Sea (A Stranded Novel) (5 page)

The man looked up into the sky and then rubbed his hands over his face.
“Argg! Okay, but I can’t take you to B.C. I’m only going as far as Washington. You’ll have to find your own way from there!”

Emily sobbed out a
‘thank you’ and turned to Lisa and hugged her. She was so happy that they were getting out of here that she didn’t even care when the girl pushed her away. Mason and David were thanking the man who introduced himself as Tim Greyson.

“Alright, we only have about an hour before we lose the light to navigate out of here. We should really just stay here for tonight but I’m worried about looters and gangs showing up, not to mention the fires that are burning out of control. So go get your friend. You should be able to just drive the golf carts right out onto the dock. We’ll load up and see about getting some more gas. Most of the boats will have
jerrycans on board and extra water. We’ll grab whatever we can in the next forty minutes and then we’re out of here.”

While Mason and David jogged back to get the golf carts and Mark, Emily and Lisa boarded the boat.

“Ladies, welcome to the Lawless,” Tim said.

Lisa just laughed at the name but Emily froze and turned concerned eyes to him.

When he saw her apprehension, Tim was quick to explain. “No, no, it’s not like that! I’m a lawyer and sailing is my escape from work, hence the name. Don’t worry - you guys are safe with me. I’ve got two younger sisters that I adore and the thought of them being stuck in this city was one of the main reasons I agreed to take you guys with me.”

Emily’s expression softened and she smiled gratefully at him. “You really are saving our lives. We probably wouldn’t have made it two days in there
,” she said as she waved towards the smoky cityline.

“Hey
, Tim, do you have a washroom on board? It would be great if we could get cleaned up. We’ve been walking all day,” Lisa asked with a flirty smile.

“Oh, yeah, sure I’ll give you a quick tour while we wait for your friends to get back. Come on down.” He led them down into the boat and Emily was surprised with how much room there was. The main living area had a small kitchen and bench style dinette with a built
-in couch across from it. Tim showed them the two bedrooms at the back of the boat and then went back to the stairs and opened a door beside them that led into another small bedroom. He finally turned to the side and opened a door that led into a tiny bathroom that had a toilet and the smallest shower that Emily had ever seen.

Lisa brushed past them and with another flirty smile
, shut the bathroom door in Tim’s face.

“Oh, right! Sorry, forgot you had to go. Just take it easy on the water. We don’t have much and we have to conserve it
,” he yelled through the door.

Emily thought she heard a muffled “Whatever” from behind the door and suggested they go back up and see if the boys had returned. The last thing she wanted was for Tim to see Lisa’s true colors and change his mind before they had even left the marina.

The boys hadn’t returned yet so Emily tried to get to know Tim better. “This is a pretty big boat for one person, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Yeah, it really is. I should have bought something smaller a while ago but I’m sentimental about the Lawless. My
dad helped me buy it when I was nineteen. She was a wreck with so much damage that I didn’t think she’d ever float, let alone sail. But the price was right and he convinced me it would be a good project for the two of us. It took us two years just to get her on water and then another couple of years to outfit her properly. I’ve been sailing her for the past six years and have really come to love the big girl. The thing is, if I had traded her for something else, it would have been full of bells and whistles that would all be dead right now. So it’s a really good thing I kept her or we’d all be paddling a dinghy north.”

Emily nodded her agreement. “I can’t thank you enough for this. The things we saw on the way here…it was horrible. I can only imagine how much worse it’s going to get. I don’t think we would have made it out alive.”

Tim nodded thoughtfully. “I agree, this city is going to burn. Anyway, with all the supplies you guys have, it won’t be a burden for me to help you out. It will actually make things a little easier on me if Mason can help out some. And it’ll be a nice change to have some company. It’s a long couple of weeks to get up to Seattle so I’m glad to have you aboard.” He smiled reassuringly.

The sound of engines could be heard so they both moved over to the dock and saw the three golf carts head
ing their way. The boys parked and jumped out. Immediately, they started to unload the supplies from the back and passed them up to Tim and Emily. The deck started to fill up quickly so Emily started to carry things down into the cabin. On her fourth trip down, the living area had boxes and bags stacked everywhere and David followed her down with two cases of water.

As he passed her he asked, “You ok
ay?”

She pushed her sweaty hair out of her eyes and nodded. “I can’t wait to get out of here. How much more is there to unload?”

“We have everything aboard now. Tim, Mason and Mark just took two of the carts to scavenge from the restaurant. He wants us to try some of the closer boats for gas cans or other things we might be able to use.” David stretched his back after lowering the two cases of water and looked around. “Where’s Lisa?”

Emily froze for a minute. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten about the girl. Her head slowly swiveled towards the bathroom door. “Lisa?” she called. When she didn’t get an answer, she went to the door and was about to knock when the door opened. Emily’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Lisa stood in front of her with her eye brows raised while she continued to dry her hair. She was naked except for a towel wrapped around her torso. Emily had to back away and close her eyes. She took deep breaths and tried to push her anger down. This…this stupid fool had had a shower!

David was looking at Emily in confusion. He stepped forward to see into the bathroom and a look of disgust crossed his face at the sight of a dripping Lisa.

“Are you really that stupid?” he asked her in surprise. “We need that water to live on. How much did you just waste?”

“What is your damage? I was so sweaty and gross from the walk here. I needed to get cleaned up. We have plenty of bottled water to drink,” she said nastily.

David shook his head in disbelief, “We could be on this boat for three weeks or more. Those cases of water won’t be enough! No one can have a shower! We can’t waste any more water!”

“Oh my God! Could you be any more of a drama queen?” she said with a roll of her eyes.

Emily couldn’t take anymore. She stepped right up to Lisa and put her face close to hers. “I will not die because of you. If you do one more stupid, selfish, shallow thing, I will personally throw you overboard. I am not joking
, Lisa. If it means you have to go so that the rest of us will live, I will do it.” she hissed through clenched teeth.

David pulled her away from Lisa and looked to her. “She still doesn’t get it
, Em, and she won’t until she’s dying from dehydration. Lisa, don’t use any more water. Get dressed, now. You’ll help us search the other boats for supplies and keep your mouth shut or Tim might decide you’re too much trouble to take with us.” He didn’t wait for her response. He just pushed Emily ahead of him and up the stairs.

Up on deck, Emily was shaking from anger and fear. All she could think about was Alex. She would do anything to go back to the start of this day and change her decision. She and David should have gone with them. She rubbed her face with her hands and tried to keep the tears from falling.

David finished carrying everything down into the cabin and returned with a now dressed Lisa. The girl wouldn’t look at Emily as she went past and down the ladder to the dock. After they had all climbed down, David waved them into the last golf cart and they drove to the next dock of boats. Tim had told him that he had already searched the closest boats and to start further away. He parked halfway down the dock so they wouldn’t have to carry the supplies that they found so far.

“Keep your ears open, girls. We haven’t seen anyone here yet but that doesn’t mean that no one is onboard one of these boats. We are running out of time so we should split up. Emily, you and Lisa take the right side and I’ll take the left. I got a couple of crowbars from the golf course. Do you think you can force the cabin doors open?”

Emily reached out and took the tool with a nod.

“Okay, look for gas cans. The more we have, the further we will get when we need to use the engine. Also, grab any water and food, first aid kits, any stuff that you think will come in handy. Let’s move as fast as we can but be careful.” He glanced at Lisa meaningfully before continuing. “I know we need all we can find but just stick to the yachts without sails. Those owners will probably not try to get here but the sailboats owners could still get out so let’s leave their stuff, okay?”

“Yes, that’s a good idea
, David. I would hate to think of a family who had a chance to get out of this city suffering because we stole their stuff.”

Without looking at Lisa, Emily turned and headed down the row of boats to a huge power yacht. She climbed the ladder awkwardly with the crowbar and stepped up onto the deck. There was nothing out in the open so she headed straight for the cabin door. It took four tries, but she managed to get the door open and she was sweating from the effort. Emily ignored Lisa, who was standing behind her, waiting for the hard work to be done.

“What a useless waste of space,” Emily thought to herself.

The inside of the cabin was dim and she went over to the windows and pulled back the curtains. Emily turned to open the curtains on the other side of the cabin and was surprised to see Lisa already pulling them open. The girl turned and caught Emily’s surprised expression.

“What? I know you think I’m useless but I’m not brain-dead you know,” she said sarcastically.

“Then stop acting like you are
, Lisa,” Emily countered.

Lisa’s lips pressed flat together and she looked down at the floor. “Look, I’m sorry about the shower, ok
ay. I didn’t think about the water issue. This isn’t exactly familiar territory for me.”

Emily studied Lisa’s frowning face. She was surprised that the girl had apologised and forced herself to soften a little. They were all out of their comfort zones and if she could forgive Mason for
his actions then she should be able to ease up on Lisa too.

“Listen
, Lisa, I’m sorry I got so mad at you. It’s just that I’m so scared right now, and this situation is really serious. We have to make smarter choices if we’re going to survive. I meant what I said earlier. We’ve got to work as a team no matter how we feel about each other. It’s the only way we’ll get home. None of us are exactly in familiar territory here. We’ve got to really think about what we are doing so we don’t make mistakes. Everything is different now. All the things that used to matter don’t anymore. Just try and make smarter choices, okay? You can’t just think about yourself because…we’re all in the same boat together,” she finished with a grin.

Lisa had been staring at the floor while Emily talked but at the pun she looked up and gave a half laugh.

“Oh, that’s so bad. Funny, but bad.” Her smile faded. “I just wanted to say thanks for taking care of me back on the street, after the shooting. I was terrified.”

Emily reached out and gave her arm a squeeze.
“Yeah, me too. Come on, let’s see what we can find.”

They searched eight boats and came away with a surprisingly large amount of food and water. Every boat had gas cans with extra fuel and they piled them on the deck for David to load in the cart. By the
time they had finished their golf cart was full and there was a huge pile still to be loaded on the dock. Mason pulled up with another cart and helped load the rest. The two carts were so overloaded that Lisa and Emily had to walk back to the Lawless.

By the time they made it back, Tim and the boys were just finishing loading everything onboard and the sun was almost down. The girls climbed onboard and Emily surveyed the piles of supplies everywhere. She was so tired from the long day and her arms ached from prying open cabin doors and hauling so many heavy items. She couldn’t help the groan that escaped when she reached down and lifted two one gallon jugs of water. They had to clear the deck and secure all of this before they got under way. She carried the water down the stairs and shot Lisa an understanding smile over her shoulder when her groan followed. They had seemed to have declared a truce and she was happy that Lisa was doing more to help out.

Tim was in the cabin organising and he showed them all the cupboards and hidey holes to put supplies in. The girls took over stowing supplies and Tim went back up on deck to finish getting ready to sail. It was twilight when the girls finished and came back up on deck. Emily looked towards the city and was saddened that the miles and miles of lights she had seen the night before were now dark.

“I think we’ve got everything secure in the cabin, Tim.” Emily reported.

Tim looked over to see make sure David was finished tying down everything that had to be stowed on deck. “Okay, thanks. Let’s get going then. Mason, cast off.”

Tim started the motor and Mason threw off the lines. As they slowly made their way out of the marina, Emily shivered. They were safe from the lawless and chaos
-filled city but what would find them out in the open water? She was happy they were on their way but nervous as well. If something happened out on the ocean, there would be no rescue and nowhere to run. Once again she found herself wishing they had gone overland with Alex. Just then, Mason came over to her side and put his arm around her. She leaned against him and closed her eyes. She silently prayed for their safety and hoped that she could count on this boy who claimed to love her.

The gasps and exclamations of the others made her open her eyes and look around. She let out a sob at the view. They were out of the marina and heading out to open water but it was the receding shoreline that everyone was looking at. The city lights might have been out, but there were many red glows over it. The further away they
got, the more of the city they could see and it was devastating. Smaller fires were everywhere and several huge blazes seemed to expand in seconds.

She met David’s eyes across the boat and knew they were thinking the same thing. “Do you think they made it out?” she asked him.

He nodded firmly. “Quinn and Josh would have pushed them hard to clear it by now. They’re out Em, I know it. Don’t know about the rest of them though. Mrs. Moore is pretty forceful but she had a lot working against her. I just don’t know how they could survive in that.” He looked back at the burning city.

Emily closed her eyes again and let the cool ocean breeze dry the tears from her face as she sent a prayer up for her teacher and all the other students that chose to stay. She knew in her heart she would never see them again.

They all stayed that way, standing on the deck of the boat watching the faint outlines of the city in the red glow of fires until it got too far away to see. Emily looked around at the faces of her companions in the dim glow of the two lanterns that were secured to both ends of the deck. Everyone’s faces were lined with exhaustion from the harrowing day. Mark was leaning against the mast and he seemed to be sleeping on his feet. Tim cleared his throat and had to raise his voice slightly to be heard over the wind.

“You guys should all go below and get some sleep. I’m going to put the sails up in a minute and its best if you were out of the way until I get you guys trained up. You girls can share the main bedroom and the four of us guys can rotate the other two beds. I’ll be up here all night so sack out and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Everyone started shuffling towards the stairs and down below. Emily stopped beside Tim. “Can I make you some coffee or get you anything?” she asked him.

“Thanks
, kid, but I’ve got a little cooler here with some Coke that will keep me going. You look beat, get some sleep.” He ushered her away with a nice smile.

Emily could barely keep her eyes open. She knew she was hungry - they had hardly eaten more than energy bars and beef jerky all day but she was in no condition to make herself or anyone else anything. Stumbling down the stairs
, she used the bathroom and wondered briefly about toothbrushes but decided tomorrow was soon enough. She was grateful for the small bit of light coming through the windows from the lanterns on deck so that she didn’t trip in the unfamiliar area. She had almost passed the couch when her hand was grabbed by what she thought was another heaped pile of supplies. She realized that David was sprawled out on the couch and guessed he had given the beds up to Mason and Mark. He gave her hand another squeeze and let it go.

“Night
, Em,” he muttered sleepily.

“Night
, David.” She stepped towards the bedroom but stopped and turned back. Leaning down over him, she kissed his forehead and whispered, “Thanks for coming with me,” and went to her and Lisa’s room, closing the door. She didn’t have the energy to undress so she just lay down on top of the covers fully clothed.

As Emily felt the strain in her body ease away
, she thought about David. She had been so wrapped up in her own fears and worries that she had hardly even thought of his. She was so grateful that he had joined them but she hadn’t thought about how hard it would be on him. She at least had Mason but David had no friends in this group but her. As she slipped into sleep, she wondered if he regretted coming with them and was wishing he had gone overland as well.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Emily couldn’t breathe or see, the smoke was so thick. Everything around her was burning and every now and then it would clear enough that she could see dead bodies everywhere. She ran screaming for her friends but she couldn’t find them, just endless smoke and flames, her feet tripping over bloody bodies as she ran. She stopped and spun around, looking for anyone who could help but when the wind blew the smoke away, she found herself facing two smirking men in baggy jeans and wife beater tank tops. The taller man snarled and said, “Here’s another one!” as he raised his hand and pointed at her. Emily gasped as she saw the gun pointed at her head and screamed herself awake to the sound of the gunshot.

She was shaking and drenched in sweat from the nightmare. The cabin was filled with muted sunlight that was filtered from the curtains covering the deck windows. She was alone in the bed and she flinched at another bang from the main room. Emily realized that it was someone banging cupboard doors in the galley that had woken her. Someone was walking around on the deck and the sounds of puking were very clear. Scrubbing her sweaty face with her hands
, she swung down from the bed and opened the door to see what was going on.

Tim was going through all the cupboards looking for something and sent her a distracted smile when he noticed her in the doorway.

“Hey, sorry if I woke you, but we seem to be having a pukefest on deck and I’m looking for the Dramamine. Mark and Lisa are hanging over the edge and it’s not a pretty sight. How are you feeling?” he asked with a frown at her tired and sweaty face.

“I’m fine, just a nightmare. Grab some crackers as well. It will help if they had something in
their stomachs. I’m going to get cleaned up and I’ll be right up.” Emily flashed him a wan smile and headed to the tiny bathroom. She stopped at a pile of clothes and sorted through them for the things she had gotten at Costco. Looking around the cabin at things tossed everywhere she decided it would be a good thing to sort everything and put it all away after she had cleaned herself up. In the bathroom, she found the boxes of toothbrushes and sighed in relief. Under the sink, she found washcloths and soap. Using very little water, Emily stripped her clothes off and washed her body as best as she could. She couldn’t help but be jealous that Lisa had showered yesterday. Her scalp was itchy and her hair smelled like smoke.

Putting on fresh clothes helped a lot and after brushing her long blond hair she knotted it high up on the back of her head. Without makeup
, there was nothing she could do about the dark bags under her eyes so she settled for a layer of sunscreen and called it good. Stepping back out into the cabin her stomach gave a lurch and she remembered how long it had been since she had eaten. Emily searched around until she found the instant oatmeal and made herself a bowl with bottled water. She left it sitting on the counter to soak and started to move stuff around. There hadn’t been much time last night to stow everything properly and the cabin was a mess. She worked away at it for ten minutes before she started to feel nauseous so she grabbed her bowl and started to eat. It was awful made from cold water but she ate it anyway. Her belly felt a little better when she was done so she put the bowl in the sink and went back to work on the cabin.

Mason came down the stairs as she worked and he grabbed a granola bar and watched her. Emily still wasn’t sure about him after what happened yesterday so she just ignored him. After a few minutes he let out an exaggerated sigh.