STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6

by Theresa Shaver

  He turned her towards Mason and urged her on. Lisa was slowly nodding her head in understanding and she turned and followed Emily.

  David watched Mason help Emily over the rail and then motion for Lisa. Once he was sure they would be okay, he turned to face the man. The children had returned to the deck of the other boat and stood, watching, with bags at their feet.

  “A good man owned this boat. His name was Tim. He was trying to get home just like the rest of us. We were strangers but he took us with him because it was the right thing to do. One of the guys that had come with us went bad and killed him and ended up dying himself in the process. Tim lost his life because he helped us. We stopped to help you because it was, again, the right thing to do and we wanted to pay back Tim for helping us by passing it along. I want you to remember this. Today you did a bad thing for a good reason. You saved your children but you also showed them not to trust or help others. You need to make that right. So if you come across anyone who needs help in the future you should do the right thing and help them. Show your children that there is still goodness in this new messed up world.”

  With that said David nodded at the man, turned, and got into the lifeboat.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Emily watched as they drifted further from the Lawless. The others were busy pulling up the bags with their backpacks in them but she was so despondent that she made no effort to help. She pulled her knees up closer to her chest and laid her head down on them. How could this have happened? Her worst nightmare had come true and all she could think about was what happened to the last lifeboats she had seen. She couldn’t understand why David and Mason had chosen this. She also was struggling to understand how that man could do this to them after they had tried to help his family. Was this what they had to look forward to for the future? Every person for themselves and no one willing to help each other? She felt the tears slide down her face and dampen her knees. She missed her mom and dad and just wanted to go home. She felt her heart ache at the thought of never seeing them again and let out a sob.

  Lisa settled down beside her and put her arm around her shoulders, trying to console her.

  “It’s going to be okay, Emily.”

  Emily lifted her tearstained face and looked at her blankly. “How is it going to be okay? We are going to die out here just like those other men we saw.”

  David shuffled over to her on his knees. “No, we aren’t, Emily. I’m sorry I couldn’t explain before we got off the Lawless but I didn’t want that guy to change his mind. I know you think it was a mistake but let me explain. If we had been forced on to his boat we probably wouldn’t have made it. It was dead in the water and way too big to try and row. The chances of anyone finding us on it are slim. We could have been out there for months and a bad enough storm will probably swamp and sink it. I know being on the lifeboat is scary, but we have a better chance. It’s small and we can all take turns trying to paddle. We figured we were only a day or two from land with the Lawless, and this will take us longer, but we shouldn’t be out here for more than a week. We have six backpacks full of supplies and the emergency kit that was already on the boat. That man’s boat had nothing on it for food and water. The canopy on this one will protect us from the sun and rain and we should be okay in any storms because it’s light enough. We will get tossed around and it won’t be fun but we shouldn’t sink. Emily, we honestly have a better chance in this one.” He looked to Mason for help when Emily didn’t respond.

  “It’s true, Emily. If we were farther away from shore, I would have picked the other one and hoped for rescue but we could have sat on that boat for months slowly dying of starvation and dehydration. We have a better chance in the lifeboat for making it to shore. That other boat had no way to steer into the waves if there was a storm. We would have been broadsided and sunk. You also need to remember that those life boats with the dead guys were really old. They didn’t have canopies on them so they were exposed to the elements,” Mason explained.

  Emily looked at all her friend’s faces and they all seemed confident in their survival. Slowly the feeling of hopelessness eased and she took a deep breath and nodded.

  “Okay, so who’s paddling first?” she said with a trembling smile.

  “Actually, that would be me.” Lisa surprised them. At their skeptical looks, she lifted her chin. “What? I’ve been using the rowing machine in the gym for the past two years. It’s a great workout for cheerleading. I know it’s not the same as real life rowing but at least my muscles are used to that exercise. I’ll bet I last longer than you boys and won’t hurt as bad after,” she said smugly.

  Emily smiled at her friend’s proud expression. “Wow, Lisa. Is that one of those skills you thought was useless?” she teased.

  Lisa blushed in embarrassment. “I guess there are some things that I can help with after all.”

  Mason was looking at Lisa with a thoughtful expression and David was grinning. “All right then. Let’s get this canopy pulled down halfway and get rowing!” David said in an upbeat tone.

  Emily marvelled at how her friends were staying positive in such an uncertain situation. She firmly squared her shoulders and leaned forward to help.

  ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

  The sun was going down and they were all exhausted. Lisa was right about the new muscles they needed to use for rowing. It was impossible to tell if they had made any real progress, but they all felt like they had rowed miles. David checked the compass often to make sure they stayed on course. They had a simple dinner of water and beef jerky with half a power bar each for dessert. The dark clouds they had seen earlier in the day were much closer and they were all resigned to the fact that it would be raining some time tonight. Emily prayed it was only rain and not a fierce storm. She almost laughed at the irony. Two weeks on a large comfortable sailboat and they had no bad weather, but the minute they leave it they get hit with a storm. Murphy’s Law was rearing its ugly head.

  After they had eaten, there was some uncomfortable and embarrassing business to attend to. Going to the bathroom over the side of an inflated boat was not fun. The boys had an easier time of it but that would change once they had to do the second job. Emily and Lisa worked out a system where they held onto each other’s arms while hanging over the side. It was embarrassing but with the boy’s backs turned they got it done.

  They all settled down for the night and David closed the canopy. It was a lot like being in a tent except for the rocking and rolling over the waves. The emotional and physical day took its toll and they all fell asleep quickly.

  Emily was dreaming. She was just a little kid and she was playing on her parent’s waterbed. She loved the way it would roll her around when she bounced her bum on it. She was giggling with delight when the man who had forced them off the Lawless came into the room and shoved the end of the water mattress sending her flying up off the bed. Her laughter turned to screams. Emily was torn from her dream as her body crashed into Lisa’s and their heads connected. Dazed from the blow, she was unable to control her body as it was sent tumbling in a different direction. She once again connected with a body but this time her head bounced off the side of the canopy. Strong hands gripped her and she was dragged up against Mason. He had anchored himself against the side of the boat and wrapped one arm around her and held on with the other.

  When Emily’s head cleared enough to process what was happening, she saw David holding on to Lisa, who seemed to be unconscious. The boat was being tossed all over the place and Emily closed her eyes in fear. That was a huge mistake because her stomach lurched and she couldn’t control the hot wave of vomit that came rushing up her throat. She was powerless to do anything except let it out. Hot tears of misery poured down her face as her stomach heaved again and again.

  Emily wasn’t the only one to lose her stomach contents that long, wave-tossed night. Sleep was impossible and they were all weak with exhaustion from clinging to the sides of the boat so they wouldn’t collide. Emily
had no idea where David found the strength to hold onto Lisa for so many hours. The roaring wind made talking nearly impossible but he shouted out that she was breathing, just knocked out. Emily thought she might have lost her sanity if not for the small light that was clipped onto the canopy. It wasn’t very bright but being able to see her friends made all the difference.

  Her eyes were grainy and her head ached when the canopy slowly started to lighten and the waves calmed. She had to peel her fingers away from the handle as they were without feeling after clutching it for so long. She used her other hand to massage some feeling back into the bloodless fingers. David lay Lisa on her side and crawled over to the opening. He pulled the flap aside and tied it back. The fresh air blew in and washed away some of the vomit stench.

  Emily breathed the clean air in gulps and with the sun lighting up the inside of the boat, she took stock of the night’s damage. Their bags were tumbled everywhere and many of their supplies had come loose and were scattered all over the bottom of the boat. Worse was the vomit that coated almost everything. The fresh air helped to clear some of her headache and it also seemed to help revive Lisa, who let out a moan and struggled to sit up. Ignoring the mess around her, Emily scooted closer to her and helped her sit up. She winced at the bruised knot on Lisa’s temple and raised her hand to gently probe the matching goose egg on her own forehead.

  When Lisa’s glassy eyes cleared, she looked around at the mess in the boat with confusion.

  “What the heck happened?” she asked and wrinkled her nose at the foul smell.

  Emily slumped down beside her. “A big storm hit us and we knocked heads when the waves tossed us. David, Mason and I all contributed to the wonderful aroma that you currently smell. How’s your head?”

  Lisa tentatively rubbed the lump and winced. “Um, ouch?”

  “Yeah, me too. Just be grateful you weren’t awake for that roller coaster ride. It went on for hours.”

  Emily sighed. She snagged a backpack and rummaged through it until she pulled out a bottle of aspirin. She handed Lisa two of the pills and took two of her own.

  “Thank God for the canopy. If it wasn’t there, we would have lost everything and probably gone over the side, too.”

  Lisa gave a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah, but at least it would have washed the puke away!”

  Emily sent Lisa a devilish grin. “So…remember when you said you would do the laundry next time?”

  Lisa started to shake her head frantically. “Oh no, no way! That’s not fair. I didn’t even puke. I shouldn’t have to clean this up!”

  Just as Lisa took a deep breath to make her case a gust of wind came into the boat and sent a strong waft of the foul air right into her face. Her eyes got huge and she lunged towards the opening but she wasn’t fast enough and her vomit joined the mess that the other three had left on the bottom of the boat. After wiping her mouth on her sleeve she flopped back beside Emily.

  Emily closed her eyes and shook her head. “Welcome back, Murphy!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  In the end, they all helped to clean the mess. After wiping down the inside of the canopy, David tied it back almost all the way. They used ocean water to wash everything as their drinking water was too precious to waste, mopping the bottom of the boat as best they could with one of the few towels they had packed and taking turns leaning over the side to wash out clothes. When Emily felt the sticky mess in her hair, she gave up trying to clean over the side and just jumped over into the water.

  The shock of the cold water cleared the last of the pain from her head and after dunking repeatedly she felt her hair was puke-free. Once she got used to the temperature, she enjoyed treading water. It had been weeks since she was in a pool and she hadn’t realized how much she had missed it. Even so, she knew she couldn’t stay in the water very long or she would risk hypothermia. Scrubbing her clothes as best she could she stripped off under water and handed them up to Lisa who wrung them out and spread them out to dry in the sun. When she was down to her bra and underwear, she asked the boys to turn around so she could get back in. Lisa was ready with the other towel they had and she had gotten Emily’s spare clothing out also.

  Emily heaved up onto the side of the boat and rolled over the edge. When Lisa wrapped the towel around her she saw that Emily’s teeth were chattering and her lips had a slight blue hue to them.

  “Get that wet stuff off and pull on some dry clothes. I’ll hold the blanket up for you. You’re freezing!” Lisa said with concern.

  Emily nodded and quickly wrung out her hair over the side before rubbing her chilled skin with the towel and diving into her clean clothes. She hadn’t thought she would get cold after such a quick dip. She and Alex and their other friends had plenty of experience swimming in cold Alberta lakes but she had never done it before the end of May. After dressing, she wrapped the towel around her wet hair and tried to rub out as much water as possible. Lisa draped the blanket she had been holding up around her shoulders and settled down beside her.

  “I was going to jump in after you were done but after seeing your blue lips, I think I’ll pass,” Lisa said.

  Emily nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be doing that again! Holy cow! That was brutal cold but at least the puke is gone. Now I just have a layer of salt on me.”

  She dived into her backpack again and came out with some toilet paper. She moistened it with a little bit of bottled water and ran it over her face and hands. Taking out the baggie of sunscreen, she was thankful it hadn’t broken open during the storm and coated everything in the bag. She worked the cream into her face and hands before handing it to Lisa so she could do the same.

  The boys had finished washing out their stuff on the other side and Lisa carefully passed the floppy bag of cream over to David so he and Mason could coat their unprotected skin. Once they had repacked the supplies that had needed to be cleaned off and draped their clothes out to dry they settled down for food and water. There was no chance of making anything close to a real meal but the water and granola bars were enough to soothe their aching bellies. The almost continuous dry heaving they had done in the storm had taken its toll.

  There was no way of knowing where they were after the storm had tossed them around, but the sun was still rising and they could use that and the compass for direction. Emily was adamant that they all coat themselves with sunscreen and wear the hats she had packed. The ocean breeze kept them cool but the sun baked down on them.

  Lisa once again started off paddling, impressing Emily and the others. With all the aches and pains from being tossed around the night before Emily felt the soreness in her arms the most and didn’t mind a little more rest.

  Mason and David tried to use the canopy as a type of sail but didn’t have much luck. They could tell that they were moving east but there was no way to tell how fast they were going or the exact direction. It was frustrating not having more control but Mason was quick to point out that it was better than sitting dead in the water. Emily tried to see it that way but she kept getting images in her head of them floating all the way back to California. She tried to stay calm and focused but after twenty-four hours at the mercy of the sea, she was anxious and restless, constantly scanning in all directions for dark clouds. She tried to distract herself by thinking about what was happening at home but that just filled her with sadness and longing. The same feelings hit her when she tried to guess where Alex and the others would be by now. After being away from land for so long, it was easy to dream about what was happening there. She imagined that there would be refugee camps and military people helping to put things in order. Her fondest wish was that they would get to shore and find out that only California had been affected. Finally shaking her head, she focused on the people with her.

  Lisa had really surprised her. She had changed from a selfish, spoiled diva to a friend and helper. If anything, she was doing better than Emily was. David’s calmness never cracked. He just kept on going and took every hit in stride.
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  She looked at him now and smiled at his sun-kissed hair. The muscles on his arms flexed as he rowed and when he turned his head and met her eyes, the concentrating seriousness on his face changed to a smile. When she smiled back, she felt a flutter in her belly and she looked away in confusion. David had always been one of her best friends but as the days passed she found herself looking at him differently. Had she been so blinded by Mason that she had overlooked what was right in front of her? When she felt a feeling of regret, she shoved it aside. This wasn’t the time or place to even think about these things. Even so, when she glanced back at him she couldn’t help but wonder if she was that clueless. Turning away again, her gaze fell on Mason. She was still on the fence about him. She had seen all his sides and hoped they could trust him but she just wasn’t sure. He had strongly objected about stopping to help the people they had lost the Lawless to, and in hindsight he had been right, but he hadn’t said one word about it.

  “Mason, I’m sorry we didn’t listen to you. You were right,” she said abruptly.

  He looked at her in confusion. “About what?” he asked.

  “You didn’t want us to stop and help those people and you were right. We lost our boat because of it so I’m sorry.”

  Mason started to shake his head. “No, no way. I was wrong, Emily. I was being selfish and scared. Even though we lost the boat, it was still the right thing to do. I’ve made a lot of bad choices in the past but I don’t want to be that person anymore. We tried to help and do the right thing. There was no way we could have known it would turn out that way.”

  Emily’s respect for Mason went up a notch at his admission and David and Lisa nodded as well. If they made it to shore there would be other situations that they would face when it came to helping others. Emily knew that they would be more cautious in the future but they would still try and help others if they could. Despite their current situation, she knew that they had been lucky so far. They’d had very little physical hardship and they had been eating well. She knew that millions of people couldn’t say the same.