Encala (8 page)

Kyle turned his chair. From up by the helm,
he could see the entire boat. The guards were situated throughout
the yacht. No one was getting on board without one of the guards
seeing them. The ocean was quiet and a light breeze was blowing. He
turned back to Emily. With the sunglasses covering his eyes, he
could secretly watch her. She was relaxed, not quite asleep, but
still enjoying being out on the water.

It was only an hour later that she sat up
and pulled off her sunglasses. She looked over at Allen, who was
playing and smiled.

“
Are you hungry?” she
asked, getting out of the chaise.

“
Peanut butter,” he said,
and ran toward Emily.

“
Ok, one peanut butter and
jelly coming up.” She took his hand and walked down into the main
living quarters.

Kyle blurred into the room a few minutes
later and sat by Allen.

“
Is there anything you
need?” he asked, looking at Emily.

“
No, I think we’re fine,”
she told him, and walked over to Allen with a sandwich and chips.
Emily sat down with a sandwich of her own and started to
eat.

“
Are you all going to be ok
without eating this week?” she asked him, stealing one of Allen’s
chips.

“
Yes, we all fed well
before leaving. We’ll be good for a few weeks.”

“
What about
boredom?”

He chuckled slightly, “We’re good with that,
too.”

“
Sir?” one of the guards
called down.

“
Is it ok if he comes
down?” Kyle asked Emily, and she nodded.

“
Come,” he called up the
stairs.

One of the new recruits came down the
stairs, “Sir, there’s a weather alert coming over the radio.”

“
What kind of alert?” he
asked, sighing.

“
Just a storm warning… high
swells, wind, and rain.”

“
Ok,” Kyle thought for a
moment. “We can’t go back to the island, and it’s too dangerous to
go to the mainland. We’ll just have to ride it out.”

“
Is that safe?” Emily
asked, frowning.

“
Hopefully, we don’t really
have a choice,” Kyle said, and headed up the stairs.

“
Take it off,” Allen
yelled, pulling at his life jacket.

“
I said, no. Keep it on,”
Emily told him, before finishing her sandwich and starting on the
dishes.

Emily jumped slightly when the thunder
cracked. She glanced out the port window and saw the black clouds
moving in quickly. Lightning lit up the sky and she turned back to
Allen nervously.

“
Want to watch a movie?”
she asked, cleaning off his face.

“
Pooh!” he yelled and ran
for the bean bag.

“
Pooh… sure… only 5 times
this week,” she replied, pressing ‘play’ on the DVD. She went over
and sat on the bean bag by Allen and mussed his black hair
playfully. The rain began to pelt the boat and Emily had to turn up
the volume to drown out the sound. With every rock of the boat, she
cringed and held Allen a little tighter.

A violent crash sounded as Emily and Allen
were thrown against the side of the living area. She could feel
blood dripping down her forehead, but looked Allen over and he was
unhurt. They were lying against the side of the boat, which meant
the boat was listing dangerously. Cold water began to flood down
the stairs and into the living area.

Four guards appeared and swam to them. One
pulled Allen away from Emily’s grasp, and the others took Emily’s
arms and hauled her through the cold water. They had to use extreme
strength to fight against the current as the water surged into the
boat. Kyle was watching them from inside a life raft and pulled
Allen on board, and then turned to Emily. He helped her hoist into
the life raft as it shook with the large waves.

Mark was in a second life raft full of
guards. He threw a rope to Kyle, and they tethered the rafts
together so they wouldn’t get separated. Emily laid down on the
bottom of the raft and held Allen with one hand, while she clung to
the raft with the other. The wind pounded the small rafts and water
sloshed over the sides. Kyle and the guards frantically dipped
buckets full of water out of the raft to keep it afloat.

Hours passed as the storm raged. Emily and
Allen were both soaked and shivering in the cold. The wind and rain
assaulted the small rafts and several times almost capsized them.
As the storm subsided, Emily curled up with Allen and both fell
asleep, exhausted from the night’s storm.

The sun finally broke through the clouds and
Emily sat up, looking around them. There was nothing but ocean as
far as she could see. Allen was still asleep in his life vest.
Shivering, Emily crawled onto one of the hard bench seats.

“
Let me see your head,”
Kyle said, pulling her hair back. She had smacked her head against
a windowsill as the boat was thrown onto its side.

“
Ouch,” she cried out when
he touched the cut.

“
Sorry, it’s not too deep.”
He pulled off his shirt and handed it to Emily. She slipped it on
and looked over at the guards in the other boat. One of the guards
took his shirt off, too, and tossed it to Emily, so she laid it on
top of Allen.

“
What happened?” she asked,
finally.

“
Squall, we didn’t have
time to turn into it,” he said, looking out over the
ocean.

“
Are there any supplies on
the rafts?”

Kyle shook his head, “If I remember
correctly though, there was a small island just north of where we
sank. The waves have been taking us slowly toward it.”

“
Was anyone hurt?” She
looked over the guards.

“
Just you,” he said with a
half-smile.

As afternoon approached, the sun began to
beat down on them. Emily set up a cover for Allen using shirts from
the guards to shade him from the sun. She could feel her skin
burning but preferred to have Allen covered.

“
Mommy, when’s lunch?”
Allen asked.

“
We don’t have anything to
eat right now, Baby,” she said, taking his hand.

“
I’m hungry.”

“
I know. As soon as we’re
rescued, we’ll get to eat.” She smiled down at him.

“
Water?” he asked, pointing
out to the ocean.

“
We can’t drink that water,
it’s yucky.” She was trying to sound upbeat, but she was worried.
She was already getting thirsty, and knew dehydration would set in
quickly in the afternoon heat.

Emily dipped her hand into the cool water
and rubbed it on her skin to calm the burning. She was getting a
headache from the head wound and the sun glaring off of the water
was making it worse.

The sun set over the horizon and they were
thrown into darkness. Emily lay down with Allen, and looked up at
the stars. They were so bright out on the ocean. There was a brisk
breeze blowing across the rafts and both of them were soon
asleep.

Darkness fell on the rafts for the second
night. This time, Allen wouldn’t sleep. He was crying tearlessly
and his lips were dry and cracked. Emily held him and rocked. Her
arms were blistering with the sunburn, and her thirst was almost
unbearable. The guards watched helplessly, frustrated to be
surrounded by water that they couldn’t drink.

Late into the night, Allen finally cried
himself to sleep and Emily handed him over to Kyle to hold. She
curled up on the hard bench seat and watched the moon shine off of
the water.

“
How are you holding up?”
one of the guards asked her from the other raft.

“
Ok,” she said, though her
voice cracked.

“
Is there nothing we can
do?” he asked Kyle.

“
Nothing,” Kyle said,
irritated.

Emily didn’t say it, but she knew that Allen
only had a day or so left before dehydration would kill him. She
watched him sleep in Kyle’s arms and felt utterly helpless. She
wasn’t a religious woman, but she prayed that the island would
appear soon or that they would be rescued. Surely Chevalier heard
her calling for him and had sent help.

Another day approached and as the sun came
up, Emily saw something that made her heart jump. The dark
silhouette of an island had appeared off in the distance. The
guards had already pulled the oars out of the rafts and were rowing
toward it. Emily was worried that Allen hadn’t woken up yet. His
skin was pale and dry and his lips were bleeding. She held him in
her arms as the island drew closer.

“
Is the island inhabited?”
she asked Kyle.

“
No”

Just before the rafts reached the beach, two
of the guards jumped out and pulled the rafts onto the sand. Emily
stumbled out of the raft with Allen and dropped down to her knees.
It felt amazing to be on solid ground again.

“
You two, walk the
perimeter of the island. We’re looking for fresh water and
something to eat,” Kyle ordered two recruits. “Mark, you take
another guard and head inland to see what you can find.”

Emily watched as the guards set off. Allen
opened his eyes slowly and looked around, then went back to sleep.
Kyle took him from Emily and she followed them into the cover of
the trees to get out of the sun.

She curled up against Allen and drifted in
and out of sleep. The shade felt good, but her dry throat was
painful.

Mark was the first of the guards to get
back, “I found a cave with a fresh spring inside.”

Kyle picked Emily up and cradled her as Mark
took Allen, and they headed into the dense trees. About a mile
inland, they came to the mouth of the cave. Kyle sat Emily down by
the stream and she cupped her hand and brought it up for Allen. He
opened his eyes and drank quickly.

“
Not too much, it’ll make
you sick,” Kyle said as she leaned down and began to
drink.

Emily sat up and looked around the cave. The
water was pouring out of a crack in the wall. The cave was just a
single room, but the cool air felt good against her burned skin.
Allen was now on the ground, splashing in the water.

The guards checking the island’s perimeter
came into the cave.

“
Nothing much to report. We
didn’t see any signs of life other than birds, and so far, no
food,” he said, sitting down against the cave wall.

Kyle sighed, “Maybe the others will find
something.”

With her thirst quenched, Emily was able to
lean back against a rock and shut her eyes. The sound of the wind
through the trees was soothing, and she soon fell asleep.

“
Emily?” Kyle said,
touching her hand gently.

Emily opened her eyes and saw the banana in
his hand. She quickly peeled it and went to hand it to Allen, but
he was already eating. She ate it and picked up another.

“
These are so good,” she
said, starting in on the second one.

“
There are plenty, some
coconuts too,” he told her. “Now, what to do about those
burns.”

She looked over her arms and legs and saw
the bright red burns and blisters. She could only imagine what her
face must look like, “I’m not sure there’s anything we can do about
it.”

“
Well at least stay out of
the sun.”

She nodded.

“
Have you… tried to contact
Chevalier?” Kyle asked.

“
Yes,” she said, leaning
back against the cave wall.

“
The storm blew us off
course. We weren’t where we said we would be,” he told the guards.
Everyone was gathered in the small cave.

After a sleepless night in the cave, Emily
headed out into the trees to explore the island. She didn’t even
care that four members of the Cavalry followed her. She watched the
birds fly away from her and marveled at the huge green trees. The
island was beautiful with the lush, green, mossy ground and thick
palm trees. It was also quiet and peaceful after the hustle and
bustle of the palace. Multi-colored birds flew above them as they
walked, and the guards pushed large flowers to the side to clear a
path.

Emily pulled apart some palm leaves, stepped
out into a clearing, and smiled at the small pond. A fresh water
stream emptied into it, and she stepped in after she slipped off
the guard shirt, leaving only the bikini. The guards watched her
carefully. The cool water felt good against her burns.

“
Come on in,” she said,
smiling at the guards.

They looked at one another and one answered,
“Not sure we’re allowed.”

“
To swim?”

“
With you,” he said,
laughing.

“
I say you are… come on in,
it feels great,” she said, ducking down under the water. When she
emerged, she saw the heku guards in the water fully dressed. They
were walking toward her and splashing one another
playfully.

“
See, feels good!” she
said, swimming toward them a little.

Emily pushed one guard under the water and
laughed. He came up and they heard a throat clear beside the pond.
The guards looked over at Kyle, who was watching them with his arms
crossed.

“
Sorry, Sir,” they each
mumbled, and swam toward the land.

“
I asked them to come in,”
Emily told him, following them.

“
We have work to do. I want
a signal fire and a message etched into the beach. Then we’re going
to need more food,” he said as they stepped out.