She was part of a pack.
Kansas City, MO
Haley was already in the water, treading to stay next to the pontoons and hiding from the lights and shooters at the asteroid fragment. Left with no choice, Butch put on his bravest face and threw himself over the edge of Susan’s Grace. After a brief but intensely uncoordinated arm thrashing, Butch let himself settle into Haley’s grip. “Just kick your feet, okay?” she said calmly.
“I’ll try,” he replied, spitting out water.
The boat was listing to the right, making it harder to climb out the left side. Ezra secured the guns, and his backpack, but he ditched all the hard-earned treasure they’d gotten from Bass Pro. He lamented they hadn’t even been able to properly use the expensive camp tents before losing them.
He slipped into the water, not far behind Butch.
“Paddle!” he insisted.
The current was relaxed on the lake, but it was flowing a little. They used the boat to shield them from the workers, which required them to swim faster before the boat got too far away. Thankfully, most of the shooting had stopped, probably because it was clear the boat was out of commission. He absently noted to himself the men weren’t killing them for sport…
Don’t jinx it.
Ahead, Haley had helped Butch shift, so he was on his back. She held him under the shoulders, in the classic pose of a lifeguard rescuing a lost swimmer. It was touching to see her take such good care of his friend.
They were ashore in minutes. As he clambered onto the rocks, he experienced a flashback to doing the same thing on that first night at Kentucky Lake. He’d left Susan in the water to go rescue his guns from the fire eating away his house. As he pulled off those same two guns, he realized they, not his boat, were the last two links to the love of his life. He set them gently on the rocks, then helped Butch come ashore.
“Do you know how to swim now?” he joked to the big guy.
Butch could have been a wet cat for how miserable he appeared. “I had a great teacher. She talked me through it. However, I’d just as soon never do that again.”
“Aww,” Haley complained in a mocking voice, “I thought we connected out in the water.”
Butch froze. “No, I didn’t mean—”
“Relax,” she chided, “I’m only playing with you. You didn’t freak out. There’s nothing more important when helping a swimmer.” She leaned over and used her hands to wring out her long hair. “I did four summers at the local pool. I’ve seen it all.”
“I bet,” Ezra replied.
“Let’s get farther inland,” Butch added, slipping a little on the wet rocks.
They walked up a gentle hill for a few minutes before finding a place to catch their breath. A line of skyscrapers stood at the top, as if they’d once stood vigil over the flowing Missouri River. Now, they looked out over the black lake.
“What do you say we go up there?” Ezra pointed to the first building. It was about twenty stories tall and appeared to be missing most of the glass along its face. The light of the dig site behind them reflected off its few remaining windowpanes.
They’d gone to the third floor before Ezra declared they’d climbed high enough. He pushed through the fire door of the stairwell, taking them into a vacant office space. “I was hoping to see my boat before it went under. I’m sure it’s gone.”
“Lead on,” Butch said, holding the door for him and Haley.
He sat next to an open window, careful not to fall out. When he searched for his boat, it was nowhere to be seen.
“It must have floated away,” he commented, wondering if it was really going to sink after all.
From their vantage point at the edge of the lake and thirty feet up, they had a commanding view. The half-submerged rock seemed to be a hive of activity relative to the rest of the city. The spotlights on the cranes and on the towboats hovering near the rock were dialed up to eleven. Giant hydraulic jackhammers cracked into the rock from their spots on flat-bottomed boats. The split ore fell into open-topped barges moored up against the round island.
“They’ve got their model of efficiency going.” Ezra admired how the company set things up, though he was seriously considering using his new position to fire rounds on them. The rest of the city was cast in total darkness, as if the power had been knocked out. There would be no way for them to see where he was. But firing from such a distance would only antagonize them for no good reason. The smart play was to focus on their own issues. “Let’s rest here until sunrise,” he suggested.
“That won’t be long,” Butch replied, sounding more like himself.
Ezra didn’t mind. “I don’t know about you guys, but I need a few minutes of rest. This has been one of the craziest nights of my life, and I’m including the one where an asteroid shockwave blew my boat onto dry land.”
The youngsters understood what he wanted.
Ezra curled up in a corner, silently saying goodbye to his beloved boat. It felt as if one more piece of his life had died, and he needed time to process the loss. He couldn’t tell if it was moments or minutes later, but the first ray of sunshine soon appeared in the window. Even grieving needed to be cut short in the new reality.
Denver, CO
Petteri watched the sun come up from the tenth floor of his temporary headquarters in Denver. He pined for the warm tropical safety on Isla Soccoro. Armed shooters would have a hard
