by Wood, J N
‘Yeah,’ I agreed. ‘Why are you so desperate to get away from me?’
‘Because I…’ He sighed again. ‘I can’t win this one so I’m stopping talking.’
Aurelie started opening cupboards in the kitchen.
‘Elena and Javier are up in the cockpit,’ I told her.
‘Please tell me where the chocolate is hidden,’ she demanded with a smile.
‘Next cupboard along,’ Roy told her.
I picked up my cup of tea and stood up. ‘I’m gonna have a shower and then put on some of the new clothes Javier bought us.’
DAY THIRTY SIX
Chapter 16: Pirates
The first five days of the trip dragged. Not being able to go outside was the main issue. We would take turns standing half way up the stairs with the wind just catching our hair. A few hours after first setting off, Javier and Elena raised the sails, or whatever the technical term is for that, so the Penelope had been wind powered since then. The diesel was now only being used to power the generator.
We took turns cooking the meals, mostly pasta. Apart from Javier, we were already complaining about the food.
Some time was also spent with my hands in the galley’s sink, scrubbing dirty clothes. I think I may have become more accustomed to the constant swaying of the yacht. I found that standing at the sink for any length of time was also good for working on my core strength.
On a few occasions, when we played Monopoly or the card game Shithead, time didn’t drag by quite so slowly, but it mostly passed by painfully slowly.
So when Javier came down and asked us if we wanted to come up and see the Atlantic Ocean, the Monopoly board and its pieces were sent flying, the four hour long game completely forgotten about. We rushed the stairs, desperate to only have sky above us.
It was a beautiful day outside. It was also windy, so strong it ripped your breath right out of your mouth. The sails seemed stretched to their limits. There was a light spray of salty water in the air. I could feel it on every exposed piece of skin.
We all looked out over the vast ocean ahead of us. I spun around to see Canada in the distance behind us.
‘Did we pass through the Canadian navy?’ I asked, having to shout into the wind.
‘Yes about an hour ago,’ Javier replied, looking completely at ease. ‘I don’t think they’re too concerned about people leaving. They’re worried about the people trying to enter the country.’
We continued standing there, gazing at the ocean.
Roy turned to me. ‘It’s a bit cold isn’t it?’
‘Yeah,’ I replied, a little shiver running through me at his words. ‘Shall we go back down?’
‘Yes I am freezing,’ Aurelie said, squeezing between us and heading for the stairs.
‘I’ll follow you down,’ Javier called out as we all crammed back into the warmth of the main cabin.
Javier told us he’d come up with a rota and asked us to sit down. ‘We split into groups of two. We do four hours on and eight hours off. Our days will now be only twelve hours long.’
That’s gonna take me a while to get my head around.
‘Roy is the third most experienced sailor so,’ Javier added.
‘I was only in the Sea Cadets,’ Roy protested.
‘Better than nothing,’ Javier told him. ‘So Roy, you have Chris. I have Benoit, and Elena, you are with Aurelie. This is around the clock, so non-stop. The auto-pilot will be holding our position most of the time, but someone has to be there just in case. You never know when a squall might pop up from nowhere. I do not know if Elena told you, but I have never sailed the Atlantic this far north.’ He pointed to the large waterproof coat he was wearing. ‘We each have one of these in the cupboard by the stairs. And pants to go with it, trousers for Roy and Chris. Unless the weather is like it is today, wear them when you go up top, otherwise you will be soaking wet and freezing cold. Is that okay with everyone?’
We all nodded in agreement.
I’d still be wearing them on a day like today.
‘Roy,’ Javier said. ‘You’re coming up for a refresher course with me and my sister. You might as well get your waterproof gear on. See what it feels like.’
‘Thank fuck for that,’ Roy said. ‘I thought you going to throw me in at the deep end with this idiot.’ He poked his thumb at me.
‘If it wasn’t true,’ I said. ‘I’d probably be offended.’
While Roy put on his waterproofs, Javier told us the rota. The Spanish siblings were to give Roy his lesson for the next four hours. Then Javier and Benoit would take over, followed by Elena and Aurelie, and finally me and Roy. I thought that was a bit unfair on Javier, as he had been doing almost everything for the last five days, but he’s the captain.
Javier and Roy disappeared up the stairs, while the Frenchies and I picked up all the Monopoly pieces to start a new game.
Aurelie was absolutely battering me and Benny Boy when Roy walked back down the stairs, his cheeks reddened.
‘How did it go Roy?’ Benoit asked him.
Roy pulled back his hood and started taking off his coat. ‘Went well. I actually remember a lot of the nautical terms and stuff.’
‘That means it’s your shift my love,’ Aurelie said.
‘Oh merde,’ Benoit exclaimed. ‘I forgot about that. You would have won anyway.’ He leaned over and kissed his wife. ‘Au revoir shipmates.’
I was busy separating my few remaining Monopoly dollars. ‘Au revoir Benny Boy.’
A sudden clattering and banging made us all look to the stairs. Javier was rushing down them. Roy stood up straight, his trousers pulled down to his knees.
‘It might be nothing to worry about,’ Javier said breathlessly. ‘But there’s another boat coming for us.’
‘The same one we saw an hour ago?’ Roy asked, his trousers still halfway down.
‘Yes, it is closer now.’
‘I thought you said it was just a fishing trawler?’ Roy asked him.
‘It might be, but I don’t know. It is just strange it has not changed course for over an hour.’ He marched past us all to the back of the boat and entered his cabin.
We all just stared at each other. I was just about to ask Roy what he thought, when Javier reappeared, holding two rifles and a hand gun. ‘Who can shoot?’ he asked.
‘Wait a minute,’ I said. ‘What are these, pirates?’
‘We have been hearing rumours of boats beyond the navy being attacked,’ Javier explained. ‘I thought they were just rumours. It still might be a fishing trawler. I am just taking precautions.’ He held out the two black rifles in his left hand, keeping the hand gun by his side. ‘Who can shoot?’ he asked again.
Benoit stepped forward and took them both. He placed one of them on the table and checked the other in his hands. ‘I can shoot.’
A few seconds of silence passed between us.
‘I have fired a gun recently,’ I told them. ‘You know? Because of the apocalypse thingy.’
Javier picked up the rifle and offered it to me. ‘Then you can shoot.’
Benoit took it back from Javier and said to me, ‘This is an AR-15.’
‘Really?’ I asked. ‘My mate told me I would probably kill myself with one of those.’ I turned back to Javier. ‘How did you get these in Canada?’
Javier shrugged. ‘You can still get them here. Especially after the apocalypse thingy.’
Benoit pressed something by the trigger and pulled out the magazine, he glanced into the top of it and then shoved it back into the gun. He then pulled something back on the top and looked inside, before releasing it back into place.
He handed the rifle to me. ‘It’s fully loaded and has a round in the chamber. Keep it aimed in a safe direction, so not at one of us. And keep your finger away from the trigger until you’re ready to shoot someone, or something.’
‘Benoit,’ Javier said. ‘You are up top with me. Chris, open those two windows.’ He pointed to the small windows in the wall above the galley. ‘Only st
ick the gun out after they start shooting.’
‘But not very long after,’ Benoit added.
I looked down at the rifle in my hands and then back up to Javier and Benoit. ‘Okey dokey,’ I told them. I felt surprisingly calm, still panicked slightly, but if this had happened before the apocalypse, I’d be absolutely shitting myself.
‘Shouldn’t we all go up?’ Roy asked. ‘Strength in numbers and all that. Might stop them doing whatever they’re planning on doing.’
‘We don’t want them shooting at us from a distance,’ Javier explained. ‘We don’t know what kind of weapons they might have.’ He started towards the stairs but paused. ‘If they have any weapons at all. It might be nothing.’
Benoit patted the back of the AR-15 in my hands when he passed. ‘Put this firmly into your shoulder when you pull the trigger.’
I nodded and told him, ‘Okay.’
They both went up the stairs. A few seconds later Elena appeared. ‘It might be nothing guys,’ she said.
‘How far off are they?’ Roy asked her.
‘Thirty minutes maybe,’ she replied. ‘Just in case, life jackets are under the back seats in the cockpit.’
‘Oh merde,’ Aurelie said.
‘It’s going to be alright,’ Roy said.
I walked over to the two windows and opened them. ‘Nah, it’s gonna be something bad. It’s been too easy recently.’
‘I love your optimism,’ Elena told me. She climbed up onto the galley’s worktop to get a better view out of one of the windows. She peered out, her hands resting on her knees.
I did the same, wedging myself into the corner of the galley so my back was against a cupboard. I didn’t want to start shooting and slide backwards off the worktop.
‘I can’t see them,’ Aurelie said.
I looked over to find Roy and Aurelie sticking their heads out through the main cabin’s exit.
‘They were just over there,’ Roy said, pointing out to the horizon.
‘Can you see them from here?’ I asked Elena. All I could see was water.
‘Yes, a white and blue boat. At one o’clock, maybe two o’clock, say half past one.’
Then I spotted it, bobbing up and down behind the waves. The water around us definitely didn’t feel as choppy as it looked over there.
‘How can you tell they’re half an hour away?’ I asked her.
‘I cannot. Javier told me they were thirty minutes away.’
Two loud bangs from just in front of my face startled me. Javier’s voice swiftly followed. ‘Christophe?’
I realised he must be right at the edge of the boat above my window. ‘Yep.’
‘We’re going to try and ignore them at first,’ Javier said. ‘I’ll keep you updated. Don’t shoot.’
‘Yes I know,’ I told him, slightly insulted he was thinking I’d just start shooting for no reason.
I tried to keep my eyes on the boat as it disappeared and reappeared from behind the waves, very gradually getting closer and closer. When it was about two hundred feet away maybe, I had no idea on the distance really, I noticed at least three people on board. One of them was definitely carrying a gun.
A voice started booming out over a loudspeaker. ‘Drop your sails and let us come alongside you. If you don’t fight we’ll let you be on your way.’
Does our boat have some kind of life raft? It must do. It’s surely a legal requirement to have one.
We didn’t slow down suddenly, and I heard no movement from above us, so I guess we’re sticking with the ignoring tact.
The voice started shouting again. ‘Drop your sails and nobody will get hurt.’
Again we seemed to do nothing in response.
Three gunshots rang out, making Elena and I both flinch and duck down. I quickly raised my gun and was very close to sticking the barrel out of the window, when Javier said, ‘Don’t shoot Chris. Okay?’
‘Okay,’ I replied.
‘They were warning shots,’ he added. ‘We’re going to let them get close. They don’t know we’re armed. When I say your name, spray the boat with bullets. Don’t aim at anything, just shoot.’
‘Okay.’
I can manage that.
There was a lot of movement above us. I could hear the sails flapping as they were lowered.
‘Get ready Chris,’ Elena said.
I tried to position myself so I could get the gun up quickly and aimed at the boat. I could see the three men on board. There didn’t seem to be anybody else, unless they were hiding like us.
I know Javier said not to aim, but I might as well aim in their general direction. Two of them were stood at the back of the boat, the stern, or is it the aft? Fuck it, I don’t know. The other was up in the boat’s cockpit, leaning out of an open window with a mic in his hand. The two guys at the back were both carrying rifles. I’m gonna go for those two fuckers.
The fishing trawler, up close it looked like it was once a fishing trawler, drew up alongside us. It actually looked like a bigger and more modern version of the boat from Jaws. It was only twenty feet away when it slowed to match our speed.
‘We are heavily armed,’ the man holding the mic said. ‘We’re coming aboard your yacht.’
‘Chris!’ Javier shouted.
I aimed at the two guys and pulled the trigger. I must have fired off ten or twelve rounds before I even knew it. The force against my shoulder was a massive shock. The back of the boat was peppered with bullet holes but I knew I’d hit them both. I spotted two or three sprays of blood while firing. They dropped down behind the side of the trawler. I moved my aim to the other guy. Before I could move the barrel all the way over, the windows surrounding his cockpit shattered and exploded inwards as Benoit opened fire above me. I returned my aim to where the two guys once stood, emptying the AR-15 into the side of the boat and hopefully finishing them off.
When I released the trigger, there was a deathly silence, soon broken by Javier shouting, ‘Benoit! Mainsail. Roy, come up here. Chris, keep your gun aimed at their boat.’
Shit, do I tell him my gun is empty?
Elena seemed to read my mind. ‘We don’t have any more rounds for the AR-15. Just keep it on them anyway.’
Roy hesitated slightly at first, but then ran up the stairs.
There was no movement on the trawler, nothing from the cockpit or where those two guys were once stood. A thick line of red ran out of one of the bullet holes I’d made, spilling into the ocean. The trawler was already slowly drifting away from us.
I could hear the three of them above us, hard at work. I felt a little surge when the wind must have caught our sails, pushing us through the water and further away from the wannabe pirates.
I kept my gun on the trawler, desperately hoping they were all dead. There was nothing I could do if one of them popped up and started shooting.
And then we’d done it. I could no longer see them. We’d escaped their attempts at boarding us. I let out a sigh of relief and placed the gun on the worktop.
I looked at Elena sat next to me. She’d spun around so her legs were hanging off the edge. ‘That was a bit nerve-wracking,’ I said. ‘Wasn’t it?’
She pushed herself off the edge to stand on the floor. ‘I don’t know about you Chris, but I could do with a drink. I am getting the whiskey out.’
I noticed my hands were still shaking slightly. ‘Yeah I’ll have one.’
Aurelie was walking down the stairs. I hadn’t notice her go up. ‘Pour me one Elena,’ she said. ‘The boys are all okay. It looks like the boat isn’t following us.’
DAY FORTY
Chapter 17: Drowning
Oh my fucking God I’m bored. We were forced to stop playing Shithead when a difference of opinion nearly made the Frenchies kill each other. I can play Roy at scrabble, but unfortunately the other four constantly complain about being forbidden from using words from their own languages. Monopoly is still just about bearable.
When it comes to food, Jesus fucking Christ, I�
��m even more bored. I’m sick of pasta, and I love pasta, or should I say loved. Chicken pasta bake. Spaghetti Carbonara. Spaghetti Bolognese. Penne with beef. Penne with pork. Penne with bacon. Pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta.
It’s become increasingly harder to do anything in the galley. The waves can be massive, and I mean massive, much higher than our mast. It’s fucking terrifying.
The Atlantic is pretty fascinating at moments, and also incredibly boring. We’re hundreds of miles from anywhere but still see birds flying past, on their way to fuck knows where. We’ve had dolphins swimming alongside us in the middle of the night, illuminated by some otherworldly bioluminescence. Javier tried to explain to me where the lights came from, but even his brilliant grasp of English can only take him so far.
Another little thing that’s entertained me slightly is the blossoming relationship between Roy and Elena. I don’t think anything physical has happened yet, but they seem to have a lot of private conversations between just the two of them.
On the whole, the inhabitants of the Penelope Cruz are getting along very well, surprising considering we were just thrown together by chance. To be expected, we did occasionally get on each other’s nerves.
Javier surprised me. At first, I really didn’t think I’d like our Spanish captain. I thought he might be a bit too cocky and full of himself, but first impressions can be wrong. He was incredibly generous with me, and with the others.
His patience with me must be stretched to its limits when it comes to my inability to remember nautical terms.
Elena is very easy going, but far from a pushover. She’s never afraid to put forward her opinion. I imagine she always gets her way with men. She has Roy wrapped around her little finger. He’s well and truly besotted. She’s also very easy on the eye, slender and toned. She has a look of Thandie Newton, a Mediterranean Thandie.
Benoit and Aurelie are probably the nicest couple I’ve ever met. It’s difficult to think of them as individuals, just because they fit so well together, unless they’re playing card games of course.
I’ll miss them all when we go our separate ways, Roy more so. He’s become somebody I heavily rely on, the type of friend everyone could hope for. I’m very grateful to him for coming with me on this journey.