“Dennis is right. I was called out to the wash houses three times yesterday to fix the same problem because people couldn’t follow simple instructions. It’s ridiculous.”
“Yeah! I had to stand in the kitchen last night and help with the cooking because those silly women didn’t understand how to keep the stoves running. You’d think out of everyone left, they would know how to run a kitchen.”
A rumble of laughter rippled around the group. Art curled his bottom lip and frowned. It would put their community in severe jeopardy if these men made good on their plan to move to the north side of the island.
Dennis was the most skilled engineer on the island and his friends were all talented individuals as well. Several of them were engineers or architects, the wealthiest people that remained in Kauai. They were used to a more comfortable way of living. They were all happy to work, but were used to receiving a large figure for their time. They didn’t do the boring, repetitive tasks or the dirty work.
Art crept away from where he had been hiding and made his way back into the center of town. It was true that life was harder now, but the vast majority of them sucked it up and dealt with it. It’s human nature to try and find an easy way out, but in this case, there was no easy. They all had to work together to help one another survive.
As he strode into the center of town, Art spotted one of the members of the leadership council. She stood on the corner, hands clasped behind her back, wearing fatigues that looked like they’d seen a lot of action. He rushed over to her. “I need to speak with Jamie. Do you know where he is?”
“I think he’s back at the shack,” she replied, gesturing to the surf shack where they held all their group meals now. “Is everything okay? You look a bit tense, Art.”
“I’m fine, April.” Art replied, trying to relax and smile at the woman. “Thanks.”
Glancing over his shoulder as he rushed away, Art saw the woman watching him with a suspicious gaze on her face. It must have been her military training—the woman read people extremely well. No wonder they wanted her on the council.
“She can probably kick ass like nobody’s business, too” Art thought as he headed for the shack. If Jamie thought there was merit in what Art told him, perhaps they should go to April first – she might have ideas about how to diffuse this potential mutiny.
“Jamie?” Art called out as he walked into the empty bar of the surf shack, the bar stools and tables now all ripped out and leaving the place hollow and desolate in some ways. “You here?”
“In the back.”
Art strode through the bar and into the storeroom at the back. He found Jamie sitting on an empty beer keg as he inventoried their supplies.
“What’s up man?” Jamie asked. “Everything okay?”
“Not really,” Art replied, “have you got a minute.”
Putting down his pencil and paper, Jamie saw the serious expression on Art’s face and nodded, indicating to a chair.
“It’s about your brother.”
“Oh great,” Jamie sighed. “What’s he done now?”
Taking a deep breath, Art began to tell Jamie what he had overheard Dennis talking about, naming the others that he had recognized in the group as well. He repeated what he could remember, making sure Jamie got the gist of what Dennis and the others were planning to do..
“I had a feeling he might try something like this,” Jamie sighed and shook his head. “I just never imagined it would be this soon. We’ve barely been going a week. I would’ve thought he’d have more patience.”
Art grimaced, unsure what to say. Dennis was a piece of work, but he was still Jamie’s brother and he knew the surf shack owner still cared about him. He’d never want to see his brother leave for any number of reasons.
Jamie was just opening his mouth to speak when April called his name from out in the bar.
“Back here,” Jamie called.
April stuck her head in through the doorway to the back room. “You better come have a look at this.”
“What?”
“There’s a boat!” A voice shouted from outside. Jamie and Art jumped up and rushed out, just behind April.
“There’s a boat out there!”
As they rushed out of the bar, they found a young man standing there and pointing toward the ocean. “It looks like it’s coming in to dock,” the young man said.
On the beach, a large group of people had already gathered and were looking out to sea. Sure enough, on the horizon there was the outline of a large ship, the angle of its body seemingly coming into port on Kauai.
Jamie squinted out into the sunlight, trying to make out any details on the vessel. Surely a boat of this size approaching could only mean good news. Perhaps Trident’s collapse had been resolved quicker than anticipated and this boat was coming to set things straight on Hawaii. As he watched it, Jamie licked his lips in anticipation, anxious to learn more about the new arrival.
Chapter 20
Opening his eyes, Austin saw a tangled mess of leaves and branches above him, their edges fuzzy and undefined as he blinked and tried to focus. Turning his head slowly from side to side he felt his neck crack and groaned, a twang of pain erupting from the back of his scalp. It took Austin a couple of seconds to realize he had his head inside a bush, shuffling backwards across the forest floor until he was free from the shrubbery. Taking a deep breath he laid flat on his back, staring up at the
