Salt of Gomorrah

by Alex Mersey

  The sudden chill faded as soon as he struck through the outgoing tide. Breaststroke, so he could keep his head up and watch for incoming. Shallow kicks to avoid any clutter accumulated on the riverbed. It was pretty clear going, though. The current had cleared most of the floating debris during the night.

  He reached the dingy and hauled himself over the side, scrambled to his knees and looked to shore with a big thumbs up.

  Lynn waved with both arms, shouting something that got carried away on the breeze.

  The boat rocked as he stood, planted his feet and took a moment to find his sea legs. Looking out across to the desolate, flattened landscape of Newport, doubt set in. What were they fleeing to? Nothing, so far as he could see. Still, every instinct in his body drove him west, away from the built-up areas on the Eastern Seaboard, deeper into the heart of the country where they could meld into the scrub of the land.

  Sean kneeled again, turned to the outboard motor. Thank God it was basic, a pull start with a simple throttle/tiller and shift lever. He pushed the powerhead back to drop the propellers into the water, slid the lever into neutral and pulled the starter rope. The engine gurgled once and caught.

  With one hand curled around the throttle, he got a feel for the power and handling, then left the engine idling while he untied the rope and cast loose from the hull. The current dragged immediately, and he lurched to perch on the padded rear beside the motor to take control, easing the boat into a wide loop toward shore.

  When his searching gaze found Lynn, he did a double-take. She had company down at the bottom of the pier. Two guys, two girls.

  Sean grinned. He couldn’t remember a time he’d been so ridiculously happy to see strange faces.

  The black-haired girl sat cross-legged, looking out over the water. The other girl, blonde, slightly older, stood chatting with Lynn and one of the guys, a stocky man with salt-and-pepper hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. The second guy hopped onto a boulder, watching Sean’s approach. He looked like he’d just stepped out of the boardroom, both the guys did, but as Sean neared, he noticed the details. The rumpled suit, the tear in one sleeve, the top buttons of his pale shirt loosened, tie tugged crooked.

  God, we’ve all been to hell and back.

  Lynn broke away to bring the rope as Sean navigated the boat alongside the pier ruins.

  The guy on the boulder took it from her and tossed one end to Sean. “Hey there, we heard the engine and came running. I was starting to think we were the last damn fools alive.”

  “You and me.” Sean bent over the side and fastened his end of the rope to the lashing before he cut the engine. “I’m Sean.”

  “Brad,” the guy said brightly, pointing as he introduced his friends. “That’s Paul, longtime partner in crime. Beth and Allira, we ran into them earlier.”

  The blonde, Beth, offered a strained smile. The darker girl just stared at him with a sullen expression.

  “Good to meet you folks,” Sean said, then looked at Lynn. “Listen, we should probably get moving. We’ll need to make a couple of trips to ferry everyone across the river. If that’s where you’re going?” he added to Brad.

  “Hell, yes.” Brad nodded, grinned. “That’s the best offer we’ve had all day.”

  “I’ll just fetch Johnnie,” Lynn said, turning away.

  “Do you need help?” Sean called.

  She threw a hand up without looking back. “Put some clothes on.”

  “You got that?” Sean asked, referring to the rope anchored around Brad’s hand.

  “Safe and sound.” He moved to make room as Sean stepped out of the boat. “So, aliens, huh? Paul here thinks it’s the Russians. Isn’t that right, Paul?”

  “That’s more impossible than aliens?” Paul shot back.

  Sean rubbed a hand through his damp hair, looked between the two men as he crossed to his pile of clothes. “Where did you guys manage to sit out the shit storm?”

  “Central Park,” Brad answered. “We dropped down beneath a tree and stayed down, ready to kiss our asses goodbye.” He chuckled. “Guess that was the one tree the fuckers missed.”

  Sean put his sweats on, was pulling his t-shirt over his head when a female voice, distinctly British, shouted, “Hey, what are you doing?”

  It took another moment to tug the t-shirt over his eyes, and by then, Brad was already on the boat, pulling at the starter rope, his friend Paul mid-leap.

  “What the—?” Sean started forward. “Hey!”

  Paul landed, used his hands to shove off hard against the boulder.

  “Sorry, man, really.” Brad looked Sean in the eyes. “But like you said, there isn’t space for everyone.”

  Sean reached the boulder in three lunges, ready to dive in after them. But Brad was revving the throttle, on the point of speeding off, and Paul looked set to kick his head in if he got anywhere near.

  “You don’t need to do this,” Sean said, feeling like a helpless idiot. “There’s enough fuel to get us all across.”

  “And what happens then, once you’re across?” Brad, the apparent leader, shook his head. “We’re taking this baby all the way down the coast. Like I said, sorry, but you’ll be fine. We’ve already seen how resourceful you can be when you put your mind to it.”

  With that, Brad turned the throttle to full power, lifting the front of the boat dangerously, churning white water in their wake.

  Sean stared in disbelief.

  “I don’t freaking believe it,” exclaimed Beth, the blonde with the British accent.

  “They’re your friends.” Lynn had stalled her climb halfway to the top to gawk at the runaway traitors in utter dismay.

  “I wouldn’t say that.” Beth spun about to stare up at her. “We’ve known them for, like, five minutes.”

  “Assholes,” the younger girl mumbled.

  “Alli!”

  “Seriously? Look around you, Beth, you seriously think me saying asshole is our biggest problem right now?” She jumped to her feet, cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs, “ASSHOLES.”

  Sean blew out a disgruntled breath and sat down heavily.

  “What do we do now?” Lynn called from above.

  Good question.

  He looked out across the river. He could swim it, easy, he’d done a few races, his best time was under thirty minutes.

  But the others?

  Open water was a whole different game to doing pool laps. There was no edge to hang onto when you needed to catch your breath, for one thing. The kid was the real clincher. Even without the bad ankle, he wouldn’t have the stamina. And, of course, there was the bad ankle.

  Beth marched over. She was a pretty girl, but right now her face was crunched in bulldog determination as she hunkered down before him. “You will take us with you, won’t you?”

  He ran his fingers through his hair, tipped his head to swing his gaze over Lynn, the kid, the sullen black-haired girl (Alli?) and back to Beth, all looking to him for…what? Leadership? Shit. He wasn’t cut out for this. “No, that’s not the way this is going to work.”

  “You can’t leave us behind.” She pointed at Alli. “That’s my sister. She’s only sixteen. I have to get her somewhere safe. I swear, I didn’t know Brad and Paul—”

  “—were assholes?” He grinned to soften the blow. “Don’t beat yourself up about that. We trusted them, too, remember?”

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “They rescued us and then do this? They seemed decent enough.”

  “They probably are, under less desperate circumstances.” Sean scrubbed his jaw. “Listen, what I meant is, I’m not the leader of this pack, so I’m not taking you, or anyone, with me. We should stick together, I like that idea, but we’re all just winging it together.”

  “Thank you.” She clasped her hands, relief washing over her hard expression. “Thank you so much.”

  She hadn’t quite grasped the pertinent points of his message.

  Sean wasn’t sure how to
make it any clearer. He saw the state of her fingers and nails, torn and bloodied, and went with that. “What happened?”

  She looked at her hands, hesitated. “We were in the Metro tunnel and had to claw our way out.”

  His first choice of refuge, until he’d run out of time. “Any others down there with you?”

  “No.”

  “Yes,” Alli said at the same time, having snuck up on them.

  Beth blinked, long and slow. “There were, but they didn’t make it.”

  There was a story there, he saw it in her eyes, in her rigid manner as she straightened and wrapped her arms around her midriff.

  How many more horror stories would they collect amongst themselves before this war was won?

  Sean’s gaze swept out over the river again. “Can you swim?”

  “Yeah, I can—Oh, you’re thinking of swimming across?”

  He glanced at her. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Alli and I can both swim, of course, but nothing serious, like races or open water.”

  “We’ll take it slow,” Sean told her, his decision made. “Just keep your head above water, don’t fight the current too much, but don’t let it drag you too far down either. I’ll be right beside you.”

  Alli walked closer. “We can do it.”

  “Good.” Sean turned around to look at Lynn.

  A shadow crossed her eyes. Disappointment? There and gone, like most of her more vulnerable moments. She stiffened her shoulders. “Johnnie and I will find another way across.”

  “I’m not leaving you behind.”

  “He can’t swim that distance.”

  “Especially not with that ankle,” Sean agreed. “I’ll carry him on my back.”

  “You’re crazy,” she snapped. “You’ll both drown.”

  “I’ve swum the Hudson a couple of times, Lynn, I know my limits.”

  “We’re all dehydrated. Hungry.” She pursed her lips. “Weak.”

  “And we’re only going to get weaker,” Sean said. “Unless you think we’re about to be rescued? Look around, Lynn. There’s nothing here and no one’s coming. Tell me you can get yourself across, and I’ll take care of your boy.”

  She gave a slow shake of her head. “Why?”

  His brow creased. “Why?”

  “We’re a noose around your neck, a woman and a kid,” she said. “You’ll stand a better chance on your own.”

  “I don’t know why,” he said honestly. “This is just the way it is.”

  Her eyes narrowed, flickered with uncertainty. “That’s a bullshit answer.”

  “It’s the only one I’ve got.”

  The kid had slid down on his backside to his mother’s side, and now he tugged her hand and said in a small voice, “Mom, I don’t want to stay here.”

  She looked at him, then turned to Sean. “Okay, I can get myself across.”

  It took them a few minutes to prepare for the crossing. Sean stripped to his Lycra shorts again. The women used the small scissors from the First Aid kit to hack their jeans into shorts so the heavy denim wouldn’t weigh them down. Only Johnnie got to keep his shoes: Sean figured if he had to swim with a kid on his back, a pair of child-sized sneakers wouldn’t make that much difference.

  Lynn’s backpack would drag when water-clogged and had to stay behind, so they transferred the First Aid kit into Beth’s tiny pink one.

  “That’s odd.” Lynn frowned at her cellphone. “I turned it off last night to save the battery, now it won’t turn on.” She glanced at the girls. “Have you been able to get a signal?”

  “Our phones went dead last night,” Beth said.

  “The phones won’t survive the swim,” Sean told them.

  “Wait, they gave me a zip lock bag at the airport for my perfume.” Beth dug into her backpack and brought out the clear plastic container with a seal tab. “I don’t know how watertight it’ll be, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

  Beth forfeited her own phone and fit Lynn and Alli’s in, then she sealed the container and tucked it away before slinging the backpack onto her shoulders.

  It was midmorning before they finally slipped into the river. The heat of the day had already turned muggy and the cool water was a welcome relief. The girls immediately submerged themselves completely to rinse the grime from their hair and faces.

  Lynn waded closer, speaking to Johnnie on his back. “Hold on tight, okay?”

  “I’m not a baby, Mom.”

  “If he holds any tighter,” Sean groaned, “he’ll strangle me.”

  Lynn’s sharp eyes came to him.

  “I’m kidding,” he said before she could lash him with that even sharper tongue. “I’m not going to drown halfway across.”

  “I know.” A smile softened her mouth, her eyes. “Thank you.”

  “Hey,” he said gruffly, not sure what to do with this tender version of her. “We’re all in this together.”

  The Lynn he knew returned with a hard grimace. “Tell that to Brad and Paul.”

  The girls popped up and swam closer.

  “Let’s go,” Sean called out, striking out into a slow breaststroke. “Swim straight as you can, around the hull of that overturned sailboat. I’ll bring up the rear.” Where he could keep an eye on everyone without having to look over his shoulder.

  “You, too,” he added to Lynn when she fell in slightly behind him.

  “I’m fine right here,” she said. “Someone has to watch your back.”

  “You mean, make sure I don’t toss Johnnie off when the going gets tough,” he said dryly.

  “That, too.”

  Sean didn’t waste breath arguing.

  Ahead, the girls found their stride and seemed to be doing okay. Sean’s gaze bounced between them and up the river. There wasn’t much debris floating around, but the risk was still there.

  Johnnie’s grip around his throat loosened.

  “Hey, kiddo, you doing okay there?”

  “I don’t want to strangle you,” Johnnie’s small voice came at his ear.

  “You just worry about staying on my back, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  They made it past the sailboat, and into the current that tugged below and rippled the surface. The weight on Sean’s back seemed to push down harder with each stroke, each shallow kick. Beside him, Lynn’s arms cut through the water with smooth, sure strokes, but the girls began to flag and drift. He’d told them to not fight the current, but at this rate, they’d be swept into the bay.

  “Keep your eyes on the far shore,” he shouted forward. “You’re drifting too much.”

  “We’re trying!” Beth called in a frustrated, exhausted voice, and they hadn’t even reached the halfway mark yet.

  Doubts started to fill Sean’s head.

  What have I done?

  If one of the girls cramped, or their muscles just gave out, would he be able to help? Not with the kid on his back, his first priority. His plan to take it slow and steady was flawed. Once this turned into a test of endurance, there’d be more losers than winners.

  “We need to pick up the pace,” he called to Lynn. “Swim on the other side of the girls so we can corral them between us.”

  Lynn hesitated, clearly reluctant to put the distance between her and Johnnie, but then a look of gritty determination crossed her face. “The quicker this is over, the better. Johnnie, you tell Sean if your arms get tired or start to slip, okay?”

  “I’ll make sure he doesn’t let go,” Sean said and struck out to fall in alongside Beth.

  “I heard you,” she said before he got a word in. “We’ll swim faster. Alli, how’s your freestyle?”

  Alli smirked at her. “Better than yours.”

  “Race you!”

  The sisters shot forward with a burst of renewed energy and Lynn struck out on the other side of Alli.

  Sean put some power behind his breaststroke, but he didn’t try to keep up for fear of Johnnie being dragge
d from his back. He caught up to them a short while later, anyway, when that shot of adrenaline lost its kick. They’d hit a dead stretch where the current eased off and they’d reverted to some version of doggy paddle. Still, they’d closed a large chunk of the gap between them and the opposite shore.

  Alli flipped over onto her back, wading with her arms and kicking. “I’ve died and gone to hell.”

  “You and me, both,” Lynn groaned, winded and out of breath.

  Sean’s gaze swept over the dunes of Jersey and he found himself agreeing. Except for the part about dying. Apparently that was no longer a requirement.

  “Come on,” Beth called to her sister. “Stop messing about.”

  Alli flipped right side over again and sent her a sour look.

  Sean swam on slightly ahead, hoping to set a faster pace, but he didn’t push too hard for his own sake as well as theirs. They’d been in the water for too long, his muscles were taking strain with the additional weight and tension in his shoulders. Alli, Beth and Lynn alternated between striking out and wading, sometimes treading water for a few moments to catch their breath. Sean fell behind, then caught up, again and again as the shoreline slowly crept closer. And it really was a shoreline. The riverside buildings directly across from them had been cremated to dunes that slid into the water to form a beach.

  They were about twenty meters out when he caught a glimpse of sunlight striking off metal upstream.

  “Look out!” he shouted. “Something—” shit, what was that? “—is headed our way, caught up in the current.”

  Lynn stopped, treading water, head popped up like a damned gopher to see better. “What is it?”

  “What do we do?” Beth.

  Sean couldn’t judge how far away the glint was, how fast it was hurtling at that unpredictable pattern, but he knew the chances were slim that it would miss them. They were in a trough, where deep streams of the current flowed swifter—a magnet for trouble.

  “Swim hard,” he called and struck out in broad, powerful strokes. Get the kid safely out the way. Worry about the others later. “Get to shore. Now!”

  He didn’t expect them to make it to shore in time, but he needed everyone swimming in the right direction and out of the trough. His feet hit the bottom long before the twenty meters were up, the powdered buildings piled thick below the surface. He slung Johnnie around into his arms as he strode through the chest-high water. When the water level dropped to his hips, he set Johnnie down to stand on his own and spun about, bringing a hand up to shade his eyes from the glare of the sun off the water.