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  "How do you know I don't know how to drive a boat?" I asked defensively. “You just automatically assume?”

  "I’m not assuming anything. I just watched your attempt."

  The man performed a few more maneuvers on the control panel and finally I heard the rumble of the engine starting to turn. As if the other man's fury had reached beyond the boat and into the sky itself, there was a tremendous clap of thunder the moment the engine roared back to life and a sheet of rain came pouring into the boat. I shouted a few creative obscenities toward the foreboding black clouds that had rapidly blotted out the moon and stars, positive that this was all just to test me. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be proving, but in that moment, I didn’t feel as though I was doing a very good job of it. A blinding bolt of lightning sliced through the sky followed by another, even louder crash of thunder and I heard Eleanor scream behind me.

  The ocean started to toss the boat around angrily and I suddenly felt like a bathtub toy. A wave washed up over the side of the boat, soaking me in cold water.

  "Help me!"

  I turned toward the man's voice and saw him struggling to tie down supply boxes with thick ropes and secure the doors to the small cabin in the middle of the boat. I rushed toward him, knowing that the friction between us from the moment that Eleanor and I stepped onto the boat didn't change the fact that this man was the only way that either of us was going to have even a chance at escaping the cruise ship. Though I was still shaky on why exactly we needed to escape in the first place. I rushed toward him and together we lashed the supplies to the deck and ensured that the cabin was secure. The rain stung on my skin and blurred my vision as I made my way back toward the front of the boat. The vessel tossed violently beneath my feet and for a moment I was positive that it would capsize under the power of one of the tremendous waves that pounded down on us.

  Worst carnival fun house ever.

  "Hunter!"

  Eleanor's shrill voice was barely audible over the roar of the waves and the wind, but I turned to see her clinging to the ladder that we had used to climb up into the boat. I ran as fast as the shifting of the boat and the slickness of the rain-soaked deck beneath my feet allowed. I could see Eleanor's hands slipping and hear her desperate cries as I got closer. I dove forward, channeling every bit of my ill-advised three weeks of Little League to slide on my belly until I reached the edge and could grab her.

  "Climb!" I shouted down at her. "I've got you, but you're going to have to help me here."

  Eleanor's feet finally gained purchase on the ladder again and I was able to pull her up toward me. She grasped at my back, climbing over me toward the deck. As she brought her leg up, I felt myself slipping. The sky split overhead with a bolt of lightning that lit up the sky like daylight, and the boat tilted to such a drastic angle that I felt my body toppling headfirst toward the water. The white-topped sea lapped up toward me, ready to accept me into its black depths.

  Moby Dick didn’t do this shit justice. Where the fuck is the giant whale that’s supposed to teach me about myself?

  Just as I was confident that I was going to end up being the saddest article to ever grace the front page of The Apple, I felt strong hands grab me, dragging me back onto the deck of the ship by my pants and the back of my shirt. The man captaining the boat pushed me aside so that I slid into the corner and then slammed the small hatch that opened onto the ladder, securing it closed with a metal handle. When it was closed, I saw the man crawl toward me as if not sure enough of his feet to stand.

  "Are you alright?" he yelled through the sound of the storm around us.

  I nodded.

  "Thank you," I called back, hesitating when I realized I still didn't know the man's name.

  "Gavin," the man shouted back.

  "Thank you, Gavin," I said.

  This wasn’t exactly the moment for handshakes, so I gave a nod of acknowledgement. Gavin nodded back and turned toward Eleanor. I watched as he checked her hands carefully and then started guiding her toward the cabin. The door on the side where we were hadn't been locked closed and Gavin yanked it open, ushering Eleanor inside and then turning to me.

  "Go in," he shouted.

  "I'll stay out here with you," I shouted back.

  "No," Gavin protested. "It's too dangerous. The waves are getting higher and the storm is only going to get worse. I have to try to keep the boat on course."

  "I can help you."

  We locked eyes and finally I saw Gavin nod at me again through the rain.

  "Eleanor," Gavin said into the cabin, "you stay in here. Stay away from the windows and doors as much as you can."

  Gavin closed the door and rushed back to the wheel with me at his heels. We lashed ourselves to the boat with the safety harnesses attached on either side of the wheel, and then latched ourselves to each other. We fought against the waves, gasping for breath as the wind swept water into our faces.

  "Are we on the right course?" I shouted, fully acknowledging to myself that I really had no idea what the right course was or where we should be headed now that we were getting away from the cruise ship.

  "I don't know," Gavin replied. "I think so, but I can't tell. We won't really know until the storm quiets down."

  The sea had other plans, however, and a towering wave rose up beside us and crashed onto the ship with a terrifying impact. I felt myself leave my feet and the safety harness strained against the wood of the boat as I fell. I reached out for Gavin, but my hand only grasped water. I couldn't see anything in front of me and the only sound that came to my ears was the deafening roar of the wave rushing around me. I tried to look up to see how deep we were, but there was only darkness. I couldn’t fight any more. The strength in my muscles gave out and I relinquished myself to the storm.

  Chapter Five

  Eleanor

  I was lying in the berth of the cabin, my arms draped over my head as I tried to resist the feelings of seasickness and terror coursing through my body. As accustomed as I was to cruising, I had never been on a ship during weather like this and I was not responding well the behavior of the water. This was not nearly as much fun as lounging by the pool or watching the gaudy shows at night. I wished that there was a cruise director I could complain to, but at that moment the only one controlling what was happening was a little bit more powerful than the captain of the cruise, so I didn’t think that putting in a formal complaint would be a very good idea. The sound of the storm outside was deafening and I reached for a pillow to hold around my ears to try to muffle it. I felt like I should be crying, but the tears wouldn’t come. It was as if I had cried so much over so many things that my body was simply unwilling to go through the motions any more. It was in protest.

  The rocking of the ship was so intense that I felt like it would toss me onto the floor at any moment. This couldn’t be the only storm that had ever been like this and I didn’t see any sign of a seatbelt to hold me in place on the bed. I didn’t understand how anyone could get any kind of rest in this place if they spent more than a couple of hours aboard. Almost as suddenly as the storm had come on, though, it began to calm down. The shaking of the boat slowed and then nearly stilled. I wanted to get up to find out if the men had gotten through the storm safely, but I couldn’t bring myself to climb out of my place. It was almost as though I was positive that if my feet hit the floor of the cabin, I was going to find out that it was all just a cruel trick of the storm and it was going to start up again. Without even removing the pillow that I had used to muffle the deafening noise of the storm, I let my eyes close, and soon fell asleep.

  I felt like I was no longer in control of my body. Awareness seemed to wash over me for a few moments at a time, but never close enough that I could actually latch onto it and let it drag me up into full consciousness. I woke suddenly, gasping for breath, feeling like the water had seeped into the cabin and risen up over the berth to swallow me. My hands clawed at the pillow and I desperately breathed in the salty air, relieved that it
had only been my imagination that made me feel like I was drowning. As soon as my lungs filled, the darkness took over again and I fell back to sleep, my pillow on the floor now so that it couldn’t try to smother me again.

  The next time I awoke, I could hear what sounded like screaming. I felt too afraid to move. The boat tossed violently and I realized that the brief moment of quiet before I first fell asleep was just the eye of the storm. It wasn’t over. In fact, now it seemed even more intense than it had been before. Now the wind was whipping around the cabin with a terrifying ferocity. The wind beating against the fiberglass was sharp and loud, combining with the screams until all the noise combined into a chaotic dissonance that reverberated through my mind. I wanted to investigate the screaming, but I couldn't force my body to budge. As the darkness started to dim the edges of my mind again, I briefly wondered whether there was truly a scream at all or if it was just the harshness of the wind.

  I didn’t know how much time had passed when a sudden jolt woke me from a deep, dreamless sleep. The boat was finally calm, and relief poured over me as I realized that the storm had truly passed this time and we were, at least in terms of being sucked down into the waves, safe. I didn't want to move. Outside, the world was deadly silent, and I wasn't ready to face the potential array of horrifying scenes that might be awaiting me outside of the cabin. I was very aware that neither of the men had come into the cabin during the night, which meant that unless there was some hidden Batman-style cabin somewhere else on the boat, they had weathered the storm out on the deck. With as aggressive as the wind and sea had felt from within the protection of the cabin, I couldn’t imagine what it had been like to actually be outside, exposed to it all, and was afraid that they might not have gotten through it.

  The boat stopped moving and once again I could hear the individual waves breaking against the hull. They were far calmer now, almost like they were trying to soothe the boat after the assault. The analogy sent an all-too familiar shudder through me and I forced the thought out of my mind. After lying awake for a few minutes, curiosity finally overpowered my fear and I carefully moved off of the berth and started toward the cabin door. I paused again when I reached the door, hesitating to step out onto the deck. I didn't know what I was going to find there; or what I might not find. My hand trembled as I reached for the handle and pushed the door open. Ahead of me I saw the back corner of the boat crushed and tattered, pieces of the wood drifting away with the water.

  "Oh, shit."

  As soon as I heard Gavin cursing, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. It wasn’t the most delightful of early-morning greetings, but spewing profanity required being alive, so I was willing to go with it. I climbed up the rest of the way out of the cabin and rushed toward the sound of his voice. He was on the other side of the boat, crouched beside Hunter where he lay slumped on the deck. I ran toward them and dropped to my knees beside the prone man, my heart pounding in my chest.

  "What's wrong with him?" I asked frantically. "Is he…"

  "He's not dead," Gavin said, taking his fingers away from Hunter's neck where he had had them pressed to his pulse point. "I woke up and found him like this. He must have blacked out, but he's alive."

  "Where are we?" I asked.

  I straightened and looked out over the edge of the boat. The small vessel was stopped a few yards away from a sandy beach. Branches and leaves scattered across the pale sand told me that the storm had hit here was well, but I was grateful to see dry land. I wouldn’t be planning another cruise any time soon.

  Gavin was unlatching Hunter from the harness that held him in place and didn't look up.

  "My navigation system is destroyed. I can't tell where we are."

  "Apparently, we’re at the beach," I said, too tired to laugh at my own bad joke.

  I glanced down and watched Gavin straighten Hunter out so that he was lying on his back rather than being curled partially on his side. Water dribbled from the corner of his mouth and he made a gurgling sound in his throat before choking and gasping for breath. Gavin lifted him up by his shoulders and Hunter coughed out more water before finally drawing in a deep breath.

  "Are you alright?" I asked, leaning down to look at him.

  Hunter's eyes lifted to mine and he stared at me for a few seconds, but I couldn't decipher the emotion in the look. Without answering me, he pushed himself up off of the deck and stood shakily, gripping the side of the boat for stability. He gazed out over the side just as I had, his eyes locked on the beach.

  “Oh, shit,” he said.

  “Yeah,” I said, nodding. “That seems to be the general consensus about our current situation.”

  I heard a grinding sound and looked up to see Gavin trying to start the boat again. He shook his head, tried again, and then kicked the wall.

  Well, good. I’m glad to see that he utilizes only the most advanced mechanical techniques.

  "The engine's shot. No engine. No navigation system. No communication." He gestured toward the destroyed portion of their boat. "The boat is destroyed. What in the sweet fuck are we supposed to do now?"

  "This island isn’t too far away from the course of the cruise ship. It can’t be. We haven’t been sailing for that long. It’s probably one of the ones that the ships stop on. If we go around to the other side, I’m sure we'll find other people and they can help us," Hunter said.

  Despite some shakiness in his voice, he sounded strong and in control, and I felt myself wanting to trust him even though the thought of giving my trust to anyone right now after being so relentlessly pursued by anonymous killers was terrifying. Hunter made his way to the hatch on the back of the boat and forced it open. I watched him climb down and realized that the sandbar where we had crashed was high enough that his head was still visible as he made his way toward the water in front of us. I followed, making my way gingerly down the ladder and into the inches of water. The sand sank and slipped beneath my feet, and for the first time I realized that I no longer had my shoes.

  "Oh, dammit!" I exclaimed. "I lost my shoes."

  "That is really at the bottom of our priority list right now, Eleanor, and besides, I really don't think that five-inch spikes are best option for wading through the ocean, or all that appropriate for a woman…”

  He hesitated, but I knew exactly what was on the tip of his tongue.

  A woman your age.

  Right that instant the attraction that I had felt for Hunter from the first moment that I saw him faded a bit. There was nothing like feeling like a man thought your hoo-ha was as dried up as the floral sachet tucked in your lingerie drawer to take the edge off of your sex drive.

  I shot him a glare and continued along the sand. I wasn't aware that I was approaching the edge until it gave out from under my feet and I slipped all the way into the water. Panic rushed through me again and I shot upwards, screaming as I broke through the surface, positive that this was going to be the moment that my life ended. After everything that I had gone through, death was going to come at the cold hands of the bitter bitch of the ocean.

  "Swim!" Hunter shouted. “Stop flailing and swim!”

  I could hear his voice and knew that I should be following his instructions, but I was paralyzed. My old fear of water, the very one that I had ironically overcome with repeated cruises, had rushed back in all its glory and I felt like I couldn’t get myself under control. The water pressed around me and I felt like I couldn't stay above the surface. Something was dragging my down, pulling me away from the air and threatening to pull me into the depths.

  I knew it. I fucking knew it. Myth, my ass. My obituary was going to read ‘Death by Sea Monster’

  I felt like I couldn't fight anymore. I had been fighting for so long, and for so long it seemed that the harder I fought to climb up out of the darkness, the harder the fall when I couldn't fight any longer. Before now, though, I was the only one that could be hurt. This time I had pulled two men who had absolutely nothing to do with this down with me. I had a flicker
of feeling as though I was trading them for myself and I didn’t like that thought.

  I felt the sand beneath my feet again and realized that I had gotten toward the surface. I collected all of the strength and energy within me and pushed against it to force myself up. As I got closer to the surface, I felt a strong arm grab my waist and pull me up. We broke the surface and I turned to see Hunter holding me, paddling us both toward the strip of pale beach ahead. I heard a splash and turned to see Gavin coming up out of the water, apparently having leapt off of the side of the boat.

  Well, good. Now we’re even.

  Hunter released me as we came to within a few feet of the shore and I crawled forward for a few feet. My mind went to the image of slim, beautiful women in movies strolling out of the ocean and compared myself in that moment to them. I felt like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I stood and walked until the sand was dry against my skin before dropping down to sit. I turned and watched Hunter coming out of the water, my breath catching in my throat as my eyes fell on the section of chiseled chest and stomach I could see through the tear in his shirt.

  Oh, he was definitely being wasted on the advertising industry.

  Chapter Six

  Gavin

  I climbed to the top of the rocky ridge, muttering as I went as if that would somehow convince the jagged edges to smooth out, or at least for the steep incline to have the decency to lessen for me. When I finally reached the top, I pushed aside the palm fronds that crossed my path, and discovered that I most certainly had not reached the top and that the trees had been concealing an even more treacherous path ahead of me. At the back of my mind I had been expecting to see a hotel in the distance, or at least the rope fences and small wooden signs that companies used to gently guide tourist exploration of the islands so that they could feel as though they were being wild and adventurous but didn’t become insurance liabilities. Instead I saw only more thick, untouched jungle.