Lake Yixa (6 page)

     
"Liam, dinner
is done!" Sarah shouted.

     
"All right.
Be right down," Liam replied and shut the engine off. The boat slowly
drifted, but at the slow speed they were traveling, she soon came to a stop.

     
Liam grinned at
the sight. Eggs, toast, tea, and some jams. He looked at Sarah, who also had a
big smile on her face.

     
"Powdered
eggs. I hope you don't mind," she said, sitting down.

     
"No, not at
all." Liam took a seat across from her. "I have eaten them before in
the war."

     
They both began to
spoon eggs onto their plates. Liam took a few slices of toast. He looked at
each of the jams: apple, blackberry, strawberry, and one called rose petal.
They all looked to be homemade. He decided against the rose petal jam and
picked blackberry. Sarah, on the other hand, went right for the rose petal. The
flavors made Liam smile and forget about everything that was going on outside the
tiny cabin they sat in. Sarah looked as if she was feeling the same way as
Liam.

     
"God, this is
good," Sarah said between bites.

     
"Yeah,"
was all that Liam could say. They both sat eating and enjoying the food.
Finally, after finishing everything and then making more toast, they just sat
there sipping tea and feeling wonderfully full.

     
"So, there’s
a cove just up the way a bit. We will set anchor for the night. In the morning,
we will head along the coast to a broken dock. A trail leads from there right to
my house," Liam said. Sarah was playing with a small stuffed elephant. She
seemed lost in thought.

     
"Sarah, are
you okay—" Liam started to ask.

     
"Have you
ever been married? Have any kids?" Sarah asked, cutting Liam off. The
question caught Liam off guard.

     
"What?"

     
"Sorry, I
shouldn't have asked,” Sarah replied quickly.

     
"No, it’s
okay. Just wasn't ready for that question," Liam said, watching Sarah
closely. Her eyes hadn’t left the tiny toy she was holding. "I was married
once. We had a child together, a boy."

     
"Where are
they now?" Sarah asked. Liam didn't care for the subject at all. He hadn't
talked to anyone about it in more than ten years. He didn't say anything for a
while. Sarah finally looked up at him. They both just stared at each other.

     
"My son died
when he was only eleven. Wife blamed me," Liam said softly. "She had
good reason to blame me. I was drunk when I was supposed to be watching him
down by the lake. I was passed out when he slipped and hit his head. He was
knocked unconscious and went into the water. A few months later, my wife left
me."

     
Sarah went back to
looking at the stuffed animal. Liam wondered why he so freely told her about
his son. The two of them sat there for a while; no one saying anything. Then
Sarah stood up and walked over and hugged Liam. He didn't know what to say.

     
"Everything
happens for a reason." With that, Sarah turned and headed into the small
sleeping area.

     
Liam watched the
tiny door close before returning to the helm. He steered the small boat along
the coast and into the cove, thinking about dinner and his openness with Sarah.
The sky was a dark purple, and the last little bit of light would be gone in
the next fifteen minutes. He shut off the engine, and that was when he heard
it. He jumped to his feet and rushed out onto the deck. There, in the fading
light, was another boat heading his way.
Someone
else
, he thought. There were others. His mind raced at the thought of being
saved. The boat coming toward him was a bit larger in size than their own. Liam
recognized it as a police boat.
Oh, thank
God
, he thought.

     
He stuck his head
inside the cabin. "Sarah!" he shouted and went back to waving at the
men he could see on the boat now. The boat came to a stop not far away.

     
"Hey!"
Liam shouted.

     
"Hello,
sir," a man said. In the dying light, Liam could see the man. He wasn't
wearing police gear, but he was in camo.

     
"I'm so glad
to see you guys," Liam said, smiling. He could make out at least three
people. The light was all but gone now. "My name is Liam. What's yours?"

     
"Is there
anyone else on board, sir?" the man asked. Liam was about to reply when a
flood light was flipped on, and it blinded him. This made Liam uneasy. He held
up a hand to shield his eyes.

     
"Mind
pointing that light somewhere else? Can't see," Liam said.

     
"Is there
anyone else?" the man asked again. Now Liam knew something was wrong. He
saw Sarah start to come up the tiny steps. He tried to gesture with his hand
and not give anything away at the same time.

     
" it's just
me," Liam called back. Sarah stopped and looked at him funny.

     
"Good."

     
Liam’s chest felt
as if it caught fire. The sound of a gunshot going off filled his ears. He
stumbled backward and fell to the deck. Liam looked up; the night sky was
drowned out by the spotlight.
Damn
,
he thought, wishing he could see it. Sarah’s face appeared above his, her
bright blue eyes streaming with tears.

     
Liam moved his
mouth, but words barely came out.

     
"No, no,
no," was all Sarah could say. She mouthed the words over and over. His
eyes were growing heavy, and the light was fading. Sarah squeezed his hand and
vanished from sight.

     
"There! Get
her!" The voice sounded distant and faint.

     
Pop
,
pop
,
pop
. The sound of gunfire filled the
air.

Sarah

     
Sarah broke
through the surf
ace
of the water, gasping for air. The cold of the lake
had all but knocked the wind out of her. She started to swim in the direction
she figured shore was. A pain shot up her
arm
with ever
y
stroke. The
storm began its roar with rolling thunder. Flashes of lighting lit up the night
sky. It seem the gods themselves were angry at the death of Liam. She could
hear the men on the boat shouting over the storm.

     
The bright
spotlight began to scan the rough water as she swam.
Why couldn't they just leave?
Sarah thought as she continued to
shore. A crack of lighting had shown her the shoreline in the
distance
. It wasn't long
before she felt the gravel
ly lake bed beneath
her feet.

     
Sarah fell onto
all fours when she finally made it out of the water. Tears mixed with rain
streamed down her face. She began to cough up water, and then she threw up.
Sarah remained there for a while, breathing heavy and coughing every now and
then. She undid her belt and looped it around her arm. She didn't know if it
would help the bullet wound or not, but she had seen it in enough action
movies, so it had to do something.

     
The spotlight hit
the beach not far from where she was sitting. She got to her feet and started
to move as fast as she could along the graveled beach. She didn't really have
any idea where she was going; she wasn't even sure if this was the right cove
or not. A flash of lighting revealed a pathway not too far ahead of her. She
quickened her pace. The same flash that had helped her also helped the men on
the boat. The shouts of the men and the sudden light on her made her sprint.

     
Sarah had just
started up the hard-packed dirt path when the sound of a gunshot went off.
 
She dove for the ground. A second shot
quickly
smashed into
the small dirt hill in front of her.
 
She
scrambled as fast as she could up and over the hill.
 
She got to her feet and ran down the pathway.
It wasn't long till she lost it and was just crashing th
r
ough the forest.
Tree branches whipped and tore at her clothes as she ran.

     
Sarah didn't know
how long she had been running. It seemed like ages to her. The forest was thick
and very dark. Trees creaked and groaned in the howling wind. Sarah started to
wonder if she was only getting herself even more lost. Moosetan was surrounded
on all sides by forest. People did live out in them, but they were few and far
between.

     
Sarah stumbled
onto a cement road. She came to a stop in the middle of it and looked up and
down the road, unsure what way to go. She turned to her left and hoped
she
was heading toward a house
.

     
Sarah's clothes
were soaked at this point. The rain seeming to be an endless downpour. It felt
like she wasn't on the road for very long when she saw a mailbox.

     
 
The mailbox read
The
Keplens
with the number
312
under
the name
. She hoped the Keplens were
home and, even more so, not zombies. The driveway was short, and the two
-
story house
stood before her. This was one of the new houses built for one of the rich IT
guys that had begun to move into the area. The garage doors
were
open.

     
Sarah was about to
call out to see if anyone was home and then thought better of it. As she
entered the garage, she could see things scattered about as if someone left in
a hurry. She picked her way through the mess to the doorway of the house.

     
She looked into
the empty darkness inside, only able to make out a small hallway with a washer
and a dryer in it. She stood there for a moment, trying to listen for any
sounds of people or zombies. She looked around and found a tub of sports
equipment—hockey sticks, bats, a few random golf clubs, and what Sarah figured
was a lacrosse stick.

     
Sarah picked up
one of the bats and headed into the dark house, leaving the raging storm behind
her. She moved slowly, listening for any sounds other than the storm. She could
only hear the soft squelch of her shoes. The hall led to a kitchen. Broken
glass snapped and popped under her shoes as she walked.

     
Sarah stood in the
doorway of the kitchen, trying her best to make out more. She could see
cupboards open. She wasn't sure, but she thought she could make out a
dishwasher next to the sink.
 
She walked
over to it to
find it was a dishwasher
. She popped it open to find
it mostly empty but for a few cups and plates. A small smile crossed her face
as she picked up
a
long kitchen knife.
 

     
This is more than someone leaving in a hurry
,
she thought as she move from room to room.
 
Each room was just as ransacked as the last. Sarah was sure now that the
house had been looted by someone.
It didn't make her feel any
less worried about finding people or zombies. In fact, she was now worried that
the men on the boat had been here and would come looking for her.
Sarah
found herself
in the last room in the house—the master bedroom. She set the bat and the knife
on the bed
and looked through the clothes thrown around the room.
Sarah found a baggy pair of sweats and a hoodie that seemed almost the right
size.

     
Sarah winced as
she removed the belt from around her arm.
Sarah pulled off her soaking
clothes and did her best to look at the wound, but she couldn't make out anything
in the dark. Gritting her teeth, she slowly moved her fingers across the area
but didn't feel a hole.
That's
good
, she thought. Maybe it had just grazed her.