, I guess. Just not motivated. Bad choices."
"Bad choices ... yeah. Maybe not even her choices. Could have been a parent's choice."
"Maybe just plain bad luck."
"That's scary." Becky crossed her arms. "That can happen to anyone."
"It can, but my mom always told me, life ain't about what happens to you, it's how you deal with it."
"Humph. Maybe her mom wasn't smart enough to tell her that. Kind of bad luck again."
"Well, lucky for us then that we already know that little pearl of wisdom."
"Right." Becky smiled. "Remind me to thank your mom for it when we meet."
"Oh, so you think I'm taking you home to meet my mom now?" William smiled a devilish grin.
"No, that's not what I'm thinking." She ignored his weak attempt at a flirt. "What I'm thinking is that we have some choices to make ourselves right now."
"Like about Wayne?"
"Exactly."
Chapter 31 ~ Getting Worse
Life on a cruise ship is shameless. First class everything. Fine dining, overpriced drinks, frivolously fun activities, gorgeous dancing showgirls, equally handsome showboys, and stunning views of the world's most beautiful locations. Life on a lifeboat, however, is cramped and uncomfortable. Life on a lifeboat in a horrific tropical storm is the stuff of nightmares. Sharing that time with seventy-five other human beings is a once in a lifetime experience ... you don't want to ever do it more than once.
Where a cruise ship is built for comfort, a lifeboat is built for practicality. A lifeboat is designed to save your life. That's it. Cruise line companies build them in the hope they'll never be used, that they'll meet the minimum safety requirements, and that they'll cost as little as possible. Of course, passengers on a lifeboat in a disaster situation aren't likely to complain to anyone about the lack of attention to detail of the furniture. They're more likely to dither between being happy to be alive, and scared out of their minds.
Throw into the situation some gunplay and a dead officer, and you've got a situation where people can show you the best and worst of what they're made of. Holly was doing her best to be the kind of person that made the world a better place as she took the gun from the elderly man.
The two crew members who had tackled the short man and caused him to lose his gun were now restraining him as best they could. Although the short man didn't resist much, given the conditions it wasn't easy. The short man seemed more concerned now with Garrett and Holly.
"He's got a gun too!" the short man yelled, looking straight at Garrett. Garrett had hoped to keep that detail from the rest of the passengers and crew for as long as possible. It gave him an advantage, but an advantage that he hoped not to use. "Why don't you restrain him?"
Crew members and passengers looked to Garrett suspiciously. None moved towards him, but it made an uncomfortable situation even more tense. Garrett shuffled towards Holly, who still held the other gun.
"Give me the gun," Garrett said to her.
Holly looked confused. "Why? What are you up to?" A couple in the back pulled their daughter closer.
"Just give me the gun. Don't ask questions," Garrett demanded. Holly handed him the gun.
Garrett moved quickly between the rows of passengers. Most recoiled from the man carrying two weapons, while a few looked like they wanted to take him on. Garrett pushed them all aside, and didn't stop till he made it to the passenger door. The hinged door opened outwards, with a small hatch above to accommodate tall passengers. Garrett flipped the latches on the overhead hatch. A crew member moved to stop him, but there were too many people in the way. Garrett threw open the watertight hatch just as a big wave hit the boat. Everyone within arm's reach was soaked, and Garrett was knocked sideways into another passenger's lap. Rain pelted through the open hatch, as did the howling wind.
"Garrett, stop," Holly called out. "What are you doing?"
Garrett didn't answer, but instead regained his balance and threw both weapons out the hatch into the hands of the storm. He pulled the hatch back into place and locked it just as another wave crashed over the boat.
Standing there, dripping wet, Garrett addressed everyone on the boat. "We don't need weapons on board. We don't need someone to be the captain. We're all in this together, and we need to help each other. What we need right now is someone to drive this boat." He looked to the short man and the two crew members restraining him. "Let him go ... please," he asked the crew members. "You know how to drive this boat, don't you? You must, if you and your friend were planning on commandeering it." The short man inclined his head curtly. "You can either point this boat west towards the US eastern seaboard, then take your chances with authorities for what you've done here ..." Garrett paused a moment, taking stock of the faces looking his way. Some nodded in agreement, while others just looked terrified. He continued, "Or, we can throw you out this door right now for what you've
done. I don't think anyone on board this boat trusts you enough to even sit next to you." None of the passengers said anything to contradict Garrett. They waited for the short man's response.
* * *
Hours felt like days as the lifeboat went up and down on the waves, rocking violently as it was tossed in every direction. The short man in the driver's chair followed the traditional magnetic compass on the dashboard, keeping the boat on a westward course. There was a small window that the driver could see out of, but in the pitch black of the Atlantic there wasn't much point in it. He kept the small engine at half speed; enough to maintain headway, but not too much to risk burning them out. Fighting the waves and current created enough extra work for the engines. Everyone on board was exhausted, but few besides the children could sleep, not with all the motion and noise accompanying the storm.
Garrett thought with some uncertainty that the storm might be abating. He couldn't be sure if it was lessening, or he was just getting used to it. Either way, he didn't say anything to Holly. He didn't want to get her hopes up.
Just then, the boat dropped off the crest of the biggest wave yet. The largest passengers bumped their heads as everyone was raised off their seats.
The short man looked back at everyone and smiled. "That's good news, believe it or not. I think we're getting into shallower water. Waves break harder as the water depth decreases. We're getting closer to shore."
Chapter 32 ~ Moving On
"I still feel guilty about all of this," Becky said.
"Still?" William asked, repositioning his heavy backpack. Casey had given them as much as he could spare from the fire station to get started. He was pretty generous about getting them equipped with bug-out bags, as he called them. Becky figured it was because he was in such good spirits about getting Wayne to the hospital. His first patient had survived.
"Yes, still. There was nobody there that knew him. No family, no friends. That place was swamped. He could die in there from neglect."
"It's the best we could have done. He would have died for sure in the skyscraper. That's the important thing." He rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I know. I know. This just seems all messed up right now. How could things have gotten this bad so quickly? This is New York City. It's the center of civilization for crying out loud. This is just a power outage. We should be able to deal with this."
"I think we both know it's a whole lot more than that."
"Alright, so it's a really big power outage. I get that, but there should be backups and things in place, there--"
William stopped right where he was as Becky kept walking ... the corner of Broadway and East 4th Street. Becky turned and looked at him. She started to speak again, but he interrupted.
"Becky. You need to commit to what this means. This is way more than just a really big power outage. The phones. The cars. The hospital. The cranes on the building. Remember? This is some serious shit. Our world has changed. Maybe the entire world. Just look around you. Broadway Street, Manhattan, New York City. It's damn near the middle of the night, and there's barely a light on anywhere. Street lights are out. Traffic lights are out ... thank goodness there are scarcely any cars running."
"I know. I know."
"I know you know, Becky, but I think you don't want it to be true. You gotta stop thinking like that. The fact is, by the time morning hits, and people start to realize that this isn't just going to go away, the mean streets of New York City are about to get a whole lot meaner. Everything here just feels wrong. We need to get out of the city as quickly as possible."
"Then what?"
"We'll figure that out once we get there. One thing at a time."
"That doesn't really make me feel any better. I need to know there's something after running away from the city. We're leaving everything behind."
"I'd say that we probably head for home."
"Home? You mean North Carolina home?"
"Well, it's closer than Atlanta, which is home for me."
"This all seems so crazy, but yes, I know. I can see what's going on. I feel it too."
"Good. I'm glad. I knew you must have seen it too. You're the only kid at school who gets higher marks than me after all. It's just fear."
"I'm not scared, I'm--"
"It's OK, I'm scared too. This wasn't exactly the way I saw my week going."
If it wasn't for the moonlight, it would be tough to see people on the street. There was a strange vibe all around. You didn't see people coming from a distance, so it was almost like they were all sneaking up on you. Most looked apprehensive as well. Like you were startling them as much as they were startling you. Some, however, looked more like they were sizing you up. Neither Becky nor William liked being sized up on the street.
"It's a long walk to North Carolina," Becky said.
"Probably a couple of weeks, I'd say. I'm thinking we should find another mode of transportation."
"Find?"
"Yeah. More like borrow."
"You want me to steal a car? Most of them aren't even working. Besides, I'm not stealing."
"I told you, Becky, things have changed. We're going to have to do things we might not want to." She gave him a sideways glare. "Doesn't have to be a car. Bicycles would get us there a lot quicker than walking." He glanced down an alleyway, then he noticed some movement in the moonlight. He slowed down, trying to see what had moved, but there were too many shadows. He turned his attention back to Becky. "Not as quick as a car, but better than walking."
Becky thought about it. "You can't be charged with grand theft for stealing a pair of bicycles, can you?"
"I have a feeling the cops are going to be too busy with other things to bother with stolen bike reports."
"Probably right. I saw this video on YouTube one time where some guy was complaining about how many bikes were being stolen in New York City. He decided to video himself stealing his own bike with bolt cutters in broad daylight, to see if he could get arrested."
"Oh yeah. I might have seen that one. He finally got arrested at the end, didn't he, after a bunch of attempts."
"Yep, all these people kept watching him, but none of them did or said anything. Finally, he got some cordless power-tool to grind off the bike lock and the cops stopped him. It was pretty funny."
"Yeah, right. I remember it. You didn't notice if Casey put any power-tools in our packs, did you?"
"Not sure, but you never know. He loaded us up pretty good."
"Mine's heavy enough. He probably put a couple in there."
The two figures in the alleyway moved out of the shadows after Becky and William passed by. William's eyes hadn't deceived him. They moved onto the street, but kept a safe distance from the couple with the big backpacks. Living on the street was tough at the best of times, and the two leaving the alleyway knew things were changing. They weren't sure how bad things were about to get, but they knew it made sense to take any advantage they could. They followed close to the backpacks, waiting for the right opportunity.
* * *
The size and intensity of the waves had been increasing for the last hour. No sooner would one wave break and drop the boat from wave crest to wave trough than another one would come along and do it all over again. Remarkably, the boat didn't fracture or roll over from all the pounding, though there were a few times when it heeled so much that passengers slid across the benches, nearly crushing others against the walls.
Even the small port windows managed to maintain their integrity. Only a little water managed to leak through the main entrance door. The internal boat scuppers managed to drain most of it away. There was enough, though, to make the passengers around the door wet and uncomfortable. As tough as the boat was, the people inside were not so. Some just lay on the floor, no longer having enough strength to sit upright on the benches. The short man had given up on trying to steer the boat shortly after the major waves started to hit. Just as well, since the engines weren't strong enough to fight the surge.
Another hour passed before the waves started to subside. They were still uncomfortable, but compared to what they'd endured so far, it was an improvement. Holly sat in the driver's seat to get a view out the small port windows.
"I can see a full moon, but nothing else except water and waves. How do we know we're still going in the right direction?"
"We don't," the short man answered. "It doesn't matter anyways. We ran out of fuel a while ago."
"I thought you'd stocked up extra?"
"We did. Just not enough extra. We'd have gotten more on if the storm hadn't gotten on top of us so quickly."
"So we're just going with the waves? We could drift forever."
"We don't really have a choice. Unless you want to try swimming."
Holly ignored the comment as Garrett joined her. He squinted out the small hatch, trying to make sense of what he saw.
"Is that land off in the distance? It's hard to tell with all the waves, but it looks different. It doesn't seem to be moving as much."
Holly squinted as well. She tried wiping the window to get the condensation off. With this many people breathing inside and no power to move air around, it was getting pretty humid inside. Still, it was hard to tell. At least their direction seemed to be constant as they watched the horizon for another half hour.
"Is that a light?" Garrett asked. Several other people crowded around them now, trying to get a look.
"Shouldn't there be a lot of lights, if it was land? We'd be staring at the US eastern seaboard. It should be lit up like a damn Christmas tree," someone said.
"Not if things are as bad there as they were on the boat," Holly answered. "If the EMP affected them as much as us, then the entire country could be dark."
"What's an EMP?" another of the passengers asked. No one answered.
"Is that a pier?" Holly said, pointing frantically at the window and grabbing Garrett by the sleeve. "It is a pier, isn't it?"
EMP Survivors (Book 1): Destination Lost Page 16