Broken Safe Haven

Katelyn froze. The blood-curdling scream chilled her more than the tepid water of the lake. She floated quietly and looked around, eventually settling her gaze on the cabin she and her family were staying in. Her mom came running out the door to the lakeshore, waving her arms and shouting. There was another scream, this time farther away but just as chilling. Katelyn's heart pounded in her ears, nearly drowning out her mom's voice. The words reached her ears, but the meaning did not reach her mind. She floated and tried to calm herself enough to concentrate. She was far shore, and it took some effort to decipher the words. Finally, Katelyn was able to focus on her mom's words: "Please let me know you're ok!"

Katelyn waved an arm in the air and shouted back, "I'm ok." Her mom relaxed, but kept shouting, "Oh, thank god! We have to go, hurry up, and get back here."

She then noticed her dad run out of the cabin door, carrying two half-zipped duffel bags. He frantically hauled them over to the SUV and threw them in the back, then raced back into the cabin. It was at the moment she realized something serious was going on. She began to swim the breaststroke toward shore. When she came up for air, she heard her mom still shouting. She recognized panic in her mom's voice, though she couldn't make out the words as she swam. The next time she came up for air, it was silent. An uneasy feeling overwhelmed her, and she suddenly became too weak to swim. She stopped and looked toward shore. Her heart sank when she saw her mom face down on the ground, motionless, lifeless. Her dad came bounding out of the cabin again, carrying another bag and some loose items. A muffled shot pierced the silence, and he collapsed on the ground. Katelyn screamed in a whisper.

Before panic could fully get a grip on her, Katelyn noticed movement near the far side of the cabin. A man carrying a rifle came out of the trees. He was followed by three more men carrying rifles, and a fifth man stalked around the SUV. They nudged Katelyn's parents, ensuring they were dead, then the first man said something and gestured toward the cabin. The three men behind him went inside.

The fifth man said something to the first man and pointed out into the lake. The first man raised his rifle and looked through his scope in Katelyn's direction. "Shit," she whispered. She tipped her face up toward the sky and tried to make herself as small as possible. It didn't work. She couldn't hear the shot with her ears underwater, but she saw the splash of the impact a mere 18 inches in front of her and slightly to the right. It startled her, and she gulped a mouthful of water and nearly choked. She coughed as she turned and started swimming as fast as she could. She hadn't chosen a direction any more deliberately than simply "away from the guns". The water splashed around her as bullets came close but very fortunately missed their target.

She had only been swimming for a couple of minutes before the bullets stopped. She slowed, then floated. In her panic, she had been swimming hard and fast. Had society not collapsed, she might even have set a new speed record for her college swim team. The men were barely visible specks, and the cabin simply a brown dot (it didn't help that Katelyn was missing her glasses). She was now closer to the shore on the other side of the lake and slowly swam over to it.

She didn't feel safe. She shivered and wondered if other killers were in the woods nearby. She sat on the gravelly shore with the water gently lapping against her feet. Her heart was still pounding, her mind was racing. She couldn't even cry; she just felt like the whole universe had collapsed around her.

Hours went by. The reflection of the sun on the water finally brought her back to reality. It would be dark soon, and she had nothing: no shelter, no blankets, no clothes, no shoes. Could she go back to the cabin? Was it safe? Who were those men? Why did they come? Unable to think of a viable alternative, she decided going back to the cabin was her best option. At a minimum, she needed supplies, and maybe the men had left the SUV. She thought about swimming back across the lake, but the idea of getting back in the water frightened her. Aside from a fear of getting shot at again, it was starting to get dark, and the water would become cold.

The trek around the lake to the cabin was arduous while barefoot in a swimsuit. She tried to stay hidden near the tree line and, in doing so, sustained several cuts and bruises on her feet and ankles. At one point, she stepped on something squishy that made an awful squeal. Startled, she jumped back and watched a toad frantically hop away.

At the further expense of her feet, she hid herself in the bushes and trees as she approached the cabin. The SUV was still there, though it appeared to be empty now. One of the men had taken her father's boots. The cabin was quiet, no sign of movement or any of the men from earlier. Katelyn approached slowly. Darkness was closing in; the sun was no longer visible, and the sky was an orange-purple gradient.

The cabin door was wide open, and it was dark inside. From what Katelyn could see, the men had ransacked the place. All the food was gone, and medical supplies and hygiene products were missing. She stepped quietly toward the back of the cabin to the room she had been staying in, leaving bloody footprints along the way. All of her things were in disarray. She sat on the bed, the mattress crooked from the ransacking. The nightstand had been emptied and one of the drawers flung across the room, but it was still upright. She placed a bloody foot on it and pushed the nightstand over. Hidden beneath was a first-aid kit and a small sack of protein bars.

As she cleaned her cuts with alcohol wipes, her tears of pain melded with her tears of grief. Once she had bandaged herself up, she pulled the comforter over and cried herself to sleep.

To be continued...