by M H Ryan
I held the last main pipe as Sherri stood on a stick ladder, making sure it sat nicely in the groove we made on the cut tree.
“Okay, that looks good,” she said, using her bamboo stick level.
Sherri climbed down the ladder, and Cass climbed back up it, although it took Cass twice as long as it did Sherri. Cass leaned on the pipe, feeling the connection with her hands for a minute before releasing it and laying on top of the pipe from the exhaustion.
“Done,” Cass said.
“Yes! You are a beast, Cass. Nice job,” I said.
She raised a hand and gave me a thumbs up.
The end of the pipe I was at had a threaded end, and I hefted up the valve to it and twisted it around the pipe until it I couldn’t tighten it anymore. Sherri was now standing below me and she handed up a T shape pipe that reduced the pipe sizes with part collected from the ship. I put in the T after the valve, pointing it straight down. I twisted on another pipe into the opening pointing down, and then a second hole, I sent a pipe into the house. Using an elbow, I ran it down the inside house wall where we capped it off until later.
“Okay, I think that’s all I have for up here,” I said, climbing down. “Can you turn the valve on when I tell you?”
Sherri stayed in the house, and by the time I got out front and back on the ground, everyone had gathered around the pipe that was about seven feet off the ground.
“Almost done,” I said.
Using an A-frame ladder we built from sticks, I went to the end of the galvanized pipe and tightened another valve onto it. After that, I threaded something that Cass had created using a flared fitting that looked like a sunflower. I tightened it, and then made sure the rope attached to the valve wheel made it to reaching distance from below. Then I climbed off the ladder.
“Okay, that should do it.”
I backed up from the pipe, carrying the ladder. We were all behind the house, staring at the pipe as if it was a beautiful piece of art. And in our world, it was. We’d built something that, just days ago, something I thought would be a complete impossibility in this world. If this worked, we had succeeded in bringing a bit of comfort to this island. Plus, there would be a hundred different uses we could employ after this most basic one.
“Open it up,” I yelled and then whistled in loud bursts.
In the distance, I heard a faint whistle and knew Kara heard me.
Silence washed over us as we listened to the water flowing through the pipe. What I was watching for was the connection points. If we were going to have a leak, it’d be there.
After a couple minutes, I no longer heard the water in the pipe. Kara came running up to the group with a big smile.
“It looks good,” Kara said. “No leaks.”
“Okay, Sherri, open it,” I said.
Sherri nodded, sitting on the roof. She turned the wheel a few times, opening up the valve, and we all listened to the water rushing in the pipe, then silence as it filled it all the way up.
“Cass, I think you should be the one to open the final valve,” I said.
“Wait for me,” Sherri said, hopping off the roof and onto the deck.
Cass nodded and walked to the pipe, touching the rope.
“Sherri, get over here,” Cass said.
Sherri rushed over to her friend, bouncing with excitement.
“If this works, I’m going to die,” Sherri said, looking up at the sunflower shower head, just above her.
“We’ll do it together,” Cass said, putting her hand over Sherri’s.
“Okay, let’s do it before I have a heart attack,” Sherri said.
They pulled the rope down, turning the wheel a few turns, and then water trickled from the sunflower-shaped showerhead. After a few seconds, water shot out from it and down onto the sand below.
We had actual fucking running water.
The girls erupted into cheers, grabbing hold of each other and screaming. Aubrey stared at it in disbelief, tears welling up in her eyes. This wasn’t just about taking a shower; this was about beating a place that had hit us so many times. We had a house, we had water, and a few chairs and a bed. We were winning in this environment, and it couldn’t have felt any better.
Sherri ducked under the streaming water, letting it fall over her face and body. Cass held her hand under the stream and most of the girls were crowding around it, feeling the water.
“Come on,” Eliza said, pulling me toward the crowd.
I reached in between Emma and Cass, feeling the warm water as it splashed my hand and arm.
“This is unbelievable,” I said. “You ladies did this, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
“Wait until I get that toilet off that ship,” Cass said. “Then I’ll expect more than words as payback.”
“Oh,” Aubrey teased. “Cass is trying to hook up with Jack using a toilet as an incentive.”
The girls laughed and poked fun at Cass, who went red in the face.
Benji stood next to me, rubbing the fresh tattoo on her hand. One other thing they had completed over the last couple of days was the tattoo ink. About half the girls had the symbol now, in the fatty spot between thumb and finger. Just my initials, JS. They all loved their marking, and I noticed some of the other girls touching or looking at their hands as well from time to time.
I hadn’t even consummated—as Eliza described it—with Benji. That was something I planned on changing tonight. She had given me more than enough clues that she was ready, and I was ready for her. She felt like my drug, and I couldn’t wait to get my fix. This plumbing made me want to celebrate with all the ladies.
After a few minutes, and all of us getting wet from the shower, Cass pulled the string in the other direction, shutting off the water.
“So, it’s always going to be on?” Eliza asked. “Like, I can walk up and turn that on at any time?”
“Yes,” Sherri said. “Isn’t it great?”
“It’s a miracle,” Eliza said, staring at it.
I wondered if this entire time she thought that we were lying to her, or that she couldn’t fathom something that seemed too foreign to her. And this was going to be just the start. If Cass could get the toilet from the ship, then we could get the sink, and I knew there was a stainless steel tub in the captain’s bathroom. We could potentially have an entire bathroom.
Plus, I had many other ideas as well. The next major one would be the furnace for the clay. Kara had been thinking of the design for over a week now, and she thought we had everything we needed to do it quickly. From there, we could make many things from the clay.
Eliza had been collecting and organizing sticks in preparation for rebuilding her furniture. She had already completed two chairs with the help of others, but she had plans for many more. Enough that we could all sit down at a table and have a proper meal, like a true family.
Benji and Kara had been making more advanced weapons as well, with a renewed effort to put stone tips on the spears and arrows. Benji had enough arrows now to take on a small army. They were also getting good at making a stone knife, using the local materials to bind them to a short wooden handle.
After the attack from the Crultar, the whole group kept an eye on the ocean. I did a little more than that, keeping my sense open at all times, even having Emma help me reach far out into the ocean at regulars times during the day, but since that attack, no one else had come.
“Guys!” Benji yelled, looking toward the ocean. “Shaya’s back.”
Chapter 35
Shaya staggered from the shoreline, dripping wet and looking on the verge of collapse.
Carmen screamed, grabbing a spear and running toward her. Sherri and Aubrey were a hair faster, grabbing her and her arms before she could throw the spear at Shaya.
“She’s with us!” Sherri exclaimed.
“She’s with them. She’s going to kill us,” Carmen yelled, unsuccessfully pulling at the two stronger women.
Carmen hadn’t said too much over the last two days, a
nd with all of us being so busy, I hadn’t really gotten to know her. She seemed like a good person, though, and the girls told me she was cool. If they said it, I took it as fact. This attack was the first time I’d seen her fiery hot side.
Shaya stared at Carmen, seeming to contemplate the distance back into the water.
I ignored Carmen’s aggression and rushed to Shaya. Upon spotting me, she relaxed and actually jogged to me, hugging me. The wetness on her body soaked into my shirt as we embraced.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She looked up at me and then over to Emma. Emma came over to us and held Shaya’s hands.
“I didn’t miss this,” Emma muttered.
“I’m okay,” Shaya said. “I found her.”
“Who?” Sherri said, pushing Carmen back into Aubrey’s capable hands. “What did she look like?”
“She was like you, but with bright, pink hair.”
“Fucking Hanna,” Sherri said. “She’s one badass chick. Jack, we need to get to her.”
“I have no intention of not getting to every one of the people from our boat,” I said and turned back to Shaya. “How many guards were there? Did you get a good layout of the island?”
“Yes, there is six Crultar. They don’t know about us yet, but that won’t last. They will know one of their groups are missing. It might even draw the king out from his area. We can’t have that. We aren’t ready to face what he has.”
Emma winced, and I saw her squeezing Shaya’s hand. If it hurt, Shaya didn’t show it, but concern for Emma was all over her face.
“Can you guide us there?” I asked, trying to ask close-ended questions.
“Yes,” Shaya said.
“Is Hanna okay?”
“Yes, they have her in a small house. I believe they are ripening her before a final transport to the king.”
Emma groaned in pain and took a deep breath. Another question was on the end of my lips, but I spotted a drop of blood come from Emma’s nose.
“That’s enough,” I said, and Emma jerked her hands back from Shaya.
“Shit, that sucked,” Emma said, bent over with her hands on her knees. “Cass can bend metal, Sherri can move water, Benji is a damn stone whisperer, you talk with the animals, and what do I get, the chance at taking on Shaya’s shitty curse. What the hell is keeping her from being able to speak with us, anyway?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I think we both know what’s behind it. The king has tied something off on all these fish people. He’s branded them with…a curse might be a good word for it. I wish I could take your place, Emma.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Emma said, cracking her neck and wiping her nose again, checking for blood. “I’m thrilled I can help. This fish-lady would be dead if I couldn’t do what I do, and now we have a chance at finding one of my best friends, Hanna Green.”
Carmen had settled down but was still pacing behind Aubrey, glaring at Shaya.
“We should go as soon as we can and get her back to us,” I said.
“Jack, we have more modifications to make on the raft. We need to make another food run, and if we could get more water storage, that would make me feel a lot more comfortable about making a long trip. We’ve never gone as far as we’re talking about here,” Sherri said.
“Eliza,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“What are you feeling? Is Hanna in immediate danger?” I asked.
“She’s not in danger right now, but I feel something coming, Jack. I’m not even sure if it’s related to her, but the second Shaya landed on our shore, I’ve had a terrible feeling building inside.”
“What do you think it is?”
“There’s something out there hunting us,” Eliza said. “And it is standing between us and getting to Hanna.”
“Great,” Aubrey said. “And not to rain on everyone’s parade here, but we have a storm coming in tomorrow. High winds.”
“Can we wait?” I asked Eliza.
“I think it’s a good idea to wait,” Eliza said, and Shaya nodded enthusiastically.
Shaya pointed at us and then flexed her bicep, tapping on it and pointing at us again.
“Yeah, I work out,” Aubrey said and flexed her muscle. Damn, she was ripped.
“Put away the gun show,” Kara said with a snort. “She’s trying to tell us we need to get stronger before we go. And I agree. I think we not only need to make weapons, but we need to become weapons.”
Shaya jumped up and down, pointing to Kara.
“Well, looks like we’re going to be using all those trees we cut down, because I want to get the raft modification done, and then we’re going to set sail and get Hanna.”
The girls nodded in agreement.
“Kara’s right, though. We’ll also need to start weaponizing what we know, just like Sherri has,” Benji said. “If I can move rocks, I can hurl them. It would make my bow look like a toy if I could chuck a boulder at someone or something.”
“I might be able to make steel weapons, and even get small pieces to move. I think I can do more. I know I can and will,” Cass said.
“I can feel the weather, but I might be able to create it,” Aubrey said. “I think I created the wind when we left Snake Island.”
“Really?” I asked. “That would be amazing. I’ve also been thinking of my power. When I tried to connect with that giant crab, it had already been controlled by another. They put a thought into the thing and then tied it off, making it last forever, I assume. I think I can do something similar and start having the sea work for us for a change.”
“Oh shit,” Sherri said, jumping up and down, her wet hair clinging to her. “We’re going to be kicking some serious ass here.”
“And then we’re going to save Hanna,” I said.
The End
About the Author
Author note:
Thanks for once again for joining me on this crazy adventure! This book was a lot of fun to write and I’m hard at work on book four. If you enjoyed the series, don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon. I’d appreciate it.
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Thanks,
MH Ryan