I took back the controls and took one last look at my once beautiful city and watched it burn.

We drove for about 30 minutes, the water splashing over, slowly washing off some of the blood. It had dried onto my clothes already. It was sticky and warm, the fabric was stuck on the sweat on my back. I had one arm on Shannon, who was staring off into the distance. I think she was in shock. My other hand was on the wheel, steering the boat to god knows where. As long as I went in a different direction then from where I came, I was fine. I needed some time to think so I cut the engine. "Why'd you stop?" Shannon asked. "I, uh, I need some quiet."

I heard a low, rumbling sound somewhere to my right but I couldn't see anything. "Hey, you here that?" I said. Shannon nodded. "What is it?" she said. "Don't know."

As the crest of the wave next to me fell I could see a white object heading in the same direction we were going. It was another boat. It had a megaphone on top and some type of blue writing on the hull. "I think that's S.W.A.T" I said with a relieved sigh. "Thank god!" said Shannon, standing up to get a better look. I opened the small compartment on the dashboard of the boat and got my binoculars. "It is S.W.A.T!" I exclaimed.

"Help!" Shannon screamed.

I waved my arms in the air and yelled, "Hey! Over here! We need some help!" We continued yelling and I saw the boat turn towards us. "They're coming." I told Shannon.

As they got closer I could see five officers clothed in full riot gear. One had a sash of grenades over his vest. The boat pulled up close to us and the officers drew their guns. "Drop all your weapons on the deck! Now!" One yelled. I raised my hands in the air and slowly reached down to pull the knife out of my belt, holding it with two fingers to show I wasn't a threat. I then dropped on the deck and said, "There's four more knives and a revolver in the dash."

"How many bullets?" The one who spoke earlier said.

"Six."
"Yes"

He nodded. "So why's there blood all over you?"

"Different gun."

"You don't have it on you?"

"No." I replied.

"Was it a zed?"

"A-a what?"

"A zed! You know? Those crazy fuckers?"

"I- I don't know. Yeah, I think."

"You knew him?"

I hesitated, remembering Bradley's blown off face, I hung my head. "He was a good man." He nodded, then jumped onto my boat, rocking it a little. He walked past me and pointed to the compartment "In here?" He asked. I nodded. He opened it up and pulled out each of the knives one by one, putting them on the driver's seat. "Four knives..." He said, opening the gun case. ",and a revolver." He flicked open the drum, spinning it to count the bullets. "It's got six shots. So, you've been truthful to me so far. What were ya'll screamin' about?"

"We barely made it out of Santa Barbara, had no idea where to go. My wife's pregnant, she's tired and terrified and in shock. We need some help."

"Well," He said, "You still got gas?"

"Yeah, uh, about half a tank."

"Good, you'll follow me then. Name's Frank by the way."

"Vincent." I said shaking his hand.

"And the lady?"

"Shannon." She said.

"Alright," Frank said. "This here's J.D., that's Conner, Willie, and that's Nick."

Each officer raised their hand in greeting as their name was called. Frank climbed back onto the S.W.A.T. boat and said. "You stick close to me now, ya hear? There's some crazy ass people out here."

"Got it." I said. "Hey, where are we going anyway?"

"Someplace safe." He replied. "Hopefully..."