EDEN

by Dean Crawford

  Taylor shrugged his big round shoulders. ‘Most of ‘em died in the panic after the storm,’ he replied, ‘no point in me worrying ‘bout any that might be left.’

  ‘You’re all heart,’ Cody murmured, and looked at the captain. ‘As long as we’re heading south we’ve got to stay close to the shore for supplies, right? We’re low on food and we need fresh water, so we can pick locations all down the eastern seaboard. No reason Boston can’t be one of them.’

  ‘The Pacific is out of bounds for us right now,’ Charlotte pointed out to Taylor. ‘We can’t support ourselves in deep water until we can store enough fresh provisions to make the journey. That also means we can’t cross the Atlantic so right now we’re pretty much tied to the seaboard.’

  Hank Mears raised an eyebrow at her in surprise. ‘I didn’t realise you had a nautical bone in your body.’

  ‘I used to sail with my father out of Cambridge Bay in his yacht,’ she replied tartly.

  ‘How far do we have to go to reach America?’ Bethany asked. ‘Maybe some communities have survived, are being rebuilt?’

  Jake sighed.

  ‘Given the harsh weather and all it has brought, I’d say Maine is our first best bet at finding other survivors. They might have pulled through there, but probably the further south we go the better chance people will have had.’

  ‘Boston’s not far south of Maine,’ Cody pointed out to the captain.

  ‘This is bullshit,’ Denton uttered. ‘We all saw what it was like when we left. There are no cities any more, no more communities, no more people. If anybody survived it’ll be way down toward the panhandle. South Carolina, Georgia, Florida. There ain’t shit up here.’

  Hank nodded slowly in agreement.

  ‘I haven’t detected any radio signals so as far as I can tell there’s no broadcasting technology anywhere within a few hundred miles of us. Can’t be sure until we raise St John’s in Newfoundland and see if there are any lights on.’

  ‘Or we could head west,’ Saunders suggested as he held the wheel, ‘cut through the North West Passages into the Beaufort Sea, round Alaska and head south down the Pacific seaboard. Didn’t California have a lot of green energy down there, solar panels and all that shit? Maybe they’ll have had something to hang on to.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter much,’ Reece replied through the lank hair dangling in front of his eyes, ‘it’s the circuitry in everything that got fried.’

  Jake watched Reece but did not reply. Cody realised that the two hadn’t spoken since Bobby’s burial.

  ‘I’d rather take the west coast than the east,’ Seth said, scratching his tattooed neck.

  ‘You’d rather sail across the entire north American coast?’ Cody uttered. ‘Then down the Pacific seaboard to what amount to desert states without water, instead of just heading directly south? You were happy to come up through Panama to come here.’

  ‘We weren’t heading to the Arctic,’ Hank replied for his crew, ‘when we sailed through the canal and turned north. Only your signals brought us here.’

  ‘That may be so but you already abandoned the west coast. Why head back and a different way at that?’

  ‘It’s not about the distance,’ Denton sneered. ‘It’s about what’s there when we arrive. Every city we passed on the way here was a smoking ruin filled with people so hungry they chased us like zombies. I’m not setting foot back there as long as I live.’

  ‘We’re not asking you to,’ Cody replied reasonably and looked at Hank. ‘It’s our families we want. It’s where we want to go.’

  The captain stood up and looked at Cody and his colleagues for a long moment.

  ‘I’m sorry to put it so harshly but the chances of any of your families having survived a winter on our once great eastern seaboard, without heat, light, food or water is extremely unlikely.’

  ‘But not impossible,’ Charlotte snapped. ‘We thought it was impossible for Brad to make it to Grise Fjord in the BV, but he did it.’

  Hank’s eyes flicked to the soldier, who was leaning against the wall with his muscular arms folded across his chest, watching the exchange. Cody noticed the tension between the two men, Bradley representing the only real threat to Hank’s dominance aboard the ship. Although Taylor was physically huge he was hardly an intellectual. Bradley was a trained soldier, liable to speak his mind and to back his opinions with force.

  The captain looked down at the map again as Saunders spoke.

  ‘We need to head somewhere warm,’ he reiterated, ‘with fresh water, food, somewhere we can get ourselves sorted out. The ship needs repairs. We need to rest.’ Saunders looked across at Cody. ‘We’re not going to find that in Boston.’

  Cody thumped his fist down on the map table as a pinch of grief choked his throat.

  ‘Fine, then just drop me off on the goddamned way,’ he snapped. ‘You may not give a damn about the families you left behind but I’m not moving an inch south of Charleston Harbour until I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that my wife and child are gone and that there’s nothing I can do about it.’

  Charlotte stepped up beside him. ‘Me too, I’m not leaving without being sure that my father is truly gone.’

  Denton’s voice carried across the table to them as he turned for the door. ‘Suits us.’

  ‘We shouldn’t split up,’ Jake said from behind Cody as he moved to stand next to him. ‘Remember, what we agreed? We stick together.’

  Cody nodded. ‘So do families, Jake. I can’t leave them.’

  Jake sighed and then glanced at the captain. ‘Can you get us to the city, even if you don’t come with us?’

  Hank nodded. ‘If that’s what you want.’

  ‘It’s not what we want to do,’ Cody replied. ‘It’s what we need to do.’ A sudden thought occurred to Cody, and he added: ‘And it’s what you need to do.’

  Hank looked up at Cody in confusion as Denton hesitated at the door.

  ‘What do you mean?’ the captain asked.

  ‘Charlotte’s father,’ Cody explained. ‘You say that you believe that politicians, people of power, would have fled somewhere. If anybody ever was likely to know where your Eden is, it’s a powerful senator.’

  Hank’s gaze settled on Charlotte. ‘He either died or he abandoned you. How would that kind of man be of use to us?’

  ‘He may have had no time to warn anybody,’ Bethany joined in. ‘Imagine if you’re in the senate and suddenly you’re called up, like they used to do in alien invasion movies. You’re flown somewhere, told that you cannot contact anybody because something classified is at risk. By the time you’re there, you no longer have the ability to go back.’

  Hank’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘There’s something else,’ Jake added. ‘Right down from Boston is New York City. That’s where the United Nations was headquartered. If these people did flee they wouldn’t have had much time to organise their journey. There’s bound to be some kind of a trail, something that could hint at where they went, and I’d bet the UN building is a good place to start.’

  Denton stormed back to the table.

  ‘This is bullshit. We’ve sailed thousands of miles through all kinds of crap chasing this Eden. It’s not worth the risk, setting foot ashore for this. We’d be better off just listening for broadcasts.’

  ‘Eden might not have the ability to broadcast,’ Cody pointed out. ‘There’s nothing to say that where they travelled was free from the solar storm.’

  ‘Funny,’ Denton sneered. ‘I thought that Eden was an idea but now you’re talking as though it really exists.’ The sailor turned to his captain. ‘They’re playing you Hank, trying to get a free escort through that hell hole of a city. What if they find their families? Are we going to invite them aboard too and starve ourselves a little more?’

  Hank frowned as he looked at Cody.

  ‘I’ve got nothing to lose by going back,’ Cody said before the captain could speak, ‘and everything to gain. We all do if we can find something to sup
port this notion of a safe haven. It’s all we’ve got. The alternative is to wander the oceans for the rest of your lives. The world’s a big place, captain, and the longer any evidence of Eden is left to rot in what’s left of our cities the less chance there is of you or anybody else finding it.’

  ‘We don’t know if there is any evidence of anything!’ Denton screeched. ‘You’re chasing rainbows!’

  ‘Absence of evidence,’ Hank murmured in reply, ‘is not evidence of absence. If there is the slightest chance that we can find something in Boston then we should take it.’

  ‘At the risk of losing the ship?’ Seth challenged. ‘Or even our lives? Who knows what’s waiting for us there?’

  Hank sucked in a lungful of breath that seemed to Cody to empty the cabin of air as he waited for the captain to make his decision. Cody stopped breathing. Hank exhaled the air.

  ‘Very well,’ Hank said. ‘We’ll make for Boston.’

  Cody let the breath go as Denton whirled away in disgust. ‘Jesus, you’ll kill us all.’

  Hank glared across at the sailor. ‘My ship and my rules Denton. You don’t like it, take a swim.’

  Denton shot the captain a dirty looked as he whipped the cabin door open and stormed out onto the deck with the crew following close behind. As the door slammed noisily shut, the captain turned to Cody.

  ‘You got what you wanted,’ he rumbled. ‘Make sure I do too.’

  *

  The Phoenix sailed south past the entrance to the north-west passages that ran along the south coast of Devon Island. As the fog cleared and the barren, windswept coasts of jagged rock and permafrost slipped by, Cody felt the eyes of the crew upon him in the failing light.

  Denton, Seth, Taylor and the others had laboured through the icy weather for weeks, perhaps months, to reach the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, only to be both disappointed and then burdened with more people with whom to share their meagre supplies. Exhausted and hungry, it didn’t take a genius in psychology to figure out that they were directing their anger toward him.

  ‘You watch your back,’ Jake warned him as they hauled on rigging lines to square the yards away from the wind.

  ‘It’s not my fault,’ Cody pointed out. ‘And they won’t achieve anything by taking out their frustration on me or anybody else.’

  ‘You’re thinking like a scientist, not an illiterate deckhand,’ Jake replied. ‘Right now Denton would probably burn the ship just to see the sparks it made going up. They’re former convicts, Cody. They don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about consequences.’

  Cody did not reply as they secured the rigging. The ship’s masts were almost bare, the canvas stowed on all but the topmast yardarms as night fell. Even out across Baffin Bay the prevailing current and wind was still strong enough to carry the ship at a steady four to five knots through the darkness of the night. The captain maintained a rolling two-hour watch, four strong: one aft at the wheel, one amidships and two at the bow armed with a battery powered flashlight. If an iceberg loomed, there were enough hands available to steer the ship safely around it.

  Cody followed Jake down into the ship as Bradley, Sauri, Muir and Ice took the first evening watch. The smell of cooking wafted from the midships as they strode into the crew’s quarters. Seth was hauling steel cooking bowls from the galley into place on the table, steam puffing from within them. With Bethany and Charlotte having been on watch duty and temporarily barred from the galley after Charlotte’s reckless rescue of Bradley Trent, Seth had taken over cooking duties.

  Bethany, Charlotte and Reece were already seated opposite Taylor as the meal was served.

  Cody looked down at the plate of reddish-brown meat that Seth slopped onto the plate, dumping a meagre pair of potatoes boiled down to a barely recognisable pulp alongside it.

  ‘Tuck in,’ the sailor grinned with malevolent delight.

  Cody sat down, picked up a fork and twirled it thoughtfully in his fingers. He was hungry but cautious of the sailor standing over him.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Seth uttered. ‘You got a problem with my cooking?’

  ‘That depends,’ Cody uttered.

  Seth laughed out loud, grabbed a fork and stabbed it into a small chunk of meat before shovelling it into his mouth. He chewed loudly as he tossed the fork to clatter onto Cody’s plate and sat down to his own meal. Seth scooped chunks of meat into his square head and stared at the table top as he chewed.

  Bethany and Charlotte ate in silence.

  ‘Eating without your boyfriend?’ Seth asked Charlotte around a mouthful of food.

  Charlotte did not reply. Seth laughed, shaking his head as he shovelled more mush into it. ‘Shame, it would have been so romantic.’

  Jake stared down at his plate. ‘What is this stuff?’ he asked.

  Seth looked up as he chewed. ‘Last of the polar bear. It’s getting a bit chewy ain’t it?’

  Cody hesitated as he held his fork in his hand. Something wasn’t right but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

  Bethany stood up and grabbed the lid of the serving pan. She lifted it and scooped inside with her fork. Moments later she lifted out a small bone that was floating in the greasy sauce within.

  ‘What’s that?’ Charlotte asked.

  Bethany held the bone in her fingers for a few moments and then she dropped it onto the table as her face blanched.

  ‘What is it?’ Jake repeated Charlotte’s question.

  Bethany’s hand flew to her face as she spoke. ‘Proximal phalanx.’

  ‘A what?’

  ‘A human finger bone.’

  Cody spat his mouthful of food out almost as quickly as Jake.

  Charlotte coughed out a piece of meat and then covered her mouth as she dashed out of the cabin and through the hatch into the galley, slamming it shut behind her.

  ***

  21

  Charlotte staggered through the half-darkened galley to a large plastic container with a small tap attached to the bottom. She crouched down beneath it, opened the tap and swallowed a mouthful of water. She drank more, then swilled it around before spitting it out into a sink.

  Charlotte rested her hands on the edge of the sink and hung her head, thick locks of red hair dangling either side of it as she tried to control her breathing and avoid vomiting.

  Something scratched the floor behind her and she whirled to see Denton looming over her.

  ‘Hush now, little missy,’ he whispered.

  Charlotte opened her mouth to scream just in time for Denton to shove a ball of canvas into it. She gagged as Denton leaped forward and his weight slammed into her, preventing her from getting her hands and nails into his skin as he buried his face into her neck. Her spine arched painfully backwards over the sink as her legs lifted off the deck. Denton pulled her against him and whirled, swinging her around and thumping her down on the worktop behind them.

  Charlotte’s legs were forced up into the air as Denton landed on top of her. He grabbed her wrists in his hands and slammed then down onto the table, tying them with another strip of canvas that he yanked tight. Denton leaned his weight fully down on her body as from his belt he produced a large blade that he rested against her throat. The touch of the cold steel froze her as she looked at Denton.

  ‘Your friends next door are at gunpoint right now,’ he sneered at her, ‘so you be good and quiet or there’ll be a bit of an accident, if you know what I mean?’

  Charlotte felt sick again as Denton reached down and struggled to undo his jeans, his foul breath quickening as he loosened them. He chuckled maniacally. ‘Believe me, this won’t take a minute.’

  *

  Jake leaped out of his seat as he spat bits of flesh from his mouth and lunged across the table at Seth, who laughed in delight as he jumped backwards and out of the way.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ the sailor sneered. ‘A little gristle never hurt anybody!’

  Taylor looked up questioningly at Seth, who screwed his tattooed face up at the big man.
‘Chill out you asshole, yours is a bear.’

  Jake tore around the table and reached out for Seth. The sailor whipped a knife from his belt and waved it at Jake.

  ‘Easy now, old timer,’ he chuckled maniacally. ‘You don’t want to be next on the menu, do you?’

  ‘Who the hell was that?’ Jake roared. ‘A sailor who died? Who the hell was it?’

  Seth’s eyes shined with malicious euphoria. ‘Well, I can’t rightly remember but I think he was one leg short of a pair.’

  Cody’s blood ran cold through his veins as he stared at the sailor.

  ‘We buried Bobby at sea,’ he uttered.

  Seth’s cruel smile spread across his face, jagged teeth glinting in the light. ‘You buried the polar bear’s leftovers.’

  Jake whirled for the cabin door. ‘I’ll have Hank string you up from the goddamned yards for this.’

  Seth leaped across the cabin and slammed into the door, blocking Jake’s way as he pressed the knife against the old man’s belly.

  ‘Don’t think so,’ Seth snapped. ‘He knows.’

  Cody shook his head. ‘He wouldn’t have.’

  ‘Why not?’ Seth grinned. ‘This is survival, douchebag! Bobby didn’t need his body anymore and it preserved real well in the powder store with the rest of the polar bear meat. The captain gets what you idiots don’t: his crew have.., needs.’

  Seth looked at Bethany and licked his lips.

  ‘Hank’s no animal,’ Bethany shuddered as she retreated from the sailor’s probing gaze. ‘He’d string you up if you even thought about it.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter much,’ Seth said as he shoved Jake away hard enough to make the old man stumble against the table, ‘because if he doesn’t like this I’ll shoot the bastard myself. We’re about done with him and all of you.’ He looked at Bethany again. ‘So how about you put out for me honey or I’ll send your friends for a swim?’

  Bethany stared at Seth in disgust.

  ‘I’d rather freeze out there than let you get your stubby little dick near me.’