Exodus

by Paul Antony Jones

  The swell was not as strong this close to the shore, but the waves were hitting more frequently, so she needed to constantly adjust the boat’s attitude. She eased the throttle to just above the “stop” marker and angled the front of the boat slightly away from the side of the dock as the beach drew rapidly closer.

  “Slow down, damn you,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Slow. The. Fuck. Down.”

  Now she was just a passenger.

  The boat gave a final lurch forward, then stopped, bobbing like a fishing float on the ocean’s surface, a few feet from the edge of the dock.

  Close enough, she judged.

  Emily unfastened her seat belt and ran to the back of the cabin. Flinging open the door, she grabbed the mooring rope from the deck and launched herself over the side of the boat before it could drift any farther away. She landed on the jetty and ran to the nearby mooring bollard, unreeling the rope behind her.

  How the hell was she supposed to tie this thing off so it wouldn’t float away?

  The cold wind beat against her and spray from the sea soaked her unprotected head with freezing water, sending stinging droplets of salt water into her eyes. If she stood there much longer she was going to either freeze or get blown into the water and drown. Emily strained against the rope, pulling as hard as she could to get the boat closer to the shore. She looped the end of the rope around the metal bollard and then tied it off the only way she knew how, with a bow. It might look weird, but at least she knew it was a secure knot…and it added a little panache, too. A win-win situation if you asked her.

  She leaped carefully back onto the deck of the boat, slipping on the wet surface, before opening the door to the cabin. She could hear the engines still idling, barely audible against the crashing of the waves against the shore and the wind that whipped past the cabin.

  Inside she pressed the same red button she had to start the engines and felt rather than heard the purr of the engines slowly die away.

  Emily turned to Rhiannon and just looked at her. It was as if the whole world had suddenly stopped rotating. Here she was, how many days and how many thousands of miles later?

  She was finally here.

  It felt as though she had been holding her breath from the moment she had first seen the red rain fall that fateful day.

  A sense of peace, almost serenity, washed over her.

  “Grab your stuff,” Emily said finally. “We’re almost home.”

  “Just your backpack for now,” Emily told Rhiannon. “We’ll come back for the rest of the supplies tomorrow, when we have some extra pairs of hands.”

  Rhiannon nodded and placed the backpack over her shoulders. “I’ll take Thor,” she said.

  Emily was confident her knot would hold the boat in place, but she was only leaving nonessential food supplies behind just in case she was wrong. From what Jacob had told her, the research team had more than enough to last if the worst should happen and the boat was swept away or the supplies were damaged. Emily grabbed the key from the ignition and secured it in her jacket pocket.

  “Ready?” she asked as she swung her backpack up onto her shoulders and slipped the flashlight into the side pocket.

  The smile pasted across Rhiannon’s face was answer enough. Emily swung open the door and held it open. The cabin was instantly filled with spray driven in by the wind. Rhiannon slipped past Emily and leaped up onto the dock.

  Having traveled the majority of the last eight days or so in comparative luxury to the bike ride that had started her journey, Emily was not surprised at how heavy the backpack felt as she made her way to the back of the boat.

  “Come on, Thor,” the girl called from the dock. The dog followed her obediently, leaping across the space between the dock and the boat as though it were nonexistent. He stood next to Rhiannon, waiting for Emily to join them, the fur of his gray coat ruffling and flying in the wind, his eyes crinkled against the constant ocean spray.

  Once Emily was safely on the dock, the three new arrivals to the island began walking the seventy feet or so to land. The wooden dock extended up the beach before abutting up against a roughly constructed concrete path that, judging from the cracks and missing chunks, had seen better days. The concrete path wound up the rising beach and disappeared between two mounds of shale.

  As they reached the top of the path, Emily saw a cluster of buildings in the distance. A pole with a blinking red light atop it jutted into the air at the center of the camp.

  “Why does only one of them have lights on?” asked Rhiannon, referring to the slivers of orange light they could see seeping from the windows of the largest of the buildings.

  “They are probably trying to conserve power,” Emily replied, struggling to be heard over the wind that seemed intent on blowing them off the island.

  At least they knew in which building they would find Jacob and the team now, she thought as they angled off the path toward the light.

  On the eastern side of the building, Emily could see a heavy metal door set slightly back in a recessed alcove. At the door’s center was a large metal wheel.

  Emily took the wheel in both hands and twisted it. It turned freely, squeaking loudly as it rotated. There was a dull metallic clunk, and the door opened slightly.

  “Inside,” she said to Rhiannon and Thor, pulling the door wide enough for them all to slip through and then pulling it closed again behind them. There was a second wheel on the inside, and she spun that until the door closed securely.

  They found themselves inside a room; it was small, about twelve feet in length with hooks on either wall from which hung cold-weather gear. A dim light set in the ceiling illuminated a set of wooden benches running low along the walls, and beneath those were several pairs of boots.

  A second door at the opposite end of the room had a simple lever to open it.

  Emily pulled the door open and stepped through into a larger room with scattered tables, seats, and a set of metal lockers on the right. A coffeepot—empty—sat on a desk next to a tray of plastic mugs and condiments. A refrigerator hummed next to it.

  The room was deserted, but a corridor, with several thick pipes running along the ceiling, extended off from the room to her left, disappearing in an abrupt right turn farther along.

  “Hello,” she called out. “Is there anybody here?”

  From somewhere along the corridor the sound of a door opening was accompanied by a ringing harmony of voices and music. The Beach Boys, “California Girls,” if I’m not mistaken, Emily thought. The music stopped. Either the door had been closed again or someone had switched off the music.

  “Hello?” she called again. “It’s Emily and Rhiannon. We’re…here.”

  “And Thor,” said Rhiannon as she stroked the dog’s head. “Don’t forget Thor.”

  Another sound reached them now: a high-pitched squeak, then a slight pause followed by another squeak, slowly getting louder as it approached them. Thor’s head tilted slightly, his ears perking up as an unsure growl bubbled up from his throat.

  “Shush,” Emily chided him. “It’s okay, boy.”

  A man, roughly thirty Emily guessed, with a neatly trimmed dark-brown beard and a pair of glasses perched on his nose appeared from around the corner of the corridor.

  He stopped for a moment and stared at the three visitors.

  Thor gave another uncertain growl but quieted at the touch of Emily’s hand on his head.

  “Hello, Emily. Hello, Rhiannon,” said the stranger, a smile breaking across his pale face as he rolled his wheelchair into the room. “I’m Jacob, and it is so very nice to finally meet you both in person.”

  The wheelchair was a surprise to Emily.

  Jacob had never mentioned anything about being disabled. But then why would he? It was hardly relevant.

  Emily had imagined how this moment would be, this first meeting between them. She had a little speech ready, but she found herself unable to speak a word of it. Instead she walked over to him, placed her arms g
ently around his neck, and whispered into his ear, “Thank you,” soaking the collar of his shirt with the tears that had begun to flow even before she had taken a step.

  Rhiannon joined them for the group hug; even Thor came over and gave Jacob an exploratory sniff.

  “Let’s get you out of that gear,” he said after Emily and Rhia finally broke away. “Maybe you’d like a shower or something to eat?”

  “I’d love to meet the rest of your team,” Emily replied.

  “Of course, but why don’t I get you to your room first? You can freshen up and then we’ll deal with that. Okay?”

  “Sure,” Emily replied with a smile. He was politely letting them know that they smelled worse than a week-old dead cat, she realized. “Lead the way.”

  Jacob accompanied them from the first room, Emily on one side of the wheelchair and Rhiannon on the other. “This is my room,” he said, indicating a door on the right of the corridor. “And these two are yours. I assumed you wouldn’t mind having a room apiece?”

  Emily welcomed the idea of some privacy, but she worried about Rhiannon. The two of them had been sharing the same space for so long now, she wasn’t sure whether the girl would be reticent about being alone. That concern disappeared as she watched Rhia disappear inside the room with her bag. “See you later,” she said, smiling from the doorway.

  “When you’re done, just head down the corridor to your right. The first big room on your left is the meeting room.”

  Rhiannon nodded to Jacob and disappeared inside, leaving the two adults alone in the corridor.

  “I’d better get freshened up.”

  “And I’ll go rustle up some dinner for you guys. You must be starving.”

  Thirty minutes later there was a quiet knock on Emily’s door.

  “Can I come in?” asked Rhiannon.

  Emily pulled the sweater she had just removed from the backpack over her head and reached for the door handle. She had forgotten just how pretty Rhiannon was; the girl had been hidden under layers of clothes and grime for so long now. Standing in the doorway was a girl transformed. Her long blonde hair fell freely over her shoulder, newly washed and shiny. She had on a pair of loose blue jogging pants and a turtleneck sweater and the biggest smile she had ever seen from the kid.

  “They have a hair dryer,” she whispered, as though it was the greatest discovery of her young life. Emily understood. After stepping out of the shower, she had luxuriated in the feeling of the hot air of her own dryer.

  “You look beautiful,” she told the girl. Rhia blushed at the compliment.

  “Well, I think it’s time we went and introduced ourselves to everyone, don’t you?”

  Rhiannon nodded in excitement.

  Thor was laying on the bed, his head over the edge, tail thumping against the sheets.

  “Come on,” she told the malamute. “Let’s go do this.”

  Jacob was waiting in the meeting room for the new arrivals. On the table in the center of the room were two plates with metal warming covers to keep the food hot. A pitcher of water and another of orange juice rested nearby, with a complement of glasses and cutlery.

  “I saved something special for Thor,” said Jacob, and he reached for a bowl of what looked like chopped beef roast, placing it on the floor for the dog, who began devouring the food with his usual gusto.

  “Quite the appetite,” remarked Jacob.

  Emily lifted the cover off her plate and revealed a burger between two buns. There was a side of lettuce and onions, along with a couple of packets of ketchup and mayonnaise.

  “I didn’t know if you liked lettuce on your burger or not, but I did assume you wanted cheese,” he continued, beckoning to Rhiannon to join him at the table. “Enjoy.”

  “Oh my God,” Rhiannon said after taking her first bite of the burger. A look of utter bliss swept across her face. Here was a girl who had found nirvana.

  Emily couldn’t help herself, she laughed, spraying a fine mist of her own burger—which was as delicious as she had imagined it would be—over the table.

  Rhiannon choked down her own bite of the burger and coughed. “Sorry,” she said, snickering.

  “Wow! What a great first impression we’ve made,” laughed Emily after she swallowed her food. “Sorry about that, it’s just the tension…This is just all such a relief.”

  Jacob joined them in their laughter, raising both hands in a gesture of détente. “Not a problem at all, ladies.”

  They ate the rest of the food in silence, savoring the flavors and the full feeling as their stomachs began to process the burgers. It was the first real food they had eaten since leaving Stuyvesant.

  “That was delicious,” said Emily after finishing. “Thank you.”

  “You’re more than welcome. There’s dessert. Parfaits, if you would like one?” Rhiannon nodded her head enthusiastically; Emily declined. Jacob wheeled himself over to a small refrigerator and pulled out a plastic container of parfait, complete with a disposable plastic spoon attached to the lid. “Sure I can’t tempt you?” he asked Emily.

  “No. Thanks. I think I’ll pass.”

  Rhiannon eagerly dug into the plastic cup of fruit and cream. She devoured it with the same look of bliss she had while eating the burger. The two adults sat back and watched, enjoying the child’s pure joy.

  Finally, Emily spoke. “Thank you so much for that. I honestly don’t know what either of us would have done without you, Jacob. We would have…well…I guess we would have been lost without you.”

  “I’m just glad you’re here, safe and sound,” he replied.

  “So, do you think we can meet the rest of your team?” she asked, smiling in anticipation.

  Jacob bit his bottom lip for a second, dropping his eyes to his immobile feet. When he raised them again, it was to meet Emily’s expectant gaze.

  “There is nobody else,” he said finally.

  “What? I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  “There is nobody else,” he repeated. “It’s just me.”

  There. Is. Nobody. Else.

  Even when she sounded them out individually, the words just did not fit together as a sentence. They didn’t seem to want to stay still in Emily’s brain long enough for her to rationalize what Jacob really meant by them. They kept sliding around, bouncing off of each other, refusing to form any recognizable meaning.

  “What?” she repeated for the third or fourth time.

  “I know you’re probably confused, and I know you’re probably very upset, but I just need you to hear me out, okay? I need you to understand why I had to do what I did.”

  Emily couldn’t quite fathom what he was saying. “But you said you had a team. What about your team?”

  “They left, not long after the rain began. They wanted to head back to Fairbanks and check it out. I volunteered to stay to keep the place running. They said they would be back. They never came back.”

  Emily thought about the convoy full of dead people on the road to Fairbanks and the murdered men and women she had found in Deadhorse. Could any of them have been a part of Jacob’s team? she wondered.

  She glanced over at Rhiannon. Her mouth was agape as she stared hard at Jacob. “Emily?” she asked. “What does he mean?” Her voice cracked with uncertainty.

  “I don’t know, sweetheart. But why don’t you come on over here beside me while we figure this out?” She patted the seat next to her. The sound of the chair scraping across the floor as Rhiannon jumped to her feet and ran to Emily’s side was grating in the suddenly painful silence filling the room. “Good girl,” she said, placing a reassuring hand on the kid’s knee as she took the chair next to Emily.

  Jacob began to wheel his chair over to where the two women sat. “I really can expl—”

  Emily jumped to her feet. “Stay right where you are,” she bellowed. “Do not fucking come anywhere near us.”

  Jacob froze, a look of utter horror crossing his face.

  Thor, who had been dozing quietly under
the table, was suddenly at Emily’s side. He sat down next to her, his eyes focused on Jacob.

  Jacob swallowed hard and backed up from the trio, very aware of Thor’s silent lupine gaze. “I had no choice,” he said after a pause, his voice as calm and soothing as it had been during their countless telephone conversations. “If I had told you I was here alone, would you have come?”

  Emily didn’t answer.

  “No, of course you wouldn’t. You would have thought I was some kind of nut job, and you wouldn’t have come here. You would have just stayed in your apartment and waited. And you would have died.”

  Rhiannon began to quietly cry, fat tears trickling over her cheeks and staining the front of her jogging pants. Emily switched her arm from the child’s knee and wrapped it around her shoulder, never taking her eyes off Jacob.

  “I told the team not to leave,” he continued. “I warned them that they should stay. But they had families, wives, mothers, kids. Someone had to stay. Someone had to. But I knew. I knew that they wouldn’t be coming back.” His voice had taken on a tone of sadness, maybe even mixed with frustration. “When I found you, Emily, I knew I couldn’t tell you I was here alone, so I lied. I’m sorry, but I had to try to save you.”

  “And what about your wife? Sandra, wasn’t it? She was supposed to be back at Fairbanks University. Was any of that true?”

  Jacob could not meet her gaze. He chose to stare at his feet and shake his head in answer.

  “You risked mine and Rhiannon’s life to try to save your own skin? Is what you did?” she yelled, suddenly on her feet, her voice livid with anger. “You brought us all the way here to rescue you? You fucking piece of shit.” Emily’s words hit Jacob like hammer blows; she could see him physically reeling as each word struck home.

  Good!

  “You were stranded here, and you needed us to come and rescue you? All that…that sanctimonious posturing about wanting to save me, it’s just bullshit you use to convince yourself that you were doing the right thing, isn’t it? Answer me, goddamn you!”