“Quiet down Brian or I’ll share my foot up your ass as I’m kicking you
out of the window. I told you to be quiet. They’ve found a way up onto the
porch. I don’t want to have to fight them off again.”
Lisa begins to look nervous as Doug makes that statement. “They
can get in here?”
“Two did yesterday. That’s what happened to…”
“Not Nomi…” Brian says. “I’m sorry man.”
“Hell, if it wasn’t for her those things would have killed me.”
“I’m so sorry Doug,” Lisa sighs.
“Thanks girl,” he answers, then turns back to Brian. “Did Howard and
Rudy make it over to Little Tybee?”
“How’d you know about that?”
“They stopped by here before heading back to the boat. I haven’t been
able to make contact with Tony on the hand-held radio to ask if their
journey went alright.”
“You and Tony have walkie-talkies?” Brian asks, exasperated.
“Yeah, man. I found them in Kiah’s movie set box. The plan was, if
anything were to happen we were supposed to let each other know, but
mine’s not working anymore. I accidentally left it on all night and it will only
cut back on for a second then the red light comes on and powers it back
off.”
“Huh! One more thing those self-righteous bastards didn’t tell me.”
“Damn, dude. You really don’t get along with Tony and Nate, do you?”
“Or Becky for that matter. That little bit…”
“Watch your tongue, Brian,” Lisa interrupts. “I love that girl. I’ll snatch
your tongue right out of your face if I hear one cross thing about her.”
“Look,” Brian starts, “That group thinks that they know everything.
They were trying to dictate who got to have a gun and how much you got
to eat.”
“Well, whose guns are you talking about, man?” Doug asks.
“Theirs but…”
“But nothing. If it were me and they were my guns, I’d be dictating who
could carry what as well. Where did you get that SKS?”
“I took it from Becky’s tent but there’s no ammo in it. That’s how Jay
died.”
“Jay’s dead too?” Lisa asks.
“Yeah. And Carrie.”
“Damn!” Doug says. “What the hell happened over there? Where’s
Howard and Rudy?”
“Tony let Howard get bit, then Howard bit Carrie. Tony hid all the bullets
for the guns, which is why Jay died. That’s what happened over there.”
“That doesn’t sound like Tony, man. Let’s go find them.”
“They left Little Tybee. Last I heard they were going to head to Savannah.
In fact, they packed up all their shit except a couple tents in the middle of
the night. They were going to sneak away and abandon us there.”
“I’m pretty sure they weren’t going to Savannah, Brian. Did you see
or hear what was happening in Savannah? They bombed the crap out of
it. They may have gone to see what happened, but they wouldn’t leave
without letting me know about it first. In the morning I’m going to find
them.”
“I’ll go too,” Brian says. “But we’re going to need supplies first.”
“Like what?”
“Bullets for this gun for starters.”
“I know where we can get some bullets for that gun and maybe a couple
more guns for that matter,” Doug says.
“And I know where we can get some food and supplies. I saw this camp
on the south end of Little Tybee. Someone is living over there and I’m sure
they have a huge stash,” says Brian.
28 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | NOV 2018
“So, your plan is to what?” Lisa asks. “Take it from them?”
“Whatever it takes,” Brian states.
Doug looks Brian in the eye. “Maybe we could trade with them, but
we’re not just taking something from someone else.”
DAY 7
Joey wakes up and starts a pot of coffee on the propane burner.
Once the pot is ready, he leans close to Tony’s ear and starts to sing
softly to him, “The best part of waking up, is…”
“You getting out of my ear. Jesus Joey!” Tony yawns.
“You liked it,” Joey croons.
“I’d like to toss you off this platform in the trees, but I’m just a guest
here,” Tony spits back in jest.
“The hell you are!” Johnny says, and steps onto the section of
platform Tony, Joey, and Becky are lounging on. “You’re home.”
“Home?” Becky repeats.
“Of course, babe. You guys should stay here. The more people who stick
together, the better the chances they survive this thing. Besides, I love you
guys and want to make sure you have a safe place to sleep at night. The
ground is not a safe place at all.”
“Sleeping in the boat isn’t safe either.” Cheryl adds as she pours
herself a cup of the coffee Joey just brewed. “Those zeeks are in the
water too.”
“You ain’t kidding.” Joey says, and takes the pot from her. “They
almost got us the first night we came over.”
“Hey, thanks guys,” Rudy says, and places a somber hand over his
heart. “What do you say Tony? Should we move our camp over to this side
of the island?”
“We are definitely moving our stuff over here,” Becky says.
“We even have enough wood to build two more platforms,” Johnny
adds, excited. “We could have a sleeping platform, a cooking platform,
and a lounging platform. They’ll be a lot easier to build with the extra hands
to help.”
“And all of them can be used for lookout guards,” Tony adds.
“What are you worried about?” Johnny asks. “The zeeks can’t get up
here.”
“I’m not worried about the zeeks,” Tony says. “I’m worried about
people. If you have something safe, you have something of value, people
will try to take it from you. The worst in people comes out when true
desperation reveals itself.”
“Why don’t we head over to our old camp and dig up our cache, gather
the rest of our stuff, and bring it back here. I need to stretch my legs,” says
Rudy.
“I’d love to go with you guys.” Johnny says. “I’ve been in the trees for
a while.”
“Sure man. You, Rudy, and I will head out in an hour or so when the tide
comes back in.”
“While you boys are gone Becky and I can start working on our potable
water supplies,” Cheryl says.
“You guys have access to fresh water?” Tony asks.
“Yeah. There’s a pond about two hundred yards from here. We’ve been
filtering it through a hand-held ceramic water filter, but we’ll need to figure
something else out now that we just doubled the size of our camp. Do you
guys know where we could find a 55 gallon drum?”
“A steel one or one of those blue plastic ones?” Rudy asks.
“Which ever. I guess a plastic one would be better. It would probably last
a lot longer and would be a lot easier to cut holes in. But beggars can’t be