Burnt Sea: A Seabound Prequel (Seabound Chronicles Book 0) (16 page)

Nora and another
crew member
had already
attached another chain to the lifeboat. It was piled high with salvaged
objects, mostly suitcases from the plane wreckage. Reggie sailed it in closer
to Michael and Judith, and they linked the two chains together with a hook the
size of her hand.

“The other boats are already back at the
Catalina
,” Nora shouted. “Climb aboard!”

Together, Judith, Michael, and their team clambered aboard the
lifeboat. Reggie gunned the motor. They pulled away from the cargo ship and the
beach, the fuel tank bobbing behind them like an overgrown mastiff.

The sea roughened. Their lifeboat dipped into troughs, making Judith’s
stomach plummet, and then rose up high on peaks of surging water. She lost all
sense of perspective as the waves grew. Swells obscured the fuel tank behind
them half the time. The lifeboat’s motor strained against the drag of the tank
and the pressure of the rough seas.

Nora’s eyes were wide, and she kept both arms wrapped around her
circuit boards. She smiled at Judith from across the boat, but her face had
gone a little green. Michael sat beside Judith, holding on to a pile of
suitcases to keep them from being tossed overboard.

“Almost there,” he said, and flashed her a quick smile. “We can beat
this storm. And it’ll keep the navy off our backs.”

Lightning flashed across the sky. The whistling of the wind grew to a
howl. Judith checked the chain again. The tank trailed behind them. It was
slowing them down. They hadn’t crossed half the distance between the beach and
the
Catalina
yet, and the storm was
getting worse by the second.

The ship heaved in the growing waves. It was hard to tell over the roar
of the wind, but Judith thought the engines were running.

“There’s no way we’re getting the lifeboat back onto the ship,” Reggie
shouted over the wind.

“Can we secure it until the storm is over, like the tanks?” Judith
asked.

“We can try. No guarantee it’ll survive a battering like this.”

Judith grabbed the seat in front of her as a dip in the sea made her
lose her balance. They had to get the fuel to the ship. But then how would they
get back on board themselves? Judith cast about for an idea, holding on so hard
her fingers ached.

Lightning and thunder cracked together.

Then the
Catalina
started to
move.

Chapter 14—Lifeboat

Simon

Simon entered the bridge
with Captain
Martinelli
.
Ren
paled and began a
sputtering apology, but the captain ignored her. It was like he had flipped a
switch on his reason. He barked out orders so swift and complex that Simon
couldn’t follow half the words.
Ren
leapt to obey.

Simon hung back as the captain and
Ren
did
their work. He was profoundly grateful that they hadn’t ended up on this ship
without any of its original crew, even though they were severely understaffed.

The captain didn’t seem too worried about the storm and their proximity
to the atoll. He asked about the weather and the news.
Vinny
and
Ren
did their best to fill him in. They explained
that the storm had come out of nowhere.

“Goddamn weather patterns,” the captain muttered. “They’ve never been
predictable, truly, but we used to make better guesses.”

“What do you mean?” Simon asked.

“A storm like this doesn’t come out of the blue. We used to be able to
track them on the satellites for one, and we’d get updates from ships at other
coordinates. Even then we got hit with surprises sometimes. Storms went north
when they should go south, stayed in one place longer than expected, all but
disappeared. It was getting worse. Global warming, you know? But this is
madness.”

Simon didn’t answer. Nothing at all surprised him anymore.

He couldn’t see anyone left on the beach.
Vinny
reported that one of their lifeboats had made it back onto the ship already and
they were lifting the other now. The crew would be climbing aboard, unloading
the salvage, and hopefully hauling in the lifeboats.

The sea was growing ever darker, wilder. A shift of the waves revealed
the final lifeboat struggling toward them. A huge fuel tank dragged behind it.

“We have to get those people on board,” Simon said.

“It’s too late,” Captain
Martinelli
said. “We need to get away from the shore before the waves get any worse.”

“We can’t leave them,” Simon said.

Ren
started up too, but he gestured for her to remain
calm.

“Are you insane?” the captain said. “If we run aground here, it’ll be
impossible to launch again.”

A crack of lightning illuminated the ghostly broken cargo vessel lying
in the shallows. The
Catalina
would
end up like that if they didn’t get away from the atoll soon.

“Give them a few more minutes,” Simon said.

“Are you giving orders on my ship?”

“This isn’t a ship anymore, sir. This is a survival operation, and I’m
in charge. We are not leaving those people behind. Take us closer to the
beach.”

Judith

The
team was exhausted. Judith felt like she’d been in the lifeboat for hours. The
boat tossed them about so much they could do little more than hold on. Reggie
had a death grip on the motor controls. Michael winced with each shift of the
sea, bearing up well despite his injured foot. He had planted his feet firmly
against the lifeboat floor to keep from pitching forward. He must be in agony.

The
Catalina
started moving
toward them. Judith felt a mixture of relief and fear. What if there were rocks
underwater? How close could the big ship get to the atoll without getting
stuck?

The lifeboat fought the waves, trying to get closer to the
Catalina
. She sailed nearer, cutting the
distance between them to a hundred feet.
Almost there.
But as they approached the towering hull of the cruise ship . . .

“They’re going to hit us!” someone yelled.

The lifeboat lurched forward on a wave, and the hull of the
Catalina
was suddenly a solid wall. The
four other oil tanks were chained to the hull somehow, and they tossed about
dangerously. With each surge they got closer to a collision.

“Look!” Reggie shouted. “They tossed down the ladder. Let’s swim for
it.”

“What about the salvage?”

“Leave it, or we’re not making it out of this alive.”

He abandoned the controls and began pushing people over the side. They
disappeared beneath the boiling black sea and then emerged, gasping and
splashing their way toward the
Catalina
.
The ladder swung pendulum-like, scraping across the slick white paint of the
hull.

Judith gripped Reggie’s arm when he reached her, digging her fingers
into his skin.

“We can’t leave the fuel. I’ll stay with it.”

“Don’t be stupid,” he shouted, trying to force her into the water.

Judith stood her ground. “Get up there and throw me a rope or
something,” she said. “We need as much of it as possible.”

“It’s on your own head,” Reggie said,
then
waved to Michael. “Let’s go, man.”

Reggie dove cleanly over the side of the lifeboat, but Michael didn’t
follow. Nora hesitated for a moment and squeezed Judith’s arm. A flash of
lightning sparked off the metal post in her eyebrow. She held her breath and
jumped into the sea after Reggie. Her pink hair popped up a moment later.

“You’re right. We need this,” Michael shouted to Judith above the wind.
“Grab an oar and help me stay close to the ship.”

She complied, helping him to retrieve the long emergency oars from the
bottom of the boat. She gripped one so hard her hands hurt.

The first struggling swimmer reached the rope ladder. He climbed it
slowly, holding on for dear life, but his weight kept it a bit steadier for the
next person to swim toward it. Judith counted the swimmers climbing up the side
of the ship. Unseen hands helped them aboard. The ladder swayed dangerously as
they climbed. One by one their team reached the safety of the
Catalina
’s deck. But something was
wrong.

“We lost one,” she shouted.

“What?” Michael leaned toward her, his breath a shock of warmth on her
cheek.

“There were twenty of us left on the beach. Only seventeen made it up
the ladder.”

Michael didn’t respond. Judith struggled against her oar, her eyes
stinging from the salt water and wind.

Suddenly, Michael dropped his oar and lunged sideways, forcing Judith
down into the boat to get out of his way. When she lifted her head, he had both
hands around a thick rope trailing down from the
Catalina
. Someone had tossed them a lifeline.

Michael swayed wildly, trying to keep his balance. Judith dropped her
own oar and wrapped both arms around his waist to hold him steady.

“Get to the stern!” he said.

They scrambled backward to where the fuel tank was chained to the
lifeboat. Mercifully, it was still attached. Judith kept Michael balanced as he
pulled at the line trailing down from the
Catalina
.

“Can you tie it?” she shouted.

“I need more slack. Pull!”

They heaved at the rope, bringing more of it into the boat. Another
wave pushed them dangerously close to the
Catalina
,
making their task easier. Judith held on to the excess rope and climbed
underneath the nearest bench to wedge herself more securely into the boat. Her
hands were raw, so she wrapped the rope beneath her arm. Water cascaded around
her.

Michael worked at the chain. Judith couldn’t see what he was doing. She
hoped he wouldn’t have to cut the lifeboat loose in order to secure the oil
tank. The muscles in his calves tensed as he braced himself against the
pitching of the boat. She watched his feet, praying they’d stay firmly planted.
The lifeboat tossed about like kindling.

A crash. The rope ripped out of Judith’s grasp, taking a thick layer of
skin from her arm and side as it wrenched away. The jolt knocked her teeth
together so hard she saw stars.

They’d collided with the
Catalina
.
Michael’s feet disappeared. He had gone overboard.

Simon

“We
need more time,” Simon said.

Manny reported on the intercom that most of the salvagers from the
final lifeboat had come aboard, but they were still trying to secure the fuel
tank. They weren’t sure the others would stay attached to the ship.

“This whole thing will be a waste without them,”
Ren
whispered.

“I know. Damn it.” Simon pressed his face against the glass. The atoll
loomed. They were far too close.

“We’re going to run aground if we don’t move now,” Captain
Martinelli
said, his voice emotionless.

“A few more minutes.”

Judith

Salt water stung Judith’s eyes as she clung to the bench. The rope was
secure, but she couldn’t see Michael anywhere. She couldn’t do anything to help
him now. A wave pushed the boat further away from the
Catalina
again. The rope tightened, but it held. The lifeboat, with
the oil tank in tow, was now firmly attached to the
Catalina
.

Judith dove into the sea.

She was so cold and wet already that it almost didn’t matter when her
head went beneath the waves. The water swirled around her, dark, consuming.
Fear flashed through her with each bolt of lightning. She flailed blindly
toward the
Catalina
, swallowing
seawater with every stroke.

A surge lifted her up, knocking her roughly against the hull. She felt
along the cold steel surface for something to grab on to as the surge carried
her, aware of a stinging sensation across her side and arm.

As the wave ebbed, she plunged deep beneath the water, thrashing her
arms as she tried to find her way. Another wave pushed her into the hull again,
knocking the last breath out of her.

The surge of the sea was endless. She could barely see. Couldn’t
breathe. She kicked and stroked, trying to get closer to the
Catalina
without letting the waves bash
her against it.

The sea surged again.

Judith scrabbled at the frigid hull. Then there was a change, an edge.
Her fingers closed around slim metal. It was the rung of the ladder. She hung
on, gasping for breath each time the waves abated. She reached up. Grabbed.
Next one. Her head cleared the water again.

She climbed a few rungs up the side of the
Catalina
,
then
looked back. The lifeboat
had overturned. It whipped at the end of the rope like a fishing lure. Further
out the fuel tank still hung on. There was no sign of Michael or the twentieth
member of their party.

She clung to the ladder, her last ounce of strength gone.

Simon

“We
really ought to move now,” Captain
Martinelli
said
calmly, “if you wish to survive. We’re too close. We’ll get stuck in the sand
if we don’t hit a rock and sink first.”

Simon stood beside him, trying to pierce the heavy gray curtain beyond
the window. He couldn’t see the lifeboat from here. He didn’t know whether or
not they’d made it. The captain stood still, hand on the helm.

“Any word?” Simon asked
Vinny
, who sat glued
to the intercom.

“Nothing. They’re not answering.”

“Okay. Let’s go,” Simon said, avoiding
Ren’s
hard gaze. “And pray that everyone made it back on board.”

Judith

Judith
felt the engine kick into high gear. They began to move away from the island,
slowly at first. The propellers beneath the ship would be sucking at the water.
It would be impossible to swim against that. Where were the others?

She should keep climbing the ladder, but all she could do was hold on.
She had stopped shivering.
That’s a bad
thing, right?
she
thought vaguely. Shapes rose and
sank in the water. Debris, seaweed, bodies. She couldn’t be sure what she was
seeing.

Suddenly, a head popped up above the waves much further forward than
she expected.

It was Michael.

He flailed about, taking gasping, panicked breaths, but he didn’t swim
toward the ship. He trod water where he was. His eyes were closed, and he
dragged a hand over them, as if trying to clear them of salt water. He still
wasn’t swimming toward the ship.
He must
have salt in his eyes. He can’t see!

“Over here!” Judith didn’t have the strength to move, but she could
shout. “Michael! Swim toward my voice! Hurry! The ship is moving!”

She was afraid the howl of the wind would drown out her words. She
screamed louder, and Michael responded. He was a strong swimmer. He headed in
her direction, stopping every few strokes to listen for her voice again. She
shouted and screamed, guiding him to her.

Michael stopped swimming, but he kept getting closer. A current was
sweeping him forward. He was moving too fast! He was going to be sucked beneath
the ship.