Tainted Grace (24 page)

I spent the next couple of days off my feet.
Everyone catered to me, which was awkward. By the third day, I had cabin fever so badly that Gus finally gave me the a-ok to come up on deck. Nathan and Susan and the girls had managed to catch fish each day, supplementing our meager food supply. Abbey and Jane had spent most of their time above deck, and slowly Abbey seemed to be coming out of her fog of sadness.

We sat at the back of the boat now as a group.
I was still achy all over, and my bleeding had stopped. Emilie kept insisting that I eat, saying I had grown pale. We discussed our next steps. No one wanted to return to Sucia Island. We had found a travel guide on board and read that the island held several campgrounds, and the latest theory was that the strange Runners we faced were a group of diehard campers that had been out when this plague struck. We had anchored until this point to save fuel. Nathan had rigged a plastic poncho he found to collect rainwater for drinking, and we had been blessed with precipitation the day before. Through a series of buckets and that single poncho, the on-board water supply had been nearly replenished. We were adrift now, riding the current. We decided we needed to settle on a smaller island. One with less risk of surprises. In the distance, I saw a pillar of smoke rising.

“Do you guys see that?” I asked, pointing east.

“That’s a long way over,” said Nathan. “I’d guess Everett, maybe even Bellevue.”

“What do you suppose it is?” asked Susan.

“Nothing good,” said Gus.

“What’s our next step?” asked Emilie.

“The Sound is full of islands,” said Nathan somewhat grimly. “We need to find one with less chance of being infested.”

“The smaller the better,” added Gus.
“At least for now.”

“Then we make a land run for supplies,” added Boggs.

“I got one!” screamed little Jane excitedly. “Nate, Nate, I got one! It feels huge!”

It was a delight to see her excited and carefree, if just for a moment.

“Hold it steady, Jane,” he said as he jumped up and headed over to her. “Do you want to reel it in yourself?”

“
Yeah,” she said, her voice strained from the effort of holding the pole. “What if the fishin’ poe breaks?”

“I’ll help hold the fishing pole, sweetie,” he said as he knelt behind her.
“Let me make sure it’s set first, then when I say, start reeling.”

I watched the two of them work at catching lunch.
Abbey was still waiting patiently for her own pole to jerk, signaling her own catch.

“It’s heavy Nate!
Help!” squealed the excited little girl.

I saw Nathan chuckle.
“Ok, Jane, I’ve got it. Can you get the net?”

Jane scampered out from underneath Nate, and ran to where the net was propped against the short wall that surrounded us.
“I got it, I got it!” she chanted.

“Whoa Nellie look at this beast!” said Nathan dramatically.
“Holy cow, Jane! You caught an octopus!”

“Yuck!” said Susan.

“Oh no, it’ll be tasty,” said Gus. “A delicacy.”

“Ugh,” she continued.
“I guess I’ll eat about anything right now.

Nathan called for help.
“Boggs, can you bring me the gaff? I don’t want this thing catching up on the net.”

“Sure.
Hold on a sec.”

I brought my bare feet up into the seat with me and hugged my knees.
A breeze blew, as usual. Something about it made me feel alive. I became aware of my belly being uncomfortable in that position, so put my feet back down and smoothed my shirt. It was even bigger today. I tried not to worry and focused back on the fascinating catch going on. Boggs had returned with the gaff, and Nathan was instructing him on how to best latch onto the octopus. As Boggs pulled it in with the pole, I watched his biceps strain from the effort. Orange-red tentacles were wrapping around the gaff, protesting at the rudeness of its day being interrupted. It was bigger than I would have thought. The main body was at least a foot long. The tentacles were thick and strong.

Jane was squealing in delight.
She was even jumping up and down and clapping her hands.

“The smile suits you, Zoe,” said Gus.

I looked over, not realizing I had been smiling. “Thanks. I guess smiles are rare nowadays, huh?”

“Hopefully that’ll change.”

Emilie and Susan had both gathered around the spectacle of the cephalopod.

“How will they cook it?” I asked Gus as I watched Nathan stab the beast in the head with a knife.
Its tentacles slowly released from the pole.

“Awe,” whined Jane.
“I wanted to play with it.”

Susan chuckled.

“I think I’ll leave cooking up to Nate tonight,” Gus answered my question. “But I’ll gladly eat it, however it’s cooked.”

“I’ve never had octopus before,” I admitted.

“It’s really not bad. A bit chewy, but I bet this one will be extra good. Nice and fresh.”

I yawned.

“Tired?”

I nodded.

“Go sleep, ok? One of us will wake you when the tentacles are ready.”

“Yuck,” I said, wrinkling my nose.

He chuckled at me, and I stood and stretched. I caught him looking at me. “What is it?”

“Nothing.
Just noticed you’ve gotten bigger.”

“
Yeah, I noticed too.”

“Go sleep.”

I walked to the stairs that led to the galley and descended. As much as I wanted to stay on deck and enjoy the fresh air, my eyes felt like dead weights and lying down sounded heavenly. I picked my usual bunk, shared part time with Boggs. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep. I dreamed of sea monsters and smoke.

Abbey shook me awake gently.
“Zoe?”

I was disoriented and stared back at her.
“Huh?”

“Boggs asked me to wake you up.
Nate cooked the octopus and it’s ready.”

“You gonna eat it, Abbey?”

“Heck yeah. I’m so hungry. Hey, we have another surprise!”

“What’s up?” I asked as I sat up.

“Gus thinks we found an island. Wanna see it?”

“What do you mean ‘see’ it?”
I stood.

“We’re anchored right by it.
The guys have already been over on the raft and they said everything seems fine.”

I was a bit confused.
“How long have I been asleep?” I asked. I was anxious to get up on deck. “You slept through lunch. Gus said you needed it, so we had leftover cod for lunch and saved the octopus for tonight.”

“Well let’s head upstairs, huh?”
I smiled at her. I followed her up the steps. Once we reached the fresh air it was clear I had slept until almost sunset.

“Morning sleeping beauty!” said Nathan.
“Sleep well?”

“
Yeah, actually, I did. What’s going on with you all going on land?”

“We think we found a new home,” said Susan.

“What’s it called?” I asked.

“No idea.
We’ve scoured the map and it’s just not on there,” said Gus.

“Did you guys really go over?”

“Zoe, don’t make an issue of it,” said Boggs.

“It is an issue.
You could have at least told me.” I was trying to keep the anger out of my voice.

“Zoe, we just wanted to let you sleep,” said Emilie.
“Please don’t be mad. Nothing bad happened.”

“Ok.
Is dinner ready?” I asked.

Nathan grinned.
“It is! And boy is it going to be a treat. Fresh octopus with sea salt and wild onions we found on the island.”

“Seriously?” I asked, pleasantly surprised.

“Ayup,” said Gus. “And the girls collected the salt from some rocks we brought back over.”

“Awesome.”

We sat on the deck together, picnic style, eating octopus and onions that had been rubbed in sea salt and barbecued on the small onboard grill. It was propane, but with no fuel source for it the guys had carried over small pieces of wood and used it as a small fire pit. Nathan explained that after tonight we’d take it on shore with us, since any type of fire on board could cost us the boat. For tonight, though, we decided to just celebrate and forget about such hazards.

We told stories, and Emilie sang for us.
It was a piece her grandmother had taught her, sung in German. She was actually a pretty horrible singer, but we all enjoyed it. Abbey and Jane made up ghost stories. Jane’s was about ghost rabbits. Considering all, it was a relaxing evening and we all went to bed with full stomachs.

The morning brought a renewed sense of excitement as we all looked off the side of the boat at the island before us.
It was small, indeed, but rose considerably out of the sea. It had a significant beach that led into the woods, and several rock cliffs. It appeared to be safely above the tide line, as evidenced by the water marks on the cliff faces and the growth of trees and shrubs above. There appeared to be enough room for the eight of us to live and stretch and play. There were four other larger islands in view. Boggs said it looked like there were enough large trees to build a cabin. We’d need to salvage tools and other supplies from the mainland, which would be a huge but necessary risk. With my link to the dead now in question, and my being pregnant, I was not given a choice. I was not going to be on the salvage missions anytime soon.

The guys took one more trip ashore to double check for danger, then ferried the rest of us over and returned to the boat for a last load of supplies.
The girls and I cautiously explored a field that was in the middle of our new island. Emilie and Susan kept their firearms ready while the girls and I lazily surveyed our surroundings. My mind was clear. The sun was shining and the chill in the air was nearly gone. Shrubs were beginning to show signs of spring with tiny buds forming. I sat on the ground and closed my eyes and listened to the sound of waves crashing nearby. I leaned back on my hands and inhaled deeply. For the first time in weeks, I almost felt happy.

I opened my eyes and saw that Susan and Emilie were sitting together on a rock, back-to-back, watching carefully.
They too looked more relaxed than I had seen them in ages. Abbey was scraping bark off of a nearby tree with a stone she had found. I didn’t see Jane.

“Where’s Jane” I asked, instantly concerned.

“She should be here,” said Emilie. “Jane?” she called.

As I pulled myself up onto my feet awkwardly and hurriedly, I heard Jane scream.
It was a shrill, ear-piercing sound. Before I was fully upright, Susan and Emilie were already running.

“Abbey, stay here,” I shouted.
“And keep your gun ready.” Nathan had taught Abbey how to shoot over a week ago.

I ran behind Susan and Em.
My legs wouldn’t take me any faster. Jane’s screams continued. One after another. It seemed to take forever for us to reach her.

“Jane!
Jane!” I screamed her name. My heart was racing, my lungs working hard. By now I knew what the danger was. The lone signature of a Roamer was buzzing deep in the recesses of my mind. It found Jane, or she had found it, and it wanted to get to her. The little girl’s screams had cut off, and now I heard sobbing.

“Em, Susan!” I huffed.
“It’s one of them! Oh God be careful!”

By now we were standing at the edge of a rocky cliff of sorts.
Jane was halfway down, backed up to the rock face as far as she could.

“Jane!” I yelled.
Not far below her, just out of her reach, was the monster that I was linked to in my mind. I couldn’t see through its eyes, since it appeared to have none. It was a long-dead woman, her face and arms severely bloated while her chest and belly had deflated, spilling globs of slop. Her large muumuu was wet and as she opened her mouth the most horrible gurgling sounds emerged. Green and dark brown skin fragments sloughed from its extremities, large chunks dropping as it attempted to grab Jane’s legs. Susan raised a rifle beside me and aimed at the Roamer. She fired and its body collapsed in a puddle of liquefied sludge and mucous covered bone. Jane began screaming again, as if in shock.

I scrambled down the rocks, to her side.
“Jane, shhhh.” The girl was panting, obviously terrified and not hearing me.

“Zoe, no!
We have to make sure she’s not infected!” I heard Emilie yell. I ignored her.

My hands were stinging from the rocks cutting into my palms.
My hip was aching after the brief invasion of my mind, and my ankle felt as if I had just twisted it. I ignored it all.

“Jane, honey, I’m here.
Look at me, ok?” For the briefest moment I feared I may see a change in her eyes, and realized my gun had been left above in my hurry to get to the child.

I reached out to grab her arm, and at my touch she screamed and tried to get away.