Storm Tide Rising: Blackout Volume 2 (14 page)

Mike crossed to the far side of the power line cut through before Alyssa could say anything else. The woman could find a reason to argue with a stone, and he was halfway sure she'd win the argument. He kept a good twenty or thirty yards of trees between himself and the cleared buffer zone around the grounds of the whitewater center. The course was large, and it was nearly a four thousand foot circuit around the outside of the park.

The shadows beneath the trees were long and dark, which made it more difficult to pick out a good path. Mike moved as quickly as he could, but the woods weren't familiar to him so it was slow progress. At one point, the line of trees between the artificial water course and the river narrowed to less than forty yards total, and Mike picked up his pace. Once they were across the narrow strip of trees and sand, Mike dropped to one knee and rested for a moment. Alyssa hit the ground behind him badly out of breath.

"How far do we have left?"  Alyssa asked after a moment.

Mike shrugged slightly and handed her a bottle of water from his pack. "Hard to say, but with how close the river just got, I'd say we're about half-way around the course."

Alyssa took a long drink from her bottle then nodded. "Good," she said, "I don't think I could take much more than that. My legs feel like they're ready to fall off, and it's getting so dark I can barely see."

Mike thought about it for a moment, then pointed to the edge of the tree line. "C'mon. Let's see if anyone is moving back toward the buildings. The sun's gone now, and if we're careful we should be able to get a clear view without being seen."

Mike pulled the small binoculars from his pack and moved slowly and carefully through the trees. As the trunks thinned out, he dropped to a crouch and then crawled through the dense pine needles and leaf litter of the forest floor. When he reached the last two tall pine trees before the open grassy area that lead up to the whitewater center's fenced off perimeter, Mike rose to one knee. He braced the binoculars against a tree trunk and scanned the backs of the buildings that faced them.

The windows stood out as dark black rectangles in the pale walls. Just enough early-evening light lingered to give good details in the open, even in the distance. Two large metal barrels sat on the flat deck behind the main boat house, and both had flames dancing out of the tops.

Mike could just make out three people moving in the shifting firelight.

Immediately, his heart jumped into Mike's throat and sweat beaded on his forehead. He sat frozen for a heartbeat then dropped the binoculars and motioned for Alyssa to move back the way they'd come. She walked as quietly as she could, but she still snapped twigs with every step and she stumbled twice. Mike moved up ahead of her and began picking a better path. When they were back among the trunks far enough, he motioned for Alyssa to come closer to him.

"There are people up there," Mike said softly. Alyssa's breath hissed in through her teeth, and her eyes went wide, but Mike put a hand softly on her shoulder. "Look, it's okay. They didn't see us. We'll make our way through the woods to the maintenance shed. Just try and be as quiet as you can when we're moving, okay?"

Alyssa nodded, and they set off again. Mike kept a wider berth from the edge of the trees as he moved this time, and he tried his best to pick a clear path while still staying close enough to keep his bearings against the fence. The light outside faded, and Mike made the most he could of it. After a time, though, the dimness deepened into darkness beneath the trees, and it was difficult for him to see where to put his feet.

Mike paused, and after a while and motioned for Alyssa to follow him. He moved carefully to the edge of the trees and checked with his binoculars. A few hundred yards to his right he could just make out the dark shape of a building that had to be a maintenance shed. Mike couldn't see any signs of movement at all, but it was dark and difficult to make out details in the distance.

Mike closed those last few hundred yards through the trees slowly and carefully. The trees ran right up to the back wall of the maintenance shed, and he almost walked into the aluminum sheeting in the dark. He crept quietly around the side of the building and checked the door on the side wall. The door opened easily, but Mike couldn't see anything inside. A few feet from the maintenance shed was a stand that held kayaks and oars. He pointed to the kayaks and motioned for Alyssa to follow him.

When they reached the stand of boats, Mike knelt and whispered close to her ear, "We need a canoe. You grab the other end of this one."  Mike took an inflatable red and blue vinyl canoe off the rack and stuck two oars under the bench. The boat was heavier than it looked, but somehow lighter than Mike had expected it to be, and with Alyssa's help it was easy to carry.

Mike turned and there was a flashlight shining with painful brightness in his eyes. He dropped the canoe and his hands went to his M-4, but he froze when a stern voice said, "Don't give me a reason to shoot you. I already caught you takin shit that ain't yours, so don't give me a reason, got it?"

Mike nodded and released the M-4 slowly, but he kept his hands near the rifle. "Look, man, I'm sorry. We just need a boat, that's all."

"Yeah, I gathered that since you've got your hands on one," the stranger said. "Who are you? Do you know someone here?"

"Yeah," Mike said. "I knew a guy named Andrew. Worked here for years. He was a customer service manager or something."

"Drew, I know him." the stranger answered. "Drew ain't here, man."  The man behind the flashlight pointed suddenly at Alyssa and said calmly, "Ma'am, I just want to let you know that if you pull that .38, I will shoot you dead. I don't want to, but I will put you down if you draw that gun."

Alyssa froze, and Mike grated his teeth. "Not very polite to threaten someone you just met."

The stranger barked a short chuckle. "I didn't threaten her; I just told her how not to get shot, that's all. Trying to be helpful 'cause I'm a helpful kind of guy. For instance, if you don't want to get shot, you shouldn't go around stealing other peoples' stuff."

"Like I said, all we wanted was a boat," Mike shrugged.

A long moment of silence stretched between them until finally the flashlight dropped as the man lowered the shotgun it was taped to and extended his hand. "I'm Alex. I was a weekend instructor here for two years. Me and Drew used to get stoned out here behind this shed."

Mike shook his head and chuckled nervously at the offered handshake. "Yeah, I guess some things never do change." Alyssa did the same, but her expression remained dark and suspicious.

"Why don't you two leave the boat for now and come up to the main building?"  Alex asked with an easy smile. "One of the other guys up there got two geese this afternoon and we're cooking them now. Should be more than enough for you two to have some with us."

Mike took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He glanced back at Alyssa and raised his eyebrows. Alyssa hesitated for a moment, then shrugged, and Mike turned back to Alex. "I don't know. We were really just thinking about grabbing a boat and going on our way."

"You can do that if you want," Alex said, "but I wouldn't really recommend it. There are guys who know that river a lot better than you do who don't run it at night. There aren't any rapids, but there are some strong current channels and more than one tree or rock pile hidden beneath the surface. You rip a hole in the bottom of that boat in the wrong spot, and even with life jackets on you'll be in trouble. If you stick around, you get a hot meal and you might be able to talk someone into taking you down river to make sure you actually make it."

Mike still hesitated, so Alex shrugged. He turned and started heading around the narrow dirt road that led up to the main buildings. "I'm not going to force you, though. Whatever you decide, good luck. Don't try walking up to the fires once I'm there, though. The other guys might take it wrong, and I'd hate for there to be some kind of misunderstanding."

Mike leaned over close to Alyssa and whispered, "Look, if he'd wanted us dead he could have shot us when our backs were turned. I never heard him or anything until he had that light on me. Scared the crap out of me to be honest."

"You think we should trust him?"  Alyssa hissed.

Mike shrugged. "We've got to start trusting at some point, right? Otherwise what's the point of staying alive? You decided to trust me, and that worked out okay. This could too."

Alyssa sighed heavily through her nose and rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if someone shoots you, I'm running. I ain't gonna stand there and get shot just because you want some nasty roasted duck or whatever."

"Goose," Mike corrected, "And we'd better hurry if we want to catch up."

Mike ran around the edge of the neighboring storage shed with Alyssa close on his heels, and almost barreled into Alex. The young man stood patiently just out of sight of the rack of boats with a smile on his face in the dim moonlight.

"How did you know we'd change our minds and come back?"  Mike asked.

Alex shrugged. "I didn't, but I figured I'd at least wait until you had talked it out and decided one way or the other. Being alone....it's not easy right now, but sometimes it's the best choice. I get that. But like you said, man, we gotta start trusting someone at some point."

Mike stuck his hand out. "I'm Mike, by the way."

Alex didn't hesitate. He took Mike's hand and shook it firmly.

Ch.22

Footprints In The Sand

Joe knelt just inside the tree line at the edge of the road with Chris kneeling in the deep shadows on the other side. Joe pointed to his eyes, and then held up four fingers. Chris nodded, and they set themselves. Joe could hear the sound of footsteps on the road coming closer. He carefully controlled his breathing to try and make as little noise as possible. The breeze shifted from the left side of his face to the right, and the footsteps stopped.

"I know you're there, Joe," Beth called with an edge on her voice. "You've been gallivanting through the woods all day and you stink. I could just about smell you from the big road."

Joe ground his teeth to keep from cursing the wind, and stepped out into the road. "What do you think you're doing going out on your own?"

Beth crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one foot, fixing Joe with a level glare as she did. "I wasn't by myself, thank you very much. I had Christina, Beth-Anne, and Imogene with me. And a shotgun."

Joe glanced down at the pump action .410 in her hands and raised an eyebrow. "That only holds three rounds in the tube and one in the chamber, honey. What do you do if there's more than four people, or if you miss."

"Reload."  Beth said with an air of finality.

The other three women tried to edge their way past Beth, but she snapped a sudden glare at them too. "Where do you think you're going?"  she asked.

"Well, we're gettin eat up by mosquitoes," Imogene said sweetly, "and we were thinking we'd head to the house while you two talk this out."

"Oh, it won't take long," Beth replied.

"It's dangerous out there, Beth," Joe said in a much calmer voice. "I was worried."

"So worried you didn't send anyone off to check on us?"  Beth shot back.

Joe shook his head calmly. "Wouldn't have done any good to send someone out to wander around the Run and see if they happened to cross your path. Better to wait for you to come back to us."

"Mmhumm," Beth grunted and began to walk around Joe. "Everyone is coming tomorrow, by the way."

"How are they?"  Joe asked, thankful for the change in subject.

"As good as they can be," Beth replied. "Betsy's the only one who's lost anyone so far. But that won't last long. Four people on the Run take blood pressure pills four times a day. They've got enough to last maybe another three weeks."

Joe listened and ran a weary hand through his hair when Beth was done. He glanced at the other women and then back at his wife. "Ladies, if it's okay with my missus here, could you head on back to the house and give us a minute? We have some things we need to discuss."

Beth arched an eyebrow in the dim moonlight and nodded curtly. "It's okay, ladies. I'll be fine."

The three women mumbled thanks and something that sounded like they were saying good bye, and then they were hurrying down the driveway, heads together and whispering to each other. Joe turned to tell Chris he could leave too, only to find that his backup had already made a hasty and quiet retreat.

When the others were gone, Joe took two steps and put his arms around his wife, pulling her close to him. She was stiff and reluctant at first, but she soon melted into the embrace and clung to him as tightly as he clung to her. They stood like that for a long moment, each holding up the other. Finally, Joe kissed the top of Beth's head and took a step back.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," he said. "I was worried and scared and maybe a little pissed off, and I'm sorry."

Beth shrugged slightly. "I know. Me too. And I'm sorry I didn't let you know what I was planning. That wasn't really very smart, and I realized it about halfway around the road. It was too late to go back at that point, though. How did you know we were gone, anyway? We only told Bill and the ladies at the house that we were going for a walk."

Joe smiled and pointed at the line of deep footprints on the road. "Footprints in the sand, baby. Didn't take much to put two and two together to get four once I saw them."

Joe reached down and picked up the spool of barbed wire next to the massive sentry pine. He wrapped the fencing around the trunk and strung it across the road. He repeated the process four or five times until the point where the driveway came out of the overgrown cutover was criss-crossed with a makeshift barricade of barbed wire. He clipped the wire with a pair of tin snips in his back pocket, wrapped the end in a tight knot around the tree, and tested it a few times to make certain the web of steel would hold.

"Should someone keep watch?"  Beth asked.