by Tim Moon
“Okay, this bit is serious business. You’re all going to want to get below deck and hold on. The bar is dangerous, but don’t worry, we’ll get through it,” Kaholo said. Everyone stared at him wide-eyed. “That means now, people.”
They filed out of the bridge, made their way downstairs, and sat down on the bunks in the cabins below deck. Ben tucked his journal underneath the mattress so that his hands were free. Kaholo said hold on and he wasn’t going to disobey their captain.
“Do you know what the hell he’s talking about?” Charlotte asked him.
“Not really, but I’m guessing he’s never done this before.” Ben sat down on one of the bunks and held onto the edge.
A few minutes later the boat began to buck and sway like an angry bull. Chadwick grimaced as he rocked with the waves in the bunk across from Ben. Oliver was the only one who seemed to think it was a carnival ride. Ben waited for the ship to shatter into pieces at any moment.
Even though it wasn’t more than a few minutes of massive waves and a big drop as they crossed the bar, it felt longer and more terrifying than the previous three days combined. The Kiska seemed to let out a sigh of relief as the rapids ended and they began cruising up the river itself.
“My God, I’m never doing that again,” Anuhea said.
“I second that.” Chadwick sat up, lowering his leg gingerly to the floor.
Ben stayed on the bunk for a while. His heart was still pounding.
When he emerged onto the deck, the Kiska was approaching the bridge connecting Astoria, Oregon to Washington State.
Ben knew the bridge well. His family had driven over it during summer vacations when he was young. The last time he’d seen the bridge was just over a year ago, when he took a trip with some high school friends along the Washington and Oregon coast.
“It’s so tall,” Oliver said. “Why is it so tall?”
“Because it looks cool,” Ben said. His shoulders bounced with a non-committal shrug. The movement sent a spike of pain from his injury up his neck.
Oliver seemed to consider what he said. After a second, he laughed and said, “It is cool. Can we drive over it? Then I can look down and see the boat.”
“Ship,” Keanu corrected him. “You could look down and see the ship.”
Oliver looked at Ben who made a face. The boy giggled and ran to the side of the ship, forgetting his question. He leaned against the flimsy looking railing and watched the bridge recede in the distance.
“I don’t see any people in town. Nothing has moved other than some birds since we were in sight of town,” Anuhea said. She lowered the binoculars and looked curiously at Ben and Keanu.
“It’s not a big town, but someone should still be here,” Ben said, scowling at the buildings and streets that they passed. Astoria did have a quiet feel to it. No cars drove around, no tourists walked the streets downtown, and no other ships sailed by.
“Any infected?” Keanu asked.
Anuhea shook her head. “I haven’t seen anything moving at all.”
“You would think smaller towns like this would have fared better. If Astoria is infected, or abandoned, what does that say for our chances once we get to Portland?” Charlotte asked.
Chadwick sat on the ground, leaning against a blue plastic barrel. His shorts were stained with blood and his calf was wrapped in thick bandages. “Hopefully, it means we can get to Ben’s house without a problem. Does your mum know we’re coming?”
Ben shook his head. “I wasn’t able to get her on the phone. As far as she knows, I’m still in Hawaii.”
“Anyone have cell signal?” Keanu asked.
“My battery’s dead.” Ben shook his head again. “It’s been dead for days now.”
“Mine broke during the mess at the triathlon. Damn thing slipped out of my pocket and was trampled by the crowd. I’ve been without it ever since,” Chadwick said. “Kind of freeing, really. I can’t say that I miss it.”
“Have you guys tried to call out on the radio?” Anuhea asked.
“Oh yeah, of course. I’ve repeated the call so many times that I was saying it in my dreams last night.” Keanu held his hand to his mouth, made a radio noise and said, “Where the fuck is everyone? Over.”
“I believe you’re supposed to say mayday,” Chadwick said.
Keanu rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, mate. I made a proper radio call.”
“Not if you said it like that,” Chadwick muttered.
Chapter Forty-Six
The scenery was beautiful. There were mountains everywhere, rolling green hills, and a sea of green trees replaced the endless blue of the ocean. Slowly everyone dispersed and went back to whatever they found to occupy their time. Ben sat near Chadwick and waited. It would still take quite some time to get to Portland.
“Have you ever been here before?” Ben asked.
“Not here. I’ve been to California though and we took a family trip to Washington, D.C. a few years ago.” Chadwick sat up a little. “A place like D.C., or New York City, must be a real mess. I’m hoping Portland isn’t too worse for wear, I’d like to catch a train down to California to meet my parents.”
“What did you say they’re doing?”
“They are consulting at Google about a space project they are running. Actually, I don’t know much because they had to keep it all hush-hush.” He chuckled a little. Shifting his position, he winced and rubbed his leg.
“Feeling any better?” Ben asked, eying the bandage.
“A bit, I suppose. Charlotte was a real champ cleaning it up.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Ben said, glancing down at his shoulder. It had felt like she was scrubbing it out with a toilet brush. He had almost passed out. Just the memory gave him chills.
“Another bridge!” Oliver said above them. He liked to hang out with Kaholo.
“We must be coming up on Longview.” Ben stood up to look.
“What’s that mean?” Chadwick asked.
“Means we’re close.”
“How close do you think?” Chadwick watched the silver bridge pass by overhead.
“I’m not sure about our speed, but around two or three hours. That’s just a guess though,” Ben said.
Anuhea appeared on the rear deck where Ben and Chadwick were talking.
“Close. Kaholo said it should be just less than two hours.” Anuhea smiled seductively at Ben.
He felt heat rise up his neck, he wasn’t sure what to do or say, so he glanced away. Anuhea was Ty’s friend…or whatever they were. Ben wasn’t sure. In any case, the look made him uncomfortable. Still, he couldn’t ignore the tiny voice in his head that cheered him on.
“So, what are you guys doing up there? It’s gotta get boring since there’s nothing out here,” Ben said.
“Just talking and sometimes trying the radio, although that’s been useless.” She shook her head.
“I’d kill for a deck of cards,” Chadwick said, looking at them hopefully.
“You and I both, and I’m not even a gambler.” Ben sighed and stretched his arms and legs.
“Have you guys looked around below deck? There might be something to do to pass the time down there,” Anuhea suggested.
Chadwick sat there with a “you must be joking” look on his face. Ben laughed at him.
“Don’t worry, I’ll go check. You hang out here okay. Don’t go anywhere.” Ben stood up and went downstairs.
After a bit of rummaging around in various drawers, nooks, and crannies, he found not one, but two decks of cards and a couple of books that might be good for passing the time. Ben went back up to Chadwick and lost several rounds of poker. Anuhea joined them for a game of war, but Ben lost that too. He bowed out and set about reading one of the books.
About ninety minutes later, deep into a space battle scene, Ben nearly pissed his pants and choked on his beef jerky at the same time.
A roaring blast echoed down the river valley. It was so loud that it reverberated in his chest as if he was dancing in front o
f the speakers at a rave.
“Whoa!” Chadwick shouted in surprise.
Startled and coughing up bits of meat, Ben accidentally spilled his package of beef jerky on the deck. “What the hell was that?”
He hopped up and ran up the steps to the bridge.
Kaholo and Anuhea were staring out of the windshield with their mouths hanging open.
“What the shit was that?” Ben asked.
“It’s…we…” Anuhea shook her head and pointed.
At first, he wasn’t sure what she was pointing toward. The river looked empty; there was no smoke nearby, and no other ships. He looked along the shoreline, but didn’t see anything. Then he looked further up river and gasped when he saw it.
A massive mushroom cloud rose above the hills between them and Portland, Oregon. It had already risen quite high and since sound moved relatively slow, they’d only just heard the blast. Ben almost didn’t believe it even though he saw it with his own eyes. Everyone knew what that kind of cloud meant, but who…why…what the fuck?!
Someone had nuked Portland.
His stomach dropped. What could they do now? Was it safe to keep going to the Port of Vancouver? Did Vancouver, Washington even exist anymore? Did Portland?
“What…” Ben started, but stopped.
“A nuke,” Kaholo said softly. “A fuckin’ nuke, man!” He roared and yelled, cursing.
Ben looked at him like he was crazy. To his knowledge, Kaholo didn’t know anyone there.
Kaholo slammed his fists on the console. He gasped in pain and clutched his injured hand to his massive chest.
“What do we do?” Ben asked, finally finding his voice.
“Avoid the fallout. We can’t go any closer, there’s no telling how safe it would be.” Kaholo scowled hard.
“Oh, Ben, I’m so sorry,” Anuhea said, covering her mouth and looking at him with tear filled eyes.
His mom. Ben looked back up river at the cloud. Could it reach far enough to destroy his mom’s house? He wasn’t sure. She lived just on the edge of town to the northeast. He bit his lip as he considered the question.
“No, no, no, she’s…she’s far enough away. I don’t think it could…reach that far north,” Ben said, gaining confidence as he spoke. “I think she’s at a safe distance. But Kaholo’s right, we can’t go much closer. We need to find a place to get to shore.”
He looked at Kaholo. Fresh blood was soaking through his friend’s bandage.
“Want me to get Charlotte?” Ben asked.
They heard a thumping on the stairs. It was Chadwick; they’d heard him hop up the narrow staircase plenty of times over the last few days.
“What was that noise?” Chadwick asked, gasping for breath from coming up the stairs so quickly.
“A nuclear bomb blast.” Ben pointed at the mushroom cloud.
Chadwick’s eyes bulged. “Bollocks! That’s mental,” Chadwick said.
“Yeah.” Ben nodded his head. It was unbelievable.
The ship slowed down but continued up the river. They were in no immediate danger. A new plan had yet to be agreed on. All of them were still reeling from the shock of it.
Kaholo sat back down in his chair and held his head in his hand. “Who could have done this?”
No one answered.
Ben thought for a moment. “There are only a few countries that have the ability as far as I know. That would be Russia, China and possibly North Korea, although I doubt they would.”
Chadwick bumped into Ben, jostling his shoulder. He cursed and stepped back.
“Careful, man.”
“Sorry, mate. Just making room,” Chadwick said, jerking his thumb toward the door.
Charlotte stood just outside with her mouth open. She slowly turned her head to look at them.
Ben nodded at her, confirming that what Charlotte saw was real.
“Nuke,” Anuhea said simply.
“You’re hurting my hand,” Oliver said, wriggling free of Charlotte’s grasp.
Charlotte looked from Anuhea to Ben, her eyes glistening. It was worse than seeing videos of the attacks on September 11th. The pain and emotion was immediate for all of them. Charlotte squeezed onto the bridge and hugged Ben.
No one spoke for a long time.
“Hey, hey, what’s that?” Anuhea squinted and pointed up the river.
Ben turned his head. There was something moving in the river. It looked like…
“Oh shit, a wave from the blast,” Kaholo said, wiping silent tears off his face. “Everyone hold on, it’s going to get bumpy.”
They watched as not just one, but three waves came barreling down the valley at them. Wave number one was big. The Kiska rolled over it no problem. Wave number two was tall. The ship reared its head like a dragon and slammed down on the other side, just in time for the third wave. It was a monster wave, larger than the others combined. The kind of wave that would give Ben nightmares for the rest of his life.
Amplified by the relatively narrow valley and relatively shallow water, the third wave coming toward them was almost as high as the bridge. Ben could hardly imagine the amount of damage the bomb and the waves must have done at ground zero.
“Hold on!” Kaholo shouted.
Everyone yelled and screamed as the ship tilted wildly throwing them back against the wall of the bridge. Waves crashed up, spraying the windshield with water and splashing through the open door. Chadwick slipped in the water and cursed. He curled into a ball, clenching his leg and didn’t move. As the water cleared from the glass, they looked down the backside of the wave. It felt like riding a roller coaster that paused just before racing down a near vertical drop. Ben held onto the handrail and yelled. The ship raced down the slope of water with stomach wrenching speed.
Reaching the bottom of the drop, water shot up in the air. It splashed the deck and sprayed the bridge again. But they had survived.
Ben maintained his grip on the handrail, but he was soaked and sprawled out on the floor. He slowly pulled himself up and peered over the edge of the control panel to look outside. Water dripped from his hair, his shoulder hurt like hell, but he was alive.
“We made it,” Ben said softly. Then he shouted, “Oh my God, we made it!”
A small cheer erupted as everyone collected their wits, stood up and realized that they had survived.
Chadwick groaned. He lay balled up on the floor, clutching his injured leg. Blood soaked through the bandage and turned the water on the floor pink. “I hate ships.”
They laughed as they helped him up.
Anuhea stayed on the bridge while all the injured people went below deck with Charlotte to get checked up. Kaholo reluctantly left the bridge in Anuhea’s hands, but only after turning the ship around and reducing the speed. They would have to find somewhere else to dock.
For now, Ben at least, needed some pain medication and a fresh bandage.
Chapter Forty-Six
Several days after leaving the Kiska outside Longview, Washington, Ben and the group finally reached his mom’s house.
Ben, Charlotte, Anuhea, Chadwick and Oliver had bid their farewell to the brothers Keanu and Kaholo, who felt obliged to check in at a Coast Guard Station to find out how they could help with any emergency response the Coast Guard was mounting. Their journey from Longview was long and difficult, but it was worth it.
Now that he finally arrived, Ben wanted to run up the steps, burst inside, and say, “Mom, I’m home!” But he held his enthusiasm in check. He knew that doing so would be foolish. Bursting into someone’s home during the apocalypse was how you got shot. If she still had the pistol he had bought her, it was a real possibility. So, Ben walked slowly up the steps to the front porch of his mom’s house, holding his rifle at the ready.
Ben still hadn’t decided what he would do if his mom was infected. Would he have the strength to put her down? His heart fluttered and the back of his neck tingled. He dashed those negative thoughts from his mind.
The block was quiet.
Just as it had been since they had got out of the center of Vancouver. Roadblocks, abandoned vehicles and massive pileups forced them closer to downtown than he wanted to go. Despite the struggles of his entire journey, standing on the porch of his mom’s home, moments from entering, was more unnerving than anything else he’d done.
His friends fanned out behind him. Chadwick sat on the first step, watching the street with his rifle propped up on his good leg. Oliver sat beside him, looking around nervously. Charlotte held a rifle and stood near the sidewalk, watching Ben creep toward the front door. Anuhea was just behind Ben, holding a pistol, with her rifle slung on her back.
Ben glanced back at Anuhea and held a finger to his lips. He reached down and tried the doorknob.
“Locked,” he whispered, letting out a sigh of relief. A locked door was a good sign. Walking to the corner of the porch, Ben tipped a large flowerpot to the side and lifted up a key. There had been a key hidden there for years. He grinned at Anuhea as he quietly walked back to the front door.
The key slid into the lock, the metal grinding against the tumblers was louder than he would have liked, but only because it was quiet as death outside. Ben turned the lock and it clicked. He opened the door and pushed it open.
Peeking inside, he saw that the hallway was clear. He strained to listen. There was nothing to hear though. It was quiet inside, a perfect reflection of the silence in the streets.
If his mom was home, she would probably be in the living room. Ben didn’t hear the TV, but hoped that wasn’t a bad sign.
“Hello? Mom?” Ben said in a loud whisper.
Nothing.
He stepped inside and turned toward the library, which was the room that most people used as their living room. Ben motioned for Anuhea to go the other direction, toward the dining room and kitchen. It was far less likely his mom would be there. He wanted to be the first to see her.
From the hall, the library looked empty. Taking a deep breath, he began to walk forward with the rifle at the ready and his finger near the trigger, but not on it. Glancing around the room it was obviously empty, save for the shelves of books, a small couch, oak coffee table, two overstuffed chairs and a pair of antique end tables.