Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 00:18:42 EDT From: Roman Genesis <romangenesis@hotmail.com> Subject: Survivor - Chapter 4 -------------------------------------------------- About this story: Thank you to those who have written. And for those who have not written, please Email me your questions, opinions, and suggestions at RomanGenesis@hotmail.com. I should be able to respond to all serious Emails. And now, without further ado... ------------------------------------------------- Survivor - Day 4 (No More Lies) It was hot, but for some reason, I didn't mind. I was slightly aware of a tickling sensation on my nose as I began to regain consciousness. I opened my eyes slowly. Was it my imagination or was... My heart skipped a beat and I was awake instantly. I held my breath and looked at Jack, whose face was only inches from mine. He must have rolled over in the middle of the night, because his naked arm was draped over me and his head was right next to mine. He breathed out slowly and I realized it was his breath gently hitting my nose that was causing the tickling sensation. I sat there in a suspended state of shock. I should have pulled away instantly when I saw what position we were in, but something deep down inside me wouldn't let me move. Jack rubbed his head on his pillow and was motionless again. He looked so sweet and innocent sleeping there in front of me. His lips were right in front of me, and if I hadn't been so petrified, I would have leaned over and placed my lips on his. If he caught me awake, my whole world would be over. I closed my eyes again and pretended like I was asleep. I was anything but, though. My mind was racing. I could still feel his sweet breath gently passing me nose. I was slowly becoming aroused as I thought of the position we were in. It was to much to handle. Suddenly though, I remembered that the door to the room was open. I pulled myself out of his grip and rolled over against the wall. If anyone had seen that, we would have a lot of explaining to do. He must have felt me pull away because I could feel him sit up on the bed. "What time is it?" he asked. I looked down at my watch. "9:30," I answered as if I had just woken up. I sat up as well and looked into the main cabin to see if anyone had seen us, but there was no one there. They must have all been on the deck already. I looked over and saw that Jack was putting his shirt back on. I sighed and laid back down. "Aren't you getting up?" he asked, crawling across the bed to the doorway. "I don't think so. I'm tired," I said lying. He got off the bed and I heard him walking up the stairs to the deck. So much for my perfect opportunity to finally kiss a guy, I thought to myself. At about 10:00, Mr. Arnold poked his head in the doorway. "Are you going to sleep all day? We've already had breakfast." I sat up and told him I was coming. He went back upstairs and I put my shirt back on and followed him up to the deck. I squinted into the sunlight and plopped myself down on the cushioned bench in the pit. "Good morning," Captain Bill said. "Did you sleep well?" "Like a rock." I noticed that Henry and Dennis were right behind the captain with their fishing poles in hand. I looked up at the front of the sailboat and saw Jack and Austin just sitting up at the bow moving up and down with the swells. "What time will we get to the reef?" I asked the captain. "Around lunchtime hopefully. We might even be able to put the sail up today." The rocking of the boat was making me tired again so I closed my eyes and leaned back. The sailing really was nice. It was so calm and peaceful out here. We were running a little behind schedule and after lunch we still weren't to the reef. We had another surprise coming though. The captain told us the wind was just right to finally put up the sail. He cut the engine and we all pitched in to help raise the giant sails. I looked over at the other two boats and noticed that their sails were also going up. As the main sail went up, the boat began to tip and after it was set up, the captain spun the boat parallel to the wind and the sail's filled with the mighty winds of the ocean and sent us speeding through the water. I hadn't understood what all the fuss about the sails was, but now I knew. We hadn't been sailing yet. The whole time we had been simply boating. Now this was the life. We all took turns steering the Bermuda Battleship and if you think steering a ship like that is easy, let me tell you... The only thing you have to guide you is the tiny compass in front of you and the thing was either turning one way or the other. You just couldn't keep it lined up. Finally we left it to Captain Bill to get us the rest of the way to the reef. It was about 3:30 when we finally got to the reef and after anchoring at the required spot, we all pulled our snorkeling stuff and put it on. I hoped that the snorkeling here would be better than the practice we had done back in the bay. At the back of the sailboat I slipped my mask over my face and took the plunge. Just as I did, a whole new world opened up to me. There were fish everywhere and the reefs were only about forty feet below. I kicked my fins and swam down as far as I could go. It was amazing. The water was clear as glass and the light from the sun was making it straight down to the reefs. There was a giant metal tower rising out of the reef to let people know where the reef was located and I decided I wanted to swim over and see if their was built up reef at the bottom of the metal structure. I bet there was a whole shit load of living things over there. I began to paddle over there, keeping my eyes glued to the coral reef below me that I seemed to be flying over. Just as I entered the shadow of the metal tower, I finally looked up to see what the base looked like. I gasped through my snorkel as I saw the most frightening thing in the world swimming toward me. There must have been fifteen of them, all of them as long as a grown adult, and they were swimming right toward me. The captain had told us about the barracudas that lived around the reefs, but I had no idea I would be swimming straight into their territory. I turned around and began swimming as fast as I could away from the metal structure and back to the boat. Suddenly, the beauty of the reefs didn't seem so special. When I was halfway to the boat I looked back and saw that I was completely alone in the water. Had I imagined the school of barracuda? I decided I didn't care. I swam back to the boat and lifted myself up. I had been out for about twenty minutes and I was exhausted. "How was it?" Mr. Arnold asked as he helped me up. I quickly explained what had happened to me and Captain Bill just sat there laughing at me. "They wouldn't hurt you," he said. They younger kids began to laugh with him, but I could see them eyeing the water around the boat carefully. Their laughter was cut short when we heard a giant boom echo across the water. I looked far off into the distance and could see dark clouds gathering. "Yep, I guess it's time to get moving anyway," the captain said. "Boys, could you go up and pull the anchor?" Austin and Henry ran up to the front and got to work. Jack came up to me and helped me pull my fins off. "So, almost got mauled by a pack of barracudas, huh?" He grinned and I realized he was just messing with me. Ten minutes later, the anchor was up and the three boats were speeding through the water and away from the dark clouds. For some reason though, the clouds seemed to be getting closer. "Damn," Captain Bill muttered. "That storm is moving faster than we thought," I overheard him tell Mr. Arnold quietly so none of us would hear. I looked back and sure enough, the whole sky was turning dark as night behind us. It seemed odd to me because if you looked to the front of the boat, it seemed like a beautiful day, but if you looked back, it seemed that hell itself was chasing us. A few minutes later the darkness was upon us and the sky opened up, pouring down rain on us. "Help me get the sail down," Captain Bill yelled. I hadn't heard him use such a grave voice before. Something was definitely the matter. We all ran and got our ponchos as I was coming back onto the deck, a giant gust of wind filled the sail and tipped the entire boat on some unnatural angel, knocking me to the floor. "Everyone get a lifejacket," Captain Bill screamed over the roar of the falling rain. I couldn't believe how quickly it had happened. We had been sailing along perfectly and then we were all over the place. I became disorientated as the boat rocked back and forth violently. The rain falling was so thick I couldn't even see the other boats. I stood in the pit and put a hand up to my face to block the wind and water as I looked for Captain Bill. Then I saw him. He was up near the front of the boat with Mr. Arnold trying frantically to get the sail down. A loud crack of lightening lit up the whole sky for one moment and in that moment I could see one of the other boats off to our right, dipping in and out of huge swells that seemed to gobble up the very ship. I had no idea where the other boat had gone. The tarp above the pit suddenly got ripped back by the force of the wind and knocked me to my feet. I looked back and saw the four other boys hunched down watching helplessly as we were sucked further and further into hell. "Get into the cabin," I yelled to them over the rain. I wasn't sure that was the best place for them, but figured it was better than getting blown into the water. Luckily they all had their lifejackets on. I looked back up to the bow and saw the adults still struggling with the sail. It must have become stuck. I knew one thing for sure though. If that sail didn't come down, we were all doomed. I got up and began to move out to the front of the boat, which was rocking and kicking worse than the back. Huge waves were washing over it as well and I thought that any second the adults would be swept away. Mr. Arnold saw me coming out and rushed over to me. He was screaming something, but I just couldn't make out what he was saying. Suddenly, a repetitive cracking noise could be heard all over the boat and I didn't realize what it was until something smacked me in my shoulder. I fell to the deck and realized that hail was falling down all around me. The shaking of the boat was to much to handle and I suddenly puked. Water was whipping me in the eyes and the hail began falling harder. I thought it was over. We would all certainly die. Over the roaring wind I heard a loud cracking noise and looked up in time to see the bottom of the sail swing toward Mr. Arnold and I. The thing swung over my head, but smacked Mr. Arnold directly in the chest and sent him flying over the edge. I began screaming for the captains attention, but I couldn't even hear my own screams through the thick thunder that was booming every few seconds. I looked up and realized I had no idea where the captain was. The boat tipped on it's side violently as the wind pushed the broken sail further off it's hinge. A huge wave of water hit me in the face and I suddenly realized that I was in the ocean, still holding on to the top of the cabin. The swells continued to heave the boat up and down and wave after wave washed over me. I must have swallowed a gallon of saltwater. My grip on the side of the boat was slowly giving and I knew it was over. My tiny little life that had never amounted to anything was about to be thrown into the sea where it should have been the whole time. I took one last deep breath as my hand slid off the railing and I went plunging into the warm, violent water. I began coughing up the saltwater that had been in my lungs and leaned over and puked. My head throbbed like a million headaches at once and my mind spun with confusion. Was I dead? It was still raining, but not as hard. I turned over and saw Jack leaning over me, he was soaking wet and he wore the most awful look of dread I have ever seen on a human being. "What happened?" I started to ask, but nothing came out. I looked around and realized we were on a beach. Jack must have saved me. I sat up, and suddenly another wave of nausea hit me. I leaned over and puked again. "Just stay down," Jack told me. He was still wearing his lifejacket and it didn't look like anyone else was around. I put my head back down in the sand and just let the rain fall on me. If I didn't move to much, the pain in my head wasn't so bad. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I was feeling a little better now. After a while I had calmed down and I opened my eyes to see Jack still leaning over me, watching with a desperation in his eyes. It looked like he had been crying as well. I didn't have much room to talk though. I probably looked like shit. The rain was slowly dying down to a drizzle and I could almost make out the sound of far away thunder over the ringing in my ears. "Can you stand now?" Jack asked me. I opened my eyes again and looked deep into his frightened eyes. He needed me to be strong, for both of us. "Yeah, I think I can." I sat up and Jack helped me to my feet. My head began to spin again as I got my footing, but then I lost it and collapsed into Jack's arms and promptly passed out. I wish I could say more about the storm and the wreck, but everything was just so confusing. Like I said, one minute we had been sailing along and the next we were in the middle of god's wrath. I know you want me to tell you exactly what on the boat broke and exactly what kind of procedure the captain had planned out for such an incident, but to be completely honest, I don't know much about that stuff. I just remember the noise and water and the confusion. Incidents like that can scar a child for life, you know? And I suppose I can use that as an excuse for my behavior, but I don't want to lie to you or to myself. No, it wasn't the storm that made us act the way we did. It was something internal like an animal instinct or a fundamental will to survive. Look, I'm not a psychologist and I don't claim to be. I'll just tell you exactly what happened and I'll leave it up to you to fill in the rest. I'm not in the mood for mind games, so if you're honest with me, I'll be honest with you. I think I've done a pretty good job of it so far, you know? I'm sorry. I'm just sick of rationalizing. It seems that's all I do these days. No more lies. No more lies... continued... --------------------------------------------- Curious to see what we have in store for our survivors next? Come back in a few for Survivor, Day 5.