Sea (A Stranded Novel)

by Shaver, Theresa

  “Start filling these with food like the pancake mix, rice and oatmeal packets. We want to take dried stuff that we just add water to. The water will weigh the most so no canned stuff. The beef jerky is already sealed so it should be fine. We should look through Tim’s pots and try to find a small pot and pan. The smallest we can find to fit into the packs and maybe a few small plates and cups. We can distribute them so each pack has one of each and a spoon and fork,” David explained to her while he opened each garbage bag and used them to line the insides of all the packs.

  Once Emily had assembled all the food they would pack, she sat back and thought of what else they would need. She flashed back to the bodies in the lifeboat and jumped to her feet. In the closets she found hats and she picked out the ones with the widest brims. When she shoved some jackets to one side, she found two umbrellas and added them to her pile. In the bathroom, she grabbed the first aid kit they had brought and one of the huge bottles of sunscreen from the multi pack Lisa had added. She contemplated the big bulky bottle. It would be better if all the packs had some of everything, that way if one was lost they would still have some in the others. She grabbed more of the Ziploc bags and started to squeeze some lotion into each. She made sure they were sealed and added one to each of the piles. David checked each flashlight from the package he had gotten at the store and added extra batteries to Ziploc bags. There were only a few left in the box by the time they were done.

  David and Emily sat back and surveyed the five piles of supplies. They both racked their brains to try and think of anything else they could add to help them survive.

  “What about a change of clothes or blankets?” Emily asked David.

  “Well, there is still room to add a few things but not much. We should ask the others to add some stuff. I want to ask Tim about a couple of things and see if he has a bag he wants to pack as well. I saw a couple of compasses in the desk drawer but I want to ask him before I just take one. I’m going to go up and tell him what we are doing and see what he says. Why don’t you take another look around and see if you can find anything else we should pack.” David got up off the floor and stepped around the growing piles as he headed towards the stairs. He was halfway up when Emily saw him back down and move to the side so Lisa could come down. Without a word to her, he went past and bounded up the stairs to the deck.

  Lisa looked amazing with her skin a perfect golden tan from all her time sunbathing. She was wearing dark sunglasses and the bikini she had borrowed. She headed towards the bedroom and promptly tripped over one of the five piles. She caught herself before she fell and quickly snatched off her dark glasses so she could see. Squinting her eyes she took in the floor and zeroed in on Emily.

  “Really, Emily, it’s not like there’s a lot of room down here. Do you have to spread your stuff everywhere?” she asked in a snarly tone.

  Emily answered in the exact same tone Lisa had used. “Really Lisa, I’m working on saving your life so why don’t you go and do something important…like your nails.”

  Lisa’s nasty expression changed to a frown. “What are you talking about? What is all this stuff for?” she asked.

  “You saw those lifeboats, didn’t you? David and I are putting together backpacks full of supplies so if we have to leave the boat quickly, we won’t end up like them.”

  Lisa squatted down and started to sift through one of the piles. Without looking at Emily she asked in a quiet voice, “You don’t really think that could happen to us, do you?”

  Emily sighed, “I don’t know. I hope not but it just makes sense to be prepared just in case. Listen, do you have a spare outfit you can give me for your pack? There isn’t a lot of room but we can take a change of clothes if we roll it up tight.”

  Lisa looked thoughtful as she looked up and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go get one right now. Um…thanks for thinking of this, Emily,” she said and quickly stood and went to the bedroom.

  Emily was pleasantly surprised by the girl’s words. Again, Lisa was showing two different sides. She just wished Lisa would pick one and stick to it.

  Lisa came back out of the bedroom quickly and was about to sit down beside Emily when Mason and Mark came down the stairs. Instead of sitting she dropped the rolled up clothes on the floor and turned and went back into the room and shut the door. Mason kneeled down and started to go through one of the piles and started to nod his head.

  “David told us what you guys are up too. It’s a good idea, Emily. I’ll grab some clothes to put in my pack.” He sent her a charming smile and disappeared into one of the smaller bedrooms.

  Mark took in all the supplies on the floor and with a smirk on his face turned and went to the other small bedroom. Emily didn’t know why the guy was such a creep but she was just glad he rarely talked to her.

  Looking around the cabin, Emily tried to think of anything else they could use that wouldn’t take up much space. They had food, water, first aid stuff and sun protection. She pictured them floating for days in a lifeboat and what that would be like. What was she missing…something they would need? With a groan it came to her and she jumped up and ran to the bathroom. In the small towel cabinet she found toilet paper and grabbed three rolls. The box of tampons she had gotten was still unopened and she wasn’t due to start her period for another few days so she grabbed a few of them as well. Emily remembered what Lisa had said about her not getting a period and was grateful she wouldn’t have to share them with her. The multi packs of deodorant and toothbrushes and paste were in the cabinet as well and she didn’t think they would take up too much space so she added them to the growing pile.

  Each roll of paper and the tampons went into a separate plastic bag and she added them to her and Lisa’s packs as well as one roll into the boy’s pile. The toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant were divided up and put into the different piles. Picturing again the boredom of floating on the open sea with nothing to do, she found an extra deck of cards and a notepad and pens. Estimating that there were enough supplies piled up to fill the backpacks, she decided to finish off her and Lisa’s bags.

  Mason and Mark came out of their rooms with clothes and settled onto the floor and started to fill their own bags. Emily was feeling good with the work and having some control over what might happen so she smiled at Mason when he looked her way.

  “If there is anything you guys think we might have forgotten, let me know,” she told him.

  “I think this is all we’ll need, Emily. It was a really good idea and even if nothing happens, we will be ready to go once we hit land.”

  “Thanks, Mason, but it was David’s idea.”

  Mark smirked. “Yeah, good thing we have the Boy Scout to take care of us. We’d never make it without him,” he said sarcastically as he stuffed instant noodles into his pack.

  Emily gave him a look of disgust. “What is your problem, Mark? Why do you always have to be so nasty? David’s done nothing but help our group. What have you done except for make snide comments and glower at everyone? Seriously, get over yourself!” she fired back at him.

  He snarled at her, “You little…” but Mason jumped in before he could finish the sentence.

  “Man, chill out! Lay off a bit. You have been snarly and you need to remember we’re in this together.”

  Mark just stared at Mason with a flat expression until finally he nodded and muttered, “Together…right.” And he went back to packing.

  There was a tense silence as they went about their work until David came back down the stairs.

  “Hey, good news! Tim says that the lifeboat he has comes with a weather shield. Sort of like a tent so we will have protection from the sun. He said it also has some survival supplies in it already so that will help. He’s going to pack his own bag and will attach them all to the capsule himself. Even if nothing happens, this will help us be ready when we get to shore,” he told everyone and settled down beside Mason to fill his own pack.

  It wasn’t long before they were done and the bags
were ready. David took one last look around the cabin and asked, “Is that everything?” His eyes landed on the huge bottle of multi vitamins that was on the kitchen counter. He jumped up and grabbed it. He pulled the last of the Ziploc bags out of the now empty box and started to fill them with the pills. He left some in the bottle and handed out the rest. After they were packed away he handed out black garbage bags and everyone dropped their backpacks into them and tied them tightly. Emily finished Lisa’s bag and handed it to Mason. The boys carried all the bags up on deck and Emily went in to see what Lisa was doing.

  Lisa was lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling. “I packed your backpack up and it’s on deck with the others,” Emily told her curtly.

  Lisa glanced at her and gave a faint smile. “Thank you, Emily. I’m sorry I didn’t help. I have a huge headache.”

  Emily softened at the apology. “Do you want me to get you a Tylenol?” she asked.

  “Maybe later. I just want to lie down and close my eyes but thanks. Emily - do you think we’ll get home?”

  Emily sighed and lay down next to her. “Yes. It’s going to be brutal once we start going overland but I think we’ll make it if we use our heads. I’m worried about what’s happening at home though. What about you, are you worried about your family?”

  Lisa didn’t reply for a while. Emily didn’t think she was going to answer when she finally started to speak.

  “I don’t think my mom will be doing very well. She’s, well, let’s just say high maintenance. Appearances mean a lot to her. She’s not going to be very happy with no power or running water. I don’t even know if my dad will be there. He spends a lot of time in the city so he might not of even been there when this all started.” She started to giggle. “Sorry, just trying to picture my mother cooking food over a campfire in the backyard while wearing high heels!”

  Emily laughed. “I’m sure she’ll figure it out.”

  Lisa snorted. “Yeah, or find a big strong man to do it for her!”

  Emily and Lisa stared up at the ceiling and thought about home until they both drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 9

  Emily counted the days since her world had changed. Ten days had passed since they had sailed away from the burning city and four days since they had sailed through the cemetery of lifeboats. Tim had said that the lifeboats they had seen were old and out of date, probably coming from some poor country’s frigate. He said that all modern lifeboats came with weather shields and supplies. That didn’t help the sadness Emily felt when she thought of all those dead men dying so far from their homes and families. Sitting out on the deck in the bright sunshine, she glanced at the pile of black garbage bags beside the Lawless’ lifeboat capsule. Tim said they were making great time and he thought it would only be another five or six days until they arrived at the Washington coast.

  She tipped her head back and soaked up the warm sun. They had been lucky with the weather so far but Tim expected rain anytime. Looking over at Lisa, she shook her head at the bikini-wearing girl. She wished they were friends. Emily missed Alex so much and it would have made things easier if she and Lisa were closer. Lisa kept to herself, either sun tanning or lying in bed. She never joined them to play cards or the few board games that were aboard. Mark also kept to himself and seemed to brood more and more as the days passed. Mason helped Tim and seemed to really enjoy all he was learning about sailing. That left Emily and David to play cards, read the few books onboard and study the maps for the journey ahead. Time seemed to crawl and Emily just wanted to get to land and get moving.

  The sun was slowly sinking into the horizon behind them and the breeze had cooled enough that Lisa shivered. She got up and grabbed her towel and headed down into the cabin. Dinner had been a simple dish of pasta with some canned ham in it. With nothing fresh on board, Emily was surprised at how much she craved fresh vegetables. She reminded herself that she was lucky and there were a lot of people who were probably starving right now, but she still thought a nice fresh tossed salad would be worth killing for.

  “Well, maybe not quite yet, but maybe not that far in the future either,” she thought to herself. With nothing else to do until bedtime, she stayed out on deck watching the waves, thinking about home and trying to guess where Alex and the others were right now.

  When it was too dark to see anything, she got up and stretched her stiff legs. For one moment, she had the wild urge to dive off the side of the boat and swim as hard as she could. This had been the longest she had ever gone without swimming since she had started competing four years ago. Her body ached to move and stretch the way it was used to.

  Mason was at the wheel when she headed towards the stairs and he waved her over to him. When she stepped up beside him, he put his arm around her and pulled her close. They were alone on the deck and Emily realized that this was probably the first time they had been alone together for more than a couple of minutes since it had all began. She still didn’t know how to tell him that she didn’t want to be his girlfriend anymore. It wasn’t that she had hard feelings towards Mason, more that she had lost her feelings for him. What she did know was that she didn’t want to cause any drama while they were stuck on the boat together.

  Mason dipped his head down and started to kiss Emily’s neck causing her to tense up. She tried to move away from him but he tightened his arm around her and held her close.

  “Mason, please stop. This isn’t the time or place for this,” she told him gently.

  He huffed out a breath of frustration. “Then when, Emily, once we are on land? At least here we have a comfy bed. Come on, don’t worry so much. I have condoms. It’ll be fine,” he tried to convince her.

  Emily was about to tell him that they wouldn’t ever be together like that when his condom comment rocked her back. She shoved his arm off of her and turned to him. “Condoms? Where did you get condoms from?”

  With a secretive grin he told her, “I grabbed some at that convenience store we first stopped at. I wanted to be prepared.” He leaned in to try to kiss her again. She shoved him back and shook her head at him in disbelief.

  “Are you telling me that after all we had seen that morning, all the death and destruction, all you really cared about was making sure you could get laid?!” Shaking her head at him, she backed away towards the stairs. “What is wrong with you?” Before he could reply, she thumped down the stairs and headed into the bedroom, passing Lisa who was sitting at the dinette painting her nails.

  Lisa’s eyes followed Emily to the bedroom and watched her shut the door. She glanced at Tim who was snoring on the couch and then looked towards the stairs. She finished her nails and waited a few minutes for them to dry, then quietly got up and went up the stairs.

  Emily had thrown herself onto the bed and stared moodily up at the ceiling. She wasn’t even mad at Mason. He was who he was and she had known that when she first started tutoring him. She was the one who had thought there was more to him. God, she felt like such an idiot. Did she really think that they had anything in common? She slammed her fists down onto the bed in self-reproach. All the time she spent with him and his jerk friends, the damage she had done to her and Alex’s friendship and being stuck on this boat with them was all her fault.

  After a few more minutes of mentally yelling at herself, she sat up and took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to hide in this room. She was going to go and tell Mason how she felt and hope he didn’t take it too badly. She got up and left the bedroom. Tim’s soft snores drew her eyes to him, and she stopped briefly to throw a blanket over him. This distracted her enough that she didn’t even stop to wonder where Lisa had gone. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, she took a deep fortifying breath and hoped Mason didn’t flip out.

  The sun was all the way down and it was dark on deck as she came up the stairs. She could just make out Mason’s outline behind the wheel. Leaving the stairs and moving to the side let enough light from the cabin shine through the opening so she could clearly see that he w
asn’t alone. Mason and Lisa were lip locked and he had his hand up her shirt. Emily’s mouth dropped open at the shocking sight. She had to stifle a laugh when the first thought that popped into her head was, “Thank God!” and she must have made a noise because Mason lifted his head and looked towards her. His eyes got huge at the sight of Emily standing there and he quickly removed his hand from Lisa’s shirt and shoved her away from him.

  “Emily! Emily, it’s not what you think. I can explain!” he pleaded.

  Emily had to try hard not to smile when she glanced at Lisa and saw her rubbing her bruised butt from where she had fallen and the scowl that she was directing at Mason.

  “No, no, it’s okay. Really! Carry on. Sorry to interrupt!”

  She turned around and fled back down the stairs with her hand covering her mouth so she wouldn’t burst out laughing. Emily took a few steps towards her room but stopped. She knew that Mason couldn’t come after her because he had to stay on deck while Tim was asleep but she also had no desire to talk to Lisa who would be returning to their room at some point. So instead of going to the main bedroom, she went to David’s room and knocked softly on his door.

  David opened the door quickly but it was clear to Emily that he had been sleeping. His soft brown hair was rumpled and his eyes were blurry with sleep and confusion.

  “Em…what’s wrong?”

  “Can I come in? I just need to lie low tonight.”

  David nodded and backed up so she could squeeze past him in the small and narrow room. The two bedrooms in the front of the boat followed the contour of the hull, making the rooms wide at the entrance and narrowing towards the bow. The beds mimicked the room, being wide near the door where the pillows were and narrowing towards the feet.

  Emily pushed into the room and settled onto the unmade bed. David shut the door and turned to her with a question on his face. She had to cover her mouth to contain the laughter that wanted to spill out. David settled down beside her and she shifted to face him.