CREEPERS Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

They followed the river bank for a mile, it was safer and easier than trying to cut a path through the creepers that had spread out for miles in every direction.
Hugging the bank Calvin still had to hack through vines crisscrossing their path or dangling from above, fishing for prey.
Vanessa was exhausted, every step was painful, she couldn’t imagine the agony her poor father and Calvin must be in. Neither of them ever complained. How much further could her one legged father go in his condition? A lesser man would have given up hours ago. “You holding up OK Daddy?”
“I’m hurting, but I think I’ve a got another mile or two in me before I drop dead.”
“Daddy, please don’t talk like that.”
“Sorry honey, I’ll be OK, maybe we can take a break soon.”
Ahead a fish leapt, probably trying to escape a gator. Vanesa glanced in the direction of the splash and spotted a glint of metal on a sand bar. “What’s that up there in the weeds?”
Calvin was spent, he’d burned though his reserve of endurance hours ago. He had been prodding forward on auto pilot, sword in hand, slashing at brush, weeds and creepers trudging forward knowing that soon he was going to pass out and crash face first into the mud. “Huh?” He hadn’t heard what Vanessa had said.
“There Calvin, ahead. Is that a boat?”
That got his attention, he scanned the bank but didn’t see anything.
Vanessa pointed to it. “There by that big tree.”
Then Calvin saw it too. It looked abandoned, was it sunk in the mud? All he saw was the bow. He chopped a path though some tall weeds and there it was a flat bottomed aluminum row boat. “Yea, it’s a boat, looks in pretty good shape.”
Vanessa was elated. “We’re saved!” She hugged her parents as relief washed over them.
Calvin turned around and saw the hope on their filthy faces. “We have two problems: One no oars.”
Vanessa chimed in, “Cut a push pole or we can make a paddle?”
“Yes but the other problem is it’s chained to this fucking tree.”
“Oh.” The enthusiasm drained from her face.
It was a big dead oak over six feet in diameter, a thick chain was wrapped around it, secured with a rusty stout pad lock.
Calvin was out of ideas. There was no way he could cut or break the heavy chain or bust open the lock. They all stood dumb founded, as their boat of salvation bobbed in the water, tugging at its steel tether as if it too needed rescue.
A weak voice broke the silence. “I can open that lock.” Michael Fullbright hobbled forward. I had a part in a horrible B movie back in the 80s. Cell Block 13. I’m assuming you didn’t see it.”
“I saw it.” Vanessa grinned. You played a thief who was a master at picking locks.”
“Yes, and to make my performance more realistic, I hired an ex-con to teach how to pick locks.”
Calvin didn’t look convinced. “Don’t you need a set of picks to open a pad lock?”
“Valid point my boy, maybe I can make one. All I need is a thin piece of wire, a paper clip, hair pin. Look in the boat, anything there we can use?”
Calvin climbed into the boat and almost lost his balance when it tipped to one side. “Wow. There wasn’t much here, an empty beer can and a broken bobber. He held them up.”
“Let me see that bobber.”
Calvin brought it to Michael.
Michael snapped it in half. “This might work.” He took the center spring out and the copper clip that held the fishing line and bent it as straight as he could and ended up with a nine-inch copper wire. Then he quickly bent it back in forth until it broke in half. He stuck the end of one piece into a seam in the bow of the boat and carefully bent it 45-degrees. He took the other piece and bent it into a hook. The padlock was rusty, but Michael was determined he inserted the bent wire into the lock and gently pushed it to the right with his thumb. This one’s the tension bar, that’s the easy part. Next he inserted the hook and carefully raked the rusty pins inside. Thunk. The lock popped open and a huge grin of satisfaction spread across his battered face.
“Yes!” Vanessa bounced with joy.
Calvin shook his head in amazement. “Mr. Fullbright, sir. You just saved our lives. Brains trumps brawn every time.”
“We’re a family Calvin. You got us this far with your strength and courage. I’m glad I was finally able to make a contribution.”
Calvin lifted his sword and with one blow cleaved a sampling from the river bank. In seconds he had an eight-foot push pole. “OK, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Vanessa and her parents piled into the boat.
Calvin shoved them off the bank, jumped in and pushed off into the current. The river was only thirty to sixty yards wide with an average depth of five feet.
Michael and Rosa feel asleep in the back of the boat and Vanessa sat in silence listing to the menacing calls of the malevolent jungle on both banks, drowning out the calm lapping of the river on the bow of the boat and the chirping of tree frogs unconcerned about them or creepers.
Calvin stood in the center of the boat, piloting it with his pole when the current became too weak or they drifted too close to a sunken log or large rock.
Hours passed, Calvin had no idea how far they’d floated, he hoped it was ten miles or more: it was four.
The creepers were thinning out. Another hour of floating downstream and the foliage on the banks of the river looked normal. He saw an old boat dock up ahead and poled over to it. There was a yellow mobile home a dozen yards off the bank. It looked deserted.
Calvin secured the bow to the dock with a length of old rope he found on the dock and then gingerly helped Michael and Rosa out of the boat, lifting them out like small children.
Vanessa was last, when he picked her up, his huge hands encircled her waist.
Vanessa looked up into his blue eyes, threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
He held her in a gentle bear hug, then kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. “You have incredible parents. Your Dad is the toughest man I’ve ever met and I see you reflected in your Mother’s eyes. You have your Father’s courage and your Mother’s poise and beauty. FYI If we make it through this alive, I’m going to ask you Dad for permission to marry you.”
Vanessa kissed him gently while holding his handsome, battered face in her hands. “Aren’t you going to ask me first?”
“Nope, rather take my chances with your Dad.”
She laughed and it hurt. “Well, FYI I would say yes if you asked.”
Michael must have sensed he was being talked about. He yelled down. “Hey, glad you two are getting alone but it’s time to make camp. Let’s check this place out.”
Vanessa and Calvin made their way up the bank. The yellow mobile home looked like it had been there for decades. The front door was locked. Vanessa held back the screen door and Calvin hit the door with his shoulder, it didn’t budge.
Rosa walked up beside them. “Let’s try this key before you bust in the door. We might need it.”
Calvin laughed. “Where’d you get that?”
Rosa pointed to a fake rock. “I saw them on the Shopping Channel, back in the 90s. Kind of obvious.”
Calvin took the key and opened the door. The decor was trailer park, 1970s but tidy. Calvin flipped the light switch up and down. “No power.”
Rosa come out of the kitchen. There’s some canned peas, soup and pears. Salt & pepper and some spices, all decades past their sell by date. Good news, there’s water and a propane stove.”
Calvin opened up a closet in the hallway. “Found some fishing rods and a tackle box. I’ll go down to the dock. Maybe I can catch some fish.”
Michael Fullbright had collapsed on the plaid sofa in the living room. He was fast asleep.
Rosa decided to check outside and see if there was anything of use around back. There wasn’t much there, a garden hose and a few sheets of rotten plywood. She saw an old storage shed overgrown with weeds. She managed slide the rusted door open. Then she screamed.
Calvin and Vanessa came running.
Rosa had stumbled back and fallen, too frightened to speak.
Vanessa ran to her mother and helped her to her feet. “What is it?”
Calvin held his sword in his right hand and cautiously slid the dirty, white aluminum door all the way open and peered inside. He stepped back. “Jesus!” Inside a corpse was slumped back on a plastic lawn chair. A 12-gauge shotgun clamped between its bony legs. Most of its head was gone. Calvin figured the body had been there for years. “Looks like a suicide. But look what’s behind him. A generator. See that pipe. It must run on propane. That’s pretty big tank on the side of the house. Maybe I can get it running.”
Vanessa led her mother away. “Please try, it’s so hot inside. If you can get the power on there’s a window air conditioner and a floor fan we can use to cool it down. We all need a good night’s sleep.”
Calvin found switches, a green one and a red one. He flipped on the green one and pushed a start button. The old motor wouldn’t turn over. He saw the problem, the battery next to the generator had probably been dead as long as the corpse in the shed. There was a pulley on the side of the motor, it looked like an old lawn mower pull-start. But there wasn’t a rope on it. He rummaged around in the shed and found an old coil of nylon rope. He tided a screwdriver to one end as a handle and wrapped the other end around the pulley. He jerked the rope, the motor turned over and sputtered. Spitting out a plume of blue smoke. He wrapped the rope around the pulley again and gave it another go. The motor sputtered then came to life.
“Calvin! The power’s on!”
He ran back. The lights were on. Rosa turned on the air conditioner and Vanessa was switched on the floor fan. “It feels cooler already.”
“Yea, feels better. Where’s you Dad?”
Rosa pointed to the door. “He woke up when he heard me scream. He decided to try his luck fishing while you were working on the generator. Why don’t you go take a shower and freshen up? You’ve done enough, we can take it from here.”
The idea of a cool shower sounded great. “Okay, thanks Rosa.” Calvin went into the tiny bathroom and turned on the shower. Nothing came out at first, then the shower head coughed up a trickle of brown water. Calvin figured the pump was busted or there was air in the pipes. He reached over to turn off the tap as it sputtered to life and a spray of cool clear water soaked his head. “Yes!” He undressed and had the best shower of his life. He didn’t even try the hot water, the cold was tepid. He closed his eyes, the water eased his pain. It took half an hour to scrub the blood, sweat and grime off his battered body. He got out and dried off with a towel that smelled surprisingly fresh. He looked at his pile of smelly, soiled clothes on the floor. He tested the hot water tap in the sink, surprisingly after a minute hot water sputtered into the sink. He washed his socks, underwear and what was left of his shirt one at a time with shampoo. His jeans were too big for the sink so he rinsed them off with hot water and soap in the shower. After wringing everything out he wrapped a towel around his waist gathered up his wet clothes and came out.
He smelled fish. Vanessa and Rosa were in the kitchen. Rosa had four fish fillets in the sink rinsing them off. “Look what Michael caught. The big one’s for you.”
Vanessa came up and kissed him on the cheek. “I was wondering what you were up to in there. Did you try and do your laundry in the sink?”
“I had to do something my clothes were filthy and they reeked.”
Vanessa laughed, “There’s a washing machine and dryer in that closest. Give me those. I’ll put them in after our stuff and give them a proper wash.”
As Calvin handed over his wet clothes his towel dropped to the floor. Embarrassed he awkwardly tried to cover his privates with one hand and retrieve the towel with the other.
Everyone laughed. Vanessa felt sorry for him. She could tell his was very self-conscious about his size and nudity. “Come with me dear. There has to be something here that you can wear until your clothes are ready.” They went to the back bedroom and Vanessa began rummaging through the drawers of a small dresser. She assumed the clothes belonged to the body in the shed, unfortunately, he was a small man. “Here these white socks might fit you. T-shirts are all mediums. Oh, look what I found. She pulled out a Glock 9mm and held it up by two fingers as if it might bite her.”
“Careful, it’s probably loaded.” Calvin took it from her, pulled back the bolt and a shell flew out. Yep, cocked and loaded. With a click the magazine dropped out, he picked up the bullet, loaded it in the clip and with one smooth motion replaced it.
Vanessa thought, He’s done this before. It gave her comfort that her man knew how to handle a fire arm when those things were out there hunting them.
Rosa called out to them. “Hey guys, dinner’s ready.”
Calvin and Vanessa went back to the kitchen. Rosa had set the table and there with a platter of fried fish, that she’e battered with stale flour, salt, pepper and canned milk, ten years past its expiration date. She had made tea with old tea bags and stale sugar. It was warm but tasted good. She picked out the biggest fish and put it on a plate and handed it to Calvin.
He smiled. “Thanks, smells good.”
“Please don’t judge my cooking by this meal. We had to make do with what we had. Hope we don’t all get sick.”
Calvin took a bite of his fish and a smile spread across his face. “Rosa this is excellent!” And it was. They all dug in and picked the bones clean.
Calvin finished first and looked over at his dinner companions. “Can’t believe our first dinner together and I’m sitting here butt naked.”
They all laughed.
Vanessa was exhausted. “I’ll go put your clothes in the dryer then I’m going to take a shower. Then I think we should all try and get some sleep.”
Rosa got up and began clearing the table. “Good idea. You go on then your father and I will get ourselves cleaned up. You and Calvin take the back bedroom and will sleep in the living room. I think the coach is sleeper sofa.”
Calvin got up. “Thanks for dinner. That fish really was delicious.” He tried to keep his towel in place as he followed Vanessa to the bedroom. He pulled off the dusty bedspread and tossed it on the floor. The sheets and pillows looked kind of clean. He stretched out on the bed and stuffed a pillow behind his head. “Wonder why he did it?”
“Who knows, but he saved us. I hope he found peace.”
She unbuttoned her shirt and tossed it on the floor, unclipped her bra laid it on the dresser. Then she slipped out of her jeans and took off her panties.
Calvin couldn’t help watching her. She was filthy, there were scratched and bruises all over her but all he could think was: My God she’s beautiful.
She found a flannel shirt in the closet and sniffed it. “Smells like moth balls but it’s clean enough. You OK?”
He smiled at her, “Do you really have to put that shirt on?”
“Men, you’re lying there half dead and all you can think about is . . . I’m going to get my shower now. When I come back . . . I’ll take the shirt off for you.”
Calvin smiled, “Can’t wait. Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
I love you.”
“Yes, I know you do.”
“I love you too.”