//------------------------------// // 3. Tempest // Story: Radiance // by flamevulture17 //------------------------------// [Tempest] 5:50pm Somewhere offshore The storm raged on everywhere with seemingly no end in sight. A dull gray sky lingered over the navy blue ocean as the temperature dropped below freezing. The storm could be easily be mistaken for a hurricane. The winds were no stronger than normal wind currents at the top of the highest mountains on Earth, but unpleasant nonetheless. Tropical storms were uncommon in the South Pacific during that time of year, especially cyclones. A lone fishing boat rocked back and forth on the violent waves that slammed into its hull, kicking the vessel around in the water like a plastic toy in a bathtub. With the engines shut off to avoid damage to the propellers, internal vibrations were brought to a minimum, allowing the natural swaying motion dominate. Unlike the devastating power of a true hurricane, the waves never rose higher than a few meters above sea level, but like a hurricane, the crazed winds blew frigid raindrops in every direction and howled with every breath. The small boat appeared to have no chance of surviving mother nature's ongoing onslaught, despite the strength of the carbon fiber exterior protecting the occupants inside. Behind the skin of the ship, a disoriented crew of three struggled to keep it together. Not only were the compact living quarters below deck chiming with loose objects shifting back and forth, but the constant motion made it difficult for the sailors to sleep. Within the largest of the two small rooms, two men sat on opposite sides of the compartment. “So this is it huh?” calmly said the captain, resting his elbows on his knees and rubbing a hand over his mouth before laying his back on the bed. “Shut up man!” retorted the young navigator, giving him a nervous frown. “We're gonna make it.” The two were situated across from each other on cushioned beds built into the walls of the floating cabin. The captain suppressed a laugh, but managed to crack a smile from the foolish thought of dying at sea. Neither men looked at each other and avoided eye contact as much as possible. They shuffled around in their beds to get comfortable on the old, worn-down bunks that have flattened overtime. “Just sayin', man.” The captain made a series of waving hand gestures. He took amusement from scaring his fellow crewman and sat up again. “It's hell out there.” “How do you know what hell looks like?” “The same way I can tell a man like you can't score with the ladies.” The captain teased, chuckling to himself. “Now that's just uncalled for.” “Hey! Keep it down in here!” interrupted a female voice as the door to the tiny compartment swung open. The black-haired woman banged her fist on the door to emphasize her irritation. Both men flinched from the sudden intrusion in the middle of their bickering session. “I'm trying to sleep. You sound like idiots when you argue.” “Come on, Kate, at least be on my side,” said the navigator, hoping to gain the majority. “I'm on nobody's side,” she huffed, holding onto the metal railing attached to the ceiling to maintain her balance from the stirring motion of the boat. She changed her grumpy attitude into a more composed one to alleviate tension among them. “Now that you guys woke me up,” she looked at the young navigator. “Where are we now?” The navigator looked at his cheap portable GPS device while squinting eyes, and started to groan in a low pitch voice. “Uhhhh...” Kate rolled her eyes and turned to face the captain laying on his bed across from the inexperienced navigator. Upon entering the extremely narrow hallway of the cabin, the insufficient lighting and low ceiling served to increase her claustrophobia. She had learned to suppress her fears in the event her emotions ran wild, but was struggling to do so at that moment. In such a confined space, it's amazing how three people with numerous disagreements could live together, let alone tolerated one another. “And why aren't you driving the boat, Lucas?” she asked. “In this?” He pointed a finger at the ceiling. “I don't think so.” “Fine, if you're going to sleep all night–” she paused to take a breath. She was prepared to close the door the moment she spoke. “I'll do it.” “NO!” Lucas immediately shouted. He quickly sat up from his comfortable position on the bed and glared at her before she could leave. Kate saw his reaction coming. “Don't. Touch. Anything!” “But it's my boat,” she argued in her defense. “And I'm the captain.” They had a staring contest for several seconds before Kate gave in. She sighed and dropped her defensive posture. Even though she was standing over Lucas to look more intimidating, it didn't alleviate the fact that he was right. She had no idea how to steer the small ship and any attempt on her part wouldn't end well. “Go back to bed and we'll make sure not to wake you up again,” Lucas continued. “Deal?” Without giving a verbal response, Kate slammed the narrow door behind her, knocking over Lucas' backpack that hung on the door frame. Following Kate's departure, a roaring silence lingered between the two men for once. Stanley – the ship's navigator – exchanged looks between the captain and the closed door, darting his eyes back and forth. “What's her problem?” he asked. The captain looked down, having felt like he made a big mistake for yelling at her like that. Stanley was unaware of the history Kate and Lucas shared. He was only hired to be their navigator two months prior, but had since gained enough of their trust to earn their mediocre friendship. Before his job as a crude navigator, he endured family afflictions with his family in Wellington, primarily his father. So he decided to move north to seek a new start and support himself in any way possible. His first priority was to find employment before settling down. He ran into Lucas on his journey up the eastern shores at a small town after taking another pit-stop to look for work. When the Lucas offered him the job, it was during the interview when they discovered they were cousins. Since then, they've gotten along well... “Don't ask,” Lucas said in a flat tone. ...but not well enough. “Too late,” Stanley joked. Stanley knew Lucas wasn't going to give him a speech on their past and a lesson on women, but it was worth a try. He noticed that his boss moved his eyes away from the door and continued to stare at the wall in front of him as if pondering the meaning of life. When Lucas finally shifted his gaze at the young navigator with no other detectable emotion in his expression than that of irritation. Those dark eyes just stared in his direction as if the grim reaper was preparing to rip his soul apart. Stanley cleared his throat. “Sorry.” “Don't be.” Lucas shook his head and put a hand to his forehead to wipe his brow. “What time is it?” Lucas slowly asked in a quiet voice. “Um,” Stanley cleared his throat and pressed a few buttons on his GPS. “Almost six o'clock.” Lucas showed his displeasure with the drop of the head while rubbing the back of his neck. He pinched the base of his nose – between the eyes – and sighed. “Where are we now?” “Uhhh,” Stanley stammered again, wildly tapping the buttons on his GPS. “That's the same answer you gave Kate. How can you not know?” Stanley could easy detect the stress in Lucas' voice. He didn't like how the man was handling his temper after the interruption, but was not compelled to argue any further for Kate's sake, which would only lead to another undesirable debate. He just wanted to leave the awkward situation behind. “There's something wrong with the signal,” Stanley explained. “The GPS is fine. It's the connection that's all screwed up.” “Then fix it.” “I'm trying, nothing's working.” “Could you get anymore useless?” Stanley glared at his boss. He was hoping that it was just a joke, but his tone was frighteningly convincing. He wished he had bought a better GPS, but he didn't have the time nor the money to do so. It was then that Lucas was no longer interested in playfully insulting his employee, regardless of genetic relations. He turned to face the wall again and shuffled in his bed sheets as he tried to think of ways to control his emotions. Maybe treating others like crap is the reason why people return the favor. People can be so confusing. Stanley watched him in complete silence for a few seconds, thinking of how that could have gone better. He wanted to blame himself. How could he be so senseless to his boss? That's just asking for trouble. The worst thing that could happen was for Lucas to fire him. Strangely enough, it was a fate worse than death at that point. Stanley was not prepared to lose him his job over some stupid argument. The three of them were only out at sea for one simple reason, to map potential fishing hot spots for later in the season. Kate's old business survived the last couple of recessions because of how well she handled her finances and profits, as if she knew the economy like the back of her hand. Maybe it ran in the family. Even though her parents aren't around anymore and a brother living in Europe, she never lost sight of how to get the job done, alongside her small team of employees. Those employees, however, were seasonal workers, and would not return for months. But for Stanley and Lucas, on the other hand, were needed year-round. For such a small business, it was doing pretty decent considering the rise competition in the last decade. Stanley took one long breath and looked over his GPS again. No surprise to find it showing random pixels in obscure positions across the screen. Curse 90's technology. For a brief moment, the crude map would return to normal displaying the same location over and over again, but then have its signal scrabbled once more. He managed to get a good look at the map with his photographic memory before it went away again. He then realized that their location was off. The dot in the center – the their exact coordinates – was reading an extremely close proximity to land, about twenty meters from the coast. But the boat is fifteen meters long. That's impossible. That means... *BANG* Everything in the room was immediately lifted into the air, including Lucas. He and Stanley were violently thrown out of their beds and onto the floor, landing next to each other. “What the hell!?” Lucas shouted. *CRASH* Now the entire cabin vibrated like an earthquake. Earthquake? At sea? Tsunami maybe? *BANG* One last eruption of sound sent everything flying around the room and landing in nearly every corner of the room. The lights flickered and the cabin eventually faded into darkness. The boat shifted back and forth a couple more times before coming to complete stop. Absolute silence never came. The wind that continued to howl outside became more noticeable and the rain never ceased to beat down above them. *creak* The body of the boat moaned like any damaged vessel would, but it was the first time either men on the floor had heard it for themselves. It sounded nothing like in the movies. “Stanley!?” Lucas yelled again. The navigator rubbed his forehead from the blunt impact of the ceiling when his body flew in the air. “What?” “Did you do that?” “You blaming me for this!?” Stanley was not happy with being accused of wrecking the boat. It's been only half a minute and Lucas quickly labels him responsible. Unfrigginbelievable. “You lied to me.” “What!?” “You knew we were gonna crash and you didn't tell me.” Stanley had enough. He stumbled around in the dark and quickly got to his feet to get away from Lucas. He blindly searched for the door, feeling for the knob. Once he found his target, the door refused to budge. With a little more effort, he finally managed to pull the door free from the latch. The next room fared no better than the last. Objects were thrown all over the place and cabinet doors sung outward. Damage to the walls and ceiling was minimal at first glance, but there was reason to suspect some structural damage was prevalent. He sniffed the air to check for any leaks that might have spilled from the gas tank if it was ruptured, only to get the normal dusty stench that was never faded ever since setting foot in the cabin at the beginning of the day. After making the connection in his head of the two things that were needed for the boat to explode, he sighed in relief when neither components were present. The mess in front of him appeared as if the room was ransacked by burglars. Stanley found Kate lying on the ground, confirming that she was also thrown out of her bed. Only, she wasn't moving. He motioned over to her, stepping over several objects and papers without any shoes on. He placed a hand on her head and lightly tapped her shoulder. He received no response. This day just got worse. “Katherine?” Stanley whispered, silently panicking in his mind. When Kate's body remained lifeless, Stanley put two fingers to her neck. It was very subtle, but he could feel weak throbs over the major arteries. He stared off to the side and sighed with relief for the second time that day. “She alive?” Lucas asked from behind, apparently watching Stanley check her vitals. What annoyed Stanley the most was how he asked that question. His voice was noticeably flat and apathetic, though it may have just been an false assumption. “She need's help,” Stanley replied without turning to face the captain. Lucas started to weave his way through the mass of fishing accessories and papers in the room, walking past Stanley, who was kneeling next to Kate. He opened the door at the far end, allowing cold, wet air to collide with the warm comfortable air of the cabin. Rain droplets soaked the narrow wooden staircase on the other side of the door that led to the upper main deck of the boat. “Let's see where we are, call for people to help us, then I can go back to bed.” Stanley shook his head at such a remark. He didn't want to give him a disapproving look, but he couldn't ignore the first thing Lucas said. Something happened to the boat and they have no idea where they are. He was curious to figure out exactly where. They could be in Gisborne for all they know. The silhouette of the captain stood in the open doorway for a few more seconds, apparently in thought. It took a flash of lighting from the storm to light up the room for a split second, but it was enough time for Stanley to notice that Lucas was dressed in his full rain gear and coat while wearing his backpack. Before he could protest, Lucas had slipped out into the storm, leaving him and Kate alone. “God dammit, Lucas,” he said out loud. Alongside his naïve and defensive qualities, Stanley was modest and tactful to the core. Running after Lucas and punching him in the face would not only break every bone in his hand, but would go against everything Stanley believed in, and fighting was not one of those beliefs. After musing over his own enigmatic personality, he began to think of what to do first. A situation like this required paramedical knowledge in the event of an accident, but he had little experience with handling an emergency on his own. Kate's life was on the line. He didn't know where she kept the emergency medical kit that is required on all private boats and was unqualified to evaluate her condition. If Lucas was here, he'd know what to do. He could tell him where the kit is and properly assess Kate's injuries. But he just walked out. How could he do such a thing? He pushed all thoughts of Lucas out of his mind for the moment to focus on the woman laying in front of him. It seemed that all she did was hit her head, but the severity was unknown. Her purple turtleneck sweatshirt and navy blue jeans were hardly scathed. Reaching over towards Kate's bunk, he grabbed one of the bedsheets and draped it over Kate's body, leaving her head and feet exposed. Hopefully it would keep her warm in the storm. He then grabbed her velvet jacket off the floor and put it on himself for protection against the weather. “You have to be strong, Kate.” he whispered in her ear. “For me.” Her head rested on his knees, showing no signs of acknowledgment other than quiet breathing. He sighed and carefully slipped one arm under her back and one arm under her legs. Taking a deep breath, he used his strength to lift her up and keeping her balanced in his arms. He wobbled in place before finally finding his footing. Since he left his shoes in the room behind him, he managed to wiggle his bare feet into Kate's rubber slippers that were left at the foot of her bed. With Kate unconscious in his arms and enough clothing on to survive an hour or two in the rain, he took cautious steps towards the cabin entrance. Fortunately, Lucas was kind enough to leave the door open for them. Stanley wondered if Lucas left it open on purpose. Only downside was that the inside of the cabin started to fall victim to minor flooding. As Stanley made it to the door, he gave one last look at the room as nature began taking over. He was unsure whether Kate kept something important that he could carry with him, like keys or paperwork, but the cold and wet sensation creeping down his spine broke his train of thought. He exited the cabin, kicking the door closed on his way out. Stanley had trouble clearing the stairs, for he almost slipped on the wet surface twice. From the time it took for him to reach the top, enough rain had poured onto his body to fill roughly ten gallons of water. Even though those measurements were a complete guess, it still didn't help the fact that it increased the weight he had to carry, in addition to Kate herself. Finally, on the main deck of the ship, Stanley slowly swiveled his head side to side to observe his surroundings. The fishing boat itself, although old and rusty, appeared to be in complete working order. It suffered almost no visible damage from his vantage point, but mechanical damage was a high possibility. Stanley was aware that the boat crashed somewhere on the coast even before exiting the cabin due to their lack of swaying motion and slanted orientation within the boat. It took no more than a minute to figure out where they were marooned. As soon as Stanley fixed his eyes on one particular hill in the distance along the northern end of the shore, his eyes widened. He recognized his location immediately. The very sight of the hill gave him the strength and energy he needed to carry Kate down off the boat and across the stretch of beach that separated him from hill. Of all the places they could land, they crash less than a kilometer from where they originally sailed from. Luck at its finest. As the wind and rain continued to blow in his face, Stanley carefully stepped towards the starboard side of the boat, which angled itself almost perfectly so that he could jump from the boat onto the sand with ease. It was no more than a one and a half meter drop. Before planning to jump, he scanned the beach between the boat and the hill. He saw a tiny figure slowly moving towards the hill. It was none other than Lucas. Why the hell did he just leave us like that? Taking a mental note to give that man a piece of his mind later, he readied himself on the corner of the wooden deck where the starboard and stern guard rails met. In order to time his landing just right, he waited for the waves to recede before he made an attempt to jump. Counting to three in his head, he pushed both legs off the edge of the metal frame he was standing on and hit the sand a second later, twisting his right foot in the process. “AHHHG!” he screamed from the sudden jolt of pain as he fell to his knees. Similar to hitting the funny bone, he started to laugh away his pain. He managed to hold onto Kate the whole during his landing, refusing to let go of her. Despite his new injury, he stood up and twirled both his feet to rid himself of any stiffness and readjusted his posture. As a wave of water came rushing up the beach, he let the freezing temperature serve as a natural healer for his sprained foot. When it receded again, he sighed heavily. “Let's go, Kate,” he said. Knowing she wouldn't respond, he began to trek across the bed of wet sand. He noticed the rain dying down just a bit, but the storm wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The sky was covered in the same dull gray mist that hovered above the earth as it was hours earlier. Every now and again, a bolt lightning struck the ocean in his peripherals and the thunder followed shortly afterwards. Halfway to the hill, Stanley noticed three tracks of footprints in the sand, one of which belonged to Lucas. He assumed Lucas knew the station was just over the hill and is on his way there now. But what's with the other two tracks? They appeared to be older footprints, having been eroded by the rain. Their shapes were different as well, unlike that of a normal person's foot. They couldn't be older than an hour at most or else they would have disappeared completely. Stanley was no expert tracker, but they seemed to lead up the hill as well. Stanley couldn't let himself get distracted. He was already burning time just staring at the tracks that may just be regular animal pawprints. Kate's condition was his highest priority. She was still out cold as a stone. He picked up the pace and tried running up the slope of the hill, only to succumb to a slow hike. As he reached the top, Stanley could finally see the safe haven he was looking for. The boat house and station were quite small from the top of the hill, but were the only things visible for several acres, save for the dirt road that that cut through the grassland surrounding the estate. It was an everyday sight, for he enjoyed standing alone on the hill during his free time off work and watching the sun set every Sunday. Pausing to catch his breath, he closed his eyes and let his mind wander one last time. He never thought he'd have to carry Kate in his arms while walking nearly a thousand meters on a beach after crashing her old boat on the shore due to a stupid storm. All he cared for at that moment was Kate's life, and wouldn't stop to rest until she was safe. He inhaled the damp air around him and quickly puffed it out in a cloud of hot steam. Stanley started walking towards the main building of the small fishing business. The one with the lights shining through the windows.