Patriots Unleashed

by Robert Boren

  “Oh shit, what was that?” Lita cried. They saw one of the yachts burning by the opening of the harbor, debris still falling from the air, Brendan and Juan Carlos laying on top of Hannah and Madison in the patrol boat as it slammed back and forth in the slip.

  “Holy crap,” Richardson said. The other yacht blew up a second later, starting fire to the surrounding part of the dock, the blast shattering windows on the outside end of the harbor.

  “My God,” Lita said, looking out. Then explosions began near the opening of the u-shaped dock, heading their direction on both sides.

  “Run!” Richardson said, pushing her towards the door. “Jump into the water!”

  They flew down the stairs as the explosions approached them, hitting the dock and jumping into the water.

  Brendan and Juan Carlos were trying to get the patrol boat untied, but it was moving too much in the water as the explosions approached.

  “Jump!” Brendan shouted, grabbing hold of Hannah’s arm and pulling her towards the stern of the boat, Juan Carlos and Madison right behind them, all leaping into the water as the explosions got to their slip. They dog-paddled over to Lita and Richardson.

  “What the hell?” Madison asked, treading water.

  “They set these off remotely, as soon as they realized their people were dead,” Juan Carlos said.

  The explosions continued to go off around them, the smoke choking them even at water level.

  “We’re gonna die!” Madison shouted.

  “No we’re not,” Lita said. “We’d better paddle out further in the middle, and be ready to dunk.

  They paddled out as the final parts of the dock exploded. It seemed to take minutes for the pieces to finally fall out of the sky, the group dunking when pieces rained around them. When the explosions quit, the fire remained.

  “Crap, we can’t get out of the water,” Hannah shouted.

  “There’s some stuff that floats over there,” Brendan said. “Let’s swim for it.”

  “Yeah, dude,” Juan Carlos said. They paddled to the debris and climbed onto it as best they could, the water still roiling from the explosions and the falling debris.

  “Dammit,” Richardson said. “Both patrol boats are toast, and both yachts.”

  “And your phone with the apps on it,” Lita said.

  “Oh, no,” Madison said, eyes darting around. “What do we do?”

  “Find a way to get to the sand without getting burned to death,” Richardson said. “After that, we’ll have to play it by ear. We’ve got no phone to call anybody.”

  “Wallis will figure out what happened in a hurry,” Brendan said. “They’ll send somebody. Trust me.”

  “I can feel the heat from the fires,” Madison said. “Are we gonna live through this?”

  “Yes,” Juan Carlos said with resolve.

  “Look,” Lita said, “over by where the launching sling was. It’s not burning right there, and I think we can climb out if we’re careful.”

  “I think you’re right, but if the fire starts moving in that direction we’d better get out fast,” Brendan said. “We could get caught in there, and the wind is moving the flames a lot.”

  “What are you holding onto?” Lita asked, looking at Richardson. He held up the tape recorder. “Are you kidding?”

  He nodded, then took out the cassette and slipped it into his pocket, tossing the recorder. “We’ll find something else to play this on, after we get it dried out.”

  “If we survive,” Madison said.

  “Stop that, we’ll survive,” Lita barked. “C’mon.”

  They paddled towards the spot, which was still free of flames, pulling themselves up onto the wreckage of the dock, then up the ladder imbedded into the cement wall of the harbor, where the boat sling was mounted. Richardson made it to the top first, and looked out over the destruction. Then he pulled Lita up onto the surface, moving back to make room for the others to get up.

  “This is insane,” Brendan said, his eyes scanning the area. “They were going to wait until we had a couple hundred DPS folks here and a whole lot of boats, weren’t they?”

  “That was their plan, I’m sure,” Richardson said. “I wonder where they planted the explosives? You didn’t see anything in the yacht that looked suspicious?”

  “No,” Brendan said. “We only worked in the engine compartment and under the back deck, though. That was a big boat, and plastic explosive packs a good punch for its size.”

  “But what about the docks and the buildings?” Hannah asked.

  “They probably had divers setting this stuff up under the structure,” Juan Carlos said. “Wouldn’t be that difficult.”

  “We’d better start walking,” Richardson said. “We need to find some water, and I need to find a bag of rice.”

  “Bag of rice?” Lita asked.

  “Yeah, to stick my phone into. It’ll draw away the moisture if we’re lucky.”

  “I’ve heard that’s bullshit, dude,” Juan Carlos said.

  “Worth a try,” Richardson said.

  “We should go to the docks where my parent’s place was,” Lita said. “We can probably find some water, and maybe even the rice there. It got bombed out, but I can see some of the structure still there. Look.” She pointed to the north, ahead several blocks.

  “Who’s got guns?” Richardson asked.

  “I’ve got my pistol,” Juan Carlos said.

  “Me too,” Brendan said.

  “Where’s yours, honey?” Lita asked.

  “I set it down on the desk in the Harbor Master’s office before the explosions started. Didn’t think to grab it.”

  “We’re in trouble,” Madison said. “They’re going to send enemy fighters in here to clean up. They’ll find us.”

  “No they won’t, if we’re careful,” Lita said. “Snap out of it. We’ve got to be sharp.”

  Madison looked at her, then at Juan Carlos, who pulled her close. “It’s okay, honey. We’re all scared, but we’ve survived worse than this. We’ll make it.”

  “We’d best get moving,” Lita said. “It’s gonna be dark in a couple of hours.”

  “Yeah, we need to at least find water, in case it takes a few days to rescue us.”

  “Maybe we can find a boat in one of the marinas up there,” Brendan said. “It only has to be good enough to get us back to the mainland. Then we can walk out of here.”

  They made their way towards the grid of streets, with housing bombed out and debris laying around everywhere.

  “Good, this is Padre Boulevard,” Lita said. “We can follow this.”

  “There’s what’s left of the bridge,” Hannah said. “Wish it was still up.”

  “Yeah, seriously,” Brendan said as they walked past, seeing broken parts of the bridge extending out into the water.

  “This was such a beautiful place,” Hannah said.

  “Yes, it was,” Richardson said.

  “Look at the yacht club,” Lita said. “Looks like it took a pretty bad beating.”

  “The enemy wanted to make this place un-inhabitable,” Richardson said. “That’s pretty obvious.” He stopped in his tracks.

  “What?” Lita asked, stopping next to him.

  “They must have planned this for a while,” Richardson said. “That marina we were in was the only place around still standing, and it was in very good shape.”

  “Maybe they planned on using it originally,” Juan Carlos said.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Richardson said. “Hell, who knows? It doesn’t matter now. They tried to kill whoever was there, and they failed. Let’s not forget that.”

  “We’re not out of the woods yet,” Madison said. “I need to rest a minute. My foot is killing me.”

  “From the old injury?” Juan Carlos asked.

  “Yeah,” she said, kicking debris off the curb and sitting down. She pulled her shoe off. “It’s basically healed now, but it gets sore quicker than my other foot. These shoes don’t help.”

  “T
he visitor’s center took a direct hit,” Lita said, pointing to a ruined structure on the other side of the road. “What a mess.”

  “Wasn’t that building across the street a restaurant?” Hannah asked.

  “It was,” Madison said. “It’s still standing. I’ll bet there’s some stuff there we can use.”

  They walked past the intersection and got onto the parking lot of the restaurant, heading for the doors, which were blown open. Broken glass covered much of the sidewalk in front of the structure.

  “This was an Italian place,” Madison said. “We might score some water, but I’ll be surprised if there’s any rice here.”

  “Yeah,” Lita said. “Won’t hurt to check, though.”

  They entered the building, which was a mess. Tables toppled over, trash all over the floor and counters, and a broken salt water fish tank off to one side, dead fish and gravel sitting on the floor in front of it.

  “The kitchen should be through those doors,” Lita said. They walked to them and Lita pushed on one. It wouldn’t budge.

  “Something fell in front of it,” Richardson said. “Wonder if there’s another door.”

  “Probably outside,” Lita said.

  Brendan looked at Juan Carlos, and they walked into the dining area, picking up a couple of stools. They came back and started hammering on the door with them. They moved slightly, and a horrible smell hit them in the face.

  “Shit, there’s bodies in there,” Hannah said.

  “You’re probably right,” Richardson said. “Look, there’s another door over there. I’ll bet it leads in there too.”

  They rushed over to it and pulled the handle. A metal shelving unit fell at them.

  “Watch it!” Juan Carlos said, grabbing the steel frame, Brendan rushing to help. They pulled it out of the door and climbed through, over debris.

  “There’s the bodies,” Lita said, pointing.

  “They were lined up and shot,” Richardson said, “The enemy landed here and killed the survivors after the raid.”

  “My God, if we’d tried to stay in Port Isabell, we’d probably be dead right now,” Hannah said.

  “Seriously,” Madison said, looking around. “There’s the pantry over there. See all the shelving just inside that door, and the cardboard boxes?”

  They walked in that direction, stepping around garbage on the floor.

  “Bingo,” Richardson said, rushing to a box on one of the shelves. “Water. San Pellegrino. Only the best for us.”

  Juan Carlos snickered. “There are probably water taps that still work.”

  “Don’t drink tap water here,” Richardson said. “Ten to one it’s contaminated.”

  “Yeah, he’s right,” Lita said. Richardson handed bottles of water to everyone, and they drank quickly.

  “How did I get so thirsty so fast?” Madison asked.

  “Yeah, that’s weird,” Juan Carlos said.

  “Look for rice,” Richardson said. They began searching through the boxes.

  “There’s some cans of food here that we can eat in a pinch,” Lita said. “Let’s start setting the stuff that we can eat off to the side, okay?”

  “Most of this stuff needs to be cooked,” Hannah said.

  “Found some bread, but it’s all moldy,” Brendan said.

  “I’m surprised it’s even still able to sustain mold,” Lita said. “It’s been a while since this place was attacked. That’s probably the only reason we can be in here without masks. Those bodies smelled worse a month ago – I guarantee you that.”

  “Bingo,” Richardson said, pulling a sack of rice out of a box. “Now we need a plastic bag or something.”

  “Right there,” Madison said, pointing to a box of zip lock bags sitting on the stainless-steel counter.

  “Perfect,” Richardson said. He took out a bag, opened it, and scooped in several cups of rice, then pulled the phone from his pocket and stuck it in the middle.

  “Is that really going to work?” Hannah asked.

  “Long shot,” Richardson said.

  “How are we gonna be seen by a rescue squad?” Lita asked. “If they’re at the harbor right now, they might just figure we bought it.”

  “Yeah, I was just thinking that, dude,” Juan Carlos said. “We need to get a message out somehow.”

  “Yeah, and not in a way that attracts folks we don’t want,” Madison said.

  “Look at those backpacks, hanging on the wall over there,” Hannah said.

  “Probably belonged to the employees,” Lita said. “A lot of people who worked at these places rode their bikes here.”

  “Let’s check them out, and take water and food with us,” Richardson said.

  They started to go through the backpacks. Some had rotted lunches in them. Some had bottles of water. A couple had sealed granola bars and other sealed snack foods. They loaded them up, then left the kitchen, headed back to the street.

  “Geez, look how low the sun is now,” Madison said. “It’s getting close to dusk.”

  “I know,” Hannah said. “Where to next?”

  “I say we keep checking the marinas as we go north,” Richardson said. “Even a frigging row boat would get us across the channel along here.”

  “Maybe we could just swim it,” Hannah said.

  “No,” Lita said. “It’s further than it looks. We’ll drown, especially if we’re weighted down.”

  “She’s right,” Richardson said. They continued walking for several long blocks, the heavy backpacks straining their shoulders, the wind whipping at them, sand blowing every so often.

  “This is a no-man’s land,” Brendan said. “The Texas authorities haven’t been here since the attack. That’s pretty obvious.”

  “We’re a little light on resources,” Richardson said. “Hell, most of the DPS Patrol squad is gone. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah, great time to get management gigs,” Brendan said. “After most of the people to command are gone.”

  “Dude, that’s nasty,” Juan Carlos said.

  “I know, sorry,” Brendan said, “but it’s the truth.”

  “Don’t look at it that way,” Richardson said. “Hell, it might be up to us to jump-start the organization again. Not a bad gig.”

  “Maybe they’ll just forget it,” Madison said.

  “No they won’t,” Richardson said, his voice on the verge of anger. Juan Carlos shot him a glance, and Richardson shrugged. “Sorry.”

  “We’re all tired,” Hannah said. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about the state of DPS right now.”

  “Hey, there’s Palm Street,” Lita said. “Let’s take that to Laguna. That’s where the places with boat slips are. Maybe we’ll find something.”

  “The damage isn’t as bad as we go north,” Brendan said. “Maybe we can find a structure sound enough to spend the night in.”

  “Yeah, good idea,” Richardson said. “Just be careful. Don’t take chances jumping around or rushing into anything, okay?”

  “Look, right there,” Juan Carlos said. “Jet ski rental joint. See it?”

  “Holy shit,” Brendan said. “Now we’re talking.”

  They climbed through the broken windows at the front of the rental shop. There was trash everywhere, just like they saw in the restaurant. Juan Carlos rushed to the back windows and looked outside. “No jet skis out there,” he said, sounding disappointed.

  “There’s some in the shop back here,” Brendan shouted from behind the counter. “Shit. Somebody disabled these on purpose.”

  “What do you mean?” Richardson asked, going back there with Lita and Hanna.

  “Look, they took a hammer to this power head,” Brendan said. “This was done by the enemy fighters who mopped up after the attack.”

  “What’s through that door?” Hannah asked, pointing.

  “Says parts room,” Brendan said, walking over to it. He turned the door handle. “Locked.”

  Richardson walked over. “That’s a lousy door. Try to kick it
in.”

  Brendan nodded, and kicked the door hard just under the door knob. It broke open, a nasty smell flooding out at them.

  “Oh, God,” Hannah said, backing away, covering her mouth.

  “Beheaded bodies,” Brendan said, moving away. “This must have been hell. I’d rather have died in the bombing.”

  “What did you guys find?” Madison asked, coming over with Juan Carlos.

  “Death,” Richardson said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  They left the building and continued down the street.

  “This place had docks,” Brendan said, pointing to a building on the corner of Sheeps-Head Street.

  “Let’s check it out,” Richardson said. They walked down the road towards the back of the buildings.

  “This was a hotel or something, right?” Hannah asked.

  “I think so,” Lita said. “Look at the slips.”

  “Dammit,” Richardson said, rushing down there. Boats were tied to cleats, but submerged. “Assholes pulled the bilge plugs and walked away.”

  “Maybe we can salvage one,” Brendan said.

  “The engines are underwater, dude,” Juan Carlos said. “These aren’t suitable to paddle, either. Where are all the rowboats, or small sailboats?”

  “Good question,” Richardson said. “Let’s keep going. Maybe we’ll find something.”

  They got back on Laguna and walked another block.

  “The amusement park got pretty messed up,” Madison said, pointing to the right.

  “Yeah, why’d they bother to do that?” Lita asked. “Oh, God, are those bodies hanging over there? From that ride?”

  “Let’s go this way,” Richardson said. “There were slips back here. Lots of them.”

  “We won’t find anything,” Hannah said. “Other than ruined boats and bodies. Maybe we shouldn’t be so far away from the base. We might get rescued.”

  “Yeah, but by who?” Juan Carlos said.

  “Dammit, I wish we still had the apps,” Richardson said.

  “Listen?” Madison whispered. “Helicopter.”

  “I hear it,” Juan Carlos said, eyes lighting up. “Let’s get to the roof and check it out.”

  “Stay out of sight until we can see it,” Richardson said. They rushed into the building they were next to, running up the stairs, around debris and more bodies.