Read Online For Those In Peril (Book 1): For Those In Peril On The Sea by Colin M. Drysdale - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Colin M. Drysdale
Tags: Zombies
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to realise he was right. There was food in the sea and if we could get the electrical system sorted, we could use the reverse osmosis machine to make as much fresh water as we needed. While we couldn’t live on shore, there was no reason we couldn’t go there to look for supplies every now and then, as long as we were careful.
As Bill outlined his plan to the others, I sat back and watched to see how they’d take it. While Jon, Mike and Jimmy still looked tired and run down, as Bill had predicted, a good, long sleep seemed to have been just what CJ needed. Jon seemed pretty keen on Bill’s plan and he, like me, seemed to appreciate the fact that it gave us something to work towards. CJ was happy to go along with it, not because she necessarily thought it was a good idea, but rather because the work would help keep her from thinking too much about what had happened. Mike and Jimmy were more reticent, but then again they’d been living with this for longer than the rest of us. They’d also been ashore and had dealt with the infected first-hand; they knew more about what we were up against.
We spent the morning inventorying everything on the boat, separating out the things that looked repairable from those that were clearly not. The good news was that much of it was salvageable. By the end of the day, Bill had even managed to get one of the engines to turn over. Although it still wouldn’t run, it was a start. Jon and Mike spent the last couple of hours of daylight spear-fishing and came back with a couple of groupers and some lobsters, so there was plenty for supper. We even broke out a bottle of wine to go with it.
By nine o’clock, I was pleasantly full of food. I was also surprisingly drunk given how little wine I’d had, but then again I’d not had any alcohol since leaving South Africa. In my rather inebriated state, I looked round the table at those I’d been thrown together with and I thought about how they were dealing with the situation. CJ still seemed to be taking it worst, and had teetered on the edge several times during the day. I’d seen it suddenly well up from deep within her, like a bubble trying to escape. When this happened, her eyes would start to brim with tears and her breath would stutter. She was no doubt thinking about her family and friends back in England, wondering if they’d survived or not, and, if they were alive, if they remained uninfected. It was the uncertainty that seemed to get to her most; the fact she couldn’t find out what had happened to them, or let them know what had happened to her. It was as if she didn’t know whether she should be grieving for them or not, or even how she should feel. Yet each time it seemed like she was just about to lose it completely, she managed to pull herself back from the brink, focussing on the work at hand until it passed.
Jon was trying his best to make it seem like he was taking everything in his stride, but I could see it was an act. Earlier in the day, when he’d thought no one was looking, I’d seen him wiping tears from his eyes. Another time, I’d seen a blankness spread across his face as his thoughts wandered off and he started to dwell on what had happened to the world. He was estranged from his family but he still worried about them; still wondered about what had happened to them. When he’d caught himself doing this, he’d shaken himself out of it, pushing the thoughts from his mind and had gone back to work.
I shifted my attention to Mike and Jimmy. They were just children, yet they’d survived when most others had not. This meant they’d already become hardened to the new world, that they’d already found a way to cope with it. Maybe it helped that they still had each other and that, bad as it was, they knew with some certainty what had happened to their family. Maybe it was just that they were young and so better able to deal with whatever the world threw at them.
Bill seemed to be coping better than the
As Bill outlined his plan to the others, I sat back and watched to see how they’d take it. While Jon, Mike and Jimmy still looked tired and run down, as Bill had predicted, a good, long sleep seemed to have been just what CJ needed. Jon seemed pretty keen on Bill’s plan and he, like me, seemed to appreciate the fact that it gave us something to work towards. CJ was happy to go along with it, not because she necessarily thought it was a good idea, but rather because the work would help keep her from thinking too much about what had happened. Mike and Jimmy were more reticent, but then again they’d been living with this for longer than the rest of us. They’d also been ashore and had dealt with the infected first-hand; they knew more about what we were up against.
We spent the morning inventorying everything on the boat, separating out the things that looked repairable from those that were clearly not. The good news was that much of it was salvageable. By the end of the day, Bill had even managed to get one of the engines to turn over. Although it still wouldn’t run, it was a start. Jon and Mike spent the last couple of hours of daylight spear-fishing and came back with a couple of groupers and some lobsters, so there was plenty for supper. We even broke out a bottle of wine to go with it.
By nine o’clock, I was pleasantly full of food. I was also surprisingly drunk given how little wine I’d had, but then again I’d not had any alcohol since leaving South Africa. In my rather inebriated state, I looked round the table at those I’d been thrown together with and I thought about how they were dealing with the situation. CJ still seemed to be taking it worst, and had teetered on the edge several times during the day. I’d seen it suddenly well up from deep within her, like a bubble trying to escape. When this happened, her eyes would start to brim with tears and her breath would stutter. She was no doubt thinking about her family and friends back in England, wondering if they’d survived or not, and, if they were alive, if they remained uninfected. It was the uncertainty that seemed to get to her most; the fact she couldn’t find out what had happened to them, or let them know what had happened to her. It was as if she didn’t know whether she should be grieving for them or not, or even how she should feel. Yet each time it seemed like she was just about to lose it completely, she managed to pull herself back from the brink, focussing on the work at hand until it passed.
Jon was trying his best to make it seem like he was taking everything in his stride, but I could see it was an act. Earlier in the day, when he’d thought no one was looking, I’d seen him wiping tears from his eyes. Another time, I’d seen a blankness spread across his face as his thoughts wandered off and he started to dwell on what had happened to the world. He was estranged from his family but he still worried about them; still wondered about what had happened to them. When he’d caught himself doing this, he’d shaken himself out of it, pushing the thoughts from his mind and had gone back to work.
I shifted my attention to Mike and Jimmy. They were just children, yet they’d survived when most others had not. This meant they’d already become hardened to the new world, that they’d already found a way to cope with it. Maybe it helped that they still had each other and that, bad as it was, they knew with some certainty what had happened to their family. Maybe it was just that they were young and so better able to deal with whatever the world threw at them.
Bill seemed to be coping better than the
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