by Billy Dering
“Holy shit! Elder-1 is driving that boat packed with soldiers!” Maria yelled as she pointed.
Turning, Kid watched as the boat behind them came around the same buoy and followed. A minute later, Elder-1’s fully submerged engine caught the shallow bottom and their boat came to a dead stop. Half of the soldiers were thrown into the water. A few went right over the windshield. One flew between the front seats and hit the windshield headfirst.
Elder-1 seemed unhurt, and even helped in tossing a limp and lifeless body overboard. The elder was giving orders, and Kid watched as the soldiers in the water lifted the boat out of the sandy entrapment. The engine was raised and a puff of smoke shot out when it was restarted. Elder-1 was waving his hand, directing the soldiers in the water to get back in the craft.
Kid spotted the soldier’s other craft with the two men. After barely making it through the inlet, that boat had avoided Tices Shoal and were now gaining ground.
As Jess lowered the engine to its normal position, Kid said, “Get as close to shore as you can and drop me off. I’ll find a car and try to take them out at the Forked River Bridge. Listen carefully. At that bridge, make sure you go through the right corridor. Not the left or middle… the right.” He had a plan. “And then keep going and I’ll meet you at your house.”
“My house?” He seemed hesitant to go back there.
“The lagoon behind your house.” Kid knew that Jess’s house was accessible via the Forked River. “I’ll just jump in the boat, then we’ll go to Logan’s and grab his truck.”
Jess relented and nodded.
“I’ll need time, so circle the entire bay once before you go up Forked River,” Kid added. “Remember, at the bridge, go through the right corridor.”
“Got it. I should be able to stay ahead of the boat loaded with people, but the other one might catch up pretty quickly.”
As Jess started getting closer to shore, larger and heavier pieces of ice crunched against the bow. “We can’t go much farther,” he noted and slowed down when he approached the thicker crust along the shoreline.
“Close enough.” Kid kissed the top of Sara’s head and then slithered over the side of the boat.
As he plunged into the icy-cold bay, he lost his breath for a moment. Exhaling and inhaling in short, rapid gasps, he watched with his head just above the surface as the boat sped away. Floating chunks of ice surrounded him as he struggled to tread water. The soldiers never even glanced in his direction and kept chasing Jess, so Kid swam with haste toward the shoreline.
Chapter 22
December 30, 2044
Friday, Early Morning
New Jersey coast
Four days after the event
Encountering the edge of the sheet of ice, Kid pulled himself out of the water and onto the frozen surface of Barnegat Bay. Knowing not to stand, he army-crawled on his stomach until he reached land and ran for a nearby house. He broke in and found car keys on the kitchen counter. Before running for the car, he ransacked the bedrooms until he found some dry clothes. In the master bedroom upstairs, he found clean sweatpants and extra-large t-shirts. Breathing only through his mouth, he glanced at the bed while changing his clothes and caught a glimmer of light. He turned to see a disgusting, hair-encrusted tiara tilted sideways on the top of a skull. A couple of the fake gems had escaped the gore and shone in the daylight. The blanket was pulled up to the eye sockets as the skull rested on the pillow, with the dark orbs fixed on him. He could only imagine what kind of role-playing had been going on in this room before the destruction hit. Despite now being dry, he shivered as he ran down the stairs, grabbed a heavy winter jacket, and headed out the door.
Jumping into a little blue car outside, Kid sped toward the hardware store. Spooked by the eeriness of the empty roads, especially at a traffic intersection that was usually very busy, he looked around in every direction. He felt like he was driving through a ghost town, except that this was his hometown. What was once a bustling suburbia was now a 360-degree still-photo.
Kid was kicked back into the moment when he passed a gas station and something caught his eye under the expansive awning. The gas station attendant must’ve been sitting in a chair next to the pumps when the beams burst from the sky. Resting on a ribcage on a folding chair was a human skull. Most of the innards had run off the side of the chair and formed a large puddle on the ground. Facing the road, the skinless head was tilted a little sideways, as if staring at him quizzically. He felt like the dead were watching him everywhere he went. Trying to shake it off, Kid pushed the gas pedal to the floor.
Up the road, he cut into a parking lot and rammed the bumper of the car into the front door of the hardware store. Backing the car up a few feet, he jumped out and wormed through the mangled entranceway. He gathered various items, including a hammer and some masonry nails. He put the items in a bag, and coiled several long pieces of rope and slung them over his shoulder. After throwing the items in the car, he sped away. He knew he didn’t have much time.
Jess was circling around the large body of water. The soldiers were still giving chase. He was almost back around to where Forked River met the bay.
Driving to the Forked River Bridge, Kid got out of the car and ran to the top of the bridge with ropes over his shoulder and the supply bag in his hand. “Please tell me they haven’t been caught,” he said aloud.
As Jess turned up Forked River from the bay, he glanced back at the two boats chasing. Turning forward, the bridge was dead ahead. “Kid said stay to the right,” he reminded himself.
Kid was relieved to see Jess’s boat, which looked like a tiny speck in the distance. But he realized he had to move quickly.
The bridge was supported by columns drilled deep into the riverbed, which created three corridors to pass under the span. He anchored three sets of ropes by tying them securely to the bridge railing over each corridor, and then tied each rope into a large noose knot.
Letting down the first noose over the southern corridor, the bottom of the rope barely touched the water of the flowing river. He then put two masonry nails in the side of the bridge several feet apart, and rested the top of the rope on the nails. This would keep the noose open wide. Although not a perfect circle, the snare spanned most of the corridor. Kid then used the same noose system for the middle corridor.
For the northern opening, or right corridor from Jess’s direction, he ducked down and held the noose in his hand. The other end of the rope was tied to the bridge railing. He was ready not a moment too soon as Jess sped through the correct corridor as planned. Kid was crouched and out of sight, but he listened and tried to gauge the speed of the oncoming soldier’s boat. The boat with 20 soldiers followed Jess’s exact course, so Kid dropped the noose and held the loop open with his outstretched arms.
Falling to the waterline, the noose snagged the bow of the speeding boat. Kid let go as the rope pulled tight. The weight and momentum of the craft was too much for the twine and it snapped, although the initial jerk turned the boat abruptly toward the shore. This forced the soldiers to lose momentum and let Jess get farther ahead.
With the commotion in front of them, the boat with the two soldiers turned into the middle corridor. Coming under the bridge, the hanging noose tightened until the bow was pointing straight up at the sky. With great momentum the stern of the boat kicked out underneath and the craft flipped as it headed for the shoreline. The windshield vaporized on impact as it landed upside down, crashing on a rock embankment.
Running down to the soldier’s overturned boat, Kid laid down and peeked under. The two soldiers were dead, with their heads crushed and twisted awkwardly. He noticed the driver had an embroidered ‘Elder-48’ patch on his uniform. Kid ran back to the car and put the gas pedal to the floor. The vehicle slid around corners and dodged cars parked along the snow-covered roads. He had to get to Jess’s house before the boat did.
Jess was weaving through the maze of lagoon channels. The water along the bulkheads was also frozen,
so he had to drive right up the middle of the channel. This prevented him from being able to keep up his speed and cut the corners when making turns. The soldiers were following the conspicuous wake his boat was leaving behind.
As he drove farther into the lagoon system, the water became more stagnant, and the ice became noticeably thicker. The edges of the ice sheets were creeping closer to the middle from the lagoon sides, and he still had a few more channels to travel before reaching his house.
Kid jumped out of the car and ran for the dock behind Jess’s house. When he got there, he couldn’t see or hear the boat. “Come on Jess, don’t let them close the gap,” he said aloud. He knew they needed time to break into Logan’s house and find the truck keys.
Turning around, he was again repulsed by the hairy, disgusting mound that used to be Jess’s Alaskan Husky. Unfortunately, the carnage would also be visible to Jess when he pulled up. Hearing the boat coming, Kid scrambled to get the blanket from the doghouse. He covered the gory remains of the animal and ran down to the dock.
A moment later, the boat made a wide turn around the corner and sped up the middle of the lagoon channel. As Jess approached his house, he slowed down. The ice extending from the bulkhead kept the boat far from the dock. With the craft in the middle of the lagoon, Kid stutter-stepped as he ran out onto the ice. He leapt headfirst across the bow as the ice began to break under his feet. Jess reached over the windshield and grabbed his ankle to keep him from falling into the water on the other side.
“Got it.” Kid was quick to stabilize himself and climb aboard.
With a long straightaway in front of him, Jess yelled, “Hold on!” and buried the throttle.
A few turns later, he reached the end of the lagoon and headed into an area that did not even have bulkheads. “We’re here! Get ready!” he called out as he turned toward a low-lying empty lot.
Kid saw Logan’s house across the street. It was the last house on a dead-end street where the asphalt ended and a sandy trail began through the forest. Having used this trail before, he knew it crossed Route 9 and wound through a portion of New Jersey’s 1,100,000-acre Pinelands National Reserve, a forest with the claim to fame that it was the first National Reserve in America. But to Kid and his friends it was famous for only one thing, Ironside Cabin.
As Jess made for the empty lot, even the middle of the lagoon channel had a thin layer of ice. Fortunately, the boat was having no problem breaking through. “Hold on tight! It will be a rough stop.” He engaged the automatic trim to raise the motor all the way. “Now!” he yelled as he cut the wheel hard to the right.
The boat’s forward momentum pushed it over the thicker ice along the shore of the channel. With the engine out of the water, the boat fell onto its port side and careened along the slippery frozen surface. With the gradual incline of the ground in the empty lot, the craft came to a halt when it hit the sand, and everyone climbed out.
Kid looked back and spotted the soldiers’ boat. It had already turned the final corner and was speeding up the lagoon channel. He scooped Sara into his arms and hurried across the street.
Jess kicked open the front door of Logan’s split-level house and the group went in.
Kid carried Sara up the front steps and in the door, but the soldiers spotted him as they pulled into the empty lot across the street. “Hurry! They saw me come in!” he yelled.
Elder-1 turned his boat toward the lot opening. He saw the other boat on its side with the engine tilted up. “Hold on!” he yelled, and pulled the throttle all the way back. “Not this time,” he muttered.
The forward motion of the boat slowed, but the submerged engine still caught the edge of some thicker ice and the boat jerked to a sudden stop. Some of the soldiers fell forward, but none fell out.
Inside the confines of Logan’s house, Kid gagged from the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh. While everyone was scrambling to find the keys, he carried Sara out to the garage and spotted two vehicles. One was an old pick-up truck and the other was Logan’s lifted four-wheel drive, with the neatly stenciled ‘Queen Anne’ on the side. He opened the back door of the extended cab and lifted Sara onto the back seat. Closing the truck’s back door, he ran into the house to help the others.
The soldiers jumped out of the boat and marched on the ice. Once they reached solid ground, they quickened their pace.
Chapter 23
December 30, 2044
Friday, Morning
Forked River, New Jersey
Four days after the event
“I found the keys. Let’s go!” Jess yelled as he ran down the stairs of Logan’s house. Everyone hustled to the garage.
Kid was the last one out and he saw soldiers piling in through the front door up the hall. He closed the door to the garage and whispered as he climbed into the truck, “They’re inside.” He closed the truck door as quietly as he could, but as soon as it clunked, an older soldier opened the door from the house.
Jess hit the power-lock, securing the truck doors.
Heidi breathed in loudly. “Elder-1!”
The older soldier stepped into the garage and stared into the rear driver’s side back window. His dark eyes made Kid shudder.
More soldiers started filing into the garage. Trying to open the door to their vehicle, Elder-1 didn’t seem surprised or upset that it was locked. Kid, sitting in the back seat on the driver’s side, said with growing fear, “Jess…”
Continuing to stare out his window, Jess fumbled with the keys in his hand, trying to find the ignition. Finally breaking his stare, he found the hole in the steering column and inserted the key.
Elder-1 held up a set of car keys with a smirk on his face. “He’s got another set of keys! Hit it, now!” Kid yelled.
Turning on the ignition, Jess hit the accelerator. Despite a soldier jumping in front of the truck, he plowed forward and blasted through the closed garage door. Kid felt the vehicle bounce as it went over a body.
Jess drove toward the partially hidden trail entrance at the end of the street. Even shifting into four-wheel-drive he couldn’t get much speed on the wet slippery snow. The tires were freely spinning and the rear of the truck was fishtailing from side to side.
“When is this cat and mouse game going to end?” Heidi asked.
“Not any time soon!” Kid answered. “Look behind us. They have the other pickup truck that was in the garage!”
“We need to gain some ground. Hold on,” Jess responded as he entered the forest and finally picked up speed, cutting a path in the untouched snow.
After reaching Route 9, they crossed the deserted highway and picked up the trail on the other side of the road. They passed pine tree after pine tree with branches still holding fresh white powder as they drove for miles, making many turns up side trails. Kid stared out the window as the truck crossed a small wooden bridge over a shallow stream, one of many flowing through the Pinelands. He was about to say something, since they had always used the bridge as a marker, but was beaten to the punch.
“Seven lakes, just around the bend,” Jess called out. “And then five miles after that to the cabin. We are making good time now. There is no way they are keeping up.”
“We have to go through seven lakes?” Heidi asked. “I came out here with Brian and don’t remember doing that.”
“We just call them lakes. They are really seven puddles in a row, although the seventh one is almost large enough to be considered a lake,” Jess noted as he down-shifted.
Kid was holding Sara as they drove, waiting for the effect of the shot that grazed her to wear off.
“What did they do to your hair?” Jess glanced over at Maria in the passenger’s seat.
“They made us all look like them. Check out Sara and Heidi.” She turned around. “Sara, how do you like your new look?”
Lying across Kid’s lap, she didn’t respond.
As he drove up the snow-laden trail, Jess asked, “Wait a minute, can’t they spot us out here with satellites?”
“No,” Maria replied. “We heard on the ships that since the night of the destruction, the satellite system has been down. Hopefully it still is.”
“That’s good for us,” Jess said.
“They don’t need satellites to find us,” Kid countered.
“What do you mean?”
“They can just follow our tire tracks in the snow.” He knew they had to do something, or their tracks would lead right to the cabin.
After a moment, Jess turned to Maria, “I know there are still some turns to make, but do you remember the way to the cabin?”
“With how many times I’ve been there, I guess I should,” Maria answered. “Why?”
“If they’re following us, me and Kid need to jump out and do something to stop them, or at least slow them down. Just head to the cabin and stay inside.”
“Wait, should we even go to the cabin?” Maria asked. “Since we are being followed, maybe we should just outrun them and keep going.”
Kid jumped in and said, “We need to get Sara in a bed and help her. She’s in bad shape.”
“Anyway, I have an idea to slow them down. Way down,” Jess proclaimed as he turned to Maria.
Jess had successfully navigated the first six puddles along the route to the cabin, despite them all being iced over and camouflaged by snow. Around the next bend, the trail widened, and the seventh lake lurked under a blanket of virgin white powder. He drove with caution up the middle of the enormous frozen puddle. The ice creaked as he gingerly held onto the steering wheel. “Come on, just a little more.” The truck made it across and Jess stopped.
“Alright Maria, all yours.” Jess climbed out. “Kid, I’ll check the truck box in the bed and see what tools Logan kept in there. You check back there. We need crow bars and hammers.”