Coastal Event Memories

by A. G. Kimbrough

  That evening, there were two suicides by mothers who realized that their children were gone.

  Over the next weeks many things changed. They now ate their meals in the General Mess. They were also welcome in the gym and pool, as well as the four clubs that had nightly music, limited booze, and many dark corners. The staff all had private rooms and women were welcome to enter and stay. Birth control of any form was not available, and when a women was confirmed pregnant then she had the option of staying with the presumed father, or moving into a room with another mother to be.

  Cindy worked days in Director Kemp’s office, and Rose worked in the laundry. They went to the gym most days and to a club three or four times a week. Cindy met a cute young officer, Raymond Jennings, who was the pilot for the big helicopter. Rose was busy captivating a senior officer. He was in his 40’s, and commanded the Motor Pool Company. They both occasionally stayed overnight, but refused offers of a different arraignment.

  Their lives seemed to stabilize, until the week when Cindy’s period was late, and she was sick every morning. When the test strip indicated that she was indeed pregnant, she went to Rose in tears.

  Again, Rose was pragmatic. “So you’re going to have a kid. It’s not the end of the world. Move in with your guy the next time he offers. You must have set the hook by now. I know I have the Colonel wrapped around my finger.”

  Reluctantly, Cindy agreed that moving in was the best option, for now. Two months later, when she admitted that she was pregnant, he kicked her out. She moved in with another mom who had suffered a similar fate.

  When Lilly was born Cindy thought she was a miracle, and resolved that she would never have to live like her mother.

  Chapter 7

  There was a lot of debris in the water, shipping containers, parts of buildings, even the bow of a ship that was bigger than the Goose. The days had heavily overcast skies, with less than a mile of visibility. At night, there was none, and when the darkness returned, we struck the jib and drifted until the next morning.

  Finally, on September third (Day 96), we approached what the GPS said was San Francisco Bay. I was looking through binoculars, trying to spot the Golden Gate Bridge. Dad pointed to a square, orange structure, sticking out of the water.

  “I believe that’s the South Tower,” he said. “And over there, that must be the top stories of the B of A building. The sea level must have risen well over 300 feet.”

  Everyone was out on deck, and the silence said it all.

  Allison Jacobs asked, “Where did all the people go?”

  No one had an answer that they were willing to voice.

  We anchored the Goose for the night, and turned on all the lights. Even though we all looked until we were tired, we found no evidence of life.

  The next morning, April Hall demanded that we sail up the Sacramento River to see if we could find her husband Eric. She had been through hell, not knowing, and no one argued with her.

  The trip was slow, because of the amount of floating debris, and the fact that we had to navigate using the GPS, since the river was now part of a huge Inland Sea.

  We reached what the GPS said was the Port of Sacramento by late morning of the next day. The city was mostly under water, except for some wrecked high rise buildings and houses on the foothills to the east. We followed the path of the American River, and passed over Folsom Dam. It was under over 150 feet of water according to the fathometer.

  We anchored in shallow water near what the map called El Dorado Hills. Most of the homes appeared intact, except for blown out windows. Dad noticed smoke coming from a chimney on a home near the top of the hill. He tried calling out with loudspeaker, but got no response.

  We turned all the lights on again that night, and waited. About two hours after sundown, Dad saw a couple of people sneaking down the hill with the night vision goggles. Doc turned on the spotlight on them, and they crouched down behind a wall.

  Dad called out with the loudspeaker “We mean you no harm. Come back in the morning and we can talk.”

  Doc then turned off the spotlight and all the external lights. Dad kept watch with the night vision goggles until the stranger left the area.

  The next morning we unstrapped the inflatable and Dad ran it the 50 yards to the shore. I saw that he had a pistol under his shirt, and that both Doc and Mr. Jacobs had assault rifles out of sight on deck. The moms herded all us kids below decks. I fired up the TV camera on the main mast and we watched Dad’s progress.

  Dad stayed in the open, and was soon joined by a man holding a long gun. They talked for a long time, and then shook hands. The man went behind a building and Dad returned to the boat.

  He explained what he had learned. “Times are very bad around here. The flood, earthquake, and the storm killed anyone not on high ground and under cover. The survivors are desperate, hungry, and scared. Those that have provisions have to fight to keep them. There are roaming bands of thugs that take anything they want and kill anyone who objects. The man I spoke with, is Aaron Johnson, a CHP Sargent. He and his wife and two kids, live in the home where we saw the smoke. They have already had to fight off two different groups of thugs, and his wife was wounded in the last one. He asked if we would take his family to someplace that is safer. He has provisions and some weapons. It’s up to you Doc, but I vote we help them. He seems like a decent guy, and we may need another gun.”

  Doc did not hesitate, “No question about it, we need them as much as they need us. I’ll get my medical bag.”

  Dad pulled in the anchor and drove the Goose as close as possible to the shore. Dad and Doc, with assault rifles on their backs went ashore, and walked up the hill. Several minutes later, a pickup came down the hill. Doc helped a young woman and two kids into the boat. We helped them aboard, and April Hall took the boat back to the shore.

  The pickup was full of provisions and survival equipment. It took three trips and all the remaining storage space to get it all on board.

  A group of thugs on motorcycles appeared as we were bringing the inflatable back on deck. Again we kids were hustled below decks, this time to the sounds of gunfire.

  Dad backed the Goose away from shore while our assault rifles returned fire and forced the thugs to take cover. We sailed back down toward Sacramento.

  Doc had a car GPS that he fired up, and used it to anchor over the Capital Building. The sonar painted a picture of a pile of rubble. Dad unpacked the little submersible ROV, and it relayed a TV picture, which indicated much of downtown, had been heavily damaged in the earthquakes that proceeded the flooding. April Hall watched in silence, and then fled the bridge. Her sister, Allison Jacobs followed and Doc commented. “He’s gone.”

  The next morning we started searching for a safe refuge to make a land base. A week later, up the Sacramento River, we found an isolated island that the map called Sutters Butte. We sailed all the way around it, and found a cliff on the West Side, that made a natural wharf. Dad maneuvered the Goose up to it, and we tied up to a couple of big trees.

  The island was seven miles long and ten miles wide. There were five abandoned summer homes scattered along it and a large meadow that became our communal garden site. Doc took the larger home, and it was designated as the Medical Center. Dad and I stayed living on the Goose, to keep an eye on things like keeping the bilge pumped. The other three families set up housekeeping in the other homes, and the first garden was planted.

  After all the supplies were unloaded, We started doing some salvage and trading trips. We towed several floating cargo containers back to the island. One was full of new bikes and another had 4 new garden tractors and accessories. Others were useless, big screen TV’s, purses, electronics, and other junk. A container full of designer blue jeans and another of camping gear added to the trading booty.

  We stopped at several places around the shores of the Inland Sea, where we found survivors. We mostly traded for food items, including live chickens, pygmy goats and rabbits. We also gave refuge to a few fa
milies with useful skills, including an ER Nurse, a machinist, a farmer, and a crewman from a tugboat. He said that the tug and a fuel barge it was towing had been abandoned in the delta when the water receded. He had a dirt bike on board and had used it to get to high ground.

  The next trip we went looking for the tug and found it and the barge east of Stockton. It took a week of hard work, but we were able to get them both re-floated and the tug operational.

  Chapter 8

  The path down the mountain was treacherous and muddy. The creek was down quite a bit, but David had to work his downstream almost a mile before he found a safe place to ford. It was almost nightfall when he reached the point where he left his truck. The wind had rolled it down the side of the hill. The shell over the bed was partially crushed, but it was mostly dry, and David was able to sleep dry that night.

  The next morning David started working his way down the mountain, mostly following the fire road he had taken on the way up. When it joined the highway, he continued west. By that afternoon he reached the junction where his friends plan to stay at the Creekside Motel.

  There was nothing left but the foundations. During the Event the creek had become a raging river, and washed it all away. He hoped that they had not stopped there, but a mile downstream he saw Jason’s crumpled truck wedged against the hillside. He checked inside the cab, but their stuff was not there. Deep down he knew that they had not survived.

  The next afternoon he reached the Big Thunder Indian Casino. The two-story building was mostly intact. There were fresh tire tracks in the sand that covered the parking lot, but no vehicle was in sight. At the entrance he called out, but heard no reply. When he entered, a sickly sweet smell greeted him.

  They were in the bar area. Both were dead, with evidence of torture, and the woman was nude.

  David spent the afternoon burying them in a common grave behind the building. There was an office upstairs, where the safe had been opened and emptied. He slept there that night on a couch, with the pistol by his side. He took a couple of cans of meat and a box of Bisquick from the pantry, and a bottle of scotch from the bar. After a breakfast of canned ham and cheese, He shouldered his pack and started following the tire tracks down the canyon.

  After about five miles, the tracks turned off the highway, on to a narrow road. The tracks did not come out. David climbed the hill above the road, and carefully followed it up the canyon, while keeping in the brush and out of sight.

  He heard the scream before he saw the cabin. Dropping the pack, he crept closer, and discovered that an older man was tied to a column that supported the corner of the roof. The older man screamed when a younger man touched a cigarette to his face. An AK47 was leaning against the wall. Another young man opened the door and said, “knock it off, the old broad just dropped the coffee when he screamed. I’m hungry, let’s eat first.”

  The second man came out and sat down at a table on the other side of the porch. “Gimme a butt and a light.”

  The other guy responded, “ I tell you they gotta have some gold around somewhere. They got a nice sluce box over there. I’ll make that geezer talk, just like I made that guy open the safe.”

  “All in good time, now I want to eat. Hurry up in there,” he shouted.

  The door opened, and an older woman came out carrying a coffeepot and two cups. “I’ll have it ready in a few minutes. The Coleman’s only got one burner.” She set the items down and went back inside.

  Keeping out of sight, David crept around to the back of the cabin. There was a back door, and he carefully opened it. She startled when she saw him, but did not cry out.

  “Shush, I’m a friend. Ask one of them to open the door for you and get out of the way. It’s risky, but I have to try to take them both out.” She agreed, and took out a tray and a stack of dishes.

  David hid behind the door, and the woman called out for someone to open the door. When it swung open, the woman threw the tray to the floor with a crash. The startled young man hesitated and then started to reach for the 9mm at his waist. David had wondered if he would be able to take a life, but did not hesitate to put a 357 slug through his chest, and knocked him off the porch.

  David was through the door before the second young man could reach the AK47, and the first bullet in his hip, spun him around. The second took him out.

  The old man, Elmer Frombach, was in bad shape. David and his wife Alice carried him into the bed. He had a broken arm, lots of cuts, burns, and bruises, and a possible concussion. After they had done everything possible for Fred, Alice made a meal for them.

  “They came driving up like they owned the place, pulled out their guns, and tied Fred up. There was nothing we could do. Thank God you showed up. They would have killed us for sure.”

  David then told her what he had found at the casino. After finishing the best meal he had enjoyed since before the Event, he buried the two thugs in a shallow grave below the road. Their vehicle was a 1989 Dodge diesel 4X4 truck. It was all decked out with a shell, roll bar, a winch, and big off road tires. There was a CB radio and a shotgun in the cab. The fuel tank was almost full and there were two, full five gallon fuel containers in the shell. A bag in the shell contained the contents of the casino safe. There was also a box with several cases of ammunition and another box of liquor.

  David stayed with the Frombachs for two months, while Elmer recovered. He made a trip back to the casino and returned with all the useable food from the pantry. In a second trip he loaded up anything he thought would be a good barter item. The Frombachs would be OK for a while with the supplies he recovered from the casino, but they were both seniors, and physically were in no shape to do what was necessary for long-term sustainability.

  He promised to come back for them as soon as he secured a safe and sustainable location for them all to live. They insisted that he take most of the bulk packaged food supplies, saying that they would not be able to use it before it spoiled. He left the shotgun, his pistol, and the ammo for them.

  Chapter 9

  On Day 50 Zeke started the port engine and backed away from ledge where it had been grounded, and set the anchor. Over the next two days he made a complete inspection of his craft, including an underwater look to insure that the hull was not damaged.

  With the fuel tanks still nearly full, Zeke resolved to start a survey of the Inland Sea. On Day 62, he noticed a smoke smudge on the western horizon. The next morning he pulled up to a small island. There was a building in a cutout against a hill. A tractor tire was burning at the water's edge, and behind stood three adults and a small child.

  They were all desperately hungry, dirty, and overjoyed to see him. Later, after a meal and baths, Zeke sat with Hector Mendoza, his son Roberto, and daughter in-law, Maria Delgado. The child, Christopher, was Maria's son. They had taken shelter in the building, when the water started rising. They had just survived, on a case of almonds, they found in the warehouse. Hector's wife had been a diabetic, and had died on Day 23. Maria's husband had gone into town to get the insulin prescription refilled on Day 0, and had not returned.

  The next morning, over coffee with Hector while Maria made breakfast, they discussed their future.

  “I and my son are farmers. We have lived in this valley all our lives. If we can find a place with good dirt, we can grow plenty of food. There is a place Southeast of here that Con-Agra planted an apricot orchard on the hillside. It did not do well without the irrigation quota, but the soil is good. I hope we can find some seeds, I don't want to have to survive on apricots and wild onions.”

  Zeke interrupted, “I have a wide variety of seeds for my hydroponic garden. Do you think we can find it?”

  Hector replied, “It is about 30 miles Southeast of here. There are some tools and equipment that we can use in the warehouse, Roberto and I will get them aboard right after breakfast.”

  Zeke was pleased to have company, and Maria's breakfast was a welcome change from what he usually threw together.

  They reached
their new home the next afternoon. Although the orchard was heavily damaged by the storm, Hector said that with pruning, most of the trees should recover.

  Over the next six months, the garden was planted, the orchard was pruned, and a shelter was built. Zeke wanted everyone to keep living on the Flush, but Hector insisted that he wanted to have a shelter on shore. On the day it was completed, Zeke proposed to Maria.

  She had dealt with her grief, and recognized that Zeke was a fine man, who loved her, and would provide for her and her son. They stayed on the Flush, and within a year, Lilly Jacoby arrived.

  Chapter 10

  On Day 145, David started down the hill. When he reached Highway 49 he turned north toward Placerville. He crossed the Cosumnes River Bridge with some misgivings, since the debris on it indicated that it had been over washed. The crossing was made without difficulty.