Saga Two: Barrier Islands
Chapter 25: OBX
They were out in the sea for about six weeks before the fresh water ran out, food was running low as well. There were too many of them for the rations they had. It was as simple as that. They needed to dock and resupply soon. Unknown to the rest of the group, Marcus, Samuel, and Atticus had been searching for the coast for a week now. Somehow they got turned around out in the Atlantic. It might have been in the thunderstorm, when one of the sails was torn during a lightning bolt strike on the stern. Since then, they had patched the sail up, but it quickly appeared to them that the Lobster House Yacht was not really meant for long-term voyages.
It was getting late. Atticus had given up, along with Samuel, each hitting their own breaking point during the day. It was quite humorous to Annie, who was always frequenting “the three captains” as she affectionately called them, how one had to outlast the other. And now all that was left was Marcus. Annie jumped off the counter from her usually legs-dangling position, and walked over to Marcus who was steering.
“Why is it that men can never admit when they’re lost? I mean tell me that isn’t one of the oldest clichés in the book,” Annie teased.
“We’re definitely lost.” Marcus blatantly contradicted her.
“Wow. Have to admit I didn’t see that coming.”
“Can you help me?” Marcus showed through a little.
But Annie was still buying it, “Just head west.”
“It’s so hard to turn the sails. The compass is broken. We lost west, along with east, south, and north.”
“Well right now you have west, just steer towards the setting sun. If you want I can take over, maybe-”
“I think that would be best.” Marcus backed up and gestured politely towards his spot behind the wheel.
“Wow, this is… vintage,” Annie commented.
Marcus excused himself and met with Samuel and Atticus waiting on the deck outside. “She finally worked up the courage to ask, guys." He whispered. "We did it!”
Samuel high-fived Marcus as he returned to the bridge. Atticus sighed, “I can’t believe she bought the fact that none of us knew the sun sets in the west.”
“It doesn’t matter how, what matters is we have someone who knows what they’re doing behind the wheel.”
The yacht regained a straight course, something “the three captains” could not do, and it was due west. They were bound to hit land sooner or later, unless they somehow circumvented the entire North American continent in less than two months.
Storm clouds rushed in and rushed out without breaking, but the high winds did kick up the waves. More and more the yacht rocked back and forth, nearly flipping upside-down. The bowels of the ship moaned and cracked with the pressure. But the storm clouds moved by so quickly that just as the worst was upon them it settled within minutes. And on the last towering wave they were nearly capsized. Annie took the wave head on, but was now turning in to ride the cusp.
The yacht was leaking everywhere and taking on water as it was trying not to get rolled over. Finally, Annie drove the yacht over the wave and there just ahead of them was nothing but calm waters. Chambers climbed the biggest sail and looked out under the sun.
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“LAND HO!” He called out with his hands cupping and projecting his yell.
Samuel ran in and told Marcus and Annie that they could see land. The two finished the journey by bringing the creaking Cape May Lobster House yacht to what looked like a mile long island. They drove the ship straight up onto the sand. It looked like a public beach, or state park, there was nothing really around anywhere. Chambers and Quinn got off the boat first and were climbing the dunes when everyone else was on the beach.
“Where do you think we are?”
“Could be Virginia Beach, could be the Bahamas…”
“Yeah right, just look at the water. I think it’s North Carolina, you know the Outer Banks.”
“I don’t really know North Carolina,” Chambers admitted.
“Where are you from anyways?” Quinn stopped.
A woman holding a basket was ahead of them, putting laundry out on a clothesline in what looked like her backyard. At first glance of the two of them she dropped the basket and didn't run away but ran towards them.
“Oh my God!” She screamed waving her hands.
“Would you look at that…” Chambers laughed.
“Are ya’ll refugees?” the girl said as she approached. She reached the top of the dune and looked out at the rest of them and their yacht. “My lord, look at you! Where'd ya’ll come from?”
“All over really, but mostly New York…”
“Welcome to Kitty Hawk, I’m Dakota Haynes.”
“Where?” Chambers was confused.
“I told you… North Carolina,” Quinn was so proud of being right, and eagerly anticipated everyone to catch up to them. Once they did, they all introduced themselves to Dakota and Quinn made sure they all knew where they were, and how she was right. “You know… the Outer Banks.”
“Actually,” Dakota interrupted, “Now we call it the OBX Safe Zone.”
“How much of the island do you have quarantined?” Atticus asked her.
“The bridges have all been destroyed; there is not one zombie in the entire Outer Banks.”
The girls were amazed; they gasped and found it too good to be true. But Dakota, who was a native herself, reassured them, “This is a sanctuary.”
Later, inside her house, she explained to them, “Early on, we saw the news of what was happening in the mainland. People were telling us to evacuate, but Jimmy wasn't buying it. Then we heard from our family members that the mainlanders were being told to flee here. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was the most important decision of our lives. No one truly knew for certain what to do. Many of us chose to stay, my husband and I were among them. When the horde finally tried to come over the bridge he was the one- He was- He volunteered to go and… stop them.”
“He blew up the bridge?” Samuel inferred.
“And he wasn't alone. It cost them their lives…to keep us all safe,” Dakota was crying softly but smiling, “And now three towns have been repopulated: Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head. Oh yeah and Cape Hatteras has just been cleared and is operating as a military airport. A general in a submarine arrived about a week ago and took volunteers to the cape to retake it. They told us nobody died in the fight. I try to believe that, but we still haven't heard a word from the cape.”
Atticus looked over at Samuel and Rebecca. No way. It was impossible. They were letting their paranoia get the best of them. There was no way it could be General Saarsgard. Atticus looked back over at Dakota, who was racking her mind to tell them everything she could.
“Thank you, Dakota, for everything,” Samuel built up to it, “But can I ask you for one more favor?”
“Depends… Is the favor a ride into town?”
Samuel looked down as if he was expecting her to say no.
“Of course, I have a pick-up truck that can fit all ya’ll.”