Jolly chuckled. “I would have gone bigger.”

  “I didn’t need it. And I needed a place where they didn’t run a check on me.”

  “Wait. What? They didn’t do a background check or credit?”

  Leah shook her head. “I tipped the super five hundred.”

  “Man, that sucks. Imagine what lives in our building if they can be bribed.” He exhaled, then looked down at Marni. “Guess it doesn’t matter now.”

  “All that matters is that we’re alive and safe.”

  “No thanks to me,” Jolly said. “My dad and that lifeboat saved us.”

  “He must have, like, a sixth sense or something.”

  “Right?” Jolly smiled.

  “You know what else really surprised me?” Leah waited for him to look at her. “Your mom still had her spice purse.”

  “Who would have thought tuna out of a can could taste so good?”

  From across the room his mother said softly, “It will as long as I have my spices.”

  There was a quiet moment, and Leah glanced at Jolly. “What now?’

  “How did I know you were going to ask that?”

  “Well, we’re going to head out in the morning, follow your father’s wristwatch compass, and hope to find the airport. It would be nice to know what we are going to do it it’s not there. Or Johnnie.”

  “Oh, no, Johnnie is a very good man,” said Bette. “I think if are not there soon, he’ll come looking.”

  “Probably,” Jolly said. “Johnnie is there, our supplies, the boat. We have more people, yeah, but we’ll make it work. Out there somewhere will be a place to go. We just need to find it. I mean, the whole country can’t be under water.”

  “It happened once.” Leah shrugged. “Noah, remember?”

  “Yeah, I can see now how he became a drunk. I mean, this is crazy stressful, and to have people relying on you for answers that you just can’t give.” Jolly sighed. “I wish I had more to give them than just my word. Something that would be concrete that proves there’s something beyond a drowned world.”

  “A light.”

  “A light?” Jolly asked. “Sure, seeing a light might help.”

  “No, Jolly, look.” Leah stood. “A light. Right here. In the distance. Two of them. One brighter, the other below it.”

  Jolly slid Marni from his lap and stood as well so he could see them in them in the distance across the vast black of the water. “It’s not the stars reflecting?”

  “No, because the lower one is blinking. Like …” Leah looked down, “…like they see this.” She lifted the lantern.

  “No way.”

  Leah took the lantern and opened the French door, stepping out to the small balcony.

  Jolly followed.

  She held up the lantern, turned it off and on three times.

  Within a few seconds, the lower light went off. Then after a beat, it blinked three times.

  Leah shrieked in excitement. “Someone is out there! They have to be somewhere safe.”

  Bette stepped out, joining Jolly and Leah. “Could that be Johnnie?”

  “It could be,” Jolly said. “It could be someone needing help. But I know it means one thing for sure, this world hasn’t beaten us yet. We’re all still fighting.”

  He looked back at the light in the distance. There was a chance it was Johnnie. After all, it was in the right direction. Come morning, they’d follow the direction of the light. It was a destination, and with everyone feeling so lost and defeated, a direction was like hope. Even a small light was better than none.

  THIRTY-ONE – GROUNDED

  It had been twenty-four hours since the final slam of destruction and Johnnie hadn’t heard from Jolly. Then again, Gigi brought up that if they were caught in it, Jolly either didn’t have the radio or it was damaged.

  Johnnie wanted to leave at first light, go out on the boat and look for them. After all, it was in position and ready to launch.

  “In situations like this,” Gigi told him, “people don’t find each other because they’re both out looking. Stay put, Jolly will find us.”

  Their certainty lessened with each passing hour, especially since three people followed the light and arrived at the airport.

  Gigi welcomed them, got them warm, gave them water, and fed them. All following the ration chart.

  If they had more area on that airport hilltop, making it a homestead would be an option. But the water’s edge was too close and with one good rain, like an island at sea, they could disappear.

  “Anyone out there?”

  Johnnie couldn’t believe how many times he repeated the words, calling out and getting no reply. He sat at the radio table on the boat, a map of the US taped to it for him to mark. When he first started trying to get info, he envisioned making that map. Flooded, not flooded, destroyed.

  Whatever the disaster, he’d put it on the map and figure they were good to go.

  That was still a possibility if he could get a response. Did no one have a radio or access to police radios? Were there no emergency workers?

  There was still a chance he could get someone, so Johnnie kept trying. The last thing he wanted to do was have nothing when Jolly showed up

  Something must have happened since Johnnie had tried a few hours before. Like the universe showed the light to people, all of a sudden he was getting replies.

  There was one woman in particular who caught Johnnie’s attention. Unlike some of the others, she was calm and rational. Her name was Ina.

  She, her husband, children, and mother were on their way back home to Tennessee when the New Madrid quake hit. Now they were in a refugee camp outside of St Louis.

  “I thought I had it planned out,” Ina told him. “I had everything at our house. Then my mom took ill and we went to get her. We beat the earthquakes and I thought for sure we’d beat the wave. I just didn’t expect it to happen so fast.”

  “You sound like my friend Jolly. He was following this site that predicted it all.”

  “Watcher?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Me too,” Ina said. “When the big one hit the West Coast I knew it was time to leave. If you’re on the East Coast, Johnnie, how did you survive the flood?”

  “Jolly had us at the right place, only he hasn’t made it here yet.”

  “Isn’t that the biggest load of crap? Those of us who prepped and were ready were caught in a situation we weren’t ready for. I hope your friend makes it to you because I’ll never get back to my home.”

  “How far is the divide?” Johnnie asked, pulling forward the map.

  “About a tenth of a mile. Not wide, but the problem is—and you’ll have to face it if you leave—is the waterfall.”

  “Waterfall?” Johnnie questioned. “What waterfall?”

  “The one that used to be the New Madrid fault line,” Ina replied. “No water will be receding, it’s recycling. The wave rolled right up to the new divide, flows in like Niagara, carries down like a river for as far as we can see. My guess it’s going back to the gulf and coming back in somehow. It’ll be long after our time before the east sees dry land.”

  “Well that’s not good.

  “Ya think?”

  “Thanks, Ina. I appreciate the info.”

  “I’ll keep you posted of any new information and you do the same.”

  “Will do.”

  Johnnie ended the radio call and started to switch channels when Gigi hollered for him.

  The call didn’t sound frantic but it did sound urgent. He set down the radio microphone and made his way to the deck. Gigi was below and looking up.

  “What’s wrong?” Johnnie asked.

  “Nothing,” Gigi replied. “It’s nothing short of a miracle.”

  “What is?”

  “There’s another boat headed this way,” Gigi said. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s Jolly.”

  THIRTY-TWO – THREE DAYS AFTER IMPACT

  Jolly stared at a ballpoint pen as if it were some sort of mysterious artifact. He jotted down the new mathematics of the rations. He had fed Marni and had gotten her ready to go, life jacket and all. It had been two days since they arrived, and Johnnie had the boat ready. What Jolly wasn’t expecting, however, was all the people who showed up. There were supposed to be eight on his boat and now there were close to twenty.

  He couldn’t leave them behind.

  To say he was scarred from it all was an understatement, and he was certain the Bible left a few things out about how Noah handled things. Again, he thought it was no wonder Noah turned to the bottle.

  The wave was bad enough, unexpected and violent. It was a horrendous blip on his mind, secondary to what came after. Being surrounded by water, desperate to find his child even if that desperation didn’t last long, stuck in a water world with no landmarks to place, with bodies and debris everywhere. It was hard to imagine that things would look beautiful again.

  It was nothing short of a miracle that he found his father and almost everyone had survived. Earl was the one person unaccounted for. He still trembled when he thought back to it all. However, now it was onward. It was time to try to find a place to settle, or at least dry land to stop.

  The boat was at the edge of the water on the ramp and those joining Jolly made camp in the grounds of the airport. They had a few things to handle and then they’d set sail... on what used to be dry land.

  Leah had one cabinet on the boat. It was located in the small galley and she played Tetris with her items to get them all to fit. Most of the food was below in storage, and Gil and Johnnie’s wife handled that.

  The boat was going to be crowded. It was only meant to hold ten, so it was a horrendously cramped vessel.

  Leah thought about whether to put the lock on like Gil suggested.

  Bette snuck up behind her. “Better to be safe than sorry.”

  Leah didn’t expect it and it startled her.

  “I am a very trusting person,” Bette said. “I know it doesn’t seem like it but I am. This is a safe move. Some of these people we don’t know.”

  “Yeah, I know. But it saddens me that this is all we have. Who knows how long we’ll be out in the water? Half the country is submerged.”

  “And the other half is not.” Bette placed her hand over Leah’s. “We just have to make it there. In the meantime, we need to keep Gigi away from the food.”

  Leah chuckled. “Why?”

  As if it was a big secret, Bette leaned closer to Leah and whispered. “She serves the rations as they are.”

  “Okay.”

  “She doesn’t dress them or spice them.”

  “Should she?” Leah asked.

  “Yes.” Bette nodded emphatically. “Yes! Things are stressful. A meal should taste good to take one’s mind off their troubles.”

  “You’re funny.”

  “I’m serious. And I promise you even if we only have enough for an amuse-bouche serving. It will taste good.”

  “Will it come to that?” Leah asked. “Where we are starving?”

  “No. Absolutely not. If my Jolly saw this coming and prepared, I am positive more powerful people prepared too.”

  “You think?”

  Bette nodded assuredly. “I’m positive. How can they not?”

  It was a small office area right by the ship’s control where Johnnie had the radio and everything set up.

  According to Gigi, Johnnie was charting a course because he didn’t want to go aimlessly out there. Jolly wondered how one chartered a course in unchartered waters.

  When he stepped into the small office area, his father was sitting on a little folding chair watching Johnnie’s every move. Johnnie looked focused.

  Jolly tapped on the open archway and Johnnie looked up. “If you’re wondering when we’re leaving, I’m almost there,” he said.

  Jolly looked down at the open map and the markings Johnnie made all over it. Green and red X marks, not to mention the big black line nearly center of the continental US.

  “What are these green marks?” he asked.

  “Possible safe spots,” Johnnie replied. “High altitude, possible large areas of dry land.”

  “And the red?”

  “Confirmed do not go places. Debris. Lots of buildings. Whatever way we go we have to take it slow. We have to conserve fuel and be careful of hitting things.”

  Gil father spoke up. “Ask him about the west.”

  “What about the west?” Jolly asked.

  “Ideally, it’s the place to go. Not California and up the West Coast. New Mexico, northern Texas, and parts of Missouri weren’t hit at all. This is all information from Ina.”

  “Who’s Ina?”

  Gil tilted his head toward Johnnie. “His new friend. She’s more in it than you.”

  “But like you,” Johnnie said, “she wasn’t where she wanted to be when things went bad. She was on Watcher as well. She’s been manning a radio at a refugee camp on the other side of the New Madrid fault.”

  “Here.” Jolly tapped the map. “The black line.”

  “Yeah, that’s sort of the Madrid Faultline but more like the Great Madrid falls now. Apparently, such a huge divide opened up that the flood is just pouring over, running like a new river into the gulf and starting over.”

  “Bet it’s spectacular,” said Gil. “I always loved Niagara Falls.”

  Jolly gave a side glance to his father. “So at this point,” he said, “everything is going to remain flooded.”

  Johnnie shrugged. “Hard to say. It’s a new world. My guess is the space station probably has a kick butt view. The mountains in the Eastern half probably look like islands.”

  Jolly turned his head toward his father when he heard humming. “Dad, I don’t think I ever heard you hum. Is that … ‘Islands in the Stream’?”

  “Yep.” Gil nodded. “Just pops into my mind every time Johnnie mentions islands. Good song.”

  “Um, yeah.” Jolly shook his head and looked at Johnnie. “So theoretically we should avoid the black line area.”

  “Yeah.” Johnnie nodded. “That would be bad.”

  “So where do we go?”

  “Well, logically we should head to Tennessee, according to Ina,” Johnnie said.

  “Why do I think there’s a ‘but’ in there?”

  Johnnie sighed. “There is. While it’s our shortest option, I don’t think it’s a long-term plan. We need to find dry land.”

  “And it’s not a myth,” Gil added.

  “Huh?”

  Johnnie clarified. “It’s a Water World reference. Anyhow, I think we should go south. If all this water is flowing there, we can get around the Madrid falls by making our way to the gulf and coming up to wherever Texas isn’t flooded. Should be a new coast, but safe.”

  “How long would that take?” Jolly asked.

  Two weeks, tops. We have the supplies. You had six months’ rations for eight people. Now you have two and a half months for twenty. It’s plenty but…”

  “Another but.” Jolly swallowed.

  “But if nothing’s there then we’re screwed. Short on supplies and leading people nowhere.”

  Gil cleared his throat and raised his hand. “If I may?”

  Johnnie smiled. “It’s funny how you said your father doesn’t talk, Jolly.”

  “He doesn’t.”

  Johnnie laughed. “Really? Because he hasn’t stopped talking. What did you want to say, Gil?”

  “Well, the way I hear you guys talk, we have a washed up wild world out there with mountains that are like islands in the stream. I say that’s the negative approach. Look at it as a whole new world out there.”

  “Did you just … reference three songs?” Jolly asked.

  “I did. It’s a whole new world. How can you lead people nowhere when everything is different? Columbus didn’t shy away from a voyage when he thought the world was flat. We’re new explorers. You’re captain of the ship, Johnnie. You’re not leading people nowhere. Wherever we go is somewhere.”

  Jolly was surprised and impressed with the philosophical, talkative, post-apocalyptic version of his dad. And his father was right, everywhere was somewhere. Besides, what choice did they have? They had to go onward and outward.

  More than that they realized they had to go with the flow, literally. Jolly prayed that it flowed them in a good direction. Everything old was now new and unknown.

  One thing he was confident about was that they eventually would arrive at good place and it wouldn’t take that long.

  THRITY-THREE - TORN

  “Captain’s Log 29 – August 26…”

  When Jolly spotted Johnnie’s journal in the control room, he thought it was a joke or Star Trek reference, but it wasn’t. After flipping through a few pages, he saw that Johnnie took his job as captain very seriously.

  While Johnnie had been keeping a journal since the beginning, Jolly never christened him as a captain. Gil did, and that was the smartest move. It was evident by the entries that Johnnie didn’t consider himself the captain. Jolly went back to the first ten entries and added the word “Captain,”

  Johnnie was solid. His decisions were good ones.

  “Captain’s Log 29 – August 26…”

  That was the last entry, the current day, nothing was written.

  He flipped to the beginning.

  “Captain’s Log 1 – July 29”

  And so it begins. We arrived and prepped the boat immediately. The storm is still harsh, and the wave will be arriving soon. Made contact with a woman in Maine named Eliza. Her location gives her a front row seat to it all. I suppose she’ll be evacuating soon.

  Waiting for Jolly.

  JM

  ‘We’re ready,” Johnnie walked into the control room. “Are you?”

  Jolly stood. “Yep.”

  “Are you reading my entries?”

  “I was going to. Is that okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ll read them later.” Jolly took a step to leave and noticed it had started snowing. “Shit. Snow in August, and we’re really south.”

  “The water is still warm,” Johnnie said. “The snow just started. However, not sure how much longer that would be, so make this a good one.”

 

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