Crawford Kilian - Tsunami - A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller

Back on board, Kirstie tugged off her mask and yelled with delight. “We did it! You clever bugger, we did it!”

Shivering, exhausted, smeared with oil, they hugged each other. Without getting out of their wet suits, they stood in the rain eating cold beef stew out of cans and then moved Naiad closer to the buoy. After a brief rest they went down to complete their survey and found no other major leaks.

“I can’t believe our luck,” Don said as they ate supper that night, anchored some distance off Santa Cruz at the north end of the bay. “Not only are there just those little leaks, but they’re all from diesel tanks. It’d be tough to run a salvage operation in a cloud of gasoline vapour. And it’s in shallow water but well offshore. No trouble with anchoring or pumping, and a good distance from the soldiers.”

“Still worried about them?”

“A little. I’m worried about getting the hardware in place. There’s not much available in the Bay Area. We can get hold of a barge or two. But we’ll need a good-sized ship, a lot of fuel and a submersible.”

“What about Ultramarine and Plummet ?”

“ Ultramarine is set up for research, not salvage. And Plummet really took a beating. I’m not sure she could be repaired. She’s more for surveying and sampling than hard work, anyway. Don shook his head. “No. I know where to get what we need, but it won’t be fun.”

“Where?”

“In Vancouver. From old Geordie.”

“God damn it, Bob Tony, I can’t take much more of this shit.” Shauna sat tensely on the bed, smoking her fourth cigarette in an hour.

The bedroom was dark, except for a single candle burning on a dresser. Rain rattled on the skylights, and occasionally a blue Hash of lightning glared through them. It was almost five in the morning, not long before dawn; Allison was undressing for bed and thinking tiredly that he would have to rig screens over the skylights if the group switched over to a completely nocturnal lifestyle.

“What’s the problem, kid?”

“Living like this. Sitting in the house all day, listening to Diana and Aline and Suzi. Telling Lupe one thing and finding out someone’s told her the exact opposite. Trying to get Sarah to act like a human being, and then having somebody sabotage me. Eating crappy food and wondering what the hell is happening out in the civilized world.”

“Kid, did I ever say this would be a house party? No, wait a minute. You had your say, so let me have mine. Okay, you sit in the house all day? Get out to the barn and help with the animals, or work in the greenhouse. You don’t like what the women are talking about, change the subject or go find someone else to talk to. If Lupe doesn’t know what to do, you tell her to check with you. But that means you have to pay attention to what’s going on in the kitchen.

“And as for that dig about Sarah and somebody sabotaging you, you can be up front with me. I don’t like the way you’re treating her. She’s my kid, not yours, and I’m responsible for her. She’s had a hell of a time, and I think she deserves a few breaks instead of all this drill-sergeant shit you lay on her. As for the food, I agree it’s pretty boring even with Lupe and Diana working on it, but be glad we’ve got it. And as for the civilized world — kid, this is it.”

“The hell it is.”

“Come on, you’re not stupid. What happens when we splurge a little extra gas on the generator and turn on the TV? The radio? Nothing, right? They just crackle. When was the last time the mail was delivered here? How long since we’ve seen a Highway Patrol car in the canyon? Shit, the army doesn’t even come up here. And you want to pretend that things are okay out there? Get serious, kid.”

“It can’t be all that bad,” she snapped. “Jesus, it was just some big waves, not the end of the fucking world. We aren’t exactly fighting off the invading hordes or anything. We’re just — sitting here.”

“That was the whole idea. Kid, kid—” He sat beside her on the bed. “It hasn’t even been a month yet. Sure, we don’t know just what’s going on. But we can get a pretty good idea from what we don’t hear, you know. I’ll tell you this: by summer things’ll be a lot better. The government will be back on its feet, the power will be back on, and we’ll be smelling like roses.” He paused for two beats. “It’s late. Let’s go to bed.”

Grudgingly, she butted out her cigarette and slid under the covers. Allison was about to do the same when someone started pounding on the front door downstairs.

“Oh Christ,” Shauna quavered. “Oh Bob, what’s that?”

Allison pulled his jeans back on, and took his .45 from the night table.

“Stay put. And keep quiet. Don’t wake Sarah.” He glanced into the adjoining room, where Sarah slept now. She hadn’t stirred.

Barefoot, in pitch darkness, Allison glided downstairs and along the hall to the front door. The pounding started up again. Peeping through a side window, he saw a man, evidently alone, standing on the porch. Silently, Allison turned the lock and slid back the two bolts; then he jerked the door open and brought the pistol up into the man’s face.

“ Freeze ,” he hissed. The man’s hands went up. “What do you want?”

“Please — is that Mr. Allison? I’m Ray Wilder. You know, from Brotherhood House.”

Allison relaxed a little. Ray was the young Bible-basher he’d picked up on the canyon road on the morning just before the waves. Having escaped death in Monterey, Ray had plodded back up the canyon praising Jesus. Since then he’d dropped by the ranch a few times, to borrow tools or ask Hipolito for advice on livestock.

“Come on in, Ray. What the hell’s the idea of turning up at this hour?”

“I’m deeply sorry to trouble you, sir. But we need help. Our cow was stolen tonight. Someone got into the barn and led her away. We followed her tracks up the road towards Mr. Burk’s people.”

“You followed her tracks in this downpour?”

“Well — her droppings, actually. But when we got to Mr. Burk’s property line, one of his friends was there, carrying a rifle. He told us to go away.”

Allison sighed. “Well, it doesn’t sound good, but what am I supposed to do about it at five in the morning?”

“Could — could you and some of your friends come back with us to Mr. Burk’s? Just to show them that their neighbours are sticking together?”

“Hell, I don’t know.” Allison felt a cold breeze behind him, and turned to see Bert D’Annunzio walk silently in from the back door. He was carrying an M-16 rifle.

“What’s the problem?” Bert asked. Allison explained. As he did, Shauna came downstairs and stood listening at the foot of the stairs. Allison noted amusedly that Ray kept his eyes chastely away from her.

“How serious is losing your cow?” Bert said when Allison was through.

“She’s the only one we have left, sir. She still gives a little milk, the only milk our children have. Without her we’ll be in trouble.”

“Ray, would you excuse us for a minute?” Allison said. He led Bert and Shauna off into a far corner of the big living room.

“What the hell are we supposed to do about this?” he asked them softly. “We’re not cops.”

“Maybe we’d better be,” said Bert. “Are you sure our animals are okay?”

Allison felt dizzy. “Oh-oh.”

“In fact, they are. When I heard the pounding, 1 thought it might be a distraction and checked out the barn. Everything’s okay, this time.”

“Well, Bert, what do you suggest?”

“Maybe we better get acquainted with these neighbours. Didn’t you tell me there’s four or five families?”