Schism Read Free Page B

by wind, sand, and time. The beach homes and restaurants that had once received proper care and attention now showed all the obvious signs of abandonment: peeling paint, broken windows, and cracked sideboards. After a few blocks, Andy stumbled across two human skeletons lying on the sidewalk, partially covered in tattered clothing, and skirted around them.
    “Where is everybody? Are they all dead?” she muttered aloud after several blocks. She came across a few cars but no keys. She tried hotwiring them, a skill Charlie had taught her, but the batteries where dead. Andy soon gave up and returned to her friends.
    “No luck,” she reported. “Not that I’m surprised. Anyone passing through this place in the last five years probably snatched up any running car long ago.”
    “Then let’s head back to the boat,” Charlie suggested. “Morgan, I know you’re not feeling well, but we don’t really have another choice.”
    Though hardly excited by the idea of returning to the boat, Morgan understood.
    Unfortunately that afternoon, an uncooperative wind worked against their sails, and it took more than half a day to reach Nags Head, thirty miles to the north along the Outer Banks. By sundown, they anchored the boat and chose to remain onboard another night.
    ***
    The sun rose to a clear sky the following morning. Groggy, Andy crawled out of her tiny bed and checked on the others in the second bedroom below deck. Morgan was snoring like a log, but Charlie was beginning to stir.
    Andy crept toward the side of his bed. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” she whispered.
    “Err…nooo,” he groaned and rolled away.
    She gave his shoulder a nudge. “C’mon…time to get the sails up. The winds look good.”
    Charlie rubbed his eyes open and looked over at his comatose sister. “Probably just as well. Her snoring was non-stop last night.” Sitting up, his short brown hair stuck up in the back like feathers. “I should’ve told her to go into your room.”
    Laughing at the sight of Charlie’s hair, Andy followed up the narrow ladder to the deck.
    The conditions for sailing proved far better than the previous afternoon. As the vessel reached the coastal border between North Carolina and Virginia, Charlie asked Andy how far north she planned to go. She looked at their map and understood exactly what Charlie was asking. The mouth of the Chesapeake Bay was approaching. If they were intending to go to Washington DC or Baltimore, they should sail up the Bay. If Philadelphia or New York was their destination, they would need to continue along the Atlantic Coast.
    “We’re going to Washington,” Andy said.
    “Why there?”
    “It’s the capital. Why not start there?”
    Charlie saw no reason to argue. He’d never been to the United States. “That’ll take a couple of days to get there if we sail the whole way,” he replied while examining the map.
    “Well, it’s either this or keep looking for a car that works. And has gas.”
    Charlie turned back to the ladder. He was thinking of his sister.
    “We can dock at Virginia Beach and look again,” Andy offered, reading his mind.
    The sailboat reached the eastern side of Virginia Beach by late afternoon. As they walked along the shore and passed several beachfront hotels, they discovered that the coastal city appeared to be just as deserted as the Outer Banks. Heading inland, they found many cars and trucks in the parking lots of empty restaurants and stores, but after using the stock of the shotgun to break the windows of each vehicle, they found that none of the engines would start. Discouraged, they returned to the sailboat and prepared to spend another night onboard.
    ***
    When Andy woke up the next morning, she found Charlie already raising the sails. “You’re up early.”
    “Figured we should get moving. The weather doesn’t look promising.”
    Andy turned west and gazed up. The clouds were low and gray. Frowning, she pulled on her rain jacket as Morgan appeared from