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BEN
The Fairhaven trundles along. It’s not a fast boat by any stretch of the imagination, but after traveling exclusively on foot for over six months, it feels like they’re moving at warp speed.
“There.” Susan raises a hand and points. “Manila. That’s where we’ll look for gas.”
“That wouldn’t happen to be the marina where Gary got attacked, would it?” Eric asks.
Susan’s cheerful expression evaporates. “No. The shark attack was several miles south. Sharks don’t usually come this far up in the bay. I’m hoping the waters will be clear of zombies and sharks.”
Ben squints. The microscopic town is a brownish smudge on the horizon. It doesn’t look promising in his opinion, but he keeps his mouth shut. They’re fucked if there’s no fuel. They’re double fucked if there are zombies and sharks in the water.
As though on cue, the Fairhaven sputters and lurches in the water.
“Dammit.” Susan pushes the throttle. “Come on, baby,” she murmurs, urging her boat forward. “Get mama to the shore.”
Ben lets out a breath as the boat motors on, once again pushing through the water.
“What happened?” Leo asks from where he stands at the bow.
“I told you we were low on fuel,” Susan replies. “I think it is now safe to say we are dangerously low.”
“What’s the difference between low and dangerously low?” Reed asks.
Ben snorts. It’s impossible for him to hold back his words. “It’s the difference between driving to Manila and swimming to Manila.”
Kate frowns at him. Fuck it. He gives her a non-apologetic shrug. He’s an asshole. Everyone knows it.
“Ben isn’t wrong.” Susan watches the growing smudge of Manila. She rubs a loving hand across the dash of the boat. “Come on, baby. Mama doesn’t want to go for a swim today.”
Ash mutters something cross in Spanish.
“I second whatever you just said,” Ben tells her. “It sounded cranky.”
“I didn’t bring a swimsuit,” she replies.
This brings a few chuckles. Ben just feels grim. He’s pretty sure no one packed a swimming suit. That means if someone goes into the water, they’re either going in fully clothed or in their underwear.
The Fairhaven gives another lurch, stalling in the bay. Ben watches Kate and measures the mounting anxiety on her face. She starts looking this way when she’s contemplating something particularly nuts.
It’s her concern for Alvarez. He understands it, even if Alvarez isn’t a personal friend.
The Fairhaven coughs and spits in protest, then keeps going. Ben lets out a breath. He focuses on the approaching landmass, willing it to come closer, closer ...
The charter boat gives one last sputter. Then another.
Then the engine clicks off.
Silence fills the air, so loud his eardrums feel the pressure. In the distance comes the cry of seagulls.
“Damn.” Susan’s voice is the only sound beside that of the gulls.
Kate’s face is pinched, her jaw set as she gazes at the shoreline of Manila. The hamlet is a solid quarter mile away. Ben already knows what she’s thinking.
He heads her off at the pass. No way is he going to let her risk her life.
“I’ll go.” He stands, unbuttoning the shirt of his fatigues.
Caleb turns sharp eyes on him. “Me, too. I completed in a few triathlons. I’m a good open water swimmer.”
Of course he is. “Fucking golden boy,” Ben mutters.
“You guys sure about this?” Leo says as he comes around from the bow.
“It’s not safe,” Kate says.
“Tell me you weren’t planning to jump into the water thirty seconds ago,” Ben says to her.
She doesn’t respond.
He snorts and tosses his shirt aside, next going for his shoes.
“We’ll find some gas,” Caleb says. “Then we’ll find a boat or a kayak or something and come back.”
“I’ll go, too,” Ash says, rising. “Safety in numbers.”
“No.” Kate stops her. “I don’t want our group fractioned any more than it already is.” Her attention turns to Ben and Caleb. “You get gas and get back here as fast as you can. In one piece. Understand?”
Caleb gives her a somber salute as he hands his shirt to Ash. “Yes, ma’am.” There is no mock or teasing on his face this time.
Susan studies the coastline through the binoculars. “The waters look clear,” she reports. “Zombies sink when they fall into the water. Be careful as you get closer to shore.”
“No shark fins?” Caleb asks.
“No shark fins.”
“Eric, rooftop,” Ben says. “Get the rifle ready. You see a shark fin, you shoot.”
“Got it.” Eric grabs a rifle, scrambling onto the rooftop of the Fairhaven.
Ben removes his belt from the loops of his pants and refastens it above his waist, double checking the strap on his knife to make sure the blade won’t slip free in the water. Then he hands both of his guns to Reed. “Hold onto these until I get back.”
“Be careful out there.” Reed takes his gun. Then he removes his knife and zom bat from his belt. “Take these. Mama Bear always tells us to have a Plan B and Plan C whenever possible.
“Thanks, kid.”
Ash also exchanges her spare weapons for Caleb’s firearms.
“I’m taking notes,” Eric says, even though he doesn’t have a pen or a notebook in hand. “You both better come back. Johnny will expect precise details for his book.”
“I meant it when I said you better come back in one piece.” Kate puts her hands on her hips as she faces Ben.
“Only way I could possibly come back,” Ben replies. All the drama is making him edgy. Not giving himself time to think too hard on what needs to happen next, he sheds his pants.
Ben’s never paid too much attention to his body. It’s always served him well enough and gotten the job done. And hell, he’s pushing fifty. Though he’s lean and fit, his muscles aren’t what they once were. He’s scarred and tattooed and has an uneven tan.
One thing he’s never paid much mind to is his underwear. He always bought whatever was cheapest at Walmart, or whatever the military gave him if he was overseas. His tidy whities aren’t exactly white anymore. There may even be a few holes in them.
He feels like a dumpy old man next to Caleb. The young man is nothing but miles of smooth dark skin and hard muscle. He wears dark red boxer briefs, which make him look like an Olympic swimmer. Fucker.
“Dude.” Eric blinks at Ben from behind his glasses. “Those are some bad ass tattoo sleeves.”
“Is that a fairy on your arm?” Susan asks.
Ben doesn’t stick around any longer. Checking his belt and weapons one more time, he dives off the boat and into the frigid waters of Humboldt Bay.