“It’s still above water?”
“Who knows? Last we heard, most of it was flooded and they got half a million folks to deal with. But the federal government—where are they? We need emergency supplies.”
“DC’s gone,” Jodi said. “I made a map based on the contour lines and an estimated depth of a thousand feet. Washington’s under six hundred feet of water.”
Kehley looked from Ellie to Patrick, who nodded as if to confirm what Jodi had just said, then collapsed back into the chair.
Ellie finished her coffee. “And you haven’t heard anything? Not even an emergency broadcast?”
“Just the automated message. Hunker down and wait for help, that’s what it says. But help don’t look likely any time soon. And in the meantime, I got thousands of folks who need food. I was kinda hopin’ you might have some hope for me, you havin’ come up from the south.”
Shaking her head, Ellie slumped back in her chair. “The farther south you go, the worse things seem to be.”
Kehley sat silently for a few moments, then suddenly sat up and banged her fist on the table. “Well, if that’s how it is, Ah guess we’d better make the best of it, no point pitchin’ a fit. I got patrols drivin’ around the…well, Ah suppose you’d call it the coast now. Looks like we’re an island, though we could probably get across to the west to Bremen. But we got no power, and folks are startin’ to go down with a sickness that comes from the water. Which is what you came here for, is that right?”
Ellie nodded. “Yeah. Fuel would be great, but we need water more than anything.”
“Sure,” Kehley said. “Clean water’s one thing we got plenty of. But lots of folks have got sick from the seawater. Ah guess that’s to be expected. But you folks do me a favor will you? You’re headin’ west, so when you reach somewhere with a functioning government, you let them know about us, will ya?”
They left Mayor Kehley sitting at her desk, swallowing a second cup of coffee and, to Ellie’s eyes at least, trying to gather herself. She made a forlorn figure, the weight of responsibility heavy on her shoulders. But if anyone could handle it, Ellie thought she could. The sheriff had been more likable, but if she were choosing someone to rely on, she’d pick Kehley. Though she wouldn’t necessarily trust her.
But so far the mayor had been true to her word and they’d been given a red pickup to load their water containers and gas cans into and directed to the pumping station downhill from the water tower that served this side of the city. The pumps weren’t working, but they were able to join a queue to fill their containers and soon had a few days’ worth of water on the back of their truck.
Ellie was just thinking about returning to the boat when the radio at her waist beeped, and Tom’s voice erupted from it.
“Ellie! Are you receiving? Over.”
“Tom? What’s going on?”
“You’d better get back, quick. There’s a boat approaching and I don’t like the look of them. I can see guns.”
Ellie cursed under her breath. “Tom, do you reckon you can outrun them?”
“With the last of the gas? Sure. Looks like a river cruiser to me. I’ll go west, hugging the waterline. Catch me up.”
“Good luck, Tom.”
With that, he was gone.
“How much gas do you think’s left in the tank?” Patrick asked as Ellie swung the pickup around at speed.
“Not much. Enough for ten miles, maybe.”
“Maybe he had time to get the sails up,” Jodi suggested.
Ellie shook her head. “I doubt it. Sounds like he was surprised. Jeez, if they get onboard, then we’ll be stuck here.” She headed back the way they’d come, cursing through the open window. How many more kicks would they have to take? They’d survived one attack by pirates, and traveled across hundreds of miles of new ocean on reclaimed water and line-caught fish, but if Tom was right about the people approaching Kujira, they could be about to lose everything, including any chance of making it to Jodi’s uncle and any chance for answers.
#
It took thirty minutes before they were out of the city and on the open road. Ellie drove, with Patrick in the front passenger seat and Jodie in the back. A railway track ran along the right-hand side of the road, and electrical poles lined the left. Beyond the poles, the land gently fell away until it met the water, a mess of drowning fields, trees and buildings that, farther down the slope, disappeared under the ocean’s surface.
In the distance, they heard the unmistakable crack of gunfire.
“Tom, do you read?” Patrick said into the radio.
After a few moments’ pause, “They’re taking pot shots. I guess we know they’re bad guys.”
“We’re heading west. We’ve got a weapon.” Patrick patted the shotgun that lay on his lap. He’d found it under the passenger seat when they’d gotten into the pickup.
They heard a bang! over the radio. “Gotta go!” And Tom cut the connection.
Ellie put her foot down as the landscape changed, large mature trees on one side and ranch houses on the other. It was a warm spring day, and many people were out front of their houses converting lawns to plots for growing. Many looked up at them as they passed. Ellie had seen almost no traffic on the roads since leaving Douglasville. They passed a vehicle rental place to their right and an elementary school to their left, but no sign of any activity in either.
And then, suddenly, the road ahead dipped under the water. Ellie took a right into a park, looking for somewhere they’d have a good view. A baseball field at the far end of the park sat on a little rise that led down to the new shoreline, so she pulled the car in there. She spotted an iron-roofed single-story building with a veranda. One end was on dry land beside the baseball field, and the other was part submerged. It would do as a makeshift jetty.
“Come on!” she snapped, stopping the car.
The silence hit her like a hammer as she got out. No people, no animals, nothing moving on land, in the air or on the water.
Except a catamaran. Her feet clattered along the porch of the iron-roofed building until she splashed into the oily water. There it was—Kujira. And there was no sign of the chasing boat.
“It’s there!” she called.
Tom had brought it dangerously close to the shore. It was floating just off the side of a little rise that poked out of the water’s surface like the head of a giant toad.
“We’d better get the water out of the back,” Patrick said, and the others followed him back to the vehicle as Ellie pulled out the radio.
“Tom, do you read? We can see you! Come in.”
She flicked the switch, but heard only static.
“That’s weird,” Ellie said. “Maybe his batteries ran out.”
Patrick gazed over to the boat, its mast swaying. “I can’t see any sign of movement. Something’s wrong about this, Ellie.”
“Oh, come off it! You’re not reading a movie script. Tom’s outrun them, but we need to get a move on. He’s waiting for us!”
“Let me go alone,” he said, hefting the shotgun. “Just to make sure.”
Ellie sighed. “Typical macho man, aren’t you? No, you stay here. I’ll take one of the containers and signal to you once I’m there.”
“And if there is something wrong?”
“Well, then, you’ll have to improv. You’re an actor, you must be good at that.”
He shook his head. “No, I never was.”
“Look, if it makes you feel any better, let’s agree to rendezvous as far west from here as we can if there’s anything going on over there. That’ll give us time to overpower the pirates and bring the boat under control with our bare hands.”
“You Americans never did get the hang of sarcasm, did you?”
Patrick and Jodi carried the gas cans to the waterline, then watched as Ellie carried one out toward where the boat sat. She waded into the shallow water between the end of the building and the green knoll. Then, she seemed to spot something that reassured her because she
waved back at them. Patrick started to follow her, watching as she climbed aboard, put the water container down and climbed the ladder to the cockpit.
She waved again.
Then a shot rang out, and she disappeared.
Chapter 17
Journey
The wound in his foot had opened again, so Bobby limped alongside Joshua, grimacing as they made their slow way north. The narrowing of the valley walls had proven to be a false hope and what had once been a stream-fed lake frequented by boats and people fishing was now so wide that there was no hope of crossing it until it came to an end.
Tonto had helped him dig graves beneath the pine trees for the two dead criminals. Eve had watched them work as she kept her arms wrapped around Joshua, the two of them alternating between joy and hysteria.
Tonto’s real name was Tantawi Kamal, and he’d been born in Indonesia so earned his nickname on his first day in jail. Bobby had wanted to cast him adrift, but Eve insisted that Tanta had been her protector, as far as that was possible, during her imprisonment.
He’d also been the one who’d left the kitchen door unlocked before leaving the cabin, so Bobby and Josh owed him their lives.
But that didn’t mean Bobby had to like him. Tanta hadn’t told them why he’d been in jail or what role he’d played in escaping from the bus, but Eve had insisted he come along and, since they were all going in the same direction, they walked together.
After reuniting with his mother, Josh had spent more time with Bobby than anyone else and had, from time to time, wrapped his hand in Bobby’s as they’d made their way across the sometimes rough landscape. Thankfully, Bobby was convinced Josh hadn’t seen Moses fall in a shower of blood; he’d fallen into a bush and was struggling to get up when it happened. By the time he’d managed it, all attention was focused on Crouch.
Eve had been a little more detached. She’d been grateful, of course, and relieved beyond hope when she’d seen her son again, but the incident had scarred her and she was not the open, warm woman he’d met two days before.
Which meant it had been five days since he’d left Maria. He cursed his stupidity. He’d expected to find dry land and help within hours, but here he was, limping along, slowing everyone down.
Bobby glanced at the watch he’d taken from Pam’s farmhouse. It was almost noon, so they’d been walking for three hours or so and his injured foot had been getting worse and worse. Eve had taken a look at it earlier this morning and the expression of disgust on her face told him all he needed to know. It was infected. She cleaned it as best she could, using some of their precious fresh water, but it needed antiseptic and, if it went on much longer, antibiotics. And Bobby’s pack containing both had burned down with the cabin. The only thing he’d recovered was the shotgun Crouch had stolen. The rest was lost.
Every step hurt more than the one before it. He would have to stop and rest soon.
“Is that it?”
Eve had walked a little ahead to where the path they were taking curved around an outcrop. When Bobby drew level with them, he could see that the lake formed by the drowned valley was finally coming to an end.
“So, if we head down that way, we’ll reach Santa Clarita?” Eve said.
Tanta nodded. “Crouch thought so. It’s where he comes from. Said there’s a highway over the hills. He was gonna flag someone down.”
“That’s why he was wearing the normal clothes,” Bobby said. “So he could fool a passing motorist. Tell me, where did he get the clothes?”
Tanta shut up like a safe. Bobby knew the answer. The poor sap who’d been driving them to a court appearance. He could paint a picture, but now wasn’t the time. He’d wait until he found a cop to hand Tanta over to. People like him needed locking up somewhere safe.
“So, we’re going over there?” Eve said, gesturing at a line of scrub-covered hills that rose behind the valley wall. “Can’t we just follow the lake back the way we came, but on the other side?”
Bobby shrugged. “We could, but we don’t know whether we’d get stuck again somewhere. Looks like the highway runs along the top there, way above the water line.”
“Will you make it?” Eve asked.
“I’ll have to,” he said. “Just give me ten minutes.”
They moved farther down the slope to a clump of bushes that offered shelter from unfriendly eyes, and Bobby flung his shopping bag onto a rock. He’d liberated his shotgun from its place among Crouch’s possessions and had kept it close at all times. Tanta had saved his life, sure, but he was still a criminal. He’d crossed the line that Bobby had kept on the right side of; the line between right and wrong, between what goes on in a man’s head and what he chooses to do.
The original stream emerged from the swollen valley just to their left. Shredded branches and detritus choked the clean water running down from the mountains, a rotten stench of death and decay rising above it. Bobby watched as the swollen corpse of a raccoon rotated on the water surface, eventually coming to a halt in the logjam.
He searched in the bottom of the shopping bag containing the scraps they’d rescued from the cabin’s ruins and came up with nothing more than a can of beans and half a box of crackers. He had little appetite and neither the time nor the means to heat the beans, so he pulled the ring and poured a portion into his mug before passing the can to Eve, who gave some to Josh before offering them to Tanta.
“No, thank you. I ain’t hungry.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, you must be!” Eve said, but the man simply shook his head.
Bobby rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t very careful, the criminal would turn himself into the hero. He drained the mug of half its cold beans before handing it to Tanta. “Here. Enough of the martyr already.”
He took the can and swallowed the beans in one. “I don’t blame you. If I was you, I wouldn’t trust me neither.”
“I suppose you’re going to tell me you were framed for a crime you didn’t commit.”
“Oh, I did it. I shouldn’t’a, but I did it. I paid the price, too. Was on my way to my parole hearing when Crouch saw the water coming and took the guard out soon as he opened the doors so we could get out.”
“Why did you stick with them?”
Tanta’s eyes widened as if the question was stupid. “I ain’t an idiot. I knew things were bad, real bad, and when they are, you want to keep folks like Crouch close. I knew I’d end up taking the hit for the guard being nixed, so I played along. Barely knew either of ’em, but they were my best chance of stayin’ alive. Regretted it pretty soon, but I was in too deep. So, I left the kitchen door open—couldn’t see a kid gettin’ burned alive just so Crouch could get his hands on the mom.”
Bobby sighed. “Yeah, I appreciated that. I couldn’t have got him out any other way. Did you stop Crouch from …you know …Eve?”
“I did what I could,” he said, dropping his eyes. “Best you ask her if you want to know more. She’s alive, and I reckon she’s grateful to you for that.”
“And you.” Bobby put his hand out and Tanta took it with a smile.
“I robbed a liquor store,” he said, looking at the ground and shaking his head. “Me and my uncle. The owner tried to fight, and my uncle knocked him down. Cops caught us and I took the rap ’cause he was already two strikes down.”
“Served time for your uncle’s sake?”
Tanta shrugged. “I was a fool. While I was waiting for my trial, he tried to rob a bank and got caught, so we both ended up inside when I would prob’ly have gotten away with community if I’d told the truth.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. How old were you?”
“Nineteen.”
The surprise must have been obvious on Bobby’s face because Tanta gave a grim chuckle. “Yeah, long time ago. But this ain’t the time for my life story.”
Bobby nodded and hauled himself upright. Tanta had to be in his mid-thirties, so he’d obviously committed more crimes than the one he’d admitted to, before finally reforming. There but fo
r the grace of God go I.
“Keep away from the water!” he yelled. Josh froze before stepping back. “Eve, why aren’t you watching him?”
She looked across at him, a startled look on her face. “What? Oh my God, I’m sorry.”
“Go easy on her,” Tanta murmured in his ear. “She went through hell.”
Bobby helped her to her feet as Josh wrapped himself around her leg. “Sorry I shouted, but Josh shouldn’t be going in the water.”
“Of course. Thank you for stopping him,” she said, her eyes rimmed with tears. “It’s just when we’re not moving, I start thinking. And remembering.”
Bobby patted her on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Eve. You’re safe here. With us,” he said, glancing across at Tanta.
Safe. Maria’s face burst into his mind’s eye and a wave of fear and guilt overcame him.
“You’re thinking of your daughter, aren’t you? Maria, isn’t it?”
Bobby nodded.
“But you left her with people you could trust?”
“I wouldn’t put it exactly like that. I don’t think they’d dare hurt her.”
“Then she’ll be fine, but we’d best get a move on.” She took his hand. “You’re hot!”
As she said this, they became aware of a gradually growing staccato sound that reminded Bobby of those reality TV cooking shows—it was coming from above. He looked up, searching for the source of the noise.
“Chinook!” he yelled as he spotted the distinctive beetle-like shape as it hugged the horizon. It had been so long since he’d heard anything artificial that it seemed incongruous. And yes, he was feeling hot—he couldn’t understand why the others hadn’t noticed how warm it was.
Josh ran out from the cover of the bushes, arms waving at the helicopter, but it paid him no heed and soon passed out of sight beyond the far valley wall.
“Come on,” Bobby said. “We’re heading the same way. Maybe we’ll see where it’s going.” He began moving, but lost his balance and stumbled.
The Drowned: Deluge Book 1: (A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Story) Page 16
