The Last Layover

by Steven Bird

  “Oh my God! Oh my God!” she repeated over and over, nearly hyperventilating.

  “Just go sit on the couch while Jason and I take care of everything,” he said.

  She reluctantly complied and Evan rejoined Jason topside.

  “Dude, what's wrong with your eye?” Jason said.

  “I got some fiberglass shrapnel in it from a close call. I'll live, but it hurts like hell.”

  “Well, go wash your eye out while I look for a way to take care of Damon,” Jason said.

  The two men went down into the salon and saw that Peggy was lying on the couch face down crying intensely. Jason went forward into the v-berth, while Evan went to the galley sink to wash out his eye. Peggy looked up to see what Evan was doing and somewhat regained her composure. She got up and walked into the galley to see if she could help.

  “Here, let me take a look,” she said as tears still rolled down her face. She examined him more closely. “Ouch, that looks painful.”

  “Oh, I'll be okay,” he said. “I just may need a pirate eye patch soon.”

  “Well, it looks like you have a scratch on your eye and some debris around it, but I don't think any of the fiberglass shards penetrated it.” She went to the stateroom, retrieved her bag, and pulled a pair of tweezers from her makeup kit.

  “You brought your makeup as a survival item?” Evan questioned with a chuckle.

  “Hey, a girl has to have hope,” she said. She took the tweezers and picked all of the fiberglass she could get out of his eye and face and then used some alcohol sanitary wipes to clean the wounds. “You'll probably want to cover your eye and keep it closed for a day or two to keep the irritation down to a minimum while it heals, but I think you will be fine,” she said as she put her things away.

  A few moments later, Jason came out of the v-berth with the two rolls of canvas that Damon's brother had used to conceal the Garands. He said, “Let’s get Damon cleaned up. We can use this stuff to wrap him up tight. We've got to figure out a way to get him back to his family. After all he has done for us, we can't leave him behind.”

  “I agree,” said Evan. He tore a t-shirt and began to make a wrap to go around his head and cover his eye. “Let's dig around the boat and look for some registration or something that will have his brother's address on it. We can try to get the boat as close as possible to there and try and find them. We have to let them know how he fell as a hero, saving us from the horrors going on in New York and helping us to get this far.”

  “Good idea,” Jason replied.

  The two men headed topside with a bucket of water and some towels. They cleaned Damon's body the best they could and wrapped him tightly in the canvas. They then took his body to the aft stateroom, where Peggy had been sleeping, and placed it on the bed. Evan fired up the auxiliary generator to power the air conditioning unit for the stateroom. They turned it on full cold to help preserve him the best they could. The three of them then looked around for papers that may lead them to Damon's family.

  Peggy came out of the stateroom and said, “Hey guys, I've got it. I found it in the night stand by the bed. It looks like the registration for the boat, some insurance paperwork, and some odds and ends.”

  “Great, what's the city?” replied Evan.

  “Delaware City, Delaware. Do you guys know where that is?” Peggy asked.

  “It’s right here,” said Jason, pointing at a chart that Damon had been using. “It looks like we have to go all the way up the Delaware Bay into the confluence of the Delaware River. It's a town on the bank of the river.”

  “There is a GPS receiver mounted on the flybridge antenna arch, right?” asked Evan.

  “That or a big fish finder,” replied Jason.

  “I'll go check,” Evan said as he headed topside. Upon reaching the flybridge, Evan was delighted to see a Garmin combination GPS and fish finder. He powered it up, and once it had run its self-tests, he was disappointed to see the message “SEARCHING FOR SATELLITES/RAIM UNAVAILABLE” displayed, with no indication of satellite reception. Jason joined him on the flybridge to see what he had found. Evan pointed at the message on the receiver and said, “Well, so much for that.”

  “What?” asked Jason as he leaned over to see the message. He read it, sighed, and said, “Well, either things are worse than we know, or the government scrambled the GPS signal for defensive or offensive reasons. Either way, it's no good to us. Gotta find it old school I guess. Better find a sextant and shoot the stars,” Jason said with a defeated chuckle.

  “Yeah, I'll get right on that,” replied Evan. “With all the power being out, it's like having vertigo out here; dark in all directions. Looks like the fire in the city has died down too. That or we've gone farther than we think. We can always take up an easterly heading based on a guesstimate of our position in relation to the bay. Then we can turn the radar gain all the way up to paint the coastline to try and make out the bay, and head for that.”

  “Sounds like as good a plan as any,” said Jason. “It's almost daylight though, and I'm not sure cruising right up the bay in broad daylight is such a good idea.”

  “Yeah, you're right,” Evan said. “Let's set up a four hour rotating watch, idling on one motor just to keep us roughly in position. Then tonight, we can make our break for the coast with plenty of darkness left for cover.”

  With a nod, both men agreed and went below. They caught Peggy up on everything they had discussed and got her blessing on the new plan. Since Damon was now being kept in the aft stateroom, they relocated Peggy to the v-berth up front and Jason volunteered to take the dinette.

  Evan took the first watch, which, luckily, was mostly quiet and uneventful. As the sun came up halfway into his shift, he sat with a cup of hot coffee, looking out at the beautiful and calm ocean. The sunrise just seemed to rise up out of the ocean itself, washing away the horror of the previous night. He thought to himself, I wonder if my beautiful Molly is watching the sunrise over the trees back in Tennessee right now. Since Evan had always had a traveling career, they both often looked at the stars, sunrises, and sunsets, hoping the other was sharing the same view at just that moment. It helped them feel closer to one another, even with all the distance between them.

  With the captain's chair on the flybridge kicked to the side and his feet up on the rails, Evan raised his mug to take another sip of coffee. Jason emerged from below with a cup in his hand and climbed up to join him.

  “Hard at work, I see,” joked Jason as he took a sip of coffee himself.

  “Yes, just sitting here enjoying the peace and innocence of nature,” Evan said.

  “You mean the same nature where a pack of wolves takes down the baby animal as the rest of the herd runs for its life? That innocence of nature?” he said with a smirk.

  “Well, at least that's the way the world achieves balance,” Evan replied. “Innocence doesn't mean without heartache or tragedy. The wolves aren't doing what they do because they seek to hurt or enslave whatever prey they find. It's their role to fill in the world. They are just a dog being a dog.”

  “I know, I know,” Jason said. “Just jerkin your chain.”

  Evan reached up to take another sip of coffee and said, “All of the chaos going on just a few miles away on land... all of it… caused by the innate human desire to control each other, take from each other, and hurt each other. The founders are probably rolling over in their graves at the thought of all the public debt, the corrupt politicians, and the morally bankrupt society that has brought the greatest of all human creations to the breaking point—heck, for all we know, it is already broken.”

  “Yeah, I hate not knowing what's going on out there, especially back home,” Jason replied. “We've got to get some comms going with my house and the Homefront soon,” he said.

  “Speaking of which, where is the closest HAM in our network of friendly contacts?” Evan asked.

  “I was just looking at that in my notes before I came up. Harrisburg, PA, is probably our best bet, which
is along our direction of travel to Zanesville,” Jason replied.

  “Well, after we get to Delaware City and get Damon with his family, getting on a HAM needs to be mission number one. We have got to get in touch with the girls and our kids. So barring some other information we gather along the way, I guess the plan is like we always talked about. We will go and round up your family and your bug out gear and head south to the Homefront,” Evan said.

  “Roger Roger!” Jason replied. “Hey, look at that over there,” Jason said as he pointed off to the eastern horizon.

  Emerging from the glare of the sunrise off of the water, they could see a boat bearing roughly on their position. Evan sat up in a hurry and fired up the other big diesel, just to be ready to make a run for it or take evasive action, if need be. After their last encounter, they were not going to take any chances. Evan already had his Garand propped up against the helm within arm’s reach while Jason ran down to the Salon to grab his. Peggy ran upstairs after hearing the other engine fire up to find out what was going on. They were all a little on edge after last night’s events, to say the least.

  After the left engine warmed up and stabilized, Evan slipped it into gear as well and began to head away from the approaching vessel at ninety degrees to their heading and at about ten knots. “We will go this way for a bit, and if they change course and take up a bearing on us, we will know something is up. If they just pass on by, well that will be that,” Evan said. “But if it all goes to hell again this is what I want us to do. Peggy, you're gonna have to drive the boat, but I want you to do it from the Salon bridge downstairs. It's too undefendable to drive from up here during an encounter. We learned that the hard way last night. You can't see very well over the bow from down there, but we are so far away from land there is nothing to hit. If we start shooting, just push the throttles all the way forward. Stay on that heading for about a minute, then turn right or left about forty-five degrees. Keep repeating those random turns until it's all over. Understand?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got it. So these are throttles too?” she asked, nervously pointing at the two levers to the left of the wheel.

  “No, those are the gear shifters for each engine. Forward is obviously forward, straight up and down is neutral, and rearward is reverse. You shouldn't have to worry about that, though, unless you have to stop. These two are the throttles,” Evan said as he pointed to the levers to right of the wheel. “Just push them up and pull them back together. Got it?” Evan asked.

  “Yeah, I've got it now,” she said.

  “Okay, head on down to the controls downstairs in the salon and just be ready to take over if we say so or if you hear shooting.

  Evan and Jason then took up defensive positions with their Garands. They also brought their AR-15s into position, in the event it got close quarters and came to that. As the approaching vessel came into better view, Evan said, “Wait, that thing has masts.”

  “Huh?” Jason said.

  “Masts, like in it's a sailboat,” Evan added. “I seriously doubt anyone is out on a sail boat to trying to chase down and attack a power boat,” remarked Evan.

  “Still, let's keep our distance,” said Jason.

  “Oh, I agree,” Evan replied.

  As they continued to pull away at a ninety degree angle to the approaching vessel, the vessel changed course and was once again on a heading towards the Mother Washington.

  “Okay, something's up,” Jason said.

  Just then they saw a flash of light from the other vessel. Jason and Evan both flinched and yelled, “Go, Go, Go, Peggy!”

  Peggy shoved both throttles forward and nearly fell backwards from the acceleration generated by the two strong, supercharged Detroit Diesels.

  Evan and Jason both prepared to return fire when Jason said, “Wait… no pop, that wasn't a shot. That was a signal light, not a muzzle flash.”

  Evan ran down into the Salon so that Peggy could hear him over the roar of the engines and said, “Wait, wait, false alarm. Pull it back to idle. Let's check this out.” He went back outside, picked up his binoculars, and tried to get a better view of the sail boat. They continued to flash a light at them in a pattern.

  “I think that is SOS,” Jason said, remembering back from his Army days.

  Evan turned, ran up to the flybridge, and started flipping channels on the maritime radio. He saw a well-worn and sun faded decal on the side that had said “USE MARINE VHF RADIO CHANNEL 16 (156.8MHZ) FOR EMERGENCY”.

  He flipped to channel 16 and heard in a woman's voice, “Viking cruiser, Viking cruiser, can you hear us?”

  Evan responded, “This is the Viking Mother Washington. Who is this?”

  After a short pause a frantic response came over the radio, “This is the Little Angel, we have a medical emergency onboard and need assistance.”

  Evan responded, “We don't have any medical personnel on board.”

  The panic stricken voice responded, “My husband is having a heart attack. We are on the boat alone and I can't operate this thing well enough by myself to get him to shore. We went out to sea to run from the chaos going on back home, and in a rush, he left his heart medication behind. Please help me get him to land so we can get him help. He is all I have.”

  Evan could hear the tears in her voice and turned to Jason. Jason just gave him the nod and Evan replied, “Okay, but I must warn you if this is a trap we are heavily armed and we will not be victims.”

  “Please, please just help me. I'll do anything!” she said frantically.

  Evan told Jason, “Go tell Peggy I'll take control from up here and for her to stay down there for now just in case.”

  “Roger that,” said Jason.

  “Oh, and while you are down there, scour the medicine cabinets for anything that might be useful, like aspirin,” Evan added.

  “Will do,” he replied as he ran down below.

  Evan turned the Mother Washington into the direction of the sailboat and picked up the speed to about fifteen knots. Jason came back up to the rear deck and took up a defensive position. As they neared the Little Angel, all they could see was a slender woman in her mid-sixties. Her face was red from crying and she looked very frantic and distraught. As they approached to within fifty feet, Evan circled the little sail boat. He saw that it had been motoring on a small outboard kicker motor. The sails were in disarray and he couldn't see any signs of others.

  “Look good to you?” he said to Jason. Jason nodded in the affirmative and Evan began to pull up alongside.

  Once up alongside and only a few feet away, Evan pulled the transmissions into reverse and then neutral to stop the Mother Washington's forward momentum. The light waves of the morning gently bumped the boats together as Jason climbed on board with his hand on his pistol, which he still had holstered at that point. The woman led him into the small cabin. He ran back out, gave the thumbs-up, and then ran back inside to help her. Evan climbed down from the flybridge and threw a mooring line over to the Little Angel. He then climbed aboard and tied up to a cleat on the deck so the boats would stay together. He went inside the Little Angel and found Jason on his knees checking the man's vital signs.

  “We have to get him help ASAP!” Jason shouted.

  Evan threw his AR-15 over his shoulder and let it hang from its sling. He reached down and grabbed the man by his feet while Jason picked him up under his arms. They carried him over to the Mother Washington, where Peggy was now standing alongside.

  “Give us a hand!” Evan shouted as they heaved the man over to the Mother Washington between the rolls of a gentle wave.

  Peggy helped Jason carry the man onboard while Evan stayed behind to deal with the other boat.

  “Go with them,” Evan told the woman, pointing towards the Mother Washington. He untied all of the sails on the Little Angel and dropped them to the deck. He searched and found the longest mooring line onboard, which was roughly thirty feet long, and climbed out onto the pointy bow of the Little Angel. He tied the line to the stainle
ss steel tow loop just underneath the bow pulpit. He then untied the mooring line that bound the two boats together and ran back to the stern of the Mother Washington with the line in hand. He took the line attached to the sailboat’s bow and ran it through the two tow loops on the stern of the Mother Washington, located just below the swim platform.

  “I sure hope these hold,” he mumbled to himself.

  Once he had done what he could, Evan climbed back aboard the Mother Washington and ran into the salon to find Jason trying to get the man to swallow some crushed up aspirin bits that he found in the stateroom medicine cabinet. Peggy was hugging the woman and trying to calm her down while Jason did what he could.

  Evan said, “It looks like you guys have this under control, I guess we are scuttling the sneak-in-under-cover-of-darkness plan. We just have to make a daylight run for it and hope for the best.”

  “Roger Roger!” said Jason.

  Peggy nodded with tears in her eyes as she was immersed in the sadness and the fear of the woman.

  Evan then ran back upstairs, laid his AR-15 on the seat next to him with his M1 Garand still leaning on the helm, and shoved the throttles forward. He turned for a westerly heading to get them headed towards land. They were at least several miles out to sea; he wasn't sure exactly how far and hoped they hadn't drifted too much during the night. He looked back to see the sail boat flailing around in the wake of the Mother Washington at full power and said aloud, “Whoops, too much!” and backed off on the throttles to find a happy medium between speed and stability. In the back of his mind he thought, screw it, I should just cut that thing loose, but, then again, that boat is probably all they have left in the world. If he's gonna make it, they will likely need it to survive. They ran from the land for a reason. If she tells me to cut it loose I will, but otherwise I'll try and drag it along behind.

  Down in the salon, as Peggy comforted the woman, she asked, “So, what's your name?”

  “I'm Judith, and this is my husband, Bill. Judith and Bill Hoskins,” the lady responded.