FULL MOON ISLAND

by Terry Yates

  She moved her eyes from him to the bag, then back to him, then lowered her arms and silently nodded her head. Seeing that she was now calm, he started to lower the bag. He wanted to unzip it himself, but he only had one hand. He looked to Zora who, as if on cue, reached out and took the ragbag from him.

  He lowered the bag just above the water and began to unzip it. Shelly began to grab at it, so he pulled it away again. He looked at her until she realized what he was doing and calmed down again. Once again, he lowered the bag. The water was almost up to Shelly’s shoulders, so he couldn’t lower the bag enough without getting it wet. Zack Olsen had been watching them and retrieved a chair that had floated away from the cafeteria and settled in a corner.

  “Here you go, Mrs. Dixon,” Zack said as he placed the chair under the water next to her. He put all of his weight on the back of it so it wouldn’t float away on her. She climbed up on top of the chair and stood up, her gown sticking to her skin. As she reached up, he put the bag in front of her. She quickly unzipped the bag, opened the flap, and peered inside, her eyes moving rapidly back and forth trying to adjust to the dark. She looked inside at the sleeping baby. Shelly put her hand inside the bag and placed it on the baby’s stomach. She gently rubbed the child’s stomach, then reached up and smoothed out her thick, curly hair. She had her father’s hair. At that moment, she started to cry, softly at first, and then broke into sobbing gasps. The thought of her husband not being here and her baby boy being taken from her and probably eaten by that thing caused her tremble uncontrollably. Kyler pulled the bag slowly away from her.

  “No…” she moaned trying to reach out for it.

  “Help her down, will you, Zack?”

  Zack stared at him for a moment, then at Shelly. Where does a sixteen-year old boy grab a woman whose wet nightgown is sticking to her skin? He looked back at Kyler who had zipped the bag back up. He nodded to Zack.

  “Help her down.”

  With this, Zack gently took her hand in his, then placed his other hand under her elbow and helped her off the chair and back into the water where she continued to stare up at the bag.

  “Go back to where you were now, Shelly. We won’t be far behind, I promise. You go now.”

  Shelly wiped her eyes and nodded before turning back around and letting Zack escort her back to the front of the group. Kyler watched her wade away back to FranAnne and Nurse Walling. He found himself looking for Zora. When his eyes found her, he saw that she was looking at him. Embarrassed, he smiled and looked away, but not before seeing her smile at him.

  “All right everybody,” Potts said, “Put on your rain coats and smoke ‘em if ya’ got ‘em. We’re taking off now. We’re going across the street and up the hill,” he continued, pointing into the darkness. “Keep a sharp eye out. There might be some big shit floating across the parking lot and the street. The wind’s still strong enough to knock you over if you aren’t careful and the rain’s still coming down hard, so stick together. Nobody breaks rank. I want us all bunched up together. If everything goes smoothly, we should be on high ground in less than an hour.” He took one final look at everyone, taking in where everyone was located in the pack. “Everybody ready? Let’s move it.”

  With this, Potts waded through the broken front door and stopped, shining his flashlight left and right before silently nodding for everyone to follow him. The group was using both broken doors to exit through. Kyler wished that they could have a little rest before they went. His arms were still tired from holding the baby and the ragbag over his head, but he tried to put it out of his mind as he moved through the doorway and waded out into what used to be a parking lot where the rain immediately began to beat down on him.

  The group began to slowly and silently move through the darkness, in a cluster this time, with Potts only a few feet out in front. Unrecognizable shapes floated by them in the water. Some they could tell were tires, trashcans, and even in one instant, a small motorboat floated by them missing them by no more than twenty feet. Kyler noticed that everyone who wasn’t close to six feet tall was up to shoulder level in the water. He could see Gringo carrying Lauren through the water. Being only about five eight, he was having trouble keeping her head above the water, but he persevered, lifting her up as high as he could while trying to keep his own head above the water, once in awhile being assisted by either Locklear or Ariella who remained close to their daughter. The water helped those who were being assisted by giving them some buoyancy, making it easier for those helping them. Kyler couldn’t tell if Wilbur Munn was helping Opal or vice versa. She seemed to have retained the energy that she’d had before they’d left the hospital.

  With both arms raised in the air, Kyler was having trouble keeping the hard rain out of his eyes, shaking his head every few seconds trying to see ahead. Finally, he just lowered his head and kept his eyes on Zora and Burt who were just feet in front of him. He couldn’t tell who’s raincoat was who’s…they were both about the same height and both were thin. God, what would he do if something happened and someone got cut loose from the group? He supposed he could drop the ragbag…that was the least of their worries…but he couldn’t drop Kayla Dixon. He would have to hope that one of the soldiers or Sam Fong could help.

  The refugees continued silently through the water, each, like Kyler, keeping the rain out of their eyes by ducking behind those in front of them. Jeez, when was this parking lot going to end? It felt like they’d been trying to get to that hill for hours even though they’d probably only been gone for fifteen minutes. Kyler felt something touching his waist. He looked down to see that something white had attached itself to him. Still moving, he peered down until his eyes adjusted to the dark. It was a dead cat. It had been floating on its side, and its stomach landed against Kyler’s ribs, its forelegs landing in front of him while its back legs were behind him, giving the dead creature a horseshoe effect. Oh God…not again. He had seen enough floating corpses in the last day, he didn’t want to see any more. With both hands still in the air, he twisted left and right trying to shake the thing off of him, but the lifeless feline still clung to him because it had no place to go, its legs were almost completely wrapped around him while the current kept it stuck against his side. He continued to twist and twist but still the thing stuck to him. He finally turned completely around coming almost nose to nose with Sam Fong who was only a couple of feet behind him. As he faced Sam, the cat floated away, but not before hanging on with one claw. It was as if the thing were bound and determined to stay with him, but after a moment, the last claw tore away from his raincoat and the small, lifeless creature floated away becoming just another piece of floating debris which would end up on the other side of the island somewhere.

  When Kyler turned back around, he saw that the group was slightly ahead of him now. They had continued to move while he, Sam, and Sgt. Cohen had stopped. This left a large gap between them. With his now aching arms still in the air, he began to catch up. He noticed that he was having an easier time seeing everyone ahead of him. It must be getting close to dawn. Thank God, at least he’d be able to see again soon.

  After a few minutes, Kyler, with his head still down, slammed into the back of Zora, almost causing him to stumble. The group had stopped. They were at the hill and none too soon. He really didn’t know how much longer he could have kept his arms up. He gathered himself, and then stood on his toes to see where Potts was located. He was walking up the hill, slipping twice as he did so. Great. If Potts was slipping and sliding on the hill and not carrying anything, the rest of them were in a world of shit.

  CHAPTER 17

  Where it taken them twenty-five minutes to get across the parking lot, it took them almost twice that to get up the hill. Between the wind, the rain, and the wet grass, they had slipped, stumbled, fallen, and almost lost the zombie like Rob Olsen twice. Zack had been escorting him up the hill, when he had slipped down almost knocking Samantha down on the way, who was having enough of a struggle helping Sylva up the slope. I
t was Locklear O’Hearley who had saved the day by throwing his body down and stopping Rob’s progress after the two of them almost wiped out everyone behind them like bowling pins.

  “Come on, Son!” Potts barked, his loud voice sounding amazingly louder than the storm. “Hang on to your father or we’ll have to leave him!” Good old Col. Potts, Kyler thought to himself. Always the soul of propriety.

  With the exception of Gringo carrying Lauren, Kyler had struggled harder than anyone up the hill. While he no longer had to walk with both his arms up in the air, this left him with no way to brace himself if he fell. He tried holding the baby bag in one hand and putting the ragbag around his neck, but that wasn’t much help either. Before he was done, he had literally sat down with his back facing uphill, and butt scooted the rest of the way up.

  Kyler was exhausted when he finally made it to the top, but he wasn’t alone. When he turned around, he saw that everyone but Potts, naturally, was sitting or lying on the ground, out of breath. When Sam Fong and Sgt. Cohen reached the top, they too were gasping for air. Kyler saw that it was Sgt. Cohen’s turn now to finally wind down. He landed on his hands and knees and laid his head on the wet grass.

  “All right! Everybody up!” Potts screamed again. “We don’t have time for all of this lollygagging! Let’s move!”

  Kyler had moved next to Michael Blum to check on his leg.

  “Ya’ makin’ it, Michael?” he asked the boy, but Michael wasn’t looking. It was dawn now and he was staring at Samantha Gould, her small nurses uniform now clinging to her skin. It was almost transparent. Kyler chuckled.

  “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

  “She sure is,” the boy answered slowly, never taking his eyes off of her.

  “Men.” It was a female voice.

  Kyler looked up to see Zora LeMarque smiling down at the two of them. Kyler looked away, embarrassed, but not so young Blum. He had taken his eyes off Samantha and was now training them on Zora, who Kyler had to admit, looked equally ravishing in her skin tight, coatless pantsuit, her black bra showing through, even if he was half blinded by the rain. Wonderful. A thirty-one year old and a twelve year old looking up in wonderment at the same woman.

  “Let’s go!” Potts barked again.

  Saved by the bell. At Potts’ order, everyone began to stand up. As they did, Kyler noticed that the rain wasn’t beating down as hard. It had dissipated a little, not much, but it had lessened some. At least they could see now. Normally, the sun would be almost completely over the horizon by now, but the dark clouds continued to block it out, but at least there was light. Everyone else seemed to notice this, too, for even though it was still raining, the general mood seemed to pick up.

  Before they started, Potts turned and silently counted heads. Kyler saw him silently point to the bag Kayla Dixon was in and then to himself. He mouthed twenty-two. Twenty-two? He hadn’t realized that there were so many of them.

  “Can I walk with you?” It was Shelly Dixon, looking concerned and was staring at the old gym bag. Nurse Walling and FranAnne Fulton stood just behind her, looking at him for approval.

  “Sure, but I want Nurse Walling and Pvt. Fulton to walk with you. Okay?”

  Shelly nodded her head. “Can I take one more peak at her?”

  “Okay, but we have to make it quick. We don’t want the rain to get in on her.”

  Again, Shelly nodded her hand and unzipped the bag to take one more look. Once again, her eyes began to well up.

  “You won’t let her get wet, will you?”

  “Not if I can help it, Shelly.”

  “Let’s go!” It was Potts again. He had already started walking away.

  Everyone fell in behind him, each sticking to the same person that they had been with before. Shelly walked on Kyler’s right, FranAnne Fulton holding her by her right arm. Nurse Walling walked just in front of her. Shelly kept looking at the bag…or where the bag had been, because Kyler had put the gym bag under his raincoat under his right shoulder to try and shield the baby from the rain which was hitting him on his left side, though not much, because the group was walking in a cluster now and several of the group…Sgt. Cohen, Sam Fong, and the O’Hearley’s stayed to his left and took a lot of the rain on themselves that would normally be hitting him. The child was as dry as she could possibly be under the circumstances.

  “Okay, Col Potts,” he muttered under his breath. “Get us out of here.”

  CHAPTER 18

  As they walked toward the army camp, Kyler noticed that even though no one was speaking much, the general mood still seemed to be surprisingly light. Probably because no one was up to his armpits in water anymore. They were actually able to walk. They moved slowly for the first couple of hundred yards, but then began to pick it up after they noticed that there wasn’t much debris flying through the air anymore, mostly paper, cardboard, and once in a while, an aluminum can might land in front of someone, but for the most part, there were no more stop signs or stop lights, or tires flying through the air. To Kyler, they looked like a group of near happy zombies.

  After an hour, it was light enough to see the actual devastation that the hurricane had caused. There were roofs where there were no houses, there were cars where there was no road, and there were fish…fish…when they were nowhere near the water. And lastly, there were no seven-foot canine creatures in the general vicinity.

  Potts was the first to notice a body. They’d walked at least half a mile when he decided to give everyone a break, which they sorely needed. The two privates were becoming worn out carrying Michael Blum, as was Gringo with carrying Lauren O’Hearley. They figured that the only reason they were stopping was because Potts had to pee.

  He walked into a patch of weeds that had somehow withstood the storm, and began to relieve himself. After about five minutes, the group began to laugh about the size of the man’s bladder. When another two or three minutes went by with still no Potts, Sgt. Cohen went to check on him. Barely a minute had gone before the two of them emerged from the weeds and motioned Kyler over. Kyler stood up and pointed to himself not sure if they were hailing him or one of the other soldiers. Potts gave him the hard and fast “get over here now, Asshole” wave. As everyone watched, Kyler started making his way towards the men, stepping over several of the group as he did so. He had left baby and mother together to feed. He actually felt fairly unencumbered at the moment, but that feeling didn’t last long. When he reached Potts and Cohen, they immediately walked him a few yards into the weeds, the two soldiers leading the way, making him feel not too unlike Dr. McCoy on “Star Trek”. After a few seconds, they both stopped and looked down. As the doctor approached, Potts pointed to a spot.

  “There,” he said.

  Kyler looked down to see a human leg…a whole leg from thigh to foot. It was completely naked except for a lace-up boot on the foot. Much of the flesh was torn from the calf and thigh area as if some animals had fed on it.

  “It’s a leg,” he replied.

  “Really?” Potts started, sarcasm dripping off the word. “Jeez, I thought it was a pecker with a knee in the middle!”

  For the tenth time in a full day, he felt like an idiot. He thought of the buzzard in the old cartoon with the big nose and the big Adam’s apple, and the moronic grin on its face as it sang “I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee”.

  “The morgue must’ve blown over and scattered the remains of the jet crash victims,” he answered, trying to sound a tad more professional than he just had.

  “Were there any soldiers in the morgue?” Sgt. Cohen asked, staring down at the leg.

  “No. I oversaw the project myself,” Potts told him. “I saw pretty much every piece of flesh, bone, and severed head that was in there. I don’t think any of ‘em were soldiers. Why do you think it might’ve belonged to a soldier?”

  “The boot,” Kyler answered. Even he could tell that the shin high, lace-up boot was military issue. Now it was the colonel’s turn to feel like the cartoon buzzard. />
  Potts reached down and picked up the leg by the boot, almost causing Kyler and even Sgt. Cohen to jump back a little. He turned it over in his hands and examined the area where it had been separated from the body.

  “Do you think maybe, our friend could’ve done this?” he asked.

  Before either could answer him, they heard a woman scream. They immediately began to run back towards the group. When they reached them, they saw that everyone was standing up facing the opposite side of the field. Gringo and Pvt. Hawkins were already running toward the sound by the time the three had made it back to the group.

  “What the hell happened?” Potts exclaimed. Everyone turned and began to tell him what they had just heard, when they all stopped, looked at Potts, and then became silent, most of their mouths dropping open.

  Kyler wondered why everyone was staring at the three of them. It didn’t take long for him to figure it out. When he turned to look at the other two, he saw what everyone was gaping at. Potts still had the severed leg in his hand.

  “What are you people looking at?” the colonel asked, confused for the first time since Kyler had met him. Kyler pointed to the leg, which dangled at his side. Realizing he still had the limb in his hand, Potts quickly put it behind his back as if hiding it would make them forget what they’d just seen. Samantha Gould fainted on the spot, followed quickly by Cpl. Munn.

  Kyler and Nurse Walling quickly dropped to the ground to take care of the fainters while Potts, Sgt. Cohen, and Sam Fong began to run toward the other scream, which had belonged to Shelly Dixon who had walked away from the group so that she could feed and change Kayla. When the three men reached the opposite side of the field, they saw Pvt. Hawkins and Gringo were standing over Shelly Dixon while Pvt. Fulton held the baby.