World of Ashes II (13 page)

“Officer.” Daniel said, waving to a uniformed patrolman as he walked by them on his regular route. “Is there somewhere we can find relatives who might still be in the area? Our cell phone has been down a long time now.”

“Yeah, you’re about two blocks from the Police Station. We have a registry of everyone who’s staying to help defend the town. If you guys are military, we’d welcome the extra support.”

“Is there no military presence here?” Jose raised an eyebrow.

“The National Guard and FEMA lit outta here yesterday. There’s a whole army of infected walking their way up the peninsula, following the refugees.” The cop didn’t stay to talk, he was trying to be somewhere. Following his directions they sloshed through the tropical summer rain toward the lights at the center of town. Kaylee had to stop and jump in the puddles. Florida might have had a lot of alternative energy sources, but the power grid in Crystal River was still down. Getting a flashlight and another gun would be next on the to-do list if they couldn’t find the Sittons soon.

A block from the largest gathering of people in town, Kaylee tugged on Daniel’s sleeve and started pulling him toward a small park with a swing, he’d have never guessed she was actually pointing at an old man on the adjacent sidewalk. “Not now, Kaylee.” Daniel tried to say.

“Grandpa!” Kaylee squealed and ran toward a short, pudgy old-timer with a straw hat and Hawaiian shirt that looked ridiculous with camouflage pants and dirty fishing boots. The man turned when he heard Kaylee’s ecstatic shouting, and even through the dark and rain, and with glasses as thick as a microscope, he ran to her as well.

Daniel and Jose stood and watched from across the street, Jose making no effort to hide that he was crying. Daniel smirked at him. “Screw you, man. I fuckin’ love happy endings.”

“Don’t get too excited. This story is just beginning.” Daniel said ominously.

Chapter 5

Jonathan Sitton Sr. was a retiree trying to live out his golden years in Florida, just like the rest of America’s aging Baby Boomers. His son, Jonathan Jr. was a senior distribution manager for a store Daniel had never heard of, but was apparently popular on the East Coast. John and Joanne hadn’t heard from their family since the day before the first cases were reported in Washington, DC. The call Daniel and Sergeant Graystone had made was the first ray of hope the elderly couple had had since the plague went global.

“Thank you so much for inviting us in. We’ll leave as soon as-” Daniel said, accepting the cup of hot tea Joanne brought in from the kitchen. John had a generator in the shed behind the house. He could start it and turn it off, all from the kitchen, which was good because the storm was getting worse outside.

“Nonsense.” Joanne seemed truly surprised. “We’re the ones who owe you boys thanks. You brought our Kaylee back to us.” She watched her progeny sit on grandpa’s lap.

Daniel could see the couple had already accepted their son and daughter-in-law might not be coming home again, so Daniel filled in what he knew. How he’d met Kaylee, where she said she’d last seen her mother and father, their time at Mr. Fisher’s house, Sgt. Graystone, the bridges, the train ride, all of it. Though deeply saddened that they may never see their loved ones again, knowing that Kaylee above all others was still alive meant more to them than they could ever express. Deep inside himself where no one else could see, Daniel tried to imagine this elderly couple was Korean, and that he was delivering Lea back home. He snapped out of it.

“I want you boys to stay as long as you can. You’re both welcome in my home for as long as I have one.” John said, passing the mashed potatoes to Jose at dinner. “My little Kaylee…” He held back tears as best he could, but failed and smiled because he knew there was a silver lining to losing his boy. His boy’s daughter was still alive. “What about your families?”

“I got two brothers in the Marine Corps. My sisters are both still in middle school. Alex and Juan Carlos got out when San Diego was overrun, which is where my mom lives, but I haven’t heard from them since. My dad’s in Tampa with my sister, but I ain’t goin’ there. Fuck that stupid sonof…oh. Sorry, pardon my French… Skipping ahead, I ran into my homie here on that train headed South like he said, thought I’d help him do one good thing before the world ended.” Jose finished his side of the story by crossing his chest and praying quickly in Spanish.

“My father lives in England.” Daniel admitted. “If it really has jumped the Atlantic, I don’t know how he’ll make it. They just don’t have enough troops, enough guns to handle this.”

“You’ve told me legendary stories about your old man, Dan. He’ll be okay, even if it’s just him playing king of the hill with zombies on top of Buckingham Palace.”

Daniel couldn’t help but smile. He could, and maybe should, write some spaghetti-westerns entitled “
The Adventures of Col. Clyde Sawyer: Adventurer, Warrior, A True Man’s Man (Literally)”.
He decided not to share that thought, and thankfully Joanne changed the subject before the wine John offered got to his head.

“At this point, anyone but our local uniforms are nothing more than thugs and highwaymen. Just using their badge to get a meal and car and be on their way. Good for nothing FEMA bastards took half our town’s patrol cars and ambulances. They made the National Guard go with them, some of the boys who were from here tried to stay, but they got made to leave with ‘em at gun point. We’re expecting to hear the President on the radio declare Marshal Law in the next couple of days. The government is barely working.” Joanne said, looking over the small kitchen-bar that separated them from the couch where Kaylee was sound asleep.

“We’re well aware.” Daniel sighed, thinking he’d had enough food for one day. “At this point I’m not sure traveling is a good idea anymore. I’m in the Wyoming National Guard, Jose’s in the Florida Guard, but being military might be more of a hazard these days than an honor.”

“Well you’re as safe as safe gets now.” John said, putting his coffee mug down. “We’ve got a town watch going. I know the cops said there’s a herd moving this way, but they’ve been saying that since day one. Right now, our only concern is if this tropical storm turns into a hurricane. The National Weather Service hasn’t been much help with all the ash in the air. For all we know we could be facing a simple rain storm, or a repeat of Katrina.”

“Stop being such a sensationalist. I swear, GNN isn’t doing you any favors, you’re so damned paranoid these days.” Joanne rolled her eyes.

Daniel stood, and politely excused himself from dinner. Among the things the agent hadn’t confiscated, including Daniel’s car keys, was the bottle of pills and some half eaten crackers in his cargo pocket. This time he took two, figuring, like anyone becoming addicted to anything, more is better. The hot water and a chance to really relax were just what he needed. Even though he was technically AWOL the entire time, Daniel felt what he had done was the right thing, as if he’d completed a mission far more important than anything he could have done with an entire army at his back. He felt…

“You’re awfully proud of yourself.” Lea said, rubbing Daniel’s back as the water steamed up the bathroom.

“For a hallucination you’re really good at back massages.”

“But… I thought we had settled that I’m an angel sent to guide you through the fall of mankind and its ultimate rebirth.” Lea said in a pouty voice. She was teasing him from the beyond. He wondered if the real Lea would have imagined a more sarcastic version of him, had he died instead of her. But then what would she have done with Kaylee? Could Lea have even put him down, if the tables were turned?

“Whatever. I just want one night where I can really sleep.” He turned toward the blurs of color to his left, meeting Lea’s eyes with his. Almost everything but her was shifting and melting like a Rembrandt. “Even if I’m crazy, or if you really are an angel… do you think you’d want to spend that night with me? I might be going back to the real world soon. I don’t think the Army psychiatrists are going to approve of our little visits, or these groovy pills.” Daniel turned around again, but Lea was gone. Figments of your imagination have the prerogative to do that it seemed. Daniel didn’t remember anything else after the pills really set in, just flashbacks of distorted lines and Jose’s laugh sounding like something from a demented clown’s song when Daniel fell off his bed.

By the time Daniel came to again, it wasn’t morning, but some time before one in the afternoon. The sun was bright, seagulls were squawking outside in a picturesque vision of vacationland Florida. Looking for his baton Daniel found a polished Colt .45 semi auto on the night stand next to his tan fatigues, which had also been washed and ironed. He wasn’t used to such lavish treatment, or being in the presence of such legendary weapons. John had left a holster for him too, which fit comfortably on his right hip and was close enough to the body for his tan fatigue blouse to conceal it.

In the kitchen, Jose was pouring more maple syrup on a stack on pancakes there was no chance in hell he could finish on his own. Just as Jose dug in Kaylee ran up to her seat and started too, the two of them competing to finish the pile. Joanne handed Daniel a cup of coffee. “None of you all are early risers I suppose, but then I don’t blame you.”

“Is the storm past?”

“Oh yeah, it died out around seven this morning. I’d call her a tropical storm, but maybe it really was a small hurricane.” John was looking out the window that faced an inlet of water with a large island in the center. “Brought plenty of trash with her this time.” He stepped away from a telescope he’d been using to spy on the bay. Joanne had pranked John as a long running joke he was well aware of, something Kaylee would remember from previous visits. He had black mascara all around one eye and pretended not to know.

Daniel walked up and looked, joining in the prank for Kaylee. At first his sight was blurry, but he then he rubbed his eyes carefully to clear the sleep and adjusted a dial. “What’s that?”

“A Russian minesweeper.” John said, posing like the Captain Morgan Rum pirate for his granddaughter. He’d seen the boat hours earlier. “I was a Submariner long ago, even before I met Joanne. I recognize the bow configuration. She ain’t one of ours, that for sure. Probably part of Putin’s stunt to sail his Great Red Fleet around the world to ‘help’ with this crisis.”

“What’s it doing this far inland? I didn’t think the rivers here were that deep.”

“Normally they’re not. You can tell she ran aground in the storm, that’s why her stern is sinking. Must have been one hell of a tidal surge.” John lit a cigarette. He didn’t get to puff it but twice before Kaylee took it away from him and went running down the hallway to flush it down the toilet.

“Mommy said you can’t have any more cig’rets.” She said, making a stern face that would melt anyone’s heart. “You have bad clestrol.”

John’s eyes welled up with tears and he picked his granddaughter up over his shoulders. “It won’t be long before whoever’s still on that boat gets off. I’m not so much worried about a bunch of lost sailors as I am a couple hundred
infected
sailors walking across the bottom.”

“Do you have a boat?” Daniel asked.

“Someone does.” John shrugged. “It’s Florida.”

“You feel like taking a trip?” Daniel looked back at Jose, who was already putting his nicely cleaned uniform top on. Daniel and Jose both had to promise Kaylee they’d be right back, omitting to the small girl any detail of what they were doing.

At the docks that surrounded the Crystal River side of the circular bay, the few police and deputized citizens who’d stayed and weathered the storm were looking through binoculars at the collection of debris, boats and bodies that littered the water.

Daniel found a deputy that was wearing an actual uniform rather than just whatever. “Have you guys sent anyone to that ship on the far side?”

“What ship?” The deputy responded.

“The Russian minesweeper on the other side of the bay.” Jose pointed at a jut of land with too many large houses on it. Normally the houses were the only landscape besides trees, but in the clear morning one could see the outline of a vessel normally too large to have made it this far inland, like a drug baron who’d had put a private yacht in a pond just for the hell of it.

“Shit.” The deputy got on his radio. “Patrol One Zero Five to MC.”

“
Master Control, go ahead Patrol 105.”

“Gonna need to launch the skiff here at the manatee docks. We have a foreign military vessel in King’s Bay.”

“
…Copy last…
” The dispatcher didn’t seem to know what to do. “
Skiff en route.”
She finished quickly. Someone else must have been in earshot to heed the call.

The deputy turned back to Daniel and Jose. “How did you guys see that? It’s all the way on the other side.”

“The family who took us in has a telescope.” Jose said.

“Ah. John.” The deputy smiled. “He was the first one to spot the infection moving into town. He says he used to be military, but I think he was a Spook.”

“Like CIA or some shit?” Daniel couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but at the same time it made more sense than he liked to admit.

“Who knows. All I can say is he’s been everywhere and anywhere in the county since he heard about the first cases. He’s probably spent more time at the station looking for his son and granddaughter than I’ve been on duty all year.” It was an exaggeration, but it shed new light on Kaylee’s grandfather.