Enduring the Crisis (12 page)

Tammy did not sleep well. In fact, each night was becoming more difficult to sleep than the night before. Even after she took all of her herbal supplements which almost always worked, she would wake up again and again.

When she woke for the fourth time that night, she sniffed and the smell burned her nose. She blinked several times wondering where the awful smell was coming from. The neighborhood was starting to stink but the smell that was filling her nose meant danger.

She sat upright in bed when she realized what it was. Smoke. It couldn’t be coming from inside her house. None of the smoke alarms were going off. She crept out of bed and stood at the door to go upstairs. Staring at the handle, she couldn’t bring herself to touch it. Her nose still hurt from the bruising and her fears of the gangs roaming the street took over her sensibilities. She had to find out if her house was in danger. She knew there wasn’t enough smoke for it to be in her house. When the wildfires were close in the mountains, the smell would slip in the house and that’s what she figured was happening. She clenched her jaw, told herself to get a move on and opened the door.

The smell was so strong, she wondered if somehow a window was left open. They went through the house so many times before bed. She knew that wasn’t the case. Not a hint of thick smoke coming from anywhere inside.

As she walked into the living room, red hued light filtered through the cracks of the shutters. It was not time for the sun to rise yet. Chewing on the skin on one of her fingers, she hovered her hand over one of the many locks on the door. Telling herself to knock it off, she went through each lock hastily to get it over with. As soon as she pulled the door open, she stood in stunned silence.

The sky glowed reddish orange and a smoky haze lingered in the air from a massive fire nearby. Far too close. Over the rooftops of the neighbors’ houses on the other side of the street, an occasional flame shot up as thick smoke rolled and billowed up into the sky. Sparks and ash floated down onto her yard.

The gangs were unpredictable but their numbers were still small. However, a fire that big was not something that could be put out during a blackout. Especially when the firemen had no transportation and no running water. It was hard to tell how endangered her house was. The weather had been insanely dry and hot for far too long. There wasn’t anything she could do except maybe get some buckets of water ready from her storage in the garage, watch, and wait. Horrible pictures of entire cities in the early 1900’s flashed through her mind.

She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. What would she do if she used a good part of her water storage to save the house? Once more she wished she would have just loaded up and left the city as soon as all of her kids were home. It was far too dangerous living so close to so many people that were about to be desperate. Right then all she could do was watch as some of people were losing their homes.

Neighbors came out of their houses and stood in their lawns or on the street watching as if they were mesmerized by the billowing smoke and dancing flames. A few men jogged down the road so they could get a better view closer to the flames. Others were in a complete panic as if it was inevitably going to take out their block too.

Tammy teared up and headed for the garage. She pumped water into only one five-gallon bucket and sat outside on the porch with a damp hand towel over her mouth, tolerating the smoke burning her eyes as she watched where the sparks fell. If anyone spoke to her, she didn’t notice. She was busy saying multiple silent prayers for her neighbors, for the victims of the fire that they might all be safe and not be forsaken during the crisis, and for her own home and family that they might be spared.

Usually there was not much of a breeze at night. Of course there was one churning the fire. The wind picked up as it changed direction. The flames swirled up as it did, twisting into what looked like a fire tornado. She gasped, stepping back against the wall until she realized the shifting winds had stirred up the flames only for a moment. The worst of the smoke wasn’t in her front yard anymore and the sparks did not fall on her lawn any longer.

There was no taking her eyes off the fiery glow of the disaster. Even though the flames were not visible anymore, she couldn’t stop her mind from racing as she named the people she might know that lived near the fire.

No firefighters to fight the flames, no hoses to put out the fire, no paramedics to help anyone who might be burned or suffering from smoke inhalation.

Then her mind went into a downward spiral of panic. She knew those men that had been harassing them would come back. As she rubbed her temples, she fought the urge to load up the trailer in the dark. Finally, she made a concrete decision. They were heading out as soon as she could possibly make it happen.

Tammy jumped when someone touched her hip and she nearly hit Mae when she over-reacted.

Mae flinched and backed away, “I’m sorry, momma.” When she realized her mother wasn’t going to hurt her, she wrapped her arms around Tammy’s waist. “Katie lives over there. Do you think her house is on fire? Should we go see and help?”

Tammy rubbed her daughter’s back. “It’s not safe for us to go far from the house right now. Not in the dark. We will go see how they are in the morning, sweetie.” She hugged her daughter tighter.

Mae pulled away and looked her mom in the eye. “Daddy would have gone over there right away. How come you don’t go help people the way he does?”

Tammy was taken aback with her daughter’s brutal honesty. She paused for what felt like a long time before she could answer. “Honey, I
have
helped people. We have to be careful though. Those men that hurt me the other night and tried to hurt your sisters are still out there. They still want to hurt us. There are others that will be unkind to us too because Daddy is not here. So I don’t go and run to rescue everyone in our neighborhood the way Daddy would. It’s not that I’m not brave. I just know that I have to be careful. I don’t like the idea of no one being here to take care of you.” She blinked back the tears before Mae saw.

She squeezed her mother tighter. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you either.” She sighed. “Having Daddy home would make this less scary, wouldn’t it?”

“Not really. It would be just as scary. I think we are about to make a trip to the cabin.”

“Will that be safer?”

Tammy nodded. In her mind she answered that she hoped so. It was quite a journey to get out of town and the chaos on their street could be mild compared to what was happening elsewhere. She wasn’t going to change her mind. They were still leaving. If anything, Mae’s little comment of brutal honesty only encouraged her.

It seemed as if all was well, they were well on their way to Anchorage undetected when a storm rolled in and churned the ocean making it feel as if they were suddenly a toy boat going through the wash cycle. Waves crashed over the side of the boat, washing the decks.

The big spotlights were turned on to full brightness as they lit up on the water at the bow of the boat. They could see the big waves coming. The boat climbed and dropped making Ben sick in a hurry. If only it was rollercoaster. Ben and Nate were heading to the wheelhouse to visit with Jackson about the time frame of the rest of their journey.

Anderson stood in the way of the stairs. “He doesn’t need greenies in there. You might as well stay dry and head to bed. You don’t have any experience to offer. We’ve got it.”

“I doubt we’ll sleep with this going on.” Nate covered his mouth after he burped and headed for the side of the boat.

Anderson shoved Ben out of the way, slamming his back against the railing. The giant went after Nate and pulled him from the edge just as he lost his dinner.

Anderson didn’t flinch from the mess that Nate made on his rubber boots and didn’t let go of the shoulder of Nate’s jacket. “You want to be tossed overboard? You idiot.” He shoved Nate towards the stairs and the boat pitched sideways as a wave rolled over the boat’s edge violently turning the boat on its side before it pitched wildly to the other.

Anderson slipped on the mess on the deck and fell towards the stair railing.

Still in shock, Ben clung to the rail and reached for Nate who was sprawled on the metal stairs and sliding off as if the boat was trying to toss him back to sea.

Anderson grabbed Nate’s boot as the water pulled at him and he scrambled for a better handhold.

Ben barely had Nate’s arm as it was. He was wet and slippery. Nate gripped Ben’s sleeve tighter as Ben held his wrist feeling as if he was pulling against the weight of two men. Anderson had a hold of the rail. So why did it feel as if he was still clinging and pulling on Nate?

Water sprayed in his face as another wave hit so he couldn’t see why the pull was so strong again. Nate was not that heavy even when wet.

When he had a moment to blink the salty seawater out of his eyes and look over the top of his glasses, he could see Anderson waving at him. He couldn’t hear anything over the howl of the wind and the deafening water.

Nate had regained his footing and was able to shout, “He wants to help us get inside. Come on, before he tosses us both overboard.” The look on Nate’s face was pure terror. He must not have imagined that Anderson was trying to help Nate get swept out to sea.

Ben gripped the rail tight as he followed his friend, making sure he stayed close in case one of them needed the other to survive whatever Anderson might try next.

He held the door open as Nate and Ben passed through. There was no warmth coming from the man or any form of friendliness or concern.

“At least that shot of adrenaline cured the motion sickness for the moment,” Nate whispered so only Ben could hear.

“It’s probably numbing my back too. He slammed me against the rail.” Ben glanced back at Anderson and winced. He probably heard and he was glaring at the two of them.

“How’s our new crew members? We still have two? I saw some of the commotion on the deck,” Jackson’s voice blared from a speaker in the living area. Perhaps he was chastising Anderson?

“They’re both here and still in one piece. Don’t worry.” Anderson scowled as he pulled a couple of towels from a closet and tossed them at their feet. “Stay put and take your wet clothes off here. You can throw them in the dryer when we aren’t getting tossed around anymore.” Anderson pushed past them and went back out on deck.

Ben rubbed his head and face with the towel.

“Sure, he acted like he was trying to save me at first. But he wasn’t trying to help me get back on my feet at all. I thought for sure he was going to toss me overboard if I let you go.” Nate clutched the towel.

“I didn’t think you could possibly weigh that much even if you were soaked all the way through.” Ben pulled off his work boots. “We should have borrowed some of those rubber boots. These are going to take forever to dry out here.” He sighed. When he looked up at Nate, he was still frozen where he stood. Well, as much as he could be with the boat still rocking all over the place. It was worse inside when you had no idea what was coming. The boat creaked and groaned. Utensils hanging on the wall in the galley clanged whenever the boat shifted directions.

Jackson’s magazines slid off a table and they spread out across the floor. Ben handed Nate a chair. “Here, sit a moment. You need to dry off.” He shivered, standing in his wet underclothes. “I want to go back and change but I’m concerned about leaving you here in this condition.” He leaned down to look Nate in the eye. “Hey?”

Nate nodded and pulled off his coat, dropping it to the floor. Alarms went off and Ben looked around the room as he wrapped the towel around his body. “What is that?”

“Anderson, something’s wrong with one of the engines.” Jackson’s voice rang out.

“What do we do?” Nate was pulling off his other waterlogged boot.

“Stay out of his way.”

Just then, Anderson burst through the door, glaring at them for a brief moment as he headed for the engine room.

Ben held his arms up and backed away, staying clear of the giant’s reach. He rubbed below his shoulder blade. “Yeah, I’m going to feel that in the morning.”

They collected their soaking wet clothes and headed to their berths.

“You got something to help with nausea and something that knocks you out completely too?” Nate asked after he burped.

“I don’t think so. Just the usual mildly groggy stuff.” He had to rest his hand on the wall as the rocking boat about made him lose his balance while he was attempting to put on dry clothes.

“I’ll check the linen closet in the bathroom.”

“Be careful that everything doesn’t fall out on the floor.” Ben struggled to climb onto his bunk above Nate’s. “I think we’d sleep better in a hammock. I should have cleared that bunk out over there. I don’t want to roll onto the floor if this keeps up all night.”

“I found something.” Nate rejoiced before he started retching in the toilet.

“Sounds like you needed it a little sooner.” Ben closed his eyes and his head felt as if he was dealing with the aftermath of feeling dizzy except everything was actually moving and the sensation was a bit too much. “I could probably use whatever you found.”

Ben was rocked awake. When he saw that it was Anderson and not the boat rocking him, he scooted back to the wall but unfortunately he wasn’t out of the giant’s reach.

“Come on. We have an inspection from the Coast Guard.”

“With the rough seas? They’re boarding boats in this?” Ben sat up and realized the boat wasn’t rocking as badly as it had been when he went to bed. “What do we need to do?”

“We didn’t get far from Dutch Harbor when they spotted us I guess. I think they know we slipped out during the no sail orders. We’re playing it cool, as if we left earlier and were sightseeing. You’ve been with us the whole time.”

“Are they going to ask our names? Report back to Dutch Harbor?” Nate asked.

“Likely. Why?”

“Yeah, why?” Ben asked.

“We went to the Coast Guard office, gave them our names the morning before we left. When did the no sail orders go out?”

“You two are going to get us arrested or escorted to the nearest dock.” Anderson was about to go into a rage.

Ben covered his face just in case. Anderson flung a water bottle down the hall. It smashed on the stairs, spraying water everywhere.

“Do we go up?” Nate asked meekly.

“No. You hide and all your gear too.” He pointed at their suitcases stacked on the floor. “Hurry. They’ll be in that room up there any time now. You weren’t easy to wake.” Anderson strode down the hall and picked up the smashed water bottle as he headed for the deck.

Ben rolled out of bed and looked around. “There’s nowhere to hide these suitcases.”

Nate lifted his bunk. “I thought there might be storage under here. There’s some stuff in the way though.”

Ben hauled out the life jackets and boxes and placed them on his bed. He pulled out a few more heavy boxes, must have been extra parts or something, and set them on the floor before he tossed the suitcases in the space. “These take up a lot of room. Here, climb in.”

When Nate did, there was just enough room for himself. No room for Ben.

They heard the door open for a moment. “We have some of our permits and license info up in the wheelhouse. Let’s go there.” Jackson yelled.

“Where are you going to hide?” Nate started to sit up.

Ben pushed him back down and started to close the bunk. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll find the engine room. I just have to find a place that will fit skinny me.” He pushed down the bunk the rest of the way and hastily set the boxes on top.

He stayed close to the wall, trying to see if anyone was in the rooms up the stairs or looking in the windows. Sliding his back along the wall, he slipped around the corner and hustled down to the engine room. The noise was deafening. More than one engine hummed and vibrated as he worked his way around the tight space. It took some time for him to figure out the layout of the room and that there was hardly any place to hide. He went back to the stairs, perhaps he should have hid in Anderson’s room. It was too late. Jackson was talking to whoever was on the boat and they were headed towards the engine room.

Ben was frantic and then when he went to hide behind the stairs, he found a closet. Opening the door, it was mostly full but he saw some space on one of the lower shelves. He swept off the shelf with his arm and everything fell to the bottom. Kicking everything back into the closet and cramming it all in that space, he turned around and rested his butt on the middle of the shelf hoping that he was not only skinny enough but flexible enough to fit on that shelf. And once he did fit somehow and was inside the closet, he hoped the shelf could handle his weight for longer than five minutes. It swayed considerably under his weight. How to close the door? Did he want it shut all the way? He slid his fingers under the door to quickly close it as much as he could as they were coming down the stairs. The door had vent slats all the way down and he held onto one of the wooden slats with his fingertips while he kept the door from swinging open or latching shut.

He could see their silhouettes turn at the bottom of the steps and approach the closet where he was hiding. The engine room was rather warm and the closet was excessively so. He started to sweat profusely. His fingers began to tremble as he held the door still. They were standing right beside it now.

“You see here, here is my receipt of when we fueled up as soon as we got into the harbor.” Jackson shouted over the engines as he shuffled through some papers. “Sorry, we have a huge paper trail. We’ve been out sightseeing for weeks now.”

Ben wished he noticed the paperwork sitting so close to his chosen hiding spot. There was no sign of a desk or anything like it. However, he had no clue what the Coast Guard would have wanted to see once they boarded a boat.

“This is no longer a time to be sightseeing. There is some dangerous activity out here and it is highly possible that you could get caught in the crossfire or be mistaken as an enemy ship.”

“Are you trying to tell me we are at war?” Jackson asked.

“I’m trying to say it is dangerous out here.”

“It’s always dangerous out here. We’ve been crossing the Bering Sea in September. The Pacific so far hasn’t been forgiving either. I know I need to finish up my tour of Alaska and head home.”

“Actually, you need to find a port in Alaska and stay there. Honestly, there is no point in going to the lower forty-eight. That is if you survive out here with all that’s going on.”

“So are you letting me go on my way? So I can find a safe harbor?”

“I highly recommend it. We have our hands full right now and we don’t have time to escort you. If you don’t make it to a port, we can’t be responsible for what happens. We may not be able to rescue you if you take on water, if your ship completely breaks down, if there’s an injury, or if you’re taken hostage. That last one is a very real possibility right now.”

“I see.” Jackson’s voice turned very somber. “I will heed your advice and get us to safety.”

“All right. This is all looks good. You take care.”

Ben didn’t think he could hold the door shut any longer. His fingers were cramping as he tried to maneuver his other arm so he could switch hands but his fingers couldn’t stay in that position anymore. He bit his lip when all his fingers seized up. He couldn’t stop the door as it swung open.

Ben pulled his arms and legs in tight when he could see two members of the Coast Guard heading for the stairs. They might see him once they turned to go up. He held his breath as if that would make him invisible.

Jackson shut the door completely before he walked away.

Ben stretched his fingers as he worked on subduing the panic of not being able to open the door. The handle on the inside was a shelf above his and there was only a small gap between the edge of the shelf and the door. It was stifling hot. He had to breathe slowly to calm the rising panic attack which he had never done before.

He counted to ten, then to fifty and if he had to count to one hundred and fifty, he was going to smash the slats so he could get out. He wiped his forehead on his T-shirt as he counted. He was getting closer to smash time, one hundred twenty. Jackson wasn’t coming back. One hundred twenty one, what would Anderson do to him if he breaks the door? One hundred twenty two, how long does it take for the Coast Guard to get off a boat? He was at one hundred forty two when he finally heard someone on the stairs.

“Ben?” Nate shouted.

“I’m here!” he banged on the door.

“Where? Man, it’s loud in here.”

“Under the stairs, the closet under the stairs.”

“Seriously?” Nate was right outside the closet. “It’s jammed, why is it jammed.”

“I don’t know, hurry and open it before I smash my way out.”

“I see,” he pulled on the door really hard.

It swung open and Ben about launched himself off the shelf.

“How did you even fit in there?” Nate leaned his head to the side and looked in the space where Ben felt like he had just spent hours folded up like a towel.

He stretched his back and legs. “I guess I fit in there out of desperation. This was a poor choice of a hiding place.”

“I’d say.”

“So are they gone?”

“Yes. Thanks a lot for piling so much crap on my bunk. That was not easy to get out of. Especially when the buddy that put you there is stuck in a closet.”

“Well, at least they didn’t discover us. I don’t think it would have been a huge deal if they found us because they are already preoccupied with what’s going on. It is sounding more and more like we actually are at war.”