David was looking out in the distance with the binoculars and Tim was busy dropping the sails to slow the boat down while Mason manned the wheel. She tried to see what David was looking at but the glare off the water made it too difficult. Lisa had lifted herself up onto her elbows from her tanning position but at Emily’s shrug, she laid back down, indifferent towards the situation. Tim brushed past her back to the wheel and within minutes, Emily felt the vibrations of the motor as it came to life. She made her way to David and tried to see what had captured his attention again. She thought she could make out something bobbing on the waves in the distance but couldn’t make out what it was.
“What is it, David? What’s out there?” she asked him.
Without taking his eyes off the object, he explained. “It’s a lifeboat. I can’t see anyone in it but they could be lying down in the bottom of it. We’re going to try and get closer.”
Emily felt a surge of apprehension. On one hand, it would be great if they could help other survivors but on the other hand, they only had so many supplies. She felt guilty at the thought but pushed it aside when she thought of being stuck in a lifeboat for days with no food or water and being at the mercy of the sea.
It seemed to take forever for the lifeboat to come into range. When it finally was close enough to see down into it, they could make out three men lying on the bottom, unmoving. Tim had Mason take the wheel and he came towards Emily and David. He stopped and unclipped a long-handled paddle that was in brackets under the cabin's windows. As the lifeboat floated closer he reached out and tried to snag it in closer but missed. David helped Tim by wrapping his arms around his waist so he could safely reach out further. It worked but the paddle hit one of the men, pushing him over so he faced up. With a cry of horror, Tim and David stumbled back against the cabin leaving Emily with a perfect view down into the lifeboat. She was completely unprepared for what she saw.
The corpse of the man stared back at her. His face was a dark red and his skin had dried out and pulled away from his teeth making him look like he was smiling maniacally. His eyes were gone and the sockets had sunken deep leaving him with two dark holes. Emily was frozen in place staring at the poor man’s face and she heard herself whimper.
“Man, that’s sick!” came from behind her and the cruel amusement in the tone broke the spell and made her turn away from the ravaged face. She swallowed down the vomit that threatened to rise and looked to Tim and David. Mark was making disgusting comments about the state of the bodies when the wind blew a gust that was full of decomposing scent. The smell overcame Emily and she had to rush further down the rail to be sick over the side. Tim got control of himself and pushed Mark back out of the way.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he screamed.
Tim was still holding the long handled paddle and he quickly used it to shove the lifeboat away from the Lawless. Once it was far enough away that he couldn’t reach it anymore, he dropped the paddle onto the deck and rushed over to the wheel, shoving Mason out of the way. He brought the engine up and motored them away from the lifeboat. He kept taking big gulps of air and Emily had never seen him so pale.
Mason came up to her and threw his arm over her shoulders. “Was it really nasty?” he asked.
Emily shoved his arm away and snapped at him, “Yes, it was nasty because those men were dead!” She turned and looked at Mark with his smirk and Lisa still tanning like nothing had happened. “Can’t you people get it through your shallow selfish little minds? This is real. It’s not a movie or a video game or a freakin’ vacation! Those men are dead and we could be next! You all think this is a big joke! Well, I’m scared and you should be too because being popular isn’t going to keep you alive,” she yelled at them before she had to rush to the rail to empty her stomach once again into the sea. She didn’t think she would ever be able to get that poor man’s face out of her head.
Mason came up behind her and rubbed her back. “Emily, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of them. Everything’s going to be okay. Don’t be scar…” instead of finishing the word, he gasped.
Emily scrubbed the tears from her face and looked up at him to see what had surprised him. Mason was shading his eyes looking out past her in the ocean. She turned around to see what he was looking at and what came from her throat was an agonized moan. Her eyes scanned the way ahead and she had to stop counting at twelve when the tears blurred her vision. She pushed past Mason and stumbled back down the stairs. Emily couldn’t bear to stay on deck as they sailed through the cemetery of lifeboats ahead.
Chapter Eight
Emily was sitting at the dinette with her head cushioned on her folded arms when she heard someone come down the stairs half an hour later. She had heard the engine shut down and guessed that Tim had switched back to sail. The bang of a glass being slammed onto the counter made her wearily raise her head. Tim had a bottle of some sort of alcohol and he splashed two inches into the glass. Capping the bottle he turned and leaned against the counter. His eyes were haunted and a million miles away. He finally tossed back the drink in one gulp and his eyes focused on Emily. With a frown at her, he turned back to the cupboard and got another glass and brought it to the table. He sat across from her and filled both glasses with another two inches and slid one across to her.
When Emily just stared at the glass, Tim told her, “Shoot it back in one go, kid. Trust me, it will help a little. Besides, it’s a little bit of home for you. It’s Crown Royal whiskey, Canadian.”
Emily had only drunk once in her life and the bottle of peach schnapps she and Alex had experimented with had left them both sick as dogs. She didn’t know what type of alcohol this brown stuff was but when the dead man’s face came back to her she didn’t care. Throwing the drink back quickly, she wheezed out a breath at the burn of it going down. She leaned back as she felt the warmth of the drink spread through her. Tim was sipping his drink and his expression was dark.
“That was brutal,” he said. “It’s one thing to know what’s happening but to see it up close like that…” There weren’t words to describe how hard it was to see so he fell silent. After a few minutes, he sighed and looked at Emily. “You got some color back in your face. That’s better. We’re going to have to toughen up, kid. Things are not easy out here. I put it out of my mind for a while but we just got a huge reminder of what we will be facing in another eight days or so.” He downed the rest of the drink and contemplated the bottle before shaking his head and putting it back in the cupboard. He settled back at the table and scrubbed his face with his hands. “Can I ask you something?” When Emily nodded, he continued. “What are you and David doing with those three? You guys just don’t seem to fit in with them.”
Emily had to clear her throat twice before she could talk. It felt like the alcohol had burned the lining from her throat. “You’re right; we don’t fit in with them. It’s my fault we are with them. I’ve been dating Mason for the last few months. I think David came with us just to make sure I was okay. I can honestly say at this point that I was a fool. My best friend and the others in our group went overland. I told you about Alex, Quinn, and Josh already. David and I have been friends with them since we were little. I really don’t know why I started dating Mason. We really have nothing in common, not even our friends. He was just different from the rest of us and I thought I saw something more than the shallow popular quarterback that he portrays. I’m pretty sure I was wrong. So now David and I are stuck on a boat with them,” she said miserably.
Tim was nodding his head, “In college, I dated this girl. She was all dark and moody and wore black all the time. We had absolutely nothing in common. I still don’t know why I was with her except she was so different from my regular group of friends. Now that I’m older I can look back and see the truth. Popular, jock…diva? They’re all just masks. It’s just something people use to cover the fact that they are just as scared and lost as the rest of us. In this situation, it won’t be long before you’ll start se
eing those masks disappear and then you’ll see the true person underneath. What I do know is that you and David - you guys don’t wear masks. You’ll be okay.” He patted her hand and with a smile climbed back up to take the wheel.
Emily stayed put and felt the pleasant buzz from the drink. She thought about what Tim had said and wondered if it was true. When she started to date Mason and they were alone or on the phone, he seemed so different than when he was with his friends. She wasn’t sure if his good side was his mask or if the real Mason was the selfish jock she had first thought him to be. Lisa was a mystery as well. The funny, smart girl that had peeked through on the trip so far seemed to come and go. Every time she started to like the girl, Lisa would revert to the snobby, shallow diva she had always shown before. Mark…well, she didn’t even want to know him at all. Emily sighed in frustration. The only thing she really knew was that David was her true friend and she could count on him no matter what.
As if her thoughts had summoned him, David stopped down the stairs and threw himself down onto the bench beside her. His face was blank but his eyes were haunted and far away. She took his hand gently and just held it. After a while, he turned to look at her.
“That’s not going to happen to us, Em, not like that. It’s time to get busy. We have to start thinking ahead, worst case scenarios. If we had to leave this boat in a hurry, we would be in a world of hurt so we are going to make sure that doesn’t happen. Remember those backpacks I got back at the Costco? We are going to fill them up with water and food and anything else that we might need. There’s an unopened box of big Ziploc bags in the closet and a box of garbage bags too. We will make sure everything is sealed up watertight and then I’ll put all the backpacks into the garbage bags and tie them to the lifeboat container. If we have to leave the boat, they will go with us. What do you think?”
“I think we should get started. Thanks, David. I’m scared and uncertain and doing something proactive makes me feel more in control of what might happen.” She took a deep breath and confessed, “I’m so sorry we didn’t go with Alex and Quinn. I know you only came to help me so…I’m sorry but I’m also really thankful that you did.”
The intense look in his eyes made her look down at their joined hands. “I’m going to get us home, Emily. That’s a promise.”
She nodded her head, “Let’s get to work.”
They got up from the table and removed the bench seat cushions. Underneath the cushions was a hinged lid that opened to reveal storage areas. David pulled out the five backpacks that he had stuffed into it. Emily saw more bottled water and other supplies and was once again relieved that they had managed to get so much from Costco. The only problem was when they landed, they wouldn’t be able to haul very much. They laid out the packs in five areas and started to make separate piles of supplies that each one would hold. David grabbed the garbage bags and the box of large Ziploc bags and handed them to Emily.
“Start filling these with food like the pancake mix, rice and oatmeal packets. We want to take dried stuff that we just add water to. The water will weigh the most so no canned stuff. The beef jerky is already sealed so it should be fine. We should look through Tim’s cookware and try to find a small pot and pan. The smallest we can find to fit into the packs and maybe a few small plates and cups. We can distribute them so each pack has one of each and a spoon and fork,” David explained to her while he opened each garbage bag and used them to line the insides of all the packs.
Once Emily had assembled all the food they would pack, she sat back and thought of what else they would need. She flashed back to the bodies in the lifeboat and jumped to her feet. In the closets she found hats and she picked out the ones with the widest brims. When she shoved some jackets to one side, she found two umbrellas and added them to her pile. In the bathroom, she grabbed the first aid kit they had brought and one of the huge bottles of sunscreen from the multi-pack Lisa had added. She contemplated the big bulky bottle. It would be better if all the packs had some of everything, that way if one was lost they would still have some in the others. She grabbed more of the Ziploc bags and started to squeeze some lotion into each. She made sure they were sealed and added one to each of the piles. David checked each flashlight from the package he had gotten at the store and added extra batteries to Ziploc bags. There were only a few left in the box by the time they were done.
David and Emily sat back and surveyed the five piles of supplies. They both racked their brains to try and think of anything else they could add to help them survive.
“What about a change of clothes or blankets?” Emily asked David.
“Well, there is still room to add a few things but not much. We should ask the others to add some stuff. I want to ask Tim about a couple of things and see if he has a bag he wants to pack as well. I saw a couple of compasses in the desk drawer but I want to ask him before I just take one. I’m going to go up and tell him what we are doing and see what he says. Why don’t you take another look around and see if you can find anything else we should pack.” David got up off the floor and stepped around the growing piles as he headed towards the stairs. He was halfway up when Emily saw him back down and move to the side so Lisa could come down. Without a word to her, he went past and bounded up the stairs to the deck.
Lisa looked amazing with her skin a perfect golden tan from all her time sunbathing. She was wearing dark sunglasses and the bikini she had borrowed. She headed towards the bedroom and promptly tripped over one of the five piles. She caught herself before she fell and quickly snatched off her dark glasses so she could see. Squinting her eyes she took in the floor and zeroed in on Emily.
“Really, Emily, it’s not like there’s a lot of room down here. Do you have to spread your stuff everywhere?” she asked in a snarly tone.
Emily answered in the exact same tone Lisa had used. “Really Lisa, I’m working on saving your life so why don’t you go and do something important…like your nails.”
Lisa’s nasty expression changed to a frown. “What are you talking about? What is all this stuff for?” she asked.
“You saw those lifeboats, didn’t you? David and I are putting together backpacks full of supplies so if we have to leave the boat quickly, we won’t end up like them.”
Lisa squatted down and started to sift through one of the piles. Without looking at Emily she asked in a quiet voice, “You don’t really think that could happen to us, do you?”
Emily sighed, “I don’t know. I hope not but it just makes sense to be prepared just in case. Listen, do you have a spare outfit you can give me for your pack? There isn’t a lot of room but we can take a change of clothes if we roll it up tight.”
Lisa looked thoughtful as she looked up and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go get one right now. Um…thanks for thinking of this, Emily,” she said and quickly stood and went to the bedroom.
Emily was pleasantly surprised by the girl’s words. Again, Lisa was showing two different sides. She just wished Lisa would pick one and stick to it.
Lisa came back out of the bedroom quickly and was about to sit down beside Emily when Mason and Mark came down the stairs. Instead of sitting she dropped the rolled-up clothes on the floor and turned and went back into the room and shut the door. Mason kneeled down and started to go through one of the piles and started to nod his head.
“David told us what you guys are up too. It’s a good idea, Emily. I’ll grab some clothes to put in my pack.” He sent her a charming smile and disappeared into one of the smaller bedrooms.
Mark took in all the supplies on the floor and with a smirk on his face turned and went to the other small bedroom. Emily didn’t know why the guy was such a creep but she was just glad he rarely talked to her.
Looking around the cabin, Emily tried to think of anything else they could use that wouldn’t take up much space. They had food, water, first aid stuff and sun protection. She pictured them floating for days in a lifeboat and what that would be like. What was she missing…something they wou
ld need? With a groan, it came to her and she jumped up and ran to the bathroom. In the small towel cabinet, she found toilet paper and grabbed three rolls. The box of tampons she had gotten was still unopened and she wasn’t due to start her period for another few days so she grabbed a few of them as well. Emily remembered what Lisa had said about her not getting a period and was grateful she wouldn’t have to share them with her. The multi-packs of deodorant and toothbrushes and paste were in the cabinet as well and she didn’t think they would take up too much space so she added them to the growing pile.
Each roll of paper and the tampons went into a separate plastic bag and she added them to her and Lisa’s packs as well as one roll into the boy’s pile. The toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant were divided up and put into the different piles. Picturing again the boredom of floating on the open sea with nothing to do, she found an extra deck of cards and a notepad and pens. Estimating that there were enough supplies piled up to fill the backpacks, she decided to finish off her and Lisa’s bags.
Mason and Mark came out of their rooms with clothes and settled onto the floor and started to fill their own bags. Emily was feeling good with the work and having some control over what might happen so she smiled at Mason when he looked her way.
“If there is anything you guys think we might have forgotten, let me know,” she told him.
“I think this is all we’ll need, Emily. It was a really good idea and even if nothing happens, we will be ready to go once we hit land.”
“Thanks, Mason, but it was David’s idea.”
Mark smirked. “Yeah, good thing we have the Boy Scout to take care of us. We’d never make it without him,” he said sarcastically as he stuffed instant noodles into his pack.
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 27
