“I hope they’re friendly cause otherwise we’re treading water again.” Yue said pointing to the top of the driveway where a couple of figures had just stepped into view. The three of them moved quickly out of sight into the weeds hoping they hadn’t been spotted. Without another word they began jogging for the dock forcing their weary legs to function after a night that’d sapped them of pretty much all of their energy.
The pontoon boat was drifting towards the dock when they got there. The people on the boat didn’t seem super surprised to see them. They did stop the boat so that it didn’t come all the way in yet.
“Act friendly.” Drew whispered. They didn’t want to spook whoever was in the boat. He made sure to keep his hands off his rifle as they jogged down the dock.
The people in the boat became visible as they got further down the dock. A skinny bald guy in glasses was standing next to an Amazonian looking woman in a tank top. The woman looked tall and muscular enough to easily walk on to any WNBA team. Two kids looking to be in their mid-teens were standing towards the back of the boat. All of them were sunburnt but otherwise looked ok. The woman was holding a shotgun while the husband drove the boat.
“You guys ok?” The woman called out loudly. Drew, LeBron and Yue all just stared back at the woman. If they weren’t in trouble they were now. How did this woman not know to keep her mouth shut?
“We’ve got company coming. Surgers were just coming down the driveway when we ran down here. They’ll be here soon. We could use a lift.” Drew said loudly but not quite as loudly as the woman had done. The woman and the man held a whispered discussion before the man piloted the pontoon boat close enough for them to climb aboard. The second they were all on board the man whipped the pontoon boat into full reverse to get them moving back out towards the middle of the lake.
Drew turned to monitor the dock and saw a sprinting surger tearing towards them. He brought his rifle up and used three of his bullets to slow the demon down enough that they could make their getaway. He turned around to a sea of shocked faces. On the dock more of the surgers had gathered and were staring out at the pontoon boat as it pulled away. The infected were evidently able to control themselves well enough not to dive into the water and drown if they didn’t have any chance of reaching their prey.
This time when Drew turned around, he was confronted by the woman with the shot gun pointing it at his face.
“I’m going to need all of you to drop your weapons on the deck.” The woman said.
“Do it guys. Don’t make any moves. I think we’re good here.” Yue said. Drew relaxed slightly knowing that Yue was the politician in the family. She typically had a good sense about people. If she thought that they were ok dropping their weapons, then it probably wasn’t a horrible idea. Drew carefully put his rifle on the ground then shrugged out of his pack and put that down as well. Lastly, he dropped his belt with his gun and a straight bladed hunting knife hanging on it.
Beside Drew his siblings were going through the same weapon removal process. All of them keeping a careful eye on the tall woman with the shot gun. The bald man with the glasses looked on nervously while the two teens stared at them with their mouths hanging open. Once they were all unarmed the woman had them move to the back of the pontoon boat away from their weapons. The nerdy looking guy driving the boat apologetically walked over to them to check for hidden weapons. He claimed a couple of knives but otherwise didn’t find anything that made them look bad. The man went back to the other side of the boat to confer with the woman once again.
“What made you think we could trust them?” Drew asked under his breath. He was expecting to hear some cryptic answer about some body language or something Yue had noted. He assumed she had a good reason for telling them to comply.
“I mean they didn’t shoot us when our backs were turned. They rescued us off the dock. If they’d just cruised away, we’d be treading water right about now. What else are you looking for? I’d rather be sitting here unarmed than back in that damned lake swimming again.” Yue answered. She seemed a little upset to be called out on telling them to go along with the woman’s orders.
“I think we’re going to be fine.” LeBron said indicating with a head nod that the man and woman were walking back to talk to them.
“I’m Candace and this is my husband Jim. These are our kids Lisa and Daniel. We’re more than happy to take you to the undeveloped shore side and drop you guys off if that works for you?” The woman said. She waited expectantly for them to introduce themselves and agree to the offer she’d just made them.
It didn’t sound like fresh, dry underwear were anywhere in their future. Instead they were going to get ditched on another weed covered beach. That would force them to beat their way through the woods back to the road where they kept almost being killed. Returning this time with even less ammunition.
Chapter 29: Cut Bait
They cruised silently under the
