End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle

by Lara Frater

  There was nothing to keep an eye out for. All I saw in every direction was fucking darkness. No lights from shore, not glowing zombies, nothing but blackness and some light from the stars when it wasn’t overcast. It wasn’t tonight. It was clear and freezing cold.

  Eric had a book with him. His shift was from 2-10 so he had a few hours of daylight to read in. Tanya never bothered him for his behavior like she did with me. As long as he did his work and he wasn’t a problem. Quiet and brooding was fine. Acting out like Dena or I guess me wasn’t.

  “Hey Eric, how are you doing?”

  “Fine.”

  “No trouble?”

  “Nothing.” He put on his coat and hat. I had one similar that Maddie knitted. We all did. Maddie had spent a lot of her off time knitting things.

  “Have a good night.”

  He didn’t respond, instead left the bridge, allowing one last frozen blast of air inside. I had a strong suspicion if Eric ever got the chance to leave us, he would. He’s only here because he knows survival in numbers.

  Since this was a luxury yacht, the bridge was elaborate with plush couches, leather seats and a captain’s chair. I sat in that with a blanket around me. It had been one that Maddie had knitted.

  I had a book with thankfully good eyes. Besides Keith, only Eric and Hannah wore glasses. Rachel did Eric’s prescription a month before we fled Costking and she made four pairs for him. Hannah said she had two extras. I don’t know what to do about Keith. Since I didn’t think we could get him new glasses. We could steal them out of stores or off the dead but it might never be the prescription he needed.

  I put the book under one of the lanterns and began reading. It was a light hearted mystery, something easy to read without thinking. I knew I couldn’t do this for eight hours. Read one page, look around at the dark, then read another. Night shifts needed two people. I don’t know how Grace did them at Costking. I guess she liked shooting zombies. Now there wasn’t that much more to kill. In the dark I wouldn’t be able to see the floaters. There were two battery operated torch lamps on the outside deck but I could barely hit anything even in broad daylight, let alone the choppy frozen dark ocean. I’m pretty sure droves of floating zombies came in the night that no one noticed. I only noticed the one because it was moaning outside the port window.

  I got tired of reading after about two hours. I decided to take a walk around the deck. When I had watch in the fall, it hadn’t been that bad because you didn’t have to sit on the bridge, you could hang out in the cold crisp night air.

  Coming out of the warmer room, the outside seemed icy. A cold wind bit into my face. I wrapped the scarf around my mouth and walked the boat. It was pitch black but the weather was clear and every single star illuminated the sky. Even though I had seen these clear nights multiple times, like the whales they still amazed me. This was where you felt both the loneliness among millions of stars but you also felt like you weren’t alone.

  The deck had some lounge chairs. I laid on one and watched the stars, hoping time would go by and it would be dawn. Around 5am Jim bought me coffee. He was a morning person and hated overnights more than I did.

  Sometimes I wondered why we had watch on the bridge at night. In the pitch black you can’t see a damn thing. We could hear the floaters and I was sure no other idiots were on boats in the middle of winter. It was force of habit. We kept watch at Costking, but we had flood lights on the roof so Grace could shoot.

  After a significant time stargazing, I took a stroll around the deck. Looking out and seeing utter blackness wasn’t scary. Mark and I had gone on a cruise to Nova Scotia and there was a time where you looked out and saw nothing. It was spooky the first time but then you get used to it. Besides we were on a boat with lights, dancing, midnight cocktails, working bathrooms, and a radio if we needed help. Here we had nothing. Our rescue flares wouldn’t bring anything, no rescues, no help, no coast guard. We spoke to other survivors on the ham radio but Tanya and Jim were insistent: No one was to know about the boat. As far as anyone knew we were hunkered down in a house like everyone else. Jim didn’t even tell his father.

  I aimed my flashlight forward. It brightened the darkness, like a knife but nothing could be seen after the light faded. We were anchored a good mile from shore which we could see during the day. At night there was nothing but emptiness.

  I walked down the front of the ship where we stowed supplies. The solar panels were here and that gave us some electricity. Dave set it up so it went into an array that went into keeping the ship’s battery charged. We originally had two solar panels but one was on the other truck that got wreaked. At least the array was on the truck that didn’t crash.

  I walked around the supplies stored in the front. The two bikes we haven’t needed to use were tied down and covered with a tarp. Tanks of fuel were next to them.

  The cold entered my bones despite the warm winter men’s jacket. I knew I should go back to the bridge and warm up, but I didn’t.

  I moved closer to the front of the ship. There was a smaller deck leading out that goes over the ocean. You could stand and feel the wind in every part of your body. Nice in the summer, but not so much in the winter. Mike discouraged using it except to hunt floaters and to fish and only during the day. It was slippery and would ice over. He said that no one should go out there in the dark and preferably not in the light either.

  I didn’t care. I was bored and tired. Probably not a good idea to do something dangerous. I still didn’t care.

  Mike put heavy boxes in front of it. He didn’t care about the adults who should know better, but he wanted to make sure the kids couldn’t go on. Dena might out of spite. Brie and Simon probably wouldn’t. Both of them hated to be away from other people and never went off alone.

  I didn’t move the boxes, instead climbed over them. Even in the dark it wasn’t hard so I don’t know how Mike was going to stop anyone. I shone the light on the ground to find the two steps up. I climbed them. Not slippery. The wood plank was a narrow but I walked slowly, keeping one hand on the railing, one on the flashlight that I aimed at the floor. I debated going back and doing it at first light. I still kept moving forward as I thought about it. One foot in front of the other like an awkward ballet.

  I got to the edge and leaned against the railing. I flashed the light down to the water. It was dark but not as choppy as expected.

  I didn’t know what the state of global warming was. Did the demise of the human race fix the problems? The last two summers had been brutal. The winters hadn’t been kind either. Would it be better for us? With billions of people dead, we won’t see a large population for a long time. Jim wanted us to only use renewable energy. He said we had a second chance and we needed to do things right. Less waste and more reliance on solar and wind. Jim was a beautiful optimist. He wants to see this new world as beautiful and a chance to start again.

  I still wanted it back. I wanted to close my eyes and wake up next to Mark with this all a bad dream.

  I sat on the deck, Indian style. It was a little uncomfortable because the floor was small and my ass was big.

  I laughed.

  I often thought I was going crazy, that the end of the world would drive me mad. But it wasn’t really the end of the world, just the one I lived in.

  Sitting was uncomfortable so I dangled my legs down towards the water. I was high enough not to get wet but low enough occasionally felt drops of water hit my boots.

  “Annemarie?”

  If I was standing, I would have slipped, but I didn’t. I saw a dim light.

  “Who’s there?”

  “It’s Keith,” a voice in the darkness. “I thought maybe you fell.”

  “No—“ I was a little angry to have my lament interrupted. “I’m enjoying the view.”

  Keith didn’t make a sound

  Then I heard the moan.

  I didn’t move. It sounded close.

  “Annemarie— maybe you should come in.”

  “Quiet,�
�� I said, sharply.

  I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination until it moaned again. This time it didn’t scare me. It sounded sad like a lost sailor looking for home.

  “Should I get Grace?” Keith finally said in a timid voice.

  I didn’t respond. I flashed my light into the water but I couldn’t find it. Did it come because it smelled me?

  “Annemarie?”

  I didn’t respond. I put my hands in front of me to push myself up.

  I lost my balance. My right foot slid off the deck. I thought I could stop my fall by grabbing the railing but it was slippery, I lost my grip. I slid off the floor and into the icy waters, screaming all the way down.

  The fall was terrifying, the feeling of being on out of control high dive. My body plunged into icy waters to a cold beyond anything I ever felt. My feet didn’t hit bottom but I was smart enough to use my hands to stop my acceleration. All the air left my lungs and I couldn’t breathe which I didn’t realize was a good thing because I would have breathed in ice water. I thought I heard my name being yelled but I was too much in shock. I heard bells ringing everywhere. I tried to stay afloat. Kicking to keep my head above water. I don’t know why I felt so tired.

  Something fell into the water next to me-- A floating white circle. My hands felt numb from the cold, I grabbed on but couldn’t get a grip.

  I couldn’t feel anything in my lower extremities and then I heard moaning. I knew that I was going to die. I couldn’t see anything. The zombie had all the advantages.

  I felt a large splash next to me.

  Part of me wanted to get out of this cold water away from the zombie. I felt its cold fingers around me. This was it. The zombie was going to bite me and if I was lucky rip me apart. If it didn’t, I would become one of them. I would become a floater that Grace would shoot through the head. For some reason that felt calm and serene. I almost wanted to fall into the cold darkness and let the zombie take me.

  The thing’s hands were around me. There was a lot of thrashing and screaming all around, but no bite came. I heard a man scream in agony. I saw lights and then a single shot. I couldn’t scream. The hand holding me pulled me to the life preserver and tried to put it around my waist, but it wasn’t made for a fat person, nothing was made for a fat person. Instead the other person put my hands around the ring and held me. I felt myself being pulled through the water the icy waves hitting my face. Then I felt arms, arms pulling me to the swim deck. I was out of the water, coughing, now with cold air hitting me. I was pulled into a standing position, my coat and outer garments were removed and something warmer placed around me.

  “Walk. Annemarie,” Mike’s voice said, his voice filled with anger. He was the one that got me standing but he sounded far away. Mom and dad were going to be pissed. I was sure I would be grounded.

  I managed to get up the ladder to the deck. Mike helped me walk but about halfway across my legs gave out. I couldn’t move, my legs refused to work, so I felt myself falling on to a lounge chair.

  “Let me help,” a voice said.

  “No!” Mike said, his voice angry. “Don’t help.” He was furious. His voice filled with anger and fear.

  “It’s okay,” the voice said. I recognized it as Keith’s. I opened my eyes. Keith and Mike stood above me. Grace stood far off the deck holding her rifle. Lights were on everywhere. I could see Keith had a tear in his jacket, and the sleeve filled with blood. A trail of blood was behind him.

  I realized Keith jumped in to save me and gotten bitten himself.

  “No!” I screamed. I felt pain as my body got feeling back. “Don’t kill him.”

  “Annemarie—“ Mike said. He paused for a long time, while looking at Keith. “There’s no other way.”

  “You can’t-- He’s a carrier.”

  Mike took a step back. Because of my stupidity, Keith’s secret was out. I wanted to scream but I was so tired and cold I passed out.

  When I opened my eyes next, light came through the port window. I was stripped, my hair and body wrapped in a towels and surrounded by three comforters. I was in the bed alone but Henry was in a chair next to me. His warm hand holding mine.

  “You okay?” he asked, his voice trembling. “We were worried.”

  “I’m cold,” I said, bringing the blanket around me and I shivered. Wanted to be warmer, wanted to bury myself in the comforter and never come up for being an ass.

  “You can’t warm up too fast. That’s what Hannah said. You were lucky Keith was there or—I don’t know what would have happened.”

  “Keith—“ I said. “Is he okay?”

  “Yes. It was a superficial bite because he was wearing flannels. He treated himself— He’s tied up downstairs, just in case but he shows no signs of becoming one of them, He looks fine.”

  And I spilled his secret.

  I heard a knock on the door. It opened and Tanya came in. She looked peeved, so I was probably going to get the riot act.

  “Henry, give us a minute?”

  “Sure,” he said. He kissed the top of my head. I watched him leave the room and close the door. I knew I didn’t love him and that we would separate, but I was glad he was here when I needed it.

  “First off, are you okay?” she asked, her tone was concern just a little anger below the surface. Now there would be consequences.

  “If you came to tell me I’m an idiot, you’re right. I fucked up.”

  Tanya still looked peeved. “You probably think I’m here to give you a piece of my mind, but I figured when smart people do somethin’ stupid, they usually punish themselves pretty good about it.”

  “Yes.”

  “Gonna happen again? I need to know. ”

  “No.”

  “Also you got problems, I’ve been letting it slide because I figured you in a rough patch but it’s affecting your behavior and your judgment.” I had broken one of Tanya’s two rules. I was giving her trouble.

  “I miss my family--,” I admitted. “I miss my parents, my sister. I miss Mark. I miss the world.”

  “Who’s Mark?” she said.

  “I was going to marry him and have a normal life.”

  “Nothing gonna be normal again. If you are done with this life, I ain’t gonna stop you. Mean, I’ll tell you not to do it. I don’t blame you. We got ourselves a hard world. It ain’t gonna get easy any time soon.”

  “I don’t want to live on this boat the rest of my life.”

  Tanya laughed. “Who said we gonna live here forever?”

  “You never want to leave the boat and you don’t like it when we do.”

  “We can’t live our entire life on the boat. We’ll starve and go crazy.”

  “You’ve been fighting Jim to find farmland.”

  “Jim likes the idea of many choices but his first one, Harbor Island’s fine for me. We can ask good people to join us. Maybe those people at Orient. But first we gotta heal.”

  “Heal?”

  “Yep. Think about it, Annemarie, when was the last time someone died?”

  I didn’t respond.

  “No one’s died on this boat, right?”

  “Right, except Keith and me almost.”

  “Which wouldn’t have been a problem if you weren’t stupid. We’re gonna stay on this boat, not dealing with zombies or with the dregs of society. Not many problems a mile off shore except for some puking, a hole, and a couple of floaters.

  “Come March we’re be ready to settle down and become a community. Before that we’re gonna have three or four good solid months of peace. I’m pissed at you for breaking that peace, Annemarie, because maybe some of us can still get a good night sleep for a change and not have to wake up fearing the zombies are inside.”

  She was right, despite the cold, the cabin fever, the food poisoning, the leak, even that floating zombie on the swim deck, I haven’t had a single nightmare about zombies and I slept better than I had in months. She was right about the safety. If I hadn’t been stupid and ignored Mike’s rule,
I wouldn’t have fallen in the water.

  Or maybe Tanya was right and part of me wanted to die.

  “Do we still want have to do overnight watches? I ain’t an ogre. If it’s really causing you problems, you can make it up elsewhere.”

  “I need someone to be with me.”

  “I’ll ask for volunteers.”

  “Does Keith hate me?”

  “No, he don’t. Mike’s royally pissed we didn’t tell him but Keith ain’t even mad we tied him up. That kid’s been through a lot of shit. He does his work so I don’t complain but what he’s got, it’s gonna bring trouble.”

  “What’s going to happen to him?”

  “No one else can know, Annemarie. No one, you got it? I see trouble in his future a lot of it. When the zombies are gone, he’s gonna be a source of the virus. A source that can start it again. And we’re gonna be in the way.”

  Part 2 Montauk

  Chapter 6

  Jim

  “Hi Jimmy,” my dad said. I was too happy hearing his voice to correct him. We tried talking every Wednesday at 10am which was the day his house went out for supplies and he could get to the shortwave radio. We even briefly chatted live on Bob’s show as a “feel good” story.

  I choose 10am, because there were fewer people in the salon. I don’t want to seem like I’m gloating. I got a Christmas present and no one else did.

  My dad lived in a house with four other men and two women around his age. All had been hunters previously. They knew how to get food and kill zombies if needed. I used to think my dad was gross for hunting. When I was a ten, it was the first time he tried to get me to go. Instead I cried about him killing Bambi. He thought it was hilarious I managed to take out two zombies on my own. I still don’t hunt animals, figured it was easier to let Mike do it since he was better at it.

  When we first started talking, some of it was uneasy. I knew my dad was becoming more accepting of gay people but he was still uncomfortable with it. I hadn’t planned to talk about my sex life at all, even if I was straight. I did tell him about Eric, how our relationship wasn’t working out. When he asked about Cameron, I told him I didn’t want to talk about it. He told me he wished he got to know him better. I wished he did too. My dad would have loved him. They could have gone hunting together. With Cameron, my dad would have gotten the son he could relate too, not the nerdy kid who thought baseball was stupid and guns were icky.