Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  “Frank come here and look at this.”

  Ellen had wandered to some trees on the outside of the fence. As he got closer he could see the remnants of a burned structure. The surrounding trees were singed and brown on the side closest to the building.

  Ellen wandered through the burned out shell. She stopped and lifted up a board. She picked up what looked like a half melted doll. She studied it for a few seconds and let it slide from her fingers. After a minute she walked back to him.

  “Let’s get out of here. We need to get home.” She walked off without waiting for him to answer.

  He followed. He thought he knew the story here and it was no different from anything they had seen so far. People had either gotten sick and died or they had been murdered and their home burned either to hide the crime or destroy the evidence. Same story different place and time. He only hoped they hadn’t set their sights on something that wasn’t there anymore.

  “Gather around everyone!” Frank hollered. He looked at Ellen to see if she wanted to tell them what they had discussed during their walk. She shook her head. Obviously still bothered by her discovery in the house.

  We’re going to take only the three quads we came here on. I think it works better from a safety standpoint.”

  Ellen did interrupt, “Wouldn’t it be better to have one person on the last quad? One of us could travel out front in case we had a problem?”

  Frank considered her point. It was something he hadn’t thought of and it would get all of the quads back to the people in town and away from anyone who came looking for the them. Or, they could be giving the men from Neah Bay reason to go looking for them in Port Angeles. If Blaine was telling the truth about one of the men they’d killed being the younger brother of the lead man in Neah Bay, they could be setting the remaining townspeople up for an attack.

  “Wow, I’m not sure which is the right thing to do here. I for one don’t want to have to walk back and I don’t think it would be good for Hannah or the girls. Or for Mom either for that matter.”

  “I’m fine Robbie. I can walk or ride it makes no difference to me.” She had Dana on one side and Olivia on the other. Both of the girls looked at the four-wheelers and while they didn’t say anything, they could tell they would choose to ride.

  “Have any of you girls driven one of these before?” Hannah shook her head no while Maggie nodded yes.

  Ellen snorted through her nose, “I grew up riding these things. It’s the only way we got around the farm once Uncle Jerry bought the first one.”

  “Okay then. You ride alone and Alan can take Hannah. Maggie you can ride with me and Rob and Dana on the last one.”

  “What about me?” Olivia asked. “Don’t I get to ride too?”

  Frank in direct contrast to his tough personality held his hands flat in front of his face, his eyes wide open peeking over top of his fingertips. “Oh my gosh! How could I forget about Miss Olivia? You’re so quiet I almost forgot you were here. You’re like a little mouse you’re so quiet.”

  Olivia dropped her head and mumbled, “My other Nana called me her little mouse.”

  “Well how about you ride up here between me and Maggie?”

  She looked at where Alan and Hannah had gotten on their quad and realized that Hannah was taking up a big share of the seat. And with the bag of guns they had collected from the bad men tied to the cargo rack, there wouldn’t be much room for her. She ran and Frank helped her climb up between him and Maggie.

  “Come on up here little mouse.” He said as he lifted her. Olivia giggled and grinned at Dana. Dana grinned back at her. They had already decided they would not like to walk all the way back to the boat. To them it seemed like they had walked for hours to get where they were.

  Ellen climbed on the smallest quad and they started them. Alan and Rob had emptied the gas jugs the guys had tied on the cargo racks into each of them filling the tanks.

  Ellen revved hers up and climbed the berm back onto the road and sped off in front of them. She had the AR-15 sitting across her handle bars just in case.

  An hour later they rode down the hill to the marina. They hadn’t seen anyone and no one had come out to greet them as they rode up to the restaurant. Lined up in a row, they climbed off.

  Frank stood and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hello?” he called. He went to the window, but with the black paint on the inside he couldn’t see in. He rapped on the glass door. “Matt? It’s me Frank. From the sailboat.”

  Frank heard when someone fiddled with the door lock and stepped back. He wanted to seem unthreatening just in case it wasn’t Matt who opened the door.

  “I didn’t expect to see you again.” He looked past Frank to where the others stood. His eyes rounded in surprise, “I sure didn’t expect to see you for sure. Come on in.” He stepped aside and over his shoulder he hollered, “Gail, put that kettle back on and get out some of those oatmeal cookies you ladies baked. We’ve got company.”

  Frank stopped him, “We won’t be here long enough. We just wanted to let you know what we found out about Neah Bay and the people out there.”

  “Nonsense, those girls can have their tea and cookies while you talk.”

  Olivia and Dana looked between Matt and Frank. They saw when he changed his mind about leaving that instant. They crowded through the door and disappeared inside.

  Matt, Frank and Ellen sat apart from the others. They explained what they thought had happened out at Neah Bay and what they had learned about the people or at least the little Blaine had told them. They told him about the burned house and the farm they’d stayed at and how there were some cows and a horse in the back pasture.

  “Whatever you do with this information is up to you but I would be bringing the livestock somewhere closer to town. There’s an old Massey Ferguson tractor that with a little tinkering would probably run.”

  Ellen warned him that they could be getting a visit from the men out at Neah Bay. She and Frank had already decided to give them the extra guns they had taken off of the men out on the road and the extra ammunition that went to them. They had thought to save them for trading but decided with the hornet’s nest they may have stirred up the townspeople could probably use them. Frank untied the bag from the back of Alan’s quad and set it on the ground.

  Matt was dubious about accepting the firearms until Frank assured him he would give anyone who wanted to learn to use them, a short lesson and show them how to care for them.

  An hour later they were on their way back to the Annie-C. Someone had left a hard-bottomed dinghy upside down on the dock. A two-stroke Mercury lay on its side beside it.

  Frank looked at Matt, “It runs?”

  Matt chuckled, “Yup! It does at that. Those old two-strokes are going to be the norm around here and thank God we are behind times here. We have several and one of the other old guys is a small motor mechanic.”

  Rob and Alan slid the dinghy into the water. Rob handed the motor down and Alan set it on the transom and tightened the wing nuts securing it.

  Alan gripped the starting cord and pulled. Rob had both of his hands out with his fingers crossed. He gave Alan a thumbs up when the motor caught, revving fast. Alan turned the handle control and the motor settled into a nice even rumble. Rob untied him and Alan put it in gear and motored to the back of the boat.

  Rob had jumped aboard and stood staring at the stern. “Well crap!” he said and pointed. “We don’t have davits!” He yelled at Frank and Ellen.

  “Tie it on. Let it trail by ten or fifteen feet. Make sure to use two separate lines to tie it with in case one breaks.” Ellen hollered back.

  Ellen jumped aboard. She thought they were forgetting what they had originally come for when she noticed there were two extra fuel jugs tied beside theirs. She reached over and jiggled them. They were all full. She looked up to where Matt and Frank were standing on the dock.

  “You filled them?” She asked Matt.

  “That we did. Thought you might need
it before you get home.”

  She grinned. He was a good person and she hoped that someday they would meet again. “Thank you!” she hollered.

  He smiled and continued listening to Frank. Frank was pointing and talking. Matt would nod and say something, but Ellen couldn’t hear them. Finally, Frank climbed aboard.

  The girls had gone down the ladder and they could hear Holly howling in joy at seeing her people back. The girls were both laughing and crying happy to see that Holly had survived her night alone.

  Frank stepped to the back while Alan and Rob turned the Annie-C loose from the dock and pushed her away.

  Matt stood alone and waved them off. Ellen stared after them waving at Matt.

  “I wish…”

  “Don’t even think that! We have no more room.” Frank admonished. “This isn’t the ark. Maybe next time you’ll have a bigger boat.”

  “Maybe I will at that.” She said and walked to the bow. She sat and watched the water run by her hanging feet. She felt like they were leaving good people behind and she did wish she could have taken them all. She wished she had told Matt where they were located in case they ever needed a place to go. Ellen sighed deeply and sniffed. She wasn’t going to cry. She wiped her eyes after a time and climbed to her feet. She checked the lines she’d put up to support the mast and walked back to the cockpit.

  “I really feel bad leaving those guys to clean up what might be our mess.”

  “Well if it’s any consolation to you I told Matt where we were heading and he’s going to try to gather his people in closer. They’re going out to bring in the livestock and the tractor. He said if things get too bad, we may see them someday. They have a guy with a ham who lives over toward Sequim. He’s going to start broadcasting in a week or so. We’ll listen for them. I gave him the same information that Chuck gave us for times and channels. Maybe we’ll find them on our doorstep someday or maybe they’ll find a way to survive here.”

  “I guess time will tell. But I still feel like we created something that they’ll have to deal with eventually.”

  “How far to Blaine from here?” Rob asked. “Are we going straight in or stopping for the night somewhere else?”

  Alan was sitting and paging through Ellen’s book on the Puget Sound. “It doesn’t look that far. Maybe 60 miles.” He looked to Ellen for confirmation.

  “You guys have to remember I have been gone from here for years and all the sailing I did was with other people up here. Ask me about Florida and I can tell you, but here I’m as dependent on a guide as much the next guy. I do remember a few nights anchored in a bay in the curve of Sucia Island. It was about 20 miles from Bellingham but we’re going farther north than that.”

  “Here’s Sucia!” Alan said his finger tapping on a book page. They all leaned in to see where he was talking about.

  Ellen looked at Frank who was behind the wheel. “What do you think? I know you said no anchoring, but considering the time it would be a good place to break at and head on in to Blaine in the daylight.”

  Alan looked around at the land on their right. He was using the binoculars to try to identify the land masses. “That’s San Juan Island,” he said, “We need to cut around the north end of it and between Spieden Island. Then we’ll have Orcas on our right. It doesn’t look to be very far between any of them.”

  Several hours later they were passing in between Orcas Island and Waldron Island. They had witnessed smoke from small fires all over the islands. They had seen no one and they were just as happy not to encounter anyone.

  Alan had taken it upon himself to be their identifier. He had the glasses again and was standing in front of the house. He came back, turned and pointed. “That’s it right ahead. It’s just like the little map said. We need to go around the southern tip and past the two smaller islands. We’ll be pretty protected while we’re there.”

  Frank followed Alan’s directions and soon they were motoring past the two finger islands. To their surprise there was a ketch anchored off of the inner bay not far from shore.

  “Well crap!” Frank exclaimed as he started to make a turn around.

  “Wait!” Ellen said. She had taken the binoculars from Alan and was looking to shore. “These are good people.”

  “And you know this without even meeting them?”

  “Look,” she said, “They have a dog and kids on shore. It looks like they have a pretty good little camp set up.”

  “Let me see.” Frank took the binoculars and trained them on the shore then he swung them to the ketch. “Their boats in good shape, so that’s one thing.” He turned back to the island. In the foliage he found a camouflaged tent. There were chairs and laundry on a makeshift clothes line. There were obviously people trying to make a go of it alone.

  He gave the glasses back to Ellen and turned to motor closer. When he was close enough to see the individual people he hollered for Rob to drop the anchor. Soon they were anchored.

  “I hope we don’t find more trouble here.” Frank said as he pulled the dinghy close.

  Ellen watched as they began to line up. A man and woman stood on shore facing them along with five smaller people that had to be children.

  She waved and thought that with them having the girls on deck it would show their good intentions.

  “Olivia and Dana, put your jackets on and come out here please.”

  Within moments the girls were on deck, Dana with Holly in her arms. “Look,” she said and pointed to shore.

  The girls immediately started waving. The children on shore waved back and a brown lab jumped all over them excited by the kid’s excitement. Then the man and woman both waved. The man as if to show he was unarmed waved both arms in the air and then waved them in.

  Frank waved and climbed into the dinghy. “Ellen, this is your idea. You, me and Rob will go in and make sure what’s up and then Rob can come back for the girls and the rest of you.”

  Surprisingly no one complained about having to wait for the return trip. It only took a few minutes before the bow of the dinghy was resting in shallow water.

  “Throw me your line.” The man said. It was hard to tell his age because the long hair on his face and his head hid a lot of his face.

  The woman was standing on dry ground with a big smile on her face. She looked to be around forty or so which made Ellen wonder if the two smaller children were theirs.

  “Hello,” the woman called. “I have tea water on. We don’t have any coffee but we do have tea.” She spoke with a Canadian accent.

  “I knew as soon as I saw it was a sailboat you had to be okay. We heard you coming a couple miles out. Jamey came running from the other side of the island to tell us.”

  A young man whom they thought had to be Jamey walked up. “Watched you all the way from Orcas and as soon as you made the turn I figured you to be coming in here.”

  “Where are you going to?” the man asked.

  “Brad, don’t be so nosey. You wouldn’t tell anyone where we were going. Remember?”

  “I’m Rosa and this is my husband Brad. Those are our kids. Well three of them are birth and the other two are our new kids.”

  “I’m hoping to anchor here for the night without any trouble. We’ll be out of here first thing in the morning.” Frank said as he shook the hand that Brad held out.

  He looked at Rob, “You may as well come too young man.”

  Rob looked at Frank, silently asking his opinion. When he nodded Rob said, “I’m going to go and bring the girls in.”

  “Thought I saw some kids on deck.” Declared the woman. “Bring them on over.”

  “We have a mother to be and one of girls Grandmother who is Rob’s Mom and a little girl we rescued down off of Cuba.”

  The man looked at Ellen as if he didn’t believe he’d heard her correctly. “Cuba? That’s in the Atlantic. No way you made it this far.”

  “Actually we did. We came from Palmetto Florida by way of the Panama Canal.” Frank said. “We’ve about reached
the end of our journey though.”

  The guy wiped his hand through his long hair. “Cuba…all the way from Cuba. That is hard to believe.”

  “Remember the old line truth can be stranger than fiction? Ellen left the marina in Palmetto on September 12th. She collected all of us along the way. We’re not sure how long ago it was but it seems like we’ve been on the water for months.”

  Ellen looked at the wife, “You don’t know what the date is do you?”

  She looked at the oldest child, “Karen go look at the log please.” She watched her run to the tent. “We’ve been trying to make a mark every day so we wouldn’t lose track.”

  “We did lose track and Alan had the only watch that worked but one day he forgot to wind it. Now we go by the sun.”

  The girl, Karen ran back. “Today is the 6th of February. Or we think it is. We had a couple days we may have messed up on, but we’ve made a mark every day. So the worst case is we’re off by a day or two.”

  “February? Already? Wow we really lost track of time. We thought it was January.” Ellen told them and shook her head in disbelief. “It took us almost five full months to make the trip.”

  “Frank? Did you hear?”

  “I just did. But it doesn’t matter how long it took. What matters is that we made it. Well, we’ve almost made it. Another day and we’ll be there.”

  “So if you came from the south that must mean you are going north?” Brad seemed to be considering his words. “We came from British Columbia. Sidney, on Vancouver Island actually. When the lights went out people went crazy. Our money had progressively lost its value on a daily basis and people already strapped for food went crazy. Rosa and I had always believed in long term food storage. She worked only to fill our food stores. Every penny went into buying from Patriot Supply and Wise Foods. With our dollar already at 50 percent of the American dollar it took every penny to build up our stores.”