The Flood

There were four of them. Svenson, who had been the oldest, had gone overboard sometime during the night. Nobody hear him, but that morning he was nowhere to be seen on the Rock.

“He might have fallen off while he was asleep,” Susan said, with some hint of accusation. “Wasn’t anybody watching him? We were supposed to take turns.”

“I think we were all sleeping” Arthur, who was about the same age as Susan, replied. “Chris? Did you hear anything?”

“Nothing,” the youngest of them defensively replied. “Besides, wasn’t he sick? He might have wanted to go.”

“Somebody still should have stopped him.” Susan focused her attention on him. “Are any of his supplies missing?”

“I didn’t take anything,” Chris insisted.

“Calm down.” Arthur looked over the uneven stone formations. “His stuff is still here,” he said, pointing at a package. “Nothing seems to be missing. I think he just…wanted to go.”

Susan looked sadly at the package. “It shouldn’t have happened.” She looked away. “We’re supposed to be watching out for each other until we get rescued.”

“We don’t know when or if that will happen.” Chris’s tone was dismissive. “Nobody else made it off the ship. We don’t even know if there are still any other ships out there.”

“Then we wait,” Susan insisted. “We wait, until…”

“Chris has a point,” Arthur replied. “We might not get rescued. If we can’t, then we have to find some other way to get off the Rock.”

It had become the main point of contention between them. Chris was the cynic, Susan was, to Arthur’s own mind, overly optimistic. Svenson had seemed the most fatalistic but realistic of their group. Now that he was gone, that task had seemed to fall on him, as the next oldest, and therefore the one with the most authority.

And Chris did have a point. They had all been stranded here for more than two weeks now, and they were all running low on their own supplies, with only Svenson’s package providing any extra that would now have to be shared between them. When everything ran out, they were left with fish and any surviving birds that might land on the Rock, but so far they hadn’t seen any.

They had all been on the same Navy ship that had been trying to find land. When a surprise wave had struck, they were the ones washed overboard with a single life raft. They still had the raft, using it for an improvised shelter when it rained, but Arthur knew they might have to use it again. And that they might have to decide who should be left behind so that the others might live.

Susan and Chris knew it, too. With Svenson gone, Chris was left eyeing the two of them with increasing paranoia. Arthur knew that Susan could never bring herself to make Chris or him the ones to stay, but Arthur knew that Chris would never be persuaded of that. So, he watched Chris, while Chris watched him, and they both watched Susan, for different reasons.

On the first day of the third week, they made their choice to leave. Susan and Arthur were getting the raft ready when Chris decided to make their decision for them, going after Susan before Arthur was able to stop him. They left him behind, with a small package of remaining rations, trying not to look back as he glared at their departure. Eventually, both he and the Rock disappeared over the horizon.

“We didn’t have a choice,” Arthur said. “He was going to kill one or the both of us.”

“I know.” Susan looked sadly back in the direction of the Rock. “so now what do we do?”

Arthur looked in the other direction, at the open water. “We do what Svenson couldn’t-keep on living. Maybe, eventually…”

The sound of a seagull calling overhead got their attention. they both watched as the bird flew over them in a circle, as if deciding whether they might be food or not, and then West.

Susan watched it go. “Seagulls mean land,” she said. “It had to come from somewhere, right?”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah. And that’s where we’re going.” Looking at her, he added, “If we do find land, and if there are other survivors there, we’ll tell them where Chris is, even though he might not deserve it. Nobody should have to die alone out here.”

They both picked up oars and began rowing.

THE END