Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  Rosa interrupted, “We weren’t preppers or anything like that. We were just trying to get enough put away for when times got really hard. We didn’t know this was going to happen and we hadn’t planned on the extra people. Until we arrived here and we were pretty much just sailing around staying away from land. We’ve had our share of troubles along the way too.”

  “Karen, why don’t you take Barbie and Joe and go meet the dinghy. Looks like maybe they could use a hand.”

  Karen a tall thin girl of 15 or 16 rolled her eyes and her mouth turned down at the corners. “Yes Mom.” She turned and saw the dinghy closing on shore. As soon as she saw who was in the dinghy she flashed a smile at them as if two more girls and a wiggling puppy had changed her mind about going. She grabbed the little boy and girl by their hands and with a few words of encouragement dragged them back to the beach.

  Brad and Frank had walked off taking the middle child with them. He was a boy of 14or 15 but he acted as if he were much older. It was obvious he didn’t consider himself a child anymore.

  Rosa must have felt she had to confide in Ellen, “We picked the little ones off the street in Bellingham. Their parents had just been killed by a group of men and women for their back packs. They were sure there was food in them. We had just docked when we heard the screaming. Brad and the boys went up there and came back an hour later with those two. They didn’t talk for a month and I can’t say I blamed them the poor things. Now it’s hard to tell they haven’t been with us forever.”

  “So things are not good on shore?”

  “They weren’t while we were there but it was about then that people began to get sick. Brad was worried about us getting sick too but so far we’re good. A couple of sniffles a while back but nothing out of the ordinary. You?”

  Ellen was watching the children playing on the beach. They looked like children should look; laughing and playing with Holly. Their lab couldn’t decide if Holly was a dog or a play toy. She was hardly bigger than its foot.

  “No. We rescued Olivia from…well it doesn’t matter where. Her whole family died from the plague.” She saw the look of alarm on Rosa’s face. “It’s okay. That was months ago and none of us have gotten sick. We put her on a series of antibiotics just in case.”

  They sat in silence watching the children play. “They seem so normal don’t they?”

  Ellen looked at Rosa, “They do. Can I ask what your plans are? You guys seem prepared and I saw the way Jamie handled that rifle. Almost like he was used to packing it.”

  “Hey Ellen. We thought you had forgotten about us.” Hannah said as she walked up. Maggie had stopped to meet the other children. She was on her knees talking to Joe and Barbie. Karen was talking and laughing with Olivia and Dana. They acted like they had known each other for years and not minutes.

  “Hannah this is Rosa. They have a story very similar to ours and I’m sure you’ll hear all about it eventually. Rosa, Hannah is going to have a baby in the spring. We’re trying to get to my farm so we can get settled in before then.”

  Rosa got up and poured hot water into a tin cup, added a tea bag and gave it to Hannah. “I’m sorry we don’t have sugar or cream. We ran out a month ago.”

  “That’s okay. Thank you.” Hannah sat in the closest lawn chair and blew on the edge of the cup.

  Rosa looked off to where the five men, were standing on the shoreline. “Which one of those handsome men is your husband?”

  Hannah, raised her eyes and it was clear to Ellen she didn’t know what to say. What could she say? Rosa hadn’t asked about the baby just about her husband.

  Ellen put her hand on Hannah’s knee. “Actually none of them are but that’s a story for another time. She and Alan, the blonde one are going to be married some day after we get settled.” Ellen answered.

  “Oh, well congratulations then. We just might have an answer for that. Brad used to preach some, but he’s angry with God right now. He hasn’t spoken a word of the gospel since just after this all started.”

  “Now back to my question. Are you guys going to stay out here or what? Do you have other plans?”

  Rosa looked nervous and kept looking at her husband and it was apparent she didn’t know how much or little to say. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. The batteries on the boat are shot. Not even enough to run the bilge pumps. We go out every couple of days and bail the water out. Brad can’t find where it’s coming in. Truthfully, I don’t know what we are going to do.”

  “Do you want to stay here?”

  “Oh man here we go again,” Hannah said under her breath.

  Chapter Thirty- seven - The new additions.

  Ellen slapped her on the knee. “I don’t know what you are talking about and neither do you so be quiet.”

  “Does your motor start?” Ellen asked Rosa.

  “The batteries are dead. Brad had to change a bunch of stuff out at first, but it ran when we got here. We didn’t have any problems and the motor running kept the bilge pumps working.”

  “Hmm. I bet that’s what Frank and Brad are talking about now. We’ll wait and see what they have to say.”

  Hannah asked, “Where will you go if you do get it running? This place seems kind of small if you had someone you didn’t want coming here. This island is too small you couldn’t even hide until they left.”

  “We’ve given that a lot of thought. We don’t have enough ammunition for a full scale attack. We’ve already fought off one group when we first got here. They tried to take Karen. There was no way in hell they were getting her. It was Jamie who saved her. He grew up that day and it’s not fair. He was going to start school in the spring instead he had to kill men to save his older sister.”

  “Older? Karen? How old is she?”

  She’ll be nineteen. Jamie is eighteen and Jesse is seventeen.”

  “Oh my gosh I thought they were all younger than that. Wow! I am getting old.”

  “They still look like my babies to me. Now we have Joe and Barbie to raise.” She looked away and dabbed at her eyes. “I don’t know what we are going to do.”

  “Well let’s let the men worry about it for a little while. What would you say if we brought some food over and cooked with you?”

  Rosa laughed, “I guess when Jesse caught that huge fish today he knew what he was doing. We have a big salmon cooking in the coals right now. What do you have to go with it?”

  Hannah piped up, “How about some stroganoff? We have that or we have rice or macaroni and cheese. We pretty much have pasta.”

  “Whatever you bring will be fine but enough for all of us?”

  “No problem, I’ll have Alan run me out to the boat. I might even fix something for dessert.”

  Hannah went off to ask Alan to take her out to their boat. Ellen could see that Rosa was wanting to ask about Alan, Hannah and the baby. Natural curiosity and nothing more. Rosa didn’t seem the type to judge anyone.

  “Hannah was being held as a prisoner in a boat when we found her. The baby’s father could have been one of three different men. We don’t talk about it and neither does she.”

  “Thank you. I won’t say anything. Who’s the woman? The one with the girls.”

  “That is Rob’s mother Maggie and the taller of the girls is Dana her Granddaughter. And of course the tiny one is Olivia. She belongs to all of us but she prefers Hannah and Alan.”

  Ellen saw the question on Rosa’s face as she looked from fair skinned Maggie to Rob who was dark skinned and Dana who was somewhere in between the two.

  “Maggie and her husband adopted Rob and his brother when they were kids.”

  Alan and Ellen were gone longer than they should have been, Ellen was beginning to worry something was wrong when she saw Alan helping Hannah down into the dinghy. He then handed her the cast iron dutch-oven followed by a pot. As soon as they were back on shore Alan took the dutch-oven and set it in the coals of the fire then pushed up more coals on top of it. Hannah took the pot to the table someone had
set up.

  “Macaroni and cheese,” she announced. “Dessert on the fire.”

  The baked salmon turned out well and everyone was happy to have the macaroni and cheese. Hannah’s dessert was a concoction she made using Bisquick, a can of seven up and a can of berry pie filling. The kids especially liked the sweet treat.

  After dinner Ellen was surprised when Frank walked up to where she was sitting, held out his hand and asked her to walk with him. What surprised her as much as Frank asking was seeing Brad ask Rosa to walk too. Then they went the opposite direction than Frank led her. He walked her to the old pier and walked out.

  “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

  “That obvious huh?”

  Frank stood quiet and Ellen thought to tell him what she was thinking about.

  “I was thinking that maybe we should ask then to the farm.” Ellen said.

  At exactly the same time Frank asked, “What do you think about asking them to join us at the farm.”

  “It’s settled then?”

  “It’s settled. Do you think they’ll come with us?”

  Then they laughed and Frank put his arms around her and drew her close. He rested his chin on the top of her head.

  “You know I always give you a hard time about collecting people. Well, I have always held you in high regard just because of that. I know I gave you a hard time but you always do the right thing. After hearing their story from Brad, I felt it was right to ask them to go. They have nowhere else. Rosa told you about the two little kids I assume. They are running low on food and ammunition. Their boat doesn’t run and we’d have to jump it. Brad and the boys would be an asset.” Ellen didn’t say anything and he began to think he had overstepped his bounds. Until he realized she was nodding her head yes.

  Ellen pulled back and looked up at him. “I know you like to appear to be the big tough marine, but inside you’re as bad or good as I am. I agree we should ask them and I think there will be enough room for all of us. There’s always Uncle Jerry’s house too. It has three bedrooms. We have two huge dairy barns and multiple sheds and there’s also a small bunkhouse the hired guys stayed in during the haying season. At this point and until we get there we can plan on making do no matter how many people there are.”

  “Okay you talked me in to it.” Frank said and let go of her. She held on for a second more then let go.

  “Oh you! I didn’t talk you into anything. Now let’s go find out if they want to even go with us.”

  “They will if Brad can talk Rosa into coming. That’s what we were talking about earlier.”

  “Well let’s go help them pack. I am positive they’ll be joining us.”

  They walked back and Frank held her hand all the way back. She was pleasantly surprised how good it felt to have him holding her hand. She began to look forward to getting to the farm and seeing where their relationship went. She felt he was someone she could always count on as he would always be there. She already trusted him more than anyone in her life. She felt they had a good future in front of them.

  It didn’t take long for the bunch of them to pack everything up. They would leave the tent and blankets until the next morning.

  It didn’t take much for Olivia and Dana to talk the adults into letting Barbie and Joe spend the night with them on the Annie-C. Alan and Hannah took the four kids and Holly back to the boat and decided they’d stay there with them. Rob motored them out and brought the dinghy back to shore.

  Two hours later they all went their separate ways with an agreement to meet the next morning, get their boat started and travel together to Blaine.

  Once Maggie, Rob Frank and Ellen were on their way back to the boat, Maggie spoke up. She had been too quiet all evening. “I sit there and listen to you talk and it makes me sick to my stomach. Our children and grandchildren shouldn’t have to live in fear of being taken or killed or as in the boy Jamie’s case having to kill someone to keep his sister safe. It just isn’t right. It makes me wonder if it will ever get any better.”

  Rob, put his arm around his mom and hugged her hard. “We’ll be fine. We just have to make adjustments in the way we live. The kids will be fine. As far as our circumstances go, they have to get better.”

  “Maggie, if we gather good people around us with the same ideas of survival, I have to think we will be okay. The easiest part of this journey will be getting from the marina to home. We’ll probably have to walk unless we can find some bikes, but no more than two or three days. You’ll see. It is the perfect spot for us to survive. We’ve already made it through the hard part.”

  “Oh I know you’re probably right. I guess I’m just scared. We’re so close and I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall.”

  Frank leaned over and put his hand on Maggie’s. “I promise you I will do everything in my power to get all of us home safely. Those kids, all of them are going to grow up and lead long healthy lives. You have to trust me on this.”

  She patted Franks hand, “Oh I know you will dear. And I do trust you. I trust all of you to do the right thing for the children. It’s just so scary.”

  Frank and Ellen decided to let everyone else sleep. Frank pulled a sleeping bag out of the lazarette.

  They decided they would either both stay awake or take turns napping until morning. Wrapped in the sleeping bag they watched the stars.

  “We will make it won’t we.”

  “Are you asking or telling me?”

  She glanced at him and found him watching her. “Both I guess. Looking for affirmation I suppose.”

  “It’s like I told Maggie, I’ll do everything in my power to get us there. I have too much to look forward to. I plan on courting my girl.”

  She nudged him with her elbow. “Courting? Who even says that anymore?”

  “Well if we have regressed enough to be back in the dark ages, that’s what they did back then. It’s not like we can send texts or call or go to the movies.”

  “Okay, I’ll let you court me then and it better be good.”

  “Court you?” He said backing up and holding his hands out. I was talking about my girl.” He wrapped his arms back around her before she decided to hit him. “Only kidding. You are my girl and someday I hope you will be my wife. We’re not too old to have kids of our own.”

  “I might consider that.” She said and snuggled close.

  With the first light of day they motored the Annie-C up to the starboard side of Brad’s ketch. They didn’t have long enough jumper cables to reach down to his batteries so Frank removed one from their house bank and installed it in their battery box. The ketch started right up and as soon as they picked up Rosa, the older kids and their belongings from shore they set off with the ketch following. Olivia and Dana had chosen to ride on the bigger boat with Joe and Barbie.

  By noon they were in the channel that led to the marina. Frank had kicked the motor to just over an idle. The adults were on deck and they stared in disbelief.

  Brad motored up beside them and Ellen was glad to see that the children were down below.

  Even from the channel they could see that the town of Blaine was in a shambles. There was only one main street that ran along the waterfront for the length of the town. A switching yard for the trains going into and out of Canada lay between the shore and the main street.

  Burned rail cars lay on their side cross-ways on the track. They were scattered as far as the water one on top of the other. It didn’t take much imagination to see what must have happened. At least one train must have plowed into the back of the another. The wreckage from the trains was scattered as far as the eye could see. Somehow they had caught fire and burned taking the main street shops along with it. Charred framework on the other side of the street were the only structures left standing.

  There had been a tourist parking lot and condos on the south end of the street the last time Ellen had been there and they were all gone; burned to the ground. Skeletons of burned out cars now sat in the lot. Tall grass ha
d grown up and dead blackberry vines covered most of them.

  “Oh my God! Aw jeez!” Ellen looked at Frank. “Now what do we do?”

  He looked at the marina. The boats that were still there had been burned or turned loose. Several were sitting on the bottom as burned out hulks.

  “We have no choice. We’ll go up to the main dock load our back packs and get the hell out of here. We can only hope no one is paying attention to us and leave before we are discovered.” The main dock was empty of boats but cut off dock lines were still around the cleats.

  Frank pulled up to the dock with Brad pulling in behind them. Frank said to Alan and Rob, “Get yourselves armed and keep watch. I’m going to talk to Brad and get them moving.”

  Ellen knew exactly what Frank would say and held the AR-15 up to Rob. She handed the Mossberg up for Alan. They all had their personal handguns somewhere on their person.

  Ellen helped Hannah pack their back packs. With the ones they had taken from the men at the farm they had more bags than they could carry, but they filled them anyhow. A change of clothes each extra socks all of their ammunition and then topped the bags off with the dehydrated and freeze dried food they had left.

  The three of the biggest bags they packed for Rob, Frank and Alan. Ellen could barely lift them by the time they were loaded. She hoped the guys were able to carry them. In the bags for the girls, Dana would wear two of them. One on her back with her clothes, a handgun and an assortment of Mylar packages of food and several bottles of water. In the front pack she would carry Holly and Holly’s towel.

  Olivia would carry, clothing, her music box and food with a couple bottles of water. Her handgun was zipped in the pocket of one of Ellen’s nylon jackets that had been modified to fit over Olivia’s outer clothing. Olivia called it her kangaroo jacket because of the zippered pouch. Her pack seemed heavy by the time it was fully loaded but Olivia said it wasn’t.