by Newman, AJ
“Asshole or blunt? I’m maybe a tad too blunt at times. Have I ever been mean to you?”
“Well, no, but you talk so mean, and I think you enjoyed killing those men,” she said.
“I try to never be mean to anyone, but I don’t mind killing people who are trying to kill my friends or me. I’ll kill anyone trying to hurt you. I might not sleep well at night, but I can live with myself after ridding the Earth of these scumbags.”
Barbara turned and left Jon, but had a faint smile on her face.
☣☣☣
Fly Creek Marina - Fairhope, Alabama – July 2038
They walked less than a mile down Sea Cliff Drive and were at the marina in just a few minutes. Jon’s jaw dropped when there were only a few sailboats and rowboats to be seen. Depending on the season, there would be sixty to a hundred large sailboats and a half that many small sailboats, plus numerous powerboats. The end of the marina’s main building nearest them had burned. A couple of large sailboats had burned to the waterline, and several others only had their masts piercing the calm water.
They saw the main building across the creek but had to go across in a small boat. Jon rowed Jill and Bo across and then fetched Barbara. They went on to the main building where Jon said. “Be careful. I see a few bodies, some empty cartridges, and bullet holes all over the place. There was a hell of a fight here not long ago. Keep your guns ready. We need a boat, some food, and water. We can’t drink the water in the bay. I also need a compass if we want to cross the bay at night.”
They checked the marina restaurant and office but only found a few bags of chips and candy bars from an overturned candy machine. Jon searched the sales floor and found several items they could use, but no food or water. The place had been stripped clean. There were plenty of fishing, boating, and clothing items in the shop. John found a cheap handheld compass in a toy section for the kids. He had the girls help him stack some fishing rods and gear on the dock, along with some fresh clothing. Jill pitched a package full of toilet paper and feminine hygiene products on top of the pile.
Jon saw Jill pick up several new, unused gas cans and followed her to the back of the office between the restrooms. “What ya doing with the gas cans?”
Jill pointed to the big hot water heater resting on a platform about twenty inches off the floor. She filled all of the water cans from the faucet at the bottom. “I read a lot, and one of my survival books gave a list of where to find water. Hot water heaters are number one on the list,” Jill said when she saw the look on Jon’s face.
“Now we need some food. I think we eat the candy bars now and count on my parents to have food or catch some fish after we get to my folks home,” Jon said.
Barbara heard them and said, “I could eat a candy bar and some chips. I’m starving.”
Jon said, “Let’s take a break and eat. Bo, you can have some of my chips and candy.”
Jon broke a piece of a candy bar off for Bo, but Bo backed away and ran out of sight. “Damn, Bo must be a picky eater. Oh, well, more for me.”
Jon ate his candy bar while searching for a boat. He walked south of the main building along the walkway until he entered the covered docks for powerboats. Most of the slips were empty, and the others had damaged or burned boats. Jon thought the damage must have occurred when a flood of people rushed the marina to get out to the bay or open ocean, seeking shelter from the plague. There were many more rotting bodies over on this side of the marina, and that made Jon wary. He didn’t want to bring a contaminated boat back to Barbara after she had survived so far.
Jon almost gave up the search when he found an eighteen-foot Bass Tracker bass boat. It had been docked under a canvas cover, and apparently, no one bothered it during the chaos. The twenty-gallon gas tank was half-full, but Jon searched several of the damaged boats and found several with gas in their tanks. He siphoned gas into a gas can, transferred it to the bass boat, and then filled the five-gallon gas can for reserve.
Jon lifted the trolling motor and lowered its propeller into the water. He stepped on the foot control, and the boat moved. Now, having power, he tried the starter, and it turned the engine over. He stopped quickly to avoid making noise. He’d wait until they cleared the breakwater before starting the engine. He didn’t want to attract too much attention. Now, they needed to find a few more supplies and motor across the bay to Dauphin Island.
Barbara saw Jon slowly gliding their way and yelled for Jill to join her. When Jon arrived, she said, “As slow as that thing moves, it will take weeks to go across to the island.”
Jon pointed to the back of the boat. “It has a gas engine. I don’t want to make a bunch of noise until we begin our trip. I’m afraid the motor noise will make us sitting ducks for the ones who shot up the marina. I think we should leave as soon as we can gather some more food and water.”
Jill replied, “We have ten gallons of water, a sack full of chips and candy bars, and ten cans of soup. We also have ten gallons of extra gas for the engine. We’ve looked high and low, and there isn’t any food left here. This will feed us for four days. Let’s go.”
Jon looked puzzled. “Did you include Bo?”
“No, because he gets his own food. Look.”
Jon looked in the direction Jill pointed. Bo was chomping on a recently killed rabbit.
“Okay, ladies. Load your stuff up, and we’ll get this boat on the water. ”
Jon used the trolling motor to get past the rock piles making up the sides of the entrance to the harbor and then started the seventy-five horsepower Mercury engine. The boat surged forward and planed smoothly on the calm water. Fish flopped out of the water when they chased a minnow to the surface. The abrupt splash alarmed Jill, who’d never been out on open water. Jon steered southwest, knowing he would see land soon. He was trapped in a large body of water with only two relatively small outlets to the ocean between Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines and his current path under the bridge. He thought his course should have the boat arrive at the bridge from the mainland to the island. He wanted to go under the bridge and on through the channel to his parents’ home on the north end of the island.
Jon had the engine cracked wide open, but with three people and a large dog, the boat was only traveling at twenty miles per hour on the speedometer. Jon saw the swells increase in size as the wind picked up and had to throttle back, since the boat had started slamming into the waves and bouncing them around. The mist from hitting the waves also soaked everyone. After an hour and a half, Jon finally saw land ahead but no bridge. He knew he was still north of the bridge, so he took a hard left and steer due south. He stayed far enough away from the shore to discourage any potshots and to give them time to see someone leaving the coast to attack them.
He spotted the causeway and then the bridge a few minutes later. He could have cut across anywhere below the bridge, but played it safe and went through where the large ships passed. He didn’t want to run aground in areas where no one has traveled in months, and there hadn’t been any dredging. They were over a hundred yards from the bridge when there was a faint crack of gunfire and a splash in the water in front of the boat.
Jon yelled, “Hold on!”
Jon began steering right to left erratically as he doggedly kept steering to the underpass. At first, the person just tried to scare them off but began getting closer when they were a few hundred feet from the bridge. Jill saw movement behind the man with the rifle and tapped Jon on the shoulder while she began returning fire with her AR. She struck the concrete, and the man ducked. Jill saw other people with something in their hands.
“They’re going to drop something on us when we come out on the other side.”
Jon gave Jill his extra mags for his AR. “Blast their asses now before we go under.”
Jill aimed and pulled the trigger as fast as she could. The men disappeared. Jon cut the motor just before going under the bridge and then steered hard to the right as the boat settled in the water. The boat wasn’t visible to the men ab
ove.
Jon said, “I’m going to charge out and make a quick left turn. Be ready to shoot. I’ll make my turn after we’re past anything that could drop on us. Then I’ll make a right turn and head toward my parents’ home. Open fire and kill the bastards. Barbara, here’s my rifle. Aim and shoot as fast as you can. Here, the safety is off. Point and shoot.”
Barbara said, “I’ve been shooting all my life. I can handle a deer rifle and can handle this rifle.”
“Good, our lives are in your hands. On the count of three. One … two … three!”
The throttle was twisted on three, and the boat rocketed out from under the bridge while both ARs barked their death at the men above. Jon steered left just as rocks sprinkled the water where they would have been. One man fell off the bridge, and the others were out of sight as Jill shot at the bridge beside their last location to remind them to stay hidden. None of them heard the two bullets strike the boat. One hit between Jill and Jon and passed through the thin aluminum to the water below. The other hit the rear deck behind Barbara and pierced the aluminum gas tank before passing through the bottom of the boat. Had the tank been steel, there would have been a fire or explosion. They were lucky.
Jon pointed at a strip of land jutting out into the bay. “That’s Dauphin Island Airport. My parents’ home is a mile past the airport. I hope they’re okay.”
Barbara tapped Jill on the shoulder instead of trying to yell over the engine noise. “I smell gasoline. I think a bullet hit the gas tank.”
They all noticed the floor had water lapping at their shoes. Jon switched places with Jill and pointed to the direction she should steer until he came back. He crawled between Jill and Barbara to the back of the boat and ran his hands along the bottom edge until he found the drain plug. It had a latch, and he lifted it until he could wiggle the plug from its hole. He returned and placed the drain plug in the cup holder when he changed places with Barbara.
Barbara looked worried, “Won’t the boat sink without the plug?”
“No, the water rushing by will draw the water out of the boat as long as it is moving at a good pace. When we get ready to stop, I’ll run it up on the beach and try to replace the plug. This boat is probably toast, but we’ll keep it around as a spare.”
Jon steered the boat closer to land when he saw his parent’s dock and boathouse. There was a crude sign painted in red on the tan wall. Jon - danger -go away - took boat to fav. place. Dad.
Chapter 23
Dauphin Island – August 2038
The sun had beaten down on them all day, but the moving boat and spray from the hull bouncing made life bearable. The minute they stopped, all of them began sweating profusely. It must have been in the high nineties, and their clothes were soon wringing wet. This didn’t help them stay calm when they realized Jon’s folks had fled to a safer place.
“Jon, what the hell does that mean? We’ve pinned our hopes on finding a sanctuary on this island, and your family has shagged ass away from here.”
Jon raised his hands. “Stop! We have to find a way out of here quickly. Everybody on this side of the island just heard us approach, not to mention those assholes on the bridge. Jill, take Barbara, go into my dad’s home to the master bedroom, and lift the mattress and box spring. There’s a latch under the right corner by the footboard. Start hauling any supplies you can find down there. Quickly!”
Jon looked in the boathouse and grabbed a hammer. Jill stated, “Barbara is too weak. I’ll go myself. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to steal a fast boat. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
Jill caught him and pulled him close. “Try to avoid dying. We’re getting used to your sarcasm.”
He left and looked over his shoulder. “I’ve got my AR and pistol. I’m coming back with a boat. Please watch Bo.”
Jon knew he didn’t have much time, so he ran down the beach to the Van Der Grath’s boathouse. They had an ocean going cigarette boat, a runabout, and a small sailboat. He knew they never came down in the hot summers and wouldn’t need their boat again. He pried the lock off the boathouse and found the small yacht high and dry on the floating dock. He turned the valves to let the water into the floats and boarded the big boat.
He looked for a memory card slot, but couldn’t find one. The boat was made before AI had been developed for boats. “Damn, where are the keys? They have to be here, or people would have had to run back to the house to get the keys.”
He looked around the boathouse and saw an electrical panel. He opened it, and as he expected, it was a fake and held the keys. He found the key with a logo that matched the boat and then saw the large diesel tank in the corner. He rolled the fuel hose out to the back of the boat and started filling the tanks. He thanked God the tank was gravity fed. The tanks were almost full when he saw a shadow move. His pistol was on the side away from the person who’d snuck up on him. He slowly drew his gun as he swung the fuel nozzle away from the tank to distract the person behind him. Jon was about to turn and fire when the shadow moved to the opposite wall and clearly showed a rifle in a person’s hands.
He kept his pistol down and said, “I know you’re behind me. Why do you have a gun pointed at me?”
A woman’s voice broke the silence. “Because you’re stealing that boat.”
Jon laughed. “And why do you care? It’s not yours. We need it to get the heck away from this place. You’ll have to use that gun to stop me.”
Jon turned to face a woman he’d known for over ten years. “Becky, what the hell happened here? Have you seen Dad’s sign?”
She lowered the shotgun and pleaded, “Jon, you need to go now. Some bad men from Mobile took over the island when the virus first hit Mobile. We had roadblocks, but our pistols and shotguns were no match for them. They had those military-looking rifles like you have and mowed our guards down like bowling pins.”
“Becky, we have room for you. Where’s George, Billy, and Joan.”
The bastards killed George and Billy a week after they took over. They took …they …have Joan,” she sobbed.
She went on to say, “… Most of the young women and girls are locked up in the school. You know what they’re doing to them. I can’t leave Joan. I keep one step ahead of them and hide out in boathouses and the dunes.”
Jon replied, “You know they’ll eventually find you.”
“I don’t care. Go now before they find you and your friends.”
Jon heard movement behind him. Jill said, “Yes, come on with us. Sorry, but I was listening.”
“No, you need to leave now. I heard you motoring across the bay, and the thugs probably heard the noise. The only reason they haven’t swarmed you is one of their patrol boats comes through about this time of day. Look out for the boat and go now if it’s clear. Bye,” Becky said and disappeared out the door.
“Jon, there aren’t any boats in sight. We need to haul ass away from here.”
Jon holstered his pistol, looked at the bright orange boat, and then said, “Ladies, start loading. The train is leaving the station in ten minutes.”
They ran back to their boat and collected their belongings and supplies. Jon helped Bo into the craft and wondered how the animal would do on the open sea. They pitched the supplies into the large powerboat. At the last minute, Jon grabbed some fishing rods and a tackle box from the wall. He stowed them in the floor locker and boarded the boat. He turned the key. The engines were loud and smoked a bit but revved up. Jon carefully backed out of the boathouse and steered west. He pushed the throttle to half speed, and the boat leaped out of the water and planed off quickly. He shoved the throttle to the three-quarter position and saw the tachometer was still in the safe zone. They were flying across the water at about seventy miles per hour and a half-mile from Dauphin Island.
Barbara yelled, “Look behind us!”
Another large powerboat had taken off from the middle of the island, but Jon shoved the throttle down to top speed and left them behind. It on
ly took a few minutes to pass between Dauphin and Petit Bois Islands. Jon steered southeast and throttled back to normal cruising speed. The Gulf was calm, the boat cut through the water, and the twin engines roared.
Barbara shouted, “Where are we going now? Unless I’m sadly mistaken, we’re heading east. My parents and Jill’s folks are west of Mobile. What gives?”
Jon said, “We know my folks survived and took Dad’s boat. His favorite places other than the island are Key West and the Dry Tortugas National Park. I can turn around and drop you two off west of Mobile, but I’m going to find my folks. If you go with me, I can’t promise you’ll ever find your folks.”
Jill held back the tears. “I have to admit to myself the chance of my parents being alive is very low. I’m sticking with you. Someone has to watch your back.”
Barbara choked up. “I’m going with you. I think my parents are alive, but traveling from Gulfport to McComb, Mississippi, is about a hundred and fifty miles by car. I’ll go with you for now and wait out the virus to kill off all it’s going to, and then try to get back home.”
Jon said, “We’re only sixty miles from Gulfport, but the distance is growing. I can drop you off, but I think it would be a major and deadly mistake.”
“I’m staying with you and Jill. I have to remember I’m still weak and need some more of your high octane blood,” Barbara said.
Jon wondered if he could talk his dad into flying the girls to their homes. His dad had been a stealth aircraft pilot back in the first war in Europe. He flew spotter planes, painting targets with a high powered laser beam. The bombers would release their bombs fifty miles away, and the missiles flew to the targets he designated. This significantly reduced the risk for the pilots and the loss of very expensive aircraft. His dad hadn’t flown in many years, but he thought, Dad would love to get back up in the air. He always wanted a plane but never could justify the expense. Now there are abandoned planes in every city.
