by Chris Bostic
“Made it,” I whispered.
After a deep breath, I spun around to check on our guys. They were practically yelling at each other for motivation. They came barreling in with the thinner soldier helping too, so the best thing we could do was get out of the way.
I pulled Vic to the side, but stayed close as they dragged the big man through the shallows.
“Where’s his girl?” I asked Vic as they brought the man ashore and deposited him on the gravel bar.
“Coming in downstream,” she replied. “She’s okay.”
Pete collapsed on the rocks next to the guy, looking like he might pass out himself.
“Someone help with CPR!” Vince shouted, but didn’t wait for a response.
The thinner soldier slid in next to him and tilted the big man’s head back to open an airway. That was when I saw the blue lips and an ashy complexion that matched a burned-out campfire. The miner’s lantern was not shining brightly. I couldn’t see how it ever would.
CHAPTER 4
“I can’t even watch.” Vic started to walk over to Vince, but her fiancé was already on the way since the soldier had completely taken over CPR.
Vince picked her up like a ragdoll and spun her around in a circle. They sank to their knees and hugged. I looked for the same treatment from my man, but Pete was still flat on his back on the rocks. Rushing over to him, I grabbed his hand.
“Good work out there,” I said.
“Thanks, babe.” He tried to sit up, but ended up falling back down, wracked by gasps.
“I thought I was out of shape,” I joked because I didn’t want to think about the miner or anything else.
Pete held up an arm and I leaned into him. Any tenderness was immediately interrupted by the distant sounds of puking, which turned into wracking dry heaves that I couldn’t bear to watch.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
“I’ll be darned.”
“What?”
“He brought him back. I thought we’d lost him.”
I whipped around in time to see the miner finish rolling onto all fours. He crawled closer to the river and continued trying to empty something out of an already hollow stomach.
Relief flooded in, but not for long. We still had missing passengers and crew.
I pulled Pete to his feet and dragged him over to the edge of the water. Looking across the river, I checked for any sign of life.
To my surprise, the stocky soldier was actually semi-useful. He had helped the girl to shore a little bit downstream of us and was trying to keep up as she ran along the gravel to get to the miner.
The girl was fast. She ducked under branches, splashed through the shallows, and practically dove in at her companion’s side.
The soldier stumbled behind with a shrug, before turning a little short of us to head into the woods. While I cursed his unusual behavior, he crashed his way back through the brush a moment later carrying a cooler.
I mumbled under my breath, “Are you kidding me?”
“Any water?” the girl called. “We all need some of that.”
“I’ve had enough of that shit to last a while,” Vince replied, drawing a curious look from Vic. “How about a beer? I had to leave mine in the river.”
Pete shook his head. “Jesus, Vince.”
The soldier cracked the lid open and reached inside. He came back up with an aluminum can in each hand. “Heads up.” He tossed one to his soldier buddy, and the other to Vince.
Vince cracked it open and sucked down a mouthful of foam before it could soak his shirt. Not that it mattered. His white t-shirt was already sporting a brownish tone from the river water.
“So no water?” the girl asked.
“There’s a couple,” the guy replied, but fished out another beer for himself.
I pushed my way past Pete to get a closer look. There wasn’t much beyond a bunch of silver cans, but I spotted the blue bottle caps in the corner.
I grabbed them both as the soldier side-eyed me. Then I noticed his eyes stray a little farther south to my very wet, even tighter tank top.
“Just fucking stand there,” I growled, and turned to the girl. “I’ve got ‘em.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking one from me. She twisted it open and offered it to her companion. “Try a little sip.”
He nodded to me and cracked a thin smile. Some color had returned to his face, but mostly in the form of redness around his eyes from barfing his guts out.
“Take ‘em both.” I held out the other bottle. “Apparently we’ve got plenty of beer.”
“I’m not taking the last one, ma’am.”
I hesitated, not expecting to get the old lady treatment again. At least she was polite, so I insisted, and she finally accepted the other bottle with a nod. Then an unexpected hug.
I’d never been much of a hugger, especially strangers, but it felt oddly nice in the moment. Then it lingered a bit too long, and I found myself wanting to squirm away.
When she finally let go, I took a subtle step back. Not wanting to hurt her feelings, I asked, “Are you guys good?”
“Yeah,” the man said with a raspy voice. “Thank you.” His bloodshot eyes found the soldier who had performed CPR, then the boys who brought him ashore. “All of y’all.”
“Good.” I went back over to Pete, who also pulled me into a hug. “You did it.”
He dipped his head so he could whisper in my ear. “It’s a miracle. It took so long to get over here, I don’t know how long he was out.”
We stood there in the sun for a while longer, letting the heat beat down on our soaked clothes. The girl had the miner lie on the rocks. She lifted his head every so often and tipped the bottle for a sip.
I stretched my arms over my head, and twisted side to side to stretch out my muscles after a grueling swim.
An empty beer can hit the gravel, followed by another. A belch rumbled like thunder.
“Jesus tits,” the stockier soldier uttered. “Sweet!”
I whipped around thinking he was talking about me only to find he had offered a strange compliment on Vince’s burp.
Vince said, “Toss me another, boss.”
Vic tugged on his arm. “C’mon. We need to get outta here.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
A good question, for sure. One I had already given a great deal of thought to, but nothing came to mind. We were stuck in the woods. The half-sunk boat continued to drift downstream. Worse yet, it had dumped my purse.
“Anyone have a waterproof cell phone?” I asked.
The heavier soldier laughed.
“I’m serious. Mine was on the boat.”
Pete pulled out his phone. “And mine was in my shorts.” He thumbed a button and scowled. “Dead as a hammer, of course.”
Everyone else chimed in, confirming my fears.
“So now what?” I asked. “Will anyone come looking for that boat, or looking for us if we don’t get back?”
“Doubtful,” Vince said, and paused to take a long swallow. “That was some kind of smalltime family-owned deal…like a two-man operation. There’s no one waiting. And now the family’s gone.”
I’d already let the anger subside given the amount of energy used up just trying to stay afloat and get ashore. Still, Vince held up a hand to stifle any replies that might be coming from one of us.
“Look, I know I fucked up. If I’d found us a real tour instead of that bargain outfit, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“It’s fine, babe,” Vic told him. “This wasn’t supposed to happen, no matter what.”
“We’re in it now, so forget about it.” Pete glanced back toward the shipwreck, before turning to the forest. “It looks like we’re hiking. It can’t be that far back to the highway.”
I strained my ears and thought I could still hear cars on the interstate. Barely.
“The problem is getting there,” I noted. Brush came out to the river’s edge upstream of us to the point where
we would have to wade into the river to get back to the interstate.
I stepped out to the edge of the gravel to get a better look. Shortly after the little creek junction where we rested, the riverbank jutted up sharply into a bluff. Not as high as the opposite side but to the point where there was nowhere dry to walk. And probably nowhere to walk at all.
“We can’t get back upriver. There’s no room.”
“And we’re not swimming,” the girl volunteered. “I’m not even sure I can move him.”
The miner shook his head, and I couldn’t tell at first if he was quitting on us, or disagreeing with her. As we continued plotting and discounting ideas, he finally said, “I can go. Just need a few more minutes to rest up.”
“Go where?” Pete asked him.
“The only way,” he said. “Up the creek.”
Unsurprisingly, Vince added, “Without a paddle.”
Pete doubled over.
I groaned, and muttered, “Fucking dad jokes. At a time like this.”
“What? Too soon?” Vince crushed another beer can and threw it on the gravel. He turned to the soldiers. “Any more? We need to lighten the load.”
“You don’t need any more.” Vic yanked his arm. “Not now.”
While they had a staring contest, the two soldiers finished their own drinks. They stared up into the woods, which looked to me like nothing more than trees and brush as far as the eyes can see—and that wasn’t very far.
“So fine,” the heavier soldier noted. “We’ll go overland when Overalls is ready. I don’t need no damn compass to get us back.”
“We just follow the creek,” Miner butted in with a still scratchy voice. “There’s an old distillery back in there.”
“How do you know that?” the thinner soldier said.
“If you guys were listening earlier,” the girl spoke up, “they pointed out a smokestack.” She gestured up the creek. “They were talking about the ruins of the Old Raven Distillery. It’s right up there, before the new Citadel Station place.”
I wondered how I’d missed that, but Vince supplied the answer when he said, “Well damn. I couldn’t hear shit over that godawful speaker.”
“Sounds kinda promising, but…ruins?” Pete asked. “What good is that?”
“A road, genius,” Vince said, evidently on board with Plain Jane’s plan. “There has to be a road to the distillery up there.”
“Duh.” Pete smacked his forehead. “Alright, then. Definitely sounds like a plan.” He grabbed my hand. “You good with that?”
“As soon as the big guy is ready to roll.” I stepped over to the girl and lowered my voice. “What do you think? Can he make it?”
“I’ll get him moving. If I can’t, no one will.”
“Cool. Say the word and we’ll follow you.”
“I ain’t following no one,” the stocky soldier said. “Y’all can catch up.” He grabbed the cooler and nodded his head at his buddy. “Let’s go, Haskins.”
Haskins took a couple steps, but paused. “I’m gonna wait, Gallow.” In response to a frown, he added, “We need to stick together.”
“Whatever.” Gallow sat on the cooler and pretended to stare at the gravel. It wasn’t obvious, but I could tell he was looking at me. Leering actually, so I stepped around to the other side of Pete.
“Fucking creep,” I muttered.
Pete’s eyebrows wrinkled so tightly they touched. “What? Who?” When I didn’t reply, he added, “Me?”
“No.” I shook my head, but it didn’t seem to relax him. “It’s nothing. Definitely not you, babe.”
“Then who?”
“Not now,” I whispered.
“Alright.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket again and thumbed the side button. Nothing. Water dripped onto the rocks below with a smacking sound.
A new sound grew louder, overpowering the droplets. Footsteps. A rustle in the trees added into the mix, and it wasn’t from a breeze.
We had company.
CHAPTER 5
“What the fuck?” Vince uttered when Blue Shirt stepped through the brush.
Now that he was up close, I could read his name badge. Jackson.
“Shoeless Joe,” Vince said, and went over to clap him on the back like they were buddies. The blow from his meaty palm almost knocked the string bean over. “Where you been?”
“Hangin’ onto the boat.”
Vince laughed inappropriately. “Captain goes down with the ship, eh?”
“That ain’t me.”
His left eye twitched, hopefully more of a spasm than anything intentionally. Otherwise, in my book, the shaggy-haired dude was shooting sky high on the creepy meter.
“Then where’s the captain?” Pete asked.
Jackson shrugged. “He was with me, up under the boat. I lost ‘im when we headed ashore.” His eyes shifted back to the water. “Ain’t seen ‘im in a while.”
“He could be a mile down the river by now,” Vince volunteered.
For some strange reason, that elicited a smile from Jackson. I didn’t need to see that. Though he wasn’t wearing any shoes, Toothless Joe would’ve been a better moniker than Shoeless.
“Meth head,” Pete whispered to me. “Prolly doesn’t know where he’s at.”
I nodded and shared my nickname with him.
Jackson had us fooled, though. He pointed a bony arm up the creek and said, “Y’all oughta head to Old Raven or Citadel Station. You’ll come to Old Raven first but it’s deserted. Y’all are liable to find more folks milling around the castle at Citadel if’n y’all can make it that far.”
“Planning on it,” Vince replied. “What about you?”
“I’ll wait for Julian.” He shrugged again. “I made it here. Reckon he might too.”
“Julian,” I whispered to Pete. “Who’s that?”
“The captain, I presume.”
“So Trench Coat?”
“One in the same. What’s up with you and nicknames?”
“You don’t like it?” I pouted, but only for fun. To be honest, I didn’t really care if it bothered him. “It’s just what I do.”
“I know. That’s why I-”
“Love me.”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
I bumped him with my shoulder, and he smiled that big toothy grin. It was nice to see a good set of chompers after the picture window inhabiting Jackson’s jaws.
My smile faded when Gallow came back into view creeping around behind me. There was no denying he’d angled himself to where he could check out my backside. This was going to have to stop, and quick.
Before I could make a scene, Miner was up on his feet. He shook hands with Jackson like they were old buddies and said, “Thanks for the advice.” He turned to the rest of us. “Let’s go. I reckon we’re burning daylight.”
“I can lead,” Vince said.
“Let the soldier boys do it.” I winked at Gallow. “Right? You fellas can handle that, can’t ya?”
“Hell yeah.”
“Good.” I linked an arm in Pete’s, and whispered, “Just keep him the fuck away from me.”
“Really, Grace?” he said, no doubt upset with my cursing.
“Fuck yeah,” I said more emphatically.
“Alright.” He swallowed, and stammered, “Uhm…what’s up?”
“I’m tired of him staring at me like a piece of meat.”
“Was he?” Pete’s eyes seemed to deliberately linger on my chest for a couple seconds. Not a big deal seeing how he was my man. If anything it was funny, because he missed a step and stumbled in the gravel.
I laughed. “Keep your eyes on the trail, Casanova.”
After hopping over a big log of driftwood, he said, “He can’t be the only one.” He bit his lower lip, then sighed. “I mean my goodness, babe. Look at you. Like no one else-”
“That’s different, dumbass.”
“I mean…”
“Oh hell no. I know what you’re gonna say, a
nd I’ll wear whatever I want, whenever I want.”
He threw up his hands. “That’s not exactly what I was thinking, Grace.”
My hands went to my hips. “I’m just saying you need to…I dunno. Maybe stick up for me around these creepers?”
“I’ve always got your back, but I can’t control if someone wants to take a peek. Any guy would.”
“It’s more than that. The perv was practically undressing me with his eyes.”
“It wouldn’t take much,” he said, but quickly backpedaled. “Sorry, babe. Really. I didn’t see it, or I would’ve done something.”
He swallowed again, like the poor boy was afraid of me. That’s not what I wanted.
“I’ll pay more attention,” he said. “I’ll keep him away.”
“It’s okay.” I squeezed his hand. “I’m sure I’m overreacting. It’s just all this…beauty. Helluva scenic boat ride, eh?”
“Scenic hike now.” He smiled. “You said you wanted to get outdoors.”
I wrung water out of the tail of my tank. “At least it’s not that hot anymore either.” I waved my hand at the tree canopy that had closed off the sun from overhead. “Shade and wet clothes. That’ll cool a person down.”
Vic splashed up next to us. That was unavoidable. There were only occasional dry spots of gravel along the edge of the creek. Some parts were nothing but bare mud, so we were better off stepping where the water ran about ankle deep.
Mostly we followed the tracks of the others. The soldiers continued leading the way, carrying the cooler between them. Despite being weighted down, now slightly less thanks to Vince and themselves, they threatened to pull so far ahead as to be out of sight.
They hurried around subtle bends and bigger curves more than once, only to stop and wait for a while. It would have been fine with me if they’d kept going. Even when they were too far ahead, we still had the miner and Plain Jane to follow.
It was nice to see those two making decent progress. The big guy wasn’t exactly in marathon shape, but he could put one foot in front of the other, and that was good enough for me.
“Glad I wore tennis shoes today,” Vic said, and I echoed her thoughts. “With the boat ride and all, it really sounded like a flipflop kind of day.”