Part 17 (2/2)

Jonathan looked up at the horizon and saw that she was not mistaken. ”Oh c.r.a.p, the current is moving us parallel to the sh.o.r.e. If this keeps up, we're going to miss the sh.o.r.e completely!”

He got up and shook off his backpack. ”Come on, we have to start rowing!” There was no mistaking the panic in his voice.

The girls scrambled to help him lock the oars in place and put them out over the water. ”I'll get this one; you two get the other and row together,” ordered Jonathan.

This was one of those live or die moments. They were going to have to row their a.s.ses off and not waste any time arguing.

They got the oars locked in quickly and sat in position, side by side, preparing to pull back on it.

”Go!” yelled Jonathan, heaving back on his oar.

The girls rowed in tandem with him, meeting him stroke for stroke. Jonathan was able to take quick looks back every minute or so to check their progress.

”I'm going to need ... some serious paraffin treatments ... after this,” grunted out Sarah.

”It's working! Keep it up! Don't stop!” Jonathan gasped out. They had cut the distance in half with twenty minutes of steady rowing. They could have been closer but they were forced to row diagonally to their goal to fight the push of the current. All of them were wis.h.i.+ng Kevin were in shape so he could help, since it would undoubtedly have been a much easier ch.o.r.e with his strong back and arms; but he was out of commission for sure.

Kevin tried to sit up, but his head b.u.mped up against the tarp that Candi had secured over him. ”Lemme help, guys, you can't do it all by yourselves.”

”Just save your strength, Kevin, you have a fever.”

”Don't be silly, I don' hava feeve ... ” The next thing they heard was Kevin slumping back down into the bottom of the boat.

”That's not good. We have to get him to land, guys, row harder!”

Sarah and Candi put their backs into it. Candi moved her hands to a different spot on the oar, and said, ”Try to switch your hand position so you don't pop any blisters!”

Jonathan followed her orders. All they needed was more infections. He wasn't convinced this land they were seeing was inhabited. All he had seen was green, green and more green when he glanced back over his shoulder at the sh.o.r.eline.

Finally, after thirty more minutes of rowing, they were within forty yards of the sh.o.r.e. Jonathan told them to stop and locked the oars in place. Sweat was pouring off his body and running into his eyes, stinging them and making them burn.

”Untie the rope, quick.”

The girls did as he asked without question.

He jumped into the water, yelling to the girls, ”Tie the rope to the front of the boat and hand me the other end with a loop in it!”

Candi rushed to do what he ordered. She threw the loop out to him so he could start pulling the boat in.

Sarah was staring out to sea with a look of heavy concentration on her face. Jonathan wrestled with the loop trying to get it around his body as Candi looked at her and asked what she was doing.

”Watching for sharks.”

”Oh, good.”

”Jonathan, if I see a shark, I'll yell 'Shark!' and then Candi will haul you back into the boat by the rope.”

”Fine!” he yelled, turning to swim for sh.o.r.e.

Candi smiled, a little bit relieved to have a plan. ”Good idea, Sarah. Okay. Cool.” She felt a tug as Jonathan began dragging the boat behind him.

Candi kept an anxious eye on him, while simultaneously watching the sh.o.r.e come closer and scanning the water's surface for the gray triangles of death. As her eyes pa.s.sed over her brother's swimming form, she wondered how he could possibly have the energy to do this. He'd had hardly any water or food, and was as exhausted as she was. She decided the first thing she was going to do when they reached sh.o.r.e was give him the biggest hug of her life.

”Shark!!” yelled Sarah from the back of the boat.

The fear raced up into Candi's throat and threatened to choke her. ”No!” she gasped, as she leaned over to take the rope that was connected to her brother.

”Yes, look!” yelled Sarah, pointing off to the side of the boat.

Candi's hand was on the rope, ready to use the adrenaline coursing through her veins to haul her brother back into the boat like Superwoman.

She hesitated a moment. She looked to where Sarah was pointing. ”Wait, that's not a shark ... ” She peered through squinted eyes at the movement of the gray body under the water.

”It's another dolphin!”

She had noticed it swimming in an up and down motion and not the side-to-side, zigzag motion of the sharks from the day before; plus the fin was rounder or more curved. She took a split second to silently thank Mother Nature for including this telltale difference so right now she didn't have to be overwhelmed with visions of her brother being eaten while she tried to rescue him using strength she didn't have any more.

The dolphin chose that moment to leap out of the water and flash them a trademark dolphin grin.

Sarah let out a whoop and shot her fist in the air. ”Yes! That is a friggin' DOLPHIN, ladies and gentlemen!” She turned and shot Candi a huge grin and put her hand up for a high-five.

Candi smiled and slapped her palm. Things were looking up. She checked on Jonathan and saw that he was no longer swimming, but was standing in the water on some sort of sand bar, walking the boat closer to sh.o.r.e. The shallow spot went pretty far out into the water that was now a beautiful bluish green and clear enough to see all the way to the bottom. Candi looked back to see the dolphin again, but it had disappeared.

Now that the sh.o.r.e was so close, the girls could see it in detail for the first time. There was a vast expanse of white sand that ringed what looked like an island about the size of two football fields. The beach was about fifteen yards wide, met at its far edge by a line of palms and other kinds of trees with medium sized, roundish leaves. They were growing together so closely and were so thick with foliage, it was impossible to see too far into them. The left side of the island, which was probably the south side, if Candi's navigation wasn't completely off, had some rocks she could see above the treetops. She saw no signs of houses or hotels or anything she was used to seeing on beaches.

Candi felt a little bit sick to her stomach. She looked down at Kevin, wondering how they were going to help him if there wasn't anyone there with medicine. He was sleeping; she could see his chest rising and falling as he breathed. His lips were crusty and cracked with dried blood on them. His face was coated in fine, white salt. She could see the skin underneath was burned pretty badly from the sun. There were little tiny pieces of sh.e.l.l and sand all through his hair, and she could see it in one of his ears too. It must have been churned up by the terrible storms and put on their bodies with all the sea spray. She felt her own face to see if she felt the same things there. Sure enough. She tried to brush it all away, but it hurt the sunburn that she just realized was also there.

A small piece of her was jealous of Kevin's unconsciousness. She wished she could be sleeping through this day like he was and then be able to wake up when it was all over.

But that was stupid she knew Kevin felt terrible and was in very real danger without medicine or enough water. Be careful what you wish for. Look where it's gotten you so far. You wanted to be better acquainted with Sarah and Kevin Peterson; you dreamed of someday having some alone time with Kevin. Well, here you go. That was a very sobering thought. Wis.h.i.+ng was dangerous business.

”Man, am I glad to get back to civilization. I'm going to go have the longest, most relaxing shower I've ever had in my entire life,” exclaimed Sarah.

”Uh, Sarah ... ”

”Shus.h.!.+” yelled Sarah, holding up a finger at Candi, not bothering to open her eyes. ”Don't mess with the fantasy, okay, Sugar Lump? I'm five seconds away from a cool cuc.u.mber facial and a hot oil ma.s.sage given to me by a man-boy named Juan.”

”Okaaaayyy ... ”

Sarah heard Candi jump in the water and sighed, opening her eyes. She watched as Candi walked in slow motion through the small waves until she reached Jonathan, grabbing the rope that was still around his chest.

”Let me take it now; you can rest. I think you're overdoing it, Jonathan.”

Sarah strained her eyes to see Jonathan's face, wondering at the concern she heard in Candi's voice.

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