The Drowned: Deluge Book 1: (A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Story)

by Kevin Partner

  The chicken’s bone was the Rocky Mountains and its thigh the western American states from the Dakotas in the north to the western half of Texas in the south. To the east, the Great Plains turned blue and most of that half of the country was underwater. The Appalachian Mountains formed the spine of a long land mass that reminded Ellie of New Zealand’s South Island flipped over. Above it, other island chains poked above the water’s surface, but New York was sunken, DC gone.

  “This is where Uncle Buzz is,” Jodi said, stabbing her pen at a blue area in Arkansas.

  Ellie leaned close. “But, it’s underwater.”

  “No, I just can’t read the contour lines around there. He sent the message, so he must be safe.”

  “Maybe he’s on a boat, too,” Patrick said.

  Ellie shook her head. “I hope not. No, I reckon he’s chosen his location pretty carefully. Somewhere high enough to be above the waterline, but small enough to be secure.”

  “But that would mean he must have known exactly what was going to happen,” Patrick said. “I just don’t see how he could. Even if this was caused by humans and not a natural disaster, Ed Baxter’s no Doctor Evil. He’s a good guy.”

  Tom laid a ruler over the map, connecting Tampa and Little Rock. “It’s a thousand miles, and we got nothing in the fuel tank. And before you ask, no, we can’t make it using the sails, we’d starve or die of thirst first.”

  “So, we need to find somewhere closer where we can hit land and fuel up.”

  “There won’t be any marinas above sea level, so we’d have to rely on finding a gas station somewhere.”

  Jodi pointed at the bottom end of the long island formed mainly by the Appalachians. “That’s the closest dry land to here.”

  “Could Atlanta be above water?” Ellie said, peering at the place Jodi was pointing.

  Jodi shrugged. “I dunno. It’s legit guesswork.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Ellie said. “In the morning, we’re heading north. I need to feel ground beneath my feet again.”

  Chapter 13

  Break-in

  “Oh, thank God. He’s alive!”

  Bobby groaned as he gingerly opened his eyes, then shut them again. His head felt as though someone with a jackhammer was trying to break through the bone. From the inside.

  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.” It was a woman’s voice, but Bobby was too busy fighting the pain and trying to remember where he was to pay any attention.

  “I tol’ you, Mommy. You shoulda used the gun. Daddy showed you. He’s gonna be mad when he comes back.”

  Bobby put his hand to his head, fingers searching for the source of his agony and settling around a large lump. His other hand braced against a wooden floor as he rolled onto his side. Now he remembered. The kitchen. He’d been walking into the kitchen.

  “Now, you be quiet, Joshua. I’ve got the gun now, haven’t I? You okay, mister?”

  Pushing down against the floor, Bobby levered himself up, all the time feeling as though his head was going to fall off his neck and go rolling across the floor. “Why…why’d you hit me?”

  It was a stupid question, but his brains felt as though they were mush.

  “You shouldn’t have come creeping into our house. Why didn’t you just knock on the front door? No, don’t you move sudden.”

  Bobby had thrown his hand to his head as pain lanced through his brain.

  “You gonna send him away, Mommy?” It was the voice of a boy, and Bobby’s vision finally cleared enough to see the two of them.

  A woman kneeled a few feet away, a small revolver held in her shaking hand and pointing vaguely in his direction. Bobby could see a child’s face peering over her shoulder.

  “You need to lie down,” she was saying to him. She was a petite blonde, not much bigger than the child behind her. They could have been siblings. Had he broken into the cottage of a modern-day Hansel and Gretel?

  “Mommy, Daddy said no one was to come in.”

  “Well, this man’s already here and he can’t stay on the kitchen floor, can he? Now, what’s your name?”

  It took a moment for him to realize she wasn’t talking to the child. “Bobby,” he said. “Bobby Rodriguez. And I didn’t mean any harm. I just needed somewhere to shelter for a night.”

  “Well, you got your wish. I’m Evelyn Weiss and this is my son, Joshua. Can you get yourself up?”

  Bobby wedged himself against the wall and used his legs to help him get upright.

  “I don’t reckon you’ll make it upstairs, so you’ll have to lie on the couch in the front room. Josh’ll show you the way.”

  “But Mommy! Daddy will be …”

  “You hush, Joshua Weiss. What your father says when he gets here is his affair. Show Bobby through, and I’ll follow you.”

  The boy passed through the door and Bobby went to follow him, but the instant he moved, the world seemed to flip on its axis and he landed on the floor again on hands and knees.

  He felt a hand under this shoulder, and she helped him up again. “Now don’t you try nothin’,” she said, her breath in his ear as he got shakily to his feet.

  Bobby didn’t answer her. He focused entirely on getting to the end of the short hallway and into the living room. One of the couches had been covered with a blanket and he fell onto it with a groan, then rolled onto his back. She covered him with another blanket, then retreated a little. “Josh here is gonna watch you while I go warm some soup.” She reached the door and then turned back to him. “Who’s Maria?”

  “My …my daughter.”

  “Was she taken by the wave? You were speaking her name.”

  Bobby shook his head, instantly regretting it. “She’s on an island west of here. Just outside Ventura. She’s waiting for me to fetch help.” He put his hand over his eyes. She was waiting, looking out over the water and expecting to see him return. But he was in no condition to continue his journey. He needed to rest. Just for a few hours.

  “I’ll go fetch your soup.”

  It was dark outside when he came around. The living room was bathed in the orange glow of a log fire and a bowl of cold soup lay on the coffee table beside him.

  “At last. I was worried you’d never wake up.”

  Evelyn got up from the chair and bent over him, looking in his eyes.

  “I’ve …I’ve been asleep all day?”

  “Pretty much. I’m really sorry. I never meant to hit you so hard. But the swelling’s gone down. Here, you’ll have to drink the soup cold, I’m afraid. Unless you want me to heat it over the fire?”

  Bobby raised himself. The pain in his head had declined so it felt less like a twisting knife and more like he was being squeezed between the hands of a giant. Still, it was an improvement and even cold the soup tasted good.

  “You shouldn’t have lit the fire,” he said, gazing into the flames.

  “You were cold,” she responded. “I’ve closed the drapes, so the light won’t get out.”

  In his mind’s eye, he saw the cabin lit up like a Christmas diorama as wanderers roamed in the night. Then he heard something. A knocking from upstairs.

  “It’s only Joshua, I expect,” she said. “I’ll go tell him, then I’ll put the fire out. Will that make you happy?”

  “Tell me, Evelyn …”

  “You can call me Eve.”

  “Eve. You moved the crates I used to climb up to the window?”

  She got up and moved to the door. “I haven’t had time. I’ve been too busy watching you.”

  He watched her go, fear swelling in his heart. He listened to her climbing the stairs, calling out to her son.

  He heard her sudden scream as it was cut short.

  Bobby rolled off the sofa and onto his hands and knees. He cursed his bad luck. He cursed that he’d brought danger to this house, and he cursed that he hadn’t simply stayed on the road. He might have been back with Maria by now if he had.

  Hauling himself to his feet, he thrus
t out a hand to the wall. He was still woozy. No match for one man, and there might be more upstairs. As if to confirm this, he heard scuffling, then a deep voice speaking words he couldn’t hear, followed by someone talking in a higher pitch. But they were both the voices of men.

  He scanned the room for anything he could use. Where was his pack? What had she done with his shotgun? No sign. All he could see was the little chopping ax that lay beside the treacherous fire. The fire that had brought their attackers into the cabin using the crates he’d fished out of the water. Yeah, it was all his fault.

  A woman’s voice cried out in pain. He hobbled across the room, bent down to pick up the ax, and almost fell backwards as he straightened up. What were his options? He couldn’t move far or fast, so his only option was to wait here for them to come to him.

  He heard heavy feet on the stairs as he made his clumsy way to stand against the wall and behind the door.

  “You leave him alone!” It was Eve’s voice.

  “Quit your squawkin’ and I might just do that.” That was the higher male voice. The accent sounded East Coast to Bobby, not that it mattered.

  The door burst open and a large arm came into view. “Well, ain’t this just the coziest …”

  Steadying one arm against the wall, Bobby swung the ax with the other, aiming for the exposed shoulder. But he fell against the door and the swing went wild. The owner of the shoulder simply turned and, with complete calm, grabbed Bobby’s wrist in an unbreakable grip, forcing him down onto his knees.

  “Well, seems to me we found Daddy.”

  “He ain’t my daddy!” Joshua yelled.

  The grip now brought him up again. “Well ain’t that nice. Fella made hisself all comfortable with the pretty lady. But we done messed it all up.” Bobby looked into the merciless eyes of a large man with pale skin under a lattice of tattoos in black, gray and blue. He looked as though he’d had the entire Old Testament inscribed on his skin. And he was wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. “I reckon we’d best deal with this here vermin.” Bobby watched as a Bowie knife—his Bowie knife—flashed out from where it had been hidden and hung in front of his eyes.

  “Now, don’t let’s go bein’ too hasty, Moses,” another voice said as it came into the room, hands around Eve’s waist. “We got to give this some thought. Remember? I said leave the thinkin’ to me.”

  The big man nodded his head dumbly, then said, “Sure, boss. I got the brains of a box of frogs. But this fella swung at me. Seems like I got the right to swing back.”

  The second man came into the room, bringing Eve with him. She was looking over his shoulder. There had to be a third one holding the boy. A desperate situation had now become hopeless.

  “Sure you do. But you know what they say about patience,” the second man said. “No, of course you don’t. Take it from me, you’ll get your revenge.” He was leaner and older than Moses, with an intelligent chestnut-colored face and close-cropped hair. Unlike his henchman, the leader wore civilian clothes. Bobby didn’t want to think about where he’d gotten them. “Tonto, you bring the boy in here.”

  A third man came inside the living room holding Joshua’s arm as the leader pulled Eve across to the fire. He had light brown skin, black shoulder-length hair and the look of a hunter about him. He also wore orange and, over his shoulder, he’d slung the pack Bobby had taken such care to put together back at Pam’s.

  “Now, why don’t we introduce ourselves like civilized folk,” the leader said.

  “There’s nothing civilized about you. You’re animals!” Eve snapped.

  The leader pulled down on her arms so she could barely stay on her feet. “Now then,” he said in a calm voice, “mayhap I’ve got to set the example. My name’s Crouch. This here’s Moses, and that’s Tonto.”

  Bobby caught a flicker of …what was it? …anger? …in the third man’s expression.

  Crouch squeezed his prisoner’s wrist. “Now, what’s your name, pretty miss? You might like to think before you cuss at me, seeing as how Tonto there’s gotta hold of your boy.”

  “Evelyn. My name’s Evelyn,” she said, bent sideways as she tried to relieve the pressure on her wrist. “And he’s Joshua.”

  “And this here fella? Looks like a Mexican to me.”

  Bobby bit back his temper. “Roberto. And I’m an American.”

  “Yeah, suuure you are. But yer not this boy’s daddy, are you?”

  Eve straightened up as Crouch loosened his grip a little. “No. My husband hasn’t arrived yet. He told us to meet him here, and we were just waiting.”

  “Well, pretty lady, if he ain’t here by now, he ain’t comin’. We barely survived when our transportation was overtook by the water. Our driver, God rest his soul, he didn’t quite make it.”

  The big man, Moses, sniggered.

  Crouch let Eve go and gestured to the other two. “You boys go find what this fine lady’s got for us. Seems we hit pay dirt. Oh, it’s okay, I can manage. It’s a girly piece, but it’ll still kill a man. Or a kid.” He waved Eve’s revolver at them and gestured for them to sit.

  “You’re gonna take our stuff?” she said.

  Bobby wanted to tell her to be quiet, but he didn’t dare say anything in front of this brute. All three intruders were scum, but Bobby reckoned Crouch had the most fragile mental state. The other two feared him and it wasn’t because of his size.

  “Yeah, that’s just about it. We’re hungry, and you got food.”

  “But we’ll starve!”

  He tilted his head to one side and smiled. “No, you won’t. I wouldn’t allow that to happen. We got someplace to go, and you get to come with us and share our food.”

  Bobby’s insides turned to ice.

  “What?” Eve said. “We can’t go with you! My husband’s coming.”

  The evil smile widened. “Oh, I ain’t talkin’ about all of you. It’s just my pretty lady who’s comin’. I been inside for ten long years and I ain’t seen nothing quite as angelic as you in my finest dreams. I simply can’t wait to find out if you feel as good as you look.”

  Bobby lurched forward, ignoring the new burst of pain across his temple.

  “Hey, boy. If you don’t want your brains decorating that there wall, you settle down. You got no part in this.”

  “I won’t go with you!” Eve said, gathering Joshua into her arms.

  Crouch turned back to her, leaned forward and hugged his knees. “Oh, I think you will. I think you’ll do anythin’ to protect your boy.”

  “No! You can’t take me away from him!”

  “You ain’t got no choice. If you don’t come willin’ like, that there boy is gonna find himself swimming.”

  “You b—” A fist smashed into Bobby’s face and he fell sideways, lights flashing in his vision.

  Moses stood above Bobby, feeling his fist. “Now you just shut yer mouth!”

  “What did you find?”

  “Oh, they got plenty of food. More’n we can carry, I reckon.”

  Crouch got to his feet. “Well, I reckon it’s time we moved along.”

  “Boss, can’t we stay here the night? Them beds upstairs look comfortable.”

  “Idiot! You know we got to keep moving. And this place ain’t safe for us. Now, you and Tonto got everything packed?”

  The big brute’s whole body slumped in obvious disappointment. “Yeah. Suppose so. But …but …”

  “Spit it out!”

  “Do we get to play with the lady when you finished with her? She sure is perty.”

  Crouch smiled. “Maybe. Depends how she behaves. But I reckon you might break her pretty fast, so perhaps Tonto should get his chance first.”

  “No way, boss. I won’t want her after she’s been mauled by that half-breed.”

  Bobby looked up at where the man they called Tonto stood in the doorway, a burlap sack loaded with Eve’s provisions over his shoulder and hatred burning in his eyes.

  Pulling Eve off the couch, Crouch dragged her screaming t
o the door and out into the hallway as Moses covered Bobby. Joshua leaped up to go after his mother, but Bobby grabbed him and held his struggling form.

  “Get off me! Get off! Mommy!!!”

  From the hallway, Bobby could hear Crouch’s voice raised in anger. “I told you, if you don’t come willing, that boy will suffer!

  The door to the living room slammed shut and, seconds later, they heard the front door open and close, the voices dying away.

  Bobby let the boy go and got unsteadily to his feet.

  “I can’t open it!”

  Sure enough, it was locked.

  “What’s that smell?” Joshua asked.

  Bobby stopped struggling with the door and sniffed the air. “Smoke.”

  A scream came from outside before being cut short.

  “They’ve set the place on fire!” Bobby said, adding a curse and shoving at the door with his shoulder. Getting nowhere, he stumbled over to the curtains and pulled them apart. The windows were locked. Eve and her husband had taken security seriously. So seriously it could end up killing their son.

  “This one’s open!” Joshua shouted, pushing at the kitchen door.

  The fire hadn’t made its way to the kitchen yet, but the outside door was also locked. “We’ll have to go this way,” he said, trying the handle to the door leading to the hallway, the one he’d come through the previous night. He pushed it open, then immediately fell back as billowing black smoke erupted into the kitchen. He pulled the boy down to the floor where the air was clearer and he could see the base of the fire. It had been set in a gasoline can.

  “There’s no other way out,” he said. “We’ve got to get upstairs and go out the window. The one I came in through.”

  “But we can’t get through!” Joshua said, eyes wide. “Where are they taking Mommy?”

  Bobby didn’t answer, but got up and pushed the door closed again and moved across to the kitchen sink, turning on the tap and filling the bowl with cold water. “Here, give me your sweatshirt.”