In the early days of the outbreak, Zephy kept to her boat with her crew. As the count of the sick began to grow and more she became more and more nervous about being in the marina proper. Packing the boat with dried goods and restocking all her fishing gear she was able to take herself, Zephy sailed her mother and her crew away from the marina. Dropping anchor a good mile offshore she and the crew waited. Even as their supplies thinned they pushed on. When the watermaker broke down on them Zephy had to make the tough call to go to shore in the tender boat.They needed more supplies and parts to repair the maker.

It was in this run that Zephy, Chris and her crew were separated from one another. Leaving the two to return to the boat with little supplies they had and a wake of the dead trying to follow them. Zephy had been grateful that the radios still worked but knew they would soon run out of batteries for them. It was in the weeks to come that those batteries gave out, leaving Zephy and Chris to wonder if her mother and the rest of their crew was still alive. They’d taken shelter at the business office, where a lot of supplies were kept, as well as some spare parts. But it wasn’t everything the boat needed for sure. 

Standing on the upper the upper deck, a mug of coffee in her hand, Zephy chewed on her thumb nail lightly as she looked out over the blue ocean water that her yacht gently rocked in with the lazy calm waves. She thought things over to herself, wondering if it would be worth the risk to start making more runs to the marina. Shaking her head a little she jumped when Chris spoke.

Chris stood watch as well, looking out through the bridge ports with his high power binoculars. “The marina seems clear. If we come in around sunrise, the wind will be coming off the shore, washing away the noise. Any geeks out there will have to look into the sun to see us, not something they like to do. We can motor most of the way in with the wind the way it is, and then paddle the rest. We come in, in a straight line from the end of the docks. The angle should be shallow enough to give us some cover. The marina is down from the boardwalk, so if we stay low and come up to the edge of the board walk, we should be able to move in, crouched. Or at least I can. Keep it quiet and see if I can’t get to my gear in my car. I’ve got another gun, ammo, armor, some other useful things.” 

He picked up a cup of coffee of his own which was resting on the console. “If I can borrow a spear gun, that would be great, and a couple or three rods. I’ve got a suppressor for my pistol but it still makes noise. A speargun is quieter and the ammo is reusable.” 

Zephy nodded to his question, “You know where everything is. I just want you to be careful.” She said as she finally took a drink of her coffee. “I’ve been thinking about raiding some of the other boats in the marina. Easiest way is going to be to cut their mooring lines and tow them out, drop anchor and work from there.” She said as she turned to look at him finally, “What do you think about doing that as well soon?”

“I think that the Marlin doesn’t have enough muscle to do the job. We’d have have to take the Tide Runner in close, which isn’t ideal. Or we could work in tandem, Take the marlin bring it in, drop off someone who boards the boat clears it and fires it up and pilots it out. The other thing to consider, if we bring the boats out… they’re going to drift, even if anchored. But if we start lashing and anchoring them together its not so big of a deal.”

Zephy chuckled a little, “Well we could start by bringing houseboats out. Make a place for people we find, get them away from the shore some. Its not like we’re super far out. And I doubt these deadbeats swim, plus with the sharks naturally in the area… I don’t think it would matter too much.”

“Sharks aren’t that big of a problem… unless we chum for ‘em,” he said. “Might be better to tow, as long as we’ve got some AMSteel line. Some of those boats might not start up too fast, or might take a while to get going. I don’t want to be a sitting duck that long. For now though, I want to see if I can get to my gear and maybe get your mom, Shelly, and Andre out of there.” 

“Yeah, I don’t like not having them with us. Don’t feel right.” She said as she finally stepped into the bridge and set her coffee down. “Want me to troll in with you or you want to go it alone this time?” Zephy asked as she pulled her hair back into a low ponytail.

Chris took a moment to fish his pistol out of his waistband, then dug into his haversack and put a quartet of magazines into his left front pocket. The fifth went into his Sig. He fished the titanium suppressor out of his haversack, which had been jokingly referred to as his man-purse more than once. Quickly he attached the silencer and made sure it was good and tight. He’d need to get or make a holster he could use with the suppressor attached.

“I wouldn’t worry about coming with me. I can radio for pickup or for you to run if I’m quick, Unless you really want to come ashore. But it’s not going to be fun.” 

“Might be best for me to stay here, see if I can get the watermaker to pump a few more gallons for us. Might set a few lines out see if I can catch anything.” Walking up to him she gave him a quick kiss, “Be careful. I don’t want to be the only one left on this boat. I might start talking to the fish if you don’t come back.” She said as she ran her fingers through his short hair a little.

“Have you tried back-flowing the pumps to see if you can knock out any of the salt in the filters, or is it the pumps themselves,” he asked Zephy. “If I can get to my car I can find a good repair shop that might have what we need, or we might have to find another yacht…. Might look at a boat seller to see if they have records of their boats and the boat equipment aboard.”

“The shop that’s next to the scuba gear place should have what we need, I was gonna try back flushing them and then pulling the filters but I think it may be the pump itself. If we can get the parts, replacing them isn’t that hard, its getting the parts right now.” She said as she let her hand fall to his shoulder and skim down his arm.

Chris nodded. “While I’m there, I’ll see if the Scuba shop has anything worthwhile. I mean basic gear is okay, but.. if they have any spear guns or spears I might pick them up.” 

“We could always use more spears around here, I know I’ve lost a few over the years from seals and sharks stealing kills.” She said smirking a little. “Anything really you can bring back is good, but I’d for sure see if we can bring the rest of our crew back.”

“I’ll see what I can do. One thing at a time though,” Chris replied. 

---
Half an hour later, Chris was sitting in the Marlin, a little tender boat that would move pretty fast on open water. It was as fast or faster than a bass boat, and it handled well. He sprinted a half mile in, only to run the motor down until he was catching the tide and killed it, leaving only a trolling motor going while he paddled carefully so as not to let the sound carry. Soon he was at the docks and was pushing along where he could until finally he killed all motor, and drifted, coming close in, until he could lash the boat to a pylon, then climbed up onto the dock proper, crouching down against the side of the boardwalk, peering over the lip. There were only a few at the moment, scattered about. A quick headcount revealed just under ten. Not bad.