Shaun Harbinger - Storm

A thick grey fog clung to the hull of The Big Easy , making it impossible to see anything beyond. As I stood on the sun deck looking toward the bow, sinuous tendrils snaked over my boots. The air was cold and wet and the chill seeped into my bones. We drifted aimlessly, the boat bobbing up and down beneath my feet, gentle waves rocking us like a mother trying to persuade her baby to sleep.

But the only lullaby was a far-off cry of gulls, and the chilly dawn air dispelled any thoughts of comfort.

The bed I had climbed out of half an hour earlier was comfortable. There, I could snuggle beneath the blankets with Lucy and dream of a better time.

A time when my friends were still alive and the world had not yet tipped into the deepest region of hell.

A dream that had startled me awake. There was no way I was going to get back to sleep after that. I had dreamed of my brother, Joe, and my parents sitting in a cage in a dense forest. I was running toward the cage, determined to break them free. But as I approached, the forest suddenly became alive with shambling figures hell-bent on stopping me. Alive wasn’t the right word. They were undead.

As the dream-zombies shuffled closer to me, I snapped my eyes open and realized I was still on The Big Easy . No more sleep. So I came up to the deck to stand in the cold fog and think about my next move.

Not the greatest idea of my life. The “Sail To Your Destiny” T-shirt I wore did nothing to protect me from the dawn chill. The insidious fog made the fabric damp and clingy. My face and arms felt like they were covered in droplets of ice.

I wondered if the fog reached to wherever Joe was. A few days ago, I heard his voice on Survivor Reach Out and now I was possessed of one single thought: I had to save him. He was somewhere on the mainland, in a Survivors Camp, and that meant danger. I had already seen what happens in those camps.

The problem was, I had no idea which camp my family was in. And even if I found out, how was I going to break them out of what was basically a military-run prison?

The task of rescuing Joe seemed so impossible, I didn’t know where to start. When I had heard his voice on Survivor Radio, I had turned The Big Easy to shore, ready to storm the beaches and fight the zombies, but Lucy had pointed out the foolishness of that idea. I had reluctantly agreed and piloted the boat south along the coast. It was only when I saw the familiar coastline of Wales and the dark buildings of the city of Swansea that I stopped the boat and let us drift overnight.

Now, as I stood on the sundeck, I had no idea how far we were from Swansea. Mike had taught me the basics of piloting the boat but nothing about navigation. The coastline was completely obscured by the fog.

The cold, damp air was too uncomfortable and the chill made me shiver. I went inside the living area and closed the wooden door. I switched on the radiators and put the kettle on. A cup of tea wasn’t going to make anything better but it might warm up my insides.

The small door that led to the bedrooms opened and Lucy poked her head around it, looking for me with bleary blue eyes. Her blonde hair was sticking out and an oversized “Sail To Your Destiny” T-shirt hid her curves but she was still beautiful. As “just got out of bed” looks went, she had the best.

“Why are you up so early?” she asked as she came into the living area and sank down onto the sofa.

“Couldn’t sleep. You want a drink?”

“Coffee.” She looked out at the fog. “Wow.”

“Yeah,” I said, “the weather’s really closed in. Can’t see anything out there.” I made the drinks and passed her a mug of coffee while my tea bag brewed in the cup. I wanted it strong and hot. My skin still felt wet and clammy. I needed warmth.

“You come up with any plans?” Lucy asked. We both knew I hadn’t. What plan could possibly be made other than the plan to go ashore and look for Joe?

Maybe that was the answer. Simple and direct.

And probably fatal.

I looked at the impenetrable grey fog beyond the windows and wondered if I could use it to my advantage somehow. The fog was made up of droplets of moisture so the zombies would probably avoid it just as they avoided rain. It might be safe to go ashore just so long as I avoided the military patrols. The fog could help me with that. If I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see me and I could move undetected.

It all sounded so easy but my heart hammered at the thought of sneaking around on the mainland. Too much could go wrong. What if the fog lifted while I was standing among a hundred soldiers? What if zombies wandered in the fog and I went blindly blundering into a group of them?

What choice did I have? If I was going to rescue Joe and my parents, I had to go ashore at some point. The fog provided the best chance of survival.

“I’m going to go ashore,” I told Lucy.

“What? Don’t be crazy, Alex. You have no idea where your brother is. Until you know more…”

“How am I going to know more unless I look for him? Floating out here all day isn’t doing anybody any good.”

“At least we’re safe.”

“Are we? What if we run into pirates? Or a boat full of zombies hits us and they get on board? Nowhere is safe anymore.”

“But wandering onto the mainland where there are thousands of zombies and soldiers is suicide.”

“I’ll be careful,” I said. “I won’t go far from shore. I just want to get an idea of the situation. A reconnaissance mission.”

She shook her head and gave me a thin-lipped smile. “You hate the military, remember? You’re no soldier, Alex.”

I knew that. If playing military video games counted toward an army rank, I’d be a colonel by now but in reality, I was overweight and slow… the result of spending all my leisure time playing video games. Ironic. I could kill a base full of digital terrorists on my console but in real life I was nothing more than a walking target.

I was honestly surprised I was still alive in this post-apocalyptic world. Much better people than me had fallen already. I thought of Mike and Elena and felt a hollowness in my stomach.

Gulping down the hot tea didn’t help.

I had come to a decision. No matter how much Lucy tried to talk me out of it, I was going ashore under cover of the fog.

Not too far inland.

What could go wrong?

“This is crazy, Alex,” Lucy informed me as we sailed slowly through the fog, looking for the coast. She stood on the aft deck below me, arms folded, as I sat in the small chair on The Big Easy’s bridge and peered out of the window at the thick, grey impenetrable gloom beyond the bow. I had tried putting on the boat’s lights but they had just reflected off the wall of fog. Useless.

I kept my hand on the throttle, ready to pull it back if I saw any shapes beyond our bow. My greatest fear was running into unseen rocks and destroying our boat. We barely crawled along but even so, my hands were shaking and my nerves were on edge. I had thrown on a hoodie and felt insulated against the cold fog but I wasn’t sure if the sweat running down my back and chest was because I was warm or scared. Probably both.

Lucy had a right to be mad at me. I wasn’t just risking my own life with this stupid move; I was risking both our lives and The Big Easy . But I was sure the fog would give me the best chance to move about onshore unseen. If I wasted this opportunity, I would be kicking myself forever.

Something dark appeared ahead. I yanked the throttle back and the engines went into reverse, churning the water at the stern. Lucy leaned over the side and gazed ahead to see what had caused my reaction.