Colony East (9 page)

The boy with the heavy chain approached Mandy. Wearing a smirk, he started swinging the chain in a circle. Then he charged and swung it at her. Mandy ducked just in time. The chain, completing its arc, whistled an inch above Timmy’s head. Chain Boy grunted in disappointment and cocked his arm back, ready to swing the chain in the opposite direction.

Mandy saw her opportunity and lunged, stabbing him in the chest.

Chain Boy dropped the chain and stumbled back, clutching his chest. When he took his hands away, he discovered that the knife tip hadn’t gone through his leather jacket. Soaked in fright, it took him a moment to realize how lucky he was. “Ooooh, she bites,” he said with a forced grin. He scuttled to pick up his chain.

At that moment, Timmy charged at Chain Boy and attempted to land a kick. Chain Boy stepped aside and laughed.

Something flashed in the corner of Jordan’s eye. The girl was streaking toward the raft. Before he could take his first step, she slashed the raft with her knife. Then she started for him. Realizing she could see that he didn’t have a weapon, he backpedaled.

He tripped and fell on his back in the soft mud. Pelting rain blurred his vision, and he wiped it away desperately. The girl was now looming above him. She was twelve or thirteen years old, with a diamond nose piercing and brown eyes. A scar extended from an eyebrow to the start of her hairline. He shouted as she reared back to strike him with the knife and raised his hands in a futile attempt to defend himself. Just as the girl drove the knife forward, Mandy thrust the backpack forward to block the blade. The knife fell to the mud. Then Mandy stabbed the girl in the shoulder. The girl screamed as blood, thinning to pink in the rain, sheeted down her arm.

“Watch out,” Jordan cried to Mandy.

Chain Boy swung his chain at her from behind. She turned and raised an arm, but the chain caught the side of her head. She buckled to her knees with a stunned look in her eyes. Timmy ran to her side, shielding her head with his body. To stop Chain Boy from striking her a second time, Jordan picked up the girl’s knife and crawled beside them. When he stood, Chain Boy backed up.

Mandy was groaning. “Take Timmy and go. Please,” she begged.

Jordan wondered if Mandy understood that they had no raft. Or had the chain dazed her? Jordan thought he could swim to the boat, but it wouldn’t be easy. Timmy would never survive the frigid water. Then Jordan remembered the boy didn’t even know how to swim. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. Jordan snapped his head around. Brad, with a cold, blank expression, was closing in.

They jerked their heads at the sound of metal on metal. Chain Boy had knocked over Mandy’s motorcycle and was lashing it with his chain, busting up whatever he could.

“I’m staying with you,” Timmy cried, wrapping his arms tightly around Mandy.

“That makes two of us,” Jordan added, keeping an eye on Brad.

Mandy got to her knees. Without warning, she slapped Timmy in the face, hard. “Leave! Go with Jordan. I don’t want you with me anymore.”

Timmy puffed out his chest defiantly as he fought back tears. She shoved him toward Jordan.

Brad inched closer, waving his knife. Then, as fast as a bolt of lightning, he lunged. Jordan barely reacted in time, pulling Timmy out of the way. The blade passed within an inch of where Timmy's face had been.

Mandy jumped to her feet, and wildly waving her knife back and forth, sliced nothing but raindrops, but that was enough to make Brad back off. Jordan realized that they could not beat the gang. Timmy was too much of a liability. It had nothing to do with the boy’s courage and determination. It boiled down to inches and pounds. Timmy was too young, too small, too weak.

Jordan swallowed hard. He and Mandy locked eyes. She seemed to read his mind.

“Don’t look back,” she said. “I know it’s not easy, but do it for me. Just turn and go.”

Fighting tears, he gave Mandy the girl’s knife and grabbed Timmy’s hand, yanking him toward the water. Timmy stumbled and barely stayed on his feet. Jordan kept dragging him into the water.

He couldn't see the fight, but the wind delivered each grunt, curse, and shout. Jordan knew that Mandy didn’t stand a chance. He wished the wind would change direction to spare Timmy from hearing the screams.

Knee-deep in the water, Timmy thrashed and shouted. He wanted to go back to save Mandy. Jordan squeezed his hand harder, forcing him into the deeper water. If the gang discovered Mandy didn’t have the pills, they might think that he or Timmy had them.

Timmy couldn’t shout as easily when the water was up to his chin, but he continued to kick and flail his arms just as much.

A terrifying silence stopped both of them. Timmy’s blue lips trembled, and his face contorted in tears. Jordan knew that Mandy was dead. The girl he had thought a monster, was braver than anyone he’d ever known. Determined to honor her final request, Jordan wrapped his arm across Timmy’s small chest, and started to swim toward
Stargazer
.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The wind and rain buffeted Abby as she gripped the rail next to Mel. She had put on a lifejacket for warmth, but her teeth chattered. She wasn’t trembling from the cold. She pulled her eyes away from the gruesome scene on the muddy beach, knowing Mandy's sacrifice would haunt her forever.

With a slate-gray sky, it was hard to see the boys in the choppy water. They had gone about twenty yards and had another thirty to go. They were so close together their heads appeared to be one.

She knew how hard Jordan was working to keep Timmy’s head above the water while moving the boy forward. Timmy was flailing his arms.

Timmy was at risk of succumbing to hypothermia—though that might not be so bad. While it would put his health in danger it should also make him go limp, making it easier for Jordan to swim with him.

Abby kicked off her sneakers and cinched her lifejacket just in case she had to go in and help. She shouted encouragement to them, but realized that her shouts were as wasted as her prayers. She felt as if the wind was literally pushing the words back down her throat.

“I want to kill that son of a bitch,” Mel said, fixing her gaze onshore.

The gang, which had apparently finished going through Mandy’s pockets, had split up. The girl and the boy were surveying the motorcycle, on its side. Brad was standing at the water’s edge.

He stared out at them, the rain obscuring his expression. Abby couldn’t imagine what he was thinking. A moment ago, he had delivered a fatal knife thrust, but he still found himself in the same situation, sick and dying, needing a pill to survive.

Sheets of rain slapped the water, and droplets, in the hard gusts of wind, stung Abby’s face like bees. Halyards clacked and beat against the metal mast, and the rush of wind past a small opening somewhere produced a piercing whistle.

The direction of the wind worked in Jordan and Timmy's favor, pushing them closer to the boat. However, the gusting wind created a different danger for them.
Stargazer’s
bow pointed directly toward the shore, straining against the mooring line. If the line snapped, Jordan and Timmy would find themselves stranded as
Stargazer
beached itself on the opposite shore.

“Look for rope,” Abby shouted to Mel. “We can throw it to Jordan.” She started for the cabin.

Mel’s eyes suddenly opened wide. Abby turned and gasped. Brad was charging into the water. He waded up to his waist and dived in. He splashed wildly as if he were swimming the last leg of a race.

While Mel tried to untie a rope wrapped around the boom, Abby stepped into the cabin. Because the two dirty portholes let in only a little light, it was difficult to see much of anything. She started in one corner and searched with her hands as much as she did with her eyes. Her hands found a pair of pliers and grabbed them greedily. Then she came to a blanket, an unexpected gift. She pulled it back, revealing the body of the man it was covering. She looked behind and all around the corpse for rope or anything else they might use. Grimacing, she undid his belt buckle and left with the belt, the blanket, and the pliers.

Mel was struggling to untie the knot. Swollen and salt encrusted—the rope fibers had fused together. Abby handed her the pliers.

Abby coiled the belt around her hand and crawled to the bow. The rain pelted her, and spray exploded upward from the wind-whipped waves that were crashing against the hull. The mooring buoy line was fraying where it rubbed against the railing.

The three swimmers were a blur. She wiped the water out of her eyes and saw how much Brad had closed the distance between himself and Jordan and Timmy.

Timmy had gone limp. Jordan not only had to tow him, but he also had to keep Timmy’s head above the water.

“Mel, I need you,” Abby cried.

Mel lay on her belly beside her, ready to help her bring the boys on board. The tiny fibers of the mooring line were snapping, and Abby wondered how much longer the rope could withstand the force of wind and waves.

Jordan and Timmy were now several feet from the mooring buoy, with Brad right behind them. One or two strokes and he would be on top of them. Jordan threw one arm over the buoy and held on to Timmy with his other. Abby shouted as Brad reached out, but, as with all her other warnings, the wind blew her words to the other shore.

Brad grabbed Jordan’s hair.

Jordan released Timmy and pushed him toward the bow. The boy floated on his belly with his face in the water. Brad slammed his other hand across Jordan’s face, forcing him under.

Abby tossed Mel the belt and dived through the air. The headwind made her feel, for a moment, that she was flying, suspended between sky and sea.

She landed on her belly, outstretched. The icy water smashed into her, knocking her breath away. Her momentum carried her to Timmy. She quickly rolled him over, cradled an arm across his chest, and took several hard strokes and frog kicks toward the boat. The buoyancy of her life jacket helped keep both of them above the water. Timmy’s eyes were shut, and his face was blue. He appeared to be in a deep sleep.

Behind her, Jordan and Brad fought. She did her best to ignore their brutal grunts and shouts as she focused on Timmy, knowing how close he was to death.

Gripping the rail with one hand, Mel stretched out her other arm and unfurled the belt. She had to do it twice more before Abby managed to grab the buckle. Mel pulled with all her strength, and soon Abby and Timmy were at the side of the boat. Abby shook the boy and yelled, “Timmy. Timmy. Open your eyes.”

Two slits appeared. He was alive but just barely.

Mel grabbed one of Timmy’s hands, and Abby found the other and held it up for Mel who pulled Timmy’s limp body out of the water slowly, inch by inch. When Mel had Timmy onboard, Abby spun around and gasped. Brad had a headlock on Jordan who was clutching the hook on top of the mooring buoy to keep Brad from pulling him under. Jordan’s gray face was twisted into a grimace, and he was gulping for air against the white noise of the rainstorm.

All of a sudden, Jordan let go of the buoy hook, and both boys disappeared. A moment later, one breached the surface, and then the other. They rolled over and disappeared again. Abby realized that Jordan wanted to take Brad under. It was the only way to break Brad’s grip.

Abby pushed away from the boat. “Jordan!” A wave cut her cry short, and she gagged from the salty water that went down her throat. From behind, a hand pushed down on her shoulder, and she thrashed forward. She turned, ready to gouge Brad’s eyes. Abby caught herself, seeing it was Jordan, his chin barely above the water. She wrapped her arms around him. The lifejacket kept them afloat.

Brad surfaced near the buoy, which he promptly hugged. Exhausted, he pressed his face against it. His cheeks were bluish and his eyes dark. He closed his eyes for a long moment. Already weak from the illness and chasing them for hours, the final battle had completely drained him. The hatred of Brad she had held in her heart dissolved into deep sadness for him and everyone else involved.

Abby kicked until she and Jordan were beside the boat. Mel tried pulling Jordan into
Stargazer
. He hooked his fingers over the rail, but that was as far as he got. He was too heavy for her to lift, and too weak to pull himself up.

“The stern,” Jordan said before taking in a mouthful of water.

Abby reached up.” “M-m-el, g-g-give me your hand.” Her teeth chattered uncontrollably. “Drag us to the back of the boat.”

Mel disappeared and returned with the belt. Abby grabbed the buckle with one hand and held on to Jordan’s shirt with her other. Mel towed them to the stern. Every wave bashed them against the hull. Abby’s arms were numb. She concentrated all her energy on keeping her fingers welded to Jordan and the belt.

Behind the stern, the hull shielded them from the brunt of the waves and wind. Abby maneuvered her brother closer until Mel had hold of his hair. That stirred him, and he took Mel’s hand. Bobbing up and down in the rough water, he tried to pull himself up, and on his third try, he was able to hook his leg over the rail. Mel rolled him onto the boat.

Then the two of them dragged Abby onboard.

“Jordan, go to the cabin. You need to get warm.”

He shook his head. “The mooring line won’t hold much longer.”

Abby gave him a lifejacket for warmth. Slipping it on, he grabbed the pliers and headed for the bow.

She went to check on Timmy in the cabin. He was shivering, which was a good sign. His body was starting to generate heat. She wrapped him more tightly in the blanket and returned to the deck.

Looking back over the rail she saw Brad, still clinging to the mooring float, but just barely. They made eye contact. No longer a monster, he was a frightened child. Abby sensed her fingers unsnapping the clips of her life jacket.

Brad seemed to read her mind, and he pushed away from the buoy and slowly treaded water, coming toward her.

She removed her life jacket. At the side of the boat now, Brad reached up and held on to the rail. His fingers curled around the railing. His sudden strength surprised her, and she stepped back.