Shore Haven

by Reynolds, Jennifer

  “I’ll do it. You know I will, but I don’t want to have to. I don’t think you should leave. Keisha’s already lost a mom. I don’t know how she’ll handle losing you.”

  “I’m not dying. I’m just going away for a while. I’ll try to come home as often as I can. I’ll tell Keisha that, and she can call, text, or email me whenever she wants. I might not be able to answer right away, but I’ll do my best. I need to do this.”

  No, what he needed was to get away from Carla’s ghost, and I got that, but Keisha would be the one to suffer because of it.

  “You do what you have to do, brother. I’ll take care of her while you’re gone,” I said, getting up and heading out of the room.

  “Don’t be angry with me,” he said, standing.

  “I can’t promise that. You’re going to break that girl’s heart. I don’t know if I can forgive that. Bring me whatever paperwork you need me to sign tomorrow. I’m going to bed.”

  James nodded but didn’t say another word. I heard Uncle Jasper say something, but I was too far away to make it out. I didn’t care. I was tired of losing my family, and I was not going to be okay with what he was doing.

  A week later, he was gone, leaving me with a screaming, bawling, little girl that hated me more than she did her father, something that would make the first few months after James’ departure hell.

  My brother never made it back home. He did write and send gifts and money. He called, but the longer he stayed away, the fewer and fewer things came, until one day, a police officer showed up at our door to tell us he’d died in an accident on the job. Keisha wasn’t as upset as she should have been for a then fifteen-year-old at losing her father, but by the time he’d died Shore Haven was nearly complete, and I was the only father figure she knew.

  Keisha and I had a long talk about James’ death the night of the funeral, where she admitted her feelings to me. I was flattered that she felt she would be more upset over my death than her father’s, and I also understood why Keisha felt that way, but I was sad that the child hadn’t had the life she deserved with her father.

  I wasn’t as upset as I should be at James’ death either. I didn’t know my brother anymore. Our lives didn’t change upon his death. We wouldn’t feel his loss in our day-to-day activities. We’d said goodbye to him a long time ago.

  Chapter 6

  ~~~Samantha~~~

  —Inside the decontamination room.—

  I vaguely remember waking naked on a bed with Jason leaning over me. I think I asked him what he was doing and that he said he was stitching my leg. I remember being cold and that the room we were in looked too white and sterile.

  We might’ve had more of a conversation than that, but I can’t recall what we discussed. Maddie’s image kept swimming to the forefront of my mind. She was what was filling my dreams, and all I wanted was to get back to her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  — The beginning of the outbreak.—

  Maddie and I found three tote bags with the hotel logo on them in a storage closet. We filled them with food that we could keep in our room.

  “I feel like an asshole saying this, but don’t let any of the other residents see you with that. We don’t need to start a panic. There’s a possibility that they’ll destroy more than they’ll take. We’ll need to preserve as much of the food as possible, especially if things get as bad as I think they will,” Sadie said, as we stood in front of the door to the stairwell.

  “We can’t let the others starve,” Maddie said. She hadn’t said much since we returned to the hotel. She mostly stuck by my side, at times so close that I’d stepped on her feet.

  “I won’t. I have the keys to the kitchen. I’ll put a note on the door for anyone looking for food to come see me.”

  Sadie’s words seemed to mollify Maddie. I wondered if the woman would actually help the others or not. She didn’t seem cruel, but I wondered if she would chance exposing herself to the virus?

  I nodded. “If we ration what we have, this will get Maddie and me through the next few days. We’ll stay put, but if you need us don’t hesitate to find us,” I said. “If we are careful, that kitchen, even if the power goes out, will feed a good number of us for weeks.”

  I said that as an afterthought. I didn’t think Sadie would take everything and abandon us, but I hoped telling her that we could all survive on what was in the kitchen would make her pause before doing so.

  “Do you think the power will go out?” Maddie asked.

  “It might if nearly the entire city is sick,” I said, nodding goodbye to Sadie. “Come on. Let’s get upstairs before any of the sick come out of their rooms at the sound of our voices.”

  That had been the wrong thing to say. The second the words were out of my mouth, Maddie grabbed hold of my arm and all but plastered herself to my side, which made climbing the stairs difficult.

  We slipped out of the stairwell and into our room quickly and quietly. Maddie went to turn on the television as soon as we were inside, but I put a hand out to stop her.

  “Let’s barricade that door first,” I said. “Then put away the food.” I didn’t think anyone was staying in the rooms that surrounded us, but I didn’t want him or her barging in on us as soon as they heard the television.

  Scanning the room, I realized that we were in one of those rare hotels that had a chest of drawers. The dresser would be tall enough to block the door, but without anything in it, it wouldn’t be heavy. We locked and bolted the door, then shoved the chest of drawers against it.

  Fearing that wouldn’t be enough of a barrier, I suggested me move the dresser the television was on in front of the chest of drawers.

  “What do we do if we have to get out in a hurry?” Maddie asked as we moved the furniture.

  “I don’t know. We’ll have to pray the building doesn’t catch on fire. This one doesn’t have a fire escape,” I said, going over to look out the double windows. We had a bit of a balcony we could climb out onto, and the floor beneath us wasn’t too far down. The drop down would be a little easy. We’d just have to pray that there wasn’t anyone in the rooms below us.

  “Put our clothes and the food in the drawers of the dresser to give it some weight,” I said when I turned away from the window. I had purposely not looked out at the city before us in case I saw one of the turned. The neighborhood was quiet, and I hoped it would stay that way.

  “Where’s the remote,” Maddie asked once we had everything squared away. “I want to be sure I can turn the volume down as soon as I turn it on.”

  “I don’t know. Check in your bed. You had it last.” I was staring at the blank screen in fear.

  She dug through her blankets until she found it. She came to sit down next to me on my bed before hitting the power button. Thankfully, the volume was already low since she’d been watching it while I slept.

  The first channel that popped on was covering the sickness, but not telling us anything we didn’t already know. The footage was grotesque, and I couldn’t believe they were airing it.

  The news anchor didn’t say anything about the world outside of the city. We didn’t know if the sickness had spread or not, but chances were it had. I prayed our parents were safe.

  Oh shit, our parents. I hadn’t thought about them at all until right then.

  I leaped from the bed so fast Maddie yelped in surprise.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “We need to call home,” I said, digging my cell out of my pocket.

  I was dialing my parent’s home number before she could blink or get her phone. The line just rang. She stood next to me, watching my face for any sign that they had picked up the other line. When the answering machine greeted me, I hit the end call button and dialed Mom’s cell, while mouthing for Maddie to call Dad’s number. They rarely answered their cells, but it was worth a shot.

  We called and recalled them long after our batteries threatened to die. I didn’t think about calling David until nearly six in the aftern
oon.

  He answered, but again he sounded off.

  “You’re sick, aren’t you?” I asked.

  “No, I’m fine. How are you and Maddie? I heard they put the island on lockdown,” he said. I knew he was lying about not being sick.

  “They did. We’ve blockaded ourselves in our room. The hotel is empty, so we should be okay. The lady who runs the desk let us raid the kitchen and stock room for supplies, so we should be all right until this blows over.”

  “The second they lower the bridge, or you can get to a boat, I want you off that island,” he said, sounding genuinely worried about me. His adamant tone shocked me. I knew he still cared about me, even if he didn’t love me anymore, but how much he cared surprised me.

  “We will. I promise. Have you seen the videos of those creatures?” I asked as Maddie crawled up into the bed beside me. I’d burrowed myself under the blankets at some point while trying to reach our parents.

  “Yeah. Every station has been playing the same set of videos over and over again.”

  “They’re horrific aren’t they?”

  “They are. Have you seen one in person,” he asked, sounding hopeful that I had.

  “I have actually. Not face-to-face, but in person.”

  I told him what had happened to us that morning and everything that had transpired since.

  “That’s insane,” he said. “Is it sad that a part of me wishes I was there with you to see it all?”

  “A little bit, yeah,” I said, laughing, but understanding what he meant. Being on the outside, looking in, being here does sound like it might be fun in a dangerous sort of way. “I know I selfishly wish you were here. I’m glad you aren’t and are safe, but… You are safe, right? This thing hasn’t spread.”

  “I haven’t heard that it has, but everybody seems focused on the island at the moment.”

  “Good. Have you talked to my parents?” I asked, crossing my fingers that he had.

  “Not since lunch today. Your mom and dad were going over to the Carlson’s to play cards for a bit after I left. They should be home by now, though. I’ll stop by on my way to work in the morning to check on them. You two should probably get some rest. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “What did he say about Mom and Dad?” Maddie asked.

  “He saw them earlier, and he’ll stop in to see them on his way to work tomorrow,” I said, before trying their number one more time.

  The rest of that night was quiet inside and outside of the hotel. We didn’t bathe the next morning. I worried the shower would be too loud, so we just wiped down, then had a small breakfast. We laid around in the bed most of the morning while trying to call our parents and David until the phone signal said that it no longer had service. Shortly after, we heard the first explosion. The sound sent the hotel residents who had turned into an uproar. We didn’t hear anything on our floor, but there was a lot of banging around above us for a good two hours or more after the explosion.

  The sound was so loud that Maddie yelped, and I jumped out of bed, fearing our hotel had exploded. I ran to the window and threw open the curtains without thinking what kind of a bad idea that might be.

  “What happened?” Maddie asked in a whisper, slipping up beside me.

  “I don’t know. I see the smoke, but I can’t tell what blew up. Is that the direction the hospital is in?”

  “I don’t remember, but I don’t think so. That’s near the east bridge. What’s near the east bridge?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Should we go find Sadie to see if she knows anything?”

  “Do you want to leave this room?” I asked, praying she didn’t.

  “Not really.”

  “She knows where we are. We’ll wait to see if she comes up here. Turn on the television. See if any of the channels are back on the air. I’ll try my phone.”

  The television aired nothing but static, as it had since the phones had stopped working. My phone didn’t have a signal, and we had no internet access. I was seconds away from giving up and going downstairs despite what I’d said minutes ago when we heard the first crash upstairs. We rushed around the room turning everything off and closing the curtains, before cowering in the bathtub for the rest of the day.

  The bathroom was a horrible idea since it was starting to reek because we weren’t flushing the toilet. If we’d thought about it, we’d have filled the tub full of water the night before to have plenty of drinking water, but if we had, we wouldn’t have had our hiding place.

  For the next two days, we barely left the bathroom, despite the smell. Occasionally, I’d open the sliding doors that led to our balcony to attempt to let in some fresh air, but the smoke from the constant fires would try to sneak in, and I would have to close them. We were able to take advantage of a couple of explosions and sirens to flush. The limited amount of food we were taking in also kept our toilet visit to mostly urination, so we didn’t suffer too horrifically.

  Our luck wouldn’t hold for too much longer, I knew. The power would go out, the water would stop flowing, our food would run out, and we’d have to brave the world. Getting off the island would be damn near impossible, but our only chance of surviving the outbreak would be to get out of the city.

  Early Thursday morning, a light tapping on our hotel room door, woke me. For a full minute, all I heard was my heart beating in my ears and my breathing, even though I was trying desperately to slow the beating so that whatever was on the other side of the door wouldn’t hear me. The tapping kept coming in one-minute intervals. There were three taps, then fifty seconds of dead silence, then three more taps. After about five minutes, I decided that someone live had to be doing the tapping. Having watched those creatures from our window move around outside, I knew they didn’t do anything that rhythmically.

  I slipped a hand over Maddie’s mouth and shook her awake. The scream I muffled would have woken the dead. Her eyes were frantic for a second before she heard me whispering in her ear to calm down.

  “What’s going on?” she mouthed.

  “Listen,” I said back, pointing at the door.

  The taps continued, and after a few minutes, Maddie said, “Someone’s out there.”

  I nodded my head.

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Should we let them in?”

  “Do you think we should?”

  “I don’t know.”

  We were of little help to each other. Both of us were scared and indecisive. Finally, I said, “Get dressed and grab your weapon.”

  The day before we’d decided that we needed to go through our clothes and come up with the best outfit that would protect us from those things out there. We both had boots for hiking, skinny jeans with leggings underneath, sports bras—I wore two to press my breasts even more firmly against my body—tank tops, and t-shirts. We didn’t have anything with sleeves, so in that area, we were screwed until we could find something. The idea was to have close-fitting clothes that the things couldn’t grab or bite through.

  We didn’t have much in the way of weapons. Maddie had cut the cord on her curling iron to use it to hit or jab one of the creatures with, and I had pulled the bar from the closet on which the clothes hung.

  Quickly and as quietly as we could, we readied ourselves. We even went as far as wrapping scarves around our mouths to prevent breathing in anything. After that, we began to move the furniture away from the door. All the while, the tapping never stopped, and I prayed that whoever it was wasn’t sick.

  What would I do if they weren’t, though? I asked myself. Do I let them in the room with us? Share what little supplies we had? What if they tried to rob us? What if they wanted to rape us? They’d go for my sister first—she’s smaller and prettier. What if there was more than one person on the other side of the door? We probably wouldn’t be able to fend off one person let alone multiple people, especially if said people were in full-on crazy mode.
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  Once the door was clear, my sister and I stood facing it for a long moment, brandishing our weapons, and waiting for the person to bang on it or do something to try to force their way inside the room. When nothing happened but the tapping, I looked to Maddie for a suggestion on how we should proceed.

  She shrugged her shoulders, looked back at the door, then at me and mouthed, “Check the peephole.”

  “The what?” I whispered before turning to the door and gaping in surprise. I hadn’t realized that the door had a peephole.

  Glancing at the locks to make sure they were in place, I stepped toward the door and looked through the hole. The hotel lights were still on, lighting up the hall. I let out a sigh of release when I recognized the distorted image of a familiar face. Just because she was out there tapping on our door didn’t mean she was all right, so we’d have to be cautious, but I stepped away and started unlatching everything.

  “Who is it?” Maddie asked from behind me.

  I turned to her, mouthed “Sadie” and motioned for her to stay armed and to back away. I didn’t know what the hostess would do when I opened the door.

  Maddie visibly relaxed a bit but stood her ground.

  I opened the door just wide enough for the woman to slip through, which she did. I shut the door and locked it the instant she was in the room. All the while, I held my weapon in a way that I could use it if necessary.

  “Oh, thank God,” Sadie said, slumping against the wall. “I damn near peed myself out there. I knew you were in here. I didn’t know if you were alive or turned or sick, and the longer I stayed out there, the more I feared that I’d missed one of them and that they would sneak up on me.”

  We only looked at her and listened to her ramble.

  “You’re okay, aren’t you?” Sadie asked us. “I figured you might be since you weren’t sick when you came up here, and I know you haven’t been out of this room in days.”