by Tim Moon
“Charlotte, do you think you could take a look at my leg?” Ty asked, limping to the Humvee. He leaned against the hood and looked at her.
“Sure. What did you do?” she asked.
“Cut it at the airport. When the…” Ty stared at the ground. “…alarm went off.”
“Lucky for you, I just stocked up. Sit down and I’ll take a look.” She went to retrieve her backpack.
Anuhea was already ripping open one of the boxes of MREs. She handed Oliver an MRE, which he tucked under his little arm and carried over to the wall. Ben walked over to get some water. He grabbed an armful of bottles and passed them out.
A few minutes later, Charlotte finished patching up Ty’s leg. She stood at the wall, washing her hands off with a bottle of water. Ben grabbed another bottle for her to drink and walked over to chat.
She smiled at him when he sat down on the wall beside her.
“Hawaii is so beautiful. Such a contrast to the infection,” Charlotte said. She looked over at Ben.
He nodded with a slight smile that never reached his eyes. She turned and glanced back at Ty, who sat on the ground next to the vehicle leaning back against it. Ben had seen the bandage she put on his leg, covering a long cut.
“Was it a bite?” Ben asked, watching her as she looked at Ty.
“No.” Charlotte shook her head. Her eyes met his and she smiled a little. “You two need to talk.”
Ben snorted, shaking his head. He didn’t want to deal with his friend’s failures just then. So, he looked out at the ocean. Having a brief rest was exactly what they needed to recharge after the day’s drama. He didn’t want to ruin that with an argument. They sat on the rock wall that ran around the perimeter of the viewpoint’s parking lot. Wave after wave of the Pacific Ocean pounded the rocky shoreline far below them.
Charlotte put her hand on his arm. “Don’t lose your best friend over this. No one knows how they’ll act in an emergency and not everyone can be brave.”
Ben clenched his jaw. She was right, but he was still too mad to acknowledge it. He felt that Ty owed everyone an apology for putting them all at risk not just once, but several times.
Charlotte looked over at Oliver. He was playing with the spoon from his MRE and rocks or something on the ground. “Are you doing okay, Olly?”
Oliver looked up, smiled at her, and kept playing, too engrossed in whatever fantasy was playing in his head.
“I guess we need a plan of some sort, huh?” Ben asked, mostly to himself. He sighed and stood up, dropping down off the wall into the parking lot.
Charlotte looked at him with curiosity and patted his back.
Ben left to get more water. He grabbed a few extras and did another round.
“Thanks,” Keanu said. He stopped stretching and began to gulp down the water.
Oliver smiled and tried to open his bottle.
“Need a hand?” Ben asked.
“Nope, I have two.” Oliver grunted and strained and finally the plastic lid began to turn. “See!”
“Good joke.” Ben rolled his eyes.
Anuhea tossed an MRE to Ben as he approached.
“Finally, some rest,” she said to Ben. “And a delicious meal.”
Ben laughed. “You did a great job at the QC.”
“Thanks.” She was sitting on the ground with the contents of her MRE spread out around her.
Keanu sat down near them, forming a small circle in the parking lot. “How did all of you guys meet?”
“Ty’s a friend of mine from college. We went to South Korea to teach English this past year and then we came here for a vacation,” Ben said.
“Together?”
“As friends.” Ben laughed.
“Sorry, man. You never know.” Keanu’s face turned red.
“No problem,” Ben said, still chuckling. “Charlotte is Anuhea’s friend, so that’s how we met and I grabbed Oliver at the triathlon in Kona.”
“Excuse me?” Keanu shot him a suspicious look. “You grabbed him?”
“Ah, sorry. He was about to be attacked by one of the infected and no one else was helping him.”
“No shit?”
“Yeah. He was lying in the road crying and people just ran past him,” Ben said, replaying the scene in his mind.
“You’ve got balls, brotha,” Keanu said, patting him on the shoulder. “Not many people can do something like that.”
“Thanks.” Ben felt shy about it. He wasn’t trying to be ballsy, he just couldn’t live with himself if he’d walked away. “I surprised myself.”
“Good thing, too, it would have been bad juju to turn your back on him.” With a grin, Keanu continued snacking on his MRE.
Ben leaned back on his hands. The air smelled fresh, clean, and slightly salty thanks to the ocean. He felt lucky and a profound sense of gratitude for the friends who helped him make it this far. So many people hadn’t.
Strange how things work out, he thought.
“What I wouldn’t give for a shower or a dip in the ocean right now,” Anuhea said. “We all look and smell like…”
“Death,” Keanu said.
They were quiet for a few minutes.
“Does anyone’s phone work?” Ben pulled his out to check for service, but it looked like it was completely out.
It didn’t work except when there were infected around, he thought bitterly. At that moment, his phone didn’t even have one measly bar. Not one.
Ben thought about his mom sitting at home, worried sick about him. He hated the thought. Hopefully, she could be strong, stay hopeful, and safe. He didn’t want her to leave the house. Surely, she had enough medication to last a few weeks.
Then he thought about his dad in Colorado and the strange text message he’d sent a few days ago that sounded rather ominous. Not to mention the messages in the parking lot that almost killed him. He wasn’t sure what it all meant and he still hadn’t told anyone that he had received any messages. A twinge of guilt struck him. What could he tell them about the messages? He rationalized it as a private family conversation.
“Nope. My battery’s dead,” Keanu said.
Anuhea shook her head. “My phone got lost at the triathlon.”
Something had happened to Ty’s phone too, although Ben wasn’t sure what. Charlotte’s broke or got wet? In any case, it looked like Keanu and Ben were the only ones with phones. With no service though, it didn’t really matter much. Ben wanted so desperately to call his mom. He was annoyed that the phone didn’t work even though he knew that was absurd. Who was going to work at a time like this?
Ben had to focus on the problems right in front of him or he’d spiral out of control, overwhelmed by the big challenges. Right now, they needed shelter, more water, and something better than old army food to eat. Especially Oliver, he was the most fragile among them because he was so young.
“Isn’t there a gas station nearby?” Ben asked.
“It’s further north, where you turn to head out to Mauna Kea. Why?” Anuhea asked.
“We should get juice and better food for the little guy,” he said.
Anuhea ate slowly while she inspected her weapon.
Ty still sat on the ground, leaning his head back against the Humvee.
Ben cleared his throat. “Hey, where do you two think we should go? It’s getting late and you two know the island best.”
Keanu looked up with a mouthful of crackers. Crumbs cascaded down his chin and stuck to his t-shirt.
“We could always head back to the hotel you guys had?” Anuhea said.
Ben gave her a look. “Come on.”
“Where are you guys trying to go?” Keanu asked, dusting his shirt off.
“Well, actually, I was wondering what you had planned for dealing with this…outbreak or whatever,” Ben said. He felt weird asking but with everything happening, it was important to know where everyone stood, especially since they didn’t really know the guy. Hell, the only person Ben really knew was Ty and he wasn’t even sur
e about that anymore.
“Yeah, that. My plan, I guess, was to wait at the Quarantine Center for my brother to show up. He lives near Hilo, but I haven’t heard from him for a while now,” Keanu said. “So, I think I need to check in on him. It’s unusual for him not to follow through like that.”
“I understand,” Ben said with a nod. “I’m sure he’s safe.”
“Thanks.” A flash of worry passed over Keanu’s face, but he put on a tough face. He cleared his throat, rubbed his face and looked toward the ocean. “Great view from here. You can almost forget what’s happening.”
“Almost,” Ben said, shifting his position on the ground. His butt was starting to fall asleep and the tingling sensation in his legs was painful.
They still had a few good hours of daylight before the sun started to set.
“I can’t speak for everyone else, but I want to get back home. I live in Washington State, although I doubt that’s happening any time soon,” Ben said, glancing at Keanu. “Unless you have ideas about how we can get off of this island?”
Keanu looked at him for a moment. “I suppose if Kona had a QC and an airport evacuation plan, they should have one at Hilo’s airport.”
“Do you think?” Anuhea asked, looking up from her rifle. “I figured they had consolidated their efforts and focused on just one airport. Since more people were in Kona for the triathlon, it’d make sense.”
“I don’t know, but it might be worth checking on,” he said, shrugging his big shoulders.
“How long would it take for us to get there?” Ben asked.
“If we cut across near Mauna Kea, I’d say less than two hours. That’s assuming the road is clear and we don’t run into big groups of those infected things,” Keanu said.
“If we left right now, it’d be getting dark by the time we got there. I doubt driving through Hilo will be easy,” Anuhea said.
“I don’t like the sound of that. It’d be better to find a place to hole up for the night over here and leave in the morning.” Ben nodded in agreement. “I think I know a place we can try.”
“Oh?” Anuhea raised an eyebrow at him.
“Do you mind if I stick with you guys until we get to Hilo?” Keanu asked.
“I’m cool with that,” Ben said. “We’re headed that way, so we can probably drop you off at your brother’s house. And if you two want to join us, I’m sure we can fit one more in the beast.” Ben patted the Humvee like a good dog.
“Sounds like a plan,” Anuhea said with a grin. “Tell us about this place you think we can try.”
Ben smiled.
Chapter Twenty
Vanessa dressed and returned to the kitchen. Steve was still washing dishes, obviously lost in thought and not in any rush at all.
“Do you mind if I sit in here?” she asked.
He glanced over his shoulder at her. Their eyes met for just a moment.
Vanessa thought he was handsome, not in a hot, sexy kind of way. More of the wholesome, take home to mom and dad type of guy. She couldn’t see this going anywhere, but she enjoyed his presence.
“Sure, no problem.” He turned back to the dishes.
“I’m going to make a few calls to check on our progress.”
Steve’s head shot up. His jaw dropped open.
“What? You still have your cell phone?” he asked.
“Yes, I have to call some of my people and figure out our next steps.”
“I thought you ditched it at the coffee shop.” He turned from the sink, walked over and leaned on the table, glaring at her. “You must be kidding me. You know they can trace where you are with that. Why didn’t you destroy it at the cafe or after we left? I thought you said you guys had great security?”
“It’s a burner phone. I’ll ditch it later. No one outside of EoT even knows that I have it,” Vanessa said defensively. She was caught off guard. He was right, she had told him about their security. However, she had meant their encrypted internet communications and computer security. His anger made her nervous and it began to dawn on her that he might be right.
“It doesn’t matter. They have ways of figuring these things out. Destroy the phone right now,” Steve said, scowling at her.
“Um…well…we don’t know if that was Black Tide chasing us in D.C. Maybe it was FBI?” Inside, she groaned at her lame excuse and immediately regretted saying it.
“As if that’s better? If anything, the FBI would probably be protecting the company. I told you they have government insiders helping them.” He ran a wet, soapy hand through his shaggy hair. “Christ! They could be on us any time now. This location isn’t secure anymore.”
“Whoa, calm down. We can go drive around and ditch the phone somewhere else. If we put it in someone else’s car, maybe they’ll follow it?” she suggested, realizing that she’d fucked up. Now it was just a matter of not losing Steve’s trust. He was her key to backing up the validity of the documents and the accusations against Black Tide. He would be the freakin’ star witness against those bastards. How had she been so stupid?
“They would still check the house just to be sure, or if they thought they could glean information from whoever might live here. You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” Steve said, pacing slowly around the kitchen. “You have to get rid of the phone now and we have to leave.”
“We just got here. We don’t even know if they’re tracking us. Aren’t they busy managing the mess they’ve made? Their apocalypse?” Vanessa couldn’t believe she was asking that. Is that what she thought this was? She bit her lip, unsure.
Either way, Steve had a point. They could have been tracked, although it was more likely they were tracking him, not her. No one should know about her. She’d only met Steve in-person today and they’d both spent most of the day on the run.
“Are you carrying a phone or anything?” she asked, looking at Steve suspiciously.
He stopped pacing. “I know better than to carry one when I’m spilling the secrets of a powerful military contractor.”
“Seriously, no one should even know about me.”
“Even if there’s slim chance that they know about you, it’s too risky!” Steve shouted. “Since you didn’t ditch the phone when we left, destroy it now, no joke…and let’s get the hell out of here before it’s too late.” He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I understand you have to keep in touch with your people, and I truly appreciate your help in all of this, but you have to find another way.”
Vanessa knew he had a point. There was no room for mistakes right now, the situation was too fragile and things could move sideways in a snap.
“Fine! I can pick up a new phone later.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Should we go?”
“Yes, we should go,” he snapped. He took a deep breath. “Sorry.”
Vanessa let it slide. She could understand the pressure he felt. Her mistake was a big one, a rookie mistake.
“Do you need anything before we leave?” Vanessa asked.
Steve walked over to the sink and turned off the faucet. “Ready.”
Vanessa was the only one with bags. She had her purse and laptop and Steve was empty handed, since turning over the USB flash drive with the stolen data. They turned all the lights off and peeked out of the window, watching for anyone outside that might be looking for them. It was getting dusky outside. Seeing that it was clear, they went out of the back door and walked around the side of the house to Vanessa’s car.
She wasn’t sure where they could go but probably any place was better than staying and getting caught.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Humvee rolled to a stop in the grocery store parking lot.
“So, this is your spot, eh?” Anuhea asked. She was surprisingly cheerful about it.
Ben laughed. “Yep, it’s time to stock up.”
“Sounds good to me,” Keanu said.
Ben opened the back door for Oliver and took his hand as he jumped out of the tall vehicle.
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“Can I look at the toys?” Oliver asked, eying the store greedily.
“Yes, you can. Pick anything you want, buddy. But first, when we get inside stay close okay,” Ben said. “We don’t know if it’s safe. There might be bad people.”
“We should grab baskets and go aisle by aisle. Hopefully the store hasn’t been cleared out yet,” Keanu said.
“Shouldn’t we split up to cover more ground?” Anuhea said.
“I think we should stick together. At least until we check for infected. We’re not in that big of a rush since we’re staying the night here and if something happens it’s easier to defend ourselves without having to worry about mistaking each other for an infected person.” Ben looked at Keanu to see if he agreed.
“Sounds good to me,” he said, before pointing a finger a Ben. “You’re the boss. I’m just along for the ride.”
Ben laughed. “I’m definitely not the boss.”
“If you say so.” Keanu picked up his M203 and opened the door. “Don’t slam the doors shut. Just leave them open for now.”
Anuhea handed Ben his rifle before she grabbed hers and climbed out. He double checked his pouches for ammo.
“Everyone good on ammo?” Ben asked, glancing at Anuhea and Keanu.
“I have four full mags,” Anuhea said.
Ben handed her another one, leaving him four plus the full one in his rifle. “Keanu?”
“I have three plus the grenades. Don’t worry about me.”
“Ty and Charlotte, you two are on cart pushing duty then? Oliver can ride in a cart. I’ll take the front and Keanu follow behind to watch our back? Then Anuhea can walk in between the carts watching our flanks,” said Ben. “Sound good?”
Anuhea nodded.
“I like it,” Keanu said. “You sure you’re not the boss?”
Ben chuckled.
“What about me?” Oliver asked.
“You can help me,” Charlotte said.
“Okay, I can guard you,” Oliver said.
Ben ruffled his hair. Oliver threw up his hands to defend himself.
“Wow, you’re so strong,” Ben said, smiling at him. “Okay, you stick with Charlotte.”
