Homeward Bound, Part Five by patricia51

(Yo Ho Ho?)

Claire shaded her eyes and looked seaward. "Is that a boat out there?"

"Does it appear to be another yellow Hummer?" asked Sam without opening his eyes.

The pair had been sprawled on the hood of their vehicle, parked facing the ocean and the wind whipping in from the water. The rest of the group was parked below them in a bit of a dip in the road. The noon time meal was being heated over a small fire while Chris and Carlos did some routine maintenance. Angie was determinedly attempting to make some new concoction for lunch that Jill and Alice were trying not to look at too dubiously.

Originally the former convoy leader and the ex-Umbrella pilot had been leaning back against the windshield, their sides pressed together. They had been holding hands and giving each other the occasional kiss. Every few minutes they carefully scanned the surrounding countryside. They didn't want any more surprises like the attack of the huge dog pack last week.

They had been fortunate there. Alice's T-virus sharpened senses had picked up something was wrong but it was Carlos who had first reacted and got everyone moving even before the pack had come into sight.

"How did you know?" he had been asked.

"I knew something was wrong from the way Alice was reacting." He had smiled at his wife. "But then I remember a sign I had seen on the road just a little bit ago. It was falling down but the arrow on it announced the way to the County Humane Society. I just knew what had happened there."

And it had. Sam grimaced as he recalled the sight of the site once dedicated to help and save animals. The remnants of the staff had still been there. It had been easy to deal with them but the still caged horrible changed dogs and other animals that had been almost heart breaking. A find of low velocity twenty-two ammo had allowed them to put all those animals out of their misery. K-Mart and Angie had NOT been allowed to go inside while this all went on.

Speaking of K-Mart, Sam pushed himself up on his arms and opened one eye. Yep, there she was, up on the other rise, proud as a peacock to be allowed to be on guard. She had her pistol belt around her waist, her shotgun slung over her shoulder and a pair of binoculars hung around her neck. As he watched she raised the binoculars and made a steady careful sweep of the area. Without lowering the binoculars from her eyes she waved as her gaze swept over the pair on the hood. Sam waved back, closed his eye and leaned back again on the windshield.

His comfort lasted about two seconds before he received a hard poke in the ribs.

"I'm serious Sam. Look."

Reluctantly Sam sat up, mumbling as he did. "If I didn't love you Claire Redfield I swear..."

"I love you too Sam Treadwell," Claire cut him off. "But damn it LOOK!"

Sam sat up. Damn, he thought, it WAS a boat. Turning, he whistled loudly. When he had everyone's attention he waved to the group to come join them. Shortly the entire group was peering out to see with the sole exception of K-Mart who was keeping watch on the landward side and Angie who was finishing lunch.

"It's a sailboat," said Alice.

"Uh-huh," agreed Chris. "A three hulled one; I forgot what they're called."

"Catamaran?"

"Beats me."

Jill let out a couple of words that she was glad Angie couldn't hear and ran back down to the vehicles. She ransacked the cargo compartment and then sprinted back up the rise. In response to the questioning looks everyone was giving her she displayed the flare gun she was holding.

"What do you think?"

Carlos shrugged. "I doubt zombies are sailing that. And Umbrella, they go for flashier stuff. Even if they were using boats they'd be fast showy motor boats, not a sailing vessel."

"And if they had those," put in Chris, "I doubt they would have been searching the world for mercenaries to guard a ship."

"So?" Jill asked.

Looks were exchanged. "Yes," said Alice.

There was a loud report and a smoke trail lifted into the sky. At its apex there was another explosion and a red star cluster traced its bright color against the blue sky.

For several moments nothing happened. Then two figures made small by the distance appeared on the boat. They ran about purposefully and the set of the sails changed. The bow swung towards the survivors. Straining eyes detected various things being waved towards the shore. Waved very rapidly.

"Is it just me," asked Claire thoughtfully, "or does something about that waving and the rapid change of course seem a bit frantic?"

"Something isn't right," her brother agreed. "Even realizing there are people here you would think they would be a little more cautious about approaching strangers. They're coming in a bit hell-for leather."

"I think that would explain it," said Sam who had fished out the other pair of binoculars from the back seat of his and Claire's SUV.

"What?"

"Those motor boats we were just talking about," the ex-pilot replied. "Here they come." He continued to study the fast approaching shapes as they became clearer in the lenses. "Oh you have got to be shitting me!" he suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Alice asked urgently, as did most of the others.

Wordlessly Sam handed Alice the binoculars. She looked and her jaw nearly dropped.

"Are those boats actually flying the Jolly Roger?" she demanded of the world in general and Sam in particular.

"Looks like," was the laconic reply.

"Shit."

"I said that."

As the sailboat plunged shoreward the survivors exploded into action. Claire pulled the SUV down below the ridgeline and out of sight. K-Mart was called in from the other side of the draw. Angie joined her and the two teens scampered up the hill to be with their parents. Angie brought her culinary masterpiece along; insisting after she took a quick look that there was time to eat.

To please her daughter Jill took an extra large helping even as she kept one eye on the approaching boats. Chris of course followed suit. Nodding their approval they got seconds and everyone else pitched in. It wasn't gourmet food but it was hot, filling and pretty tasty.

"Good job sweetie," praised Chris.

An unknowing observer might have been struck by the casual attitude of the group, eating a meal even as what looked to be a fight was approaching. But just as combat veterans have learned in every generation, you eat and sleep when you had the chance because you didn't know when that chance might come around again. Besides, as Carlos noted, he fought better on a full stomach.

The first shots of that fight came from the pursuing motor boats. At first it was simply rifle shots but then a machine gun opened up from the leading craft. Splinters flew from the sail boat and the two occupants, now close enough to be seen as females, fell flat. If they were armed there was no sign of it and unless they had automatic weapons there would be little point in shooting back anyway.

The sailboat yawed wildly, the sails flapping uselessly for a moment. Braving the continual fire one woman leaped to the tiller and the other to the ropes. The boat swung back towards the waiting survivors again before near misses chased the two crew women back to cover.

Claire's sniper rifle spoke. The machine gun fire sprayed wildly as the gunner slumped to the deck of the boat he was firing from. Another figure leaped to the bow mounted weapon. Before he could bring the sailboat under fire again he too dropped.

The rifle fire didn't stop, although it became more inaccurate as the gunmen aboard the pirate craft took cover. Bullets began to splatter along the crest of the rise the survivors were sheltering behind. Everyone kept low and avoided offering any target, the pirates' fire was wildly inaccurate and they were out of range of anything except Claire's rifle. Anxious peeks were taken at the sailboat; the pursuers were gaining fast although the boat was closing in on the beach as quickly as could be expected.

Too quickly, Alice realized when she snuck a look. There was a crunching sound, easily audible over the gunfire as the boat drove itself aground. Shrouds snapped and the towering mast swayed and then broke, spilling the large sail over the entire front half of the boat.

The pursuers stopped shooting, probably because there wasn't any target for them to aim at. The group on land searched the water around the boat.

"There," Angie grabbed her mother's arm and pointed. A woman was floundering through the chest high breakers. Behind her only a few feet was the other one. One of the motor boats must have spotted them as well because it swooped closer and the men on it started shooting again.

Now they were close enough. Except for the girls and Sam, whose shotguns were out of range, the survivors rose slightly and opened fire. They fired single, carefully aimed shot and it didn't take long for the pirate boat to roar back out to sea and join the others before they disappeared over the horizon.

The moment it was clear that the attackers were fleeing Carlos and Alice were up on their feet and running down the rise to the beach and then into the water. Both of them had seen the two escaping women were not making in through waves to the shore. In fact, the one in the rear was being pulled back out to sea and was only struggling feebly. Alice went after her while Carlos, joined by Sam and covered carefully by Jill at the water's edge and Clair up high, splashed out until they could grab the closer woman and pull her to safety.

The waves breaking over Alice's head, submerging her for moments at a time caused K-Mart to bounce up and down anxiously until she saw her mom had the second woman in a lifesaving grip and was towing her to shore. She rushed to meet her Dad and Sam and then waited on the beach until she could help her mother pull the other woman to safety and then carry the almost unconscious woman up and over the rise and down to the convoy's camp, where she was treated for shock and hypothermia.

All attention turned to the first woman who was covered in a blanket with a hot cup of tea that Angie had fixed for her in her hands. Alice was the one who spoke first.

"What in the world is going on?"

The woman looked over the group, shivering under her blanket. Her eyes were pleading. "Please. Please help us."

(To be continued)