Page 11 of Uncharted

The killed tequila bottle lies on the end deck near the stairs to the swim platform. Rolling with the waves. “Go potty.” I point.

It’s raining sideways when I say it.

Penny looks up at me with her big brown eyes. And sits down.

“Oh, for crying out loud. It’s a covered deck. You’re hardly getting wet at all. Just go.” I don’t mean to yell. Really, I don’t. I’ve gone through the twenty-seven stages of grief, and I’m circling back around to the beginning. So much of this feels like a dream. A never-ending nightmare. I’ve gone from thinking we’ll be fine to knowing that I’m going to die to wishing we would just die. To thinking there’s hope. To, well, now. At least I have land. But what land? Judging from the few days I’ve gotten a reading on the stars, we’re in a completely different current. A direction no search party would ever look in when they find the rafts. They’ll come to the obvious conclusion that the Rock Candy is at the bottom of the ocean. Lost, with no beacon in place.

I just fucking hope Rocky finds the asshole who did this to us. That they slam them in prison for the rest of their fucking life. And then he sues the Aurora Oceanic ship builders, taking them to the cleaners. I glance at Penny. Rain is hitting the side of my face and running down my neck. “Now.” I point.

She moves over in slow motion and does her business. When we were on a regular ship, back in the day, one of the crew would take her twice a day to shore if we were able. And if not, she had a small grass pad on the swim platform. This is a big step up in the doggy bougie world.

“Let’s go.” Back in the wheelhouse, I decide to take one more trip out on the bow. I shine the flashlight at land but see nothing. There’s nothing left to do but hang my gear up and hope for the best. I’ll see what happens in the morning.

I’ve been sleeping in the wheelhouse on the floor with Penny. It’s easier to wake up and take measurements of the stars. But why sleep on the floor now? “Come on Penny, let’s go to a real bed.” Whatever happens happens.

I open the door to my cabin. I’ve pulled so many things out that it’s a shitty disaster. I toss the things off the bed and invite my dog up. She looks at me like I’m fucking crazy. Why have we been sleeping on the floor when we could have been in a comfy bed this whole time?

It turns out the sentiment of whatever happens happens is a lot easier to think and a lot harder to implement. I spend a good hour listening to the wind and watching the ceiling. Thinking about my brother Charlie. This is going to be hardest on him. He followed me into the industry. My parents, yeah, not going to think about my mom. Or my dad. Sure as hell not going to spend any time thinking about the round little cheeks of my sister’s kids. Lucy’s cute chubby toddler cheeks or Henry showing me his muscles. I don’t think about Haley’s smile or the smell of her hair. Fuck, in my head the rafts were found. They’re all back in port. They’ve taken planes back to the states or wherever they were from. Rockwell has dropped a big check in all their bank accounts. Fuck. Haley’s smile. Nope, none of that is going to come into my brain. The wind howls, and I try to not think about what I have to do tomorrow.

* * *

I’m up before the sun. Looking out onto the island in front of me is like looking at the wall of Gibraltar. Or the side wall of the Panama Canal. It’s a sheer cliff. Straight up. The tide is out, and there’s about two, maybe three yards of sand exposed. But that’s it. Port and starboard of the ship are about the same, for as far as I can see. I’m on land but I’m not. And I’m leaking.

But there’s a few rocks on either side of the reef. Rocks that I might—will—tether to. I can pull myself off the reef and patch the damn hole. I take a deep breath in. I’m not giving up. Not now. Not ever. I need to live. I need to get this boat into the hands of someone who can turn it over for evidence. That’s what keeps me going.

I feed Penny more of the chicken. The freezers are now just barely cool. A few more days, and all the meat we have will be gone. But that’s tomorrow’s problem. “Eat up, fuzz face.” I scratch her head and fill my stomach too. It’s the last apple. I’m not going to have an issue with food. There’s enough canned goods for a year. I might be eating just tomatoes and canned beans, but it’s fine.

I change into my wets and find a snorkel and fins and jump into the water.

Penny barks and chases me alongside the swim platform. I know she’s not jumping in. She hates water that much. I wave to her, and she settles.

I kick over to the rocks. The water is warm and clear. Reef fish dart about. The water is warm. Another day, I’ll swim along the edge of the island and find how far the wall goes. I’ve seen plenty of islands that are pillars into the sky and nothing more.

Around the other side of the Rock Candy, I see it. The crack in the side. She’s resting on the reef. The spots aren’t huge, but any hole in a ship isn’t good. At low tide, the hole is out of the water. It’s going to be tough to patch. But what else can I do? I swim over to the stern of the boat and pull myself up onto the edge of the swim platform. I sit for a moment, my feet dangling over the edge while I take my fins off and look at the ocean behind the Rock Candy. I’ve come a long way. Stopping now isn’t an option. Penny puts her head in my lap, and I ask myself what would Calvin do? Not sit here. “Let’s get to work, girl.” This going to take a fucking long time. Ropes first, then crash kit.

Back in the water I go.

Chapter6

Rockfall

Calvin

“No? Why not?” is Haley’s response to my telling her she can’t go into the cave.

I shake my head. “Come on, if there’s something in there, like a boar or a snake, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Cool, I don’t want to be hurt. I don’t. I don’t want you hurt, either. I can carry a sharp stick. But there’s no way a boar is up here. Those rocks were loose. If a boar were coming around here, there would be a path. Like on the rest of the island. And we’ve been on the island a long time and haven’t seen a single snake. It’s a beautiful sunny day. Why would a snake be hiding in a cave?”

“She’s got you there,” Zane adds.

“Don’t care. Humor me.” I cross my arms. If Haley gets hurt, fuck, I can’t even think about it.

“I don’t like it, but fine.” She drops her hands to her sides and sits down on the rock.

“Zane and I will go in and check it out.” I have my sharpened walking stick and my knife. Zane has the same. I step in. It’s darker than hell. But we didn’t bring the flashlight with us. Only the flint and our knives. Dante has a bag of jerky, and we all have one water bottle. We’re super careful with them. They’re more precious to us than gold. “Ready?” I ask but head right in. Ten feet in, I stand and wait for my eyes to adjust.

“Damn, this is a big cave,” Zane says. He’s a few feet behind me, and I can still make out his form.

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