For Those In Peril (Book 1): For Those In Peril On The Sea (18 page)

I laughed too and thought back to my childhood. ‘God, I’d hate to be a teenager again.’

‘Me too.’

‘Anyway, if you need a hand bringing the boats back, just give me a call and I’ll come over.’

‘Will do.’

Half an hour later I watched the McGanns' schooner pass on its way out of the harbour. I could see the kids running around on the deck, excited to be doing something different. Kathy was standing at the front, directing Dan through the anchorage. She waved when she saw me but before I could wave back they’d turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

***

Around two thirty the following morning I was sitting in the cabin, taking my turn watching to make sure we didn’t drag in the night. I knew those on other boats thought I was overcautious, keeping a watch even in Hope Town, and if we’d been tied to a mooring, I might have agreed, but we only had our anchor to rely on.

Suddenly, the radio burst into life. ‘Hey anyone up? It’s Dan. We seem to have come adrift in Marsh Harbour. We’re up against the east side and I think we’ve got company up top. Any chance someone can come and help us deal with this?’ There was a moment’s silence and then a second voice came over the radio.

‘Hey, Dan. Jack here, I’ll pick up Andrew and we’ll come right over. It shouldn’t take us more than half an hour to get there.’

‘No rush. We’re locked up nice and tight, it’s not getting in.’ Dan sounded calm.

I wondered how Dan had ended up in the position he now found himself in. I knew the McGanns weren’t in the habit of keeping a watch at night. They didn’t need to when they were on their mooring in Hope Town, but they should have done in Marsh Harbour. I looked out the window. I could just make out the flag on the back of Jack’s boat, flapping rapidly from side to side. The wind had picked up in the last hour, but it wasn’t enough to cause an anchor to drag. Maybe Dan had been a bit lax in checking the condition of his anchor line. They hadn’t used it in a while and it could have perished enough in that time to separate as the wind picked up. Yet, it was unlike Dan to be so careless.

Whatever the cause, the boat had drifted into the shore before anyone
on board realised. The noise of bumping into the shore must have alerted a nearby infected and it had crawled on board. Once there, it would have sensed the people below. Maybe someone had been snoring, maybe it could smell them; either way it knew they were there.

This wasn’t necessarily a problem and it was something we’d worked out a system to deal with. A boat with its cabin secured is relatively difficult for a lone infected to get into, and it was relatively easy to clear any infected that clambered
on board as they would be visible on the open decks. A shot to the head from the safety of the other boat was all that was needed to dispatch them.

Jon’s head poked up from the companionway leading down to his cabin. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Dan’s boat’s loose in Marsh Harbour and it’s drifted onto the shore. He’s got an infected on deck.’

Jon stretched his arms and yawned, ‘Someone gone to get them?’

‘Yep, Jack’s on his way over with Andrew.’

‘Nothing to worry about then. Hey, is that Jack there?’ I look
ed where Jon was pointing and saw a runabout manoeuvring through the harbour. I glanced over at Jack’s boat and could see him just setting off.’

‘No, it’s not.’

‘Who is it then?’

I watched the boat for a few minutes before I realised. ‘It’s David!’

‘Christ, that him just coming back now? He must have been more pissed off than I thought. Wonder where he’s been all this time?’

Before I got a chance to answer Jon, or even to think about what David had been up to, something happened that caused me to forget all about it. A new voice came over the radio; a younger one.

‘Dad?’

I turned up the volume so I could hear it better.

‘Jeff? That you? Don’t worry, we’ll get this sorted. It’s nothing to worry about.’ Dan sounded confused, as if he was wondering what Jeff was doing on the radio; why he hadn’t just come through from his bunk.

‘Dad, I’ve done something really bad ...’ Jeff’s voice was starting to crack.

‘What do you mea ...? Jeff where are you?’ Dan was now sounding concerned. He’d realised something was wrong.

‘I sneaked out to see Jennifer. Dad, I’m really sorry, I thought I’d be back before you found out. I thought it would be okay. Dad, I left my hatch unbolted so I could get back in.’ Jeff was now almost in tears, ‘Dad, I’m so sorry, but you need to get it locked ...’

I heard the microphone clatter against something as Dan dropped it. The transmit button must have become jammed because we could hear it swing back and forth. In the background, Dan was shouting.

‘Kathy, Gramps, girls, up! Everyone up! Now!’

‘What’s going on?’ It was faint but I could just make out Kathy’s response.

‘You need to get into the saloon. I’ll explain later, just hurry up. I’ll grab the girls.’

‘Dan, you’re starting to scare me.’ Kathy’s voice got louder. ‘What are you doing with that?’

‘There’s an infected on deck and Jeff’s hatch is unlocked.’

‘How?’

‘I’ll explain later.’ Dan voice receded from the microphone. There was a brief
silence. ‘It’s inside!’

I heard Dan struggling with
someone. ‘Kathy, grab something, anything.’

Suddenly, there was a scream off in the distance.

‘Oh shit!’ Kathy was close to tears but she headed away from the microphone.

The sound of a crying child came towards the microphone followed by Kathy’s voice. ‘Sam, oh god, oh shit. Dan, where’s the first aid kit?’

The fighting continued off in the distance and then there was a noise only a dying man could make.

‘Dan? Dad?’ Kathy yelled and moved away.

The struggling grew louder and I heard someone run back into the saloon, quickly followed by another. Sam was screaming again, but this time it was mixed with the unmistakeable sounds of an infected.

Even after they were all dead, the radio kept transmitting. The infected must have been close to the jammed microphone as I could hear flesh tearing and bones snapping as it fed on those it had just killed. It seemed to go on for hours, although it may only have been minutes, and I could do nothing but listen. The microphone couldn’t be unjammed without someone going on board, and no one was going to be doing that in a hurry. Gradually the sounds became less frequent and receded into the distance. The infected was moving away from the microphone.

Jon looked at me, the shock clear on his face.

‘Fuck!’

It was all he could think to say. We’d both liked Dan and to hear him go like that was terrible. Yet again, I was struck by how arbitrary survival had become. I picked up a mug and threw it across the cabin where it shattered against the stove. There was just no need for them to have died. If only Jeff hadn’t
sneaked out and left the hatch open, they’d have been fine. Then again, the weather wasn’t particularly rough and if Dan had checked everything properly, they shouldn’t have drifted in the night.

The sound of the mug breaking brought CJ and the boys up to the cabin. I looked at them. There was no nice way to put something like this.

‘Dan’s dead, and the rest of them too, except Jeff. I think he’s okay.’

‘What happened?’ Jimmy was close to tears. He’d spent a lot of time with Jeff on Dan’s boat.

Before I could answer there was a new noise from the radio. The microphone was no longer swinging free. Instead it was being pulled slowly across a wooden surface. The transmit button was released meaning only one thing, someone on board was still alive. Then a small voice whispered into the microphone, ‘Help ... Please help ... Someone please help ... Help me.’

It was the McGanns' oldest daughter, Katie. She was terrified, her voice wavering towards hysteria. Jon and I looked at each other, wondering how
she could possibly have survived.

Jack’s voice suddenly burst from the radio, ‘Hey Katie, I’m coming to get you. I’ll be there real soon. I need you to find somewhere to hide, somewhere the infected can’t get in.’

‘I could go back to the head. I was in the toilet reading with the light on so I wouldn’t keep Sam up. I had the door locked. I think everyone else is dead, there’s blood everywhere ...’ Her voice tailed off.

‘Yes, get back in the head and lock the door. You’ll be safe there until I get to you. Just get back in now.’ Jack was pleading with her, willing her back to safety.

I looked round at the others. Their faces were filled with horror. Deep inside I felt the same, knowing there was nothing we could do but listen.

‘Okay I’m going back there now. You’ll know where to find me, won’t you? You’ll be here soon?’ Katie’s was close to tears.

‘Yes, I’ll be there real soon. Just get back in the head, please.’ Jack urged her on.

I heard Jon muttering something under his breath. I could just make it out. ‘Come on Katie, just get back in the head. Come on.’

Then Jeff’s voice came on the radio, ‘Katie, it’s okay, just do what Jack says. Get back in the head now.’

‘Jeff, you’re alive? Is everyone else okay? Did they get out?’ Katie sounded confused.

‘Katie, just get back in the head, please.’ Jeff’s voice cracked as he spoke

Jack’s voice cut in again. ‘Katie, I’ll explain everything later. Right now you need to get back in the head. I’ll be there in two minutes.’

‘Okay. Please get here soo ...’

There was an ear-splitting scream that was cut short and then only silence.

‘Katie? Katie? Please, Katie? Please be okay. Katie, please ...’ Jeff’s voice descended into sobbing and someone took him away from the radio. I looked around the cabin. We all knew there was no hope for her, that she was gone.

CJ was in tears, as were the boys. Jon had turned away, but his shoulders were heaving up and down. I felt numb and was rooted to the spot by what I’d just heard. I felt something wet running down my cheek and realised I, too, was crying.

***

The next morning, the cruisers’ net was grim. There was no need for an announcement. Everyone had heard. Jack ended the meeting with a moment’s silence in memory of the McGanns, and then he spoke, quoting from a hymn well-known to those who spent their lives on the sea, pausing between each line, his voice trembling as he spoke.

‘Eternal Father, strong to save,

Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep,

Its own appointed limits keep,

Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,

For those in peril on the sea.’

As I listened, I felt the words move me deep within my soul. I thought about the final line, ‘for those in peril on the sea’, it captured our plight so perfectly. But the words also made me wonder: how could anyone still believe in God after the way the world had changed? If He existed, wouldn’t He have shown himself by now? What sort of god would let this happen? What sort of god would let children be killed so brutally by creatures that were no longer human?

Chapter Thirteen

After the loss of his family Jeff became a bit of a problem. Given what he’d been through, it was no surprise he was a wreck. Everyone knew it wasn’t really his fault, but it was as if he’d become tainted by the tragedy and it seemed no one wanted to be near him in case it rubbed off. Of course, it was much more likely they just didn’t know how to console him.

The day after it happened, matters came to a head and we had a community meeting to see if we could get something worked out.

‘I’m happy to look after him for a few days, but he can’t stay with us forever, there isn’t space.’ Jennifer’s father was firm on the matter. ‘Besides, I’ve got Jennifer to think about. I can’t take on another kid, especially not one in his condition. I’m barely holding things together as it is.’

The rest of us looked around shiftily, trying desperately not to catch anyone else’s eye. No one was keen to take on the extra responsibility, and I couldn’t blame them. I knew I certainly wasn’t. I felt burdened enough already by having four people to look after, and taking on a fifth, particularly one in Jeff’s fragile state, wasn’t something I thought I could handle. It would be just too much.

‘I’ll take him in.’

I looked up to see who was speaking and was startled to find it was David. Glancing round I saw I wasn’t the only one who was surprised at this turn of events.

David must have seen this too
because he carried on. ‘Look, I’m sorry about the way I acted yesterday. I shouldn’t have stormed out like that. It was childish. I was just a bit ...’ David’s voice faded out and for several seconds there was silence as everyone waited for him to finish.

‘Okay, I’ll admit it, things didn’t go my way and …’ David hesitated, ‘and I acted like an ass. I’m sorry and I regret it, but I mean what I’m saying here, I’d be happy to take Jeff in. I’ve got the room. There’s only me on my boat. He’d have his own cabin and his own space. I mean, who else has room?’

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Not only was David apologising for the way he’d acted, but he was trying to do the right thing by Jeff. While part of me couldn’t help thinking that, despite his obsession with trying to clear the infected from the peninsula, at heart David was a good person, another part wondered what he was up to.

‘Jack’s got room too, and so does Rob.’ Andrew was now addressing the group. ‘But I think that’s about it.’

I glowered angrily at Andrew for having raised the possibility of us taking Jeff on. Not offering to take him in was one thing, but turning him away when asked was another.

‘I think we should ask Jeff. After all, he’ll be the one who’ll have to live there.’ Jon made a good point, and I hoped with all my heart that Jeff would cho
ose anywhere but the catamaran.

‘Okay. Does everyone agree with that?’ Jack looked round the room and there was a murmur of approval.

After the meeting, we sat down with Jeff, but we could barely get a word out of him. Jack tried again.

‘Jeff, we need to know where you want to stay. I know it’s a hard decision but it needs to be made.’ Jack’s voice was calm and reassuring. ‘It’s not necessarily forever. You can change your mind later if you want, but we need to know where you want to go for now.’

‘I want to go home.’

We looked uncomfortably at each other.

‘You know you can’t go home, Jeff. None of us can.’ Jack
took a deep breath. ‘Jeff you’ve got three options: you can either come and live here with me; you can go and live on David’s ketch; or you can move into the catamaran with Rob and the others.’

I urged him silently to choose one of the other options. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Jeff, or that I didn’t want to help him, it was just the extra weight it would put on my shoulders. I wasn’t sure I could cope.

Eventually Jeff replied. ‘I want to go stay with Jimmy.’

I could barely hear him as he said it, but his decision was clear and my heart fell. It looked like Jeff would be moving onto the catamaran whether I liked it or not. I thought about it for a moment; it was the right thing to do and now he had chosen us, I couldn’t turn him down. I’d just have to deal with it. ‘We’d be happy to have you. Come on, I’ll take you over there now.’

I got up to leave and Jeff followed me out of the cabin.

***

Coming to live on the catamaran was the best thing Jeff could have done. His presence revealed a tender and caring side to CJ that I hadn’t seen before. She took him under her wing and mothered the hell out of him, which was just what he needed. In the first week, when he did little more than lie in his bunk, staring into space, or crying to himself, she took him food and made sure he ate. When he woke screaming in the early hours of the morning, she was the one who comforted him, holding him tightly until the nightmares passed. She spoke to him softly and lovingly, reassuring him that what happened wasn’t his fault. When he was ready to talk, she was there to listen. I doubted anyone else in the community could have tended him so well and little by little she brought him back to us. Once she had, Jeff had Jimmy and Mike to keep him company and to talk to about how he was feeling. They too had lost the rest of their family to the infected, and they knew what he was going through. Jeff never quite got over it and he’d never forget it, but with the help of CJ and the boys, he at least learned to cope with it.

After CJ, the thing that probably helped Jeff move on more than anything else was establishing the garden boats. I think he saw them as a memorial to his father and the rest of his family. With Dan gone, Jon took the lead and he made sure to include Jeff as much as he possibly could. The work was hard and physical, but Jeff threw himself into it and it seemed to allow him to forget about how his family had died … at least for a few hours at a time. I watched the two of them as they worked and saw how well Jon dealt with him. He guided and instructed without bossing Jeff around. He knew when to push him and when to leave him to his own thoughts. Once again, I was struck by how much Jon had grown in such a short space of time. I couldn’t have imagined the Jon I’d met in South Africa treating a thirteen-year-old boy with such compassion and respect.

***

The garden boats galvanised the community into action. Rain-catchers based on Jon’s design started appearing on a number of boats which didn’t have their own water-makers, funnelling rainwater into their tanks, and meaning they no longer had to beg others for freshwater. I even considered making one for the catamaran, but we still had our reverse osmosis machine and it wasn’t a priority. Instead, we concentrated on the garden boats themselves. While Jon and Jeff did most of the work, almost everyone else helped out when they could. Soon all that was missing was the soil. I sat down with Jack, Jon and Andrew to see if we could work out where we could get it.

‘The problem here is that to get soil which is good enough to grow things we’ll have to go to one of the bigger islands, and go quite far inland.’ Andrew was explaining the situation to us. ‘If we knew where we could do that safely, we could just grow the crops there and we wouldn’t have any need for the garden boats.’

‘Does that mean we won’t be able to do this after all?’ Jon was crestfallen at the thought he might have to give in and admit David had been right when he’d said the garden boats were a waste of time and energy.

‘No, no. It just means we need to find exactly the right place to get the soil.’ I glanced at Jon and saw he was far from convinced.

‘I might have just the solution.’ Jack
scratched his beard thoughtfully. ‘You know the island straight out from the harbour entrance? Matt Lowe’s?’ We all nodded. ‘Well, I used to work there. I pretty much ran the place for the guy who owned it. I ran the island and his sport-fishing boat. That’s where I got her from,’ Jack pointed over his shoulder to the boat on which he now lived. ‘Matt Lowe’s is big enough to have decent soil and there were only a few of us there when everything went wrong, so there shouldn’t be a lot of infected around.’

‘But we’d still have to go far inland to get soil that’s good enough.’ Andrew was concerned that Jack hadn’t quite grasped this crucial point. ‘It’s too much of a risk, even if there are only one or two of them there.’

‘Wait.’ Jack held up his hand. ‘Let me finish. There’s a narrow channel cut into the rock leading to a hurricane hole deep inside the island itself. This means we can get good soil without having to go far from the water.’ Jack looked round at the rest of us. ‘What d’you think?’

‘It’s by far the best option we’ve come up with so far.’ I could see both Jon and Andrew nodding in agreement as I spoke. ‘Let’s check it out.’

A few hours later, we were sitting in the runabout seventy yards off Matt Lowe’s Cay. We’d been watching the shore for a good ten minutes and had seen no sign of any infected.

‘Where’s the channel?’ Jon was leaning on the wheel with Jack standing next to him.

‘Just over there.’ Jack pointed, but it took me a full minute to finally spot it. The entrance was narrow, no more than eight feet at the most, and so well hidden that if I hadn’t known it was there I’d never have noticed it.

‘Shall we go in?’ Jon shifted uneasily from one foot to the other.

I looked back at the channel, the rocks on either side stood about two feet above the water. The bush had been cleared back from its sides, creating two narrow paths running along its full length. I couldn’t help thinking that if any infected appeared, we’d have very little warning and we’d be close enough to the shore that they’d be able to jump into the runabout. If that happened, we’d be finished.

‘I guess so.’ I was nervous, but I knew we needed to check it out and see if we could really get the soil from there.

The others only nodded and Jon lined up the boat before motoring forward slowly. Andrew had Jack’s shotgun, the one we’d seen Jack carrying on the first day we’d met him, while I had the rifle. As we entered the channel I felt the bush close around us and we were soon enveloped by the sound of cicadas singing in the trees. My eyes darted around, looking for any sign of infected, but I saw nothing. After what seemed like an age, the channel opened up into a broad pool almost completely surrounded by low walls cut into the rock. The bush had been cleared away for a distance of about ten feet on all sides and at one corner a path snaked off up a gentle slope and disappeared from sight. The bush itself was not dense and we could see a distance of some thirty or forty feet through it.

‘Once we’re in here, we’re pretty safe.’ Jack paused for a second or two, ‘If someone keeps watch and stays with the boat, we’ll have enough warning to get back onto the water before any infected get to us. It’s really just the running in and out of the channel that’s going to be risky.’

I stared at Jack
, wondering about his definition of risky. It would take a considerable amount of time to get enough soil to fill the garden boats, and I wasn’t keen on spending that much time on land.

‘Okay, how’s this going to work?’ Jon looked at Jack.

‘Well, we can dig up the soil from where the bush has been cleared around here, load it into sacks and then put them onto the runabout. Once the runabout’s full, we can take it back to Hope Town and unload it. Then, we go back and do the same again.’ Jack made it sound so easy, but it would be difficult and dangerous work.

‘Let’s get started.’ Jon sounded
as nervous as I felt. ‘The sooner we do, the sooner it’ll be over with.’

***

It took three days and thirty-four runs to collect enough soil to get seven hulls filled. I’d just finished loading the final sack onto the runabout and Jon was standing guard.

‘You know, I’ve been thinking. We haven’t seen a single infected. Maybe there’s none here.’ Andrew
was looking around at the cleared area that surrounded the hurricane hole. ‘Maybe we could just grow things right here around the hurricane hole. Maybe we don’t need the garden boats after all.’

Jon glared at Andrew, his eyes like daggers. ‘Are you saying all the work we’ve been putting in is for nothing?’

‘No, but you have to admit it would be easier. Maybe we could even live here. There’s plenty of space.’

I decided to step in before this got out of hand. ‘The problem is that the island’s so big we could never be certain there weren’t any infected hiding on it somewhere, and even if it’s completely clear now, there’s always the risk of drifters. If we set up here, we’d have to be on guard twenty-four seven. We’d never be able to build defences that would keep the infected out if they attacked, especially in any sort of numbers. At least on the boats we pretty much know we’re safely locked up at night, and we can get some sleep. On the shore, we’d always be out in the open, always at risk if any drifters turned up. We’d need a lot of guns and bullets just in case we got attacked, and we just don’t have them.

‘Besides, there’s only a few of us who really know how to use them, who wouldn’t panic at the crucial moment. And then there’s what we’d do if they ever finally broke through. On the sea, we can always pick up and move if we need to, taking everything with us, On land, if we had to run, we’d have to leave everything behind; we’d lose all of it; radios, stoves, batteries, water-makers, all the things we need to survive. It’s too much of a risk.’