I reminded Lisa that I would be using the shot gun shortly and that she probably shouldn't watch that "You could hold Max, just in case he gets a bit upset, give him a hug", she nodded her agreement. As we headed towards the shipwreck and the caravans, I heard the Fog horn go off several more times. Glancing around I caught the little girl in the act of signalling the ship, which dutifully replied, she gave me a cheeky grin. I gave the ship an exaggerated two thumbs up. and got my own blast in return.
The monsters were already stirred up, by the ships horn, they were gathered by the waters edge roaring and snarling at the ship. I stopped, unnoticed about one hundred metres south. retrieved the rifle from the drum and pocketed several shot gun cartridges. Using the rifle, I lined up the biggest one in the group through the telescopic site. Too far away and not a good enough shot, I missed. Manipulating the bolt, I got him with the next one, hitting him in the upper back, well, that caught their attention. They began sprinting towards me. The biggest one wounded but not appreciably slowed.
I think there were ten of them. letting the clutch out, I began closing the distance between us. Picking up the shot gun and hoping the tractor would track fairly ture, I waited til we were about twenty metres apart, the first shot dropped the two in the lead. I pumped another shell through and pulled the throttle all the way down, yelling "Hang on" as we bounced nearer.
The next shot took out the second in line, somehow the leader dodged the shot. Another shell, another shot, another fallen., by the time the fourth shell was in the chamber, we had passed the group. The heavy sand meant they could never match the tractors speed. I travelled about a quarter of a mile up the beach before turning and reloading both guns.
None of those I wounded were dead, they were all up and limping towards me as we neared, the amount of blood leaking out of them meant they probably wouldn't be in the game for long.
Another four shots as we passed through them. two wouldn't be getting back up, three others wounded that I could see. reload and repeat, careful not to get too close, it wouldn't do to have them get too close to the precious cargo patting the dog behind me.
Five runs and still two left standing. The sixth one was the charm. hit the first runner in the leg, and the second mid section, a slow turn and deliver the coup de grace to them both. making sure to do the same to the rest of them, laying in the sand. Reload one last time and head for my beach side home. taking the time to make a lap around the outside of the vans so as to spot any stragglers or encourage them to show themselves, the area appeared empty.
The area under the awning at the front of the van stunk like a pub toilet. Lisa made an "EWW" sound. thankfully they hadn't figured out how to open the door. the inside was unchanged from three days before. All of the battery alarms were buzzing, I fired up the attached cars to charge the batteries and returned to tend to the hungry and still thirsty child.
After feeding her, we shut down the idling cars, Lisa wanted to explore the other vans, she found a lurid pink doona with some little girl emblazoned over it. "Dora" she yelled happily and insisted on bringing it back to the home van. She and the dog curled up on the bed, Lisa insisted on sleeping under the dooner, even though it was already thirty degrees or more, I activated the vans air conditioner. After she drifted off the sleep, I slipped outside to restart the battery charging land cruiser, knowing that the a/c would eat the batteries very quickly.
Back inside the cool van, I opened a coke and began to update this diary. Should I have mentioned her rather than simply hinting at the beginning of this update? Maybe, but maybe not. I would not have found either had it not been for lots of misfortune and a hell of a journey. I felt no malice towards whoever had shot at me on that ship, without them, I'd not have saved the two new friends that slept in the next room.
One of them has woken up, More later.