Page 60 of Adrift

“No,” Zane says.

He totally was.

The breakers are coming up, and there’s not much we can do now but steer. I get my paddle and use it as a rudder, hopefully guiding us in.

Easton’s a few feet away from the paddle when he reaches out and grabs it. Thank fuck. If we need to get off this island on the raft, we’re going to need two paddles. He holds it over his head like he’s in some sort of movie from the 80s.

Haley’s clapping.

Swimmer Boy tosses the paddle into the raft. I reach my arm out to hoist him in, but he shakes his head. Grabbing the rope circling the edge of the raft, he tugs us into the breakers. Which sounds like a good idea but is the exact opposite.

“Get the fuck in here right now.” I’m screaming at him over Haley’s pleas. Dante has moved over to the other side of the raft. “There could be rocks. Fucking rocks! Dipshit.” We so don’t need a hero.

He’s not listening, and I want to grab him by the earlobe like my Nana used to do to wayward children. Stupid fucker. He’s pulling us.

“He’s doing it!” Haley clasps her hand over her mouth when I glare at her.

“Don’t egg him on. And when he’s torn to shit, don’t help him.” I push the paddle into the water to steer. The current is taking us over the breakers. We’re tipped up and down like we’re on a whitewater rafting tour.

Easton lets go, or he’s ripped off by the current. I don’t know. But I’m furious at him. I’ve got my foot anchored under one of the taut support ropes stretched over the bottom of the raft. Dante is holding on to Haley, but she’s not leaning out of the raft anymore and has her arm secure under a wall of rope. We scrape over a shallow reef and bounce into a quieter area before the raft is pushed closer to shore and backward a bit and forward with the waves until we bottom out. I let go of the ropes and jump out. Zane’s with me. Haley too.

I point my finger at Dante. “Stay put.”

“Yes, sir.” He laughs like it’s a fucking drill.

I glance back at Swimmer Boy. He’s bobbing next to the reef. Hopefully, he’s smart enough to not rip up his feet.

“On my mark.” I wait for the next wave to almost hit the side of the raft. “Go.” We sink into the sandy, pebbled beach and yank the raft all the way to dry sand. Zane drops to the sand, rolling in it like an oversized puppy. Haley’s jumping up and down. Dante’s out of the raft. He puts a towel on the sand and lies on it. Like this is a crew day out.

Haley grabs my arm. “See, we made it. We made it.” She gives me a big hug, and I have to squeeze her back.

She’s so happy. I don’t want to be reminded that this isn’t Singapore. And from the looks of this beach, it’s not inhabited. The coral is perfect, and palm fronds litter the beach. If there were humans living here, the mounds of exotic shells would be gone. From our approach, there’s not another island in sight. A bird screeches in the distance. That makes me happy. We might get something to eat besides fish.

I walk the perimeter of the raft, and fuck, just as I thought, when we went over the coral, we scraped the bottom. It took a gouge out of the bottom layer of thick plastic. The second layer is sitting there.

Zane comes around the side. His eyes are wide. “Shit.”

“We’re lucky fuckers to have found the island during good weather and daylight. Help me get the gear out. We need to find water and firewood.” My brain is whirling at what we need. I toss my life vest in the pile of the others.

“Copy.” Zane gets right to work taking the box and the bailers farther up the beach to the tree line.

My eyes rake over Dante, but I won’t tell him what to do. We had the same ranking on the boat, and he’s injured. He’s peeled off his life vest and is using it as a pillow.

“I’ll work. Give me a second,” Dante says with closed eyelids.

But that fool in the water, he’s floating on his back over the reef. Easton turns over and catches the next wave in. Assholes like this make me furious.

“We made it!” Easton runs the rest of the way to the shore like it’s some sort of old Baywatch rerun.

“What the fuck were you doing out there?” I’m in his face, keeping him in the surf and off the dry sand. It’s a dick move, but I don’t care.

“I dropped the paddle. I went and got it.”

“Not that, stupid fuck. Trying to pull the raft. I told you to get in the raft, and you ignored me.”

“So what? I’m fine. We’re all fine.” He taps my arm and rounds me to the upper beach.

“Fine? Fucking fine?”

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