Page 49 of Adrift

“We’re not going to catch them. The currents are pulling in different directions already. But we can try.”

I could order him to do it. As the lead engineer, I’m third in command on board theRock Candyand the highest ranking on the raft.

“We need to get to my sister. I’ll help paddle.” Swimmer Boy takes the plastic paddle from Zane’s hands.

“We also need to conserve our strength, Easton.” Zane looks at me.

“For what? They’ll send help to us. We’ll be out here... what, a day at most? But if we get separated from the other raft, that’s going to cause problems.” Easton leans over the edge and starts paddling. He’s got the gist, but not quite.

Zane reaches over and clips the paddle to his wrist.

“Thanks.”

“We’ll try for a while.” I put my paddle in and pull. It’s hard. Rafts aren’t meant to be paddled. Steering is possible, but paddling is rough. It’s work—you have to really lean in and pull. I’m not a weakling. My football days, and working on the cargo ship, left me with muscles. But working on engines that are now more computer than mechanical has left me not as built.

Zane taps me on my shoulder. “Let me take a turn, then you can spell Easton.”

“Give him a break first.”

“That’s what he said. Just hand over the paddle. This isn’t a He-Man competition.” Zane puts his hand out.

“Fine.” I give him the paddle. We’re not making any progress on catching the other raft. TheRock Candyis still behind us. She’s listing more violently, but she’s above water. We’ve got another half hour of dusky light. From the plastic toolbox, I take out the flashlight and signal the other raft with short on and off until I get a response from their light.

I start with my Morse code, which I’m praying one of the deckhands is good enough to understand because I have zero faith in my second and third engineer. It’s gone over in the classes to get your certifications for deckhand, but it’s no longer on the test. I’m just hoping someone over there knows more than SOS. Because we’re both in the same shit situation already. I’m a pro at Morse code, though. I loved it as a kid. Also, after the first pirate attack on the cargo ship, I decided I was going to be the best at everything to do with my job.

I signal five on the raft. A simple first message to see if they get it.

Easton turns to me. “What are you doing?”

“Morse code.”

“Ask them if my sister is okay,” he asks, like I’m just going to pick up my useless phone.

“I need to make sure they understand me first.” I wait, watching their raft. They are going in and out of view as we catch waves.

Their light flashes. It’s hard to get all of it. Long-long-short. “G,” I say. Long-long-long. “O. Shit.” A wave has them obscured, but I catch the next letter. “D.”

“They spelled out god?” Easton’s still paddling but looking at me.

“I’m guessing good.” They signal again. “E, L, E, V, E, N,” I call out.

“Eleven? Waldo and my three other deckhands, Shayla, two engineers, Emily, and Brick. That’s who I saw in the raft. That’s nine.”

“Anders, Rock, and Candy were in the tender. Before I left to find Dante.” Haley tries to hand me a bottle of water, but I don’t take it. It’s one from the deck, not from the emergency stores in the raft kit. We won’t touch those until tomorrow.

Chapter 21

S O S

Easton

My arms are on fire. It feels worse than a marathon training session. I pull as much water on the paddle as I can get, but the ocean doesn’t want us to make any progress. The other raft is flashing now. The raft that has two more people in it than it’s supposed to. It’s horrible, but I don’t care if my dad’s in the raft or not. As long as Emily is. She’s got to be okay. “Can you ask them—” I stop when the flashing from the other raft returns.

Calvin calls out, “C, A, N, D, Y.” The light stops. “It’s got to be Anders doing the Morse code.”

Zane doesn’t stop paddling, so I don’t either.

“L, O, S, T.”

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