Dangerous Shores: Book Two; Hell or High Water

by Christine Conaway

  “Okay, I agree we can’t support them forever, but we can share some of what we do have. Once we get through the canal, it’s a straight line to Washington.”

  Frank looked over his shoulder at her with his eyebrows raised, obviously asking a silent question. He finally grinned and said, “Straight line? You’re kidding right? Have you forgotten that I’ve sailed before? There is never a straight line anywhere when it comes to sailing.”

  She laughed, she had forgotten he was a sailor. “True, but I think we can give them some and still be okay. What we don’t have is spare ammunition. You need to look through the satchel Alan took off the trawler and see what will work for them. Maybe give them on of those new rifles too.”

  “Well I wasn’t going to say anything until morning but I think we’ll have some new artillery in the morning. Chuck was asking me what we have in the way of weapons, so I told him. Of course then I didn’t know about the 50 cal. How much ammo do you have for it?”

  “Not very many, maybe a couple dozen. I’m not sure, but I think Alan would know. He counted all of it when we found it. What do you mean about the army bringing us things?”

  “We’ll have to wait and see, but something he said makes me think he’ll be bringing us something.” He sat quiet for a few minutes occupied with rowing, a few grunts accompanied his efforts. Finally, he said, “I can’t get my head around what happened to those guys. Dan was a cop…he should have been prepared for trouble and yet look at them. I keep asking myself where, what and why? How did they end up down here?

  “I don’t know. Maybe Brian was right and the lucky ones are the ones who are already gone.” She sat staring back the direction that had come from, “But I’m not ready to give up yet. I can’t imagine what would happen to Olivia or even Hannah, if something were to happen to us.”

  “My thoughts exactly. It’s good to have somebody else to worry about.”

  “Huh? Are you being facetious?”

  Frank laughed, “Am I being what? You have to remember you’re talking to a country boy here. We don’t understand big words like that.”

  His back was facing her and she couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not, “It’s not a big word. It means are you trying to be funny…Who thinks it’s good to have someone else to worry about?”

  “Oh…Well it is. Worrying about another person, gives you a reason to go on for their safety, which keeps you alive too. Keeping you all safe, gives me a reason not go all “Rambo” and get myself killed.”

  Ellen sat contemplating his words and realized he was right. Having the others to care about and keep safe was her inspiration to go on. Had she been trying to make this trip alone, she was pretty sure she would have given up at Garden Key. She may have made a different contribution to society by staying and documenting whatever was going on, but having these people around her allowed her to feel needed. Up until right then, she had never felt as if she was needed by anyone, nor did she feel as if she needed them. Her parents had taught her early on to depend on no one but herself, and with that in mind, she had effectively, although unintentionally made herself unavailable to anyone.

  Thinking on it, she decided her me-against-the-world attitude had probably quashed several romantic attachments. Her last beau had said on his way out the door, “It’s hard to compete with someone who doesn’t need anyone and is capable of taking care of themselves.”

  Before that it was, “You’re too strong. You don’t need anyone”, and another, “I could love you Ellen, but you won’t let me close enough.”

  She wondered how Frank’s simple explanation, had had the ability to make her see. She had a family, no matter how extended it became, she would do the best for all of them as long as she could.

  “Let’s go get those guys some food and whatever else we have that will help them out. Whatever we share we will replace somewhere along the way.”

  Ellen couldn’t explain the why of it, but she felt as if someone had lifted weight from her shoulders. Frank had unwittingly given her permission to let them all in.

  “Hey Frank.”

  He huffed with the effort of rowing, “What?”

  “Thanks!”

  “Your welcome and I’m not even going to ask what I did.”

  “Well, you probably wouldn’t understand if I did try to explain, I’m not sure if I understand it myself, but my brain just got clearer and I saved a hundred bucks”

  Frank shook his head and pulled on the oars. He didn’t understand women at all.

  They bumped the hull and Ellen threw the bow line to Alan waited while he secured them and clambered onto the boat.

  “Hannah, we need food for them. Let’s get out some of that soup mix, some powder milk, and maybe a couple of those jars of canned meat.” She didn’t wait to see if Hannah was going to do as she asked she knew Hannah would. “Alan, see how many 357, 38 and 45 shells we can spare. Don’t short us; they can use the 38 shells in the 357 if we have to go that way. And what about that rifle you were using. Maybe we can lend that to them for the lake crossing. I’ll make it known that we want to have it back when we get across, but pack it up and a couple of the thirty round clips too…full ones.

  Ellen went below to help Hannah. She knew there was canned and packaged food buried in some of the compartments that they hadn’t even touched yet. Hannah was still shy about going through what she didn’t consider hers to go through.

  Hannah stood open-mouthed as Ellen gave her quick version of what had happened to Dan and his family. While she hadn’t known them at all, she still had empathy for them. She couldn’t imagine how she would feel if she lost Oliva, and while she didn’t know her well yet either, she knew she would be devastated. Losing any of her new friends would crush her.

  Without being told a second time, Hannah went into the confines of the back stateroom and began to unload baskets. She’d open one grab a couple things and close it up and move it aside. Whatever she wanted, she set on the floor and used her foot to shove the stuff out the door to make more room.

  “That’s enough,” Ellen finally told her. We can’t give them everything. When we know more about what their plans are we’ll see if we can do more. For right now this will do.”

  Hannah up-ended a basket of freeze dried meals and began picking up the food on the floor. The basket was full, and while at first glance it may appear to be boring food, Hannah considered it all nutritious. They would have oatmeal, milk, soup, a fifteen bean soup mix, four quart jars of canned beef, the last of the frozen chicken from the restaurant, a small can of butter and cornmeal mix and a pint of honey. Ellen nodded her approval and grabbed one of the cases of M.R.E.’s.

  “Okay, this should last them for a while. Thanks Hannah.” She started up the ladder, stopped and came back down. She balanced the basket on the step. Hannah looked at her expectantly as if she may have forgotten to put something in.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever told you how happy I am to have you on board. I’m sorry it was under those conditions but…well…I love it that you’re here.” Completely out of character for Ellen, she gave Hannah a quick hug, picked the basket up and hurried up the ladder, before Hannah had a chance to answer.

  She didn’t notice that Hannah hadn’t moved and was staring up the ladder after Ellen. Hannah wasn’t sure what had just happened, because physical contact of any kind was something Ellen didn’t do. Olivia was the only person that Hannah could remember Ellen touching and even then it was mechanical as if she wasn’t sure what she was doing or she was afraid Olivia would break if she hugged her too hard.

  Hannah smiled, “Maybe, just maybe the ice princess is thawing out. Wonder what brought that on?” Alan and she had talked in private about Ellen’s fear of getting close or letting anyone close to her. Alan thought it was because someone had hurt her bad, but Hannah thought it was because she didn’t know how to really love other people. Not the kind of being in love, love, but the kind of love that real families share.

 
Alan had told her how much Ellen held her family in high regard, how they had given her everything she needed and what had happened when they passed away. He had told her how much Ellen said she missed her uncle Jerry.

  “Sometimes you can love and respect someone without really loving them or being loved by them. By the sounds of it, she loved her Uncle and respected her parents.”

  Hannah checked on Olivia. She was fast asleep and her thumb was neither by her mouth nor was it wet or wrinkled looking. Hannah pulled the sheet up and went back topside. She arrived in time to wave as Frank and Ellen left.

  “I just had the strangest conversation with Ellen that I’ve ever had. It was one sided on her part. I don’t know what happened over there or if Frank said something to her but…wow. I finally feel like I am finally home.”

  “Well she’s never hugged me until tonight…could have knocked me over with a feather.”

  “I don’t care what or who brought about the changes but I kind of like it. If she showed Frank the least encouragement, I’m pretty sure he would fall all over her.”

  “Has he said something?”

  “Oh no, nothing like that. I see the way he watches her when he thinks no one is looking. He always looks hungry…” she laughed thinking how hungry would look if it was an expression.

  Alan laughed with her and pulled her into his lap. “I can’t hardly wait to get to Washington. I want to marry you as soon as we can find a preacher.”

  “That may be a real problem. What if, when we finally get there and there is no one alive?”

  “Well, in the first place, the private that brought us back, his buddy is their radio man. He told him they were picking up shortwave chatter from as far away as Canada. So, that tells me there are people there. Ellen also told me she has friends up where she lives who think like her family did. She’s pretty sure they will head for her farm in the case of an emergency. Maybe some of the chatter they’ve been hearing on the radio could be coming from them. Ellen’s Uncle was pretty big into the ham radios and I’m pretty sure when she left she didn’t get rid of anything.”

  “I guess we can hope that’s true. For now, we can only worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow.” Hannah stood, “I’m going to lay down until they get back.”

  “Okay, I’ll be here.”

  Alan watched her until the top of her head disappeared down the hatch. It still amazed him that Hannah loved him. At first he had thought maybe it was because he had rescued her from a horrible situation. Ellen had warned him about not letting Hannah confuse gratitude with love. He had been patient until he was sure about her feelings.

  The cut on his neck itched, reminding him how close he had come to dying. He also knew without Frank actually telling him, that it would have been his own fault. Frank had tried to tell him things would be different on shore, but he had brushed it off thinking Frank was blowing it all out of proportion. After talking to some of the soldiers, he realized that from being isolated on the boat for so long, they had no clue how bad life had gotten for land-based people. At the beginning of the journey, Ellen had given him a scenario how she thought things would go, if an E.M.P. had actually been set off. He hadn’t believed her either. He figured the cops or National Guard would put a halt to what was going on in Palmetto. Never in his wildest dreams had he been prepared for the actuality of what was going on until they’d found Hannah.

  At Pelican Bay, Dan confirming it was happening all over Florida had convinced him into believing that Ellen was right. She’d predicted if this was happening everywhere, over half the people in the United States would be dead in the first three months unless a miracle happened. They’d had no miracle that he was aware of and then the reality of Cuba…” He shook his head. He hoped they had whatever it took to make it to Washington. He and Frank had not elaborated with the girls how bad the soldiers had said the crossing could be. Or at least he hadn’t said anything to Hannah, but Frank probably told Ellen what he thought would happen.

  He thought and she had demonstrated that she had the heart of a true warrior and that she’d probably met her match in Frank. He hoped someday she would see it that way too, because he thought if anyone could get them all safely to their destination it would be them.

  Oars splashing in the water so quick after their departure surprised him. The way he figured it, they must have dropped off the supplies and left immediately. There had not been enough time for them to have had any meaningful conversation. He would have liked to have gone over with them, but he understood they couldn’t leave Hannah and Olivia alone. He hoped on the crossing, he would have a chance to pick Dan’s brain about what had happened to them out there. Dan’s boat was a well-built Island Packet. The last time he had seen it was at Garden Key and it was immaculate. Now she looked as if she had met the devil head on and had barely survived.

  “Are you going to tie us up or just sit there and look pretty?” Frank asked, “We could have been anybody sneaking up on you.”

  Alan lifted the AR-15 up from where it rested on the gunnel. “Had you not been you, you would have not gotten this close.” He said. He lay the rifle down and went to grab the line.

  “You’re learning kid. I was prepared to be disappointed, but you’re learning.”

  “Are you two going to stand there and trade sweet nothings or are you going to let me on the boat?” Ellen had been sitting on the aft tube for the ride back. The bow had been filled with provisions and she hadn’t bothered moving forward for the trip back. It had allowed her to give guidance to Frank as he rowed both ways.

  “Who’s got the watch?” she asked as she climbed aboard. In the cockpit she stopped. “We are standing watch tonight. Right?”

  “We are, and as much as I hate to say it we’ll do a two-man watch. The Sergeant told us these buggers are real tricky. They come at you from both sides when you least expect them to. So I am guessing, just before sunrise we could have visitors.”

  “So you and me then?” Alan asked. He didn’t think he could sleep anyhow. His nerves were on edge waiting for something to happen.

  “How about you and Ellen to start and in two hours I will relieve one of you, whichever of you is the most tired. Then every two hours we’ll switch one of us out. That way we all get a little rest.” He looked at each of them to see if they were in agreement. They both nodded and he went below to nap on the settee.

  “What was it like over there?” Alan asked. His eyes were constantly moving watching his side of the water. With the moon and lack of wind they would easily see someone sneaking up on them.

  “Not good. Dan is a mess mentally and remember when Dan told us about Clare having cancer and then beating it?”

  Alan nodded because he did remember. That was the reason Dan had retired. He didn’t remember him saying that she beat it though. He remembered him saying she couldn’t be left alone for any length of time.

  “I don’t remember him saying she beat it, just that she needed constant care, and that was why he was retiring after 30 years.”

  “Maybe you’re right. Anyways, I think whatever was wrong with her then is wrong again. She looks horrible and Dan said they all had the flu, but I would be surprised if it was not more with her. The others, Dan’s sister and both kids got whatever it was and died quickly. Brian, Dan and Clare supposedly got it too and recovered.”

  Ellen sat chewing on her bottom lip and Alan knew her well enough to know something was on her mind. She was an easy read when something was bothering her.

  “Alan, did you get a flu shot this year?”

  “Nope, I had to work and never got around to getting it. Why?”

  “Neither did Frank or I. I asked Dan and he didn’t because he was at the hospital with Clare so much and she didn’t because of the chemo. Brian didn’t because he doesn’t believe getting them will help. But Millie and the kids got theirs a week before all this started, because it was required by the kid’s school. We don’t know about Jeff and Linda because they were
already gone when the others got sick. I know I’m reaching here, but does it sound a little paranoid for me to think maybe the flu wasn’t exactly the flu after all?”

  “Yeah, I think that’s reaching a little bit. People die every year from the flu and without the facilities for people to get antibiotics…Ellen, people die every year from the flu.”

  “I know that but, old people, young people and people who are compromised die, not healthy people. Healthy people are sick for a couple days and they get better. Brian’s kids were healthy and Millie didn’t fit into any of the categories, she looked healthy too.”

  “Well, we can debate this forever or until we know different, but I can’t see any one person with enough connections to pull something like this off…and really, why would they want to?”

  “Well just remember I brought this up…and Clare is compromised, she should have died too.”

  Alan laughed at the determined look on her face. He could see that she was not going to let this go. “I’ll remember you said it and you remember I said it couldn’t happen. This flu strain, whatever kind it is, is nothing more than coincidence.”

  “Alan, what the hell is that?” Ellen was whispering, which was in direct contrast to the way they had just been laughing. They hadn’t been overly loud, just loud enough to let anyone trying to sneak up on them know that there was someone watching.

  Ellen was right. There was something floating about a hundred feet of the port side. It wasn’t floundering like a person would in the water, but more like a half-submerged log. The tide was obviously moving whatever it was into the bay.