by Tim Moon
“Jesus, what are you doing?” Ben glared at her.
She took another hard right and it became clear. Leaning over in his seat for a small patch of clean glass, Ben could see that Anuhea had circled around, putting them behind their pursuers and their friends. Kaholo must have figured out what she was doing because he’d stopped trying to follow her and was now booking it down the road, swerving to avoid getting shot.
One of the cop cars from the roadblock, with its front bumper scraping against the ground and its hood smashed chased Kaholo. A pickup truck drove beside it. Standing in the back of the truck was a man with a pistol, firing at Kaholo. He turned when he realized the Humvee was behind them.
His eyes widened as he stared up at Keanu. Ben grinned as he realized what was about to happen. The man in the truck barely had time to duck before a burst of rounds cracked the air and his body stiffened, slid sideways as the pickup swerved, and toppled out of the bed. A second later, their Humvee thumped over the man’s lifeless corpse.
“Road kill,” Keanu shouted. “Two hundred points!”
Anuhea sped up and slammed into the back corner of the police car. It swerved, bumping into the pickup, but kept driving. Up ahead, Kaholo turned left and then right.
A woman leaned out of the back seat of the police car with a shotgun and blasted them. Pellets cracked the windshield, but not nearly as bad as the shot that almost made Ben lose his bladder earlier. Anuhea cut the corner, hopping the curb, and slammed into the passenger door where the woman was leaning out, pumping the shotgun for another shot.
The cop car swerved again, hit a parked car and spun sideways. Metal ground against metal as they raced past. Ben heard Keanu spin in the turret and fire another long burst into the cop car.
The pickup truck continued chasing Kaholo. A man in the passenger seat fired rapidly at their friends. Kaholo swerved, and then braked quickly, nearly causing the pickup to rear-end them. Then he sped off just before they hit. Anuhea crashed into the pickup from behind.
“Fuck you assholes!” she shouted at the pickup.
Ben smiled.
“You guys are mental,” Chadwick said behind them.
Ben couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
More shots went off. Ben leaned over to get a look. One of the tires on Kaholo’s truck went flat causing the whole vehicle to list dangerously to the side.
“My rifle,” Keanu shouted as his hand reached down.
“Give him the gun,” Ben said to Chadwick, pointing at the M203.
Chadwick lifted it up to Keanu who pulled it up. They could hear him talking to himself, cursing the guys in the truck as he loaded the rifle.
“Hold on.” Anuhea gunned the Humvee again.
She slammed into the pickup again and this time they swerved off to the side, crossing the median, and driving on the wrong side of the road. The truck began to slow.
“No you don’t,” Keanu shouted. He spun the turret so he’d have a clear view of the pickup and there was a loud thunk as he fired a grenade. A split second later, a booming flash tore open the cab of the truck. Ben watched it out of the side window on Chadwick’s side.
Chadwick turned away from the window to look at Ben with wide eyes. The guy was in awe of what he’d just witnessed.
“I don’t think he likes bullies,” Ben said with a grin.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Back in Kaholo’s house, the mood was sober. Sure, they’d kicked ass against the road-blockers, but the airport was a shit show and now they were out of options. The idea of having to survive on the island, trapped and isolated, began to sink in.
Anuhea wrapped a bandage around Charlotte’s arm. During the fight, she’d been cut by shattering glass or a stray bullet. No one knew for sure. It wasn’t bad. Charlotte said it didn’t even need stitches, although they would have to watch it for infection.
Ben had gone back to pacing the living room. Keanu sat on the floor with his legs up on the coffee table. Kaholo lounged in an EZ-chair, sipping a cold beer. Chadwick was in the bathroom and Ty was seeing if he could get Ben’s phone to work. Oliver played on the floor.
Ben worried about the boy. He’d been withdrawn since they returned. Maybe the stress was getting to him too.
“Oliver, do you want some juice?” Ben asked him. The boy shook his head, rolled over to face away from Ben and lazily played with his action figure. “Anyone else?”
“Help yourselves, guys. Really.” Keanu gestured to the kitchen then took a slow drink of his beer.
Ben looked around. No one seemed interested. Dejected faces were all around him, so Ben went to kitchen to escape for a moment. He hadn’t realized how much the airport meant to everyone. A palpable sense of discontent settled over their group. They needed a plan of some sort, anything tangible that they could focus on.
On the way to the kitchen, Ben passed the pictures on the wall that he’d noticed the day before. One was of Keanu and Kaholo standing at attention, side-by-side, next to a large ship. A ship…
As he filled a glass with juice, Ben mulled over the possibility in his mind. He slowly walked back to the living room. Taking a sailboat or some type of ship never seemed realistic. The most boating he’d ever done was in a canoe on a lake. Sure, he’d been in speedboats, small fishing yachts, ferries and the like, but never in the ocean. Never across the kind of distance that it would take to get home, and certainly not without someone experienced.
Charlotte had turned on the TV, but nothing new was on. Almost every channel was news and those that weren’t news, showed an emergency warning image along the bottom of the screen.
The brothers were just sitting there watching TV, looking passive yet annoyed. Ben gulped down his orange juice just as Chadwick walked back into the room. He was still looking shocked by all the violence.
Ben went over and carefully pulled the picture frame off the wall. It was one of those large frames with a variety of shapes, like squares and ovals, which held family photos. He walked in front of the TV, earning him the annoyed stares of everyone in the room.
“What’s this?” Ben asked. He pointed to the photo of the brothers in uniform.
Keanu sighed. “It’s a picture of us in uniform. Get out of the way.”
“Yeah, move,” Anuhea said, craning her neck to look around him.
“No, what is this in the background?” Ben asked, holding up the picture for everyone to see.
“It’s my ship. We took the photo when we were assigned to the same ship,” Kaholo said with furrowed eyebrows.
“Right…a ship.” Ben looked knowingly from Kaholo to Keanu. “A ship that I would bet money could take us to the mainland.”
Charlotte glanced at Anuhea. Chadwick looked up from staring at the floor. Kaholo made a skeptical face. Keanu sat up and reached out for the picture.
Ben handed it over.
Keanu stared at it for a few moments. Then he looked up at Kaholo. “Do you think…?” he asked, his voice trailing off.
“I mean…we don’t have a crew. We don’t have permission,” Kaholo said dismissively. “That’s crazy. It’s for island patrol, not trans-Pacific cruises.”
“It is possible though,” Keanu said enthusiastically. “The Kiska has the range, right?”
Kaholo just chuckled and took another drink of beer. He shook his head and wiped a bit of foam from his lips.
“Damn, you’re serious, aren’t you?” Kaholo asked. He straightened up in his EZ-chair and eyed his brother carefully.
“Why not?” Keanu asked.
Ben smiled. “Exactly. Why not?”
Kaholo was slow coming around to Ben’s idea of commandeering a ship and piloting it across the Pacific Ocean to the mainland. Amazingly, Keanu seemed excited about it.
Everyone else seemed skeptical. Nevertheless, everyone was willing to try it if Kaholo bought into the idea. Keanu seemed to think the cutter that he used to serve on, and that Kaholo currently served on, could easily make it to the West Coast.
The ship, known as the Kiska, was an island-class cutter used to patrol the state of Hawaii.
Kaholo was able to pilot the ship, since he worked on the bridge and that was actually part of his job, while Keanu had served in the engine room, so he could keep them moving. They wouldn’t need crew for most functions on the ship, like a cook, medic, etc. They would make do with the MREs and groceries they lifted along the way and Charlotte could deal with most medical problems assuming no one was accidentally shot, or bitten by the infected.
“What else would we need to actually get from point A to point B?” Ben asked, sitting on the edge of the couch near Keanu.
“Normally we’d need communications and navigation. But I can do navigation and comms isn’t critical at this point,” Kaholo said.
“It’s possible then?” Chadwick asked. “Have you done this sort of thing before?”
“I’ve never stolen a military vessel and crossed the ocean during a zombie apocalypse, no. But the basics wouldn’t be too hard to manage,” Kaholo said. “Still, I’m not sure this is the best idea.”
“There’s no way we could find another ship that could go that far, right?” Ben asked.
“Wait, how do we gas it up?” Anuhea asked.
“And what if we get caught?” Charlotte added.
“We were on alert, so everything should be prepped. Fuel, ammunition, rations, and whatnot should already be aboard the ship. If it’s not already fueled up, we could hypothetically do it before we leave. Keanu knows the process and can show you guys how to help him.” Kaholo sat back and rubbed his chin. His beer bottle sat empty on the small table beside his chair. He let out a low whistle and looked at Keanu. “This could get me court martialed. The Guard doesn’t play around with shit like this.”
“Whatever or whoever is left these days has bigger problems,” Keanu said.
“You can always spin it as a humanitarian mission. You rescued us from the island and took us home. That’s a great story,” Ben said, a wide grin on his face.
“What the hell is this?”
Ben looked away from Kaholo to see Ty standing near the hallway to the kitchen. He held up Ben’s phone so they could see its glowing screen.
“What?” Ben asked.
Ty turned the phone so he could read it. “I’m sorry. Never meant for this to happen. It’s out of control. Get your mother and meet me in Colorado.” Ty glanced up at Ben. “What’s this all about?”
Ben’s heart sank. It was the first text message from his dad, one of two he’d received when they were in the hotel room following the attack at the triathlon. His mouth dropped open, but no words came out.
Everyone looked at Ben then back at Ty.
“What does your dad know about the infection?” he asked.
“I don’t…don’t know.” Ben licked his lips and he suddenly wished he had more juice.
“Ben, what’s he talking about?” Charlotte asked. She looked at him with a worried expression and those big gorgeous eyes.
“Aim for the head, don’t get bit…how did he know this stuff?” Ty asked, holding the phone out again. “Why didn’t you tell us that your dad messaged you?”
Heat filled Ben’s chest. Ty was trying to undermine him. He didn’t appreciate being called out like this. His dad hadn’t revealed anything they didn’t already know. Ben had no idea why his father apologized or why he told Ben to meet him in Colorado. The two of them barely spoke. Ty knew that.
“What’s your problem?” Ben asked, looking up at Ty.
“You’re keeping secrets from us.” Ty tossed the phone at Ben. He caught it and set it on the coffee table.
“I have nothing to hide. My dad sent me cryptic messages. I don’t know why or what he knows.” Ben glared at Ty. His heart was racing and he clenched his hands into fists.
“Why does he want you in Colorado? What’s there?” Ty asked, accusingly.
Ben stood up, rising slowly to his full height. He faced Ty squarely, fire burning in his eyes.
Ty looked at him with contempt. “All this talk about your mom, but you just wanted to run to daddy.”
“Enough you guys,” Anuhea said, standing up.
“What else did your dad say?” Chadwick asked. His question was innocent and genuine.
Ben ignored it. His gaze firmly fixed on Ty. There was no reason behind this.
“My conversations with my dad are my business. What the fuck are you doing?” Ben took a step toward Ty.
Though he was smaller and not a fighter, he crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at Ben.
“Did your dad cause this infection?”
“How the fuck should I know?” Ben shouted, throwing his hands up. “We barely talk. We hadn’t spoken in months before I received those messages. I have no idea what they mean.”
“It sounds like he was a part of this. He’s the reason I’m hurt, the reason Travis and Kathy died, and the reason-”
Ben slugged Ty for the second time, right in his mouth.
Anuhea leapt between them as Ty stumbled back and fell into the wall. He was slow to stand up. One hand covered his mouth while the other steadied him against the wall.
“Fuck you, man. Fuck all of you,” Ty mumbled. Blood trickled down his chin. He pointed at Ben. “This is all your fault.”
“Shut up, Ty!” Anuhea shouted at him.
Ty turned and walked away. Charlotte stood and put a comforting hand on Ben’s arm. He realized how tense he was under her touch. His chest heaved and his hands began to shake a little from the adrenalin.
“Sit down,” Charlotte said softly.
He just shook his head. Ben resumed pacing. Just then, a door slammed.
Anuhea’s head cocked to the side. “Seriously? Did he just leave?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Oliver sat up. “Why did Ty leave? There are bad people outside.”
“He probably just needs some space,” Kaholo said.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be back soon. He’s just upset,” Ben said. He glanced down and saw Oliver process the answer. It must have satisfied him because he went back to alternating between playing and watching the TV.
“So, you want to share with us what that was all about?” Charlotte asked.
Ben sighed and sat down. He wasn’t sure where to begin. What was relevant to tell them? When he received the messages, he meant to bring them up at some point. Not like this, but he was planning to tell them. Then everything was moving so fast. His dad didn’t actually say much in the messages, although he was curious why his dad apologized. How could he possibly be involved?
Ben sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall. Chadwick sat just a few feet away. He leaned forward and watched Ben.
“I’m not sure what there is to say, really. Ty read the messages. I have no idea what they really mean. You know, beyond the obvious.” Ben shifted his position to get comfortable. “My father and I don’t really talk much. Not since he left me and my mom.”
“But why would he apologize?” Charlotte asked.
Ben just shook his head. He had no idea.
“What does he do for a living?” Kaholo said.
“He works for a defense contractor doing biotech research or something. Just boring science stuff,” Ben said.
Kaholo slowly sat up in his chair and leaned forward, with his elbows on his knees. He fixed Ben with a serious gaze. “Which defense contractor?”
Under the scrutiny, it took Ben a moment to process the question. Keanu’s tone of voice was ominous, like he knew, or suspected, something.
“Um, Black Tide. I worked for them too, for a while. At least until I learned my father worked there and had asked their HR department to recruit me,” Ben said.
Kaholo’s eyes widened.
“What?” Keanu asked, staring curiously at his brother.
The big man blinked a few times and slowly sat up straight.
“The other day, there were news reports that documents had been le
aked online linking Black Tide to the infection,” he said. “Serious shit, man. It included documents, photos, and videos of experiments. I mean, the company is under some heat.”
“No way, man. They do normal contracting stuff, things that other contractors do too; like security details, transporting cargo, surveillance, and whatnot,” Ben said. He didn’t like to hear that there might be a connection. It was unbelievable.
“What did you do for them?” Kaholo asked, eying him suspiciously.
“Come on, you can’t think my father had something to do with this.” Ben was shocked. Everyone stared at him with strange looks in their eyes.
“What did you do for Black Tide?” Keanu said, echoing his brother’s question.
“I worked in the acquisitions department. We would look at other companies and see who had technology we could use or might be interested in buying out or licensing the rights to,” Ben said. “It was mostly boring stuff, ordering parts for Humvees, infrared technology, drones, and whatnot.”
He took a deep breath.
“No disrespect, mate. But it sounds like it could be possible that your father was unwittingly involved on some level. Maybe not directly, but if the company is linked to the infection then….” Chadwick’s voice trailed off.
“Guilty by association,” Ben finished. His shoulders slumped in defeat. He truly had no idea.
“This is important to know and I hate to interrupt, but…” Charlotte said tentatively. “Did we want to do anything about Ty?”
“I’m not going after him. That fool walked out on his own, just like he did before,” Anuhea said with a whole lot of attitude and rightfully so, in Ben’s opinion. “I can’t justify risking the group for someone who clearly doesn’t want to be a part of it.”
“He buggered the phone situation, but isn’t that a little harsh?” Chadwick asked.
“It’s not the first time he’s walked out on us. He did it when we were still in a burning airplane,” Ben said. He suddenly felt very tired. It was still relatively early, but he was bushed. Despite the betrayal, he felt torn about going after Ty.
“I agree with Anuhea. He chose this, let him live with the decision,” Charlotte said.