Emily guessed that it had to be around five o'clock when they started to see overhead signs announcing their exit. She was thankful for the wide lane streets that made it easy to go around crashes. They had only made it a few blocks on Seal Beach Blvd when Mark, who was in the lead, came to a quick stop. Mason was about to get out and see what had made him stop when they heard the loud sounds of engines. Within seconds, a convoy of military vehicles passed through the intersection that they had stopped at. There were six all together and one had a gunner on top with the biggest gun Emily had ever seen pointed in their direction. Lisa was bouncing up and down in her seat waving at the men who stared out at them grim-faced. Only the gunner acknowledged her with a brief nod and then they were gone. Before anyone could get out and talk about what they had just seen, Mark started forward through the intersection and they were forced to follow.
They started passing businesses and as they passed a Starbucks, Emily could see Lisa pointing and talking to David. She’s probably trying to get him to go through the drive thru for a Frappuccino, Emily thought to herself. She sighed and told herself to stop being catty. She was going to have to have more patience with Lisa if the rest of the trip was to be manageable. Constantly sniping at each other would only make things more difficult. If she wanted Mason and Mark to treat David better, she would have to do the same with Lisa. She turned slightly in her seat and studied Mason.
He was so good looking that it still sent a thrill through her knowing he was her boyfriend. His streaked hair gleamed in the sun and a slight frown didn’t take away from his handsome face. Emily smiled slightly at the memory of how much she disliked him when she first started to tutor him. Initially, he was egotistical and arrogant but the longer they worked together, the more she saw a different side of him. When he realized she wasn’t impressed by him, he started to treat her better. Talking on the phone about school work changed into talking about other things in their lives. He told her about his family and how much pressure his dad put on him to be the best in football. He was living under his older brother’s huge shadow. His brother, Brett, had been an all-star in high school and had won a full scholarship to the university where he was the starting quarterback for his team. Mason’s dad expected the same thing from him and he struggled to live up to it.
When he had finally asked her out, it was with humility and she fell for him. Mason’s friends, however, were a different story. Mark mainly ignored her but Lisa was nasty from the start. She would make catty little comments when Mason wasn’t there to hear them and then pretend to be nice in front of him. Emily tried hard to get along with them but it was a struggle. She didn’t like the way Mark would bully other people or the way Lisa seemed to look down on anyone she felt was inferior. When Alex started to give her a hard time about dating Mason, she couldn’t handle it and had started distancing herself from her best friend, spending more and more time with Mason’s group. She really regretted that now and wished fiercely for Alex to be with them.
She decided to talk to Mason about David and try and get him to be nicer to her friend. “This is so much better than walking. I’m glad David came with us, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah, he’s a total hero,” he replied sarcastically.
“Mason! What’s wrong with David? He’s a really nice guy and all he’s done is help out so far. Why don’t you like him?”
He huffed out a breath, “You’re right. I’m sorry. He has been a great help. I just don’t know what his angle is. At first, I thought he was interested in you but now I think he’s into Lisa.”
Emily laughed, “David has been one of my best friends since I was eight years old. Don’t you think if he was interested in me he would have made his move before now? And Lisa is so not his type but so what if he is into her. Maybe he’ll rub off on her and she will start being a decent human being. As for his angle, you could try the truth. He has a mom and little sister all alone at home and he wants to get back to them as fast as possible. He’s worried about them and thought the boat would get him home quicker. Why do you think everyone has some hidden agenda…do you?”
“No, I just don’t know him, that’s all. You’re right, Em, we’re lucky he came with us,” he conceded and gave her leg a squeeze.
She rested her head against his shoulder, happy he had come around. She was so tired from the physical and emotional day that she felt herself nodding off. Catching herself, she sat up straighter and asked Mason, “Do you think you can get a boat out of the marina? Are they that easy to steal? Do you think we should try and find someone to give us a ride first?” she asked, trying to stay alert.
Mason laughed and said, “Whoa there, you sound like your motor mouth friend, Alex,” which earned him a punch in the arm.
“Okay, okay sorry, but she does talk fast and fires off questions like that. We shouldn’t have any problem finding an older boat with an engine that works but to tell you the truth I would feel better getting a ride with someone more experienced. I’ve sailed on lakes but never in the open ocean and I’m a little nervous about tackling that on my own. Hopefully, we’ll find someone who is heading north and we can bribe them with the food and water we have. Won’t know until we get there, though.”
Emily appreciated that Mason was honest with her about his fears. She knew he would never have admitted it in front of the others. She looked ahead and saw Mark was slowing down at an intersection. The sign read Marina Dr. They were getting closer and she started thinking about what they could do if they couldn’t find anyone to give them a ride.
“If we can’t find anyone to help us, what do you think about finding something small with a motor? We could at least get clear of the major cities by staying close to shore,” she asked him.
“Yeah, I thought about that. We wouldn’t get very far but at least we wouldn’t be walking through that hellhole. We’ll keep it in mind as a last ditch effort.”
Emily was about to ask another question when gunshots rang out loud and close by. She saw Mark swerve his cart to one side of the street behind a car. He scrambled out and ducked down. David was just as fast, stopping behind a delivery truck and Emily saw him yank Lisa out and down onto the pavement. Mason slammed their golf cart to a stop in the middle of the street and frantically scanned around to find out where the shooting was coming from. The glass windshield of a car parked beside them suddenly exploded and with a scream, Emily dove out and crawled to the back of the cart. Mason was still sitting behind the steering wheel and didn’t even seem to hear Emily screaming at him to get down.
Emily peeked around the back of the cart to see what was happening and screamed at Mason again. She was leaning against the back bumper when it suddenly lurched forward and sped away, leaving her exposed in the middle of the street. A sob of terror burst out of her as she scrambled to the nearest car for cover on her hands and knees. She was panting hard by the time she made it and her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest. Whimpering in fear, she eased over to see around the car. Mark and David’s carts were still there on the side of the road but Mason’s was getting further and further away. Movement to the left caught her eye and she turned her head to see two uniformed police officers rush into the street from between two buildings. They crouched down and moved from cover to cover. A gunshot rang out from the still unseen assailant and the two cops immediately returned fire. Emily must have screamed because one of the cops turned his weapon towards her. With a scowl, he faced away again and scanned the area. His partner pointed further down and across the street and moved forward. The cop who had seen Emily began to follow but stopped and turned back to her.
“Wait for two and then go!” he hissed at her.
With her hands covering her mouth to hold back another scream, she just nodded as the cop moved away. Emily’s whole body was shaking with fear and shock. Mason had left her. That he had left her to die was all she could think of as her eyes tracked the police officers down the road until they were out of sight.
She waited another minute and then still crouching ran towards David and Lisa. When she bumped into the back of their golf cart, Lisa made a sharp squeal of fright and whipped her head around. Lisa’s eyes were as big as saucers and shimmered with tears. When she saw it was Emily, she launched herself at her and clung tightly.
Emily met David’s eyes over the sobbing girl’s shoulder and mouthed, “Let’s go!”
He nodded and pried Lisa away from Emily. The three squeezed into the golf cart and David started to roll it forward. When they got even with the other cart, David stage-whispered, “Mark, let’s go!” and continued on. Emily looked back to make sure Mark was coming and turned forward when she saw him jump behind the wheel. David glanced back and when he saw the other cart following, he sped up. Lisa and Emily jolted at the sound of another gunshot but it was further away from them this time. Lisa was clutching Emily’s arm painfully while she sobbed and shook. Even though Emily was terrified as well, she freed her arm and wrapped it around Lisa and tried to comfort her.
Once they had cleared the area, David slowed down and turned to look at Emily, his face a mix of bewilderment and rage.
“What the hell, Emily! What happened back there? Did Mason ditch you?!”
Emily couldn’t speak yet, she was still shocked stupid by Mason’s actions, so she just lowered her head against Lisa’s and closed her eyes.
Chapter Four
The sun was slowly making its way to the horizon as they continued down Marine Drive. Lisa had stopped sobbing but she stayed pressed against Emily and she hadn’t spoken since the shooting. Even though they had never been friends, Emily was comforted by the girl’s closeness. Her mind couldn’t seem to settle down. Mason had left her exposed in the middle of the street and had driven away without a backwards glance. Everything she thought she knew about him was in doubt. How could he have done that to her and what did that mean for the rest of the journey home? She bit her lip to keep the sob back when she thought of choosing him over Alex and the rest of her friends. A sound from David brought her head up and she looked ahead down the street. She could see the top of masts in the distance as the marina got closer. Lowering her sight to the street, she could see a bridge that led to the marina area and parked to one side of it was Mason in his golf cart. He was still behind the wheel but his head was in his hands.
As they got closer to him, he heard the engines and his head whipped up to stare at them. David stopped the cart half a block away and Mark zipped around them and drove straight to Mason, pulling up beside him. When Lisa realized they had stopped, she sat up and looked around. When she saw Mason, she made a little whimper and scrambled over Emily and out of the cart, running the rest of the way to him.
David and Emily didn’t speak for a minute. They just sat and stared at the group ahead of them. Without looking at her, David reached over and took Emily’s hand, giving it a squeeze.
“We could just go. You and me, we could leave them here and find our own boat. Something small with a motor. We could stay close to shore and get past the city and then head overland. I would get you home, Emily. I would protect you.”
Emily studied Mason and his friends. I don’t belong with them. David’s right, we’d be better off without them. We can’t count on them at all, she thought. Just as she was about to tell David yes, Mason broke away from the others and ran towards them.
“Emily, are you okay?! I’m so sorry! I don’t know what happened. I just froze. My mind was screaming go go go and I just panicked. Please believe me! I’m so sorry. Please forgive me!” he pleaded.
Emily could see tears in his eyes and his face was full of shame and guilt. She remembered how he had just sat there with bullets flying and realized that what he said was probably true but how could she ever trust him again? Once again she was going to tell David that they would go when Mason said something that changed her mind.
“Emily…I love you.”
David groaned and Mason shot him a dirty look before swinging his eyes back to Emily.
“Please. It won’t happen again. You can count on me.” His eyes were full of sincerity.
Emily found herself nodding and she looked to David. “We should stay together, right?” she asked him with confusion. David let out a long sigh.
“I’m with you, no matter what you decide,” he told her, looking miserable.
Hesitantly, she nodded again. “Okay…we’ll just keep going together…Okay?”
“Yeah, alright, let’s go find a boat and get out of here,” David replied, turning and looking straight ahead.
Mason leaned in and squeezed Emily’s arm and nodded. Then he turned and jogged back to the others. As David drove them over the bridge, Emily thought about what Mason had said. She was still shaken and upset with what he had done, but she could understand why it had happened. None of them were mentally prepared for what had happened today and they were all going to make mistakes. She was shocked that he had said, “I love you”. They had been dating for a few months and she really liked him but love was the big scary. It was something she would have to think about.
David pulled up to the marina parking area and waited. His face was grim as he watched Mason and Mark drive farther into the lot. How could Emily be so blind? The guy was a selfish coward. He had left her on that street to die and then played the love card? And she fell for it? He was beginning to think he should have just gone with the others. He wanted to help Emily but she had to start thinking or they would end up in serious trouble.
David drove the golf cart deeper into the marina to where the others had stopped. There was a clubhouse and restaurants with a parking lot ahead of them and then docks filled with all types of sailing craft. David was surprised to not see any people. He had figured there would be some people with the same idea as them about getting out of the city. As he scanned the boat slips, he started to see that there were many open spaces. It was late in the day so David guessed that a lot of people had already made it to the marina and left by boat. He just hoped that they could find someone still here that would give them a ride. The thought of Mason in control of one of these huge boats filled him with fear. Panicking on the street was bad enough but if he froze out in the middle of the ocean, they would all die.
They pulled all three carts up to the walkway to the docks and shut the engines down. Mark ran over to the clubhouse and checked the doors but they were locked up tight. They all stood at the walkway scanning boats and then turned to look at Mason expectantly. When he just stood looking out at the boats, David shook his head impatiently.
“So what are we looking for Mason? Should we just start walking down docks looking for anyone on board?”
Mason didn’t look at him. Now that they had made it here, he was intimidated by all the different sailing craft that he only had basic knowledge of. His confidence had been rocked by how he had reacted on the street and he was afraid of losing more face by making another wrong decision. He glanced at Mark and Lisa and tried to catch Emily’s eye but she wouldn’t look at him. Swallowing past the knot of uncertainty in his throat, he turned to David.
“Yeah, let’s just walk up and down the docks and see if anyone is around.” He started down the walkway when David spoke up.
“Someone has to stay with the carts. We can’t lose the supplies.”
“I’ll stay. I don’t know anything about boats anyway. Just hurry up and find us a ride. The sun’s going to be down soon and I don’t want to be here when the crazies come out to play,” Mark volunteered.
“Okay, thanks, man,” David said and pushed past Mason onto the dock and jogged down to the end.
There were lots of huge cruising yachts but no sailboats. David guessed that the fancy yachts would be just as dead as all the cars on the road with all their electronics fried. He turned back and headed for the next dock. They continued down each dock this way with no luck until they had reached the twelfth one and David heard banging and a muffled curse. Halfway down the dock he came to a s
top at a forty or fifty-foot long sailboat. It was in between two cruisers and David could see piles of supplies and bags sitting on its deck. All the other boats had empty decks so David was sure someone was onboard. When he heard the bang come again, he closed his eyes in relief, finally, a chance to get help. He turned and waved Mason and the girls forward and pointed at the huge sail boat.
When they had all caught up to him, he said, “I’m going to call out to whoever’s on it. I’m going to be very polite and respectful. We need to try and convince this person to help us so everyone needs to put their best face forward. No attitude and no eye rolling,” pointedly looking at Mason and Lisa.
For once Lisa parked her attitude and nodded solemnly. She still hadn’t recovered from the close call on the street and was willing to do anything to get out of the city and away to safety. Mason was a different story. He immediately scowled at David and took a step towards him.
“Who put you in charge, Boy Scout?” He almost spat.
David stared him down and through gritted teeth told him, “Someone’s got to get us out of here and we all learned that running away isn’t going to work so just shut up and lose the ego and work with me here.”
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 23
