The Serophim Breach (The Serophim Breach Series)
Page 37
Sarah had let a few moments of silence pass before she turned to face him, doing all she could to keep tears from welling in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Mike,” she said, her voice a whisper.
“Oh, kiddo.” He smiled good-naturedly. The effort behind the action was evident. “It wasn’t your fault.”
She nearly dissolved into tears, but knew it would be unfair to ask either of her companions for any more comfort. As it was, Heather stood stiffly at the wheel, her eyes focused out to sea; she had hardly acknowledged Sarah’s presence at all.
“If you could track down a first aid kit, that would be great,” Mike continued. She nodded and began searching the cabin. When she found what she was looking for, she carried the heavy kit over to where Mike sat, and watched as he began to clean his wounds.
Soon after he had stopped most of the bleeding, Mike began to doze where he sat. Every few minutes he would open his eyes blearily and glance around, looking as if he were unsure where he was. Then he would rub his eyes, and the moment would pass. Sarah watched him, concerned that he was in some kind of shock.
The third time it happened, his eyes cleared, but he kept them open and directed at the floor, his brow knitted in concentration. Sarah continued to watch, but he didn’t move—he hardly blinked. Only the steady rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed reassured her that he hadn’t slipped into a coma. A long time passed before he finally spoke again.
“I’m going below,” he said softly, without looking up.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Heather was immediately concerned, turning away from the wheel to face her father.
“Nothing. I’m just tired,” he said. Even to Sarah, his bluff was not convincing.
“Dad.”
Mike remained silent, weighing something in his mind. Before he spoke again, he squared his shoulders as if he were heading into a battle.
“I told Kai I would keep you both safe. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
Heather frowned.
“I don’t understand.”
Finally, Mike looked up at her and said, “We still have no idea what’s going on. What’s turning people into monsters, why there’s no help . . . how this is spreading. But I was close enough to catch whatever it is if it’s airborne. And if not . . . ” he shrugged, gesturing to his wounds, “there are other ways to get infected. It might be I’m just exhausted, but I have to be sure. So until we get to Maui, I’m going to lock myself in somewhere. You don’t let me out until you know it’s safe. Do you understand me, Heather?”
His daughter watched him, her face impassive. Finally, she gave a curt nod, and Mike returned the gesture.
“Good girl. Sarah, watch the wheel for a bit while Heather helps me downstairs.”
They shuffled out of the room and were gone, leaving Sarah alone with her thoughts. She clung to the wheel, gripping it tightly whenever a gruesome image bubbled up from the depths of her brain, the now familiar tendrils of fear unfolding in her stomach. But she refused to think of Mike as one of them. It couldn’t happen.
Heather returned a short while later, her face drawn and tired. Without a word, she took back her place at the wheel, and Sarah moved away quietly to sit in Mike’s vacant chair.
She didn’t realize she had fallen asleep until a change in the rhythm of the engine woke her. She sat up, disoriented by the different light; the angle of the shadows suggested late afternoon.
“What happened?” she croaked, her throat dry.
Heather was still standing at the wheel, looking out the window.
“I stopped the boat,” she answered, a new kind of tension lacing her voice.
“Why?” Sarah pressed, moving forward to stand next to the wheel. And immediately, she saw.
The coast of Maui was visible out before them, the lush island rising gracefully from the pristine waters. All around them, the choppy waves signaled another impending storm. But the gray cloud that covered half the island was not laden with rain; instead, it was being fed by billowing spires of smoke, rising from the coastal city of Moanaloa.
To be continued . . .