by E S Richards
Harrison froze. The thought hadn’t even occurred to him. He had just assumed she was one of the men’s daughters, but what Len had suggested made perfect sense. He could be right. The young girl could be trapped in there and held hostage just like Justin and Max were. There hadn’t been a weapon pointed at her, but they wouldn’t need to use such force to overpower her. Just as he was about to open his mouth to reply to Len, the sound of the gas station shop door being opened sounded out behind him and both men snapped into action, aiming their weapons and waiting to see who emerged.
“Oh my…”
Len couldn’t stop the words from escaping his mouth as he stared at the little girl who exited the building, the door rapidly pulled closed behind her. She was dressed in a pale blue summer dress, adorned with tiny flowers but also covered in dark stains of what Len hoped was only dirt, but even he could see that some had a more crimson tint to them. Her blonde hair was long and knotted, cascading down around her shoulders, it too dip-dyed in filth.
Her eyes were wide and frightened and from one look Harrison confirmed to himself that she had indeed been crying. They were red-rimmed and swollen, her face tear-stained from where the liquid had marked her unclean skin. Harrison guessed her to be about eleven or twelve years old, a once very pretty young girl who had been thrown into a world of torment and terror. Now she stood in front of the two men, her bare feet padding against the asphalt as she walked toward them, a sheet of paper clutched tightly in her right hand.
“Hello,” Len knelt down on one knee and spoke to the girl first as she stopped in front of them. “What’s your name?”
She didn’t say anything, refusing to meet Len’s gaze and instead merely thrusting her arm forward and holding out the piece of paper for him to read.
“What does it say?” Harrison asked after a few moments, making sure Len read the full page before he spoke.
Len looked up at his friend with a broken expression on his face. The lump had reformed in his throat and he could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry without saliva as he tried to speak the words he had just read.
“We need to give them the truck,” Len stuttered. “We give them the truck or they’re going to kill the children. Both of them. It says they’re watching us.”
Chapter 15
“Pablo!”
Bryan’s scream rang out beside Andy and he tore his eyes away from Cory for a second, immediately regretting the action. Pablo hung from his safety line, one strong arm holding him precariously in place on the wooden splitter. But he was slipping. Bryan was struggling with Pablo’s weight; the young boy on the mast looked to be seconds away from letting go.
Andy felt his heart slam into his ribcage as he watched Pablo. He was frantically scrambling to pull himself up, his other arm reaching up to wrap around the wooden splitter and give him more support. But the wind was picking up. The sail flapped wildly beside him, despite Brett and Lucas doing their best to hold it in place. Cory had secured the sail on his side now, which only made the wind pick up the rest of the material more violently, the fabric constantly smacking into Pablo’s body as he hung from the mast.
Each of the men on board The Mako had an important job to do. But that meant that none of them could spare a hand to help Pablo. Bryan strained against the weight of the trainee, using all of his strength to keep him in place by the wooden splitter so Pablo could try to right himself. Brett and Lucas pulled at the sail, attempting to work with the wind to angle the fabric away from Pablo and offer him some relief from the constant beating. Meanwhile, Andy strained against Cory’s safety line; with Pablo now hanging on for dear life it was too dangerous for Cory to make his descent back down the mast. He would have to stay up there until Pablo’s position had changed, whether that meant he was down on the deck or back on the splitter.
“Brett!” Andy called to his friend and lifelong research partner, the man who had offered him constant support throughout most of his career. “Can you hold that sail on your own?”
The wind continued to pick up around them, but Andy knew Pablo’s safety line was the most important thing. Brett could support the sail by himself, but could Bryan hold the weight of a young boy’s life completely on his shoulders? Understanding what Andy was suggesting, Brett nodded and spoke to Lucas, pushing the only remaining trainee on deck towards Bryan and taking the full weight of the sail alone.
“Help Bryan with that safety line, Lucas!” Brett shouted after the trainee, shuffling his legs slightly wider apart so he could kneel deeper into the harness he held on the sail.
Looking up, Andy was relieved to see Pablo hoisted slightly higher in the air thanks to the addition of Lucas tugging on his safety line. He was almost high enough to be able to kick his legs up and loop them around the wooden splitter, and then he could definitely pull himself back into position. The problem now was the sail. Brett was a strong fisherman, his muscles made lean yet solid through years of wrestling with animals beneath the surface, but this was a different challenge. The wind constantly buffeted them, tearing around the ship like a cat chasing a mouse. It was too much for Brett on his own and Andy could see that even as Pablo rose higher with the additional strength on his safety line, he was unable to battle the whip of the sail.
“Cory!” Andy changed tack and shouted up to the third trainee, the teenager wrapped around the other wooden splitter and clinging on with all his strength. “Cory!” His voice barely carried over the noise of the wind, but the others on deck joined in with Andy’s call and eventually caught the boy’s attention.
“Unclip the sail!” Andy cried from down below, his eyes flitting between Cory on the end of his safety line and Pablo dangling from his. “Unclip the sail and let it fall! The wind is too strong!”
It took Andy repeating himself several times before Cory realized what he was being told to do and after a few extra seconds, he nodded and quickly removed one of his arms from the splitter to give Andy a thumbs up. To Andy it was the only thing that made sense. Pablo’s strength was failing fast and with the sail constantly obstructing his progress he would never be able to climb back onto the mast. Cory unclipping the sail and letting it fall back down to the deck was the only option. They could reattempt it another time, but they couldn’t bargain with a boy’s life any longer.
Focusing on Cory, Andy made sure he had a firm grip on the safety line and braced himself for movement. The movement of the mast was visible from the deck now and Andy could see how much it swayed side to side in the wind. Cory had shuffled back to the middle of the splitter after attaching the sail, now he had to edge back out where the wind was even more powerful and dangerous.
Andy offered the teenager less slack than he normally would, making Cory move slower than usual. It felt safer to Andy this way though; any slight error and he would be able to keep Cory in place before he ended up in the same position as Pablo. He spared a quick glance to the other boy in the sky and could see Pablo was really beginning to struggle to hold himself up. Bryan and Lucas were doing everything they could to support him, but there was only so much the safety line could do. Another five minutes and Andy estimated Pablo would have to let go.
“Keep going, Cory!” Andy shouted up at the boy on the end of his line, encouraging him as he edged closer to the sail clip. “Brett, brace yourself for the drop!”
Brett had been watching Andy and knew what Cory was about to do. Once the clip was undone the sail would only be supported by his harness and he wasn’t strong enough to keep it in the air alone. It would fall down to the deck—that was a guarantee—Brett’s job was to try and guide it down slowly, rather than letting the fabric be caught up by the wind and potentially drag him out into the ocean. It was a dangerous game, but one Brett had played plenty of times before and he was ready for it.
“Here goes!” Andy called, seeing Cory in position above his head ready to unclip the sail from his splitter. “Everybody brace yourselves!”
Everything happ
ened at once. Andy watched Cory unclip the sail and then wrap his arms back around the splitter as the fabric started flapping wildly in the wind. Brett let out a shout and was dragged forward several paces, the power of the wind in the sail pulling him toward the mast. More cries sounded from above where Pablo and Cory hung on to the mast. The white sheet obstructed Andy’s vision. The two boys disappeared from view as Brett struggled with the sail, desperately trying to bring it back down to the deck.
“Help!”
“Andy, quick!”
Shouts suddenly erupted from beside Andy and he looked to his left to see Bryan and Lucas holding onto Pablo’s safety rope with as much strength as either of them had ever been able to muster. Brett still wrestled with the sail in front of the other three, the cotton sheet slowly falling lower and lower to the deck. Glancing up Andy’s heart skipped a beat. Cory was still there, his limbs tangled around one of the splitters, but the other was empty. Pablo had fallen.
“Release the sail!” Andy abruptly cried, trying to get Brett to follow his instructions. Pablo was behind that fabric somewhere and from the sight of Bryan and Lucas, his life was entirely in their hands.
Brett glanced back around at Andy, unaware of what had happened above him. The sail was taking all his focus and control, the wind refusing to let his task pass with ease.
“Drop it, Brett!” Andy cried again. “Release the sail!”
Finally Brett looked skyward and noticed the missing trainee from the splitter, his eyes growing wide as he quickly processed what had happened. In a second his hands fell to his harness, unfastening the carabiners that kept him attached. He pulled on the slack lines and felt the weight of the sail release from his hips, the harness loosening around his body. The sail reacted immediately, a large gust of wind blowing it higher into the sky before it gradually started to fall to the deck of The Mako.
All five other crewmembers watched with bated breath as the sail dropped to reveal Pablo, hanging from his safety line but somehow with one hand firmly gripped around one of the climbing steps on the central mast. Brett didn’t hestitate for a second, stepping out of his sail harness and running over towards Bryan and Lucas, taking some of the strain off the rope that kept Pablo suspended in mid-air.
“Easy does it,” Andy called over to the three men on the safety line, watching Pablo as he hung in the air like a half-mast flag. “Let go Pablo!”
Andy knew the magnitude of what he was asking the young boy to do, but with three people on his safety line he could easily be lowered to the deck. The wind was relentless around them and Andy knew they needed to get the sail secured away and inside if they had any hope of ever attempting this task again. But Pablo’s and Cory’s lives were the most important things. Andy needed every member of his crew safely accounted for before he would even consider trying this again. Getting back to shore was important, but keeping everyone alive was paramount.
“Three…” Brett started counting off to Andy’s right, giving Pablo a countdown to when he had to let go of the mast. “Two…” Pablo snapped his eyes shut and held his breath. “One!”
Andy could only stand still and watch as Pablo released his grip on the climbing step and fell a few feet through the air before Bryan, Lucas, and Brett took up the extra slack on his line. Pablo’s body came to an abrupt halt in the air but then the three men started working together, lowering him steadily through the wind until the trainee’s feet touched the wooden deck and his body sagged to the floor.
A loud cheer erupted across the vessel, Lucas rushing forward to his friend and kneeling over Pablo, placing a hand on his shoulder and checking the boy was okay. The task wasn’t over yet though; Brett moved over to Andy and picked up the slack on the safety line that he held, nodding to his friend who remained focused on Cory.
“All right kid!” Andy shouted up once more to the lone boy in the sky. “Start climbing back down, we got you.”
Thankfully, Cory’s descent was much more straightforward and within ten minutes all six members of The Mako were safely on deck, adrenaline still rushing through them after what had happened. There wasn’t any time to spare; Andy dashed forward as soon as Cory’s feet touched the ground and started grappling with the sail, trying to straighten it out against the deck before they lost it to the ocean. Brett and Bryan were beside him in seconds, the three of them working together to get the sheet secured and strapped away.
It took time but eventually Andy sat inside the cabin of his ship with his hands wrapped around a mug of cold soup.
“It’s gazpacho,” Lucas said with a slight grin. “In Spain, it’s a delicacy.”
“It’s cold soup,” Andy shook his head at the trainee in response and rolled his eyes. “But it’s better than nothing. Thanks Lucas.”
Looking around his crew Andy could see how much the day had affected each and every one of them. Pablo tried to act like he was okay, like he hadn’t nearly died earlier that day, but it was obvious how badly he had been affected. He sat in the corner of the cabin, his back slightly to the rest of the group as he sipped the cold soup, not a single word leaving his mouth. Cory was clearly shaken too, although he wasn’t as bad as Pablo was. In a day or two he would be back to his old self and making jokes, just like Lucas was already doing to try and brighten the mood.
Andy couldn’t blame any of them for feeling as they did. He was beating himself up inside for how badly things had almost gone. He had nearly lost a crew member, a young boy, a friend. He was the captain of the ship and it was his responsibility to make sure everyone survived, that everyone made it back to land in one piece. Looking around the cabin, Andy couldn’t help but feel that he was failing. Doubt was starting to make a home in his mind, telling him they might never make it back alive.m
Chapter 16
“Those bastards.”
Len couldn’t believe what he was saying. What he had just read? He knew the solar crash had devastated people, but what the men hidden away inside the gas station shop were suggesting was utterly barbaric. There was no way he was going to let them kill the little girl standing in front of him, or Max, who was trapped inside. They had to get him and Justin out of there somehow, and get this little girl to safety. But how? Len looked up at Harrison and then over his shoulder at the 1952 Dodge Fargo. There had to be another way.
“There has to be another way.”
Len spoke the words out loud to Harrison, who still hadn’t said anything since Len had read the letter. The prepper had to be thinking of a plan: Len knew he wouldn’t allow them to just hand over the pickup truck, not after everything they had done to restore it. The Dodge was undoubtedly their most valuable asset on the journey and Len refused to go back to walking after even the short time he had spent inside it.
“I don’t know,” Harrison replied eventually. “But I’m not giving up that easily.”
***
Len gave Harrison one last look before he started walking towards the door of the gas station shop, the little girl—Aubrey—trotting along beside him. No more than half an hour had passed since Aubrey walked out of the shop, but already Len and Harrison had managed to coax a lot of information out of her, and what they heard they weren’t happy about.
“Are you okay, Aubrey?” Len whispered to the young girl just before they reached the door. “You don’t have to do this, remember. You can wait by the truck if you want.”
Aubrey looked up at Len, her once tear-stained face now a mask of confidence coupled with revenge. “I got this.”
Len admired the young girl immensely, especially after hearing what she had already been through. He didn’t like to think about what she had told them and knew that in reality, what Aubrey had said already probably barely scratched the surface of what she had been through since the coronal mass ejection that caused all of this. As much as Len wanted to get Justin and Max out to safety and away from this place, he also wanted to do the same for Aubrey.
“All right then,” Len spoke up again, now just a f
ew feet from the door. “Here goes.”
Reaching out with his hand Len balled his fingers into a fist and knocked on the door. The motion felt alien to him considering the circumstances. How long had it been since he had physically knocked on a door and, now that he was, it was to attract the attention of a group of criminals that held his companions hostage. As he waited for a response, Len held his breath.
Seconds later, the door was yanked open and a disgusting, unwashed man appeared in the doorway in front of them. The man grabbed at Aubrey who let out a little yelp as she was dragged back inside the shop, shoved into a corner and out of sight. Before Len could open his mouth to protest the behavior, a 12-gauge shotgun was shoved into his chest and the man who had opened the door bared his teeth and growled.
“I’d keep your mouth shut if I were you,” he hissed menacingly, “or we’ll add you to our list as well.”
Len swallowed and tried to force some confidence into his posture, going over the plan he and Harrison had devised in detail. He peered into the darkened room, searching for Aubrey and hoping she was acting out her part as promised.