Robert reached for the rifle and held it close. “Move in slow. I’ll make some noise to let them know we’re here.”
The men paddled up next to the boat. Robert and Kyle went to opposite sides.
“Hello… hello… is anybody there? Hello,” Robert announced.
There was no reply. The boat gently rocked in rhythm with the rafts as it floated on the lake, silent except for the gentle slap of the water against the hull.
“Hello… we’re going to come on deck now… if anyone is there, let us know,” Robert repeated the announcement as he nodded to Richard.
Richard immediately contorted his face. He looked at Robert and silently mouthed the words, “Why me?” as he shrugged his shoulders.
Robert waved him onward with his hand. Richard apprehensively grabbed the ladder at the rear of the boat and climbed upward. He slowly brought his head above the deck of the boat and cautiously looked around. After a quick glance back at his companions, Richard triumphantly jumped onto the boat. He motioned for the other men to join him. Kyle secured the rafts to the boat before joining his friends and was last up the ladder. The men remained quiet, whispering softly and using hand signals to communicate.
After Kyle stepped onboard, Richard looked at the closed cabin door and then back at Robert and Kyle. Robert nodded again to Richard. Richard immediately grimaced for the second time, looked at Robert and mouthed the words again, “Why me?” as he shrugged once more.
Robert leaned toward him and whispered, “We got your back, Rambo.” Robert followed the whisper with a push toward the cabin door with his boot.
Richard quietly edged forward to the door. He extended his hand over the brass knob and hesitated. Richard looked back to see both Robert and Kyle waving him on. His hand was shaking as he turned the knob. Richard closed his eyes as he reluctantly inched the door open. He heard a slight squeak from the door hinges, which brought him back to reality, and he opened his eyes. Richard shrieked, stumbling backward as the cabin door slammed shut.
Both Robert and Kyle crouched low and gripped their weapons tightly. Adrenaline pumped into their veins and their eyes grew wide, locked on the door as they waited for it to burst open, the threat behind it revealing itself.
“Get back here!” hissed Robert. “What did you see? What were they doing? Did they have weapons?”
“They… I mean she… was just sprawled there. It looked like a woman.”
Robert lowered his weapon and walked to the closed door. He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned to glance back at his two companions. Robert did a silent countdown from three, then flung the door completely open. He saw a woman lying on the bed. Then his senses captured the horrible smell. A woman’s dead body lay there in her own filth. In her arms, she was holding a picture. Robert took the picture and held it up to the cabin’s rear window. It was the picture of a man wearing a monogrammed leather jacket and alligator boots, with a large Rolex watch on his wrist. In the background was the boat they were now standing on. He wondered if the man was her husband.
Kyle stepped into the cabin, opened the windows to let fresh air inside, and noticed a note on a small table. He read it aloud. “My love, it has been days since you left to look for help. I pray that you are well, but I’m sick and can feel myself weakening. The food has gone bad, but I’m so hungry and thirsty that I ate the food anyway and drank water from the lake. If you read this note, I want you to know my last thoughts are of you.” Kyle dropped the note back down on the table. “Looks like food poisoning and dirty water. He has to be a goner, too. There’s no help anywhere. They never had a chance, not even with all their money.”
“There’s nothing we can do for her. Let’s look around to see if we can use anything,” stated Robert, already looking for whatever could be of use.
The men systematically opened every one of the boat’s compartments, assessing all the items at their disposal.
Robert reviewed their new inventory. “Flashlight, first-aid kit, rope, flare gun, and… what are these… life preservers? Who needs these?”
Richard took a deep breath and reluctantly said, “I do. I can’t swim.”
Robert and Kyle were speechless. Robert glanced back and forth from Richard to the raft in the lake and said nothing, but shook his head in disbelief. He grabbed a life preserver and pushed it into Richard’s chest. Robert took the new supplies, lowered them into the rafts, then the men continued on their way.
They rowed until well into the afternoon and stopped at a gentle shoreline with a narrow gravel service road next to it. The road was at least one hundred feet from the river, with a grassy hill behind it. They needed to go ashore to scout for food, and decided that this flat area would be a good place to set up camp. The trees were sparse in this area, but there was just enough wood to start a fire sufficient for their needs. Kyle set the lines to catch fish and Richard took the hatchet to gather more wood. Richard walked to the gravel road and followed it to a small stand of trees, where anyone watching would have seen him stop in horror. He gripped the hatchet tightly and quickly cast a fearful eye over his surroundings. There was a body of a man lying there, wearing only underclothes, with his hands and feet bound. Robert and Kyle came running with weapons in hand.
With a shaky finger, Richard pointed to the lifeless body on the ground. “Look, another body. It looks like he was shot.”
Kyle knelt down near the corpse and looked closely at the man’s facial features. “Yeah, he’s been shot. This is the man in the picture, from the big boat.”
“Are you sure?” asked Robert.
“Positive. We had better take turns on watch tonight.”
Trying to ignore the body, Richard gathered wood for the fire and returned to the campsite. He went to another stand of trees to get more wood. The branches were still green, and the fresh wood sizzled and crackled in the fire as the men stood around it silently reflecting on the day’s events.
Richard was facing the slope and thought he saw something moving on top of the hill. The other men turned to see the same dark figure. Robert grabbed the binoculars and determined that it was a man in a dark green uniform coming their way. As the man got closer, he waved his arms in their direction, trying to get their attention. Robert continued watching, and could soon tell that it was a park ranger’s uniform. The men waved back to acknowledge the ranger. Robert handed the binoculars to Kyle.
“Hey, I went to take a look around on that hill and I saw your fire,” said the ranger.
Robert noticed he still had a nametag on his shirt. The name was Murphy. “Ranger Murphy, we found a body over there. It looks like he was murdered.”
Murphy touched his nametag as though he had forgotten that he was still wearing it. The ranger appeared to be affected like all the other people they had met after the grid crashed. Robert assumed he was on duty at this enormous park when it happened, and now he was stuck here.
“People are running out of food. They’re desperate.” The ranger looked at the ground and shook his head dejectedly. “There’s nothing I can do.” He looked back up and spoke with tension in his voice. “Something’s wrong. I can’t radio for help and everyone is stuck here, including me.” His gaze turned to the three rafts and supplies. “It looks like you guys are doing alright, though.” The ranger pointed at the rifle on Robert’s shoulder. “Nice piece. Military?”
“The rifle is. I’m not.”
“I met someone that was camping on the other side of the hill. We’ve been helping each other while we’re stuck here. He got an elk and there’s too much for us.” The ranger looked at Robert. “Why don’t you come over and get some elk meat. If you help us butcher it, we can give you plenty. I’ll help you carry some back to your camp.”