Apocalyptic pirates 3, p.3
Apocalyptic Pirates 3, page 3
It was survival of the fittest, and while I mourned for the way life used to be, I sort of liked the idea of a simple life on an island with my family. We’d grow our own food, raise our own meat, and sit around the fire at night talking about our day.
Honestly, what could be better?
“It looks like the islands aren’t so bad down this way,” Letty noted as she pointed out the window.
“Oh, you’re right,” Ally agreed as she stood up to get a better look. “I see a few small islands, but these ones are much better off than Key Largo.”
“Definitely,” I said, and I thought about that hospital I’d looked up earlier. “Maybe the fire couldn’t jump the water quite that far.”
“I guess not,” Shannon said.
“We should check it out with the drone,” I said. “I looked up that hospital my mom told us about, and it’s not too far from where we are now. If it’s in good shape I think we should try and make a trip to shore.”
“Really?” Ally asked, and her red eyebrows pinched together with concern. “Isn’t that dangerous? There’s got to be dragons around.”
“We’ll check it out with the drone first,” I reiterated. “But if we have a chance to get medical supplies, we need to take it.”
“He’s right,” Shannon said. “There’s no way we can pass that up if the opportunity arises. I mean, there’s probably a handful of hospitals left in the world. If we see one, we’ve got to raid it.”
“Yeah, I see your point.” Ally nodded. “I just know it’s going to be dangerous.”
“Don’t worry,” Shannon said. “Drew and I can handle it.”
Just then, a dragon screeched in the distance.
“Well, that’s reassuring,” Ally said dryly.
“We saw some hanging around the perimeter of the islands,” I explained. “But they clearly couldn’t fly far enough to get to the next one, and there’s nowhere else for them to go.”
“Yeah, they’ll either get swallowed by the flames eventually, try their hand at swimming, or die of starvation.” Shannon shrugged.
“And if there are dragons on the island you need to get onto?” Ally pushed with a raised eyebrow.
“Then we’ll do our best to avoid them,” I said. “And kill them if we have to.”
“Alright.” Ally nodded. “Should I pull us closer to the islands?”
“Not just yet,” I said as I reached under the bench and pulled out the drone we’d recently got in a trade. “Let me see what’s over there first.”
“Good idea,” the redhead agreed.
We all filed back out on deck, and I quickly checked the drone’s battery and got it ready to fly. It was a bit nerve-wracking taking it over such a large area of water, but it was a quick little thing, and I’d become fairly proficient just in the couple of times I’d flown it.
“Easy now,” I murmured as I lifted the drone off the ground.
The small machine whirred up into the air, and I watched the view from its video feed as I flew it across the ocean and over toward the island.
Pieces of meteors and dragon carcasses littered the water, along with a few other human indicators like torn up boats, soda cans, and clothing.
It seemed the dragons had gotten to at least a few people before the islands had gone up in flames. The idea of dragons eating people made me wrinkle my nose as I recalled the first time I’d witnessed it happen. The dragon had stopped traffic, ripped some guy’s head off, and swallowed his body whole. It was a sight I didn’t think I’d ever recover from.
Still, I pulled my head back into the game and focused on the task at hand.
I flew the drone past Boot Key and over to Marathon, where the fisherman’s hospital was, or at least that’s what I thought that part of the island was called. The map of The Keys wasn’t entirely clear on where one part ended and another began.
Oddly enough, this part of the island wasn’t quite as bad as The Keys we’d just passed. There were a few fires here and there, but the whole island wasn’t in flames, so that was a win.
Still, there were definitely more than a few dragons around.
I made sure to keep the drone up and away from them, but as I rounded the marina, I noticed something strange.
“Huh.” I squinted and leaned in to get a better look.
“What?” Letty asked. “What is it?”
“There’s something weird here,” I noted. “When I looked up the hospital earlier, I noticed there’s a huge bridge connecting some of the islands.”
“Seven Mile Bridge,” Ally chimed in.
“Right,” I agreed. “But… it’s not there. I mean, it is, but it’s not. Look.”
“A meteorite probably hit it.” The redhead shrugged.
“No.” I shook my head and pushed the camera toward the women. “Really look at it. If it was knocked down from a meteorite hitting it, then it would be destroyed, like a giant hole, not straight across like that.”
“What are you saying?” Shannon’s dark eyebrows pulled together as she eyed me carefully.
“I don’t think that bridge was taken out by a meteorite,” I explained. “I think someone blew it.”
“Blew it?” Ally asked. “You mean, like a demolition?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I think so.”
“You think people did it,” Shannon clarified.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“But that would mean…” Letty started, and I nodded for her to continue. “There are people nearby.”
“They blew the bridge so the dragons couldn’t follow them.” Ally’s green eyes widened to saucers.
“Exactly,” I agreed. “There are survivors around here somewhere.”
Chapter 3
The women were all quiet for a moment as the gravity of what I said sank in.
These weren’t just people surviving on a boat, these people had to be on land somewhere, otherwise they wouldn’t have needed to blow the bridge.
It was the first time we’d really seen someone surviving on land aside from when we picked up Letty, and I’d barely call what they were doing surviving. But the people who’d blown this bridge had a plan. They knew what they were doing to some extent, and that made them both intriguing and dangerous.
“Well, if there are survivors over there, then where are they?” Ally asked, and she pointed to the drone. “Could that have happened when this all started?”
“Or maybe even before the meteorites hit?” Letty pushed. “They could have seen it on the news and taken action, right?”
“People aren’t that quick with these sorts of things,” Shannon said. “They’re smart sometimes, but they also usually have a fear of getting in trouble. That bridge wasn’t blown until they knew there were no other options and nobody was coming for them.”
“She’s right,” I agreed. “They were probably overrun before they even thought to blow it.”
“I suppose I can understand that,” Ally said. “I would probably feel the same. Can you find them?”
“Maybe,” I said. “But let’s find the hospital first.”
“Yeah, I doubt they’re going anywhere,” Shannon said. “But we also don’t know whether or not they’re friendly, so we should focus on the mission before we focus on finding them.”
“Of course.” Ally nodded. “I see what you’re saying.”
“Let’s find that hospital,” I said, and I navigated the drone through the marina and over the island.
There were hardly any boats in the marina, which wasn’t surprising. But what was interesting was that I only saw one or two cars as I flew over the city. Either everyone had taken them over the bridge before they blew it, or there weren’t that many cars to begin with. And having those two as options made me think it was probably the former.
Most of the houses appeared to be intact, and from what I could see, there hadn’t been much looting. I guessed that the people here had probably banded together to try and figure out a way to get the hell out of there. At that moment it wouldn’t matter who liked or didn’t like who, all that mattered was the dragons running around eating people.
I’d be inclined to help out my shitty neighbor in that situation, too.
There were still a few dragons here and there along the perimeter of the island. Most of them were fairly large, about as long as a school bus and half as wide, but there were a few smaller ones and some extra-large ones as well. They looked like a giant rainbow of color along the shoreline, as they huddled together. All of them were situated on the beaches to maintain their distance from the few random fires that still burned on the island, but they made sure to stay far enough away from the water that they wouldn’t get caught in the tide.
Still, they looked sort of lethargic. Most of them just laid there as I flew by, and I wondered if they’d already started to starve.
They didn’t pay the drone much attention, but I doubted the same could be said about us. We’d need to be extremely careful once we got on the island.
Finally, I found a building that looked like it could be the hospital, so I circled around it until I found a large sign on the side. It was half-broken off, but it was there, and it said this was the place I was looking for.
Some of the windows were busted out, and there was garbage and burned chunks of buildings scattered around, but for the most part the place looked intact. There was a small chunk missing from the very top floor, but I didn’t think that was too big of a deal if all we were doing was looking for supplies.
I was no contractor, but I didn’t think it was going to cave in at a moment’s notice, and that was good enough for me.
“It looks to be in good shape,” I said as the women crowded around me to get a better view.
“Oh, yeah.” Shannon nodded. “We can definitely find some stuff in there.”
“There’s busted windows,” Ally noted. “How do you know it hasn’t been picked clean?”
“There may have been some raiders,” I admitted. “But I doubt it’s been picked clean. There’s probably a dozen supply closets in that place, and I doubt somebody took them all, not with the state of the island.”
“What do you mean?” the redhead pushed.
“I think he’s saying that whatever was done was done as soon as the meteorites hit,” Letty explained. “It doesn’t look like there’s anybody around or anything, so people probably panicked, took what they could grab, and got in their boats to flee.”
“That would be my guess.” I nodded. “I’m sure ninety percent of the people who live here have boats.”
“Or at least had them,” Shannon muttered.
“Right,” I said. “I did see some pieces in the water.”
“Yeah, probably not a good sign for them,” the dark-haired woman chuckled.
“Probably not,” I agreed, and I continued to fly around the hospital. “But I think I may be able to figure out if it’s worth the risk or not.”
“How so?” Ally asked.
“I’m going to go inside and see if I can find a supply closet,” I explained. “It’s a bit of a risk since it’s an enclosed space, so I’ll have to be extra careful, but this way we’ll know for sure if it’s worth it to go in.”
“Good idea,” the redhead said.
I flew the drone right up close to the front and found an open window to go through.
“Alright, nobody touch me,” I chuckled breathlessly. “I’ve got to be careful in here.”
“Let’s all just take a step back,” Shannon advised, and she ushered Letty and Ally over to the deck railing so I could work in peace.
I sat cross-legged on the deck and held the remote in my lap so it was even steadier, and then I flew the drone inside the broken window of the hospital as carefully as I could manage.
It went through easily, and I slowly and surely navigated the hallway, even with the random gurneys and various medical supplies that had been left out. It looked like the hospital had been abandoned in a hurry. There wasn’t much garbage or things that seemed to have been thrown around, it all just looked like it had been left where it was. Like a family dinner that was set out but then abandoned.
I made my way down the hallway and turned the camera this way and that so I could see the various rooms. But what I was really looking for was a supply closet of some sort.
I kept going down the hallway until I got to the front desk, and then I scanned the area around it. The double doors leading back into the main part of the hospital were open, so I went through them, and after a few more minutes of searching, I found an open closet with shelves full of bottles, vials, and IV bags.
It was open, which told me that somebody had definitely been there, but as I flew the drone inside, I noticed that there were only a few things missing. My guess was somebody had come in, grabbed what they could fit in their bag, and left.
The entire hospital had probably been evacuated all at once, and some of the nurses must have stopped to grab what supplies they could. But with dragons lurking in the distance, I couldn’t blame them for leaving so much behind.
Besides, that made this mission worthwhile. The supply room was well stocked even though a few bottles and vials were clearly missing. I didn’t know what half of the stuff was, but I knew it was valuable. Everybody had conditions, or could develop them. Whatever medication was there, it was a trading tool above all else.
Still, I knew Ally was hesitant, so I flew the drone out of the first supply closet, and then found the stairwell to make my way up to the next floor. I figured there had to be a supply closet up there as well, so I navigated my way up and around until I found the front desk on the floor. Then I searched around nearby until I found the next supply closet. The door wasn’t open wide enough for me to get through, but I gently pushed the drone up against it to see if I could get it open. The door couldn’t have been that heavy because the drone managed to squeeze inside, and there I found yet another nearly full supply closet.
There were more IV bags, pill bottles, syringes, alcohol, peroxide, and anything else one could think of that would be in a hospital. Hell, there were even some blankets and sheets on the lower shelves.
Once I found the second supply closet, I knew that even if there weren’t more on the other floors the mission was worth it for just the two that I had found. There were enough supplies in there to get us through a decade or so if it was just us using them, and the trading possibilities were pretty much endless.
Shannon had some medical knowledge, too, so I figured she may be able to tell us what some of the medication was for. But even if she couldn’t, I guessed that there would be some sort of index, or a pocket medical dictionary in the hospital, maybe at the front desk or in the back of the supply closet.
“Hey,” I called to the women. “Come take a look at this.”
“What is it?” Shannon asked.
“I found two supply closets so far,” I said, and I nodded down to the screen in my lap.
“Two?” Ally asked, and her red eyebrows pinched together. “Was there anything in them?”
“You tell me,” I chuckled.
The three women gathered around, and Ally gasped loudly as I spun the drone in a slow three-sixty so they could see the supply closet.
“Wow,” Letty breathed. “That’s a lot more stuff than I was imagining.”
“That’s definitely worth a trip inland,” Shannon said with a serious look.
“I thought so as well.” I nodded.
“The other one was just as stocked?” Ally asked.
“Yes,” I agreed. “And these are only the first two floors, I bet there are more on the other floors as well.”
“Jesus,” she murmured and shook her head. “I think you do have to go.”
“I know.” I smiled at the redhead.
“Now, how are we going to get you there?” Letty asked.
“Let me take a look around the area,” I said as I navigated the drone out of the supply closet and back down the hallway.
I flew it back down the stairwell and out the window I’d come through, and then I lifted it up higher into the air so we got an aerial view of the surrounding area.
“Looks like the marina is only about one thousand feet away from the hospital,” I said.
“I’m sure that’s intentional,” Shannon added. “If the fishermen are bringing their injured people to this hospital, then they’d need to be able to get to it quickly.”
“Of course,” I agreed. “But that helps us as well.”
“It doesn’t look like there’s many boats in the marina at the moment, either,” Ally said.
“No,” I said. “A few broken ones, and some pieces here and there, but that’s about it. We should be able to make our way over there, and you and Letty can stay with the yacht while Shannon and I sneak into the hospital.”
“And the dragons that are on the beaches?” The redhead asked.
“They barely seemed to notice the drone as it flew over them,” I noted. “My guess is they’re already pretty lethargic from not eating for a while. I think if we’re quiet enough, they won’t even notice us.”
“Okay,” Ally said. “So I pull the yacht over there, you two hop out and go into the hospital. How long do you think it will take you?”
“We can work quickly,” Shannon offered. “But we’ll still need at least forty-five minutes.”
“I think that’s about right,” I agreed. “Especially if we’re going to be thorough and search as many floors as we can.”
“How many floors does it have?” Letty asked.
“It looks fairly tall,” I said. “But it can’t be more than twenty. We’ll be as quick as we possibly can, and we’re not going to be picky. We’ll bring the suitcases and just load all of the supplies that we find into them.”
“That’s gonna be enough medical supplies to last a lifetime,” Ally said with a shake of her head.
“That’s kind of the point.” I nodded. “There’s no telling when we may get an opportunity like this again, or if we ever will.”
