The Salk Island West Legacy Gen.1, Ch.1

Generation One, Chapter 1 They stood and looked around them. They had made it ashore, but they wouldn’t be going anywhere else. The boat was a leaky wreck, and half their carefully-packed supplies had been washed overboard during the storm. But they were still alive, which was a definite bonus!
Looking out at the now-calm sea, it was hard to believe what the weather had been like. Nell shivered slightly, as she thought about how easily Penny might have been swept overboard. Jon was thinking about their flight from their home. A neighbour had risked his own life to warn them.
“You’ll be all right, Jon. You’re so obviously from Sautach. But your Istrian wife? And your Istrian-looking daughter? My advice to you is to go, now, while you still can. Before the killing starts.”
And they had done just that – packed a boat and fled, heading for Salk Island, which was an Istrian territory. Nell even had relations there – distant ones, but relations nevertheless. They would help them start a new life there. And Istria was not the political powder keg that Sautach was. They were both competent sailors, and knew they could cope with three months at sea. Then the storm had blown up. “Look,” Jon said. “You were so right to avoid this inlet last night, and go round the headland. If we’d tried to land here, we’d have been smashed to bits on those rocks. But where are we?” The island – or at least, the part they’d landed on – looked harsh and forbidding. Steep rocky hills surrounded small valleys with a few trees in them.
“I don’t know – or at least, I’m not sure. Last night’s storm blew us so far off-course, we could be anywhere. What I’m worried about is whether we got swept into the Western Rip.” Jon winced. The Western Rip was a nasty current – if you got swept into it, you were very lucky indeed to make land at all. They kept on walking – they had to find water. Jon heard it first.
“Look – water! And something else too.”
The something else was what looked like old mine workings. Heaps of rubble littered the ground – some of it was obviously spoil from the mine, but some of it looked as though there had been either a major landslide or an earthquake. Or both.
“I think I know where we are,” Nell said. “I think this is Salk Island West. It used to be inhabited – mining and farming and fishing mostly – until there was a big earthquake and tsunami. After the damage that caused, the island was abandoned.”
“Salk Island West? So are we near Salk Island then?”
Nell shook her head. “No. Salk Island West is about a hundred and fifty miles away. At least.”
They were going to have to find a way to survive, here. Water – well, they’d found that. Food – there were plenty of fish in the sea, and they had the rods on the boat. Warmth wasn’t going to be a problem: there was plenty of wood on the island. Shelter – now that was going to be the remaining challenge. Jon prowled round the hut-like structure, and to his joy found that it had been a store for tools: in the lean-to at the side he found a pickaxe. Now he could clear this rubble, and they’d have their shelter too! “Listen to Daddy, making that big noise!” Nell sat down and played with Penny. The little girl had coped really well with the voyage – partly, Nell thought, because she had no idea of the danger they’d been in. Finally, Jon had cleared away enough rubble for them to see into the hut.
It was a bathroom! Obviously built for the miners to use – and, inside on the floor, two big bags.
“Tents! They must have been using them after the earthquake! Nell, we’ve got shelter as well!” They continued looking round the rest of the site, and Nell spotted the half-wall sticking out from under a pile of rubble. It looked like part of a building – and there was something under the rubble as well.
“Let’s find out what that is, Jon. Anything might be useful.” It was a cot! Battered and marked, but a cot nevertheless.
“This must have been a child’s bedroom once. I do hope the child wasn’t hurt.” Jon set to clearing some more of the rubble round the room in the hope of finding something – anything – else. A child’s potty came to light, but not much more. “We need food as well, Nell – let’s take the rods out of the boat and see what we can catch. Then tomorrow, we’ll move the heavy stuff up here as well.”
But as Jon fished patiently, he did begin to think that they might be able to survive after all. They sat that night cooking their fish over the open fire. Firewood was no problem – there was plenty of it all around the place just for the picking up. And both of them were pretty handy with a flint and steel, especially when there was such a good layer of bone-dry pine needles to use for kindling. Their eyes met, and they both knew what the other was thinking.
“I think we might be able to make a go of this.” Nine weeks later, Nell was fishing as the sun rose – and wishing she didn’t feel so sick. They had indeed survived, and were coping, though only just. It was very clear now that they were not going to be rescued by some passing ship. There were no passing ships. The Western Rip meant that shipping from one side gave Salk Island West a wide berth – and there was no reason for anyone to call there for trade purposes any more.
“I need more fruit and vegetables,” she thought. “No wonder I’m feeling sick on this endless diet of fish. I think it’s time to try and grow some stuff of our own. We need to explore a bit more, and see if we can find any wild fruit or plants that we could grow.” There was a reason Nell had been feeling sick. She’d had to get out some of the clothes they’d brought with them, as her (somewhat ragged) dress was too tight. Jon decided they’d better go and explore before she was too big and heavy to enjoy the journey. They walked right to the other end of the island, and spotted what looked like a house. As they got closer, they saw that it, too, was a ruin. This close to the sea, it was probably the tsunami that had damaged this so badly. Round the back of the house was a neglected garden. Nell picked her way through the brambles, and spotted plants underneath the brambles. This had clearly once been a productive kitchen garden, and one or two plants had somehow survived. She set to, picking whatever she could find to pick. They’d plant some, and eat some. In the distance, she could see other buildings, and hopefully they, too, would have plants in them as well.
“We’ll go and look at those next,” she promised herself. Jon played with Penny at the front of the house, and wondered about the people who had once lived here. He hoped they’d all managed to escape. At least there weren’t any skeletons lying around, so that did suggest that they had got away safely. They couldn’t get to the other houses! This first one had been on a little peninsula of its own. It looked as though there had once been a bridge between it and the other side, but it had been washed away.
“We’ll have to go round by the head of the river – not tomorrow, because we’re all tired from today. Maybe the next day though?”
Nell nodded. “We’re going to have to plan for the long term, aren’t we, Jon? We’re not going to be getting away from here any time soon.”
“No. I don’t think we are. You’re right, my love – we need to plan for a long-term future.”