Beached

by Brenda Beem

  Nick was hauling the swimmers onto the dinghy when I arrived. I grabbed the side of the dinghy and held on, hoping the sharks would think I was a part of the larger boat.

  I took a deep breath and checked on Angelina. A shark was attacking her kayak. She shot at it twice, but it kept coming. She made it to the dinghy just as the shark bashed the bottom of her kayak. Nick and one of the swimmers pulled her aboard moments before the kayak flipped over. The shark bit into the end of the kayak and shook it, shattering the little plastic kayak.

  Both Nick and Angelina were shaking.

  “Are you okay?” Nick searched for signs of injury on Angelina.

  Angelina kissed his cheek, then turned the gun on the swimmers. “I watched you two going after Nick. Try anything, and you’re back in the water.”

  The gun in her hand shook. I yelled and pointed. Two more of the frenzied sharks were headed our way.

  “Use your paddle. Hit the sharks in the nose.” Angelina moved to the side I was holding on to and steadied my kayak so my arms were free.

  I swung at a shark. It grabbed onto my paddle with its sharp teeth and swam away with it. Angelina shook her head at me.

  While the shark was busy eating my oar, I started to climb into the dinghy. “A little help here!” I begged as I almost tipped the kayak over. Angelina helped me aboard. Nick pulled my kayak out of the water and laid it across the stern of the dinghy.

  Sharks circled all around us. We rocked back and forth so hard, I was sure we’d go over. Twice my kayak fell off the stern. We got it back onboard moments before it was eaten, too. There were only three paddles left. With the blunt ends, we took turns bashing shark noses.

  “We’re just making them mad.” I whacked a small one. It sank beneath the boat.

  “Their noses are sensitive,” Angelina cried. “Haven’t you watched Shark Week? We’re doing the right thing.”

  “I liked it better when we just shot them.” I passed my paddle to one of the swimmers. He smashed a big one, hard. It shook its head, as if stunned.

  Angelina shot another shark in the head. It was soon devoured too.

  Finally, one by one, the remaining sharks began to lose interest in us. No idea if it was because we hit them, or because their stomachs were full.

  We fell back in the boat and gasped for air. Angelina crossed herself. Her lips moved in a silent prayer. I closed my eyes, and said my own prayer. Tears streaked my cheeks.

  I wiped my eyes and searched the shoreline. Takumi and Kat had made it down the beach to the barbed wire. The group had followed them all the way. For some reason, Kat’s dad was lying on the beach. Takumi stood with the spear gun aimed at the crowd behind him. Guardsmen remained in a row in front of the barbed wire, and aimed their guns at Takumi and the crowd.

  “Takumi!” I yelled.

  Everyone in the boat turned to watch.

  Takumi rotated back and forth, talking to the military guys, then warning off the crowd with his spear gun.

  A young woman jetted out of the crowd, ran at Kat, and grabbed Kat’s backpack. Kat held on tight and a tug of war ensued.

  Two shots rang out. The line of guardsmen parted, and an older man with gray hair stepped out.

  The woman fighting with Kat let go of the pack, backed away, and disappeared into the mass of people. More soldiers appeared. Two guys carried a stretcher. Takumi lowered his spear gun. Kat supervised while her dad was loaded onto the stretcher.

  The older man spoke to Kat and Takumi. A soldier inspected Kat’s bags, nodded to the older man, and threw both packs over his shoulder. Takumi and Kat were soon surrounded by men and women in uniforms.

  A few individuals from the crowd came forward and seemed to be pleading with the soldiers. Another shot rang out and the group backed away.

  Takumi became agitated and appeared to be arguing with Kat and the soldiers. He pointed at Whistler. He shaded his eyes and stared for a long moment at the dinghy. Could he see me? I stood and waved my arms. The boat rocked.

  “Sit down!” Nick yanked on my jacket.

  “We have to help him!” I slapped the seat.

  “We can’t. We’re outgunned.” Angelina frowned. “I’m sorry.”

  My heart pounded. I watched Kat grab Takumi’s hand and pull him toward the gate. Takumi shook free and folded his arms. One of the soldiers motioned with his rifle for him to move. When Takumi didn’t, he shoved his rifle into Takumi’s back.

  Takumi’s head dropped. In a matter of seconds, he and Kat were escorted to the gate. He turned for one last look in my direction, then disappeared inside the U.S. Army compound.

  I held my breath. And waited. And watched. Fear gripped my stomach. Takumi didn’t return. “He’ll explain everything to them. He’ll be back,” I muttered.

  “Yes!” Angelina scooted beside me. “And the doctor is getting the help he needs. I wonder what they said to get inside. Most of the people in that crowd looked like they needed medical help, too.”

  Nick checked for sharks and then tossed the kayak back into the water to make more room on the dinghy. “I’m sure the bags of meds and medical equipment helped. And the fact that Kat’s dad is a doctor.” He tied the kayak line to the stern and faced me. “Toni, Takumi made me promise that if he wasn’t back in an hour, I’d head back to Whistler without him.”

  I gritted my teeth. “We are not leaving here without him.”

  Angelina and Nick glanced at one another.

  “I mean it.” I narrowed my eyes.

  Angelina gave my hand a squeeze. “We know you do. We want him back too.”

  “Is that the sailboat you’ve been talking about?” One of the guys gestured towards Whistler.

  I’d almost forgotten about our two extra passengers. I nodded at what was left of Santa Barbara. “Time for you guys to go.”

  “No way,” the second guy grimaced. “You can shoot me, but I’m not getting back into that water. Not with sharks around.”

  “Look! We saved you. I don’t even want to know what you were planning when you swam after Nick. But I know it wasn’t good. You don’t get to call the shots.” I moved to the bow where there was more room now the kayak was gone.

  Nick locked the oars into place on the dinghy. “We’ll row closer to shore and watch for Takumi. You two can body surf in.”

  “Let me go with you on the sailboat. I know a lot about sailing. I’d be a big help,” the first guy pleaded.

  “Boat’s full.” I turned to study the beach once again. “Did you see if your friend made it to shore okay?”

  The first guy shrugged. “I was too busy trying to stay alive. He’s not my friend anyway.”

  “Not my friend either.” The second guy stared back at Whistler. “You people got to let us go with you. You don’t know what it’s like on shore. The soldiers come out once a day and distribute bottles of water and some food, but it’s not enough. We’re starving. People are sick. Dying.”

  “Then why do you stay?” I asked.

  “Because something is better than nothing. The rivers up north are frozen over, and the streams around here are drying up. The military is taking water-makers off of the big ship and turning salt water into fresh, but it’s not enough,” the first swimmer said.

  The second swimmer shook his head. “If you have a water bottle, they will fill it for you.

  Sometimes, even two bottles. But more and more people are coming and…”

  “We just left the island of Santa Cruz.” I pointed to the East. “There’s water, live game, and lots of seafood. Find a boat. Go there. It might take a few days to locate a stream, so bring back up water. But there are creeks and marshlands. The island’s only thirty miles away.”

  “Thirty miles? Right!” The second guy stared at the dinghy, then his friend.

  Angelina raised her gun. “Don’t even think about it.”

  “Okay. Toni’s right. Time for you guys to leave. Takumi’s not back yet, but I don’t mind making two trips.” Nick picked up th
e oars and began rowing towards shore.

  “Angelina will shoot you if you try anything. You’re going back into the water, with or without our help,” I said.

  The first swimmer grinned at Angelina. He had a nice smile and knew it. “You won’t kill me.”

  Angelina thought for a moment. “No. You’re right. But I would shoot you where it would hurt. Your foot would be a good target. You could swim with only one foot. The blood in the water might be a problem, however.”

  The guy’s eyes got big. “You wouldn’t!”

  “Try me.” She released the safety on the gun.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The swimmers made it to shore safely. Sharks stayed away from the dinghy for the time being. We floated outside the breakers while Nick changed into dry clothes. I shivered and rubbed my arms. Nick and Angelina snuggled to stay warm. I missed Takumi and studied the shore for signs of his return.

  “You’re getting pretty badass with that gun,” Nick told Angelina. “Would you really have shot them?”

  “For sure.” Angelina grinned. “If there’d been any bullets left.”

  Nick laughed. “You were bluffing that whole time? God, I love you.”

  Angelina’s face turned red and she rested her head on his shoulder.

  I smiled at Angelina and scooted down in the bow to get out of the wind. I peeked over the side and waited for Takumi. To stay awake, I busied myself by counting the damaged and partially sunken boats in the bay. Thirty-seven. Then I counted the number of tents close to the base. Sixty-two. Still, we floated, and watched. I began naming the military men and women who were scavenging parts off the damaged ships. Somewhere between the man I named Fat Willy and the woman I called Betty, I dozed off.

  “Toni.” Nick gently poked my shoulder.

  I bolted awake and refocused on the shore. “Is he there?”

  “No.” Nick checked his watch. “It’s been an hour. We need to get back to Whistler.”

  “We are not going—”

  Angelina slid down beside me. “I left Makala sleeping. I’m sure she’s awake now. I have to get back. We can watch the shore from Whistler.”

  “When he sees us leave, he’ll think we gave up. I won’t do that. Ever.”

  Angelina sighed. “Toni, we can’t sit here all day. We are out of water and it’s cold.

  Makala is probably scared. We’ll take turns watching the beach with the binoculars from

  Whistler.”

  I shook my head.

  Angelina sighed. “Fine. We’ll give it another half-hour, and then we absolutely have to go back. Agreed?”

  I bit my lip. “He’ll come.”

  I stared for thirty minutes at the barbed-wire gate, but he never showed.

  ****

  Makala jumped up and down and waved her arms at Angelina as we approached Whistler.

  Boots yipped and chased his tail with excitement. At least they were cheerful.

  Dylan stood on the stern and held up something in his hand.

  Nick squinted. “I think he’s holding up his cell.”

  “His cell phone?” I was so lost in worrying about Takumi that I didn’t get what he was trying to say.

  “Service!” Angelina cried. “I think he’s trying to say he has cell service.”

  I yanked out my phone and waited for what seemed forever for it to boot up. All of a sudden there were a series of dings. A sound I hadn’t heard for weeks. Text messages. Lots of text messages were coming through.

  I started to hyperventilate. I’d been checking for messages every day. Now that I had some, I was afraid. What if they contained bad news? I slapped my phone face down on my leg.

  Angelina nudged me. “Toni. Maybe one of the messages is from Takumi.”

  Takumi! She was right. I took a deep breath and checked.

  None of the texts were from Takumi. Six messages were from my best friend. I skipped over them. My hand began to shake. The rest were texts from Mom and Dad. I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and started reading. Their first messages were from before the tsunami.

  Dad texted:

  Hi Guys. Was I wrong to send you out on the boat? Your Mom is upset with me. I know you will handle the boat well. You will take care of it and each other. We left Grandma’s and are driving South with Aunt Susan, your cousins, and Grandma. We have two cars and enough bikes for all of us. The tsunami will hit in twelve hours and we want to get as far from the coast as we can. Text us back and let us know you are okay.

  Mom wrote:

  Cole, Dylan, and Toni. I can’t believe Dad left you guys with instructions to take the boat out by yourselves. We should all be together. I don’t know what he was thinking. We are driving east, to avoid any problems with the tsunami, then we will head south. Grandma isn’t doing well. She begged us to leave her, but of course we couldn’t. I don’t know what we will do when we run out of gas. Dad says phone service is difficult to find out at sea, even when it is working well. I hate to think of you out in the ocean. Text us. Please. We love you.

  I skimmed the rest of their messages. They’d made it almost to the California border before they ran out of gas. Traffic was backed up. They’d unloaded and camped for the night along the highway.

  Mom said that Aunt Susan had gotten a message from Uncle Mike. They made plans to meet outside San Francisco and ride their bikes to his parents’ place in Arizona. At the end of every message Mom talked about how angry she was that Dad had sent us out on the boat alone.

  My hand flew to my mouth. “No!” I gasped.

  Angelina touched my arm. “What happened?”

  I lowered the phone. “My grandma…” I sniffed.

  “I’m so sorry, Toni.” Angelina hugged me.

  “This is what I was afraid of. Bad news. And now I have to text them back and tell them about Cole.”

  Angelina patted my back. “Maybe you should wait until you can tell them in person.”

  “I’ll talk to Dylan before I do anything.” I sniffed. “Why aren’t you guys checking your phones?”

  Nick was rowing furiously. “We left them on Whistler.”

  I sat up and forced myself to read on. Mom had simply written that Grandma had died.

  Dad texted the details.

  Grandma had a sudden heart attack and died yesterday. We called 911. There was no response. We buried Grandma under a beautiful oak tree. Your Mom and Susan are having a hard time dealing with the way she died. I feel so helpless.

  After that, Dad’s texts became more and more about how concerned for us he was. He begged us to text or call. Service seemed to come and go for them. They kept their phones off to save power and hoped every time they had service there would be a message from us. They’d begun to fear the worst.

  They met up with Uncle Mike ten days into the trip. Uncle Mike, Aunt Susan, and my cousins were heading inland to Arizona. Uncle Mike didn’t have a bike, so he was going to ride my ten-year-old cousin Bella’s bike and Bella would ride in a little wagon Dad had been towing. Mom hated to say good-bye to her sister and family.

  In the last text, they both wrote that their cell batteries were dying. They were going to continue on to Santa Barbara, trade the bikes for some kind of boat, and go to the north end of Santa Cruz Island. They would wait for us there.

  I read and re-read their messages.

  Dylan stood on the swim step and helped me onto Whistler. “Did you get the texts?”

  I fell into his arms. “Grandma died.”

  He hugged me and then held me at arm’s length. “I know. I loved her too.” He gazed across the water toward the island. “Just think. Mom and Dad might be right over there.”

  I followed his gaze. “I know.”

  “Let’s go find them.” Dylan smiled.

  We helped Angelina and Nick aboard. Makala and Boots acted as if Angelina had been gone for days instead of only a few hours. Nick hurried below to find his and Angelina’s cell phones.

  Zoë appeared on d
eck dressed in a floor-length silver gown and twirled in a slow circle so I could view her dress from all angles.

  My jaw dropped. “What are you wearing?”

  Makala pushed between us and held up her hands. “Zoë painted my nails, and we made flowers, and I get to be a flower girl, an—“

  “Slow down,” I told Makala and stared at Zoë.

  Zoë held her hands on her hips. “I am not going to meet your parents until Dylan and I are married. I read somewhere that a ship’s captain can perform a wedding at sea. And since you and Dylan are co-captains, I want you to marry us. Will you?”

  I picked up the binoculars and searched the beach for Takumi.

  “Toni?” Zoë swung me around to face her.

  “Really!” I dropped the binoculars on the couch. “We just fought off sharks. Who knows what danger Takumi is in? My grandma died and you want me—”

  Dylan held up his hand. “What? What are you talking about? What sharks?”

  Zoë glared at me as she smoothed the wrinkles on her dress.

  I bit my lip. “We were attacked by sharks! Giant, hungry sharks. They tried to tip my kayak, they went after Nick, and they surrounded the guys swimming after him. If Angelina hadn’t had her gun, we wouldn’t have survived.”

  Dylan slid his cell into his pocket. “Sorry. We started getting texts, and…”

  Zoë held her hand in the air. “Are you going to marry us or not?”

  I literally bit my tongue.

  Dylan stepped in front of Zoë and whispered. “It will only take a few minutes and it will make Zoë happy.”

  “And you? Will it make you happy? How about Boots? Will it make Boots happy? Will it make—”

  Dylan grabbed my arm and pulled me to the bow. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “Our grandma is dead, Dylan. Dead. I don’t know what’s happening to Takumi. Oh! And by the way. Are you going to text Mom and Dad and tell them Cole is gone, or do you want me to?”