At first, he had some radio contact with other ships, who, like him, found themselves adrift on the ocean. Those ships weren't as lucky as he was. They weren't container ships, just merchant vessels who got out while they could. Their fuel reserves weren't as large as the Gypsy Drifter's, and over time, the ships had dropped off the radar.
The Gypsy Drifter was the only ship on the ocean now. But the ocean wasn't the best place to be as, over the last few months, the seas had been wracked by wave after wave of terrible winter storms. His ship could handle it, but many of the smaller vessels could not. One by one, they were either lost to the sea or forced to make land. But Captain Schwenk and The Gypsy Drifter had another problem. Scurvy.
He scratched at the red rash on the back of his hand and then ran a hand over his patchy scalp where the hair had started to fall out. He was listless, tired. They needed to get on land. Outside the coastal town of Seaside, Oregon, he had stopped the ship, dropping the anchor upon seeing the signal fire of the lighthouse. It was the only light they had seen for a month. He watched the fire burn all night.
In the morning, he grabbed the speaker from his radio. "You there, buddy?" Those were the words that his exhausted mind had thought to conjure up. Those were the words that would give them hope. And then finally, there was a response. Finally, after months of not reaching anyone on the radio, he had found someone.
While the picture of Seaside didn't sound pretty, the man in the lighthouse, Rhodri he'd said his name was, claimed that the town was virtually unlooted. That meant food. That meant weapons. That meant a chance at survival.
He had discussed it with the people on The Gypsy Drifter. They had argued about it for hours. "The man could be a liar," Lisa said. "He could be a cannibal," Tommy Wincott added, his teenage brain running wild. But in the end, they had all agreed that it would be better to die on land than at sea. Plus, they rightfully assumed that there would be more live people on The Gypsy Drifter than there would be living people in the city if any fighting broke out.
They had conducted a lottery to determine the order of the people who would leave the ship first. Some had volunteered for the first boat, mostly men who thought they could handle themselves on the beach. But most people wanted to be the last ones to leave, just in case anything went bad on the shore.
Captain Schwenk watched the first boat row across the ocean. It was calm and cold out, but the sun was with them. He followed their progress with his binoculars, praying underneath his breath. He scanned the shambling shapes on the shore. There wasn't a lot of them, but there were enough to be a problem. There were eleven men on the boat. Their goal was to reach the shore and establish a beachhead for the rest of the people to land.
He would miss the Gypsy Drifter. She was a good ship, sturdy and reliable, though not as much as she had been. His crew had been diminished, but he found a couple of worthy mechanics in the group of refugees. Together, they had managed to keep her running. He had enjoyed some good times on the boat. It hadn't all been doom and gloom.
He had found love on the ship, sharing his captain's bunk with Lucy, the capable doctor that had stolen his heart. There were times when he felt guilty. He didn't know if his actual wife was dead, but he was a realist. He knew he would never actually have a way of knowing if she were dead or alive outside of a miracle. He had to move on. All the people on the Gypsy Drifter had to move on.
A woman named Lisa had been valuable with that realization. She had been a therapist in her previous life. When she first offered up her services, not many went to her. But after a while, after her easygoing confidence rubbed off on some of her early clients, even he had to admit that he needed someone to talk to. The world was a terrible place. It was a crumbling and lonely place at times. It helped to have someone to talk to about it. As the captain, he always had to maintain an air of calmness and coolness, but Lisa, with her cracked spectacles and unkempt red hair, had been able to allow him to see that the sun was going to come up tomorrow and the day after. This realization gave him the confidence he needed to approach Lucy.
Lucy was wonderful in every way, kind and smart– smarter than him, that was for sure. They made a good couple.
He put thoughts of Lucy to the side as he watched the rowboat grind into the sand of the Seaside beach. The men hopped out, taking a defensive stance as two others pushed the boat back out to the sea so it could load up its next group of passengers. He watched as one of the dark shapes approached the men.
The man, Jerry-something, swung a giant monkey wrench purloined from the engineering section of the ship. He cracked the shadow across its head, and it dropped to the sand. Schwenk emitted a small sigh of relief. They could be killed.
They were doing it. They were going to finally get free of the ship.
****
Rhodri Williams watched the landing party from atop the lighthouse. His time at the lighthouse was done. He knew that now. There were no more ships; therefore, there was no more need for him to stay there and keep the fire
