Escape The Dark (Book 1): Dark Tides

by Fawkes, K. M.

  “What happened?” Adam breathed.

  “Nothing,” Gerard said. “We’ve been sitting here for twelve hours, Adam. The rumor is that the MRI machine is broken. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I know they keep bringing more and more people into this room, and no one has left in hours.” He coughed. “It’s not looking good.”

  “You should get out of there, Gerard,” Adam said. “That virus is supposed to be pretty contagious.”

  Gerard laughed humorlessly. “I’m sure I’ve already got it,” he said. “I haven’t showed symptoms yet, but I’ve been with your mother all day. I’ve been in this room with all these sick people all day. Your mother doesn’t have long left, son, and I’m going to be right behind her.”

  Even though he’d known it almost from the moment he’d picked up the phone, it still felt like a punch in the gut. Adam struggled to breathe.

  “It’s all right,” Gerard said quietly. “We’ll go out together. It’s all we can do at this point.”

  “Gerard—”

  “Adam, listen to me.” His stepfather’s voice was suddenly firm and authoritative. “You need to get out of the city. As contagious as this thing is, it’s going to keep leaping from person to person, and the worst place for you to be is in an area where the population is concentrated. You need to get out into the country by yourself. Do you understand me?”

  “Don’t worry,” Adam said. “I’m getting out. I’m leaving tomorrow.”

  “You have a plan?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” Gerard sounded more at ease than he had at any point during their call so far. “That’s good. That’s good, Adam. You take care of yourself. Do that for me and your mother, okay?”

  Adam struggled to swallow. “Yeah,” he managed. “Okay. I will.”

  There was nothing more to say. Adam didn’t want to hang up, but he knew that Gerard wanted to spend what time he could with his mother. And, for all the years of acrimony between them, Adam didn’t want his mother to die alone. He said his goodbyes and let the call end, holding the phone in his hand, stunned by what he’d just heard.

  His mother and stepfather had been claimed by the nanovirus.

  Adam was alone in the world.

  I’m not alone, he told himself fiercely. I have Cody. But Cody wasn’t the same as family, even family he didn’t get along with. Already he could feel the ties that had moored him in life loosening. It would be easy to just drift away now.

  Certainly there was nothing keeping him in California anymore.

  He lay awake for hours that night, listening to the sounds of the sirens screaming by outside and remembering the car crash outside the church that had woken him up to the severity of the situation. All he could think about was the ambulance, when it had finally arrived, so quiet and ominously slow. Were the sirens he was hearing tonight ambulances? Adam thought it more likely they were police officers, rushing to try to control the riots that were no doubt breaking out all over the city.

  Gerard had been right. He had to get out of here before things got any worse.

  He tossed and turned, trying to get his mind to relax, but it was no use. At four o’clock in the morning he got up and wandered the house, looking at his things for what he knew might be the last time. He picked up and put down dozens of useless little items, briefly considering shoving them in his backpack before acknowledging that they would be a waste of space.

  He knew what he was really doing, wandering the house like this. He was trying not to think about the fact that his mother was probably dead by now, and that Gerard would likely be gone by morning.

  He did his best to focus, instead, on what was to come. He grabbed a pad of paper and made a list of things they would need on the boat. Water. Fresh fruit, if they could get it. He would show his list to Cody and make sure they did their best to get all the essentials before they cast off tomorrow.

  Adam couldn’t allow himself to live in the past anymore. The past was dying all around him. The only thing he could do, the only way to survive this, was to forget about what the world had looked like yesterday and to focus on tomorrow.

  Who knew how many tomorrows he had left.

  Chapter 5

  The drive out to the marina was pure hell.

  Adam was glad he had decided to leave early, because it looked as though a lot of residents of San Francisco had had the same idea. It was time to get out of the city, and people were making their move.

  The freeways were packed. Drivers lay on their car horns, trying to get others to move, but they were fighting a losing battle. There was nowhere to go. Some people had pulled onto the shoulder and were trying to make progress there, but it was pretty slow going.

  The cars crept along. A few times, Adam contemplated abandoning his car, grabbing his bags, and trying to walk to the marina. He had almost worked up the resolve to go for it once, but just before he could kill the ignition the car in front of him inched forward and he decided to give it five more minutes.

  In the end, the drive that should have taken twenty minutes took almost two hours. Adam attempted to call and text Cody to let him know he was running late, but of course the network was jammed, and Adam was shaking with anxiety when he finally pulled up at the marina, parked his car in one of the few vacant spots, and unloaded his bags.

  His shoulders sagged with relief when he saw Cody’s yacht was still there.

  The yacht was easily spotted. Adam had been on it before, although never out at sea—his friend had invited him out a couple of times to sit on the boat while it was anchored and just enjoy the sea breeze. It was larger than most of the other boats in the marina, and newer too, its shiny coat of white paint gleaming in the sun.

  Adam walked down the dock to the pier that led out to his friend’s boat. As he approached the yacht, Cody jumped from the deck onto the pier.

  “Hey!” he said, his tone upbeat and buoyant. “You made it! I was starting to wonder if I’d have to cast off without you.”

  “Yeah, it was a close call,” Adam said. “Thanks for waiting. The traffic coming out of downtown is brutal.”

  “We should have seen that coming,” Cody said. “Who’d want to stay in the city at a time like this? Trust me, SF’s gonna be a ghost town by the end of the week.”

  Adam felt his friend’s choice of words like a gut punch. It had been less than twenty-four hours since his phone call with Gerard, but he was sure his mother and stepfather had succumbed to the virus by now. For a moment he thought about confiding in Cody. It would be good, he thought, to have someone to talk to. It would be a relief to know that someone else understood what he was going through. Maybe they could spend their time at sea reminiscing about Adam’s family—Cody had known them, and he was familiar with Adam’s struggles with his mother. Maybe it would be therapeutic.

  He opened his mouth, about to say something, but Cody was turning away.

  “Come on down, guys!” he yelled. “Come and meet Adam!”

  Adam frowned. Who was Cody talking to?

  His question was answered almost immediately. Two men, both clad in Bermuda shorts and tank tops, appeared on the lowest deck of the yacht. They approached the rail, although they didn’t come down the ladder and onto the pier.

  “What’s up?” said one. He was tall and muscular, with a loose pompadour and facial hair that looked as though he spent a lot of time maintaining it.

  “Duane, meet Adam,” Cody said, waving a hand casually between them. Bemused, Adam reached up to shake Duane’s hand.

  The other man was short and stocky, with close-cropped blond hair and a barbed-wire tattoo around his upper arm. “Hey,” he said. “I’m Max.”

  “Cool. Hey,” Adam said. “I’m sorry, I still don’t really know who you guys are.”

  “Oh, right,” Cody said with a laugh. “Sorry. They work with me. Or, not with me, exactly. They own other tech startups, and we’ve collaborated on a few projects.”

  “And they’re h
ere…why?”

  “The more the merrier, right?”

  “Um, right.”

  Though he tried not to show it, Adam was gritting his teeth already. “The more the merrier” was all well and good if you were throwing a beach luau, but it didn’t really apply to survival situations. He wondered whether Cody had grasped the difference.

  “There are still a few coolers in the truck,” Cody said now. “Can you guys go get them? I’ll show Adam where he’s going to be staying.”

  “Okay,” Duane agreed. Max rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but he followed Duane down the ladder and off to the parking lot, presumably to retrieve the coolers.

  Adam turned to Cody. “Why didn’t you tell me you were bringing other people?”

  “It’s not a problem, is it?” Cody’s eyes were wide. He was the picture of innocence.

  Adam shrugged. What could he say? This wasn’t his yacht. Cody had been generous to invite him along at all. It wasn’t for him to start setting terms now. “Of course it isn’t,” he said. “I was just surprised.”

  Cody grinned. “Come on up. I want you to see the facilities.” He climbed the ladder, and Adam followed.

  As he stepped onto the deck, he heard voices coming from above him. A moment later, a gorgeous blonde woman descended the stairs from the second floor of the three-story yacht. She was clad only in a bright purple bikini with a matching wrap around her hips. She sashayed right past Adam and Cody, drawing her hair into a knot at the back of her head as she did so. She made her way to a reclining deck chair, sat down, and put her feet up.

  Adam was speechless.

  “Oh,” Cody said, “that’s Krista. Sorry. Hey Krista? This is Adam.”

  No answer from Krista.

  “She doesn’t like to talk while she’s sunbathing,” Cody said, sotto voce, as if that explained anything.

  “Oh,” Adam said.

  “She’s a friend of Duane’s. Or Max’s. I forget. Maybe both. Anyway, she’s here with them. She’s a model,” Cody said unnecessarily.

  Adam blinked. Did anyone besides him take this seriously? Did anybody else realize they were escaping panic and pandemonium and a deadly virus? Because it was starting to look like everyone was just here for a party.

  That impression was not helped when Duane and Max returned with two coolers, three full cases of beer balanced on top of each one. “This was all the beer we could find,” Duane said.

  “How much beer do we need?” Adam asked. He remembered Cody saying on the phone that they would go out to sea and drink beer, but this seemed excessive, even if there were going to be more of them than he’d anticipated.

  “It’s fine,” Cody said in a placating tone. “I’ve got the rest on ice already. We’ve got enough to last us a while.”

  “Can I get one of those?” Krista spoke up from her lounger.

  “I thought she didn’t talk,” Adam said.

  “Who said she didn’t talk?” Duane said. “Of course she talks.”

  Now Krista sat up and propped her sunglasses on top of her head. “Hey. What’d you say your name was? Can you get me a beer?”

  “It’s Adam. And I don’t even know where the beer is. Did anybody pack drinking water?”

  Krista huffed disgustedly.

  “Of course we have water,” Cody said. “The downstairs bar is equipped with a distillation mechanism. I wasn’t going to forget about water.”

  “Well, how do I know?” Adam asked. “I didn’t know anything else about this voyage.”

  “What’s Andrew so salty about?” Krista asked.

  “It’s Adam.”

  “Are we about ready to go?” a voice called from overhead.

  Adam looked up. Three more figures had appeared on the balcony right above them.

  “Ah, the crew!” Cody said. “Wonderful! Guys, this is my captain, Artem Vesik. Used to work for Coronado Cruise Lines, captaining one of their ships. I was really lucky to get him. He’ll be our cruise director for this trip.”

  Vesik, who looked to Adam to be in his mid-fifties, didn’t seem to think much of Cody’s introduction. He scowled down. “This isn’t a pleasure cruise, son,” he said.

  Finally, Adam thought. Somebody actually gets it.

  Cody ignored the rebuke, turning his attention to the man next to Vesik. “And this is Ray Walker, the first officer, and a master chess player. He’s been teaching me. We’ll all have time to learn while we’re at sea, if anyone else is interested.”

  Walker smiled vaguely down at the passengers.

  “Last but not least, we have our chef, Sara Pritchard, straight from Bolero’s in Hollywood,” Cody said. “This woman makes the finest food you’ll ever eat in your life.”

  Adam thought of the cans of tuna in his duffel bag and wondered whether Sara Pritchard would be able to do anything with them. He certainly wished her the best if she wanted to try. Any planned prepared meal would be better than cold tuna eaten directly from the can.

  “If nobody minds,” Vesik growled, “I think we’ll get going now.”

  Cody nodded. “We’re all aboard. Take her out.”

  The captain and his first officer disappeared into a little room that Adam took to be the control center. Cody turned to Adam. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”

  “I have my own room?” he asked. He’d imagined a small cabin with a couple of bunks.

  Cody laughed. “Of course you do! All the rooms are up on three. Come on.”

  He led Adam inside and up a carpeted staircase, past the second-floor landing all the way to the top. There was a balcony here too, albeit a smaller one that featured only a couple of plush couches. Cody ignored these and led Adam down a short hallway with oak-paneled doors on either side.

  “This is you,” he said, pushing one of them open.

  The room was small—there was barely room for a twin bed and a bureau—but it was still beyond anything Adam had imagined. Looking past the bed, he could see a sliding door that opened onto a private balcony. Everything looked new and pristine.

  “Has this room ever been used before?” he asked Cody.

  “Nope,” Cody said. “You’re the first occupant. Go ahead and get unpacked, okay? I’m going to make sure everyone else is settling in okay.”

  Adam nodded. “Thanks, man,” he said sincerely, feeling a little ashamed of the way he’d passed judgment on Cody and his friends earlier. Who was he to complain? The world was coming apart, and he was going to be able to escape on this luxurious vessel. Who could ask for anything more, really?

  He unpacked his clothes, wishing now that he’d taken the time to bring a few comforts from home. At least he had the two paperbacks he’d stuffed into his backpack. It would be nice to relax in here and read them at night. He set them on his bedside table.

  Unpacking finished, he decided to head out and see what everyone else was doing. He made his way down the hall and to the stairs, stumbling slightly as he reached the second floor.

  “Careful, now.”

  It was the captain. He had spotted Adam from the open door of his control center. Adam made his way over.

  Vesik glanced back at him. “Don’t get seasick, do you?” he asked. “Looks like there’s a bit of chop today.”

  “I don’t think so,” Adam said. “I haven’t been at sea in a while.”

  “Well, if it gets to you, stick to the center of the vessel and keep your eyes on the horizon,” the captain advised.

  Adam nodded. “I’ll do that. Thanks, Mr. Vesik. I mean, Captain Vesik.”

  The old man chuckled. “You can call me Artem. This is a pretty boat, but I’ve captained real ships in my time. This isn’t any captain’s job. This is just a rich boy who doesn’t know how to drive.”

  Adam decided not to weigh in on that out of loyalty to Cody. Privately, though, he thought Artem had a pretty good point. “It’s a good boat, though, isn’t it?”

  “Sure, for a private citizen,” Artem agreed. “Did you see the solar panels
?”

  “No. What?”

  “Take a look next time you’re outside. Big black panels along the top, capable of generating enough energy to power the whole vessel. Means we can stay out at sea indefinitely if we want. Your friend does know what he’s doing in that regard, at least.”

  Adam nodded. “It was nice to meet you, sir.”

  “Sir.” The old man chuckled, but this time he didn’t protest. Adam thought he might possibly have won the captain’s respect—assuming he didn’t lose his lunch.

  He descended to the first deck. Krista had left her lounger and was in the hot tub with Duane and Max. As he watched, he was shocked to see her pass a joint across the water to Duane. Duane inhaled deeply, then tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

  Cody emerged from the double doors that led inside. “Who’s ready for a line?” he asked.

  Krista climbed out of the pool, grabbed her wrap from the lounger, and headed toward the doors.

  “In five,” Duane said. “We’re still finishing our joint.”

  Adam felt like he’d been punched all over again. “Do you have coke in there?” he asked Cody.

  “We’re in international waters,” Cody pointed out. “It’s not illegal.”

  “I really don’t think that’s how that works,” Adam said. “And even if it were…Jesus, Cody.”

  “What’s up, Nancy Reagan?” Max asked. “Do you have a problem?”

  Duane rolled his eyes. “Dude, if the guy doesn’t want a hit he doesn’t have to take one.”

  “But is he going to ruin our good time?”

  “Of course he won’t,” Cody said. “You won’t, Adam, will you?”

  “Are you serious with this?” Adam asked.

  “What’s your deal?” Krista asked. “Why are you being lame?”

  Adam knew the words that would make them back off. I’m an addict. But these were strangers. Even though it had been six years since he’d gone to rehab and gotten clean, he still wasn’t used to saying those words to himself. Saying them aloud was even harder, and saying them to people he didn’t even know and was already starting to dislike…