Sea (A Stranded Novel) by Theresa Shaver Read Free Book Online

at David.
    David turned to the boat and called out, “Hello , on the boat! Anyone aboard?” There were a few moments of silence before they heard the sound of a door shutting and steps on the stairs. A man’s head came into view as he came on deck and stared down at them. He was tall with a dark tan. He was wearing tan cargo shorts and a tee-shirt that showed strong arms and hands that were covered in grease. He took in the group of kids with a neutral expression on his face. When he didn’t say anything, David stepped forward.
    “Hi, we heard you banging around and we just wondered if you had heard any news about what’s going on?” David didn’t want to just hit the guy with , “Can you take us home?” He wanted to get him talking and build a rapport with him.
    The man pulled a rag out of his back pocket and started to clean the grease off his hands before answering , “Not really, but it’s bad, really bad. Nothing electronic is working and the city is breaking down fast. Fires and gunshots everywhere. It took me all day to get here on foot,” he replied with a grimace.
    David nodded. “Yeah , we saw some bad stuff too. We were at Disneyland on a class trip when everything stopped. Saw a plane drop out of the sky and on the way here, there were bodies all over the place. Our teacher thinks it was an EMP.”
    “An EMP…that would explain a lot.” The man looked around and back down the dock before focusing back on David. “Where’s your teacher?”
    “Not with us. She told us to try and get out of the city. Some of the other kids headed inland but we wanted to try taking a boat out. Mrs. Moore stayed back with the kids that wouldn’t leave. They think the government will come and rescue them so they’re headed to the consulate.”
    The man scoffed, “They won’t make it. No one’s coming and if they did , there are millions of people here to help. What consulate, where are you guys from?”
    “Canada, Alberta. We’re going to try and get a boat working and head up the coast to B.C . and head overland from there.”
    “Man, I love Alberta. I’ve done a lot of skiing around Banff. I’m originally from the Seattle area so it’s a quick hop up there. At least it was.” He paused thoughtfully with a frown. “Do you guys even know how to sail? Nothing that’s engine -powered will work, at least nothing newer. You might be able to find an old tub that you could get working but you’d never get enough fuel to get that far.”
    Mason, who had been standing back stepped forward and tried to sound confident. “I’ve done some sailing on small boats but only on lakes, never in the ocean.  I thought we would stay close to shore and get as far north as we could.”
    The man was shaking his head halfway through Mason’s plan. “That won’t work. If you don’t have experience with the tides and currents you would be wrecked in no time. That stretch is the last place you want to learn. It’s better to head out towards Hawaii and then turn northeast. Trust me, I’ve made the trip twice a year for the past 6 years. You guys would be better off finding something powered.”
    Everyone visibly slumped in defeat. Everything in this marina looked newer which meant fried electronics. The man frowned again. “Do any of you guys know anything about engines?”
    David’s head came up, “Yes, sir, I’ve been working on them for as long as I can remember.”
    The man looked the kids over again . “So you know about engines and you know a little about sailing.” He shook his head. “Just enough to get into trouble or get very lucky. What about supplies? You can’t just go to the store while you’re out on the water and it would be weeks to go that far.”
    Emily decided to make their case. The sun was getting even lower and she wanted to move on if this guy wasn’t going to help them so she spoke up. “We have three golf carts over there filled with food and water. We have enough with rationing to