Deluge | Book 1 | The Drowned

by Partner, Kevin

  Bobby heard a scuffle and Eve shrieked. “Be brave,” he whispered to the struggling boy. “It’s not the right time. We’ve got to get closer.”

  Moses let out a wolf whistle, then laughed. Eve screamed and her voice seemed to move in the air. With another shriek and a splash, she landed in the water. Bobby peered around the tree to see her land as Crouch waded out. She came up gasping for air and Bobby saw that she was naked.

  Josh wriggled from his grip and ran through the trees.

  “Mommy! Mommy!”

  Cursing, Bobby got to his feet, pulled the tomahawk out of the bag, and followed the boy.

  Eve screamed again as Crouch, whose pants were lying on the shore, backhanded her sideways.

  Josh ran into the water, but he was grabbed by Moses. “Boss! Look what we got here.”

  Crouch turned in the water, and his expression changed from annoyance to rage as he saw Bobby emerge. He began wading back to the shore.

  “Watch out behind you, you idiot!” he called.

  Moses turned around surprisingly quickly and flung out an arm, catching Bobby on the head and sending him sprawling. Tonto had his hand in a bag, as if searching for something.

  Josh got up, pulling the penknife from his pocket and opening it. Moses roared with laughter. “Oh, lookie at that, ain’t it cute? Come on, boy. We aiten’t et fresh meat in a long time.”

  Somehow, Bobby managed to get to his feet before the man caught Josh. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Eve throw herself onto Crouch’s back, their splashing distracting Moses for just long enough for Bobby to swing the tomahawk through the air, landing it squarely between the big man’s shoulder blades. He roared with pain, slumped forward, then arched backwards trying to reach it as he spun around.

  Crouch cried out and pushed Eve savagely away into the water. Bobby pushed Josh behind him, the boy falling to the ground, and took the knife from his belt as Moses drew Eve’s revolver. It was almost comically small in his giant paw and, as he tried to bring it to bear, he couldn’t get his huge finger around the trigger.

  Bobby lunged at him, aiming to plant the knife in his chest, but Moses swung around, catching Bobby on the side of his head and diverting the arm with the blade so it swept across the thug’s throat instead of hitting the chest. Moses shrieked as blood misted the air, arms flailing before he tried to stem the flow with his hands.

  Just then, Crouch emerged onto the shore, murder in his eyes. He stooped to where the shotgun Bobby had taken from Pam’s basement had lain hidden, and brought it up, swinging it around to point at Bobby, trying to acquire the target as Moses stumbled into the water and fell.

  Bobby saw the barrel find him. For an instant, he was looking down into a black circle from which death would surely come. He held his breath, saw Crouch’s finger close around the trigger.

  Then Crouch fell to the ground, facedown, as Eve stood behind him with a rock in her hand. Tonto picked up Eve’s revolver, pointed it at the back of Crouch’s head as the criminal tried to get up, gave one look at Bobby who pushed Josh behind a tree, and Tonto pulled the trigger.

  Bobby scooped up the shotgun and pointed it at Tonto.

  “No!” Eve cried as she made her way ashore.

  Josh threw himself into his mother’s arms as Bobby kept the shotgun raised.

  Eve looked up at him. “No. He saved me. He’s not like them. Put the gun down and let’s get away from here.”

  Chapter 16

  Douglasville

  Ellie climbed out of the dinghy and into the mud and heaven-knew-what that marked the point where the incoming wave met the hills of Georgia.

  She sighed with relief as she stepped onto solidish ground for the first time in a week. She wished she could say that she’d gotten used to being permanently thirsty and always hungry, but that would be a lie. She just hoped that whoever lived here had running water.

  They’d been passing tiny specks of land for the past couple of days as they’d sailed north, helped by a friendly breeze and Tom’s heroics with the sails. Ellie had done her best to learn from him, but he didn’t have time to teach her—this wasn’t a training expedition, it was the real thing.

  It had taken five days to make the journey from where they’d held their memorial service to here. Here being Douglasville, a small city to the west of Atlanta. They could have journeyed on for another day or two to get to the state capital, but they were all desperate for dry land.

  In all their time on the ocean, they’d only seen a handful of vessels. A navy ship had appeared on the horizon heading south, but Ellie had ordered the sails taken down so they wouldn’t attract attention. Tom had commented sardonically that this might have worked in the nineteenth century but that frigates had radar and Kujira would have stuck out like a sore thumb on an otherwise empty ocean.

  But it seemed the ship had better things to do than pay attention to a catamaran that, given it had no electrical power, would have looked as though it was drifting.

  She turned and waved back at Tom, who was standing on the bridge watching them, then looked along what had once been a small highway leading into Douglasville.

  Tom had lost the debate about who should remain on the Kujira while the others went foraging. They had three empty jerry cans that they’d found stowed inside the bows and the engine room. At a push, that would give them a hundred miles of range, so they’d have to go back and forth at least twice. Tom had been fuming as they’d climbed into the dinghy, but the fact was that someone needed to stay behind to look after the boat and Lewis. And that person had to be able to move it if needed.

  Somehow, Ellie needed to obtain fresh water at the very least, because even if they could fill their fuel tank, they would still take a few days to cross the ocean between here and the mountain range in Arkansas that Jodi’s uncle had directed them to. And the likelihood was that they would find fuel harder to come by than water, so the journey would, in fact, take longer.

  Jodi’s contraption had worked well enough, but most of the bottles had developed leaks, they’d run out of coffee filters and all of them had experienced stomach problems at one point or another, Lewis particularly badly. So, clean water was the priority. Somehow. Each of them carried a water container on their backs and Ellie hoped they’d be able to find an empty house with a water supply she could trust between here and the center of the city. To an observer, they must have looked like a family of human snails.

  Ellie looked back at the boat as it bobbed up and down just offshore and put the walkie-talkie into her pocket. White fences marked where a road climbed out of the water, and a line of trees on either side marched away from where she stood until their spring-green leaf canopies disappeared under the waves. To her left, as she turned, a road ran parallel to the new seashore, and to her right and behind a pair of white double gates, stood a ranch house, its neighbor half submerged in the dirty water.

  She wiped the oil off her sneakers in the dust, feeling a little dizzy after setting foot on land for the first time in days. Then she switched her gaze up the road leading away from the sea. It was a typical suburban lane, the white fence heading up the hill, though she couldn’t see where it led. No one and nothing moved.

  “Come on then,” she said, not relishing the distance they’d have to walk back with forty-pound cans of fuel or water. And then they’d have to do it again. Assuming there was a gas station or fresh water here. And that the locals were willing to give it up.

  “Let’s try this one,” she said, gesturing at the first house that was entirely out of the water. She guessed that the water supply here would follow gravity down the hill, so it ought to be clean. She stepped toward the gate, but before she reached the sidewalk, she froze at the squealing of a siren echoing between the trees. Seconds later, a squad car flew toward them, two figures in the front seat. Ellie, Patrick and Jodi shuffled to the side of the road and waited for the police vehicle to come to a stop.

  It was a white SUV with the words Sheriff Douglas
County. A young woman in a beige uniform jumped out from the passenger seat, gun raised.

  The car bounced visibly as the driver got out, and a big man rounded the hood like the Death Star over Endor. He was black, middle-aged and wore a wide brimmed cowboy hat on a shiny bald head. “Welcome to Douglas County. I’m Sheriff Shep Williams and this is Deputy Capaldi. Now, where in the world have you come from?” he said in a rich, deep voice as he came to stand next to his companion.

  “My name’s Ellen Fischer. This is Jodi Baxter and …”

  “Lord help me over the fence! I know you, don’t I? Now, I don’t recall meetin’ you in my official capacity, but I don’t forget a face.” The sheriff ambled forward with his hand out. “You put your gun away, Martha. There won’t be no call for it.”

  Ellen rolled her eyes as Patrick stepped forward and introduced himself.

  “Ah!” the sheriff said. “That’s right. You were in that movie. The one about the asteroid. What was it called?”

  “Asteroid,” Patrick said with a smile. “It was about the end of the world. Didn’t imagine I’d end up living through it.”

  Williams’ face darkened. “Yeah. Do you think a rock from space caused this?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I haven’t heard much, but perhaps you’d be more comfortable talking back at my office?”

  Patrick, who was still shaking hands with the sheriff, went suddenly still. “Are we under arrest?”

  “What? Oh, no. Course not!” Then Williams caught the grin on Reid’s face. “Ah, you’re joshing with me! You, sir, are a fine actor.”

  Ellie couldn’t help wondering whether the sheriff wasn’t putting on a performance himself. But, seeing no alternative, she squeezed into the back seat next to Jodi as the celebrity got in the other side.

  “Welcome to my life,” Jodi whispered.

  The sheriff started the car."So, I’m guessing you folks haven’t been hiding out since the water came in?”

  “No,” Ellie said, “we’ve got a boat moored just down the street.”

  “Good God Almighty, I still can’t get used to it. We’re over three hundred miles from the ocean. Or we were. The only boats I knew about were on the lake. That’s still there, and all dried up. What sort of vessel you got?”

  “Catamaran. Sailed up from off the coast of Florida.”

  He shook his head. “I saw the pictures, before the TV was cut off. Those poor devils. Dang lucky you were at sea when it struck.”

  “Yeah. This is the first dry land we’ve seen, apart from some little islands on the way here.”

  “How many do you figure died?”

  Ellie looked out of the window as the car traveled along a perfectly normal suburban road. As they got farther from the waterline, more and more people were walking back and forth, usually in groups.

  “I don’t have a clue. Prefer not to think about it.”

  “If it’s happened around the world, then I guess billions,” the sheriff said, shaking his head.

  “What are those people doing?” Ellie asked as she spotted another group.

  “We got most folks staying at home, especially the old, but those who are fit are helping gather supplies. We got them on a schedule so the work is shared fairly. We want to be ready when FEMA turns up.”

  Ellie grunted an acknowledgment. She’d sailed across two states. She’d seen bodies in the water and known that there were countless more decomposing on the ocean floor. She’d seen the floating detritus of a civilization. But she had seen no sign of FEMA or any other agency, except that Coast Guard helicopter and a couple of ships. No doubt, some form of government would rise from the rack and ruin because humans tend to organize themselves, but Ellie reckoned the authorities of Douglasville would have to look to their own devices for a long time to come.

  The car reached an intersection with a larger road and took a left onto it, again hemmed in by trees on either side. It would have been easy enough to imagine that these were normal times if it weren’t for the increasing numbers of people walking along the road, many of them pulling suitcases or pushing shopping carts loaded up with possessions.

  “Most of the city’s flooded,” the sheriff said. “So, we’ve told folks to evacuate up here on the west side. The mayor’s got people turnin’ the offices into dormitories until the water goes down again. At least it’s stopped rising. For a minute there, I thought we’d all be headin’ for the mountains.”

  They turned off the highway and into the parking lot of the county’s school administration offices. “The sheriff’s office and police department got flooded, so we’ve set up here.”

  They got out, immediately attracting the attention of the people milling around, then followed Williams and Deputy Capaldi into the building. Williams waved away everyone who tried to grab his attention. “It’ll have to wait,” he said to them all. “I need answers and these folks might just be able to help.”

  He led them into a large office immediately inside the entrance. “Take yourselves a seat,” he said, sitting down in a large leather chair behind the desk. “Now, I want to hear everything.”

  When they emerged into the sunlight again, Ellie reckoned both parties had learned a lot, but neither had found comfort in what they’d discovered. Most of Atlanta was underwater, including the capitol and administration buildings. A few military helicopters had flown over, but none had landed despite the mayor clearing an area of parkland and marking it out for them.

  The mayor of Douglasville, a woman called Flora Grace Kehley, had drafted all current and retired military personnel into a militia tasked with securing the patch of land that was all that remained of this part of Georgia. Ellie’s impression was that this had left Sheriff Williams out on a limb. He had taken command in the first hours of the disaster, using his team of deputies to supervise the evacuation of the west side of the city as the water crept higher. At least it hadn’t been a tidal wave here, so they’d had time to retreat from the oncoming ocean, but seven in ten citizens had been displaced over the course of a few hours.

  Mayor Kehley had taken over control the following day and, it seemed, had done all she could to consolidate her command. Ellie didn’t know what to make of Williams, but she could tell he was a loyal officer who wouldn’t dream of disobeying the city’s mayor.

  “Oh, darn it,” Williams said as they headed toward the SUV.

  Ellie looked over her shoulder to see someone approaching. She couldn’t make out the actual person, but watched the wave of bystanders coming closer.

  Williams shrugged. “Well, I’m sorry. I tried to get you outta here before she turned up, but…”

  “Sheriff!” A woman with plum hair and matching glasses exploded from the parting crowd and waved at Williams. “Ah’m sure you were about to bring our guests over to meet me, so I thought ah’d save you the trouble. Hey, ya’ll. Mayor Kehley, pleased to meet you.” These final words were addressed to Ellie, who took the woman’s hand before the mayor moved on to Jodi and Patrick. “You’ve got a familiar face,” she said, as Ellie rolled her eyes.

  “This here’s Patrick Reid, Madam Mayor,” Williamson said. “The movie star.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, yeah. You were the astronaut in…what was it called? Meteor?”

  “Asteroid,” Reid mumbled, but she’d already turned away and was striding through the parking lot.

  Williams shrugged. “Best follow her,” he said, before accelerating until he was alongside the mayor.

  “You folks come along now, while the sheriff here fills me in.”

  They had no choice. Miles from the boat, their only chance of returning with water and fuel was through the city authorities.

  Ellie kept half an eye on Williams and Kehley while they walked. The crowds of people milling around the industrial park seemed to part like the Red Sea as Kehley approached, as if they feared being captured by her gravitational pull.

  Finally, as they moved onto an area of grass bordered by manicured
trees, Ellie realized they were approaching a large canvas marquee. Two men in military uniforms nodded to her as, without breaking her stride, she heading into the shade. “These folks are with me, boys,” she barked.

  Williams passed them going in the opposite direction, having been dismissed.

  “Now, you come here and make yourselves comfortable,” she said, gesturing at a row of folding canvas chairs and settling behind an office desk. “Miss Susan, fetch us some coffee, unless you’d prefer a cocola?”

  Jodi’s face tightened. “Coffee’s fine, thanks.”

  “We haven’t had a hot drink in a week,” Ellie said, trying to cover up Jodi’s petulance.

  “It sure has been rough for us all,” Kehley said, rocking back in her swivel chair. She was a slight woman whose effect on others was disproportionate to her size. She obviously took care of her appearance, though her aubergine hair was beginning to turn dark brown at the roots.

  “You know what the worst part has been?” she continued, as an old woman came into the tent and handed her a cup of coffee. “Accountin’ for the missing, and burying so many. There’s a heel on the north side of town that folks are callin’ Mount Death on account of all the dead we’ve buried there. Ah reckon we’ve spent more time dealing with the perished than the livin’. And do you know, in all this misery, we ain’t seen a sign of FEMA or the military. Well, that ain’t quite true; there’s been plenty of choppers buzzin’ over us, but only one landed and they didn’t stop long. Told us we were on our own. Williams reckons they’ll be back, but Ah don’t hold out much hope.”

  These words tumbled out, only stopping when she lifted her coffee cup to her lips.

  “Nothing from the state or feds? I thought, for sure, they’d have set up emergency camps by now.”

  Kehley sighed, and Ellie thought she saw the first sign of her mask slipping. She knew desperation when she saw it. “My guess is they’re concentratin’ on Atlanta.”

  “It’s still above water?”