Burnt Sea: A Seabound Prequel (Seabound Chronicles Book 0)

by Jordan Rivet

  “We need to keep moving,” Quentin said. He fiddled with the buttons on his peacoat and looked around anxiously. The alley was still deserted, but they shouldn’t linger.

  “Wait a second.” Michael pried the cap off the opening at the top of the barrel he’d been leaning against and dipped a hand into it. Light-brown grains cascaded over his hands. “This thing is full of rice! We should take it with us.”

  “Are you crazy? We don’t have time,” Kim hissed.

  “We’re not going to last much longer on the food we have,” Michael said. “Help me find something to move this. A cart or—”

  “Michael,” Judith said urgently. “We need to keep moving.”

  “It won’t take long, and there’s no one around,” Michael said.

  He began digging through the piles of rubbish in the alley. Judith pinched her lips together tightly, but she helped him. He was limping and would need more time to get back to the lifeboat. They had to keep walking.

  “That probably belongs to someone, you know,” Quentin said.

  “You think we should leave it?”

  “Oh no! They just might be a little upset.” Quentin tapped the barrel and looked up and down the alleyway again. Still empty.

  “Finders, keepers?” Michael said. “I guess the rules don’t count at the end of the world.” Sweat had broken out on his forehead, and he was standing on one foot.

  “Just hurry, please,” Judith said.

  “Here! This’ll work,” Kim called. She dragged a furniture dolly toward them. The tires were flat and the handle rusty, but it would do.

  Kim and Judith eased the dolly beneath the barrel. It rocked back and forth and then settled in place. It took both of them to keep it stable while they pushed forward. Michael slung an arm over Quentin’s shoulder and they hobbled along behind the women.

  They had to be getting closer to the water. The Catalina would be waiting. They were almost home.

  Suddenly there was an angry shout in the alley behind them. They didn’t understand the words, but the tone was clear enough. Then a gun cracked, the shot echoing through the alley like a breaking wave.

  “Run!” Judith screamed.

  Chapter 21—Retreat

  Simon

  Simon ran down the service stairwell. Manny kept pace beside him.

  “Simon, sir, Judith will take care of Esther,” he said.

  “We have to get them out of the city. Their boat could be discovered any second.”

  Panic clutched at Simon’s chest as he ran. He shouldn’t have stayed behind. How had Esther gotten past him?

  “Maybe it has already been found,” Manny said. “They are saying they’d—”

  “No.” Simon would not accept that their lifeboat had been discovered, their people taken. He had to get his daughter safely back on the ship.

  “How will you be getting by the army boat?” Manny asked.

  Simon slowed. He had almost forgotten the PLA speedboat waiting between the Catalina and the city. Between the Catalina and Esther.

  “We need a distraction,” he said. “I’ll take Michael’s speedboat. It’s faster than the lifeboats.”

  The landing party had originally decided not to take the speedboat Michael had “borrowed” from the navy because its motor was so much louder than the ones on the smaller lifeboats. They wanted to avoid being noticed. It was too late for that.

  Simon had fetched Captain Martinelli from his cabin and left him in charge. He hoped that wouldn’t prove to be a fatal mistake. The man would be able to get them out of the harbor at least. He had done it before. And with Simon’s daughter in danger, the captain might actually make a more rational leader than he would. The captain could protect the people on the Catalina for once. All Simon cared about was getting to Esther.

  Judith

  Gunshots rang through the alley far behind them. The group broke into as much of a run as they could manage with one damaged foot and one dolly with a barrel. They turned left at the end of the building and ran back toward the main street.

  They were in the open, but it didn’t matter anymore. They had to get back to the lifeboat. Now. Shouts and shots pursued them.

  Judith’s lungs burned as she chased rather than pushed the rice barrel toward the waterline. She looked back. Michael must have swallowed his pain, because he was picking up his pace too, Quentin supporting him all the way. Kim, who was at least twenty years older than the other two Catalinans, gasped with the effort of running flat out.

  They couldn’t see the shooters. They were getting further away. They had to make it.

  Judith was almost to the lifeboat. It still bobbed in the shallow water beside the street sign. But a tiny figure perched on its edge beside Pieter.

  Esther.

  Simon

  Reggie met Simon at the lifeboat deck where they’d stowed Michael’s speedboat.

  “Good news, Simon,” Reggie said. “We got the propeller clear. Only one blade is broken. The rest were tangled on a shitload of wire beneath the surface.”

  “We need to sail out of the harbor as soon as possible,” Simon said.

  “The guys’ll take care of it,” Reggie said. “Now let’s get our people out of there.”

  “Is our distraction ready?” Simon asked.

  “Wong is on standby on the foredeck. He’ll do it as soon as we clear the port side.”

  Simon knew Reggie wanted to get Esther, Michael, and the others out of the city as much as he did. The distraction had been his idea, and he had volunteered to drive Simon to the city in the speedboat to bring their people home.

  “Good,” Simon said. “Manny, make sure all the decks are clear. Keep people out of firing range in case this gets ugly.”

  “It’s going to get ugly all right,” Reggie muttered.

  They climbed into the speedboat and lowered it toward the water. They were on the opposite side of the Catalina from the city, hidden from the PLA boat. Only the open sea and the wrecked harbor mouth were visible from here. They hit the water with a splash. Simon climbed to the bow, while Reggie operated the outboard motor. They sailed forward, the Catalina looming beside them like a tower.

  As they came abreast of the bow, Reggie raised a hand to signal. A flaming object catapulted through the air from the deck of the Catalina. It hit the water and sank with barely a hiss. Reggie cursed softly.

  Another flaming object followed the first, this time further to the left. It too sunk without a trace. Reggie cut the motor to the speedboat.

  “We can’t sail out there while they’re keeping watch. They’ll blow us out of the water.”

  “We have to keep trying,” Simon said.

  A third burning object flew through the air, trailing a wisp of smoke behind it. When it landed, the sea ignited. The patch of oil floating viscous on the sea between them and the PLA boat began to burn. Reggie whooped and fired up the engine. They sped toward the spot where they’d last seen their lifeboat. The blaze slicked along the top of the water toward the PLA boat.

  Judith

  “Esther! What are you doing here?” Judith demanded when she reached the lifeboat. She nearly knocked the rice barrel into the sea.

  “I want to see the city, but Pieter won’t let me go for a walk,” Esther said, pouting.

  “I found her hiding in the emergency hold. She locked herself in there and finally shouted for help,” Pieter said. “You’re being chased?”

  “I think we lost them.”

  Michael stumbled into Judith from behind, winded more from pain than exertion. Quentin leaned down with his hands on his knees, gasping.

  “We need to get the barrel into the boat,” Michael said.

  “There’s no time,” Judith said. “Leave it.”

  Kim caught up with them. “Let’s just go, please,” she gasped.

  Michael’s jaw set. “Not after we dragged it all this way.”

  Judith looked back at the city to see if their pursuers had caught up. The street was emp
ty. Michael was already flipping the dolly around to try to leverage the barrel up and over the edge of the boat.

  “On second thought,” Quentin wheezed, “I don’t think I’m cut out for this. I’m staying here.”

  “You can’t!” Michael said. “You’ll be killed. Pieter, would you take over here?”

  Michael caught Quentin by the arm as he started to walk away. Pieter moved around to help Judith with the barrel.

  “It needs to be lower in the water,” Pieter said. “Get in the boat.”

  Judith and Kim scrambled over the gunwale, while Pieter pushed upwards on the barrel. Judith planted her feet and tugged on it. It was almost over the side. Kim huddled back beneath the awning, pulling Esther down with her.

  Quentin and Michael were struggling on the sidewalk. “Don’t give up, man! If you get caught—”

  Soldiers rounded the corner of the building. The barrel seesawed over the gunwale. Pieter scrambled after it and joined Kim and Esther by the motor.

  But Michael still wouldn’t abandon Quentin.

  “We have to go!” Judith screamed. “Leave him!”

  “It’s too late to go back,” Michael shouted at Quentin. “Get in the boat! Let us help you!”

  Gunfire shattered the empty street.

  “Michael!” Judith shouted.

  She stayed by the mooring, trying to loosen the knot keeping them tethered to the shore. Bullets pinged against the street sign, much too close to them. Kim shrieked.

  “Please get in the boat!” Judith said. “Michael, we have to go!”

  She managed to untie the rope. They were free. The boat lurched as Pieter fired up the motor.

  Then several things happened at once.

  The heavy barrel teetered sideways.

  Judith lost her balance.

  Quentin broke away from Michael to run toward the city.

  And a look of surprise appeared on Michael’s face as a row of holes opened in his chest.

  Simon

  They sped through the water. Every second they couldn’t see the lifeboat was agony. Simon held on to the bench of the speedboat so hard that cuts must be scoring his hands. Behind him the sea blazed.

  The flames forced the PLA boat further away from them. Tongues of fire danced across the water. Black smoke billowed in bigger and bigger clouds, nearly obscuring the Catalina from view.

  “They ain’t seen us yet,” Reggie hollered above the rush of the water and the growl of the engine.

  Water drenched Simon’s face. He leaned forward, searching the broken waterline for the familiar shape.

  “There it is!” Simon shouted. “I see the lifeboat.”

  But instead of speeding up, Reggie cut the engine.

  “Why are you stopping? Keep going!”

  “Can’t. They’re sitting right in a patch of oil. And the flames are coming our way.”

  Judith

  Judith toppled backwards in the lifeboat. The barrel rolled on top of her, pinning her legs to the deck. The pain was excruciating, but it was nothing compared to the black hole ripping its way through her heart. She realized she was screaming.

  Someone was shouting at Pieter to go. The engine kicked to life.

  “Wait!” Judith shrieked. “Michael!”

  “He’s dead. Pieter, go!”

  She didn’t register who was speaking, but she knew she hated all of them. Michael most of all. He couldn’t be dead. Not like that. Not so fast. She pounded her fists against the barrel. If they’d left it behind . . . left Quentin behind . . . Damn Michael for wasting time trying to do the right thing. But the barrel didn’t budge. She was stuck.

  Water sprayed over the lifeboat. They were moving, sailing away from the shore, away from Michael. An acrid smell choked the air, and something roared in Judith’s ears.

  “The sea is on fire!”

  “There’s something out there.”

  “The fire’s headed this way. We’re not going to make it!”

  Pieter leaned on the motor as if willing it to be stronger, faster than it was. But they were moving too slowly.

  Suddenly, Esther shouted, “Look! It’s our speedboat.”

  “Simon’s coming for us!” Kim screamed.

  “Daddy!”

  Nearly delirious, Judith pulled herself up as far as she could with the barrel pinning her legs and looked toward the sea. It was Simon, riding toward them in the bow of the speedboat, looking for all the world like a hero from a story. Coming to save them.

  Simon

  “We don’t have time.” Reggie’s words barely made sense to Simon. They had to keep moving. “There’s a full fuel tank next to that lifeboat motor. It’s going to blow any second.”

  “We have to get Esther,” Simon said.

  “There’s no time.”

  “Do it!”

  Reggie swore and gunned the engine, jetting into the oil slick.

  Simon saw his daughter in the lifeboat, her tiny hands, blue T-shirt, drenched pigtails. Beside her he could see Judith’s face and her arm waving desperately.

  “Help us!” she shouted.

  She seemed to be trapped under something. She wasn’t climbing any further forward in the boat.

  “Get ready to jump!” Simon shouted.

  “I’m stuck!” Judith shrieked. “Help me!”

  The two boats bumped together. Pieter and Kim leapt across the gap.

  “Come on, button,” Simon coaxed.

  Esther hesitated. “I’m scared.”

  The flames crept closer. Reggie threw the speedboat motor into reverse.

  “It’s going to blow! We have to move.”

  Simon looked back and forth between Esther, crouching petrified on the lifeboat seat, and Judith, trapped beneath a barrel, for one terrible instant. He couldn’t reach both. Already the gap between the boats was widening again.

  Judith

  Simon launched forward and snatched Esther out of the lifeboat. He didn’t shout for Reggie to stop as it sailed away again. Simon’s eyes met Judith’s. The distance between them grew larger. As Simon clasped Esther in his arms, his mouth formed words that might have been I’m sorry.

  Then the lifeboat blew to pieces around her.

  Chapter 22—Burnt Sea

  Judith

  Sound.

  Heat.

  Pain.

  Fury.

  The explosion freed Judith’s legs and hurled her into the sea. She dove.

  Judith swam deep beneath the water until her lungs felt like they would rip through her chest. She had no sensation of up or down. She only knew she had to get far away from the burning oil slick as fast as she could.

  All was blackness around her.

  Her head broke the surface. She gulped in the acrid smoke that was sweeping across the water from the blaze. Still close enough to feel the heat. She saw a flash of angel white that she prayed was the Catalina and dove beneath the water again.

  The next time she emerged, Judith felt oil on her face. She scrubbed at it but couldn’t remove the slick from her skin. Flames raced across the top of the water toward her.

  She dove.

  The third time Judith rose to fill her lungs, she was in a patch of clean water. The speedboat had reached the Catalina. It rose slowly toward the deck. Simon would be helping Esther aboard now. Judith felt a twist of something in her stomach worse than the pain in her lungs. She swam along the surface. She felt like she was pulling the Catalina closer to her, drinking in the distance with each gasp.

  Then the Catalina started to move.

  Chapter 23—Seabound

  Simon

  Esther struggled and squirmed in Simon’s arms, trying to see what was happening behind them, but he held her close. If he could open up his chest and put her inside, he would have. He’d lost Nina. He’d lost Naomi. He would never lose Esther.

  The sea burned. Smoke from the flaming oil nearly obscured the skyscrapers. Simon could no longer see the PLA boat. He couldn’t see Judith either. And
what about Michael? Simon didn’t think he’d been in the boat. He could only save Esther. He didn’t have a choice.

  He said it to himself over and over again. He didn’t have a choice.

  The Catalina loomed above them. Pieter helped Reggie attach the speedboat to the winch. They lifted into the air. Forty feet up, hands reached across to pull them aboard.

  “Daddy, put me down,” Esther said.

  She struggled, but he kept her in his arms.

  “Esther, you’re in big trouble,” he said. “You will go straight to the cabin and wait for me.”

  “Where’s Judy?” Esther said, crying now. “And who shot Michael? Is he going to be okay? Why did they do that?”

  Simon looked to Kim for confirmation, his lungs squeezing a little tighter. She was trembling, barely coherent, but she nodded.

  “I don’t know why,” Simon said to his daughter.

  “Can we go back and get Judy?”

  “It’s too dangerous with the fire.”

  “We have to!” Esther shouted, pounding her small fists against Simon’s shoulder. “You can’t leave her behind like you left Mommy and Namie.”

  Simon set her down quickly and stared into her eyes.

  “Is that what you think? There’s no way we could save them. We didn’t have a choice.”

  “We got a choice to save Judy, don’t we?” Esther said, glaring defiantly at him.

  Without answering, Simon pushed Esther into the waiting arms of Penelope, who’d come to meet them. He ordered the men to lower the speedboat again.

  “We’re already moving,” Reggie said. “Captain must have decided we waited long enough.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Simon said. “We’ll catch up.”

  Esther was right. They did have a choice.

  Judith

  Judith lost all sense of time as she swam. Logically, she should be saving her strength, turning around, swimming for shore. But the Catalina was where she belonged. She would get back to it if it took everything she had left.