by Howard, Bob
******
The pontoon boat was top-of-the-line, and it made good time across the lake. Hampton wasn’t surprised to find charts and maps of Lake Norman in a water-tight compartment on the steering console. He studied them as Colleen steered and spotted more than one good place where they should be able to drop anchor out of sight. If they didn’t find the Chief during the daylight hours, he didn’t expect the Chief to waste fuel by searching the lake at night. Hampton was especially interested in some of the small, uninhabited islands that dotted the lake.
They could drop anchor behind one that had deep water around it and sleep in the boat. Some of the islands had shallow sand bars around them that he found to be just a little too convenient for the infected to walk on. He didn’t plan to park near any of them and have the infected walking right out of the water to their boat. He felt the same way about camping on an island. He didn’t plan to get bitten after making it this far, and now that he knew Colleen he was going to be even more careful.
He held up the map where she could see it better and asked, “Do you see any landmarks on shore that would tell you we’re anywhere near this island?”
Colleen looked at the spot he was showing her and then at the parts of the map around it. They had just passed a trio of larger islands that weren’t developed, and she had wondered why no one had bothered. On the map she was sure she was seeing those same islands. She pointed at the largest of the three.
“Isn’t this that island back there to the left of the stern?”
Hampton turned around quickly to catch a look.
“You are so good at this. Do you even need me along for protection?”
“No,” she said. “I can take care of myself. I just need you along to help keep up the morale.”
She gave him a cute little wink, and he couldn’t believe it. She could actually make him blush.
As much as he wanted to continue with the current line of discussion, he had to focus on where they were. He studied the map west of the trio of islands and then compared it to what he could see. There was a long, narrow finger of land with a road down the middle of it. It wasn’t as wide as most developed areas around the lake, so it only had a row of houses on one side of the road.
The finger of land almost seemed to be pointing at an island straight out from the end of the road. When he looked straight down their bow, he could see they were heading right for it. As if to confirm it was the same island, he could see something to the right of the island that looked like rocks with trees growing out of them. He hadn’t seen anything else like it, so it had to be where they were.
For some reason, knowing where they were on the lake made him feel better. Maybe it was because they had at least accomplished something. The attempt by the armed survivors to march straight through the infected all the way to the mountains may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but maybe the failure had taught them to take baby steps.
Hampton told Colleen to steer straight for the island up ahead, and then to pass it on the right. He wanted to get a better look at the rocks that were sticking out of the water because they appeared to be uncommon in the lake. It also would help him to spot the next island that was going to be their landmark as they turned to the north. The main orientation of Lake Norman was north and south, so they needed to travel in that direction. It seemed logical to him that the Chief would follow a north to south search pattern.
They were passing between the island they had used as a landmark and the finger of land, and Hampton was studying the unusual rocks with binoculars when Colleen said something he didn’t quite catch.
He didn’t lower his binoculars but asked her to repeat it.
“I don’t believe it,” she said.
“You don’t believe what?” he asked.
He lowered the binoculars and saw she was looking straight ahead, so he turned in that direction.
“I don’t believe it,” he said.
About two hundred yards ahead of them was the island he had picked as their turning point. It also had deep water on one side with no sand bars, so it would be a safe place to anchor. What they both found hard to believe was the bright yellow seaplane that was already parked there.
Hampton didn’t have to say a word to Colleen. He felt the bow rise slightly as she increased their forward speed. He already had his binoculars trained on the plane, and he could see there were two anchor lines in the water. To him that meant the plane was supposed to stay put for a while, but it felt like they couldn’t get there fast enough.
Before they even got to the plane Hampton and Colleen both knew there was no one around. Hampton told Colleen that the Chief would have done something to disable the plane so no one could steal it, and he had most likely done the same to the radio. If someone found the plane, they wouldn’t know how to fly it, but the radio was worth something if it worked.
“Where are they?” asked Colleen.
“I don’t know for sure, but I have an idea which way they went.”
Hampton was using his binoculars to get a closer look at the next island. It was hardly more than a place to grow a few trees, but beyond it was a much larger island with huge homes on it.
“The sand bar by that small island over there has footprints on it. I think they parked the plane behind this island and then swam over there.”
The words had barely left his mouth when he spotted the camouflaged raft that had been dragged into the trees.
“Forget what I said about swimming over to the island. They came prepared for anything.”
Colleen came up beside him with the map of the lake in front of her.
“That has to be Ambassadors Island. On the map it shows that it’s one of the biggest islands, and it’s connected to the mainland by a bridge. Look at the sizes of those houses.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” he said. “Lawyers, stockbrokers, and doctors weren’t rich enough to live there.”
“My guess would be movie stars and people born into old money,” she said. “So, what would make your friends go over there? Did they figure you would try to hole up in a nice place?”
Hampton laughed. “No, they hid the plane first, so they must have spotted something worth investigating. Whatever it was, we can’t just go busting up in there, or we might give them away.”
“Are we going to just wait here?”
Hampton grinned at her and asked, “Do either of us think that’s the best thing to do?”
“I’m glad you feel that way, Chris. I’ve never been the kind of girl who likes to wait around for someone.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Hampton as he started up the engines and began to steer around the island.
He kept the pontoon boat moving in the general direction of the small island. For some reason he felt like it was a good idea to stay behind the stand of trees that partially blocked the view of Ambassadors Island. He couldn’t do anything about the sound of their engines, but they weren’t as loud as some.
When they reached the sand bar, he gave it just enough room to keep from running the boat aground, but he was able to get close enough to confirm the impressions in the sand were from at least two people. If they used the raft he wondered why they would have walked onto the sand bar. One set of prints were made by someone big. If the prints were made by an infected dead, he didn’t want to meet that one.
Hampton gave the engines a little more power and began circling the small island on the left side. The sand bar extended too far to the right for them to go around, and they would make it to the dock of the nearest house faster on the left. As soon as they rounded the corner, they could see they were no more than twenty or thirty yards from a dock.
“This house first?” asked Colleen.
“It’s as good as any place to start,” said Hampton. “I don’t really like that wide open clearing to the right. There are second floor windows on the first house on that side where someone could shoot from and not miss. The sooner we g
et behind cover the better.”
******
As the Chief got dressed, he filled Kathy in on the rest of the details about the people who were the current residents of Ambassadors Island, and she didn’t like what she heard. They sounded ruthless, and they were surviving by killing other survivors.
“So, we pass any house with the cars parked in the driveway, and we use as much cover as possible going by houses with no cars in the driveway because they might be occupied,” said Kathy as she was retrieving their gear from the bushes.
The Chief didn’t answer immediately, so she looked over at him to see if he was listening. She saw he was looking at one of the high resolution photographs of Ambassadors Island. Their shelter on Mud Island had the satellite photographs of all thirty-two shelters, and the Chief had managed to sneak it past everyone when he tried to leave the shelter without explaining where he was going.
“Chief?”
“We’re short on time, so let’s go straight down the middle of the island. That way we stay under cover until we get to the front gates and be able to spot the two remaining guards. The last thing they would expect is for someone to come up on them from behind. They’re going to be busy watching the road.”
The Chief passed the satellite picture over to Kathy so she could get a quick look. The picture was so detailed and so clear that she involuntarily glanced up at the sky. The picture showed that the center of the island was like Central Park in New York. There was some privacy, but it was obvious that the middle of the island was for picnics, walking dogs, and social functions. There was a small boat trailer park toward the middle of the wooded area and something that could be an outdoor theater for live acting and small bands.
Kathy handed the picture back to the Chief and said, “There doesn’t look like anybody was planning to build a house in the middle of the island. I guess it was considered common property.”
“I forgot I had this with me,” said the Chief. “I wish I had talked with Bus about the locations of the emergency entrances and exits.”
“You were too busy being a jerk.”
The Chief was not someone people tended to insult. If they did, he ignored them because he didn’t feel like he had anything to prove. When Kathy said he had been a jerk, he felt genuinely scolded and looked at his feet.
“I thought I said I was sorry for that.”
“You did, but I was just pointing out why you didn’t talk with Bus about the entrances and exits.”
When the Chief looked up from his feet he saw she was just having fun with him. She smiled, and he stood just a little straighter. It amazed him sometimes how close they had become in less than a year.
“Let’s get moving,” he said.
They set off at a fast pace because they didn’t expect to run into any infected or the guards until they reached the front gates. Then they would deal with whatever was there. They could see the houses on either side of them through the trees, but the shade was good cover, and it didn’t look like anyone would see them even if they were watching.
Most of the houses had several cars in the driveway. The Chief noticed they were parked in single file and not too close to the garage doors.
“The garage doors must be easy to open and have counterweights on them. That way when someone makes the mistake of opening one of them, the infected can get out before the doors can be closed again.”
Kathy knew the Chief was thinking back to the day when they had made the mistake of opening a door that had counterweights on it. Once the door started to go up, there was no stopping it, and inside were some of the meanest dogs she had ever seen. After the dogs had been dealt with, then came a steady parade of infected dead. Kathy swore she would never open another garage door without knowing what was inside first.
“Should we at least check to see if our theory is correct?” she asked as they jogged through the trees.
“Maybe if we have a chance on the way out of here, but we’ve already lost a lot of time. That raiding party could be back any minute.”
“You never did completely fill me in on all of this, Chief. The people who control this island don’t sound like they would be much of a match for us if we wanted to put a stop to them.”
“To tell the truth, I don’t know how bad they are,” he said. “I imagine anyone who raids other survivor camps is not someone I would help, but I think our best bet is to find Hampton and clear out of here. We can always come back with some of Captain Miller’s men, but remember we also have the radioactive fallout to consider. We need to be out of here before the storm pushes the cloud this way, or we’re going to be stuck here for a few years.”
Kathy had forgotten about the fallout. Not completely, but she had pushed it to a back burner in her mind. Remembering it and knowing that it meant they couldn’t go home to Mud Island if it got to them before they could leave made her run just a little bit faster.
They passed unseen by house after house, but they were always aware that this had been an affluent community, and rich people had some good security. There was nothing to indicate there was electricity anywhere on Ambassador Island, but all it took was one hidden camera. Their own island was covered with cameras, but of course they were controlling them from an underground shelter. If there were cameras here, they were only being used if the shelter below the houses was occupied.
“Chief,” whispered Kathy.
She had stopped and then stepped sideways behind a tree. The Chief instinctively did the same. He didn’t know if Kathy saw something, but he trusted her.
He looked back at the tree where Kathy was hiding, and he saw her lower her body to the ground. He waited for her to peer around the tree until she could use a hand to signal. She gave him their gestures that indicated she saw someone ahead about twenty yards away, but she also gave him a gesture that said she heard something behind them. The Chief listened carefully, shutting his eyes and absorbing every little sound. He was sure he heard a boat motor. It was coming from somewhere behind them, but it was also far away. That wouldn’t be his first concern.
The Chief gave Kathy some gestures that asked if she had eyes on whoever it was she saw up ahead. She took a quick look and then gave him a nod. She held up one finger and then put her hand on the back of her head.
They didn’t have a signal like that. The Chief thought over the possible meanings and besides some fairly ridiculous interpretations he reasoned that she meant he was facing away from them.
As if to accent the point, Kathy leaned into the open and putting her thumb to her nose with her fingers pointed upward, she wiggled her fingers.
The Chief remembered that Bus had given him the same salute when he had flown the de Havilland Beaver over his boat. Obviously, Kathy was doing it at someone’s back. The Chief leaned around his tree slowly and could see a man standing on a slight rise where the trees ended. There was clear space beyond him, which meant they were either at the little outdoor theater or the boat parking lot.
One other thing he noticed was the smell. The Chief had been around the infected dead enough to know that smell. He pointed at his nose first, then he pointed at his ears and motioned to Kathy that he was confused. A simple shrug of the shoulders did the trick.
Kathy lifted her head and inhaled deeply through her nose. She thought she was going to retch before she could stop herself. It smelled beyond rotten up ahead, and she understood what the Chief had meant. If you could smell them, you could usually hear them, too.
The man was standing where he could see out over the entire outdoor theater, but his rifle was leaning against a tree. He would have been holding the rifle if he felt like he was in any danger, and the smell didn’t seem to be bothering him.
The Chief was almost ready to begin advancing toward the man when Kathy held up one hand. The man started to move, and at first the Chief thought they would have to risk shooting him. They couldn’t delay much longer. Then the Chief saw Kathy smile and shake her head as if something was really fun
ny. One more peek around the tree, and the Chief started walking straight for the man.
There were times when it was just too easy, and this was one of them. The man was relieving his bladder and was doing so over the edge of a wall. The groaning started somewhere down below. He was also laughing out loud, and that was agitating the infected that were reaching up toward the sound.
The man was lucky the Chief didn’t want to advertise their location, or he would have simply given him a little shove from behind. Instead, the Chief grabbed the back of his collar and pulled back as hard as he could, which was a lot more than was needed, and straight at the nearest tree. The man’s head hit the bark hard enough to knock a big chunk from the tree. His legs folded as if they were made of Jello.
The Chief felt for a pulse and found one, so he dragged the man up against the tree in a sitting position. Kathy came up to help him, and they wasted precious seconds tying the man’s hands behind his back and a gag in his mouth. Kathy kept glancing over her right shoulder down into the pit that formed the outdoor theater. The groaning had subsided for the most part, but the infected had begun to wander around more.
She whispered in a voice so low the Chief could barely hear her.
“How many?”
“At least fifty, maybe closer to seventy-five,” he said in the same voice that was hardly louder than a breath.
The outdoor theater that was probably the center of private night life and culture on Ambassadors Island was now a holding pen for a horde of infected dead. They all had burlap bags over their heads, and since they couldn’t see motion around them, they were mostly quiet. There was the occasional collision that led to a fall, which led to some groans, but they settled back down quickly. Kathy and the Chief were at least four feet above the heads of the infected, and the theater was only about one hundred feet across, so they could easily go around. There was a barricade across the entrance to the tiered seats, and a fence ran around the perimeter where the seating reached ground level. Since the infected couldn’t see where they were going, they tended to fall backward into the lower tiers when they bumped into the fence.