Anomaly

by Scott Prussing

  I wait a minute or so and then call out once more, begging them to show themselves, but again I’m met with silence. Frustrated and confused, I try one last time, with the same lack of result.

  I can’t wait out here on the bridge forever. Weighed down by disappointment, I trudge back along the bridge and turn into the forest. Maybe once I’ve detoured around the ravine, I’ll find some sign of the mysterious archers on the other side. I sure hope so.

  MEANWHILE

  CHAPTER 18

  RADAR WATCHED HELPLESSLY as the slimy tentacle pulled Plush and Lights down into the water. Jordy was firing his rifle into the ocean beneath them, keeping his aim low enough to avoid hitting their two friends but hoping to wound the invisible monster below so it would release them.

  It didn’t work. The two Miracles disappeared beneath the surface.

  “Nooooo!” Radar screamed, her heart breaking.

  Suddenly, the tentacle holding Plush and Lights broke through the water and shot back up toward the ship. For a moment, Radar didn’t understand—why would the creature be returning her friends to the boat? Then she realized she was seeing exactly the same thing she had just witnessed, only in reverse. She turned her head and saw Rerun beside her, his features etched tight with concentration. He was winding back time to rescue their friends!

  As soon as Plush and Lights were standing on the deck again, Radar and Jordy pulled them away from the spot where the tentacle had grabbed them.

  “Hey, let go,” Lights protested. “Why are you tugging us around like this? We can take care of ourselves.”

  Despite the danger, Radar grinned. When someone was directly involved in Rerun’s time rewinding, they had no memory of the events Rerun had erased. It was like they had never happened. Plush and Lights had no idea what they had just gone through.

  “Trust me,” Radar said. “You do not want to be standing where you just were.”

  A moment later, the tentacle swung across the spot they had just vacated, exactly like it had done a short time before. This time, however, the snake-like appendage found only air.

  Plush stared at Rerun wide-eyed. She could tell by the exhausted look on his face that he had just used his Power.

  “What happened to us?” she asked Radar. “What did Rerun undo?”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to know. Let’s just say you both are a heck of a lot better off right now than you were a minute or so ago.”

  Plush and Lights looked at one another for a moment and then fell into each other’s arms.

  “Hey, where’s Leah?” Doc asked worriedly.

  Radar glanced around. There was no sign of her best friend.

  “I don’t know,” she said, growing frantic. “She was right here a moment ago.”

  The Miracles and Jordy all looked at one another. They had all been so busy watching Plush and Lights that no one had seen what had happened to Leah.

  The kraken had pulled its tentacles below the water again, leaving the ship floating almost motionlessly, though with a decided list to the starboard side. Everyone hoped that the beast had given up its attack, but they doubted it.

  “Colonel Gallway!” Radar shouted. “Leah’s missing!”

  The colonel rushed over to join them. He looked around quickly, but didn’t see Leah anywhere.

  “What do you mean, she’s missing?”

  “She was right here with us,” Radar replied. “Plush and Lights got grabbed by the kraken, but Rerun backed time up and saved them. When we looked again, Leah was gone.”

  Colonel Gallway turned to Rerun. “Can you back things up again?” he asked. “Even if you can’t go back far enough to have Leah standing where she was, maybe we’ll be able to see what happened to her.

  Rerun looked crestfallen. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I can only reverse things that I’ve seen. I didn’t see what happened to Leah.”

  Colonel Gallway stared down into the water, looking for some sign of his daughter. The churning whitecaps and masses of floating debris from the smashed up ship made it hard to see anything.

  “She must have fallen overboard somehow,” he said. “I’m going in after her.” He waved two nearby Seals over to him. The Seals were by far the best swimmers on the ship.

  Just as they reached his side, one of the huge mainmasts cracked in half and came crashing down, splintering one of the wooden lifeboats and smashing into the side of the ship less than twenty feet from where they all stood. Water streamed in through the wide crack that resulted. It was becoming clear that whether the kraken resumed its attack or not, the Star of India was doomed. Ignoring the damage for a moment, the colonel spoke to the pair of Seals.

  “My daughter may be in the water. We’ve got to try to find her.”

  “You got it, Sir,” one of the Seals replied. Without hesitation, they both jumped over the side of the ship.

  Colonel Gallway turned to Jordy. “We need to abandon ship. Tell Lieutenant Gregerson to get the dinghies and the other lifeboat into the water. The Miracles are the priority—put them in the lifeboat if you can get it lowered safely. Make sure the lieutenant stays with them.”

  He didn’t wait for a reply before taking a running leap off the deck.

  Jordy spotted Lieutenant Gregerson leaning against one of the unbroken masts. He hurried over to relay the colonel’s command. Radar and the other Miracles followed him.

  The lieutenant was bleeding heavily from a gash in his forehead. A thick stream of blood flowed down over his right eye, turning his cheek red. He looked unsteady on his feet.

  “Colonel Gallway’s gone into the water to look for Leah,” Jordy told him. “He said to abandon ship. The Miracles go into the lifeboat if we can get it lowered.”

  Lieutenant Gregerson motioned to a nearby group of sailors, who hurried over to him.

  “Get that lifeboat into the water,” he commanded.

  The seamen rushed across the deck and began working on getting the lifeboat off the deck and into the water. Damage to the pulleys made it a difficult task, but they seemed to be accomplishing it.

  Lieutenant Gregerson turned to Jordy. “Go tell our guys to inflate the dinghies, then come back here with ten men if you can gather that many.” Jordy raced toward the stern where the dinghies were stored to carry out the lieutenant’s orders. Gregerson looked at the six teenagers gathered in front of him. “You Miracles stay with me, until we see what happens with the lifeboat.”

  He pushed himself away from the mast, but his legs immediately began to buckle. Lights caught him by the elbow before he fell, helping him to remain on his feet. Sneak grabbed his other arm to lend additional support.

  Doc reached for his forehead. “Let me fix that,” she said.

  Ignoring the blood, she laid her palm atop the jagged gash and closed her eyes, visualizing the deep cut healing itself. A soft yellow glow radiated from her hand. The olive complexion of her skin made the glow seem brighter. When she took her hand away a few seconds later, the wound was gone.

  Lieutenant Gregerson smiled. Not only had the cut disappeared completely, but he was no longer feeling dizzy. It was as if the injury had never happened.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  He looked toward the lifeboat, but the vessel was now out of sight over the edge of the ship. Four sailors still strained at the thick ropes that held the boat, so he knew it had not yet been lowered into the water. It had to be close, though.

  “C’mon,” he said to the Miracles. “I think our transportation is almost ready.”

  He led them across the deck. They reached the broken railing just in time to see the lifeboat land with a loud splash onto the surface of the ocean. The boat came dangerously close to capsizing when it hit the water, but it managed to stay afloat.

  Three of the sailors maintained their hold on the ropes, while the fourth draped a heavy net over the side of the ship and then used the netting to climb down into the lifeboat. Once he was aboard, he kept hold of the net, steadying the smaller boat agai
nst the side of the ship.

  “Okay, Miracles,” Lieutenant Gregerson said. “Down you go. Hurry.”

  Doc descended first, followed quickly by Lights and Plush. Sneak and Rerun went next, while Radar stayed back, looking down the length of the ship.

  “You, too, Radar,” the lieutenant ordered. “Jordy will be right back. We won’t leave without him, but I want you in that boat, just in case.”

  Radar looked about to protest, but she spotted Jordy hurrying toward them from the far end of the ship along with a bunch of his fellow Marines. She swung her leg over the edge and climbed down the net. A few moments later, Jordy, Lieutenant Gregerson and the other Marines joined them in the lifeboat. The sailor who had been the first man into the boat used one of the long wooden oars to push the skiff away from the Star of India. At the same time, the sailors above let go of the ropes, and the boat began to drift away from the larger ship. Two of the sailors then jumped into the water beside the lifeboat, where they were quickly hauled aboard by the Marines.

  The vessel was meant to hold sixteen people, but it was big enough to hold a half-dozen more in a pinch. There were eighteen passengers already, but there was still room to fit a few more if they pulled anyone from the ocean.

  The first person they lifted into the boat was Colonel Gallway. Shivering from his long immersion in the cold water, his expression was stoic, but those nearest to him could see the sadness in his eyes. Lieutenant Gregerson wrapped a woolen blanket around him. The lieutenant met his boss’s eyes and shook his head.

  “No sign of her, Sir. I’m sorry.”

  The colonel nodded slowly. He refused to give up hope, but even if the worst happened, there would be a time for mourning later. Right now, he needed to take command.

  “How many have we lost?” he asked.

  “Somewhere between fifteen and twenty, I think. The four dinghies can hold ten men each, but none of them are close to full. We’ve pulled a few wounded from the water already, so there may be more.”

  Colonel Gallway surveyed the ocean around them. Floating bits of debris both large and small bobbed upon the surface as far as he could see. Most of the wreckage was drifting away from the Star of India toward the coast, carried more easily by the current than the foundering ship, which listed heavily and was slowly sinking as water filled its hold. It was certainly within the realm of possibility that more survivors could be clinging to the wreckage. Even if Leah hadn’t been missing, he would need to check. He just hoped the monster that had destroyed the Star did not return.

  He glanced up at the sun, which was beginning to sink into the western half of the sky. He guessed they had about three hours of daylight left, at best. With no way to fix their position, it was difficult to tell exactly which way they were drifting, but he guessed it was pretty directly east. That was one good thing, at least, because that’s where land was.

  Pushing himself to his feet, he waved both his arms over his head, drawing the attention of the other vessels. They all rowed closer to the lifeboat.

  “Three of us will remain here another hour or two, looking for survivors,” he announced, speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear. He pointed to two of the dinghies, each of which held a pair of seamen as well as a Marine sergeant who could assume command when they reached land. “You two head for the coast now. Stay wide enough apart to cover as much ocean as possible, in case anyone who went overboard has drifted with the current and the tide. When you land, one group go north, the other south, again searching for any survivors.”

  He didn’t have to say it—everyone knew he was hoping against hope that his daughter had somehow made it to shore.

  “The south company should go ten miles or so,” he continued. “If you don’t find anyone by then, turn around and come back north as fast as you can, to meet up with us. After we land, we’ll be heading north, so you’ll need to hurry.” He drew in a deep breath. “That’s it. Get going.”

  The oarsmen in the two dinghies immediately began pulling on their oars, sending the boats sluicing across the surface to the east. Colonel Gallway turned his attention to the two remaining dinghies.

  “We’ll spread out to cover as much area as possible. Every piece of wreckage needs to be checked. Someone could be unconscious but still holding on, or maybe managed to tie themselves to a piece of debris while they were still awake. Let’s keep within sight of each other.” He started to sit down, but then thought of one more thing he needed to say. “Try to be as quiet as possible, and don’t disturb the water any more than necessary. That creature may still be around. Let’s try not to draw its interest.”

  The Miracles all thought that was a fine idea. The kraken had destroyed the Star of India—their tiny lifeboat wouldn’t stand up to even one direct hit by one of the monster’s giant tentacles.

  CHAPTER 19

  THIRTEEN PAIRS OF EYES scanned the ocean as the lifeboat glided slowly eastward. Only the four men rowing the skiff did not peer intently across the gently rolling sea—they concentrated on dipping the oars into the water as smoothly and quietly as possible.

  No one looked harder than Radar. Searching the surface of the blue-green water desperately for some sign of her best friend, she wished that her Power enabled her to detect the other Miracles as easily as she detected the appearance of an Anomaly. Her eyes were no better than anyone else’s, though—heck, she hadn’t even seen Leah fall overboard. She silently cursed herself for her failure. Had she been more alert, she could have done something to try to rescue Leah.

  The tears that welled up in her eyes from time to time didn’t help, either. So far, she had managed to keep them from overflowing and running down her cheeks, but as her heart grew heavier with every passing minute, she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to hold them back.

  So far, they had plucked only one survivor from the sea, a Navy Seal they found clinging to a broken section of mast. From what they could tell, one of the inflatable boats had also rescued someone. But that was it, just two rescues, and they were coming near the edge of the now widespread debris field. Worse, the sun hovered pretty low in the western sky behind them. Radar guessed they had maybe an hour of daylight left. The thought brought more tears to her eyes.

  Colonel Gallway rested his hand upon her shoulder.

  “Don’t give up hope,” he told her. “From the moment she was born, Leah and I have had a very special connection. I don’t know why, but I think if she were dead, I would somehow know it.”

  Radar looked up into the colonel’s face. He seemed sincere—she saw no sign that he was just hoping against hope, or merely trying to comfort her. She could well believe that Leah and her dad shared a special connection—after all, Leah was the true Miracle, the first child born after ten years of human barrenness. Besides, Radar herself had a pretty strong connection to both her parents.

  She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

  “I hope you’re right.” She turned away from Colonel Gallway and went back to scanning the ocean for some sign of her friend.

  Despite the careful search by the three boats, they found no more survivors in the water. The sun was now a shimmering red orb floating on the edge of the ocean. Darkness would soon make any further search a near impossibility, and they had passed the end of the debris field some time back. Colonel Gallway knew the best thing he could do now was get everyone safely to land.

  Reluctantly, he signaled to the two dinghies and gave the order to his oarsmen. They immediately began pulling harder on the oars, more than doubling the boat’s speed as it headed east toward the coast, now visible as dark bulge on the horizon. The rubber skiffs followed close behind.

  A crescent moon and plethora of stars provided enough light for the company to move unerringly toward land, and to beach the boats safely upon a narrow spit of sand beneath low, rocky cliffs. Lieutenant Gregerson immediately set up a series of sentries to keep watch, while Colonel Gallway made sure the Miracles settled themsel
ves in the center of the campsite. It was too dark to make anything more than a cursory search of the immediate area. The colonel didn’t want to chance messing up any signs the beach might hold, so he sent teams of three Marines each out to the north and south with orders to stay close to the waterline, where the waves would have already washed away any markings.

  While the two squads were gone, the Miracles and remaining soldiers ate a meager dinner of dried meat and fruit that had been stored in the lifeboat. They had barely finished eating when the north squad returned, reporting that the beach ended just a few hundred yards in that direction, and that they had found nothing to indicate anyone had been on the sand in years.

  The second team returned about twenty minutes later. The beach extended almost a mile to the south, but they had seen no signs of any recent visitors. If the first two dinghies—or Leah—had made it to shore, it had not been on this beach.

  There was nothing left to do but call it a night. While everyone except a half dozen sentries settled in to sleep, Colonel Gallway sat on the stand, staring out at the dark ocean. He prayed that his daughter was not still out there somewhere—or worse, had found her way to the bottom of the sea.

  He had no way of knowing that at that very moment, his daughter was huddled alongside a small fire all alone on a beach twenty miles north of where he sat. Had he known, he would have led a squad of his men double time through the night, despite the danger such travel would entail. But he did not know…and so he did not go.

  The following morning dawned clear and cold. The company of Marines, seamen and the Miracles rose with the sun. Fifteen minutes after wiping the sleep from their eyes, the Miracles and the soldiers were ready to go. Blankets had been folded up and returned to the emergency pouches and the supplies from the boats had been distributed among the Marines to carry. Breakfast consisted of an energy bar apiece, eaten while standing and waiting for the Colonel Gallway’s orders.