‘We’re making good time,’ Saunders added. ‘We could go ashore and hunt for food as soon as the weather eases.’
‘How are your people holding up?’ Hank asked Jake.
Jake did not look at the captain as he replied.
‘As well as can be expected after what happened. Right now I don’t think that they know who to trust or turn to. You fed us a member of our team for Christ’s sake, and then made another fight to the death.’
The captain kept his eye on the crew outside.
‘Not my job to worry about that. They need only stay in line and they’ll be fine.’
‘They were doing just fine until Denton’s attack,’ Jake pointed out. ‘Look, I get it okay? You’ve got to dominate your crew. They’re tough and dangerous and without discipline they’d probably kill us all. But my team aren’t criminals. They don’t work under the same code and they don’t understand it.’
‘They’ve nothing to be afraid of.’
‘They’re afraid of your crew,’ Jake snapped, ‘and they’re afraid of you.’
‘Is that so?’
Jake said nothing more, but Saunders spoke quietly as he guided the ship through the never ending waves that thundered across the bows in cascades of white water.
‘Would I still be standing here if the captain couldn’t be trusted?’
Jake regarded the old helmsman for a while.
‘That depends,’ Jake replied, ‘on who’s doing the trusting.’
Hank turned to Saunders and gestured to the coast. ‘Take us in. We’ll anchor off the quays, just in case.’
Charlotte hurried into the wheelhouse, her coat drenched in rain as she threw her hood back.
‘He’s awake,’ she said.
*
The room came into view slowly. Breaths were hard to take, pain swelling and receding with each breath as though pulsing in rhythm to the dip and sway of the ship.
Cody blinked up at the light above him, confused.
‘Maria?’ he cried out. ‘Danielle?’
A softly lit face appeared above him and came into focus. Bethany rested a hand on Cody’s forearm.
‘You’re okay, Cody, you’re aboard the Phoenix.’
Cody tried to sit up but pain throbbed through his chest. He slumped back down as he looked at Bethany and realised where he lay. In the sick bay, in Bobby’s bed. He tried again to move and this time Bethany helped him up into a sitting position.
Cody looked down and saw that his chest was stained with a large and ugly purple bruise ringed with pale yellow skin.
‘What happened?’
Bethany arranged his pillows to make him more comfortable. ‘I don’t know. I think that the gun was loaded with blanks. Some sort of test by the captain.’
Cody frowned. ‘Test? I got shot.’
Bethany nodded. ‘Yeah, but Denton’s the one who’s been placed in irons. He’s chained up in the hold.’
Cody struggled to understand, and was relieved when Charlotte and Jake walked in through the doorway. Jake smiled as he saw recognition in Cody’s eyes.
‘Welcome back.’
Charlotte looked at Cody’s chest and winced. ‘At least it wasn’t a real bullet.’
‘How long was I out?’
‘Just less than twenty-four hours,’ Bethany said, ‘likely owing to exhaustion as much as your injury.’
Jake eased himself down onto the end of the bed as he spoke.
‘The captain felt he had no choice but to test what he calls our humanity, if you can believe that. I think he must have had religion at some point in his life or something. The gun he tossed you and Denton was loaded with a blank round to see if either of you would refuse to shoot the other. Denton failed the test.’
Cody rubbed his head. ‘What’s going to happen to Denton?’
Jake shrugged. ‘The hell do we care? That asshole’s had it in for us since they first showed up at Alert.’
‘It’s not as simple as that,’ Charlotte pointed out. ‘The crew, especially Seth, sees it that Denton was duped by the captain and they’re not happy about it. Hank’s taken to wearing a pistol at all times now, which tells us all we need to know.’
Cody sighed and let his head sink back onto the pillow. ‘Jesus, we’re in as much danger here as we were in the Arctic.’
‘The crew could turn at any time,’ Bethany agreed. ‘It’s all they can do to look us in the eye. Hank sent a hunting party ashore yesterday and they came back with a lot of seals and ice that they melted. We’ve got enough supplies to get us down to Boston without having to eat….’
Bethany cut herself off.
‘St John?’ Cody asked Jake, changing the subject.
‘You’ll get to see it for yourself,’ Jake replied. ‘Captain wants you on deck for some reason once you’re up to it, before we leave.’
‘We’re at anchor?’ Cody asked.
‘Off the Narrows,’ Jake replied. ‘Captain’s just waiting for you,’
Cody struggled to get out of the bed. ‘I’ll be okay. Let’s see what he wants.’
Bethany helped Cody dress and fetched him a weak cup of coffee from the galley. He gingerly shrugged on a thick coat, which Bethany zipped up for him. He watched as she worked, suddenly aware of her closeness.
‘You said you’ve got family back in Boston?’ he said.
Bethany slowed as she sealed his jacket. ‘A little brother, Ben,’ she said, ‘my mom and dad too, but I don’t want anything to do with my folks. They were into drugs.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
Bethany shrugged and finished pushing the Velcro seals into place. ‘It is what it is. You’re good to go.’
Cody turned and walked out of the bay and down the corridor that led to the ‘tween decks, Bethany following. Cody glanced down at the hatch to the hold as he passed through and on into the stern quarters. He clambered up the steps into the wheelhouse to see Hank Mears, Saunders and Jake manning the deck.
The captain glanced at Cody and then turned back to survey the view from the wheelhouse windows.
A broad coastline, a natural bay of steep cliffs peppered with small houses that led toward something that Cody felt as though he had not seen in a lifetime. A skyline of low buildings crouched against the bitter firmament. The masts of countless boats lined the shore. To the left, a stonewall harbour contained smaller vessels sheltered against the bitter winds gusting in from the bleak ocean.
The whole scene was cast in shades of grey, as though the veils of rain falling from the scudding clouds had rinsed the town of colour. Squalls spilled against ancient granite cliffs that towered over the harbour entrance.
‘Why don’t we dock?’ Cody asked.
Jake replied as he gestured at the town.
‘We’ve been ashore,’ he said. ‘That’s when we shot the seals we found. They were in a pack a few miles down from here. Too busy eating the remains of townsfolk to pay us any mind.’
Cody looked across at Jake as the captain finally spoke.
‘If there’s anybody left alive here, there’s nothing that we can do for them,’ he said.
Cody stared at the town and suddenly details resolved themselves that he had not at first noticed. Many of the boats in the harbour were sunk, their masts jumbled at odd angles. Others were mere shells of blackened wood like the skeletons of bizarre sea creatures beached on a lonely shore.
Buildings were stained with black soot where they had burned. Litter and debris filled the streets and the choppy waves of the harbour in a grim flotsam. It was then that Cody saw the bodies floating amid the waves and wreckage or laying in the streets. Flocks of birds wheeled overhead and pecked at them, hovering in flocks above the carrion in the gusting winds.
‘The town is dead,’ Bethany whispered for Cody. ‘Nothing and nobody left. No food, no water, not much fuel. Any boat that was functional when the storm hit has either been destroyed or has fled.’
‘They burned their own boats?’ Cody asked.
‘Survival,’ the captain said. ‘They were seeking warmth, things to burn.’
‘We found a library in the smaller town,’ Jake said. ‘Not a single book left inside. These people became so desperate they burned the very things that might have helped them survive.’
The captain turned to Cody.
‘This is what we truly are, Doctor,’ he said. ‘When it comes down to the last meal or the last drink of water; when it comes to protecting our families or our own lives, we all show our true colours. We are not loving, kind and humane creatures. That’s just the kind of bullshit we could convince ourselves of when we had heat and light and warm meals and cinemas and music concerts and all that stuff we loved. Take it all away and we’re exposed for what we truly are: animals, just like every other animal on our planet, and we’ll fight like animals until there’s nobody left.’
Cody shook his head.
‘That doesn’t mean we should act like animals, no matter what. If we lose who we are, we’ll lose everything that goes with it.’
‘Tell that to a starving population of ten thousand people, all of whom would give their own lives to protect their families. You’ve got family, a daughter. You tell me: would you let Denton live in place of your little girl?’
‘That’s not the same thing. Denton’s already proven himself a threat. My daughter is only three years old.’
‘Doesn’t matter,’ the captain replied. ‘You’d choose between one and the other, and that’s what all of these people did.’
‘That’s my point,’ Cody nodded. ‘They fought, and look what happened to them. They’re all dead because they didn’t cooperate.’
‘You think they’d all be alive if they’d held hands and sung happy songs?’ Hank uttered.
‘No,’ Cody admitted, ‘but they’d have stood a better chance together than alone.’
The captain shook his head.
‘Now you’re awake, we can leave. I wanted you to witness this before we sailed.’
‘Witness what?’
Hank didn’t reply as he buttoned up his jacket and marched out onto the main deck. Cody followed with Bethany and Jake. The cold wind whistled through the rigging high above and whipped the surface of the bay into choppy waves like a vast sheet of beaten iron flecked with white rollers.
The crew mustered beside the mainmast at Saunders’ command. Cody saw Bradley nearby, and the soldier nodded at him in silent greeting. Sauri stood beside his comrade, watching quietly as the captain addressed the crew.
‘You’ve all sailed under me these months passed,’ he boomed. ‘You all know how I work and how I expect you to work. This ship is all that we have left. Unless we can find a safe haven where we can build a new life, we will be doomed to ever sail the oceans. I know that you do not want that any more than I do.’ The captain glanced at Cody. ‘But unless we cooperate, we will all die aboard this ship. I cannot afford the time, the effort or the risk that any man among you may try to take this vessel or harm its occupants. We have a duty not just to ourselves but to each other, because together we are greater than the sum of our parts.’
The captain nodded to Saunders, who turned and yanked off the canvas sheets covering one of the ship’s life boats. Cody was surprised to see Denton’s shivering form hauled from the boat’s hull, his wrists and ankles bound and a canvas sack roughly tied over his head. He wore only jeans, sneakers and a thick pullover.
Saunders yanked Denton from the lifeboat and prodded him to the ship’s port bulwarks as the captain went on.
‘We are all in this together. Any of you who refuse to work as part of a team, who prefer to act alone, will see that wish granted.’
Saunders yanked the hood off Denton’s face. The sailor’s skin was mottled with the cold, his limbs quivering as Saunders used a stubby knife to slice through the thick tape binding Denton’s ankles. Cody looked at the rest of the crew and saw Seth glaring at him in silence.
The sailor tried to plead but his lips trembled so violently that he could not form words. Spittle dribbled from his mouth and as he tried to take a step forward his legs gave way beneath him and he thumped to his knees on the deck.
‘What are you going to do to him? Bethany asked.
‘Nothing,’ the captain replied.
Hank nodded at Saunders, who reached out for one of several inflatable life-rafts that were flat-packed into cases around the deck. Saunders pulled the raft free of its container and hurled it overboard as he pulled the inflation cord. The raft landed beside the Phoenix and inflated until it bobbed about on the choppy grey water.
Cody felt his guts plunge. ‘You’re marooning him. Is this really necessary?’
The captain’s reply came on the wind.
‘It is, if you really believe that cooperation is the key to our survival. Denton is not capable of it.’
Denton struggled against the first mate but Bradley Trent grabbed the sailor’s weakened frame and hoisted him clear off his feet and hurled Denton over the side. The sailor crashed down into the freezing water alongside the bright yellow raft and somehow managed to haul himself aboard before the cold stiffened his limbs entirely.
‘I heard you made bet on my survival not so long ago,’ Bradley called down to Denton. ‘I’d put ten bucks down that you’re dead by tomorrow, but nobody took my odds.’
The soldier smiled grimly and then turned away from the bulwarks.
‘All hands!’ Hank thundered. ‘Weigh anchor and make sail! Start the engine to break us free of the bay!’
The crew ambled to their duty, casting dark glances at Cody as they moved off. Seth brushed past him. ‘This isn’t over, Ryan,’ he spat.
Hank Mears turned for the wheelhouse.
‘You’re turning your own men against you,’ Cody uttered as the captain passed by.
Hank did not reply.
Ever so slowly, the Phoenix made headway against the current as Saunders and Taylor got the diesel engine running. The crew labouring on the decks cast long glances back as the ship drew out of the lonely bay, at the tiny yellow speck of the life raft as it vanished into the distance.
Denton sat in the raft with his hands raised in the air as he waved and pleaded and begged, his cries whipped away by the bitter wind snapping through the bay.
Cody watched until the Phoenix turned out of the narrows and the town of St John’s vanished far behind them.
***
24
Week 34
My beloved Maria,
This morning we rounded the southern headlands of Nova Scotia. The captain has assured us that with a fair wind we should raise Boston by tomorrow morning. Such hopes and fears as I have never felt fill me now with a wonderful excitement and a terrible dread at what we might find, and whether I might find you.
The city of Halifax, past which we recently sailed, was a burning cinder devoid of life. We found no surviving human inhabitants. The population appears to have succumbed to the winter and to each other. Bethany found evidence of diseases such as cholera when she studied the remains of several victims. The terrible fate of Halifax’s citizens was repeated again at Yarmouth. Bethany’s assessment matches the description of events after the storm related by the captain and crew of the Phoenix, and seems to follow the same pattern wherever we sail: after the storm there is at first confusion, then the spread of panic as law enforcement collapses. Conflict follows as food and water dwindle and families defend their right to survive. The cities empty as survivors flood into the wilderness in search of fresh water and live game, but without the basic ability to endure a winter in such harsh climes they quickly succumb to starvation, exposure, dehydration or predation by both animals and other humans.
In Halifax, Bethany found evidence of cannibalism. The sombre remains of hastily erected fires and charred human skulls haunt us all as we sail ever further south, but those terrible sights seem to have thawed the hostility of the Phoenix’s crew toward us despite their own despicable acts. Perhaps, somehow, t
hey are beginning to realise that it truly is just us against the world and that if we do not stick together, we can only fall apart.
Maria, in the next few days I know that I shall learn of what has become of you and your mother. I pray that I have the strength to accept what I find and that whatever has happened you have not suffered, for I do not believe I could live the rest of my days knowing that I have failed you so terribly. I fear that the choices I have made in life mean that I do not deserve to find you.
Regardless, know that I will not stop until I do.
I love you very much,
Dad
*
The dawn was a brilliant scythe of fearsome sunlight that stretched across the horizon through tattered ribbons of cloud strewn across a powder blue sky. Sharp black shadows struck across the deck of the Phoenix as she sailed on eerily calm waters under full sail, her canvas rumbling and thumping in the fluke winds.
Cody stood beside the foremast and managed a quiet smile as they sailed past Long Island and he saw the familiar skyline of Boston hove into view. Towering skyscrapers dominated the city headland, an iconic monolith of mankind’s dominance, and to the right of the Charles River estuary he could see Logan International Airport and the specks of its control tower and low terminals.
Bethany stood beside him, one arm looped through his as they watched the city grow slowly before them. Sauri, Reece and Bradley stood with Charlotte nearby, while Jake stood with the captain and crew further back.
The captain had ordered the crew to sail past Spectacle Island, a kilometre off Boston’s eastern shoreline. The island had been a recreational facility with walks, tourist cafes and a small harbour back before the storm but no permanent residents. A quick stop there had yielded no useful supplies.
The Phoenix sailed on by and headed for Castle Island, where the stoic walls of Fort Independence stood. As the ship passed by Cody could clearly see a ragged Star Spangled Banner still flying from its pole. The fort looked exactly as it had done when he had last seen it but for the detritus gusting across its lawns, a mass of old leaves and trash rolling with the wind, some piling up against the walls of the fort or spilling into the water.
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