Matt de la Peña - The Living

“You gonna stop fighting?” Shoeshine asked.

“It’s okay, Shy,” Addie said. “He saved us.”

Shy locked eyes with the man. Crazy gray hair and braided chin beard. Leathery face. No way Shy was gonna let some shoeshine guy stick him with a needle. But his mind was so clouded he couldn’t think straight.

Shoeshine slowly lowered the syringe toward Shy’s shoulder, the short needle piercing his skin, cool liquid pushing inside him. Instead of fighting, Shy looked around the cabin again. Identical to the one where he’d found the dead doctors. But there were no doctors on the floor now. And no bloodstain. The only thing he recognized was the duffel bag he’d found, which was wide open. One of the packs unwrapped and two of the syringes missing. The shot he was getting had come from the bag he’d found.

Soon as Shoeshine stepped away, Shy pushed off the thin mattress and hurried to a trash can to throw up. His eyeballs bulging from the pressure, lips cracking and bleeding. He was shocked by how much came out of him.

Addie put her hand on Shy’s back. “He saw the flares,” she told him, her eyes filling with tears. “And he found us. We’ve been rescued, Shy.”

The look on her face told him it was true.

They’d survived.

When they got to the top of the stairs, Shy saw the island and it took his breath away.

And he saw a ship. Big enough to carry them home.

He was so overcome by emotion he dropped to his knees, fighting back tears of his own.

Addie kneeled down next to him and held out a banana. “Can you believe it?” she asked.

“I told you we’d be okay,” he said weakly as he peeled his piece of fruit. “Didn’t I tell you?”

“You told me,” she said, wiping her wet cheeks with the back of her hand.

They both made quick work of their bananas, and Shy tossed his peel in the trash and looked around. This boat wasn’t shot up. And “320” was written on the side instead of “220.”

“Where’d you get this boat?” he asked Shoeshine, who was busy steering them toward the shore.

“Docked inside a cave on the other side of the island,” Shoeshine answered. He kicked the cooler next to his feet. “There’s more food in here. You all must be starving.”

Shy pushed himself up to his feet again. “We found one exactly like this,” he said. “Only burned up. It was just floating out there.”

Shoeshine nodded.

“It’s where I found the duffel bag.” Shy looked for a reaction from Shoeshine, about the gun and the bodies, but there was nothing. “I also found two dead people.”

Now Shoeshine turned to him. Shy could see in the man’s eyes he wasn’t surprised. And for a second he wondered if Shoeshine had something to do with the murders. But wouldn’t he have taken the duffel, then?

“How’d you know what was in the bag?” Addie asked, rubbing her arm again.

“Because it was taken from the island,” Shoeshine said, still looking at Shy. “There was a minor dispute about what to do with it.”

“What’s happening there?” Addie asked. “Is everything okay?”

Shoeshine turned to her. “Safer than being stranded at sea, I suppose.”

“That’s the truth.”

“Who else is there?” Shy said, thinking of Carmen, Rodney and Kevin. And everyone else. But especially Carmen. “Other people made it, right?”

“There’s about eighty of us,” Shoeshine said. “They’re staying at that hotel you see on the hill.”

“Is my dad there?” Addie asked. “He’s tall with gray hair.”

“I hope so,” Shoeshine said. “More than a few who fit that description.”

Shy looked toward shore again. The island had beautiful green cliffs. The large building at the top, overlooking the ocean, was obviously the hotel. “How’d you even find us?” he asked, turning back to Shoeshine.

“Like the young woman said. Saw a flare go up near sunset. I’ve been out looking for folks the past three days. But you’re the only two I’ve come back with.”

“Why don’t I remember?” Shy said.

“You were half dead.” Shoeshine let up on the gas and allowed the boat to coast. “But I had a feeling about you, young fella. Somehow I knew we hadn’t seen the last of you.”

Shy got a weird feeling looking at Shoeshine. Like the guy was genuinely looking out for him. Even back on the ship he’d felt that way. But why?

He turned back to the hotel on the cliff. It was blue and white and lined by densely packed palm trees—easily the biggest building visible on the small island. The whole island itself seemed no bigger than a few football stadiums wide. Lush cliffs wrapped all the way around, the ocean running right up into them except for a long grassy section, which was where they were headed. Shy spotted four Paradise lifeboats lined up on the shore. To the side of them was a large sailboat on its side in the rocks with a torn sail flapping in the wind. He saw that the ship was carrying a helicopter.

“Whose ship is that?” he asked.

“Showed up here two days ago,” Shoeshine said. “Introduced themselves as a team of researchers. There were about a dozen of them or so.”

Addie went right up to the railing. “But they’re going to take us home, right?”

Shy watched Shoeshine stare at the ship for a long time before he answered. “That’s what they’ve promised.”

“What about the phones in the hotel?” Shy asked. “Can we call home?”

“No electricity. And all the satellite phones we’ve found are dead. We’ve been looking for backup generators.”

“What about radios?” Shy said. “Does anyone even know we’re out here?”

“The researchers say they’ve alerted the authorities about us.”

Shy glanced down at the duffel bag near Shoeshine. “So, who were those doctors I found on the boat?” he asked. “And why’d you give us vitamins from the bag? Why would we need a shot?”

Shoeshine put a hand up, interrupting Shy. “Plenty of time for questions, young fella. But what do you say we get you two back on land right now.” He powered down the motor and lowered the anchor.

They were directly in front of the long manicured patch of grass that looked like part of a golf course.

“Gotta keep the boat offshore a ways because the pier’s underwater,” Shoeshine said. “Same as the runway they used for small planes.”

Addie tapped Shy on the arm and pointed at the island. “He thinks that’s only a quarter of what it was before the tsunamis.”

“As the water goes down,” Shoeshine said, “we find out more and more about this place. Now, you all feel strong enough to swim a ways?”

Shy and Addie both nodded.

Shoeshine ducked back down the stairs, into the cabin. He came out with his notebook wrapped in plastic and shoved it into the duffel bag with the medicine and slung it over his shoulder. “Okay if I carry this for now?” Shoeshine asked Shy.

“You can have it,” Shy said, meaning the gun, too.

Shoeshine nodded. As the three of them moved to the side of the motorboat, he said: “Before you all set foot on that island, there’s one more thing you need to know.”

Shy peered down into the water. It was so clear he could see all the way down to the bottom. No sharks. But instead of sand or reef, he saw what looked like a thin paved road. A shed. Part of the island really was underwater.

“Some of the folks who made it back…” Shoeshine paused. “Well, there’s something wrong with them.”

“What do you mean?” Addie asked.

Shy could tell by Shoeshine’s face it was something bad.

Shoeshine shook his head. “Nobody’s exactly sure yet. They’ve been separated from everyone else for now. The doctor can tell you more.”