The next morning we got up with the first rays of light, and after we ate, we broke down our site, hiding away our tents and sleeping gear, and got into the canoe. We decided to go to Ward’s and try to find Sam, the guard, and Chris, his grandmother, to see if they had heard anything new. It had been more than a week since we’d met them, and since they had access to a shortwave radio they might know something more.
Ethan couldn’t stop talking about the crashed plane, but I just didn’t want to think about it. I had realized that there were no planes up in the sky anymore, but I hadn’t really stopped to think about the planes that were already up in the air when the power went out. Why would they be any different from cars? Engines stalled and cars rolled to a stop. Plane engines stopped working and planes crashed to the ground…or into the lake.
The plane looked as though it had plunged into the water as it approached the runway. If it had been ten seconds earlier, would it have made it safely? All those people were gone because of a few seconds.
“I can see the marina,” Ethan said.
At Mom’s request, he was using the binoculars to see ahead of us instead of fishing. It seemed like the smart thing to do. Besides, I was getting a little tired of fried fish.
“Do you see many people?” our mother asked.
“I don’t see any people, but there are lots of places they could be hiding,” he said.
That was a chilling thought. We were in a game of hide-and-seek. Most of the time we were the ones doing the hiding, out there on our island, hoping that nobody would find us. Now we were out here in the open doing the seeking.
Closing in, the marina seemed so tranquil, so normal. The boats were still sitting there, bobbing in the water. Farther out was a cement breakwater protecting the marina and the boats from the worst waves of the harbor. We angled to the inside of the wall and instantly the water was calmer.
I scanned the marina looking for somebody—Sam, I hoped—but there was no movement except for the gentle rocking of the boats. Either he had successfully kept people away from the boats or, because it was still early, they were there but still asleep. Sleeping in a boat would have been a luxury compared to sleeping on the grass, or even in a tent. I was tired of sleeping in the tent. I wanted my own bed back—I wanted my own life back!
“I see somebody!” Ethan exclaimed, just as I spotted a man on shore.
The man was quickly joined by three other people. Before we could react further, one of them called out.
“Ahoy, people in the canoe! Ahoy…come in for a docking!” he yelled out.
“What do we do?” I asked.
“Go in closer but we’re not docking. They have the shortwave radio so they’ll potentially have the most information.”
As we paddled closer they were joined by other people. There were now seven or eight of them waiting. Two of them were women—that made me feel less anxious—but then I realized that two of them were carrying baseball bats and another had a knife strapped to his belt, and my anxiety level rose. We came toward the dock, but stopped with fifteen feet of water between us.
“Good morning,” one of the men said.
“Good morning,” my mother called out. “We were hoping to talk to Sam.”
“I don’t think there’s anybody here with that name.”
“He was the guard,” I answered.
“There was no guard here when we arrived three days ago,” the man said.
“I was wondering if you’ve heard anything more about the outside world from the shortwave radios on the ships,” she said.
“There were no radios. A lot of things were stripped away before we took over the boats.”
“Took over?” my mother asked.
“We needed a place to sleep. We’ve come together, about fifty of us—”
“Fifty-three,” a woman said, correcting him.
He didn’t look happy.
“Did you all know each other?” my mother asked.
“We came alone, or in pairs, or groups of a few,” the woman answered. “It’s better to be in a group…safer.”
It would be safer. I wondered if they had room to make it fifty-six.
“And were you stranded out here on the island, or did you come from the city?” my mother asked.
“A couple of guys were from out here. Others came out after everything collapsed,” one of the women said.
“Where are you coming from?” the man asked.
“We just paddled over from the city ourselves,” my mother answered.
“What’s it like over there?” one of the women asked.
“Not good. We’ve basically been sleeping under our canoe,” my mother answered.
“Just so you know, there’s no room here,” a man snapped, and three others nodded.
So much for that fleeting fantasy.
“And even if there was room, it’s not like we have any food.”
“We just want information, and it sounds like you don’t know anything more than we do. We’ll get going.”
“Wait!” one of the men called out. We turned.
“Those binoculars you have are pretty nice,” he said.
“They are,” my mother said. “Military grade.”
“I bet you can see the city well, even from here. And that’s why you should leave them.” He pulled back his jacket and revealed a pistol.
Before I could even think to react I realized that my mother had her pistol in her hand. I reached down and pulled out my bow, slipped an arrow onto the string, and brought it up to aim directly at the man’s trunk. I’d hit smaller targets from farther away than this.
“You should stand completely still,” my mother said. Her voice was so calm, so quiet, like she was asking him the time rather than threatening him. I felt terrified.
The entire group froze. One, then another put his hands in the air until the whole group had their arms raised.
“I’m hoping I don’t have to shoot you,” she said. “But I will if I have to.”
“My gun’s not even loaded!” he exclaimed.
“I actually don’t care if it is or isn’t. I’m going to ask you to take two fingers of your left hand and remove that pistol from your belt,” she said. “I want you to hold it by the barrel and you need to do it slowly. If I get concerned, I will shoot.”
The man did what he was told.
“Now I want you to drop it into the lake,” she said.
“You have to be kidding.”
“Does this gun make me look like I’m joking around? Do it now. You can dive down and get it later.”
“But it’ll be ruined!” he protested.
“If it doesn’t have bullets it won’t make any difference. Do it now, or I start shooting.”
“Just do it!” another man said. “I don’t want any bullets flying around me!”
The first man cursed under his breath but released the gun, and it dropped into the water with a plunge and a splash.
“We’re going to go now,” my mother said.
I lowered my bow and arrow and placed them back in the bottom of the canoe, grabbing my paddle.
“You made yourself an enemy here,” the man—now without a gun—said.
“I didn’t make anything. My friends don’t usually threaten me with a gun and try to rob me,” she answered.
“That was his idea!” a woman protested. “We didn’t even know he was going to do that,” another man added.
“If he’s with you then what he does comes back on all of you. Keep in mind anybody stupid enough to pull an unloaded gun is going to get somebody killed before too long.”
She lowered her pistol to her lap and picked up her paddle and we started away. I dug in my paddle and we pulled away quickly. I wanted to look over my shoulder but I knew that would only slow us down. I started counting the strokes in my head. Every stroke brought us farther away. They couldn’t get us. And even if they came after us, we still had a gun and they didn’t—or did they?
“Mom, what if they have rifles?”
“They don’t have rifles.”
“How do you know that?”
“They were standing guard with bats and knives. If they had rifles the guards would have had them out. Not just to use but to let people see so they’d be discouraged from launching an attack,” she explained.
“That makes sense.” I felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
“Well, at least that’s what I figure. We should still get as much distance from them as possible.”
So much for lighter. I dug in deeper, while at the same time I slumped in my seat to hide behind the gun wall as much as possible.
“Get down,” I hissed at my brother, and surprisingly he did.