Chapter 21

Last Night In Port

Michael and I both prepared our weapons and crossed to what I hoped would be my new vessel. The first thing I noticed about this was the large swim/storage deck that is only a foot to two feet above the water. There is nowhere to hide which makes clearing the place easy. While we head toward the main deck Trika ties up the bass boat and steps onboard. I signal Michael that I would take the left set of stairs up and he should take the right. We advance cautiously and see a large tender on the main deck tied down. A tender is a smaller boat that runs from a large yacht to shore. It usually carries guests and supplies when it is not feasible for the yacht to time up directly to a dock. This one is brand new and probably here to show off how easy the crane works and how much space there is.

Once again I head up the left side of the ship and Michael takes the right. Nothing on the main deck. Right before I am about to talk to Michael I hear some distinctive thumps from the cockpit. I glance at Michael. He hears them also. I put the rifle away and draw my .45 pistol and signal Michael to stay back and cover me. I carefully head up the stairs to the cockpit of the tender and peer inside the window to see a zombie staring back at me and pounding on the door. It scared me so bad I almost fell back down the stairs. I checked both sides to make sure that the trapped zombie was the only one on the cockpit level.

“Michael, there is one trapped in the cockpit. I am going to step to the side and open the door. I should be able to make sure it falls down the steps. Use your axe if possible, but the .22 if not. I don’t want any holes in our new boat.”

“Alright Mark I understand, Trika please stand back in case something goes wrong.”

Our new captain wisely listened to Michael and backed up several steps. I holstered my weapons and pulled out my axe-bar. As smoothly as I could I pull open the door right before the zombie hammered on it again. Its forward momentum sends it tumbling down the steps. It sprawls out on the deck. Michael dashes in and soon there is one less zombie. I take a quick peek in the cockpit. There are some human remains but no other zombies.

“All clear up here.”

“All clear down below. Trika found the keys on this guy.”

“Let’s clear below decks before we fire it up.”

We cautiously made our way down into the bowels of the ship while Trika stayed up top and disposed of the body and cleaned up. Ten intense minutes later we were back on deck. It seems the former captain was the only one on the ship. After the search was complete Captain Trika patiently showed Michael and I how to untie and tie up a vessel of this size properly to a dock. Once she felt we were minimally competent she moved on to teach us how to use the crane. We lifted the bass boat we had come in and placed it on the aft deck. My job was running the crane and young Michael got the envious job of learning how to tie up whatever I was lifting to the crane properly. Let’s just say with as much work as he was doing I was glad I was assigned my position as the crane operator.

When teaching time was done, the docks had filled up with zombies who were responding to the noise we were making. Not as many as I expected. I guess the docks are really not the place most people think about going when they are sick. We were probably seeing the die hard workers who reported when ill and then passed away along with a few boat and yacht owners. The great thing was the zombies couldn’t climb. Once the stairs on the dock were kicked away we were perfectly safe except from their noise and constant banging on the hull. In fact, this might be an easy way to eliminate a lot of zombies.

During this whole thing we also discovered that zombies cannot swim. So if we lured a large group of zombies out onto a long dock we could potentially cut down their numbers significantly when they fell off and drowned and save ammunition and time. We saw several instances of new zombies coming onto the dock where there was not enough room and one of them getting pushed into the water. If it was shallow enough they stood up and went back to shore. If it was deep they flailed around until they drowned and then either floated on top or sunk to the bottom. Occasionally the flailing led them back to the dock or the shore, but not often. This leads me to conclude that those that do make it “swimming” are actually just lucky and are not planning ahead. I was afraid when I saw it the first time that there might be smart zombies developing. That would be a true nightmare. These dumb zombies are very easy to trick, kill and get rid of. The only thing they really have are stamina and numbers. I bet if the disease had not spread so quickly that we could have stopped it before it caused the end of the world.

Trika started us back to the Sunshine Marina so we could gather our things and load up the boat tonight. I wanted to be out of there early in the morning. Trika said we have enough fuel to go over 5,000 nautical miles and the tanks were just over half full. We could stop and resupply and fill up along the way as we headed down the coast to the Bahamas. I wanted our vessel to be as full as possible before we landed. The more we take now the less we have to find later. The only down side to our new boat was that it was not the fastest thing. However, it could make 16-18 knots top speed and cruised at around 10-12 knots. We might not get there quickly, but it would not take a long time.

Andros Island is a little over 500 miles from Savannah GA. So we could make it in two days if we took a straight shot. Since we were going to be bouncing down along the coast and checking for supplies I figured a week was probably a better estimate. It could possibly take as long as two weeks dependent on what we ran into. We arrive back at the sunshine marina just as dusk was starting to hit. I could see what looked like several people waiting for us on the dock. Either they knew we were coming in or they were here to welcome a different looking boat. When I glanced up into the cockpit from the main deck I could see Captain Trika on the marine radio. So it is to great us, she must have let them know we were coming in.

As we get closer I recognize Benji and Olivia standing on the dock along with Hank and Gerald. Does that mean the family has made it here? I wasn’t expecting them to arrive for at least a couple more days. I wanted to be gone before they got here. I was not ready for the confrontation that was sure to happen. I said nothing as we pulled up and got to work with Michael tying the boat up to the dock. Once everything was done Trika came down from the cockpit. I spoke up, making sure that the people on the dock could hear and told her and Michael to be ready to move out by 9 a.m. I would load supplies tonight and in the morning. They should get their personal gear and move onto the boat tonight.

As soon as I got to the dock Gerald spoke up. “It looks like you found what you were looking for. I will have Trika tell the others of good boats she saw and you and I can talk over dinner. First however you have some guests that would like to talk to you. They came in today with that Pablo Picasso nonsense being said so I let them in.”

“Thanks, Gerald. This is my brother Benji and Olivia, a yong lady I met under not so ideal circumstances up in Aiken. They are part of the group I told you would be following me.”

“As long as you know them then that is fine. I will see you at dinner in about fifteen minutes.”

Gerald walked off to give us some time alone.

“Hello Benji, evening Miss Olivia. How are momma and the others doing?”

“Brother, everything is just fine. We should be here in a couple days as a group. We picked up a few more stragglers and are moving rather slowly. Momma was worried about you so I volunteered to come check on you and deliver a letter. Olivia was kind enough to join me.”

“Mark, I will be going with you on the boat. Tracy and her boyfriend headed north to look for her parents. I don’t know anyone else except your family. You and Benji saved me and I really don’t feel safe without either of you around. Since I don’t like large groups, that means I am going with you.”

I must have had a baffled look on my face, because Benji and the others started to laugh quietly.

“Well I know better than to argue with a lady that has made up her mind. This is Michael and over here is Captain Trika. They will be on the boat with us. Arrange your bunk with them and I will make sure we have enough gear for you also.”

With that said Olivia grabbed Trika’s arm and started walking off and talking. Good lord what have I let myself in for.

“This is going to be an interesting trip. You know some strange people Mark.”

“Oh be quiet Michael and go and get dinner and pack up.”

Benji and I caught up while he walked me over to the dinner area. The family was doing fine. They had picked up Doc Steven’s family along with four others and were headed down. Their lack of speed was for raiding supplies and nothing else. They wanted to have the maximum amount when they arrived to contribute and to be able to leave as soon as possible. Benji also let me know that those people were keeping quiet and to themselves causing no problems. I let him know what signals and marks to look for in the future. He nodded his understanding and left to go back and meet with momma’s group.

When I arrived at the dinner area I saw Gerald waving me over to his picnic table.

“Okay Mark I will make it quick. We will help you load up with supplies. Over the next couple of days we will grab the boats that we want. When your family and others get here we will load them up and start after you. We may take another day or two to make sure we have the maximum amount of supplies. What I need is a way from you to contact you or at least make sure we are tracing the correct route.”

“Well that is easy enough. Ship to ship radio should suffice for 20 nm or less. So you can contact us before you come into port when you reach Andros Island. I have been thinking about our route. We are going to stop at the five major ports along the east coast of Florida. Jax Port, Port Canaveral, Port of Palm Beach, Port of Everglades, and the Port of Miami. Each will have several tie up buoys offshore. Because I am a little bit of a geek, I happen to have several pirate flags that are about 3 feet by five feet each. I have several red ones and several black ones. If you see red flags on the buoys that means the ports are too dangerous for the group to raid. If you see black ones then we have scouted it out and believe you should be okay. Keep in mind that things could change so you should still be careful. If we have a chance we can even leave pre-staged supplies at those ports to help you out.”

“You have really thought this through haven’t you?”

“I had a lot of free time and find planning this kind of stuff to be fun.”

“Alright we will set out after you in a few days.”

“Thanks for all the help Gerald and especially for being someone others can depend on. I am trusting you to help get my family down to the island safely.”

“Speaking of family, I have a letter here from your momma. Your brother Ben said not to give it to you until after he left.”

I take the letter and get up to go and load up the boat.