The End of the World Survivors Club by Adrian J. Walker

Author:Adrian J. Walker [Walker, Adrian J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473551169
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

Chapter 19

Some hours later we slowed and dropped anchor in open water. The coast was far behind and the sky had cleared to the dark blue of late afternoon, revealing the night’s first stars. Without a word Ed jumped across and pulled me to him. I shut my eyes and held him tight. I didn’t recognise his body – the feeling of his ribs and spine, the hardness of his bearded chin – but through his unwashed stink I caught his scent and breathed it in.

I felt like I was somehow watching it all, standing baffled and awkward like the others, or staring down from the mast like a crow.

I pulled back. My eyes were red raw.

Richard stepped forward.

‘Ed,’ he said, pumping his hand. ‘It’s you. It’s really fucking you.’

There was a kind of horror in Ed’s face. He avoided Richard’s eyes as if he didn’t trust what he was seeing.

‘Good to see you too,’ he said, letting his hand fall. ‘Richard.’

‘Bryce told me about Harvey.’

‘Bryce?’ said Ed. His eye twitched.

Richard glanced at me. ‘Yeah. I’m sorry.’

Ed looked away.

‘How did you find us?’ I said.

‘I heard you on the radio. There was a girl’s voice. She was trying to contact … I don’t know, Malta, or somewhere.’

‘Gibraltar,’ said Dani. ‘That was me.’

‘That’s right,’ said Ed, hesitantly. ‘Gibraltar.’ He picked up a rope and began coiling it absent-mindedly, eyes roaming the deck and landing on anything but the faces around him. ‘I heard where you were going, who was on board, your rough location. I heard your name. I’d just made it past Portugal and I was about to cross the straits, so I was in the right place.’ He dropped the rope and raised his arms weakly. ‘And here I am.’

‘How long have you been travelling?’

He shrugged, mouthed something to himself. ‘Three weeks, give or take a day.’

I looked at the battered boat next to us.

‘In that thing?’

‘Yes. From Falmouth.’

‘But you don’t know how to sail.’

‘Neither do you. What happened? Why are you on this boat?’

‘The Unity was hit by a tsunami. It sank.’

Terror bloomed in his eye.

‘Where are the kids?’

I shook my head. The terror swelled. ‘They’re alive,’ I said quickly, to quell it. ‘But we were separated. They’re in Florida.’ I looked at the deck. ‘As far as I know.’

‘What do you mean, “as far as you know”?’

Richard backed away. ‘We should probably, um …’

‘Maybe that’s a good idea,’ agreed Maggie.

‘Somebody took them,’ I said.

Ed frowned, his eyebrow folding over its patch like a slug on a lettuce leaf. ‘Took them? How?’

I clenched my jaw. ‘She was looking after them for me. I couldn’t get to them in time. She took them.’

He shook his head, mouth agape.

‘How …’ he began. ‘How could you be so careless?’

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