Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  “I was wondering but didn’t want to ask. Margaret seems fragile. Not just her health which isn’t that bad, but emotionally. She dotes on Dana. Did he say what happened to his wife, Dana’s Mother?”

  “No and I didn’t ask. You know, somehow when I asked Robert about going with us I knew it was something you would approve of.” He laughed, “Rob said yes before I’d even finished asking him to join us.”

  “Margaret didn’t take more than a couple of seconds to agree either. I think the instant bond between Olivia and Dana helped her decide. We’ve made room for them and some of their things.”

  She stood looking off over the water. The moon wasn’t up yet and the water was black and still, even the stars had not yet an appearance. He could barely make out her profile, but he knew by the set of her chin she had something else on her mind.

  “Okay spit it out. What aren’t you telling me?”

  She turned and moved close to him putting her arms around his waist. She rested her head against his chest and he felt her chest expand with a sigh. She stood for several minutes before he realized it wasn’t going to be a simple hug and placed his arms around her. He couldn’t believe how small she’d become, and with her penchant for wearing her clothes too big he hadn’t noticed how much weight she’d lost. She had never been fat; he would have called her curvy before. Now she was thin and he wondered if she was shorting herself on food to stretch their groceries out. He’d mention it to Hannah and see what she thought. With the amount of people or lack of people around he was sure there were food stores that hadn’t been touched. Rob had said that he thought at least eighty-five percent of people had died or been killed off.

  From their time on the other dock, with him standing guard while Alan and Rob had syphoned the fuel he had studied the buildings and the streets around the marina. He thought he’d seen movement in one of the building windows. It was just a movement he’d caught out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked directly at the window in question, he saw nothing. It did not dispel the feeling that they were there. He hoped that everyone was too afraid of everyone else to bother with them.

  With Rob’s tale of first the gangs going through the area followed by the military unit, he was pretty sure the few people not belonging to either faction had either headed for the hills to hide, or had hidden in place.

  According to Rob, the military unit had gone through the buildings and rounded up the younger men and women they found, loaded them into trucks and executed the old and very young.

  This fact alone, convinced him that they were not American soldiers. He did not believe there were any American soldiers who would turn their weapons on American civilian’s for any reason. They were there to protect them; not kill them.

  He was beginning to think Ellen had fallen asleep on her feet when she began to talk, “We have to go by Margaret’s house. All of her medicine is there. There’s enough to last her a year or so, and Hannah says we can probably stretch it out some. We can get some of their clothes and she has some food stored and better yet, she has heirloom vegetable seeds from her garden.”

  “I know. I already heard it all from Robert. We can maybe find fuel up there too and then it’s a straight shot up the coast.”

  She squeezed, “Thank you. It will mean a lot to all of them and it will be a good break for us too. I think it’s going to be a long crowded trip and we’ll probably drive each other crazy long before we get there, but we’ll be okay.”

  “What happened to Dana’s Mother? Were they divorced or what? I didn’t want to ask Robert in case he’d just lost her.”

  “It’s kind of sad. She died in a car accident. Dana was actually born after her mother passed away. They tried to keep her physically alive until Robert could be shipped home, but they finally had to take the baby. Margaret has raised her since birth.”

  “Dang, that’s rough.” Ellen finally pulled away and he realized he wished she’d stayed. They had created enough body heat together for him to be warm. Without the sun, the December air was chilly even for Southern California.

  Ellen felt the chill too and wrapped her arms around herself. “Like Margaret says, it was a long time ago. I think we need to stand watch tonight and not only just one of us. I’m pretty sure I saw movement on shore earlier, and I’m worried that someone is bound to get curious why only two of the masts are bobbing around and the others are not. And we need to take the dinghy off of the Newport and strap it down on top of the house. My dinghy alone is not enough for all of us if we had an emergency.”

  “We’d better get it done then. The fog it starting to roll in. Pretty soon we won’t be able to see our hands in front of our faces. Which could be beneficial for us. If we can’t see us, neither can they.” Frank paused to watch the fog bank as it rolled closer. It reminded him of the way the sand storms had rolled across the deserts of Iraq, stealing everything in sight.

  “But if they can’t see us, we can’t see them either. We’ll have to rely solely on our hearing them.”

  “That’s true,” Ellen agreed. “We need to tell everyone no more noise.”

  They walked back toward the boat comfortable in their silence. As they drew closer they heard laughter from the Annie-C.

  “I thought the girls would unwind once the novelty wore off, but I can see I was wrong. As much as I hate to stifle them after what they’ve already been through, we really need to. That’s way too much noise.”

  “Good plan. A blind man could find us here.” He offered his hand to Ellen to help her up and was surprised when she made use of it.

  “Thanks,” she grunted as she climbed up and over the gunnel.

  “Anytime. We need to have a quick meeting before everyone turns in.”

  Ellen paused half in the cockpit and looked at him. “A meeting? What for now?”

  “Now? You make it sound like I call them all the time and I don’t…do I?”

  “Sorry, no you don’t. You saying that is exactly what I was thinking. I don’t know what your meeting is for, but it seems to me like no one is taking this whole thing seriously.” She had climbed down inside the cockpit and turned to face him.

  He was standing one foot on the boat and the other on the dock holding on to a shroud prepared to step up. He shook his head, “Ha! That’s it exactly. I think you must spend too much time in my head; now you’re reading my thoughts.”

  A drop of water fell from the rigging and landed on Frank’s forehead with a splat. He blinked when it ran into his eyes. “Damn, I can’t believe I forgot about the fog. We could really get socked in. I’ve seen it so thick you couldn’t see across the street in the daytime, let alone see at night. We’ll be lucky to get out of here at first light.”

  “Does it really matter when we leave?”

  “It could, if someone discovers us. However, the sooner we get out of here the quicker we get to the farm.”

  Chapter Sixteen - Silence is invisibility

  As soon as they had eaten, Frank called for the meeting. When Hannah had said she would get the girls to bed Ellen told her not to, that it was important they all heard the conversation.

  Frank and Ellen shared the space behind the wheel with the others lined up on both sides of the cockpit. Frank nodded at Ellen indicating she should begin.

  “I know that basically we are a bunch of strangers who have decided to group together in an attempt to survive this holocaust. There are going to be times when we don’t agree with each other and that’s to be expected. With the addition of our newest crew mates we are going to be crowded for personal space. When you feel overwhelmed or just need some time alone we’ll revert back to our old policy of a half hour on the bow. Just tell someone you are going and no one will question you or disturb you.” She looked around and saw she had everyone’s attention.

  “However we do have a problem. We need to take this situation far more seriously than we are. I think it’s up to the adults to see that loud voices or laughter do not happen. It’s
too easy for someone else to hear us. I don’t want to go into details on this but staying off the grid is imperative. No one can hurt us if they don’t know we’re here. We’ve all been through hard times already and it’s only been three months, give or take a few days. Even with the die offs and whatever else has happened, there are still bad people out there. It doesn’t matter how much they already have; they’re going to want what we have. We can’t let that happen. Keeping ourselves invisible is one way we can protect ourselves. And silence is invisibility.” She looked at Frank, “Anything I missed?”

  “For the most part you covered the main points, but there is another issue. Alan, this isn’t aimed at only you so don’t take offense, but we need to be more aware of what is around us. No daydreaming when you’re on watch. Once we leave here you can do all the wool gathering you want if you’re not on watch. Our lives have changed drastically the past few months as you guys have already learned. While we are stuck here, we are on guard every second. This fog may or may not lift. We need to be able to see our way out before we can leave. So, we’ll be standing guard shifts in pairs.”

  He looked from Dana to Olivia, “And you two are included in that. When you are outside you can make a game out of spotting anything that is moving on shore. You just have to be very quiet while you’re doing it. Can you do that?”

  Both girls nodded vigorously in answer.

  “Okay good. Now this is something I haven’t brought up to Robert yet but it needs to be addressed. Have you taught Dana to use a firearm yet?”

  Margaret laughed softly. “He has not, but I did. We have a little plastic 22 at home she knows how to use. Before we moved to Cullen, I was involved with the Senior Mounted Shooters. She voiced an interest so I started her on targets at the dump.”

  “And I could hit the targets too,” Dana began and then clamped her hands over her mouth when she realized she was talking too loud.

  Olivia stared at her friend, eyes wide and a grin. “Wow,” she mouthed.

  “So we can assume she knows good firearm safety then. That’s a plus for all of us. We tend to keep our guns handy.”

  “When I taught her to shoot, I never thought it would be for this though.” Margaret looked sad when she said it. “So much has changed…for all of us. When I look around me and remember the last time we were here, there were children and families gathered for graduation. People were so happy. You could hear laughter everywhere. Now it’s the stink of dead bodies, and the smell of smoke. Instead of laughter we hear gunshots. I just don’t understand.”

  Robert reached out to his mother and squeezed her shoulder. “It’ll get better Mom; we just have to find the spot. It sounds like Ellen’s farm will fit the bill nicely and we’ll have friends with us too.”

  “Friends? I had friends. I’m so afraid to find out they’re all dead or gone.”

  “I’m sorry if they are, but now we need to think about Dana and her chance at life in a safer environment far away from here. You didn’t see the soldiers coming off those boats. Mom, they weren’t our soldiers. I think someone is invading the United States. We can’t stay and fight them alone. We have to go.”

  She reached for Roberts hand, “I know honey, I know. It’s just hard for an old lady to contemplate starting over again in a new place. I’ve lived in that house since you father passed. All my memories are there.”

  “Margaret, you’re not that old and you can make new memories with us. Trust me on this. Your memories will always be there in your heart and mind. And we need you with us. Who’s going to help me when I have the baby. As near as I know, you’re the only one here who has gone through it.”

  Margaret laughed momentarily forgetting her worries. “No honey, I never did have one of my own. Robert and his little brother were adopted. They are the children of my heart not my womb. But I do happen to know a little bit about childbirth.”

  “Good, because we want you with us.”

  “Okay,” said Frank, “now we’ve settled that let’s get back to the reason for the meeting. Security. Once we leave here we have one stop. Eureka and then it is up the coast to our future home. We will be staying closer to the coast going up to Eureka so we’ll have to remain diligent. I’m hoping for the fog to leave us, but we won’t count on it. It will hide us from prying eyes but as Ellen said, if they can’t see us, then we can’t see them either.” He tapped his ear with his index finger. These will be our eyes. If you are on deck, you need to be scanning all the time and listening. I don’t want to sound like a broken record but I can’t stress this enough.”

  “What’s a broken record?” Olivia asked a frown on her face.

  From behind the hand she had clamped over her mouth a giggle escaped from Dana. “They used to play music on records. My Nana has some and so does my Dad. Nana’s are really old and big.”

  “Okay you two it’s time for bed for the both of you.” Hannah stood and held her hand out to Olivia. “I’ve got this Margaret. You go ahead and sit.”

  Dana kissed her Dad, Grandmother and went from person to person giving kisses. Olivia, not to be out done followed her repeating with her kisses.

  When the girls were gone, Frank stood back up. Now that the kids are gone, I…”

  Ellen held her hand up to stop him and pointed at the starboard side of the well. Behind Margaret and Robert’s knees were two small ports. “Hannah, can you close the ports in there please?”

  They heard the girls giggle and Hannah shushed them. They heard the snap of the ports latching.

  With a hand gesture, Frank waved them to gather closer. They all slid aft on the seat. He began to talk quietly. “What is happening here is very scary. I would like to find the answers to what is going on, but I agree with Robert on this. We can’t do it alone and right now I feel our safety and that of the girls is far more important to take care of first. Ellen says her parents had many like-minded friend’s; people who lived off the grid and that may mean many are still alive and thriving up there. There are no big towns within twenty miles and she is practically up in the mountains. She feels this is a safe place for us all to start over and that’s our intentions.

  “I have to ask; did either of you have a flu vaccine?”

  “Aw Ellen, you’re really going to go back to that?” Alan asked.

  While Robert shook his head no, Margaret answered, “No, the day Dana and I were scheduled to go for ours, we were coming down to see Robbie. I was going to get them as soon as we got back, but this is as far as we made it. Now I guess it’s too late to worry about it. Is that a problem?”

  “Wait, did you say scheduled for or the day you had an appointment to get them?” Ellen leaned forward as if it would help her hear the answer better.

  “That was the day they specified in the letter we received. It said we could be penalized for missing the appointment but I didn’t care at the time. We wanted to see Robbie because we thought he was going to sea.”

  “I just ignored my appointment. They had our whole unit scheduled at the same time, but I don’t get shots so I skipped out. I let another guy from a different unit take mine because he’d missed his own.”

  Ellen looked at Frank, but before she could say what was on her mind he spoke. “Okay…I am beginning to see what you are talking about, but two or three dozen people doesn’t prove a point. I’ll put it down to coincidence until we know more.

  Now, we need to get some sleep because as soon as this fog starts to lift we’re leaving. I have an idea that once we get offshore a mile or two we may run out of it.”

  Chapter Seventeen - You had no other choice!

  As a group, they decided on two-hour watches with Robert and Alan taking the first. Frank had thought that he or Ellen should be with one of the younger people but Ellen had nixed that idea. She reminded him that Robert was not that much younger and knew how to handle himself and that Alan was capable as well.

  He hadn’t wanted to embarrass Alan by telling Ellen exactly what had happened when
he’d been put on watch while they were getting fuel. He almost wished he had, because she had a way with him and he seemed to listen to her. He hoped that Robert could keep him on his guard.

  With the girls in their new room and Margaret and Hannah in the V-berth, Ellen and Frank took the settee berths. Ellen was asleep in minutes with Frank not far behind.

  Robert and Alan had decided to post themselves up at the head-walk just inside the gate. If anyone was going to come for them they assumed they would have to approach from land.

  They were sitting on a dock box talking softly. The fog had brought their sight distance down to zero. Mist clung to their hair and dripped on their faces. If not for the rain jackets they would have been soaked within minutes of coming out.

  Robert put his hand on Alan’s arm to still him. “Did you hear that?”

  Alan stopped talking to listen. “What’d you hear?”

  “I’m not sure it was anything. This fog has got me spooked. Someone could walk right up to us before we knew they were there. I hate this shit.”

  “Ellen says this is what we have to look forward to all the way up the coast. I can’t imagine being out on the water and not being able to see.”

  “Well it’s a good thing that she knows how to sail then.”

  “Frank does too. We rescued him off of his boat when it sunk at Garden Key. And we rescued Olivia from Cuba and now we’ve rescued you guys too.”

  “Yeah a couple of good Samaritans.” Robert chuckled, “Don’t react in any way, but I think there’s someone or something in the water. That’s what I was hearing before.”

  “Are you sure? I still don’t hear anything.” He listened, and wished there was no fog and that Frank was with him and not Robert. Frank would know exactly what to do.