Stranded Box Set Read online

  “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 was a red glow 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 it's 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 by 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 some 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.

  “Are you going to give me the cold shoul
der for the whole trip home?”

  “I’m not giving you the cold shoulder, Mason. I’m just…thinking things through. That’s all,” she told him without looking at him.

  It was true. She didn’t know how she felt about him anymore. His leaving her on the street blew every ounce of trust she had with him. Saying that he loved her made things even worse, as she couldn’t believe that you would abandon someone you loved. So, either he was lying, or he didn’t really know what love was, and that was something she needed to really think about. She turned around and faced him and her heart softened at how miserable he looked.

  “Mason, I just need a little time to figure things out. You really scared me yesterday. I just don’t know how I feel right now. Just be there for me, okay? We’ll get through this together.” She let him fold her into his arms and she felt a little bit better. The sounds of someone retching up on the deck made her pull back.

  “Tim said Lisa and Mark are seasick. Are they okay? He was going to give them some medicine,” Emily asked with concern.

  “Yeah, he tried but they both threw it back up. It’s pretty gross. David seems fine. How about you?”

  “I’m okay. I had something to eat and that helped a lot. Help me clean this place up some more and we can get them down here. If they aren’t looking at the waves they might feel better.”

  “Good idea. We’ll get them some puke buckets and leave them alone to be miserable together. We can go up and enjoy the sun,” he said with a smirk.

  Emily had to shake her head at him. Sometimes he was such a jerk. They finished organizing the cabin and Emily lined two waste paper baskets with plastic bags, put a box of crackers on the table and two bottles of water in the cup holders. From the bathroom, she wetted two washcloths and brought them out to the table as well. Mason went up on deck and helped Lisa down. She collapsed at the table and rested her head in her hands with a moan. She was so pale and her eyes were sunken. Mark came down and settled across from her. The shade of sickly green his skin had changed to didn’t look very good with his red hair. Emily placed the baskets next to them and handed them both the cool washcloths.

  “Try and eat some crackers, guys. It will help with nausea and once they stay down you can have some medicine that will make it much better.”

  Neither one of them even acknowledged her so she left them alone and went up on deck for the first time that day. The sun was brilliant and the air was clean. There was no taint of smoke in the wind and she tilted her head back and let the wind blow over her face.

  Looking around on deck she saw Tim at the wheel and Mason and David sitting back enjoying the sun. There were resting places moulded into the deck so she lowered herself into one and just let the stress of their situation go for a few moments. Mason scooted closer to her and handed her a bottle of water. He draped his arm over her shoulder and she leaned into him. They sat like that for ten minutes until Tim spoke and brought their attention to him.

  “There’s another one. How many does that make, David?” he asked, pointing out ahead of them.

  David grabbed the binoculars and stood to take a look. “That makes six. It’s a big one too.”

  “What is it? What are you guys talking about?” Emily asked while trying to see into the distance.

  “Dead ships. We’ve seen trawlers, oil tankers, cargo ships. We even saw a small cruise ship. They’re all stranded out here,” Tim told her.

  “That’s terrible, all those people so far from shore! What are we going to do?” she asked him.

  Tim looked at her and frowned sadly. “There’s nothing we can do, Emily. We couldn’t take on very many people and if we tried we would just end up swamped. All those ships have lifeboats. They’ll have to try for land pretty soon. If rough weather comes up and they don’t have any power, most of those ships will go down. Things are going to be just as bad out here as on land, just more spread out. We have to keep going if we want to make it.”

  Emily dropped her head in defeat. Knowing he was right didn’t make her heart ache any less for all the pain and death the world was going through. It would be easy to forget what was happening on land while out in the ocean, but she knew they would have to face it once they docked again. She took the binoculars from David and scanned the seas all around them, focusing on the huge ship that was off in the distance. She thought she could see tiny people on the deck waving their arms. She turned to David to mention it when her stomach dropped and she had to rush to the side where all her breakfast came rushing out. David held onto her while she heaved again and again until there was nothing left. He helped her to the stairs and down below where she joined the others in their misery.

  Chapter Six

  The next three days were hell for Emily and everyone else onboard. She seriously thought she would die. Nothing would stay down and even when her belly was empty she continued to dry heave. Lisa and Mark were just as bad off as she was and Mason and David had their hands full trying to take care of them. Tim had stopped trying to give them the small amount of medicine he had onboard as they just threw it up before it could even take effect. Her throat was raw, and her abdomen muscles ached like she had been punched repeatedly. It helped to be up on deck where they could see the horizon but there just wasn’t room for all of them to be up there comfortably. Those three days were a blur for Emily and all she wanted was her mom’s cool hand on her forehead.

  Tim tried to help but he had his hands full sailing the boat and teaching Mason as much as he could. It was the fourth night on the boat and the three patients were slumped around the table when Tim came flying down the stairs with a look of triumph on his face.

  “I’m so sorry I didn’t think of this before guys. I know how to get the medicine into you.” He raced into the bathroom and came out with the bottle of Dramamine.

  Mark groaned and muttered, “Save it.”

  Lisa and Emily just shook their heads. They had all tried to keep the medicine down but it just wouldn’t work.

  “No, really! I just remembered a friend telling me this trick. It will work, I know it. You guys really need to get some fluids and food in you, as well as a good night sleep. Take one of these pills and put it under your tongue. Let it dissolve fully. Don’t try and swallow it. It’s going to taste really bad but it will finally get into your system and start to work,” he explained while handing out the pills.

  Emily was willing to try anything to get this under control. She was feeling really weak and her head pounded from dehydration. The pill was very bitter and her tongue started to go numb but she kept it there until it had dissolved. After twenty minutes, she took a cautious sip of water and waited. After a few more sips, she tried a cracker and then another one. One hour after they had taken the pills, all three felt much better. They all felt drowsy but Tim wouldn’t let them sleep until they had all had a bowl of soup and more water.

  Emily barely remembered crawling into bed next to Lisa. Her only thought was to wonder what would be for breakfast.

  When Emily cracked her eyes open the next morning, she stayed perfectly still taking stock of her body. She felt clear-headed for the first time in days and knew she had turned a corner. She turned her head slightly and saw the bottle of medicine in the cup holder beside the bed, slowly reached out for it and got it open. She felt Lisa shift beside her and cautiously turned her head to see that Lisa was awake and staring at the ceiling. Neither girl wanted to move in case the sickness came rushing back. Emily slipped one of the pills into the other girl’s hand and whispered to her.

  “Put it under your tongue. Let’s just stay here until we know it’s going to work.”

  “It has to work. I can’t do that again. I don’t endorse anorexia as a diet plan,” Lisa whimpered jokingly.

  Emily laughed. It was the first time she had heard Lisa make a joke that wasn’t full of nasty sarcasm. They laid side by side waiting for the pills to dissolve and take effect. After a while, they could hear someone banging around in the kitchen. Soon
the smell of cooking came to them and Emily’s belly growled loudly.

  Lisa’s head whipped towards her with panic on her face. “Oh God, are you going to hurl?”

  Emily lay frozen; she just couldn’t take being sick again. After a few minutes, she turned her head towards Lisa and slowly smiled. “I think…I’m hungry. And judging by the smell I think that someone is cooking pancakes. Do you want to get up?”

  Lisa’s concerned face changed to one of relief and she smiled while nodding her head. “Oh yeah, let’s go. I swear if breakfast stays down I’m going to lay on the deck and suntan all day long.”

  The girls cautiously got up and got dressed. When Lisa held the door open for Emily, she marveled that it had taken a pukefest to get them past their animosity towards each other. Tim was in the kitchen using the small propane stove and he was expertly flipping pancakes onto a growing stack. When he saw the girls come out of the bedroom, his face blossomed with relief.

  “Ladies, you both look so much better! I hope your appetites have returned. You both need to make up the calories that you lost the past few days. I found a huge bag of just add water pancake mix so fill your plates. We don’t have any butter or maple syrup but we have jam and peanut butter so they’ll still be good.”

  The girls grabbed plates and helped themselves from the stack. They sat at the dining table and smeared their pancakes with the breakfast condiments waiting there. Emily made a sandwich with hers and happily munched her way through her plate. When she had finished she let out an uncontrollable yawn. “This is crazy. I could go right back to sleep,” she muttered.