The Onyx Seed - A Story of Survival by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 16

Marty and Lucas had successfully escaped the mortuary that Los Angeles had become. And after nearly twenty-four hours on the road, they found themselves entering Corpus Christi. Through Marty’s weary eyes, it looked more like an oceanside resort than a city.

“Hey, Luke,” he said.

He gave Lucas a gentle nudge against his shoulder. “Hey, wake up.”

Lucas woke with a deep breath and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Corpus Christi,” Marty answered. “Where the fuck is Corpus Christi?” Lucas continued. “Think hurricanes,” Marty replied.

Lucas stared out through the passenger window, trying to identify any landmarks that might look familiar.

“I don’t see a damn thing,” he said. Marty turned towards him as he continued staring out into the darkness.

“We’re in Texas, on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico.” Lucas gave that fact a moment of thought. “Aren’t we in a different time zone?” he asked. Marty looked back over at him in disbelief. “Tell me you didn’t just ask me that,” he said. When society came crashing down, one of the things that quickly became a certainty was that time zones had become irrelevant. Just as the idea of keeping time. Perhaps, it could now be said that it was the same time everywhere but only for those who were lucky, or unlucky enough to have survived the infection.

Lucas shook his head in a moment of embarrassment. “You’re right,” he said. “That was a pretty stupid question, wasn’t it?”

Corpus Christi was, at one time, a city buzzing with commerce. Its people, living on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, were a prime target during hurricane season, as the northwest coast of Africa launched storm after storm into the Atlantic. Now, it was impossible to determine its current population. As it too, had fallen into darkness. Even its lighthouses were no longer beacons for wayward ships. Having lost their fires to the calamity that had, without a doubt, swept through every populated area across the globe.

“So, what are we doing here?” Lucas asked.

“We need more water,” Marty answered. “And it would be nice to get some sleep.” Within the next half hour, they passed one of the city’s many hospitals while driving north on Ocean Avenue. Marty noticed a familiar odor had seeped in through the vans vents.

“Fuck,” he said. “You smell that?” Lucas instantly recognized something he thought he would never have to encounter again. Marty slowed the van as they passed the hospital, staring out the driver’s window. Even the darkness of a lightless city could not hide the ghastly heap of burnt flesh, haphazardly stacked in the hospitals main parking lot. “Shit,” Marty said. “They did the same thing here.” Lucas, still plagued by the site of Maria’s lifeless body being thrown to the pyre of L.A.’s County Hospital, began to weep.

“They knew this wasn’t the flu, didn’t they?” he asked.

Marty looked back to the road, bringing the van back up to speed.

“It sure looks that way,” he answered. Continuing past the hospital, something caught Marty’s attention. A sign pointed offshore to a set of three piers called ‘Yacht Basin’.

“Hey, Luke,” Marty began. “I think I know where we’re staying for the next couple of days.” The edge of the morning sun was barely touching the eastern horizon as they stopped at the sea wall of Corpus Christi Bay.

There were three piers, each leading to a set of slips where people with more money than sense docked a variety of recreational boats. Most were big enough to easily house a family of four, with room to spare. “Luke,” Marty said. “What do you know about boats?”

Lucas had calmed significantly by the time they pulled into Yacht Basin. He used the sleeve of his shirt to dry his face and eyes.

“Boats?” he said. “You’re asking me? Don’t you know about these things?”

Leaning over the wheel, Marty continued to examine what he quickly came to think of as playthings of the wealthy.

“I’ve been on a couple of ships, but I don’t know anything about these.”

A moment went by as Marty considered other options. They could find a park to camp in. They could sleep in the van, or take their chances in the city. None of these choices left him feeling very comfortable in an unfamiliar city. And he desperately wanted to sleep in a real bed.

“So, what’s the plan?” Lucas asked. “Well,” Marty began. “Considering our options, I think we should, at least take a look, unless you’d like to sleep in the van for a couple of days.” It didn’t take long for Lucas to make a decision. “You know, I’ve never been on a boat before. Let’s go take a look.”

They got out and walked down the dock to the first group of boat slips. More than half were empty, leaving Marty with the impression that some people left as the infection struck.

“A lot of these are sailboats,” Lucas said.

“Yeah,” Marty replied. “And I don’t know shit about sailing.”

They rounded the corner where one boat stood out. Her name was the Stellar Storm, a forty-one-foot cruising yacht. She held three sails and an internal motor for auxiliary power. Marty and Lucas stood gazing in admiration of her sleek, clean lines and curved shape.

“Do you think there’s anyone in there?” Lucas asked. “I don’t know,” Marty answered. “But, we’re going to have to take a look.”

“So, how do we do this?” Lucas asked. “I don’t see a door.”

“I’m looking,” Marty replied. “On military ships, there’s always a walkway. But, with these, I think you just jump on.”

They both took a moment to consider how they were going to accomplish this. A puzzled look came to Lucas’ face.

“Why do think they refer to boats as female?”

“I have no idea,” Marty answered. “It’s nautical tradition.”

Marty and Lucas were nearly startled out of their skin as a woman’s voice shattered the air from behind them. They quickly spun around to find a shapely young woman pointing a gun at them. Marty was dumbfounded. No one had ever snuck up on him that quietly.

“What?” Marty asked in a moment of confusion. “It’s nautical tradition,” she repeated impatiently. She was roughly five feet seven inches, with long brown hair. The jeans she wore hugged her hips and legs as though she’d been born in them. A man’s V-neck t-shirt clearly displayed an obvious degree of cleavage, emphasized by the position of her arms as she continued aiming the gun. The moment might have been comical if it weren’t for how terrified Marty and Lucas were as they stared down the barrel of a gun.

“Now, who the hell are you?” she demanded, as she momentarily adjusted her stance. Marty and Lucas instinctively raised their hands as they stumbled for words.

“Um, I’m Marty and this is Lucas.” The woman nodded her head.

Marty and Lucas, she replied.

“Alright, that’s a good start. Now, by the sounds of it, I’d guess the two of you aren’t from around here, huh?”

Lucas spoke up without hesitation. “We’re from L.A.”

“Los Angeles?” the woman asked. “So, what are you doing here?”

“We’re on our way to New York,” Marty answered. “We’re just looking for a place to sleep for a couple of days.”

The woman’s face took on an expression of doubt. “And so you decided to take a boat.” His hands still in the air, Marty glanced back at the Stellar Storm.

“Actually,” he began. “We were just going to sleep here for a couple of days. So, who are you?” The woman continued to aim her gun at them, trying to decide how much she wanted to tell them. The infection had also swept through Corpus Christi. So, like Marty, trust had become an issue for her.

“Julie,” she answered.

“Julie, okay,” Marty said. “I think we’re off to a good start, don’t you?”

When Julie didn’t answer, Marty tried to find something that would be useful as common ground. “Um, we saw the hospital on our way in,” he said. “The same thing happened in L.A.” Julie’s expression turned to one of wide-eyed disbelief.

“Are you serious?” she asked. “I thought it was just here. So, what the hell happened?”

“Well,” Marty began. “Can we put our hands down, now?”

“Yeah, sure,” Julie answered. “Just remember, I’m the one with the gun.”

“Um, right,” Marty replied. “Actually, I’m carrying a gun too.”

His only reason for revealing this to her was as an attempt to establish some degree of mutual trust. Julie’s sense of caution piqued.

“Let’s see it,” she demanded.

Marty slowly reached back and using his thumb and index finger, pulling the nine millimeter from his belt. He held it up and away from his body, clearly displaying it without creating a threat. Julie examined it closely.

“Is that a nine millimeter,” she asked curiously. Marty experienced a moment of confusion. At this point, he was expecting Julie to shoot both of them. What he wasn’t expecting was that she would take an interest in the type of gun he was carrying. “Um, yeah,” he answered. “I picked it up at a gun shop right before we left L.A.”

“Oh,” she said. “Nice. Now, put it down.” Marty slowly bent down and laid the gun on the ground, several inches from his feet. “Alright,” Julie continued. “Now, we’re off to a good start.”

Suddenly, Marty began to think that revealing his gun may have been a mistake and was not, at all, comfortable with the feeling of being vulnerable. “So,” Julie began. “What happened in L.A.?” Marty, still feeling uncomfortable about having a gun pointed at him, took a tense breath. “I’d feel a lot more comfortable about having this conversation if you’d lower your weapon,” he said. Hearing how Marty spoke, Julie looked at him with a bit of curiosity.

“Are you military?” she asked.

Marty saw an opportunity to break the tension by making a positive first impression. “Yeah, Army Ranger,” he replied. “Well, I used to be.”

Julie lowered her gun, appearing to be more relaxed with the idea that an Army Ranger could be trusted to do the right thing.

“Oh,” she began. “I’m actually glad to hear that.” She looked over at Lucas, who had become convinced that Julie would probably shoot them anyway. In spite of the conversations positive direction.

“So, Luke. What’s your story?”

Lucas made his response as brief as possible, telling her that he was a second-year pre-law student when the infection burned its way through L.A. “Pre-law, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Lucas answered. “I was going to become a lawyer...”

“So, Julie,” Marty interrupted. “What kind of gun is that?”

He had the feeling that Julie might not be as adept with guns as she appeared to be.

“It looks like a Glock.”

She held it up briefly.

“Oh, this?” she said. “I don’t know. I’m not really into guns all that much. I actually found this in an abandoned police car.”

Marty felt even more terrified, knowing that, although guns are dangerous, the most dangerous gun is the one carried by a person unfamiliar with its use. “So, you’ve never used a gun?” he asked. “Are you kidding?” Julie said. “You know, people here in Texas, well, they were almost famous for owning guns. I guess it was that ‘old west’ bullshit.” As she spoke, Julie began gesturing while holding the pistol, a relaxed finger placed on the trigger. “I mean, really, what’s the point...”

“Julie,” Marty interrupted.

She stopped in mid-sentence as Marty took a small step forward and reached out to her. He was careful not to startle her, being uncertain whether the gun was actually loaded.

“Why don’t you give that to me?” Julie looked down at the gun as though it had suddenly appeared in her hand.

“Oh, yeah. Here,” she said. “Honestly, I hate these things.”

She handed it to Marty, who immediately released the magazine and found it loaded to capacity. Both Marty and Lucas let out a deep sigh of relief, feeling the tension of a quiet standoff suddenly lift. “I used to see the results of these every day,” she said.

“Are you a doctor?” Lucas asked. “Oh, no,” Julie began. “I’m a trauma nurse. Well, I was.”

Marty bent down, retrieving his nine millimeter and tucking it under his belt, behind him. “Actually,” Lucas replied. “As long as there are still people around, you’re still a nurse.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Marty said, breaking into the conversation. “But, there are a few things we need to talk about.”

He motioned back to the stellar storm. “Do you know anything about boats?”

“Actually, I own a small boat. The ‘Catholic Girl’,” she answered. “Some of my friends used to tease me about her name, always talking about ‘climbing aboard the ‘Catholic Girl’.”

Lucas giggled quietly to himself.

“Actually, that is pretty funny,” he said. “So, how do we get on this boat?” Marty asked. He was trying not to display his growing impatience. “You just jump on,” Julie answered. “You grab the rope, pull the stern in and jump on.” Marty was already lost. His idea of being on a boat was spending a few days on a destroyer transport ship, bound for the Persian Gulf. Beyond that, he knew absolutely nothing about boats. Julie quickly became frustrated, regarding Marty’s obvious lack of nautical knowledge.

“I’m going to have to teach you guys everything, huh?”

She walked past Marty and Lucas toward the stern of the Stellar Storm.

“Okay,” she began. “Here’s your first lesson. The widest part of a boat is called the ‘beam’. The front end is the bow; the back end is the stern.” She picked up the rope that held the boat’s stern to the dock and began pulling.

“A little help would be nice,” she said. Marty went over and grabbed the rope, standing close enough to Julie that he could smell a hint of her shampoo. Lucas, however, stood watching from behind, mesmerized by the shape of her hips and legs. But just as he began to lose himself in the lines and curves of her body, Julie turned and called for his assistance.

“Luke,” she began. “Are you going to give us a hand or just stand there staring at my ass?” Marty noticed immediately that she was both intelligent and willful. As a nurse, she would be of great value as they made their way to the northeast.

Lucas walked up behind them and grabbed the rope. With the three of them acting as one, the Stellar Storm slowly drifted in toward the dock. Julie tied the rope to a post to keep the stern from drifting away. Without so much as a word, she jumped on board and disappeared below deck. Marty and Lucas stepped up to the edge of the dock.

“What is she doing?” Lucas asked quietly. “I have no idea,” Marty answered. “Maybe she’s checking to see if anyone’s on board.”

Lucas was clearly embarrassed by Julie’s observation of his admiring eyes.

“And I wasn’t staring at her ass,” he whispered. She appeared on the deck and motioned them on. Carefully, they climbed over the edge and onto the boat, just behind the wheelhouse. “I think you guys are going to like this.” She led them down below deck.

“Now, this is living in style,” she said. “You guys wanted a place to crash for a few days? You’re not going to do any better than this.”

Marty and Lucas stood in the boat’s dining area with wide-eyed wonder. Neither of them had ever set foot on a yacht and both were in awe of what enough money could buy. “Shit,” Lucas said. “You could live on this.”

Julie motioned them toward the bow. “Come take a look at this.”

She opened a door, revealing a modest bedroom with sealed windows covered by sliding curtains. “Nice, huh?” she said. “There’s another one back in the stern.”

She leaned back against the door frame and took a determined expression.

“But this one’s mine.”

Marty and Lucas suddenly felt both surprised and confused.

“What?” Marty asked.

It was obvious that Julie knew her way around boats, but he never expected that she would want to join them.

“Well, I’m not staying here,” she began. “I’ve been hiding in the attic of the hospital’s admin wing for days. Washing with sterile water. Eating the shit that passes for food in the cafeteria. So, I don’t care where you’re going, but I’m going with you.” Marty and Lucas suddenly turned to each other. Both were speechless and hoped that the other would say something that spoke on behalf of both of them. They briefly fumbled over their words as Julie waited for a coherent reply.

“Guys,” she began. “I’m not asking for your permission.”

Marty finally spoke up with a slightly stammering voice.

“Well, we were just going to crash here for a couple of days and keep moving east. I mean, we weren’t really thinking of living on a boat.” Julie looked at him with amazement and disbelief. “Are you serious? Really?” she asked. “You’d actually prefer to live in that piece of shit you’ve got parked out there? You guys have been in the desert too long.”

Marty didn’t like the idea of giving up control over any situation. But now, Lucas felt the need to speak up with a bit of humor.

“You know, you’re right,” he began. “He’s been in the desert way too long...probably a bit sleep-deprived, too. Give us a few minutes.” He took Marty by the arm and walked him back to the stern of the boat.

“What are you doing?” Marty asked. “Just come here a second,” Lucas replied. Marty gave in and followed him to the stern. “Are you nuts?!” Lucas asked. “Look around. Would you rather go back on the road or live on a yacht with her? Now, if you want to go, that’s fine. I’ll stay here with Julie and you can go to the Adirondacks. Or, you can stay here, and we can take the boat up the coast. Now, you want to go someplace where you can be left alone, right? I don’t quite get that and considering what’s happened, how much more isolated can you get than being on a boat? And it’s not like we’re in a hurry, right?”

Everything Lucas said made complete sense and Marty was forced to ask himself why he would continue in the van when he could take it easy for a few days on a yacht.

“Besides,” Lucas continued. “I know that you were in Iraq, but do you really want to go out there alone?”

“I get it,” Marty replied. “And you’re right, this is a really nice boat.”

He leaned in toward him and whispered, “Yeah, the boat’s nice, too.”

Lucas turned Marty by the shoulder as they walked back toward Julie.

“So, what’s the story?” she asked. “Well,” Lucas began. “I guess we’re all one big happy family, now.”

Marty remained silent. It wasn’t that he was angry; he’d simply found himself outside his comfort zone. He had always been a ‘take charge’ person. Now, he started to feel as though he had to share ‘command’ with Julie, who also seemed to be of the same mind. It hadn’t occurred to him yet, but Marty would have to learn the skill of compromise.

“So, you two have a seat and get acquainted,” Lucas said. “There’s a bed back here calling me.”

Lucas turned and walked to the stern, disappearing into the bedroom.

“And play nice!”

It was immediately obvious to him that Marty and Julie were both strong-willed people, accustomed to making critical decisions. He would not place himself in the position of referee when they were both capable of working together. And with their survival at stake, they would have to find a way of using their own unique skills without letting their egos get in the way. Marty motioned her to the dining table. If they were going to travel together, he knew that he needed to earn her respect. They sat down across from one another in a tense initial moment, as each fumbled for words. Between the three of them, they hadn’t seen another human being in nearly a week. While Marty and Lucas had spent that time making their escape, Julie had been trying to avoid being taken into protective custody by the military. Spending most of her time hiding in the attic of the hospital’s administrative wing alone. Julie was the first to speak.

“I think we already have a problem,” she said. “Yeah,” Marty replied.

“We’re both used to being in charge,” she continued. As she spoke, Marty suddenly saw her, not as someone who was competing for control, but as a woman. In only a matter of a few breathless moments, Marty absorbed everything he saw about her. Her brown wavy hair dropped to the middle of her back. Near the right corner of her mouth was a small, tan-colored mole.

She wore a pair of plain black glasses one might have seen during the Kennedy era. Again, the faint odor of shampoo wafted towards him, and he felt himself becoming flushed.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

Marty quickly regained his composure, focused his attention on the conversation, with Lucas’ words ringing in his head. ‘Play nice’.

“It’s been a long week,” he replied. Unable to fight his body’s response, he broke out in a sudden sweat. Julie quickly rose to her feet and leaning over the table, putting a hand on Marty’s forehead.

“You don’t feel feverish,” she said. Her reaction didn’t help. As Julie leaned over the table, Marty readily noticed that her attire was missing one item. Beneath the v neck t-shirt she wore, her breasts revealed themselves. Completely exposing the small amount of space between them. He tried to be civilized and didn’t want her to think he was gawking. Yet, the nurse in her seemed to be ignoring the fact that she had allowed Marty a clear view of her Romanesque physique. Now, Marty would have to deal with another kind of tension and even though he would not reveal this to her, Julie would eventually sense it. Perhaps sooner, rather than later.