Page 34 of Totally Wrecked
The reason for the noise becomes clear as the sun rises. There is a landmass several hundred yards away.
Brooke and Keyara both have their eyes closed, perhaps sleeping, perhaps unconscious. Shit, we can’t miss this island.
I shake the girls, splash water at them. “Wake up!”
Keyara blinks.
Brooke startles. “What?” she croaks.
“Land, we have to swim!”
Keyara nods, and Brooke groans.
“Ladies, we gotta swim hard! Come on, don’t give up! We can do this.”
We all lay on our bellies, and kick. “You’re doing it! Come on, great work.”
I shout encouragement to the girls, even though my throat feels swollen and on fire. They are doing so well, but it still feels like the island is 100 miles away and that we’re not making any progress at all. We swim with every last ounce of energy.
After what feels like years, the shore of the island is close enough to make out the trees, the sand and the rocks. Lots of rock.
“This way,” I shout.
We mustn't swim into the reef.
We mustn't stop.
Finally my feet touch the sandy bottom. From there we wade, then crawl up the shallows. Every bit of my energy is spent. I collapse on the wet sand, and it’s lights out.
???
I’m awake.
And I hurt all over.
It feels as though I’m still moving up and down in the ocean, but then I remember, we’re on land. We made it to land.
But fuck, my throat is so swollen it’s almost completely shut.
Need water—bad.
I roll over and see Keyara lying next to me. “We're on land. Come on, wake up, sweetheart,” I croak.
Twisting my head, I look around the shore. White sandy beach, fringed with swaying deep green grasses. Wilderness. A deserted island.
I crawl over to Brooke. “Wake up! We gotta move.”
She groans and heaves herself up onto an elbow. “I'm awake.” Her voice is husky and she blinks several times then points to the tree line. “Gotta get out of the sun—Keyara? Honey?”
The little girl whimpers but doesn’t move. I push myself onto my feet, and immediately sway and fall over.
Well, shit.
Brooke crawls over to me. “Together.”
We kneel next to Keyara, then bring ourselves to standing with Keyara between us. Draping her arms over our shoulders, we stagger up from the shoreline to the shade of the trees. That was all the energy we have.
???
