The Island - Part 2 (Fallen Earth) Read Free

drooping pants vanished quickly.
    What began as three well-defined groups occupying their own space, rapidly devolved into something more akin to a welcoming dinner. Conversation ebbed and flowed, becoming as infectious as the disease we feared. Laughter punctuated the deepening night like exclamation points scattered across a written page. Personalities emerged as tension faded. Devon who had seemed gloomy and withdrawn earlier, turned out to be the comic of the group, rising at one point to dance a jig around the remains of the ham before falling to his knees to worship the gods of Pork and Salt.
    Joshua, who had surprised me on the beach earlier, increasingly came across as quiet and introspective. Kelly, the lone girl in the group of kayakers, proved adept at extracting details out of people without coming across as prying. Once they discovered that Elsie had grown up on the island, she swiftly became the focal point of dozens of questions, and kept the group enthralled with tales that stirred life into a museum constructed of houses too clean, too pretty, and too empty.
    Colder air settled in as the evening progressed. The wind had been light all day, but by the time plates were empty and bellies were full, the breeze had freshened, coming stronger out of the north. The fire danced and billowed, casting wavering shadows across a nearby cottage. As the wind grew, people shifted closer to the blaze, seeking warmth and reassurance from the flickering flames.
    At a lull in the conversation, Joshua stood up and stretched. He looked like a caveman in the firelight with his tangled, wind-blown hair and dark beard. He and the ponytail girl didn’t fit as a couple. He seemed like he could be happy with a club and a couple of furs for clothes. She looked as if tolerating the situation was the best she could manage.
    The two who appeared most at odds were Devon and Kate. She stood two inches taller than him and sat slightly apart from the rest as if creating space between herself and the commoners. She rarely spoke. When she did, her sentences came across as aloof and detached. Devon on the other hand, bounced back and forth between party animal and brooding loner. Try as I might, I couldn’t piece together the spark that brought them together, much less held them together.
    “We’re staying here tomorrow. None of us live close enough to get home before the ban hits,” Joshua said. Firelight played across his features carving out impressions in light and shadow.  “We talked it over earlier and think we’ll be evacuated at some point. They can’t leave us here.”
    I poked at the fire with a stick.
    “Elsie and Daniel live just across the sound . I’m taking them home in the morning. I should be back by tomorrow afternoon.”
    I looked up and waved the glowing end of the stick. “I doubt I will come back here though. I’ll probably come up the back side and find a place to hunker down for a while.”
    No one said anything. Denise shot a questioning look at Joshua.
    I sighed and tossed the bit of wood into the fire.
    “I’d planned on coming here, and staying here. Rather than being stuck, I’m pretty much where I want to be. I’m not a doctor, but I lived with a nurse for a long time. This disease is spreading fast and killing as it goes. I didn’t come here to escape. I came here to spend what might be my last days doing something I enjoy.”
    I leaned back.
    “I had asthma as a kid. I’m a sucker for any type of respiratory infection.”
    The sudden silence that followed grew uncomfortably long.
    “We’re leaving in the morning too,” Kelly said finally. “All three of us are from Virginia. We left our truck parked on Hatteras. We’re hoping we can make it to the Cape by eight o’clock. Even if the cops shut down travel exactly at noon, we’ll be close to home.”
    She glanced from face to face.
    “Has anyone heard the latest news?”
    Elsie cleared her throat.
    “I had the radio on while I was