บท 17: In The Middle Of Nowhere
Leoric gazed at the endless sand that surrounded the yacht. No wonder the water looked too gray and tranquil. It wasn't water at all but a dessert.
"Go get the map! We must find where we are, as we wouldn't want to be stuck on a small island with nothing but sand."
The captain and the chief engineer did not move. They just looked at each other silently.
"What are you waiting for?" Leoric asked impatiently.
"Mr. Graystone, the truth is, we don't know where we are now. There is no island like this in the South Pacific. Also, none of our instruments work. There is no cellular signal; even our satellite phones are not working," Captain Erwin Niel said resignedly.
Soon, people from the lower decks started coming up. Some had bruises on their bodies, while others had small bumps on their heads. They were all shocked when they realized were stuck in the middle of a desert instead of being surrounded by seawater.
"Did all the water evaporate, or the whirlpool sucked all the water?" Alec went over the railings and looked down to confirm if his eyes did not play tricks on him.
He looked at Leoric like a fool. "How did we get here? Why is there only sand but no water?"
Soon, the other people started talking to each other, discussing the strange phenomenon.
Captain Niel gestured to one of the stewards. "Are all the crew and the passengers accounted for?"
"Captain, four people are missing—one of the male guests and an escort. From the crew, we have not accounted for one steward and his girlfriend. They were probably on the sun deck when that strong whirlpool appeared." The steward, who had a barber's cut and blonde hair, responded.
Captain Niel sighed. With how things were the previous night, they were probably thrown off from the deck.
"Where is the Doctor, and where is Emily?" It was only then that Leoric remembered Emily.
"She should be in her cabin. I saw Doctor Reeves with his first aid kit going around and checking on the injured earlier..."
Alec had not completed his sentence yet when hysterical shouts filled the air below the deck.
"Leoric ... I think I am going crazy. Why are we in the middle of the desert? What happened? Why is my cabin so hot? Did you turn off the central air conditioning?"
Emily emerged from the third level wearing a sleeveless yellow sundress. Other than a large bruise on her right arm, she appeared okay.
Emily wailed as she threw herself into Leoric.
"Emilia Lucas, Behave!" Leoric barked at her. He felt irritated and pushed her away gently.
Emily pouted. She did not like him calling her 'Emilia.'
Emily was his stepdad's only daughter. She was a spoiled princess from a young age. She always followed Leoric and stuck to him like glue. When she came of age, she proclaimed herself as Leoric's fiancee. She did not want him to be her stepbrother; she wanted to be Mrs. Graystone.
When her father and two elder brothers objected, she threatened them with suicide. She cut her wrist and was hospitalized for a week. Ultimately, her father, Matteo Lucas, the Mafia Lord of Sicily, relented. Leoric did not adopt his last name, and he was thankful for that.
"Who could be calm in a situation like this?" Emily shouted and stomped her feet.
Leoric let her be. He was baffled by the situation, and he had no time to deal with Emily's tantrums.
Captain Niel accompanied Leoric and Alec to the bridge. Leoric wanted to check by himself if the navigation instruments were really dead. He turned a few knobs on the steering control and tapped on some of the gauges, but they were not working.
Leoric's brows furrowed. Was there a magnetic field in the whirlpool that destroyed the yacht's instruments?
"Is it that bad? I haven't seen you look so worried in a long time." Alec asked.
"Yes," Leoric replied.
"What do we do now?" Alec frowned.
"Let's wait for rescue. By now, the maritime should have discovered that we are missing," Leoric said calmly.
"Captain, starting now, ask the chef to prepare only one set of food per meal. Also, assign someone to take stock of our food inventory. We need to save just in case," Leoric says. He feels they are marooned in an unknown place, and rescue might not come.
Captain Niel nodded and left.
"Chief, how long will our fuel last? Is the engine room still intact?" Leoric continued to inquire.
"If we don't use air conditioning, the fuel could last for a week." The chief engineer replied after pondering for a while.
When mid-morning came, the sun's heat was so intense that Emily could not help but complain. The restaurant was located in the upper deck, but they were served breakfast at the lowest deck as it was the coolest place in the boat. Leoric instructed that they only have to eat twice a day so breakfast was served late.
Doctor Reeves approached Leoric, who was seated on a plastic chair and eating a tuna sandwich.
"Mr. Graystone, I did not see your wife. I wanted to come to the stateroom to check, but there were no stewardesses around. It will be awkward if I see her alone."
Leoric was so preoccupied with many things that he forgot about Angel. "I'll go with you."
The two men went up to the third level, where the stateroom was. Emily, of course, tagged along. She did not want Leoric to be alone with that woman.
The woman, who was in her pajamas, was lying still on the bed. She looked so pale that one would think of the sleeping Show White in her coffin.
Doctor Reeves approached the bed and immediately checked Angel's vitals. Her blood pressure was normal, but her pulse was weak.
"What did you do to her? Didn't you consider she is still a patient? Why did you tire her so much that she is this exhausted?"
Doctor Reeves looked at Leoric accusingly.
"Leo, you..." Emily tugged at Loeric's sleeves and looked at him aggrieved. Her beautiful black eyes were brimming with tears.
"What? I did not do anything." Leoric, who was wronged, blurted out angrily.
Doctor Reeves took an IV bag from his medicine kit and attached it to the IV catheter still attached to Angel's hand. He then hooked the IV bag on the metal stand he had brought last night before that disaster struck.
"What is wrong with her? Why does she look so pale?" Leoric asked.
"She suffered from extreme exhaustion."
Leoric: "..."
_____
Shout out to Khadra_A_Ahmed for sending my first-ever Golden Ticket.
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