SurvivorZ: Grave Harbor

81

CHARLIE

The gunshot echoing across the bay roused everyone in the parking lot. Hearing the sound, Charlie snapped awake from his cot and immediately checked the sky for storm clouds. On the ground by his side, Rusty sprang to his feet as if electrocuted. The Chinook anxiously peered up at him with pinned ears, whining softly.

"Was that a gun?" Laurie inquired from a neighboring cot.

Charlie jumped out of bed. He ruffled Rusty's fur to calm him down. It didn't seem to work. The dog shivered under his touch.

"I think—"

More gunfire resounded from the remote shoreline. Though he couldn't be sure, Charlie thought he heard a scream from that direction too.

By now, everyone around him was on their feet, either muttering in fearful voices or arming themselves against some unseen threat. The entire refugee camp was in a state of alert, if not outright panic. Some people even started to back away to the trucks, seeking the meager protection the tall flatbeds provided.

Richard pushed through the crowd to reach his sister. Danielle and Paige followed close behind him.

"What's going on?" she asked her brother.

"Nobody knows," he replied. "It's quiet now, though, so I think it's all right. Maybe they spotted some zombies."

"They wouldn't risk making all that noise over a few zombies," Paige countered.

Silence descended over the group. Charlie stole another peek across the bay. Paige's declaration left his imagination to run rampant. After the horrors they barely escaped over the past couple of days, he was almost scared to guess what this new threat might be.

"Dani!"

Maureen came running through the crowd to join them with Emily and Lee in hand. Drew and Judith followed, both of them staring over their shoulders at the source of the disturbance. A few seconds behind everyone else, Robin and Lily brought up the rear, the latter holding her stomach while the former supported her from behind.

"Mom." Danielle ran over to meet her mother as they arrived. "What's happening? Did the ghouls find us already?"

Maureen released her charges long enough to give her eldest daughter a hug. "I don't know. I can't imagine they did, but I don't know."

"What do we do?" Judith asked in a voice creeping towards panic. "Where's the colonel?"

"I saw them headed for—" Lily began to say. She immediately finished with, "Oh, here he comes."

Everyone looked towards the footpath leading up to the fort. Mystic harvested the wood from the copse of trees that once shaded the trail, leaving only stumps and broken branches behind. Charlie suspected collecting firewood wasn't their only reason for clear cutting. Removing obstructions blocking their view from the wall likely played a factor too.

Several figures rushed down the path from the south entrance, Mike and Colonel Hayes included. They didn't stop until they reached the parking lot.

"Everyone, listen up," Hayes shouted. "I need all civilians inside the walls right now. Leave your things behind and follow these men. They'll escort you to safety. Pilgrim squad, I—"

In the middle of barking orders, Hayes belched loudly and gripped his stomach. For an instant, a worried look crossed both his features and those of the former police officer standing next to him. Hayes played it off with a cough, leaving Edwards staring at the colonel's belly straining the limits of his uniform.

"Pilgrim squad, arm up. You're with me." Hayes glanced at the man standing alongside him. "Mike?"

Edwards snapped out of his thoughts and faced the crowd. "Right. Come on, everyone. Drop everything and move inside. There's no time to waste."

Maureen grabbed the children by the hands and started up the trail towards Mike and the men from Mystic. She paused only slightly to look back at Danielle and the others, making sure they left nobody behind.

The only straggler in the group was Charlie. While everyone hurried up the path to the fort, he grabbed Rusty's leash from his cot and worked on affixing the end to his dog's collar. The Chinook didn't make his task any easier by bouncing around, taking in the stream of people passing by on all sides.

"Rusty, hold still."

"Charlie," Laurie called out from over her shoulder as she, Richard, Paige, and Danielle merged with the flow of refugees deserting the camp.

"Go," he shouted back. "I'll be right there."

He snapped the hook onto the dog's collar. Rusty wagged his tail in anticipation of their walk. Leash in hand, Charlie stood and looked for the others. They had already disappeared in the parade of scared people fleeing to the Castle.

"C'mon, boy."

Charlie jogged after the others with Rusty happily following alongside him. Moments later, they caught up to Lily, Eve and Mike at the back of the group. The couple walked on either side of the pregnant woman, helping her from falling too far behind the rest.

"You don't need to wait for me," Lily insisted.

"Just making sure everyone gets inside," Mike replied, glancing meaningfully back at Charlie.

Charlie caught movement to his right. The colonel and his men broke from the crowd and ran off towards the walkway encircling the bay. The sounds of gunfire had ceased. He could only imagine that wasn't a good thing.

Rusty stopped in his tracks. With his ears pinned back and his teeth bared, the dog growled menacingly at some unseen presence in that direction.

The abrupt halt caught Charlie by surprise. He tugged on the leash. "Come on, Rusty."

"You coming, kid?" Mike urged.

Charlie peered up to see Lily and the others staring at him. "Yeah, it's Rusty. He's... I don't know what's got into him."

Mike glanced at the crowd leaving them behind. "We need to hurry."

"Okay. I'm—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Rusty bolted for the shore, chasing after the colonel and his men. Charlie felt the leash slipping through his fingers and tried to grab it before it was too late. He failed.

"Rusty!" he screamed. "Come here!"

Rusty wouldn't listen to him. The Chinook raced past the surprised soldiers in a blur, speeding towards the causeway as if running for his life.

Ignoring Mike and Lily's cries and the ache from the healing wound in his stomach, Charlie ran after him. He didn't know what the dog sensed that compelled him to run into danger, nor did he care. The only thing that mattered was retrieving his beloved pet, safe and sound. He didn't care about anything else in that moment, not even his own safety.

"RUSTY!"

Compared to Rusty's loping strides, he almost felt as though he were standing still. Despite years of athletic prowess on the track, the dog effortlessly left him behind. All he could do was watch as Rusty disappeared out of sight.

Winded and sore from the wound inflicted upon him by Penny Trask and her gang, Charlie couldn't maintain his sprint indefinitely. He finally collapsed against the outer wall of a boathouse, his lungs burning and his legs rubbery.

Colonel Hayes and his squad caught up to him a few moments later. Hayes eyed him, but said nothing as he led his team past to continue their mission south. All Charlie could do was watch them press on. He couldn't go any further. His limbs had turned to concrete.

Yet compared to the scared weight sinking into his heart, the rest of his body might as well have been floating.

"Rusty..."