Waves of Fury (Surviving Earth Chronicles)

Chapter Sixteen

Tyler

E xhaustion finally steals Kellen away from me. He falls asleep sitting up and even snores audibly. I smirk as I gently guide him down to his good side, using my thigh as a pillow for him. While he sleeps, I move his arm and peel his soaked jacket, dress shirt, and undershirt away from his skin to assess his wound.

Blood pulses from the reopened gash. I locate the first aid kit and quickly clean it with the alcohol wipes. He doesn’t even flinch. Once I’ve gone through all the motions and bandaged him back up, I put away the kit in my bag and then lean back to rest.

Since we’re drifting, letting the wind push us eastward, Aaron abandons his perch at the helm to come sit near me. It’s no longer raining, but the wind is fierce. Everyone is quiet—either sleeping or staring off into space, lost to their own thoughts. Even Jesse is sleeping, curled close to the teenage girl with Pretzel between them.

“Pretzel’s not the only stray you picked up,” Aaron says, smirking at me.

It’s then I realize my fingers are stroking through Kellen’s hair. I pluck them away so I can shoot my brother the bird. God, it feels good giving each other shit again.

“You’ve got a few yourself.” I motion to the family. “They were your client?”

He nods, a pensive expression crossing over his features. “The father is Dan Kravitz. He’s a dentist. The other three are his wife, Judy, and two kids, Hailey and Silas.”

“Seems like you, Jesse, and Wayne took care of them. You’re all still alive and well.”

Aaron frowns. “It was scary as hell for a while there.” His jaw clenches. “You have no idea how difficult it was to flee the Bay Area rather than head right for it in hopes to rescue my little brother.”

Knowing he was just as worried about me makes my chest ache.

“Wayne had to physically restrain me,” Aaron admits, bitterness on his tongue. “It’s also why he has a black eye.”

My gaze drifts to where Wayne sits, head tilted back and mouth hanging open while he sleeps. His eye is bruised, but he’s a brute of a guy, so I’m sure he handled the punch just fine.

“Wasn’t exactly rainbows and sunshine from my end either,” I grunt, suppressing a shudder. “Had I not got stuck in the elevator minutes before the tsunami hit, I’d have been toast.” Like Tabby.

Aaron’s jaw works as he considers my words. His eyes water, which makes my own burn with emotion. We miraculously survived this catastrophe and somehow were reunited. Just like the last catastrophe we faced when Dad killed Mom. We’re survivors both in and out of the apocalypse.

“You were right,” Aaron admits. “You had a bad feeling and—”

“If you’d listened to me, we wouldn’t be here right now.” I pin him with a firm glare. “You’re the big brother for a reason. Your instincts matter too.”

He relaxes at my words. “To think this is the one time Jesse’s bullshit attitude actually worked in his favor. If he hadn’t been suspended from school…”

Too many what-ifs for my comfort.

“No sense in thinking about the terrible things that could have happened,” I rasp out. “All we can do is move forward with our ragtag group here.”

Aaron follows my gaze, both of us glancing over each person. “Who are they anyway?”

“Kellen here was my customer. We got in an argument over my being late, which ended up saving me in the end. He’s a cool guy.”

My brother grins at my downplay of just how cool I think this guy is. “Sometimes your bullshit attitude works in your favor too.”

I can’t argue that one.

“The older guy there is Gerry and the younger one is Kyle.” I then motion to where Hope has Elise tucked into her side. “The blonde is Hope and the brunette is Elise. The unconscious woman is Barb. Banged up her head pretty badly and hasn’t recovered.”

“Too bad Dan is a dentist and not a medical doctor,” Aaron mutters.

“When we reach the shore, we’ll get her to a hospital. They’ll fix her.”

Aaron’s eyebrows bunch together and he gets that sad look on his face when he’s about to break bad news to me. My stomach twists in anticipation.

“What?” I croak out. “Don’t tell me the whole damn planet is flooded.”

Aaron shakes his head and motions to the helm. “I’ve been listening to transmissions. They’re spotty because of the distance, but I was getting multiple reports of catastrophes happening all over the globe. It’s not just here.”

For some reason, I hear Dad’s mocking voice in my head . “I told you so. I told you the world was ending. You could have had the easy way out like me and Mom.”

“What kind of catastrophes?”

“Sinkholes all over the damn place. Entire cities wiped out—big ones too. Seismic activity, fires, volcanoes…” he trails off and scrubs a palm over his scruffy face. “Honestly, we don’t know what to expect when we reach land.”

“There has to be aid, though, right? The National Guard? FEMA? American Red Cross?”

“I heard there are some refugee camps in the Great Plains, which seems to be less affected thus far. Maybe we’ll head there.”

We both grow quiet as we contemplate what our future may be. I’m not sure it’s going to be great, but it’s a lot better than our recent past. I’d rather take my chances on dry land, that’s for damn sure.

“How much fuel do we have?” I ask, though I’m not sure I want to know the answer.

“Not enough.” Aaron grunts and then stands. “I’d hoped to use the storm to steer us to land because I know we’ll need the last of the fuel to actually make it ashore. As soon as we make visual contact with anything besides more water, I’ll do what I can to get us there.”

He dips inside the helm to pore over a map, effectively ending the conversation. Knowing my brother is capable of handling things, I finally allow myself to crash. Within seconds, I’m fast asleep.

A sharp whistle jolts me awake. It’s dark on the vessel and Kellen is no longer sleeping on my leg. I scramble to my feet, slightly disoriented. The lights of the Angler-traz illuminate the way ahead of us as Aaron steers the boat. I follow Aaron’s gesturing.

Land.

In the darkness beyond the Angler-traz’s lights, trees can be seen. Kellen appears from out of nowhere, a firm hand landing on my shoulder.

“Aaron told me about the radio transmissions,” Kellen says with a heavy sigh. “Texas has fallen.”

I turn my head to study him in the dark. His face is slick from rain and pale. I notice his plump parted lips, wondering, though briefly, what they’d taste like.

“My brother,” Kellen chokes out. “He and my dad are there.”

“I’m sure they got out,” I murmur. “If you got out of your predicament, they will have too.”

His shoulders relax at my words. “Knox is quite capable. So is Dad, for that matter. Dad may be an asshole, but he can handle himself.”

“You’ll be with them soon,” I assure him. “We’ll find them.”

A smile curls his lips up on one side. “We? You’re going to help me?”

“Still working on the best tip ever, man.”

Before he can reply, Aaron shouts at me. I break from Kellen to rush over to my brother at the helm.

“There,” he says, pointing at asphalt up ahead. “It’s a road. I’m not sure what sort of debris we’ll run up against near the shore. Our best bet will be to run the boat onto the shore with the last of the fuel reserves. Everyone will need to be ready, though. It’s not going to be a soft landing and there’s nothing I can do about that.”

I give him a quick nod before relaying the update to Kellen. Within minutes, we have everyone up, aside from Barbara, bags and supplies in hand, ready to go.

We’re getting closer when the engine begins to cough and sputter. Aaron bellows, slamming his fist against the dash as though he can jump-start the boat back to life. The Angler-traz lets out a tired sigh and then goes silent. We’re still cruising at a decent speed. I just hope we don’t have to swim the rest of the way because the water has proven to be incredibly dangerous.

As we approach the road that emerges from the water and disappears into the trees, I study the area for signs of life. No lights or sounds or people. Nothing. It’s eerie and causes a shiver to crawl up my spine.

“Brace!” Aaron yells when we’re about thirty feet away. “We’re coming in hot!”

I grab onto a handle on the outside of the helm with one hand and Kellen’s arm with the other. Seconds later, the deafening sound of crunching and smashing assaults my eardrums. We bounce and are tossed aside as the boat topples over once it’s made its crash landing.

My hand gripping Kellen’s arm is jerked away as I roll across the pavement and into the grass. I stagger to my feet, ready to aid the others. People are scattered all over the road. I do a quick headcount but don’t see my older brother.

“Aaron!” I yell, rushing toward the wrecked boat.

Pounding from the helm can be heard. He’s trapped. Seconds later, Wayne appears, carrying my pilfered ax. He motions for me to step aside. With a few well-placed whacks, he splinters the wood enough for Aaron to push an arm through. Together, we break apart the wood panels until Aaron has enough room to climb out. By the time we get him onto dry land, everyone seems to be getting to their feet. Jesse is bleeding from his eyebrow and Pretzel is howling pitifully. Other than that, no one appears to be injured.

“No,” Kyle barks out. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

He’s squatted beside Barb, who lies on the asphalt, unmoving.

“What’s wrong?” I demand, rushing over to them. “Is she okay?”

The older woman is no longer sleeping. She’s not even breathing. Her head is twisted at a weird, unnatural angle.

Fuck, Barb is dead.

It’s probably for the best, though.

Guilt assaults me the second I think it.

“You!” Kyle hollers as he climbs to his feet. He charges Aaron. “You killed Barb!”

He swings a fist, connecting with my brother’s jaw. Before I can snap into action, Jesse joins the fray, yelling at Kyle to get away from his brother. I snap out of my shock and manage to grab hold of Jesse before he does something stupid like strangle Kyle. Thankfully, Gerry and Kellen loop their arms around Kyle’s, tugging him away from Aaron.

Aaron rubs at his jaw and dips his head. I know he feels bad for the crash landing, but it’s not like there were any docks waiting for our arrival. No matter which way we tried to disembark from the boat, it was going to be dangerous.

Hope walks over to Aaron and clutches onto his arm. “Thank you for saving us and getting us here. Not everyone is an asshole.”

“Bitch,” Kyle snaps at Hope and then he attempts to shake off Kellen and Gerry. “Let go of me.”

“Enough,” Kellen growls to Kyle. “This whole situation is fucked-up, but blaming Aaron won’t bring Barb back. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Kellen drags Kyle along the road, away from the smashed boat and Barb’s lifeless body. Now that I know Jesse isn’t going to kill Kyle, I release him. He grunts and then trots over to where Hailey holds a trembling Pretzel.

I don’t know what lies ahead in store for us, but I hope there’s a warm meal, a dry bed, and just a few hours where we don’t have to spend every minute surviving hell.

That’s not too much to ask.

We all start trudging along the road. We’ve barely made it a quarter of a mile when a road sign comes into view.

Mariposa County Line.

Holy shit.

The Bay Area wasn’t the only place underwater. Apparently, the entire Californian coast right up to Mariposa’s doorstep was.

Someone crudely wrote in Sharpie over the sign:

Gerty got us.

I’m starting to think Gerty got everyone …