TYBEE ISLAN
ISLAND
By By Paul Paul Cales Cales & Becca
Continued from the Aug 2018 Beachcomber.
Catch up @ http://tybeebeachcomber.com/magazine
CHAPTER 14
DAY 5
28 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | SEPT 2018
course along the waterways.
“I don’t think so. My guess would be Savannah and Thunderbolt.
They probably stopped bombing just the other side of the
Thunderbolt Bridge and the drawbridge on President Street.”
“That would pretty much cut off anyone on the islands trying to
make their way to the mainland.”
“Hey guys,” Nate interjects as they approach the marina.
“There’s Nick’s boat.” The bow line is attached to the dock cleat,
but the stern line isn’t. The back of the boat is sticking out away
from the dock.
“It looks like someone tried to leave but was interrupted before
they could get the bow line loose,” Tony observes.
“Or,” Becky counters, “They were interrupted when they were
docking and didn’t get to finish tying the boat off to the dock.”
“Either way we need to be extremely vigilant while we’re here.
I’m going to ease up to the back of Nick’s boat and, Nate and Rudy,
you can jump aboard from there.”
With an SKS slung over his shoulder and a Beretta 9mm in his
right hand, Nate jumps from their boat to Nick’s. Rudy swiftly
follows. The once white deck was now blood red. The blood was
dry, but the air was thick with a coppery smell. “Check the cuddy,
Nate man. See if anyone’s down there.”
Nate slowly pulls open the door to the cuddy cabin. The door
groans with an eerie creak.
“You see anything, man?”
“It’s dark. Let me get my flashlight and I’ll let you know.” As he
reaches deep into his pocket, searching for the flashlight, the door
slams open. Nate falls backward into Rudy, bounces off him, and
lands on his back. The creature jumps on Nate’s chest and sinks
its teeth into the center of his face. Rudy regains his balance and
kicks the creature with all his might, but the damage is done. The
creature looks at Rudy with its yellow and red eyes, its mouth
dripping with fresh blood, Nate still firmly in its grasp. It looks back
toward Nate and rips a huge chunk of flesh from his throat. Rudy
grabs the creature with such force it loses its grip on Nate and he
throws it toward the back of the boat. Becky raises her rifle from
a few feet away, and just as she is about to shoot she recognizes
who this creature used to be. It was Garrett.
“SHOOT!” Tony shouts, and she reluctantly squeezes the trigger.
The top of Garrett’s head explodes into a pink mist and tears well in
her eyes.
“Damn, not Garrett man,” she whispers, then louder, for the
others to hear, “Is Nate okay? I can’t see him.”
“Nah, man,” Rudy answers. “He’s not okay.” He slowly bends
down and picks up Nate’s 9mm. Nate, clutching at his neck, looks
at Rudy and his eyes ask him to end the misery. Rudy complies.
“I don’t think I can take this shit anymore,” Becky sighs.
“Stay here,” Tony tells her. “I’ll help Rudy clean that mess up
and we’ll get out of here.” He jumps aboard the other boat and they
throw the bodies overboard, transfer all the supplies from their boat
to Nick’s, and tie their boat securely to the dock. “Okay guys,” Tony
says after the cleanup is finished. “It’s not even 9am and we’ve
already had one hell of a day. Let’s be sure nothing else happens to
any of us today.”
“Your best friend of 15 years just died and you’re acting as if it
The group sat in silence, watching the sky to the west light up
time and time again. The bombing continued into the early hours
of the morning. After what felt like an eternity, Nate breaks the
silence.
“So I guess we know the answer to the question that’s been
plaguing all of us. This is not isolated to Tybee Island. Do you think all
the noise from the bombs herded the zombies to the west?” he asks
the group.
“I don’t know,” Tony answers. “But we need to find out what’s going
on. I mean, do you think Tybee could be next on the bombing list?”
“I don’t think so,” says Nate. “Savannah is a lot more populated.
I’m sure the military could handle Tybee without bombing it to
smithereens.”
“Who in their right mind would bomb Tybee and risk destroying the
Wind Rose?” Rudy muses.
“What a truly wise man you are, Rudy,” Becky says, still looking
out to the west.
After a few moments Tony speaks up again, “Okay you guys. We
need to figure out what’s happening. As soon as the sun comes up
we need to head out on the boat and find out.”
“We still going to check out Captain Nick’s boat?” asks Nate.
“Yeah. We’re going to need fuel and hopefully we can
commandeer his boat if it is still there.”
“Let’s get some grub in us before we leave,” Rudy says. “We
haven’t gotten much rest. We shouldn’t starve ourselves too.” He
rekindles their fire and the group goes to work making an early
breakfast.
As the sun is rising and the group sets off on their journey,
billowing smoke can be seen out to the west, although the
explosions stopped about an hour earlier. It looks as though the
entire city of Savannah, and possibly some of the closer islands,
are still on fire.
“Do you think Wilmington and Whitemarsh Islands were bombed
too?” Becky asks Rudy, while Tony and Nate are watching their
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