Encala : Book 3 of the Heku Series by T. M. Nielsen - HTML preview

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Chapter 4 - Lost

 

Kyle cut the engines to the yacht when they were far away from any land. He sat in the captain's chair and watched Emily. She was lying on the chaise in her bikini, soaking up the sun. Allen played nearby with one of the guards. He kept pulling at his life vest, something Emily insisted he wore at all times.

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