Free The Perseid Collapse by Steven Konkoly Page B

her back,” said Ed, nuzzling his forehead into the back of his wife’s neck.
    “What if it’s not fine? What if Charlie’s right and the cars are dead? Shit. They’re probably flooded and useless anyway.”
    “She’ll be fine. Alex’s son is a few miles away at BU. Ryan’s like a mini-Alex. They’ll find each other and survive until we can get them back. Ryan has her address, and unless I’ve read all of the signals wrong, the kid is still crazy about her. I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but he’s probably on his way to her apartment right now,” Ed whispered.
    Samantha relaxed infinitesimally and nodded, which was a start.
    “The water’s receding!” Charlie announced.
    Everyone piled into the hallway to verify Charlie’s dubious report. Daniel pushed past them and walked down the stairs to the waterline.
    “This is unreal,” he said, plucking their wooden napkin holder out of the water.
    “Careful, Danny,” cautioned Ed.
    The water’s retreat was barely noticeable, but Charlie was right. The water sat an inch below the ceiling line and appeared to lower another inch while they watched.
    “Samantha?” Charlie called.
    They all looked back at their red-faced, crew-cut neighbor.
    “You don’t worry one bit about Chloe. I’ll help you get her back safe. You can count on me for that. If we have to push a shopping cart to Boston to get her, then that’s what we’ll do.”
    “Thank you, Charlie. I really don’t know what to say,” said Samantha. Her eyes moistened, but she held back the tears.
    “You don’t have to say anything. I consider you guys family. That’s just what we do,” he said. Ed opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Charlie interrupted. “Don’t get all feminine on me, Ed. One thank you from the family is all I can handle,” he said, slapping Ed on the shoulder.
    “Thanks anyway. That means more than you know. One question, though. Why the hell would we need to push a shopping cart to Boston?”
    “I don’t know. That’s what they do in all the apocalypse movies and books.”
     

Chapter 10
    EVENT +03:42 Hours
    Portland Harbor
    Portland, Maine
    The Katelyn Ann cut through the debris-clogged water off Portland’s Eastern Promenade at five knots, as Alex did his best to steer between the larger obstacles, ignoring the smaller ones. His real concern was the quality of the water. Whatever had reached the outer harbor through Portland’s main shipping channel had churned up the bottom, dragging along an incredible amount of seaweed and mud. The seaweed tended to wrap around the propeller shaft, putting an additional load on the engine. The muddy water congested the filter supplying seawater to the engine’s cooling system.
    He felt a solid thump against the hull, which activated his “boat preservation” instinct. He dropped the throttle and put the engine in neutral, hoping to save the propeller if something large scraped along the boat’s hull. He glanced over the side and saw a partially submerged, overturned motorboat, roughly half the size of the Katelyn Ann , pass astern.
    “That’s the kind of shit you need to call out!” he yelled to Kate, reengaging the propeller.
    “I didn’t think you could miss that!”
    “Well, I did miss it! I’m watching the gauges!”
    Kate nodded, mumbling under her breath. No doubt a few caustic words, fueled by the tension of their approach to the harbor. Kate had been stationed on the bow for nearly an hour. The hour and a half transit turned into two and half hours when they decided to avoid the main shipping channel, opting to navigate the Hussey Sound between Long Island and Peak’s Island.
    Studying the charts below deck, Kate had made a sobering observation about the geographic orientation of the channel. The channel ran north to south, partially obscured from direct southern exposure by a long stretch of shoreline off Cape Elizabeth and South Portland. If a second wave arrived, it would no doubt slow