“So am I. There should be food coming.”
“It’s a few rafts away,” Uncle Danny told them. “I’ve been watching them. Based on how long it’s taken the people with the food to get that far, it’ll probably be another fifteen minutes.”
“All right. You have to wait fifteen minutes, Hope.”
“But I’m hungry now,” Hope pouted.
“So are a lot of people, but you have to wait for the food to come to us.”
“Why can’t we go to it?”
“Because they already took a survey, figuring out how many people are in each boat and raft.”
“What’s a survey?”
“It’s when someone asks the same questions to a lot of people and then writes down the answers. Now come on, you should be getting back to your own raft.” Mommy started to guide her back to the tent raft.
“But I don’t see what that has to do with food.”
“It’s easier for them to put together a team to hand out the food, than have everyone scrambling around on the rafts and boats to go get it. They need to know how many people there are, so that they bring enough food to each raft. Come on, upsy-daisy.”
Mommy lifted Hope again, and helped her scramble over into the tent raft.
“I’ll let you know as soon as your food is here,” Mommy told her.
“Okay.”
Hope plopped down beside Milly again. Across from her, Peter had woken up and Dakota was beginning to stir. Adam had crawled back over to sit next to the other boy.
When Dakota woke up, she blinked and rubbed her eyes, then looked all around. She looked at the tent only briefly, before looking at all the rafts that surrounded them. She even stood up to look, but then sat down and began to cry. Hope quickly crawled over to her.
“What’s wrong, Dakota?” she asked.
“My mom’s not here.” She had buried her face in her hands and her voice was all muffled.
“Maybe they just haven’t found her yet,” Hope suggested, rubbing the older girl’s back the way her mommy rubbed hers.
“No. She’s gone. She wouldn’t leave her room during the evacuation. I couldn’t get her to come with me. I tried to get other people to go get her, but no one listened to me. After I found you, I thought someone would check all the rooms, but no one did. She’s dead.”
Hope had never seen Dakota cry before. “It’s not like she was your real mom.”
“What do you know about it?” Dakota suddenly screamed in Hope’s face. She pushed Hope, hard, knocking her over.
Hope was startled and frightened. Dakota had never been mean to her before. She started crying and kicked Dakota. Rifle, who was next to them, started whining, and Milly began barking from where she lay. Dakota grabbed Hope’s leg so hard that it hurt.
“You’re mean!” Hope screamed at her. “You’re mean. It’s good that your mommy is gone!”
Dakota stood up and dragged Hope a short distance over the rubbery floor.
“Yeah, well your dad is dead!” Dakota screamed back. “He was eaten by a shark!”
“Girls! Girls!” Uncle Danny had quickly moved from his raft to theirs, and then crossed over to them. Grabbing each girl’s lifejacket, he pulled them apart, and then kept them that way. “This is not the time for fighting!”
“She started it!” Hope pointed a finger at Dakota, tears trailing down her cheeks.
“You did!” Dakota shouted back.
“Calm down!” Danny yelled at them both. “It doesn’t matter who started it. This is being finished, now.”
Both girls continued crying but they kept their mouths shut.
“Everyone is really emotional right now, and really scared. We don’t need anyone screaming at each other and fighting one another. We gotta work together. Now, can you apologize to one another? I mean, you two are friends, right? Don’t you want to stay friends?”
“I’m sorry, Hope,” Dakota mumbled.
“I’m sorry too, Dakota,” Hope mumbled back.
Danny let go of their lifejackets. “Now can you apologize to all the people you scared?”
Hope looked around and saw that nearly all the people in the surrounding rafts were watching them. Those in their raft, Becky especially, looked scared.
“I’m sorry, everyone,” both girls said at the same time.
“Now, Hope, come sit back over here beside Milly.” Uncle Danny helped her back across the raft. He had to walk on his knees and hunch over to keep from brushing the cloth over their heads. Once Hope was seated, Danny climbed back over to his own raft.
“Thank you,” Hope heard her mommy say to Uncle Danny.
Not wanting to look at Dakota, Hope turned so that she was facing Becky over Milly’s back.
“Is it true what Dakota said about your dad?” Becky asked in a whisper.
Hope nodded as she buried her fingers in Milly’s fur, new tears escaping her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Hope just went on rubbing her hands through Milly’s fur. She knew what happened to her daddy, but she didn’t like to think about it. It was too scary. Instead, she pretended that he had swum off to save someone else after getting her into the raft with Uncle Misha. Her daddy was a hero.
When the food finally came, all the kids went to the sides of their raft that were abutted to the raft holding their family. Hope’s mommy lay on her belly across the two rafts and handed Hope a bun and a carrot.
“This is it?” Hope frowned at the food.
“If you finish it, I managed to get a very special dessert for you.”
“What is it?”
“You have to finish your food first.”
“You’re not trying to trick me, are you?” Hope narrowed her eyes and looked at her mommy’s face.
“Never.” Mommy leaned even farther forward and kissed Hope’s forehead.
While Hope ate the bun, which was kind of hard, and the carrot, her mommy stayed nearby. She had water with her and gave Hope a drink whenever Hope asked for one.
“Do I have to eat this yucky green part?” Hope held up the very end of the carrot.
“No. Hand that to me.”
“I can throw it out,” Hope told her.
“But we’re not going to throw it out.”
“But it’s the yucky green part. What are you going to do with it?”
“We’ll probably feed it to one of the animals.”
“Like a goat?”
“Maybe.”
“Can I feed the yucky carrot part to a goat?”
“We’ll see.”
Hope handed over the remaining portion of carrot.
“Here’s your special dessert.”
Mommy handed Hope a chocolate pudding cup, causing Hope to gasp. She only ever got pudding cups on her birthday. They didn’t have a lot of them, and so they were what her mommy and daddy called ‘rationed’. Hope wondered where they were going to make pudding cups now that the Diana was gone.
“It’s not my birthday yet,” Hope said as she took the pudding cup.
“I know. There’s no spoon, are you okay eating it with your fingers?”
Hope had no problem with that. She pulled off the container top and dug right in.
“When you’re done, don’t throw out the trash,” her mommy told her.
“ ’Kay.” Hope was barely listening as she covered her tongue in sweet chocolately goodness. It was so good! Especially after the carrot.
Hope ate every last bit of the pudding cup, sucking it all off her fingers, which were starting to get pruny.
“All done?” her mommy asked.
Sadly, Hope was. She handed the empty cup to Mommy.
“Here, have another drink of water.”
Hope did.
“I’m going to sit back down in my own raft now. You’ll tell me if you need anything, right?”
“Yeah.”
Mommy gave her forehead another kiss, and then returned to her own raft. Hope turned and sat down, still licking the last bi
ts of chocolate that were sticking to her teeth and the insides of her cheeks.
“I got a pudding cup!” Becky told her.
“So did I!” Hope told her right back. “Mine was chocolate.”
“I got a vanilla one,” Adam added.
Soon all the kids were talking about the pudding cups. Apparently, they had all gotten one.
“I wonder when they’re going to feed our dogs?” Becky asked, looking down at Maggie. “They’re probably hungry.”
Hope shrugged. “Milly is usually only fed at dinner, so maybe they’re waiting for dinner.”
“Maybe,” Becky agreed.
“We should play a game,” Hope suggested.
“Like what?” Adam asked.
“We can play I Spy.”
“That’s a baby game,” Thomas told her.
“Well, what do you want to play?” Hope asked him.
Thomas didn’t have a suggestion.
“Can I start?” Dakota asked.
“Okay.”
“I spy with my little eye, something that is green.”
“Hope’s pyjamas?” Becky asked first.
“Nope.”
“Peter’s pyjamas!” Hope guessed next.
“Still nope.”
“Umm, Ms. Abby’s hat?” Adam was looking around at the other rafts.
Dakota shook her head.
Their game went on for quite a while, all the kids taking turns spotting something and having the others guess what it was. Eventually though, they tired of the game, and sat around in silence.
When dinner finally came around, Hope was starving and whiny. She was very glad finally to get dinner, but there wasn’t much more than what she had for lunch. In the orange glow of sunset, she ate with her mommy and complained. Mommy explained they didn’t have as much food as they used to on the Diana, but that didn’t make Hope feel any better.
“Where are we going?” Hope asked.
“I told you, land. Specifically, we’re going to the main land and a place that was once called Texas.”
“Its not called Tex-us anymore?”
“We don’t know. It’s been a long time since anyone has been there. If people still live there, they might have changed its name.”
“You can change the name of a place?”
“If everyone agrees to it, then yes.”
“Can people change their names?”
“As long as everyone is willing to call them by that name, then I don’t see why not.”
“Can we change Milly’s name?”
“You want to change her name?”
Hope shrugged.
“We could, but it’s best we keep calling her Milly. Dogs learn their names, and it’s not as easy for them to learn new ones,” Mommy explained.
“How long is it going to take us to get to Tex-us?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know where we are right now or how fast we’re moving.”
“But the sub knows where we are, right?”
“Yes. The sub knows.”
When Uncle Misha eventually climbed into their raft with food for the doggies, Hope helped him feed Milly.
“Don’t eat so fast, Milly,” Hope told her dog, but did nothing to try to slow her down. Her daddy once told her that dogs could be protective of their food and might snap at you if you tried to take their food away. Hope didn’t think Milly would ever bite her, but she was always careful feeding her after being told that.
When the dogs had finished eating, and Uncle Misha went back to his own raft, there was nothing else to do. The sun was gone now, but she didn’t feel tired enough to sleep.
“Let’s have a sing-a-long,” Becky suggested.
At first, Hope didn’t feel like singing, but when Becky started and then Dakota and Peter joined in, she did as well. Everyone on their raft was singing, and soon, Claire joined in from her raft. Then Jon and Uncle Danny and Ms. Lauren—who’s supposed to be Auntie Lauren outside of school, but Hope always called her Ms. Lauren—and Adam’s mommy. Everyone started singing. Even Hope’s mommy started singing, and Hope almost never heard her sing anything other than a few lullabies when she was little. It wasn’t just the rafts next to them either; all the other rafts joined in too. Hope couldn’t tell, but she thought that everybody being towed by the sub was singing the same song.
When the song ended, Becky started another one. Just before she did, Hope heard someone start singing a different song from somewhere else. They weren’t all going to sing the same song this time.
Several people didn’t join in on the second song, including Hope’s mommy. Even fewer on the third. On the fourth song, Hope didn’t join in, but a bunch of other people did.
Laying her head down on Milly’s side, Hope tried to sleep. With the gentle waves rolling beneath her, and the singing of people around her, she managed to do just that.
***
Hope woke up from a crash. The raft was no longer gently rocking, but bucking over larger waves.
“Mommy!”
“Here, sweet pea! I’m here!”
Mommy reached over the sides of the raft and pulled Hope into hers. It was very dark. There were no stars or moon in the sky. A flash of light made everything visible for a split second, and then another crash shook the air.
Hope screamed with fright.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.” Mommy held her on her lap, stroking her hair. “It’s a thunderstorm. We’re not going to get hit by it though. It’s just passing by us.”
“You’re sure?” Hope screamed her question.
“We’re sure.”
Another flash was followed by another crash. Hope buried her face against her mommy.
“Excuse me; I’m going to take down the kids’ covering just in case.”
Hope looked up to watch Uncle Danny climb past them. He was carrying a ’lectric lantern. The raft Hope had been in now had only the doggies in it. While Uncle Danny untied their sun cover and folded it up, Uncle Misha climbed past them as well to help. Although Uncle Danny came back, the sun cover folded up under his arm, Uncle Misha stayed with the dogs, especially Rifle who put his head on Misha’s lap.
Every flash of lightning made Hope jump, and the booming that followed made her shake. She covered her ears with her hands but it wasn’t any good. She kept her face hidden against her mommy.
“Oh wow,” her mommy said so quietly that Hope almost didn’t hear her. “Hope. Hope, you should look at this.”
Mommy shook Hope slightly, trying to get her to look. Hope only pressed harder into her.
“Hope, it’s beautiful. You really should see.”
Hope looked up at Mommy’s face.
“Look over there, sweet pea. Look at the lightning.”
She turned her head to look at where Mommy was pointing, and she saw what she was supposed to see. It was kind of pretty, but its strangeness was also frightening. Still, Hope couldn’t take her eyes off it.
23
Freya’s On A Raft
Pink lightning. Freya had heard of the phenomenon before, but she had never seen it herself. Every bolt that struck the water had a pink tint to it instead of being pure white. It was beautiful but also terrifying, considering that she was on a flotilla of rafts and boats being pulled by a submarine. Those on the sub had sent word along the flotilla that the storm should pass them by, but that didn’t ease Freya’s mind. It could turn at any moment. Lightning was even less predictable. There were clouds above the refugees; who’s to say a bolt wouldn’t strike from them? One wouldn’t even have to come from above, it could just curve its way over. Although the submarine was the highest point around, it wouldn’t necessarily draw the lightning to it. The tail of the flotilla, the point farthest from the submarine, was in the most danger of a strike.
“Kind of creepy, don’t you think?” Robin asked from beside her.
Freya nodded.
When they had to leave the helicopter to join the flotilla, Robin had allowed Freya to follow he
r. Freya didn’t know the rest of these people and was glad that one of the few people she did know was willing to share her raft. There were others in the raft, including a man named Quin who, whenever she looked at him, called on some old memory of Freya’s that she couldn’t quite grasp. Elizabeth and Harry were a couple who had a child in one of the other rafts to which they were lashed; up until the pink lightning, that was, when they took him into their own raft. There was also a man named Doyle who had a large, stitched up wound along the right side of his face, and a stern looking woman named Cynthia. And of course there was the cat that Robin called Splatter. The cat was an angry thing, not liking their situation one bit. Freya had yet to see its ears not plastered to the top of its head, and it refused to let anyone other than Robin touch it. Even though it sat on Robin’s lap, she didn’t pet it very frequently for fear of bites and scratches.
“I’m worried about these waves,” Harry commented in his Australian accent. It had surprised Freya the first time he had spoken. She had quickly become used to the mostly Canadian accents of the Diana residents, as well as the occasional German and Russian. As far as Freya could tell, Harry was alone as an Aussie.
The waves Harry spoke of were cause for concern. The day had been gentle, rolling the flotilla along on smooth, mostly even waves. Now, with the storm right next door, they had become more violent. No longer did the flotilla roll as one, but rose in uneven patches. The hexagon shape of the life rafts meant that they were easily lashed together into a tight block; even those along the edges had four other rafts tied to them. The trailing line was roughly five interlocking hexagons across, with barely a space between them. Despite this, water still splashed up through every crack and gap it found.
Wind gusted across the line toward the storm, hopefully, blowing it away from them, but it licked white caps off the wave tops, spraying those along the far side. For this reason, Freya was actually glad to be on the side of the lightning.
When the wind had picked up, Freya saw the helicopter pilot, Danny, scramble into the kids’ raft to take down their sun shield. As he returned to his own raft, which was next to Freya’s along the outer edge, she hoped that everyone else who had set up such a thing was doing the same. The last thing they needed was an impromptu sail trying to flip them.
Survival Instinct (Book 3): Fighting Instinct Page 37