“Nobody here wants to be your mama,” she hisses, then raises the derringer and unloads both barrels into the boy’s face. The first shot hits his the mouth, the second finds his left eye.
Jake One collapses as his blood runs freely from the two fresh bullet holes. Just like that, the fourth Jake dies. Just like that, the last human threat to their community is gone. Satin, filled with revulsion, unleashes the contents of her stomach all over his corpse.
Just like that, the community’s ordeal is over.
Hannibal raises his spear victoriously into the night air. Then Matias and Alex follow, pumping their weapons like the Stone Age warriors they’ve become. The rest of the survivors erupt, an explosion of primal cheering, whooping and hollering that echoes loudly across Emerald Bay and out over the lake.
The gunshots had awakened everyone at Emerald Bay South, as well. Jessa, Meg and the girls were huddled together with Diego’s family and Matias’ family as they watched the flare explode high over the bay. They nervously awaited news from the northern camp, hoping and praying that their men were safe and unharmed. Mariana and Isabella prayed with their children while Meg and Jessa held hands anxiously with Lily and Mia.
Then, at last, came the cacophony of loud cheers.
“You hear that? It is over. We won!” Mateo screams as the women and children jump up and down embracing each other with hugs and kisses of pure joy, knowing that the winning side never cheers that loudly when they suffer casualties. The air fills with the sounds of celebration, their voices joining the echoes from Emerald Bay North.
By Dawn, the revelry finally ends and the cleanup begins. Alex, Matias and Diego collect the Jakes’ weapons and store them in Hannibal’s shelter. Eric, Donnie and Deuce help them drag the bodies of Jake and Jake Three down from the hillside and onto the beach where they pile the bodies of the four Jakes together like tossed animal carcasses.
“Now what do we do with them?” asks Hannibal.
“Two choices, burn `em or bury `em,” says Diego.
“I think it best to build a funeral pyre and burn them,” says Sam Hayden. “Leave nothing that might attract scavengers, if there are any left.”
“Cremation will free their souls,” says Rachel. “You don’t want them to remain here.”
She and the others gather enough combustible material from the fallen pine trees to construct a pyre large enough to hold all four bodies laid side-by-side. They choose a spot at the northern end of the beach not far from the bodies. Once the rectangular structure is complete, they drag the bodies and lift them up onto the top center of their cremation platform, which is made mostly of dried pine needles.
“Does anyone want to say anything before we light it up?” Alex stares directly at Marcus.
Marcus steps forward, loudly clears his throat. “This is for everyone here. I’m sorry I doubted you. I was wrong. I’ve been a major asshole to some of you. Hannibal, Satin, Rachel, Donnie, Ankur, I’m especially sorry to you. You are good people. You deserve better. So I hope you will find it in yourselves to give me a second chance and forgiveness.”
Alex, unmoved, scans the others. “Anyone else?”
Hannibal steps forward. “I just want to thank everyone who trusted us and helped us end this nightmare. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
Alex lights the torch with a match and approaches the pyre. At each of the four sides of the rectangle, Alex lights a separate fire. When all four sides are ablaze, he backs away and tosses the torch end over end onto the platform where the four bodies lie. Everyone watches in silence as the flames spread quickly across the rectangle engulfing the pyre and sending the thick black smoke billowing into the still morning air.
As the four Jakes burn, the onlookers drift away one by one until only Hannibal and Satin remain at the pyre, watching the glowing embers, their heads together, holding onto each other tightly.
“I love you,” Satin sobs into his chest.
“I love you, too.”
Chapter 12
Emerald Bay
Alex and Deuce go straight to Meg’s shelter to check on Samson. They’re surprised to find Marcus already there, grateful to see that he’s brought food and water for Samson, cleaned his wound and changed the dressing. Samson is so happy to see Alex and Deuce that he tries to stand but only manages to get up on his two front paws before plopping back down with a pained whimper.
“Easy boy,” Deuce kneels over Samson and tenderly strokes his head while the dog licks his hand.
“He’s lucky. Bullet passed right through the fleshy part of his leg. It’ll heal faster if you put mint leaves on it,” says Marcus.
“That true?” asks Deuce.
“Straight from the mouth of Harrah’s resident fortune teller,” says Marcus.
Alex shakes his head. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to try.”
“Hey, it helped me. The mint is soothing.” Marcus fidgets nervously.
Alex senses his discomfort. “I think your apology went over fairly well. Rachel smiled and Donnie stopped calling you a tool.”
“Progress,” says Marcus.
Lily and Mia suddenly burst into the shelter with Meg right behind them.
“We saw the smoke, so we came home early.” Meg notices Samson lying there with his hind leg heavily bandaged. “Oh my God, what happened to Samson?”
“Unfortunately, Samson took a bullet for us.”
“You hear that, girls? Samson’s officially a war hero, so be gentle with him.” Despite Meg’s warning, Lily and Mia smother Samson with hugs and kisses that he doesn’t seem to mind at all.
“We burned the bodies.” Alex announces somberly. As the words leave him, Jessa enters the shelter and throws herself at Alex and Deuce. After several tense days apart their reunion sets off a flood of tears. Alex smiles at Meg through red eyes.
“My, it’s getting crowded in here.” Meg tries to lighten the mood.
Deuce spots Samson and the bandaged leg. “Dad, what happened to Samson?” Deuce pushes his way past Lily and Mia, puts both hands on the shepherd’s head and begins gently massaging him.
“You okay, buddy?”
“He was shot defending us. I’m guessing several weeks of healing and he’ll be just like new.”
“We should take him home.”
“We’d have to carry him the whole way, and he really needs to rest.”
Deuce considers their options. “We could stay here with him until he’s able to walk.”
“The boy’s right,” says Meg. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. You sheltered us for several nights. The least I can do is return the favor.”
December 15
Even with the Jacks family’s help, it takes several days to dismantle and refill all the booby traps so they can move about freely again. They settle back into their daily routines, gathering food, exploring and sharing stories from their old lives.
Matias and Diego return to their families in Emerald Bay South. Soon afterward, they begin making daily trips north to visit their new friends. Hannibal and Satin return to exploring the lake. Rachel starts yoga classes. Marcus finds himself a small cave for personal shelter and starts attending yoga classes with Sam, Julia, Jessa and Ankur.
Deuce falls in tight with Eric and Donnie, who can’t wait to go back to Sugar Pine Point. So the first thing the three of them do together is hike back to Eric and Donnie’s spot on the mountain. Eric and Donnie have been away for nearly a week and they are eager to check on the Pacific Ocean.
“This is where we stayed before we found Marcus and the others,” says Eric.
“You’re not going to believe it,” says Donnie excitedly.
“We made a major discovery,” says Eric with an air of mystery. He leads Deuce over to the big rock where they left the surveying device, points to it.
“You discovered a cellphone.” Deuce is unimpressed.
“Yes, it’s a cellphone, Einstein” says Donnie, “but it’s also a surveyor.”
“Surveyor for what?” Deuce studies the cellphone and the small rocks holding it in place.
“You’re missing the big picture, Einstein,” says Eric. “Look…”
Deuce follows his hand as he waves toward the distant horizon with a theatrical little flourish. Deuce’s jaw drops in astonishment. For a moment he is so paralyzed by fear that he cannot breathe.
“That can’t be,” says Deuce, finally gasping for breath. “We’re two hundred miles from the Pacific Ocean.”
“Correction, we were two hundred miles from the Pacific Ocean.” Eric leans down to eye level with the top edge of the cellphone, lets out a low whistle. “That’s about twenty miles, max.”
“Dude, this is huge. Why haven’t you told anyone?”
“They kind of had other stuff to worry about,” says Donnie.
“We didn’t want to make things worse,” adds Eric. “The good news… it doesn’t look any closer than it was last time we checked.”
“Still,” says Deuce. “You should at least tell Professor Hayden. Let him decide if the others should know.”
“He’s right, Eric. We should.” Donnie has never been great at keeping secrets. He’s itching to tell someone.
“Okay, grab whatever you need from here. We have to go tell Professor Hayden right now,” urges Deuce.
They collect a few snacks and head back toward Emerald Bay. They are halfway down Sugar Pine Point Mountain when an earthquake nearly throws them off balance. For several seconds the ground lurches beneath them, then it’s over.
“Well, that was scary. You remember our last earthquake?” Donnie crouches next to a big rock and waits for another tremor, an aftershock.
“Right after The Crash,” says Deuce. “I really don’t miss them.”
It’s mid-Day when they find Sam Hayden sitting alone on a log holding loosely onto his fishing rod, a gift from Hannibal and Satin. The boys plop down on the log next to him.
“Fishing after an earthquake? You catch anything, Professor?”
“Fish must have gone to deeper water. So I guess I’m really here for the peace and quiet.”
“Sorry to disturb you, but there’s something you should know,” says Deuce anxiously. “We just came from the top of Sugar Pine Point. We could see the Pacific Ocean from there.”
Sam Hayden drops his fishing rod and grabs Deuce firmly by the shoulders. “Do not joke with me, son.”
“I’m not joking. Unless some new giant lake sprung up, the Pacific is right there on the horizon. Don’t believe me, come see for yourself.”
Sam stands abruptly and begins walking straight toward Sugar Pine Point. Even with his arthritic legs, the boys have to jog to catch up with him.
“What does it mean, Professor?” Deuce falls in right beside him.
“It means the reshaped California coastline has probably moved more than a hundred miles inland.”
They hike until they reach the summit, where Sam Hayden immediately turns his gaze out toward the horizon. His expression is unlike anything they have seen on him before, a look of sheer terror.
“How long have you known about this?”
“Four or five weeks, maybe,” says Eric. “We set up the cellphone to use as a straight-edge to measure sea level. Until now, it hadn’t really changed.”
“Maybe it’s a little closer than before.” Donnie peers over the cellphone at the wider band of blue-green ocean water. “It’s definitely closer.”
“Do you think the earthquake had something to do with it, Professor?”
“No, too small and too shallow. Sea level rise like this had to be caused by something much, much bigger than an earthquake. A major tectonic plate shift, possibly a crack in the Pacific plate.”
“Probably from the shockwaves and earthquakes after The Crash,” says Deuce.
“I hope you got an ‘A’ in earth science, Deuce” says Sam. “You’re right.”
“Shouldn’t we tell the others?”
“For now, we tell no one,” says Sam emphatically. “This stays with the four of us until I figure out some things. I wish I had my computer and my instruments, instead of just my twenty-first century intelligence and crude Stone Age tools.”
Deuce eyes Hayden, Eric and Donnie. “Don’t knock your intelligence, Professor. Seriously, we have to keep this to ourselves.”
They nod resolutely and seal their promise with firm handshakes. They take one last look at the Pacific horizon and leave Sugar Pine Point, returning poker-faced to Emerald Bay. Just before they arrive back at camp, they agree to return to Sugar Pine Point for regular sea level checks until Sam tells them otherwise.
Deuce thoroughly hates the thought of not being able to tell his parents, especially Alex. Alex would absolutely want to know that the Pacific Ocean has risen more than three thousand feet in less than five months. Jessa, on the other hand, would rather not know about something so ominous on the horizon. How often had Deuce heard her say that she doesn’t worry about things she cannot see? It will be easy to withhold bad news from her, but Alex is another story entirely.
How will Deuce find the self-discipline to hold out on Alex until Sam says it’s okay to tell him? How will not telling the truth protect his family any better or any longer than telling them? Perhaps most difficult of all, how will he hide his growing fear of being overwhelmed by the world’s largest body of water?
December 25
“Merry Christmas!” Meg stands over Alex, Jessa and Deuce dangling three small bags of nuts, berries and dandelion flowers wrapped in colorful holiday paper, a bit of bounty from one of Hannibal and Satin’s many excursions through the crushed multimillion-dollar homes that dot the lake’s perimeter. Christmas gifts. Much like the ones she used to give her eighth-grade students. Meg has eighteen more matching little bags lined up in the far corner of the shelter, one for each remaining member of the newly named Emerald Bay Colony, whose total population now stands at twenty-two with one dog.
“That’s so sweet,” says Jessa. “Thanks, Meg.”
“I always told my students that it’s not the cost or size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart giving it.”
“I have to remember that,” says Jessa.
“Did anyone else remember Christmas? I didn’t.” Alex had spent an entire decade before The Crash trying to forget about Christmas. The warm, wonderful family holiday gatherings of his childhood had devolved into an annual retail shopping nightmare where people literally beat, stomped and murdered one another to acquire stuff they didn’t really need. To Alex’s way of thinking, Christmas had become a day where capitalism and consumerism trumped compassion and Christianity.
“Of course we remember Christmas,” says Meg cheerily. “Julia, Rachel, Satin, Mariana and Isabella have been preparing a special Christmas dinner for us tonight. Did you know that Isabella is deaf? I thought she was just shy.”
“I knew when I saw Mariana signing to her,” says Deuce. “I want to learn sign language but I have to finish learning Spanish first. Only one year in school and Mateo is teaching me the rest.”
“Good to have friends,” says Meg.
Many hours later, after a day filled with frenzied preparations for their first Christmas dinner in the post-Crash world, they start drinking alcohol at Dusk. Among the many items they have collected, Hannibal and Satin have repossessed a case of tequila and brought it to campfire.
“Drink up if you drink, drink water if you don’t.” Hannibal stares at Eric and Donnie, a kind of warning.
“Dude, we don’t even like tequila,” pleads Donnie.
“Yeah, we’re more the cold Coors beer types,” says Eric sarcastically.
“Seriously, you guys are more the protein shake types,” says Deuce.
Deuce worries about people drinking. He knows alcohol works like truth serum. Their first post-Crash Christmas dinner is not the time or place for anyone to expose the terrible secret that lies just beyond the mountains west of Emerald Bay. Deuce is rel
ieved to learn that Sam Hayden only drinks wine, and Donnie and Eric don’t drink at all.
“Tonight we celebrate not only our first Christmas as survivors but our continued survival against unimaginable odds.” Hannibal raises his flask and toasts each of the others in turn, finally cues Alex. Alex stands and addresses them.
“We’ve lost more than any of us ever expected to lose. We’ve also gained. We’ve gained new friends and the opportunity to choose how we want to live. So what kind of world do you want to live in? I know what I want. I want a world where we are all equals and where we share our resources. I want a world without violence, hatred, racism, bigotry or religious persecution where love, respect, kindness and cooperation are the simple rules we live by.”
“I’ll second that,” says Sam Hayden.
“Sounds socialist to me,” says Marcus.
“I prefer to call it humanist,” says Hayden. “Alex is right. We have a chance to start fresh and not make the same mistakes the human race made before The Crash. With our combined knowledge, skills and cooperation, we can live here comfortably ... as long as nature allows us. With a little luck, we can continue exploring, telling our stories, feeding ourselves and living for years to come.”
Now that the threat of the four Jakes has been eliminated, there are stronger bonds between them, a heightened sense of community spirit in Emerald Bay. Most of them never had to fight for their very existence before. Now that they have, they are braver, battle-tested and more capable of facing the day-to-day challenges of living through the second Stone Age on a badly wounded, possibly dying planet. They are ready to turn their backs on the past and face an uncertain future together as the first colony in this new world, the Emerald Bay Colony.
Hannibal is not ready to turn his back completely on the past. He believes they still have unfinished business up north as he pulls Alex aside with a sense of urgency. “Listen, we need to find Jake’s cave. I’ll bet he had tools and supplies we can use down here. I thought you might want to go with me, help me carry whatever we find and bring it back here.”
“When?”
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