Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  “We aren’t going anywhere today. But you and I are going to do some reconnaissance and find the things Hannah needs for the guys. There has to be a pharmacy or clinic or medical facility somewhere close.” He looked at Ellen to see her reaction. He was surprised by her reaction. She had sat up straighter and had a grin plastered on her face.

  “Now you’re talking. I’ve been dying to get out and walk around. I want to experience what it feels like to be out there.” She realized she had shocked Frank with her enthusiasm. His brown eyes stared out from under his wrinkled brow. “What? Is that kind of sick?” She wanted him to know how she felt, but didn’t know how to explain herself. “I just want to see what it’s like out there. To feel the desolation, the abandonment and the hopelessness. You see it on the movies all the time and read about it in books, but I want to feel it. To put my feet where maybe no one else will ever walk again. To be the last person to touch something. Does that make any sense to you?”

  He laughed at her frustration, because he knew exactly what she was talking about. When they had cleared a village in Iraq, he had felt the ghosts walking beside him, heard the laughter of kids at play. He had felt every nuance of their struggle. He understood Ellen exactly. He had been there and decided he would take her and let her feel it for herself. “Okay! But we do it by my rules this time. On the boat you’re the Captain out there I am the General. You good with that?”

  “Fair enough. When do we leave?”

  “As soon as we get some gear together and a sandwich or something. I’m starved. We have to let the girls get some sleep so they can stand watch while we’re gone. How about you? Do you need a nap?”

  “Oh hell no! If I could I would fast forward time so they would be rested and we could be leaving right now.”

  “Come on, don’t go all Indiana Jones on me. You have to take this seriously. We could get ourselves killed out there. You realize that right?”

  “I do know, but on the other hand this could be the last chance to get the things we need to get home.” She thought for a second, “Well maybe not the last chance because we still have to stop at Rob and Margaret’s, but crap…you know what I mean. I know you do and you understand my thinking too. I really need to catch my journal up when we get away from here and everything we see here and experience will live on in my journal. Maybe someday I’ll write a book and fill it with firsthand knowledge.”

  Frank laughed momentarily forgetting about being quiet. “You have got to be the strangest woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Someday, you’ll have to let me read your journal. I bet it will be some interesting reading. But will there be anyone left to read it?”

  Ellen slugged him in the arm, “It could be a best seller for all you know.” She laughed with him. The fact was that she didn’t know if anyone would survive, but if she didn’t and others did they would have her words recorded on the trials they faced on their journey home. It may be important as far as whoever read it, to let them know what was out there. She felt sure if she were them, she would want to know if others had survived and what their experiences had been.

  “Frank, you would want to know if there were other people who had lived through the apocalypse…wouldn’t you?”

  Frank let out a soft snort and Ellen realized that he probably hadn’t heard a word she’d said. His chin rested on his chest and his face had relaxed in sleep. She grabbed one of the small cockpit pillows, stood up and put it where she thought his head would rest and pulled him over so he was now resting on his side. He stretched and she thought she’d woken him, but after adjusting his position more to his liking, he crossed his arms and began snoring again.

  She decided to let him sleep. The fog was beginning to lighten and she felt he would be awake soon enough. With nothing to do but watch, she climbed on the dock. An offshore breeze had started and the fog swirled around as she walked. It would be easy to picture herself as the only living person around. With the absence of people there were no sounds of the living or cars or the multitude of noise that drowned out the stillness of life. She thought about the tree falling in the forest and no one around to hear it.

  Being here in these surreal circumstances made her wonder about the silence. Were there listening ears doing the same as she was? Was someone trying to find a way to survive without drawing unwanted attention as she was. Would they be discovered, by someone wanting to take whatever they had? She hoped not. She hoped they found other people who were of the same mindset as they were.

  Coming to the gate, Ellen saw the chain that Frank had attached. She laughed softly at just how much chain was lying there. It had to be someone’s anchor chain. She sat down on the edge of the dock and waited. She kept her ears tuned to any sound out of the ordinary or for what passed as ordinary today.

  Ellen wasn’t sure how long she sat there and thought she may have fallen asleep when she noticed the fog had dissipated enough for her to see across the parking lot to the street beyond. Behind her, she saw her boat tied at the end of the dock. Olivia was sitting alone at the bow. Seeing Olivia sitting there reminded her why they were doing this in the first place. Now with Dana and the prospect of a new baby to think of too, going to the farm was the right choice for all of them.

  “He’s awake! Alan is awake!” Hannah hollered from the companionway opening. She slapped her hand over her mouth to quiet herself and shrugged her shoulders. It was too late whatever damage her loud voice would bring to them was going to come.

  Frank sat up and wiped his face with his hands. He looked surprised to be waking up at all. He had not dealt with an old habit and looked at his wrist to see what time it was. He shook his head when he realized what he was doing.

  “It’s about eight I think,” Ellen said as she climbed on the boat.

  “Why’d you let me sleep?”

  “I didn’t let you. You didn’t ask me before you did it. And besides, you are a full grown man capable of making decisions all by yourself. You obviously needed it.”

  “I was hoping to be on our way back by now and we haven’t even gotten started yet.” He seemed to understand how whinny he sounded and grinned.

  “As soon as I check on Alan and we pack up some gear we can get out of here.” Ellen went below.

  The main cabin looked like a hospital ward. With Alan on one settee and Rob on the other, both looking like they’d been run over by a truck. However, they looked like they would both survive. Alan was propped up by pillows taking a sip from a glass held by Hannah.

  Robbie was sitting up leaning against the bulwark a pillow behind him. He looked in Ellen’s direction at hearing her on the ladder. She saw that one eye was open enough for him to see something out of it. The other was swollen shut. The dark bruising around both made it seem as he were wearing a “Lone Ranger” mask. Someone had removed Frank’s packing from it, but it still sat crooked on his face. He sat with his hand resting on another pillow. Dana and Olivia sat on the foot of his bed apparently reading to each other or to Rob. She didn’t see Margaret and supposed she was laying down in the girl’s room.

  “Hannah, will you be alright being here without Frank or I? We’d like to see about finding the medical supplies you need. Seeing as we can’t really leave for a day or two or until you say Alan is up for travel, so now would be the perfect time.”

  Before Hannah could answer, Rob spoke, “There’s a Walgreens about three or four miles south of here. The windows were broken out so no telling if or how badly it was looted.”

  “Well that helps, it saves us going out there blind with no direction to go.” She walked closer to Rob and peered at him. “Ouch, speaking of blind how are you doing?”

  “Aw…I’m okay. This is nothing compared to some of the beatings I took as a boxer. By tomorrow I’ll be almost as good as new.”

  Ellen laughed, “Your idea and mine on as good as new are miles apart, but okay. Knowing where the pharmacy is will be a big help.”

  “Is Margaret asleep?” Ellen aske
d Hannah and pointed over her shoulder to the aft cabin.

  Hannah looked surprised, “No. She’s in the V-berth. She’ll probably be waking up soon. Do you need her?”

  “I’m awake. I was just laying here being lazy.”

  “You’re okay, I was needing in the aft cabin and thought you were sleeping in there. However, we need to talk to all of you…or at least you and Hannah before we go.”

  “Okay, I’m getting up now.”

  She looked at Dana and Olivia, “How would the two of you like to get me those two backpacks from your room. You’re younger and smaller than me and you fit back there better than I do.”

  Both girls scrambled to be the first into the room. They were laughing and giggling like normal young girls. Had no one known, they would not have seen the hidden scars. Olivia more so than Dana but both of their lives had been turned upside down through no fault of their own.

  In some aspects, Ellen thought their journey was only in the beginning stages. They had yet to deal with the trials in front of them. They would have to learn to do simple tasks such as washing dishes the same way the early settlers had done it. They would have to learn to plant, harvest and preserve their crops by either canning or drying. If they were lucky they could freeze some of it. Ellen wasn’t going to count on the freezer as electricity would be sporadic or non-existent unless they figured out a way to use the solar at the farm.

  She was standing lost in thought until Frank called her.

  “Ellen, did you get lost down there?”

  Chapter Twenty - Destiny or chance?

  Dana was standing with both backpacks held out in front of her. “Thank you honey,” Ellen said as she took them. Dana went back into the aft cabin where Olivia waited for her.

  Within an hour Frank and Ellen had put the things they thought they would need to make the trip to the pharmacy. They each carried a hand gun and Ellen had the folding rifle that Alan had always favored in her pack. Frank had his shotgun. The stock stuck out the top of the pack, but he thought just the sight of it could be a deterrent to someone attacking them. They each had two M.R. E’s four full water bottles and a change of socks. Both had spare ammunition in their pockets. They felt there was still room to add whatever they found that could be of use to them.

  “Don’t you think we should take one of the dock carts with us? We might get lucky and find water or food.” Ellen was eyeing the dock cart sitting empty on the dock.

  Frank considered her idea and while it did have merit, he wanted to move faster than the cart would allow. He was loath to think that in an emergency they would have to leave anything they had in it behind. Without explaining why, he answered, “Let’s not. Let’s just go and get back as soon as we can.”

  Frank put the chain back around the gate and locked it. While it would be a deterrent to someone wanting on the dock it would also trap his friends if they needed off the docks. He could only hope nothing would happen while they were gone.

  “I have an idea. On the Carver where we found the fuel they have a couple of folding bikes in a back locker. Let’s stop and get them. They’ll make our trek easier and faster.”

  Ellen had to laugh, “You’ve never seen me on a bike. But okay.” She was excited to be outside the locked gate and see what was left around them. She didn’t really want to have to ride a bike, but she did see where getting from place to place would be faster but with her laughable skill at riding a bike it could be a hindrance if she actually had to flee from someone. She wouldn’t have ready access to her gun, because she would have to concentrate on her balance.

  Hell, she thought, her life had never been normal or balanced. Since leaving home to find herself, a schedule had never run her life and that’s what she found exciting. It made it worth getting up every day. To be able to do as she pleased with no regrets made her happy. Or it had up until the world around her had changed. She now found herself wanting to be around this eclectic group of people that she had put together. With the addition of Margaret, Rob and Dana, they now had the past, the present and the future represented.

  She had found her niche carved out just for her and it would be up to her to see that they all made it to the farm.

  “Don’t be going all alone and Godly on me.” Frank said. They had been riding for several blocks in silence and somehow her face must have given her thoughts away.

  “What the hell are you talking about? What’s Godly?” She stood on the pedals to pick up some speed, she had fallen behind and barely heard what he’d said.

  “You get all quiet and get that look on your face. You think you brought us all together, but I think we’re all victims of circumstance. It isn’t up to you to look after us. In case you haven’t noticed we all bring something to the table. If we are to reach your farm, it will take all of us working together.”

  “I know that, but doesn’t it make you wonder why we were all where we were at the perfect time.” Ellen pedaled harder to stay beside him. “Do you believe in destiny?”

  “As in whatever is going to happen is going to no matter what we do?”

  “Exactly. What if we had all made different decisions the day this all started? What if that first guy I met where I was anchored had knocked me out or drowned me that day. What if Alan and I hadn’t gone to Pelican Bay, what if you’d left Garden Key the day before? And what about Olivia? Another couple of hours and she would have been floating around in a boat filled with her family who were all dead. Sometimes I think we’re nothing more than chess pieces being moved around at will by someone else.”

  Frank put his brakes on and stopped. Ellen almost ran into the side of him when she lost her balance trying to avoid running in to him. “What? Why did you stop like that?”

  He turned and looked at her full in the face. “If that’s the case, I hope our side wins. This whole idea of yours…is nothing more than coincidence. Had we all done something different we all would have either lived or died because of the decisions we made. Not by some giant hand moving us around a chess board.”

  “That’s not exactly what I meant. Was it chance that put us all in the right place at the right time or was it our destiny to find each other?”

  “You are way over my head in your thinking, but who knows. I sure don’t. Right now my point of interest is getting the things we need and getting…” Ellen’s hand on his arm stopped him. “What?” She was staring off down the road her eye squinted against the sun. He looked in the same direction and saw nothing.

  “What is it? Did you see something?’

  “I thought I did, but I guess it was nothing. How much farther do you think?” Her legs were feeling the burn of doing something her muscles weren’t used to. She hadn’t been on a bicycle since she left the farm.

  Frank was still looking to the south. “Push your bike into that building but do it slowly. We don’t want to draw their attention if they haven’t seen us already.”

  Then she saw what he was talking about. She had seen something when they first stopped but hadn’t identified it in her mind. Maybe a mile in front of them, there were men coming toward them on both sides of the street.

  “Okay then,” she whispered as if they could hear her. She slowly pushed the bike beside her and went inside the open doorway. The door itself was hanging from one hinge. The molding was broken where the latch had held it closed. In front of her was a narrow staircase to the next floor and she didn’t think she could get the bike up the stairs without making noise.

  “Now what?” She was hoping his quick mind had a solution.

  “Well shit!” Frank expelled along with his breath. “This isn’t going to work and we can’t just leave the bikes and run.” Frank pulled the catch that allowed the bike to fold and bent his in half.

  Ellen did the same with hers, picked it up and followed him up the stairs. As careful as she was, she still made noise. The stairs were littered with trash. A crushed beer can fell down to the next step when she accidently kicked it. In the silen
ce it sounded like a bomb going off. She froze in place as if that would prevent the can from falling again.

  “Come on,” Frank called from the landing. “We’re going to have to go out the window back here.”

  He came down the last couple stairs and took the bike from her. He set it into one of the two open doorways on the landing. It appeared as if someone had been living in the room. There was a camp stove in one corner and bare mattress against the opposite wall. A five-gallon bucket sat in the farthest corner. It didn’t take an imagination to know what it had been used for. The stench was enough for them to turn to the other open door.

  Frank looked out the window. The ground sloped away from the building and what he had thought would be an easy drop had turned into a major fall with a down slope on landing.

  The room they were in smelled as if something had died in it or the closet held something he didn’t want to see. Against his better judgement he opened the door. He was right it was a closet and there was a wood hanging rod and nothing else, but he could use the wooden rod to lower Ellen down. A withered corpse slumped in the corner and had already mummified. Ignoring the body, he worked the rod out of its holder.

  “Get up on the ledge and grab the end of this. I’ll lower you down as far as I can, but you’ll still have quite a way to fall. As soon as you land you need to stop yourself from rolling down the hill.”

  Ellen climbed on the sill and looked down. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Shit, that’s a long way.”

  Frank groaned. “You’re afraid of heights? Just don’t look down.”

  “Oh hell no. It’s not the height that scares me, it’s the hitting bottom. Never mind let’s do this.” She grabbed the end in her fists, rolled on to her stomach and was out the window hanging off the end of the wooden rod.