Sea (A Stranded Novel) (3 page)

The three carts came together and they all started to distribute the food and water to make the weight loads more even. When Mason held up the fashion magazines, Emily just shook her head and mumbled Lisa’s name so he stuffed them in where he could.

David happened to look up and with a frown moved away from the carts. They all turned to see where he was going and saw him meet up with Lisa. He was taking bottles out of her arms and when she saw Emily watching she poured on the charm.

“Thank you so much, David! You are so sweet. I tried to grab as much as I could for us but without a cart this is all I could manage,” she gushed and flirted with him.

David looked at the bottles and tried to smile. “Ok, thanks for the sunscreen and toothbrushes and paste. That’s a good idea but I don’t think the hair conditioner will be of much use.” He gave her a quick smile and turned away.

Emily had to turn away as well, or she would end up laughing at Lisa. She caught sight of Mason’s stormy face and hoped he wouldn’t be too hard on Lisa. They all had a long way to go and there was already enough friction in the group. She was completely surprised when Mason snatched the bottles out of David’s hands and shoved the cart past him, pushing him to the side. Why would Mason be mad at David? She was even more confused at the nasty smirk on Mark’s face as he pushed past with David’s cart. Staring at the back of Mason’s head as he whispered to Lisa, Emily had a brief flash that Mason was upset about Lisa’s flirting with David. Shaking her head at the thought, she dismissed it. He was just being a jerk.

“Let me push that
, Em.” David said and she moved away from the cart so he could get behind it.

They pushed their carts through the empty checkout stands and Emily had to look away from the two dead bodies with name tags pinned to their chests. They had both been shot and their bodies lay in pools of blood. Emily felt her stomach heave a little when she saw the shopping cart wheel tracks that had left a trail of blood all the way out the door. She was already getting desensitized from all the death she had seen, but the evidence of people pushing their carts past the dead men and through their blood was appalling to her. Emerging out of the dim store into the bright afternoon sun was welcome and she took a deep breath only to start coughing from the smoky air. She couldn’t wait to get away from this city.

They made their way back through the parking lot and started down the street again. The EMP had been set off hours ago and the streets had emptied of people. There were still people walking but most of the wrecked cars sat empty. As the day progressed, most people had realized that emergency services weren’t coming and they had walked away from the accidents and headed to hospitals or homes. They had only been pushing the heavy carts for a half an hour when Lisa started to complain about her feet. She wanted to stop for a while and rest. Everyone was tired and ignored her. Emily’s feet were throbbing but she knew they had to get to the marina before night or they might not make it out alive.

A few men eyed the loaded carts but Mark and Mason stared them down and they passed by without incident. Emily knew that they would end up in a confrontation at some point and was scared. They hadn’t found any weapons and she hoped their luck would hold out.

With no one listening to her, Lisa had stopped her whining and was trudging along with the rest of them until they came to a huge green space. Her head came up and she looked through the chain link fence at the beautifully manicured lawn. “Look, it’s a park! We can stop and rest for a while and have something to eat. Please guys? I just want to sit down for a while,” she pleaded.

Mason looked over at the park and shook his head. “It’s not a park, it’s a golf course. The fence will go all the way around it. We can’t get in and if we stop and sit, your feet will hurt even more when you get back up. Come on
, Lisa, it’s only a few more hours. Suck it up!”

Lisa moaned in pain and frustration, “I would love to be sitting in a golf cart right now
,” she moaned.

They had only gone ten feet when David came to an abrupt stop. “Wait!” he turned to Lisa, “What did you say?”

She looked at him in hope. “We can stop and sit in the grass for a break!”

“No. The last thing you said, sitting in a golf cart.” He turned to Mason who was looking impatient. “Golf carts. They should still
work, no fancy electronics. We can get a couple and drive them the rest of the way.”

Mason shook his head, “Nice thought, but they would all be the fancy kind
, full of electronics. The newer carts even have GPS.”

David grinned, “Yeah, but I bet the maintenance carts are the older ones and they would have storage spaces on the back to haul groundskeeper tools. We should check. It could save us a couple
of hours.”

Mason was thinking about it with a thoughtful expression but Mark was sick of the Boy Scout so he butted in. “Let’s go already. We would just be wasting time looking for them
,” he said forcefully.

David nodded, “Yeah, ok
ay but just let me climb this fence to the top. If I see anything we can try for them, otherwise we’ll keep going.” Without waiting for a reply, David quickly scaled the fence and stood on the top scanning the course. It only took him minutes to drop back down and everyone looked at him expectantly. “I can see the roof of a building in the direction we’re heading but I don’t know what it is so let’s keep going and I’ll climb up again when we get further.”

They continued on down the street for another ten minutes before David climbed the fence again. He dropped back quickly and shook his head so they kept going. Lisa was letting out little whimpers and Emily tried hard to ignore her as her own feet throbbed in sympathy. The lush green lawns seemed to go on forever before Emily could see a cross street coming up and the end of the golf course. As they neared the end of the fence, they could all see a small building with a garage door. They stopped the shopping carts beside the fence and David climbed over and dropped to the other side of it. He disappeared around the side of the building out of sight.

“What a waste of time. Who’s this guy think he is, MacGyver?” Mark growled.

Before anyone could respond, David came back around with a grin on his face. “There’s a window on the other side. I could see four of the old style carts in there and they all have truck bed style areas on the back so we can load the supplies.”

“How are we going to get them out?” Mason asked, still not convinced.

“We break the window and get the door up. There are all kinds of tools inside we can use. Then we cut the fence and peel it back and drive them right out.”

Mark started to laugh, “Some Boy Scout you are, break and entering, stealing private property and damaging property. What’s next, Dave? You want to go rob a liquor store? I might just start to like you after all!”

David frowned at the big red head. “It’s too late to be worrying about stealing now,”
as he waved at the loaded carts.  “And it’s not like we’re hurting anyone. This could help save our lives so I’m okay with it. It might be wrong but desperate times and all. You going to help me with this or what?” he asked.

“I’m your man! Stand back.” Mark scaled the fence and with a grunt heaved himself over.

Emily held the fence back as Mason drove the last of the three golf carts they were taking through and onto the sidewalk. They emptied all the shopping carts into the back storage areas and climbed in. Lisa didn’t help with the loading but dropped into the seat of the first one out and didn’t budge. There were only two seats per cart so they had to take three and Mark was happy to drive his alone. Emily rode with Mason and David was stuck with Lisa. When Lisa offered David a smile and a power bar, Emily thought she could see a tightening of Mason’s face but she ignored it. They were all stressed and David wasn’t a part of Mason’s social group but she hoped he would warm up to him.

Her feet were screaming in relief from finally being able to sit down after being on them for hours. She didn’t have a watch but from the position of the sun, she knew it was late afternoon. As the golf cart jerked forward, she turned around and pulled out two water bottles and some beef jerky for her and Mason. They had barely spoken all day and this was the first time that they had been alone. Emily snuggled closer to him and he gave her a quick kiss on the head before turning back to drive. The extra wide sidewalks had no problem accommodating the narrow golf carts and they didn’t have to worry about the smashed up vehicles blocking the road. They weren’t traveling as fast as a car would but it was way faster than walking.

Groups of people watched them as they went by but only one woman tried to flag them down. Emily looked away as they passed her and she was suddenly saddened by not stopping to help anyone all day. The street they had been following turned into a true freeway and they had to navigate around more crashes as the sidewalks ended. It slowed them down and at one point the boys had to push a couple cars out of the way that had completely blocked the road forward. The only people left on the freeway were the ones that were too injured to walk away and Emily knew that those poor people were doomed. No one was coming to help. More than once
, she felt tears streaming down her face and Mason would squeeze her leg in comfort but they always drove on. She felt a huge amount of guilt and couldn’t help but think of her family, wondering if they were also injured as people walked past them without helping. She tried to think about where her parents would have been when the pulse stopped everything. Her mom worked in town but she didn’t leave for work until eight, so with the time difference she would have still been at home, not driving. Her dad worked on the farm so he would have been there as well. She was an only child so she didn’t have any siblings. Alex was as close as a sister would be and Emily felt guilt again at leaving her. She worried about Alex and her other friends that had gone overland and hoped that they were safe and were making good time getting out of the city.

Emily guessed that it had to be around five o'clock when they started to see overhead signs announcing their exit. She was thankful for the wide lane streets that made it easy to go around crashes. They had only made it a few blocks on Seal Beach Blvd when Mark, who was in the lead, came to a quick stop. Mason was about to get out and see what had made him stop when they heard the loud sounds of engines. Within seconds, a convoy of military vehicles passed through the intersection that they had stopped at. There were six all together and one had a gunner on top with the biggest gun Emily had ever seen pointed in their direction. Lisa was bouncing up and down in her seat waving at the men who stared out at them grim
-faced. Only the gunner acknowledged her with a brief nod and then they were gone. Before anyone could get out and talk about what they had just seen, Mark started forward through the intersection and they were forced to follow.

They started passing businesses and as they passed a Starbucks, Emily could see Lisa pointing and talking to David. “She’s probably trying to get him to go through the drive thru for a Frappuccino
,” Emily thought to herself. She sighed and told herself to stop being catty. She was going to have to have more patience with Lisa if the rest of the trip was to be manageable. Constantly sniping at each other would only make things more difficult. If she wanted Mason and Mark to treat David better, she would have to do the same with Lisa. She turned slightly in her seat and studied Mason.

He was so good looking that it still sent a thrill through her knowing he was her boyfriend. His streaked hair gleamed in the sun and a slight frown didn’t take away from his handsome face. Emily
smiled slightly at the memory of how much she disliked him when she first started to tutor him. Initially, he was egotistical and arrogant but the longer they worked together, the more she saw a different side to him. When he realized she wasn’t impressed by him, he started to treat her better. Talking on the phone about school work changed into talking about other things in their lives. He told her about his family and how much pressure his dad put on him to be the best in football. He was living under his older brother’s huge shadow. His brother, Brett, had been an all-star in high school and had won a full scholarship to university where he was the starting quarterback for his team. Mason’s dad expected the same thing from him and he struggled to live up to it.

When he had finally asked her out
, it was with humility and she fell for him. Mason’s friends, however, were a different story. Mark mainly ignored her but Lisa was nasty from the start. She would make catty little comments when Mason wasn’t there to hear them and then pretend to be nice in front of him. Emily tried hard to get along with them but it was a struggle. She didn’t like the way Mark would bully other people or the way Lisa seemed to look down on anyone she felt was inferior. When Alex started to give her a hard time about dating Mason, she couldn’t handle it and had started distancing herself from her best friend, spending more and more time with Mason’s group. She really regretted that now and wished fiercely for Alex to be with them.

She decided to talk to Mason about David and try and get him to be nicer to her friend. “This is so much better than walking. I’m glad David came with us
, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yeah, he’s a total hero
,” he replied sarcastically.

“Mason! What’s wrong with David? He’s a really nice guy and all he’s done is
help out so far. Why don’t you like him?”

He huffed out a breath, “You’re right. I’m sorry. He has been a great help. I just don’t know what his angle is. At first I thought he was interested in you but now I think he’s into Lisa.”

Emily laughed, “David has been one of my best friends since I was eight years old. Don’t you think if he was interested in me he would have made his move before now? And Lisa is so not his type but so what if he is into her. Maybe he’ll rub off on her and she will start being a decent human being. As for his angle, you could try the truth. He has a mom and little sister all alone at home and he wants to get back to them as fast as possible. He’s worried about them and thought the boat would get him home quicker. Why do you think everyone has some hidden agenda…do you?”

“No, I just don’t know him
, that’s all. You’re right, Em, we’re lucky he came with us,” he conceded and gave her leg a squeeze.

She rested her head against his shoulder, happy he had come around. She was so tired from the physical and emotional day that she felt herself nodding off. Catching herself
, she sat up straighter and asked Mason, “Do you think you can get a boat out of the marina? Are they that easy to steal? Do you think we should try and find someone to give us a ride first?” she asked, trying to stay alert.

Mason laughed and said
, “Whoa there, you sound like your motor mouth friend, Alex,” which earned him a punch in the arm.

“Ok
ay, okay sorry, but she does talk fast and fires off questions like that. We shouldn’t have any problem finding an older boat with an engine that works but to tell you the truth I would feel better getting a ride with someone more experienced. I’ve sailed on lakes but never in the open ocean and I’m a little nervous about tackling that on my own. Hopefully, we’ll find someone who is heading north and we can bribe them with the food and water we have. Won’t know until we get there though.”

Emily appreciated that Mason was honest with her about his fears. She knew he never would have admitted it in front of the others. She looked ahead and saw Mark was slowing down at an intersection. The sign read Marina Dr. They were getting closer and she started thinking about what they could do if they couldn’t find anyone to give them a ride.

“If we can’t find anyone to help us, what do you think about finding something small with a motor? We could at least get clear of the major cities by staying close to shore,” she asked him.

“Yeah, I thought about that. We wouldn’t get very far but at least we wouldn’t be walking through that hellhole. We’ll keep it in mind as a last ditch effort.”

Emily was about to ask another question when gunshots rang out loud and close by. She saw Mark swerve his cart to one side of the street behind a car. He scrambled out and ducked down. David was just as fast, stopping behind a delivery truck and Emily saw him yank Lisa out and down onto the pavement. Mason slammed their golf cart to a stop in the middle of the street and frantically scanned around to find out where the shooting was coming from. The glass windshield of a car parked beside them suddenly exploded and with a scream, Emily dove out and crawled to the back of the cart. Mason was still sitting behind the steering wheel and didn’t even seem to hear Emily screaming at him to get down.

Emily peeked around the back of the cart to see what was happening and screamed at Mason again. She was leaning against the back bumper when it suddenly lurched forward and sped away, leaving her exposed in the middle of the street. A sob of terror burst out of her as she scrabbled to the nearest car for cover on her hands and knees. She was panting hard by the time she made it and her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest. Whimpering in fear
, she eased over to see around the car. Mark and David’s carts were still there on the side of the road but Mason’s was getting further and further away. Movement to the left caught her eye and she turned her head to see two uniformed police officers rush into the street from between two buildings. They crouched down and moved from cover to cover. A gunshot rang out from the still unseen assailant and the two cops immediately returned fire. Emily must have screamed because one of the cops turned his weapon at her. With a scowl, he faced away again and scanned the area. His partner pointed further down and across the street and moved forward. The cop who had seen Emily made to follow but stopped and turned back to her.

“Wait for two and then go!” he hissed at her.

With her hands covering her mouth to hold back another scream, she just nodded as the cop moved away. Emily’s whole body was shaking with fear and shock. Mason had left her. That he had left her to die was all she could think of as her eyes tracked the police officers down the road until they were out of sight. She waited another minute and then still crouching ran towards David and Lisa. When she bumped into the back of their golf cart, Lisa made a sharp squeal of fright and whipped her head around. Lisa’s eyes were as big as saucers and shimmered with tears. When she saw it was Emily, she launched herself at her and clung tight.

Emily met David’s eyes over the sobbing girl’s shoulder and mouthed, “Let’s go!”

He nodded and pried Lisa away from Emily. The three squeezed into the golf cart and David started to roll it forward. When they got even with the other cart, David stage-whispered, “Mark, let’s go!” and continued on. Emily looked back to make sure Mark was coming and turned forward when she saw him jump behind the wheel. David glanced back and when he saw the other cart following, he sped up. Lisa and Emily jolted at the sound of another gunshot but it was further away from them this time. Lisa was clutching Emily’s arm painfully while she sobbed and shook. Even though Emily was terrified as well, she freed her arm and wrapped it around Lisa and tried to comfort her.

Once they had cleared the area, David slowed down and turned to look at Emily, his face a mix of bewilderment and rage.

“What the hell, Emily! What happened back there? Did Mason ditch you?!”

Emily couldn’t speak yet, she was still shocked stupid by Mason’s actions so she just lowered her head against Lisa’s and closed her eyes.