by J. B. Craig
24. Stella and the Stellas
Maria woke up to morning light and loud squawks of sea and forest birds. She suddenly realized that she’d slept through the night’s watch, sitting bolt-upright. After a quick look around, she relaxed - Bannon was asleep near a large felled tree, curled up under his own poncho, and Pete was sitting on a big piece of driftwood near the shore.
Maria walked over to Pete. “Good morning,” he said, smiling at her. “Sleep okay?”
“Good morning my ass,” Maria said in a low voice, cuffing him upside the head. “You were supposed to wake me hours ago. I had second watch!”
“Whoa there,” Pete whispered, stung. “Talk to your damn cousin; he shook me awake and told me to let you sleep or I’d lose my fingers!”
“Oh,” Maria said. She reddened. “I just assumed - sorry,” She apologized. “Shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
Pete huffed a laugh. “No harm done,” he said. “And hey, at least you got to sleep in, right? I was honestly fine with it. I slept all the way through you guys setting up, so.”
As Maria remembered where else he’d slept last night, she blushed harder. “Uh,” she said, and frantically looked around for a change of subject. As she looked out over the water, her eyes landed on a long pole sticking straight out of it. Frowning at it, she asked, “Is that the mast?”
“Yeah,” Pete said. “She got blown off of the sandbar during the night. We had nothing to patch her with, so I didn’t see any reason to wake you guys up.”
Maria sighed and nodded. “Pretty sure I’m in the running for worst captain ever,” she grumbled. When Pete started to protest, she gave him a little smile. “Don’t argue with me. A bad captain is still a captain, and that’s a mutiny.”
“Real hard to have a good mutiny without a ship,” Pete teased. He stretched and yawned, blinking several times. “Speaking of. Do we have a plan from here?”
“Maybe,” she said. “You should go get a little more sleep, if you can. When Bannon wakes up, we’ll talk about next steps.” Looking at their pile of gear, she asked, “Do you have any idea where our chart is?”
“Right here, Cap’n!” Pete snapped a salute and pulled it from his cargo pocket. “I found where we are, and I’ve been trying to come up with a couple ideas. Just wake me when Sleeping Beauty’s up,” he joked, jerking a thumb at Bannon.
“Thanks, Pete,” Maria said. After a moment, she added quietly, “Sorry I unloaded on you. I just felt bad that I couldn’t do more yesterday. A better sailor probably would’ve handled the situation differently.”
“You’re better than I am, and Bannon didn’t have any issues,” Pete pointed out. “You got us on shore alive again, Captain. You’re pulling your weight.”
Maria ducked her head, brushing her hair back behind her ears. “Thanks,” she said quietly. “For - everything, really. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Don’t mention it,” Pete said. With a smile, he dug an MRE entree out of the other pocket of his shorts and handed it to Maria. “Here. Saved this for you. It’s cheese tortellini in tomato sauce; I know it’s not good, but it seems to be the best of the worst, so. Figured you might want it.”
“Pete, I could kiss you right now,” Maria announced. Her eyes widened as she realized that her mouth had moved faster than her brain. Of all of the things she could’ve said - especially while she was still feeling awkward about the night before. She was such an idiot!
Pete looked a little startled too - but his gaze quickly softened. “Well, now,” he said, sitting up a little straighter. “Would you?”
It was an honest response to her throwaway comment - but he sounded interested, enough for her to be sure. It was - scary, but exhilarating, and Maria was tired of denying how she felt. “Maybe I would,” she said, tentatively stepping closer. “Pretty sure you’re more than earned it,” she added softly.
“Maria, I’ve got to be honest with you,” Pete said. Maria’s heart went into her throat - but his eyes crinkled, a gorgeous smile lighting his whole face. “I don’t think I’d be capable of saying no to that.”
Maria laughed, a little shy, and sat down next to him. Carefully, she took his face in her hands, and gently tugged him forward, pulling him in for a long, soft kiss. “There,” Maria murmured. “Better?”
“Not yet,” Pete said breathlessly. “But I’m willing to work on it.” He put an arm around her waist, and Maria grinned as he pulled her back in for another, and a third. Finally, she simply stopped counting, bringing her arms around him. They had been a long time coming, and she was determined to enjoy every minute.
After a while, they pulled back from each other, both of them grinning shyly at each other - but, as much as Maria was enjoying her current company, they each had a job to do. “I hate to say this,” Maria said quietly, “But you need to get some sleep, Fire Marshal. I don’t want you falling asleep while we’re charting.”
“I know,” Pete agreed. His face fell for a moment - then, with a hopeful glance, he added, “Can I get a good-night kiss before I go? I’ll sleep like a baby, I promise.”
Maria laughed, and leaned in for one more. “Go on,” she said, reluctantly pushing him toward the covered supplies. “Go sleep. Don’t distract a girl on duty.”
Pete walked back to their gear, dragging their makeshift blankets over him. It was hard not to keep smiling over at him, but after they’d been distracted by each other, Maria knew she had to keep some semblance of a decent watch. She remained on the log, watching the harbor with her M16 next to her.
The summer sun had warmed the air, burning off the early morning mists, so keeping watch was actually fairly pleasant. The tide continued to carry Miss Behavin’s mast further into the harbor, and Maria watched it sink further as her watch continued.
In a moment of distraction, Maria had failed to notice the sound of shifting sand behind her. In an instant, she felt arms go around her neck, trying to choke her. She hurriedly stood most of the way up, and then crouched and leaned forward, using leverage to take her attacker’s feet off the ground. She didn’t bother trying to break his hold, instead using their combined momentum to pull both of them forward and over into a flip that she added velocity to with her thighs.
Maria tucked her head under her to protect her neck and landed on top of her attacker’s chest, knocking the breath out of them. She broke the chokehold, elbowed them in the face - and then twisted in horror at the sound of a familiar, wheezing laugh.
“Just testing you!” Bannon panted. Maria must have caught him in the nose - he was laughing as he held a hand to his nose, a few trickles of blood dripping down. “Guess you pass.”
“You asshole!” Maria cried. “I should hit you again!”
Maria’s roars and Ban’s laughing shrieks startled Pete awake. By the time he’d freed himself from his tangled layers, swinging his M16 around with wide eyes, Bannon and Maria were both laughing at how long it had taken him.
“You shouldn’t laugh at him too hard,” Bannon said to Maria. “You had good self-defense, but that doesn’t change the fact that I was able to sneak up on you. If I’d had my knife, it would’ve been over like this.” Bannon snapped his fingers.
Maria hung her head. “Alright, guilty as charged,” she admitted. “Sorry about your face.”
“No harm done,” Bannon said. “It’s a little tender, but I don’t think you broke it. Worth the price of the lesson.” Turning to Pete, he added, “Not a bad effort from you. You knew right where your weapon was - after you’d gotten yourself untangled, at least.”
“I knew right where my weapon was,” Maria said petulantly. “I just couldn’t reach it.”
“Which is why you keep it on your lap,” Bannon said. “You didn’t grab the knife out of your boot when you were free, either.”
“Because I heard you laugh and knew it was you!”
“Alright, alright,” Pete said, separating the two bickering cousins. “No harm done, and we all learned something. In the meanti
me, since we’re all up, we should be getting ready to think about hitting the road.”
25. On the Road Again
After they rolled up their sleeping gear, Bannon got back to business. “Maria, I’ve been checking the charts and maps, and it looks like we have about twenty to thirty miles to hike if we’re heading to Piney Point,” he said. “It’s shorter as the crow flies, but since we’re walking instead of sailing we’ll have to navigate around some harbors and rivers.”
“Too bad we can’t steal another boat,” Pete said. “Or a bike. Maria and I have ours; Bannon, I’m surprised you didn’t bring yours.”
“I would’ve, if I’d had one,” Bannon said. “Reid and I had ours stolen back home, and the ones that got found went to the salvage team so they could head out further.”
“Ah, gotcha,” Pete said. “You said we might go through some harbors - maybe we can grab another one down the road.” Grinning, he added, “I’m pretty much an expert boat-napper at this point, what with Maria’s habit of wrecking them.”
“Oh, shut up,” Maria said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m not ruling it out,” Bannon agreed, grinning at Pete. “But that’ll be down the road, and we definitely have some ground to cover first. We need to prioritize what we’re going to carry. We can use the bikes to carry some supplies, but we should toss anything we don’t absolutely need.”
The bulkiest items were the boxes of MREs, so those were broken down. They kept the main meals only, Maria mourning her hot sauce and Pete the drink mixes, and packed them into pockets and crannies. They packed ammo into cargo pockets, and Bannon used up some of the supplies to rig up a chest sling for their HAM radio, wrapping it to keep it waterproofed. Pete’s and Bannon’s packs were the largest, so they were strapped to the bike racks, along with a few small necessities too awkward to carry otherwise. Maria’s bike was too small to fit either of them, so she would ride slowly alongside them as Bannon and Pete took turns pushing or riding Pete’s bike.
They had taken the risk to route through a small town, St. James, on their way to the next harbor. It was close enough that it was mostly on their way to Piney Point, but not so far off-route that it would be a lot of course correction if no suitable sailboats were available. With the town’s small size, they figured that they would have limited preparations and might be able to sneak through it relatively unnoticed.
As they came over the rise, the trio could tell that they had miscalculated. A dump truck was pushed sideways to block off the road, hunting rifles pointed at them from the bed. “Advance and be recognized,” one of the men in the truck called. “Hands on the handlebars or in the air.”
The trio kept their weapons on their backs, walking slowly forward with their hands up.
As Maria looked around, she noticed that in addition to the truck, they were also covered from from high ground by protected shooters. “Are we near a military base?” Maria asked. “These guys look official.”
Most of the people covering them had short, close-cropped hair, and few civilians had fingers on the triggers - namely the women and children who were covering them from the treeline. “Yep,” Bannon agreed, surreptitiously glancing around.
“Great,” Pete muttered. “How fucked are we, scale of one to ten? Lie to me if you have to.”
“One, if you let me do the talking,” Maria said. “Relax and try to look friendly. We’ll be okay.”
As they advanced to the dump truck, Maria called, “Hi - I’m Maria Creighton, friendly neighborhood Army brat,” she announced. “This here is my cousin Ban, and our friend Pete.”
“We’re mostly Navy here,” a voice called. A middle-aged man jumped off the back of the truck and walked forward, weapon at the ready. “State your business.”
“We’re coming from college,” Maria said. “The boys and I are trying to get to our family’s house in Virginia. We were hoping we might be able to pass through this area.”
The three held very still as he gave them the once-over. Finally, he said, “I hope you’ll forgive the folks out here for being a little jumpy. We’ve had our share of travelers who haven’t had the best intentions, so we’d appreciate it if you kept your hands clear of those weapons.”
“Not a problem,” Maria said. “We were hoping to sail down, but we had a run-in with another group out on the bay. We wouldn’t be bothering you all if we had another choice, but our boat got blown full of holes.”
“Tell you what,” the man said. “You comin’ from a long way off?” The three nodded, and he continued, “You guys don’t look like bad kids. But the bottom line is, we can’t let you pass through here armed. If you’re willing to hand over your weapons in good faith while you’re here, you can come in, take a load off for a little bit, and when you’re ready I’ll have a couple people escort you to the border and then give ‘em back.”
Bannon was the first to take his rifle off his shoulder. He set it on the ground, slowly straightening with his hands in the air, and Maria and Pete followed suit. “I’ve also got a grenade in my pocket,” Bannon said. “And I’m okay to hand it over, but I don’t really want it to roll.”
“Grenade? Son, you are either crazy or stupid,” the man said. “Yeah, you’d better give me that too. You’ll be fine as long as you set it gently on the ground. Pin in!”
His joke broke the tension a bit, and Bannon set it down carefully. “How do you feel about half a dozen various knives, sir?” he asked, half-serious.
The Navy man laughed. “Son, you just gave up a grenade. If you don’t have a nuke, I reckon we can trust you to keep your sidearms. Just keep them hidden or holstered, okay?”
“You got it,” he said. He extended a hand, and the man shook it, then Maria’s and Pete’s. “Senior Chief Petty Officer Jones; most call me Chief Jones.” The three exchanged smiles - Maria was sure they were all reminded of Chief Santos, back with the rest of the Dragons. “Let’s get you kids behind the bunker,” Chief Jones continued, reaching down and grabbing all of the rifle slings. Waving to the treeline and truck, he bellowed, “All clear! Fingers off the triggers, cherries!”
The young travelers cautiously walked through the town, following Chief Jones until they came to a small crossroads. There was a pub to one side of the road and a convenience store on the other. A nearby bike rack had been converted to a weapons rack, and he hung the ‘borrowed’ rifles there before waving them into the pub.
“Stella! Bring me four of your finest!” Chief Jones called. Waving to Maria, Pete and Ban, he said, “Pull up a seat, all of you. I’m sure you’ve got some good stories to share with us.”
Their bartender, presumably Stella, came out from behind a swinging door. She was tiny, withered, and looked a little older than Chief Jones. She was holding four bottles of beers with, glory of all glories, frosted mugs. “Are those cold?” Pete asked longingly.
Stella grinned. “We get that a lot these days,” she said, cracking open the beers with an opener tucked into a sweatband around her lean bicep. “Chief Jones here is an incredible mechanic. He got the generator and the ice machine compressor working.”
“Well, ‘working’ is strong,” Chief Jones admitted. “I had to simplify some of the guts, so it only has two temperatures - On, or Off. But a compressor is just a compressor; I’ve worked on them for years.” To Stella, he added, “We picked up a few more strays. Kids, introduce yourselves.”
“It’s nice to meet some folks who haven’t forgotten their good manners,” Stella said, after the three made their introductions. “It seems like everybody is out for themselves these days.”
“Well, the cold drink goes a long way,” Maria said, grinning. “I’m surprised you all have supplies this far out. We just came from family who lives closer to Baltimore, and all the beer was drunk!”
“I won’t chalk it up to good sense,” Stella said tartly, though she softened it with an easy smile. “A few of our younger guys were near Lexington Park right after the lights went out - well, they’ve
got that big distribution center out there, so they ‘helped themselves’ to stock.” She shook her head. “Forgot all about basic groceries, but they weren’t living through a power outage without beer! But don’t plan to get silly - we do have to ration our stock a bit. No more than two beers per person per day.”
“That’s cool, ma’am. None of us really drink, but this hits the spot. Thank you,” Bannon said. At eighteen, Maria wasn’t sure he’d done much drinking at all, but if her little cousin was going to play it cool, she figured she wouldn’t be the one to bust him. Maria herself wasn’t a big fan of beer, but it’d been so long since they had anything cold that it tasted like heaven.
Stella sat down and said, “I might be persuaded to part with some of my own personal stash for a little news. It’s been a while since we had our last reasonable visitors.” She leaned back, folding her arms over her chest. “So. What brings you to our sleepy little town?”
