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  Horizons Beyond the Darkness

  The Pulse Series

  Book V

  Scott B. Williams

  www.scottbwilliams.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and events are all products of the author’s imagination and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Scott B. Williams

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

  Cover photograph: © Johan Swanepoel, file no. 55239508 fotolia

  Cover design by Scott B. Williams

  Editors: Michelle Cleveland, Bill Barker

  06.25.18

  The Pulse Series is an ongoing serial. Each book is an immediate continuation of the earlier story, so for the best reading experience, the books should be read in order, starting with Book 1.

  Here are the links to the current books in the series:

  The Pulse: Book 1

  Refuge After the Collapse Book 2

  Voyage After the Collapse Book 3

  Landfall: Islands in the Aftermath Book 4

  Horizons Beyond the Darkness Book 5

  Be the first to know what’s coming next in this series and my other fiction projects by signing up for my New Release Updates

  One

  MINDY ALLEN WATCHED WITH a feeling of misgiving as the catamaran grew ever smaller with distance, the wind bearing it away to the southeast in the direction from which she and Thomas had just sailed. There was simply no possibility of keeping up with the sleek Casey Nicole in their little 17-foot sloop, even if the two of them weren’t already exhausted from their long sail here from the Jumentos Cays. And so she and Thomas sat watching until her sails disappeared over the horizon, leaving the two of them alone, their tiny boat the only vessel present in a desolate anchorage in the Exumas.

  Mindy wished they didn’t have to wait for morning to leave, and now that darkness was falling, she was struggling to keep her anxiety in control. She knew they had to rest though and she didn’t particularly like night sailing anyway, but this was the first time she and Thomas had been alone since their terrifying encounter in the Florida Keys. With its sweeping sandy beach and distant, rocky crest, this Bahamian island was certainly more cheerful and inviting than that dark hideaway among the mangroves had been. But even so, Mindy could not shake the sense of foreboding that overcame her as she saw the catamaran sail out of sight.

  If Scully were here, she wouldn’t be afraid, but this time it was Scully who needed help and that was why she and Thomas had come. That they actually found the boat they were looking for so quickly in such a vast expanse of sea and small islands was quite a stroke of luck, and it felt good that they had done their part to repay a great debt to the man who’d saved their lives. Mindy just hoped it wasn’t too late. She turned her gaze away from the horizon once the distant sail was gone and looked to Thomas for reassurance. The same rifle that Scully had been shot with was loaded and on the cockpit seat adjacent them. Its presence was comforting as she contemplated the prospect of the two of them spending a whole night there. Neither of them had known a thing about firearms before they met Scully, but the friendly islander with the wild dreadlocks had saved their lives with this very weapon. That encounter awakened them to the need to be armed, and though guns still made them nervous, Scully had shown them both the fundamentals of how to operate the AK-47 as well as the old rifle and handgun he’d taken from their dead attackers.

  “It’s going to be okay, Mindy. We’ll get a good night’s sleep here and tomorrow we’ll have a much easier time of sailing back to join Scully and his friends.”

  “I know. I’m just nervous. I thought it was going to be different over here in the islands, but now I’m not so sure.”

  “It is different, Mindy. That one guy doesn’t change that. He’s never going to hurt anyone again, thanks to you, and now Scully and his friends will all be reunited. They will help us, Mindy. You know what Scully said. All we have to do is sail back there tomorrow and we won’t have to worry about being alone again. This place will be fine for just one night—you can see there’s not another boat or human in sight. We’re in the Out Islands of the Bahamas, Mindy. It’s where we wanted to be all along. It’s going to be okay.”

  Mindy moved to sit beside him and let him put his arms around her. She wanted to believe him, but she was traumatized from all that had happened, especially after they had stopped to help that man that was stranded on a tiny islet. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time and neither of them would have dreamed what would happen next. How could they have known his story was completely concocted and that he’d really stolen the grounded sailboat that was clearly visible in the distance? His explanation of falling overboard seemed entirely plausible, and they couldn’t just leave him there to die on a waterless speck of land. But theirs and Scully’s good faith in a fellow human being almost cost them dearly. Mindy wished she would wake up and discover it was really just a bad dream, but she knew she wouldn’t. She had killed the stranger herself, shooting him in the chest at point blank range with the handgun. She had to do it to save Thomas and Scully, but it still seemed unreal that she could ever do such a thing. There had been no time to think about it when it happened. The man had already managed to shoot Scully, putting him out of action, and if he’d come out on top in his struggle with Thomas, it would have been all over for the three of them.

  “I hope Scully’s friends get there soon and the one that’s a doctor can help him so he doesn’t lose his leg,” she said, thinking about the horrible wound the rifle bullet caused when it went completely through his lower leg.

  “Me too, Mindy. If he does, it’s probably my fault. I don’t know if using a tourniquet was the right thing to do or not.”

  “You had no choice, Thomas. He was bleeding a lot and you had to stop it. Even if he does lose it that’s better than bleeding to death.” Mindy wasn’t just trying to make Thomas feel better by saying this; she truly believed it was necessary. They had managed to stop Scully’s bleeding with pressure and bandages after they moved him aboard the grounded yacht and removed the tourniquet, so maybe it hadn’t been on long enough to do permanent damage. At any rate, he would soon be in good hands when the catamaran arrived. They knew one of Scully’s friends on board it was a doctor. He would know what to do next and that was a real stroke of luck because the odds of getting medical attention for Scully way out here at this time were slim to none otherwise.

  “I know you’re right, Mindy. I just feel so incompetent when it comes to all this stuff—especially dealing with all this violence. Heck, you did far better than me. You’re the one who saved us all in the nick of time, Mindy. You didn’t hesitate to do what had to be done.”

  “I don’t want to think about that anymore, Thomas. I wish I could just forget it.” But even as she said it, she knew she never would. On the passage here they had washed the cockpit of Intrepida as best they could with buckets of seawater, but Mindy knew they would be cleaning blood from the cracks and crevices around the locker lids and hardware for a long time. Then, there was the bullet hole that had to be repaired eventually as well. The AK-47 round had torn through Scully’s leg and continued through the cockpit seat and locker and all the way out through the side of the fiberglass hull. The exit hole was thankfully above the waterline, and Thomas had covered it with duct tape, but that was only temporary and it would have to be fixed right soon. She hoped that Scully’s friends could he
lp them do it, because she wanted to know it was done right. Scully had said he helped his friend build their catamaran entirely from scratch, and she believed him, although she couldn’t comprehend just two people doing so much work.

  She was eager to find out more about it and look it over closely when they returned to the place where the other boat was stuck on the bottom.

  “I hope Scully’s friends will let us stay nearby whenever we get back there,” she said, thinking of the trip tomorrow.

  “They can’t really tell us that we can’t,” Thomas said. “We can anchor our boat wherever we like, just as they can.”

  “I know that. I just mean I hope they don’t mind our company. After what we’ve seen, you know there’s strength in numbers. It seems to me like boat people ought to stick together. Maybe even if they don’t want us around, we could find another community of boaters that would let us in. You know, like how the boat people all lived in the anchorages around Key West before all this happened.”

  “Maybe, but I doubt Scully’s friends will mind if we hang around. We helped him get here, so maybe they’ll be inclined to help us in return. We’ll just have to see how they react tomorrow when we get there. But we can’t ask them for anything. They may have more food and stuff since their boats are bigger, but they’ve got more people to feed too. We’re going to have to be self-sufficient.”

  “Well, we already were before we met Scully. And he said the fishing was really good in the Jumentos. We’ll make it work, Thomas.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just wish we had made it a priority to get a bigger boat sooner. If we had, things would be much easier now.”

  Mindy knew he was right, but she also knew they couldn’t have afforded to upgrade their boat anytime soon, even if they had known this was coming and wanted to. They had bought Intrepida to literally learn the ropes on, as well as to have a means to explore the local waters and reefs near Key West. The plan was to eventually find an old 30-something-footer they could afford to fix up and live aboard, but both of them knew that would be at least a couple of years down the road. But even though it was small and uncomfortable, the little Montgomery 17 had given them a way to escape the impossible conditions on land in the Keys in the days after the blackout. The boat provided mobility and shelter independent of the power grid, and allowed them to access places where they could catch fish and gather other seafood. All in all, Mindy felt they were extremely fortunate compared to most. And now the little boat had even brought them here—to the remote, unspoiled islands of the Bahamas—the very place they had dreamed of someday going when they got their larger boat. And it was even better in some ways. With its shallow draft, Intrepida could go places in these islands larger boats could not. At the moment, they were anchored mere yards away from a beautiful crescent of sandy beach backed by a grove of tall coconut palms. The water was only waist deep, allowing easy wading to shore, and Thomas suggested they do just that so they could build a fire to cook dinner after a quick swim over the reef with mask, snorkel and fins.

  “This is so much nicer than anyplace in the Keys,” Thomas said as they sat staring at the fire long after they had finished eating the small grouper he’d speared. “I like the openness of these islands and the semi-desert vegetation much better than those mangrove swamps back home.”

  “It isn’t as scary,” Mindy agreed. “At least you can see if anyone is nearby. I’ll still feel better when we’re back with Scully and his friends though. I think there’s strength in numbers.”

  Despite the vulnerability she felt with just the two of them there alone, Mindy had to admit that it was nice to have the little boat to themselves again. Even though Scully had slept outside on one of the cockpit seats when he was sailing with them, three people was one two many aboard their little boat. Privacy was out of the question with Scully aboard, so they took advantage of their time alone now that they had it once again, and afterwards Mindy felt quite at ease lying in their bunk in Thomas’ arms. She slept well that night, and when daylight came, the two of them waded ashore to rekindle the cooking fire for a quick breakfast before they cast off for the Jumentos. It was while they were sitting there eating that they heard the sound of an outboard motor and looked up to see a small open skiff round the point. There were three men aboard it who appeared to be local islanders, and upon seeing Intrepida at anchor and the two of them ashore, the one at the controls suddenly reduced power to slow down. Then he turned to point the boat directly towards the beach where Thomas and Mindy were sitting.

  “I wonder what they want?” Mindy said, as she got to her feet as quickly as Thomas.

  “I don’t know, but it looks like we’re about to find out.”

  Mindy suddenly felt overcome by fear once again. The strangers in the boat would be there in seconds and here they were, caught off guard on the beach, the rifles and the pistol that were their only defense still aboard Intrepida and hopelessly out of reach. She thought she might be able get to the boat in time if she bolted into the water at once, but what if whoever was aboard the motorboat meant no harm? She would look ridiculous breaking into such a panic for no reason. When she looked to Thomas to ask what he thought, he gave her a reassuring smile and took her hand. They would simply wait and see. There was probably nothing to worry about. Maybe the three men in the boat simply lived nearby and when they saw the strange sailboat anchored there decided to stop and say hello. That was what Mindy told herself anyway, as she stood there trying to appear calm and relaxed.

  Two

  IT SEEMED TO LARRY Drager he had barely closed his eyes when sunlight streaming through the hatch above his bunk snapped him out of his dreams. He sat up and poked his head out, checking to make sure the Casey Nicole was still secure, anchored in the shallows next to the grounded Sarah J. He hadn’t had nearly enough sleep, since it was well after midnight when they arrived here in the dark. Larry climbed out of his bunk and pulled his shirt on anyway. There was so much to do today the sooner he got started the better, and besides, he wanted to check on Scully. Artie said his friend’s wound was no longer life-threatening, thanks to the actions of the young couple Scully had sailed here with, but even so, Larry knew that taking a round in the leg from an AK-47 at point blank range was no joke. Scully was truly lucky if what Artie assured him was true; that he wasn’t going to lose his leg. His brother was an experienced doctor and Larry believed him, but he knew Scully had a long road to recovery regardless, as his wound was undoubtedly worse than Larry’s own machete-slashed arm. The scars from that cut would be with him for life, along with some permanent nerve damage, but Larry felt fortunate that his arm was still functional at all. He still had a ways to go to get it back to full strength, but it was getting better all the time.

  He stepped into the main cabin area and stood there under the companionway for a moment, staring through the open curtain to the forward bunks where Jessica and Casey were still sleeping soundly, unaware he was up. Jessica had rolled over facing the inboard hull side, her long dark hair spilling over her bare shoulder, her breathing deep and peaceful. Larry would have liked for her to share his bunk once they were back aboard the catamaran, but the two of them had agreed to keep the new development between them low-key around the others. Larry wasn’t quite sure what to make of what happened that night he and Jessica spent stranded on an island after losing the dinghy, but he wasn’t complaining either. That other world in which Jessica had been his niece’s college roommate was gone forever. And much to his relief, apparently too was the tension she felt towards Casey over Grant. Larry wasn’t sure if it was something he did or just the strange ways of women he would never understand, but for some reason Jessica suddenly saw him in a whole different way. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about it, but he couldn’t talk to her or be alone with her at the moment either, so he reluctantly climbed the companionway steps and made his way to the deck of his boat. There was no sign of Grant, so Larry figured he was still asleep too, down below in his bunk in the other hull.
It had been a long night for all of them, on top of many stressful days before, searching for Tara Hancock’s missing boat and daughter, Rebecca.

  They had found the Sarah J. and Rebecca was fine, but the heavy Tartan 37 was hard aground, her long, shallow keel having plowed a furrow into the sandbar beneath her with her sails full on a beam reach. As a result, the hull was still heeled a good twenty-five degrees to starboard, locked into position where she’d come to rest. Rebecca had hit the shoal at full speed, her focus no doubt centered only on getting as far away from Russell as she could and with all haste. Larry couldn’t blame her, and in these waters he knew it could happen to any skipper, even one not under duress and keeping careful watch. The good thing was that the shoal was only sand, rather than a reef of coral or rock that was so common in these waters. He felt confident that the hull was undamaged. The Tartan 37 Classic, of which the Sarah J. was a finely restored example, was heavily built and designed for cruising, her hull layup thick and her rudder and prop protected by a sturdy skeg. Running her onto sand would unlikely have much effect on her seaworthiness, other than the problem of getting her off again. And as Larry stood there staring at her, he knew that pulling the 10-ton yacht back to deep water was indeed going to be a problem.

  He had ideas already, but until he had some morning coffee he didn’t intend to give himself a headache thinking about it. First, he intended to check on Scully. He could reach the other boat with his two-man kayak he’d taken back from Thomas and Mindy in the Exumas, but having to do that just pissed him off all over again as he recalled loosing Tara’s beautiful wooden sailing dinghy to the two thieves near Staniel Cay. He and Jessica had watched helplessly as they sailed it away, taking with them his expensive binoculars and his shotgun. He knew it could have been worse though. They could have simply shot him and taken Jessica as well. And he knew too that it was his own fault for being careless; the incident being just one more to reinforce the truth that no place was really safe now, no matter how desolate and remote it might seem. That was true in the Exumas and it was true here too, even in this little chain of tiny cays surrounded by shoal waters. Larry knew they couldn’t stay here long, but he’d hoped they could at least regroup and make careful plans before setting sail to somewhere else, wherever that might be.