by Kip Nelson
As yet, they had not seen anyone, so Grace sent a few people forward to explore the area. There were warehouses and large shipping containers that would have been loaded onto the ships with cranes. Slowly, but surely, the patrol fanned out and explored these things, hoping they would be able to fill their sacks with whatever they found in there, but alas, they were empty and had been ransacked a long time ago. The warehouses were old buildings, and at one time these docks would have been a busy source of trade and commerce. Although now, like so much of the old world, they were useless and in decay.
Grace holstered her weapon and a few of the others did the same.
“Doesn't look like anyone's here. I think we should keep looking for some food. Split into teams of two. Be careful, you never know who's going to be around, although I think we're alone here. It sucks that these warehouses aren't filled with food, but that was always a long shot. It's been months since the world changed, we never were going to be the first to get here,” she said.
The patrol split up into pairs and moved around the docks, keeping an eye out for any threats, but as Grace had surmised, they were alone. Grace herself went to the edge of the docks and leaned against the metal barriers, looking into the wine-dark sea. All along the harbor were yachts moored to the pier, and for a moment, her heart lit up with hope that they could sail away. Then she realized that most of the yachts were modern and used electric motors. So, like all the cars on land, these expensive vehicles had no utility other than to be used as shelter, and they bobbed on the water helplessly.
Tristan came up to her. He had been wandering around, kicking stones. During the ride through the city he mostly had kept to himself, although Grace assumed this was because he felt daunted by the company of all the adults. Now it was just the two of them, and he seemed to relax more.
“Makes you think, doesn't it? All these yachts must have been worth millions, but now they're not good for anything.”
“Yeah,” he said, “I wonder if anybody tried to get back to them and make them work?”
“Probably. You ever come here before?”
“Yeah. They sometimes had boat shows and warships come in. My dad used to bring me here. It was fun. You got to go on board the old ships. They actually were restoring one. I kept meaning to come see it with him, but it was one of those things we never got around to doing.”
“An old ship? You mean one that doesn't rely on anything electric to make it work?”
“Yeah, it's over there,” he said, pointing to a long gray warehouse.
“But don't get your hopes up. They were only in the middle of restoring it, so it still has a load of holes in it.”
“That’s a shame. It would have been nice to go sailing around,” she said.
“Did you ever want to do something like that?”
“Doesn't every kid? My dad used to tell me stories about pirates and treasure, and I loved the idea of it. Don't know if I'd like the reality so much, especially not now. Can you imagine all those people who would have been stuck out there when the EMP hit? Stranded on the sea with no way to call for help.”
Grace's mood turned solemn as she looked out at the horizon, at the endless sea that lay beyond them and beyond that, the rest of the world. Sometimes it was easy to forget that there was a whole world out there, that there was something more than New Haven. Her thoughts turned to all those billions of people who were going through the same struggles.
“I never had any docks like this where I used to live, but I've always liked looking out at the sea whenever I have a chance. I like the idea of just floating away and going to find a new life somewhere, being able to leave everything behind.”
“Is that what you want to do now?”
“Oh no, I'm with New Haven until the end. Although, hopefully, the end won't come for a very long time. No, I always thought I'd be alone and that my life would be a lonely one. Everything changed when the world ended and, for me, it changed for the better.”
“What did you do?”
“I was a hacker. I spent my days hacking into corporations, trying to help out the little people, and stop corruption. Thought of myself as a modern-day Robin Hood, but I wasn't doing anything noble. I wasn't really making a difference like I always told myself I was doing.”
“So, you're glad the world ended?”
“I don't know if I'd go that far, but I'm in a much better position now than I was then. What about you? What would you be doing right now if things had stayed the same?”
Tristan shrugged. “What day is it?” he asked.
“You know, I don't actually know,” Grace said, and both of them chuckled.
“Either I'd be in school or, if it was the weekend, I'd be with Mom or Dad. I'd probably still be hoping that by some miracle they'd get back together. Other than that, I'd just be playing computer games or something. I guess life hasn't turned out that bad for me either, really. At least I have my mom back.”
“There's going to be good shit and bad shit that happens to all of us, and you just have to roll with it. Think about all the other people out there who haven't been as lucky as us. Think of those people who were lost on a boat.”
“Or, even worse, those who were on a submarine,” Tristan said.
For a moment, the two of them stared out to the sea and thought about the dreadful fate of being stuck in a submarine that didn't work. They thought about all those men and women who were lost to a watery tomb, and who likely never would be found again as their submarine sank to the bottom of the sea and rested on the seabed. Grace took a deep breath and shook herself out of those morbid thoughts as they were too depressing. She gazed out at the sea, as did a few other people from the patrol who were dotted along the harbor. They all shouted when they saw fish swimming about. Grace clapped her hands with delight and a wide smile broke out on her face.
“Looks as though we might have to make regular trips back here. If there are more of these fish, we'll have to use them as another source of food,” she said, although Tristan looked at her with a strange expression on his face.
“What's wrong?” Grace asked.
“Why did you ask me to come here with you?” he said. Grace debated with herself whether to argue with him but, in the end, she decided to tell him the truth.
“Your mom asked me. She thought it would do you good to get out of New Haven for a bit, to give you some space. Does that bother you?”
“Yes. No. I don't know. I don't know how I'm supposed to be feeling. I want to feel happy that we have this source of food, but I just...I'm not sure I feel anything inside.”
“Yeah, I've been there,” Grace said, looking at him with empathy.
“Tristan, you've been through a lot, we all have, and one thing I've learned is that there's no correct way for us to feel. There's no manual for this, we're all just trying to muddle through it together. The first thing you need to do is stop being so hard on yourself for feeling as though you're not measuring up to some arbitrary timescale. Then take each day as it comes and go with the flow. It's not exactly wise advice, and I'm sure Mack or your mom could put it in better terms than I could. Let’s face it, barely any of us started off knowing what we were doing. Hell, I never thought I'd be able to make it through the first week! I was unfit, I had no experience of anything real, I was just lucky that I ended up with Mack. But now look at me.”
“I can't believe that you never had any idea of what to do,” Tristan said, giving her a disbelieving look.
“We all had lives before this,” Grace offered, “even though the longer this goes on, the more like a dream that life all seems. I mean, even looking around here again, it's a reminder that nothing we thought mattered matters anymore. Imagine all the wealth it must have taken to own those yachts. Yet, the people who owned them aren't anywhere to be seen.”
“I wonder what happened to them? If they ever tried to come here for them?”
“Who knows, but look at the empty spaces in the harbor. Maybe th
ere were some boats that didn't need electric motors to work. They could have been taken out. Kinda funny, isn't it? When it comes down to it, sometimes what you need instead of a fancy yacht that's worth a million dollars is an old wooden boat with a couple of oars.”
“And what about that one?” Tristan said, his eyes widening in awe.
Grace had been looking along the harbor at the various yachts moored there, but upon hearing Tristan's words, she saw the other members of the patrol pointing out to sea and gesticulating wildly. She turned to see for herself, and then knew why they had been so amazed. Out on the horizon, where the sea met the sky, she saw a hulking shape drift forward, led by the current. It was gray, and long, with a pointed bow, and although it looked small from where they were standing, Grace knew it was bigger than any of them. It was on course for the harbor, and although it moved slowly, for it had no forward momentum of its own, it loomed larger all the time. The clouds began disappearing behind it. The patrol rallied around Grace, and all their voices mixed into one. Grace didn't know if there was anyone alive on that ship, or if it was just a ghost ship, but the sight of it left her awestruck, and she found a smile playing upon her face. She turned to Tristan.
“Looks like someone survived out there,” she said, and her mind began turning as she thought about the possibility of people living on that ship, of them having survived through these months, cast out at sea without being able to live off the land.
Then she wondered if they had guided their ship toward shore because they had seen the patrol. Even if there was nobody guiding it, the ship was on a collision course with them. So, Grace had to shake herself from her awestruck state as they all were in imminent danger, from the last thing they expected.
Chapter Nineteen
“Everybody hide. Get to safety and draw your weapons. Prepare to fire in case they’re hostile. We're not done with these docks yet, so I'm not going to run away. It's a big ship, so they could have a lot of people on board if there is anyone still alive on there. If there are too many of them, don't be stupid and try to be a hero. Get back to New Haven as quickly as you can and tell them what happened here. Hopefully, it won't come to that, but it's always best to be prepared. If the worst happens, and we get captured, don't anyone tell them where New Haven is. Our first duty is protecting the settlement,” she barked, feeling tension rise within her chest as the ship approached the shore, lifted across the waves by the current.
Grace and the others peered out as far as they could to see if there were any people on the deck, but as far as they could tell, there were none. If there were any, they were hiding, which didn't bode well. Grace didn't want to get involved in a fight if she could help it, but she also didn't want to see the harbor get torn up by a ship. All she and the others could do was wait patiently for the ship to arrive.
The hulking gray cargo vessel was an imposing sight as it loomed larger and larger into view. The hull was dirty and it groaned like an old man easing into a chair as it slid through the water. The windows were dim, but as it came closer, Grace could indeed see the form of men upon the deck. They were scouring the shore, trying to see Grace and her patrol, but they were hidden too well. Grace still had yet to determine if these men were friend or foe. The ship was an impressive sight, and all around her Grace heard the sound of her companions giving voice to their reverence.
As it came closer, Grace could see it was carrying huge crates of cargo. Although if there were men on board, then anything valuable would have been used up already. From the size of it, there could have been hundreds of people on there, perhaps even up to a thousand. There was no way to tell exactly how many until it reached shore, which it did shortly. The ship dropped anchor and came to a halt near the edge of the harbor, expertly positioned by the crew. Water lapping against the hull, the enormous ship cast a shadow over Grace and her patrol, blotting out the sun completely.
Then rope ladders were thrown over the side, since the ship was too far from shore to use a gangway. Then the crew began appearing. It seemed to consist only of men, and Grace watched with interest as they climbed down the rope ladders, which twisted and turned. They still were wearing their uniforms, white shirts that had been stained from living in a post-apocalyptic world. When they reached the bottom of the rope ladders, they jumped into the water, landing with a splash, then swam to shore.
Grace noticed they weren't armed, so she took the initiative to take control of the situation. She stood up, and gestured for her patrol to do the same. They wielded their guns in a threatening manner to show the sailors, in no uncertain terms, that they were not to be trifled with. The first man to clamber up on shore pushed himself up with his strong biceps. His dark hair was matted to his scalp and water dripped off him. He was an impressive physical specimen, and soon was joined by others from his crew. His soaked shoes made squelching noises as he walked and he tried shaking off some of the excess water.
“Ahoy there!” he said, waving his arms and smiling in a friendly manner, seemingly undeterred by the fact that he had multiple guns trained on him.
This made Grace suspicious. Either he was confident in his ability to talk them down, or he had guns trained on them, too. Grace looked up at the ship to see if she could spot any weapons trained on them, but if there were any, she could not see them. The man spoke in a clipped accent, which sounded English. For a moment, Grace wondered if they actually had sailed all the way from England.
“Hey,” she replied curtly, not moving her gun.
“Is that any way to greet us? We're hardly in a position to attack,” he said, holding his hands up.
When Grace made no move in response, the man pointed to his chest and looked back at the other sailors who had lined up behind him, all dripping water onto the docks.
“My name is Flint, and these are my men. We were adrift at sea when this whole thing happened, and we've only just managed to make it back to land. We didn't know if we'd find anyone here waiting for us, but we're glad we have. We're just about sick of one another,” and as he said this his men chuckled. Grace's grip on the gun tensed.
“Look,” Flint continued, “we don't have any idea what's been going on in the world. All our equipment went dead, and we've been out at sea all this time. It's taken that long for the current to bring us back. We've been using telescopes to look at the shore, so we know you haven't been here for long. We don't want to fight, we just want to know what's going on.”
“Is that all your crew?” Grace asked, nodding to the men behind him. There were thirteen of them in total, including Flint.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Flint said, his friendly demeanor giving way to something more sorrowful, and the same mood rippled through his crew as well.
Flint put down his hands and made the move to step closer, slowly but surely, hoping Grace wouldn't shoot him. Now that he was closer, Grace could look at him in more detail. He was a tall man with an imposing figure, with bulging biceps and a barrel chest. He, and almost all his men, had thick bushy beards sprouting from their jaws, and wild hair. Their clothes were in disarray. Some of them wore rings and necklaces, while others had no accessories at all.
Grace tried to remember all that Mack had told her about body language to gauge whether Flint was indeed friendly. So far, he seemed to be exactly as he said. The other sailors weren't saying anything. Then again, she couldn't blame them for that since she had guns pointed at them. The longer she looked at them, the more she thought they were haunted, and as tough as life had been on land, she couldn't imagine what it had been like out at sea.
“What happened to the rest of them?” she asked.
“Life at sea. It's a dangerous world out there. We numbered in the hundreds, but this is all that's left. When this all started, we thought we'd all make it back, even though we didn't know what we'd find when we got here. Weren't sure what had happened, whether it was just our ship or the whole world. I'll tell you about what happened out there if you really want, but I'd rather not re
live it. We've been through hell, and as much as I love being at sea, it's good to be back home. Please, we just want to find some friendly faces. Can we come ashore?” he said.
Grace noticed how, as he looked back at his men, he also cast his gaze toward his ship, but it wasn't a loving gaze. The men were haunted, and Grace's heart swelled with pity for them. They looked tired, and she believed Flint when he said that all they wanted was to come ashore. So, she told the others to put down their guns, and the sailors rejoiced. They slapped each other on the back. Some of them fell to their knees and kissed the ground. Grace found it hard not to be swept up in their enthusiasm.
After that was over, the sailors came up to Grace and introduced themselves, and Grace introduced her team.
“I think we should have a talk,” Grace said to Flint. “What are your plans after this? Are you going to go back on the ship?”
“Hopefully not for a while. There's still some stuff of use on it, though. Your people are welcome to go on and have a look, along with my men.”
Grace eyed him suspiciously, worried it was a trap. She glanced toward Tristan and the others, and they all were eyeing her excitedly, wanting to go on the ship and see what it was like.
“Sure thing,” Grace said, although she made sure Flint's men didn't outnumber them on either the ship or land, and also made sure the guns stayed with them.
“Sure you don't want to have a look yourself?” Flint offered.
“I'm good. I don't much fancy swimming over there,” she said.
“That won't be a problem,” he said, and barked out an order.
The sailors scampered around the dock and picked up ropes. They quickly tied knots and then threw the ropes like lassoes toward the ship. When they all had been attached, the sailors heaved with all their might to pull the ship closer to the pier. The ship heaved and groaned under the stress and Grace couldn't believe her eyes. Never in a million years would she have thought that a small number of men could pull a ship of that size toward them. When it was over, they ran to one of the warehouses and pulled out a set of stairs, which they placed in position to lead up to the rope ladders, thus providing access to the ship.