11 #2
“It’s a risk we gotta take, but I do want to ask you a few questions about the last time you stopped on land, it might give us an idea of where we are.”
“They never let me out when we stopped,” she says, softly, “so I can’t tell you exact locations, but it was about two weeks ago, just before we came here.”
“Right,” Zeke mumbles.
Two weeks out here is a heck of a long time, we could be anywhere.
“They restocked water just before we returned a second time, but it was from another island.”
Aggie pauses, mid-bite. “Well, at least if there are other islands around, we can try and keep our stock levels high.”
“Assuming we go in the right direction,” Kellen grunts.
“Well, right now, we have no other choice,” she snaps back.
Oh boy.
Not this again.
Between Aggie, Rachel and Kellen, it is almost a constant snickering battle.
“Enough,” Ace growls, sick of their crap. “Let’s just assume we’re far away from anything and do the best we can to keep our stocks up. If those filthy fuckers can stay alive out here, so can we.”
He’s right.
We have come this far.
I stretch and then lay down, my head resting on Ace’s lap. He smells like sweat, and ocean, and him, but it’s a comfortable place for me. His fingers glide through my hair, and it takes everything in me not to fall asleep. Aggie meets my gaze and winks, wiggling her brows. I can’t help but smile.
“How long until everything dries?” Kellen asks me.
“If the sun stays out, they should be fine by morning. We couldn’t get much of the water out, so they were pretty heavy and wet when we hung them up, but I will keep going and twisting the excess water out until they get lighter.”
He nods. “And the cleaning?”
Rachel ignores him, so Aggie answers. “We have another few hours, at least.”
“I’ll help,” I say.
“We all will,” Ace murmurs, his voice lower and more relaxed now. “We’re done dealing with the other problems.”
Meaning the pirates.
“What about the prisoners?” I ask. “They are still tied up, we can’t keep them there forever.”
Ace glances at Kellen. “We’re not. We’re leavin’ them on the island.”
My eyes widen. “Oh.”
“We don’t know who they are, or what they want, but they are clearly being held for a reason. We won’t hurt them, not without knowin’ more, so it is the best option. We survived it, I’m sure they’ll work it out.”
It makes sense, even if it does feel a little wrong.
“So that’s it then?” Tati says, her eyes wide with fear and hope. “We’re leaving tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” Zeke nods. “Yeah, we’re leavin’ tomorrow.”
It’s a terrifying and yet exciting thought.
There are a lot of things to worry about, but also, for the first time, we get to choose what comes next.
And for now, that’s enough.
I WISH I COULD SAY being on the ocean again was a relief but instead it’s equally, if not more, terrifying than being stuck on that island.
Turns out we all have a little PTSD from what we went through and how many days we spent floating in this very ocean, wondering if we were going to die.
Now, we’re on a ship we don’t know all that well, in an unfamiliar ocean, drifting further and further away from land with every waking moment.
Zeke mapped the island’s coordinates, because we want to be able to tell Iris’ family where she has been laid to rest, and also where the prisoners we left behind are.
It wasn’t easy leaving Iris, especially with strangers there, it felt almost like we were just abandoning someone we loved, even though she isn’t with us anymore.
Rachel isn’t taking it well, and hasn’t left her room since we left this morning. I can’t say I blame her, if that was Tati or Aggie there, I wouldn’t be able to leave so easily either.
Now that we’re on the ship, the tension feels thick and intense.
Gone is the rush of fighting and packing and being free, now we’re alone with our thoughts and it has become glaringly obvious just how much Aggie and Tati dislike each other right now.
Well, Aggie is trying to make amends, and Tati isn’t hearing any of it.
I won’t dare tell Aggie about Rachel and Kellen’s little relationship because that will only make her feel even worse about everything.
I think she really likes him.
Hell, who am I kidding, I know she does.
I don’t like keeping things from her, she’s my best friend, but at the same time, I’m not certain we can handle any more drama. We have already been through so much, and if we don’t stick together, we will never make it home. So for now, the secrets need to stay hidden.
“Hey.”
I’m sitting on the front of the ship as it glides along, just staring at the stark blue ocean in front of us, nothing for miles.
Tati sits down beside me, smiling, bumping my shoulder with hers as she threads her legs through the front railing so she can sit beside me.
“It’s kind of nice out here, even though I am secretly shitting my pants that we will sink again. ”
I laugh, softly. “I was just thinking the same thing. I’m sure if this ship has come this far, with those arseholes, then we have a good chance.”
Tati snorts. “Gosh, I always pictured pirates kind of like bikers. Big, scary, rugged and strong, like a really romantic novel. Now I can see they’re nothing more than dirty criminals.”
I grin. “Yeah, and unlike bikers, they’re not even hot dirty criminals.”
She laughs. “Lucky we have plenty of eye candy getting around.”
I raise my brows in her direction. “Oh?”
“I’m not saying I have any particular preference,” she laughs, throwing her hands up, “I’m just saying there is plenty to look at.”
She’s not wrong.
“How’s Rachel?”
Shrugging, she presses her lips together before exhaling. “She hasn’t left the room. She’s really sad about leaving Iris, even though she agrees it is for the best. She will be okay in a few days. We will make sure her family find her, right?”
“Yeah, absolutely.”
We fall silent for a moment, before I ask, “How is Kaylee?”
Tati shrugs again, lightly. “She’s doing okay, I think. It’s hard to tell because she is so hard to read. I think she is okay, but I could be wrong.”
“At least she’s safe.”
“There you two are.”
Zeke’s voice has us both turning, to see him holding two bottles of rum in his hands. My eyes widen and I glance at Tati, who is staring with the same expression on her face.
“I’m scared to ask,” she says, softly.
“Tonight, ladies, we party. Come on! We found a music speaker, and Aggie is making some food. Let’s at least get one good thing out of all this.”
I look to Tati, and she shrugs and grins.
“Fuck it,” I say. “Let’s go.”
We follow Zeke down the corridors, the low hum of the engine vibrating in a way that kind of makes it sound unstable.
I choose to ignore it. The ship is more alive than it has any right to be, like the walls themselves are relieved to be rid of the scum that lived here before us.
The dining room, if you can call it that, is probably the biggest open space on the ship, and before, was cluttered with so much stuff I don’t know that it had been used in a while.