Dangerous Shores: Book Two; Hell or High Water

by Christine Conaway

  No one had paid any attention to Olivia. She had crept in to the cockpit and sat in the corner, so quiet they forgot she was there. They had been listening to Chuck tell them about the forts. When he finished they heard Olivia. “When are you coming?’ She asked. She had one finger on the talk button and the radio in her other hand. When she let the talk button go, she put the radio up to her ear and nodded as if she agreed with what she was hearing.

  “Olivia!” Frank growled. “That’s not a toy!”

  Olivia almost dropped the radio when Frank yelled. Her bottom lip quivered and tears pooled in her eyes but she didn’t cry. She stuck her chin out and said, “The man wanted to talk and you didn’t listen. He called and called, so I talked to him.”

  “Oh…Olivia I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.”

  “That’s okay. My Poppa yelled sometimes too. Momma said he couldn’t help it cause she said he was excitable.” She put the radio in Chucks outstretched hand. She looked sad until she saw Hannah watching her. She wiped her eyes and scooted around the cockpit until she was sitting between Alan and Hannah.

  Chuck had taken the radio and called out to his former men. After several attempts he gave up and looked at Olivia. Before he could voice his question, Hannah intervened.

  “Olivia, can you tell us what the man wanted.”

  “He wanted him.” She pointed at Chuck. “He said he was on his way, but don’t wait supper on him. He would be here for breakfast and is bringing company.”

  Chuck’s face broke into a huge smile showing all his teeth he laughed. “Well dog gone! I’m sure those guys had a good reason for radio silence, but they’ll still get a piece of my mind when they get here.”

  “So apparently that message made some kind of sense to you?” Ellen thought she knew what Olivia had said, but would let Chuck confirm it.

  “Yes ma’am. There’s more than two for sure. If there had only been whoever was on the radio and one other guy he would have said, he was bringing a date. Company could mean all or at least two more are alive. They can’t get here tonight but they will be here first thing in the morning. We usually have chow at 0600 so I expect them around then.”

  “Have you decided what you guys will do yet?” It was a question they had all been wondering, but it was Frank who asked.

  “Well, depends on many boys we end up with. As far as I’m concerned the war is over for us until someone tells us different. Until then, maybe we’ll head on up to Diego and check it out. Mayhap we’ll run into a few more of our boys up there. These here three all come from the east coast, and we already know there is no east coast, so maybe we’ll go raise a little hell on the west side.”

  “I can’t really believe this whole thing has even happened. Did Frank tell you about the guys we ran into at Garden Key?”

  “He did…I had heard some talk here from the locals. They believe it is a hell sent down from God. I personally think it was a solar flare of mass proportion, much like the Carrington event back in September 1859. They didn’t have the technology back then that we do today. When it hit, telegraph operators could still send telegraphs even after they disconnected the power. Lines were melted and it was light enough to read by even though it was dark. They even felt the effects in Europe. Our whole world is built around computers, wireless communication, wireless this and wireless that. It may not have been as big of solar flare as back then, but we notice because it effectively took our whole infrastructure down.”

  “But weren’t there safeguards in place to prevent something like that from happening?” Ellen had leaned forward as she spoke. She thought someone had to have known in advance and she’d said as much to her group. Dan had told them what had been on the television before the power went off.

  “I expect our government knew it was coming and maybe they did try to prevent it. Maybe they hit it with a nuclear device thinking to blast it out of our atmosphere and this is the result. Other countries could have seen their attempt to put an end to it as a direct attempt to annihilate them. Who knows but the fact is, we have no power, someone bombed the east coast as well as several strategic bases. Someone…who knows who, fired a few retaliatory bombs back and someone obviously misunderstood the intentions and returned a few of theirs and the war was on.”

  “Well, I think we have become a society of dysfunctional people as a whole. They used to say families were dysfunctional, but I think it extends to all of humanity. Everyone is too busy worrying about how everything effects them on a personal level, not what is best for civilization as a whole. I mean you don’t eat broccoli so no one can?”

  They all laughed, and while her analogy with the broccoli hit home with some of them, they understood it. Until someone figured out a way to keep everyone happy there would be no peace anywhere.

  “I think too many people think they are owed something. That was one of the problems I had at school. I never had a school loan, I worked my ass off to pay for it. Every time I turned around students were rioting or protesting something. They didn’t like the grade they got on a paper or test they wanted the teacher or professor removed because they thought he had a personal grudge against them. Hell, most of those teachers were so overwhelmed by the amount of students they taught, they probably couldn’t associate a term paper with a face unless you were standing right in front of them.” Alan was getting himself worked up just voicing his thoughts.

  Hannah, touched his arm, and it had the effect of a tranquilizer. His posture relaxed just from her simple touch. “Let’s just agree that this whole world is screwed up and now it’s up to the people left to find a way to put it back together again. Keeping in mind that everyone has different wants and needs. Right now I think everyone probably wants dinner, so I’ll go check on…what was his name?” she looked at Chuck.

  “Hinkle, Simon Hinkle,” He supplied.

  I’ll go check on Simon and find something for us all to eat. Come on Olivia, you can help me. You guys can figure out what we’re going to be doing until tomorrow.” She went below with Olivia right behind her.

  “She’s right, we need to decide what we are doing. I vote for anchoring off-shore until morning. We don’t know who is out here or even if there are people. But, I think showing up just before dark would feel like a threatening gesture to anyone already here.” Frank motored out past the first of the four islands. The causeway was empty of people or vehicles. An hour later he had motored around the west end of Flamenco where they saw a couple of derelict boats anchored. Someone had torched them and it was apparent they probably weren’t going to be any kind of immediate threat to them.

  “Anchor…Alan?”

  “You got it boss,” Alan flung over his shoulder as he headed forward. Anchor out and set, he waited for Frank to back down on it. Satisfied, they weren’t going anywhere he went back to the cockpit.

  An hour later, Hannah fed them a stew of dehydrated vegetables some of Hannah’s canned beef and baking powder biscuits, made with half wheat flour and half cornmeal.

  Chuck, set his plate aside and used the half paper towel to wipe his mouth. “We could sure use a cook like you around Miss Hannah. I swear that’s the best meal I’ve had in months.”

  “Well you should see what she does to the M.R.E.’s. They don’t taste anything like the ones I remember from the sand pit. She works her magic and they turn into a meal fit for a king.”

  “Well Frank, unless you want to go back to eating the M.R.E.’s like they were meant to be eaten, you need to find us some staples. I have a five-gallon bucket of cornmeal and about 2 pounds of flour left. We’re out of oil, pepper and yeast. Soon we will be down to Ellen’s freeze dried meals of which we have about two, maybe two and a half months’ worth, if there are only the five of us, a dozen jars of canned meats and chicken. We have a five-gallon bucket of rice and one of beans.”

  Ellen had her notebook out and was occupied with writing in it. She stopped when she heard Alan speaking. “Well that sounds like an awful lot of food
to me. We should be good.”

  Hannah raised her eyebrows, “Really, have you noticed how far between the grocery stores are? These numbers don’t reflect any spoilage or loss we could sustain along the way.”

  “Okay, listening to you guys made me think.” She paused while Alan and Frank had a laugh at her expense and wanted to smack them all when Darius and Chuck and Scott joined in.

  “Ha Ha Ha!” she mimicked, “Don’t make me go all bitchy on you.” She waited for them to stop laughing, “There is no way we can go home via Hawaii. Food is a concern and our fuel as well. The shortest way home is right up the coast. We can sail as much as we are able even if we have to tack out and back. A straight line is around 4800 miles not counting time and days lost with tacking. With the current running mostly against us we’ll be lucky to manage three knots per hour,” she looked down at her book, “That is only seventy-two nautical miles per day…” Ellen blew a gust of air out and her shoulders sank as if she was already feeling defeat. “It will take us at least two and a half months to get home and that doesn’t include the walk at the end.” She looked into the eyes of each of them in turn. “Can we even do this?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Frank, sensitive to Ellen’s emotions thought she was ready to give up, he needed to step up and show her how they could do it. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure they could make the trip, but if they all felt like they couldn’t there was no point even trying, because they wouldn’t. His thoughts were, when a person believed in something no matter how hard it was, they could succeed because their determination and perseverance would force them too. When you believe and put forth the effort you usually reached your goal.

  He looked at Ellen, “You have any west coast charts?”

  Ellen thought for a second, “I might have some. I bought a sack of charts of an old sailor when he went into assisted living and he was from Oregon. There’s probably charts for the west coast in the bag. Right now they’re under the V-berth.”

  “Okay, when we get a chance we’ll pull them out. I’m thinking if we stay…say maybe a hundred miles off-shore, we could run in and see about finding fuel or any other supplies we can use. If we have to, we can hunt. If there are no or few vehicles running, we will probably find diesel.”

  Alan was beginning to see where Frank was going, “Think about all the trucks that would have stopped on the highways. They would not only have fuel, but maybe canned food and other stuff as well.”

  “And you two think anything will be left when we finally get there? What about the people? You think we’re simply going to go in and raid some trucks without any repercussions?”

  Chuck intervened, “Hannah, you might be shocked how correct Frank and Alan are. I forget you guys were out of touch for the past two months. Within a week of the grid going down, some kind of flu bug spread like wildfire. Probably seventy-five percent of the people who got it died almost immediately. I’m sure you’ve already taken into consideration how many in hospitals and nursing homes dependent on machines would have died from the loss of power. My Major, before he died, thought that with the suicides, gang related deaths, flu deaths and subsequent diseases, would have decimated eighty-five percent of the population in the U.S. alone. World-wide he thought the numbers would be greater than that.”

  “Don’t start with the flu bug. Ellen already thinks it was caused by the flu shots the government gave out in their free clinics. She has this theory that the government is behind the elimination of all of the sick people, old people, and lower class people. Like they were going to wipe out anyone who wasn’t a productive citizen.”

  Chuck tipped his head at Alan, “What makes you so sure that she’s wrong?”

  Alan’s mouth dropped open. “Well…because they wouldn’t do that. What would they have to gain?” They could see when the truth finally hit him. It had taken his own words spoken out loud for him to realize that he had answered his own question. “Oh! Well crap! So what do we do now?”

  Ellen answered him, “We survive. We get to the farm and do our part in rebuilding a sustainable community. If we have to, we do it one person at a time.”

  Frank reached out and gave Ellen a much needed hug. She had been doubting herself and it had taken Chucks explanation to show her they had to succeed, there was no other option. Somewhere there had to be more people who thought like they did, people trying to survive and flourish in the new world.

  “Okay then. I think we’ll do two person watches for tonight and then tomorrow, we’ll go to shore and see what we can find. I’ll take Ellen for my watch partner, then maybe Chuck and Darius. Alan you can have Hannah and Scott…Hmmm, I guess I’ll get up with you or you can Chuck.”

  “I will because I am an early riser anyhow. That’ll leave Hannah and Alan rested to watch the boat while the rest of us go to shore.”

  “What? Wait I want to go with you. What if something happens while you guys are gone and you need me?”

  “That’s exactly why we want you on the boat. Not only to guard the girls and Simon, but to come to our aid if we need you. Some who knows how to run the boat and use a gun needs to stay on board.”

  Alan looked at Ellen, “What about…” Ellen had only to glare at him for him to get the message. “Okay, I’ll stay here.”

  “Good, now everyone find yourself somewhere to sleep and we’ll wake Chuck and Darius in two hours.”

  Chuck went below to the settee he had occupied earlier while Hannah and Alan went to the V-berth. Isaiah looked down below and saw all the bunks were full. He wasn’t about to crawl in with Simon even if it was a double berth. He took a cockpit pillow and was going to the bow when Ellen stopped him.

  “Isaiah, go into the aft cabin. There a sleeping bag and pillow in there. If you have to, push the containers back. There’s plenty of room.”

  “Thank you Miss Ellen,” he said and dropped the cockpit pillow. He disappeared below. Soon there were no sounds but the soft snoring of sleeping people.

  “I feel old when they call me ma’am or Miss Ellen. What’s going to happen to these boys? They’re out here fighting a cause they had nothing to do with. They’ve lost their families, their homes and are stuck down here in the middle of a freaking jungle. What’s going to happen to them?”

  “As much as Chuck says the war is over for them, you can bet your ass he’ll have them out taking care of the bad guys. It’ll still be like the army but with less rules of protocol. Don’t worry about them, he already treats them better than most parents do their children. They think highly of him too.” Frank sat watching the rising moon shine on the water. The silhouettes of trees and buildings stood out in contrast to the rising moon. Had the timing been different, he would have caught the scene with his camera, catching the moment forever. In another time he might have taken the photo out and been reminded of the silence and peace he felt in that moment. The sky was devoid of contrails and the birds were at peace. It was a perfect moment if even just for a second in time.

  “It’s beautiful isn’t it. Hard to believe it took our world falling down in pieces for us to see this. Even alone, I didn’t take the time to appreciate what was out there every day. I almost feel like I had a part in this catastrophe. Like we all did. I just want to be home where it’s safe. I want to see Olivia grow into a beautiful woman and I want to see Hannah and Alan raise their family. I want to be there when Hannah has her baby. I want to feel safe again.”

  “You want an awful lot woman. I’d like to think you’d like to see me somewhere in your future.” He switched sides to sit by her. Gently he pulled her to him and they sat in silence, his arm draped over her shoulders. “I promise you, come hell or high water, I will get you, Hannah, Olivia and Alan home safely or die trying.”

  She looked at him, pulling back so she could see his face. “I hope it doesn’t come down to that. It would be far nicer if we all got there safely no matter how long it takes. We’ve already had our share of hell and high water and yet we’ve
had a very protected two months at least compared to most people.”

  “You realize this could be the last night of peace we will see in a very long time? When we leave here there will only be the five of us. One of us will have to be on watch at all times.”

  “Of course, but can’t that also be the person at the wheel?”

  “I don’t think so. I almost got Alan killed back there on shore, because one of us wasn’t watching. I don’t think we can afford to take that chance. You know yourself it’s pretty easy to fall into a stupor when you’re standing behind the wheel for hours at a time.”

  “Excuse me…Alan almost got both of you killed by not taking your security seriously. He’s the one who fell asleep. We’ll just have to learn to wear two hats at a time. Let’s try with a one person watch and see how it goes. We can always add a person if we need to. If we were going far off-shore, I wouldn’t worry about it so much but a hundred miles is not that far if a person had use of a power boat.”

  “Well, the army does and there was the chug in Cuba and the Sergeant said there were some here that were running and Dan’s boat. So yes I think some will have working motors. You are not the only one who was prepared for anything.”

  “What I don’t understand is, why do some electronics work and others don’t. I understand the military having their equipment hardened against something like this, but what about the power plants. How could some places have power, like here as an example…the canal gates run on electric power, how can it still work?”

  “I’ve thought about it and really don’t know. Maybe because they have their own hydroelectric dam and the equipment is buried inside a couple feet of concrete? I don’t know. Maybe it was line-of-sight to whatever caused this be it a solar flare or a nuke. I am not smart enough to understand it myself.”