“My sentiments exactly,” agreed Jesse, as he scrambled back to the helm.
“We’re ready,” announced Cleo, as she emerged from the lower cabin holding onto Beth’s hand. In her other hand she carried an assault rifle. Jillian followed close behind with the remainder of their supplies, her eyes full of fear and doubt.
Lex helped Jillian into the dinghy and handed her the supplies, before lowering Duke down. The dog licked his face and let out a small yep. “Quiet boy,” said Lex, patting the dog on the head. He then turned and wrapped his arms around his mother. “I need you to go with Cleo and do what she says.”
“But what about you?” Beth asked, holding tight to the blanket that Cleo had wrapped around her shivering body.
“Don’t worry about me,” assured Lex. “I’ll be following right behind you.”
“Nonsense,” said Beth, “come with us now.”
“I can’t mom,” argued Lex. “We’re being followed by a Russian Destroyer. Jesse and I are gonna stay behind and provide them with a decoy to chase after, otherwise we’ll all be captured. We don’t have much time. I need you to listen to me and do whatever Cleo tells you to, okay?”
“But…” Before Beth could finish the sentence, Lex scooped her into his arms and lowered her into the boat.
With his mother safe in the boat, he spun around and grasped Cleo in his arms. “I love you too,” he whispered, holding her tight.
“How did you know?” she asked.
“I’ve always known,” said Lex, pressing his lips passionately to hers, before pulling away and lowering her into the dinghy.
“Try to get lost in the fog,” he instructed, before shoving the dinghy away from the Shooting Star. Lex watched in silence, as the small boat drifted away into the mist, carrying the two most cherished women in his life. Within seconds they were gone from sight.
“They’re gaining on us!” Jesse shouted, gripping the helm with both hands.
“Do you have any ideas?” Lex asked, as the destroyer closed the distance between them.
“What do you mean?” asked Jesse. “I assumed you had a plan!”
“Nope,” admitted Lex. “The only plan I had was getting the women to safety. I’m open to suggestions.”
“Well we can’t outrun them, and they’re too close for us to try and lose them in the fog. Here,” said Jesse, “take the helm!”
Lex grabbed hold of the helm, while Jesse disappeared below deck. Less than a minute later he emerged from the cabin, carrying a couple of wetsuits and two tanks of oxygen. “Here,” he said, tossing Lex a wetsuit, “put that on.”
They were both sliding into their wetsuits, when the Russian destroyer suddenly opened fire. The shell landed on the portside, rocking the sailboat and showering the men in icy water.
“I guess they want us to stop,” suggested Jesse, as the shrill scream of another shell flew overhead.
“So is the plan to jump overboard and swim for the shore?” Lex asked, staring at the two tanks of oxygen.
“That’s all I could come up with,” said Jesse, as he scrambled into a BCD.
“I like it!”
With his wetsuit on, Lex stood up and prepared himself for the frigid swim. He reached down to grab a tank of oxygen, when he noticed the backpack full of medicine lying on the floor of the cabin below. The bag had somehow been missed when Cleo and Jillian were grabbing their supplies, yet he knew his mother would need it. Without a word, Lex hurried down the steps and grabbed the bag.
“Where are you going?” He heard Jesse shout from above deck.
Lex snatched the bag and turned to climb the steps. When he reached the deck, he found Jesse standing near the edge of the boat with both tanks lying at his feet.
“Come on!” Jesse shouted. “I think they’re trying to sink us. That last shot was far too close.”
Jesse reached down to grab one of the tanks, as another shell landed on the starboard side. The boat pitched violently and he fell backward over the railing and into the sea, along with both tanks of oxygen.
A wave from the exploding shell washed over the side of the boat, knocking the bag of medicine from Lex’s hand and sending him rolling across the deck. He climbed to his feet and hurried toward the bag, as it slid across the deck. The bag was about to fall overboard when he lunged headfirst, grabbing hold of the strap just before it disappeared over the edge.
He crawled to a sitting position and scanned the ocean around him, searching for Jesse and the tanks of oxygen, but there was no sign of either. Lex stood up and glanced back at the Russian Destroyer looming closer and closer. He saw a flash from one of its cannons and heard the shrill whistle of the shell, as it flew through the air. The shell landed on the bow of the Shooting Star and tore through the deck, causing a thunderous explosion.
Still holding the bag of medicine clenched in his hand, Lex felt his body rise twenty feet in the air, as if he was floating. From that height he could see the Russian Destroyer more clearly. He saw sailors running back and forth across the deck, probably preparing to search for survivors. It seemed like he was suspended in midair for several minutes, before he felt himself falling.
His body splashed into the water and immediately disappeared beneath the waves. Still dazed and confused, Lex stared up at the underbelly of the Shooting Star, as he sank deeper and deeper. The sailboat was ablaze with fire and he could see its bright orange glow from beneath. The vessel suddenly broke apart and sank beneath the waves, with only a few remnants still burning and floating on the surface. One of the larger sections passed within a few feet of Lex, as it sank to the abyss below. Lex realized he was in a perilous situation, yet neither his brain nor his body seemed capable of functioning.
A curious sea lion swam up to Lex and circled him playfully, before losing interest and swimming off. The underbelly of the Russian Destroyer suddenly loomed above, floating where the Shooting Star had previously been. He watched helplessly, as Russian sailors threw grappling hooks into the water and then pulled them back up, fishing for survivors. One of the hooks narrowly missed hitting Lex in the head.
He suddenly saw another sea lion approaching, this one much larger than the first. Lex watched the sea lion as it swam toward him, marveling at the strange way in which it kicked its legs. It wasn’t until the animal was within arm’s length when Lex realized it wasn’t a sea lion at all. It was Jesse!
Jesse reached out with both hands and grabbed Lex, pulling him close. Holding onto Lex with one hand so that his body wouldn’t drift away, Jesse shoved the octopus, his backup regulator, into Lex’s mouth. At first Lex was resistant to having a foreign object shoved into his mouth, but after realizing that the octopus was providing him with air, he clenched down on the plastic mouthpiece and sucked in greedily. The two men remained linked together, suspended over an abyss of darkness, as they shared the only remaining oxygen tank.
Despite the protection from his wetsuit, Lex could feel his body temperature dropping, as he began to shiver. He desperately wanted to surface, but the Russian Destroyer was still floating above. When Jesse noticed Lex shaking from the cold, he signaled for him to move around to keep warm. Lex followed his advice and immediately felt warmer.
Glancing down at the oxygen gauge attached to his BCD, Jesse felt his heart skip a beat when he realized they were almost out of air. One tank of air usually lasted thirty minutes to an hour, depending on his depth and exertion, but with two men sucking on the oxygen, the needle had already dropped into the red.
Jesse tugged on Lex and jerked his head toward the shore, away from the Russian ship. Lex nodded his agreement and the two men began swimming side-by-side. They’d managed to put thirty yards between themselves and the enemy vessel, before the needle hit bottom and the oxygen tank was empty. In desperate need of air, they dropped the tank and swam for the surface.
The heads of both men breached the surface at the same time, their mouths open and gasping for oxygen. As they sucked in the salty sea air, a frigid gust of wind greeted them, causing their teeth to chatter uncontrollably. The mist was all around, cloaking them in an eerie, impenetrable blanket of white. Even the bright searchlights shinning from the Russian Destroyer were lost in the thick cloud of fog.
“We-we-we-we-should-start-swimming,” Jesse managed to say, between the constant chattering of his teeth.
Lex was so busy trying to make sure his chattering teeth didn’t bite his tongue, he didn’t even try to reply. He simply nodded in agreement and began swimming in the direction he believed the shore to be, with Jesse following close behind. Lex wasn’t even sure if he was headed in the right direction, but the movement helped him feel warm and Jesse didn’t argue, so he continued on the same heading, putting one frozen hand in front of the other.
Lex imagined the sweet sound of Cleo’s voice calling out to him and it made him feel calm. But then her voice became louder and louder, until he began to question his sanity. Was he experiencing hypothermia? Was this the end? He looked around in every direction, but saw only a thick blanket of white.
“Why-why-why-did-you-stop?” asked Jesse.
“I-I-I-thought-I-heard-my-name,” replied Lex.
“That-that’s-funny,” chattered Jesse. “So-so-did-I.”
“What? If-we-both-heard-it-then-I’m-not-going-crazy!” Lex tried to cup his stiff fingers around his mouth and call out into the night. “Cleo!” Although he tried to shout, his voice made only a whisper. “Cleo!”
“It’s-the-hypothermia,” stuttered Jesse. “It-knocks-the-wind-out-of-your-lungs.” His frozen fingers fumbled around, trying to unzip a pocket. “Here-try-this,” he said, handing Lex a yellow whistle.
Lex took the whistle in his numb hands, careful not to drop it and placed it between his purple lips. He blew with all the air he could muster and the whistle let out a soft, but shrill peep. He tried again, this time the whistle was a little louder. Lex didn’t want to alert the Russian Destroyer of their location, but he knew they wouldn’t last much longer in the icy waves, so he continued to blow.
Although it seemed like an eternity only a few minutes had passed, when Lex heard Cleo’s lovely voice call out his name. He opened his mouth and gasped, “Cleo!” The whistle fell from his frozen lips and disappeared beneath the dark waves. He reached out, frantically trying to grasp the whistle below the surface, but it was too late. The whistle was gone.
Lex turned his head and could see Jesse’s face floating next to him, his eyes closed. He was amazed at how purple Jesse’s skin appeared and wondered if his skin looked the same way. He felt like the mist had somehow seeped into his head, surrounding his brain in a cloud of fog and making it hard to think. He suddenly realized the only reason he could see Jesse’s face in the dark night, was because there was a light shining on it.
Lex turned his head toward the light, curious of its origin, and was relieved to see Cleo’s beautiful face smiling down at him, a flashlight gripped in her tiny hand. The wind caught her hair and lifted it from her shoulders, swaying back and forth in the breeze like a bird frozen in flight. Lex gazed up at her and smiled. He wasn’t sure if she was a figment of his imagination, and he didn’t care. For the first time in a long time, he felt warm. The last thing Lex remembered was Cleo’s slender arms reaching out toward him, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and everything turned black.
When he opened his eyes again the first thing he noticed was Cleo’s exotic face hovering above him. He turned his head and was surprised to see Jesse lying next to him.
“They’re in shock!”
Lex recognized the voice from somewhere in his past. It had a sweet and soothing sound that made his muscles relax.
“They’re hypothermic!”
Another familiar voice. Lex had no idea what was happening, but for some reason he felt at peace.
“Get those wetsuits off of them,” said the first voice.
Lex recognized the voice as his mother’s and tried to sit up, but his shaking arms failed him and he fell back down.
“There, there love,” said Cleo, another recognizable voice. “You’re safe now, just relax.”
Lex felt hands groping at his body, as Cleo hastily removed the wetsuit he was wearing. He glanced to his left and noticed that Jillian was removing Jesse’s wetsuit as well.
“They need body heat.” Lex heard his mother say. “If you gals really love those lads I suggest you strip down and press your bodies against theirs.”
“Can you operate the dinghy?” asked Cleo
“You bet I can,” said Beth. “Now give those boys the heat they need!”
Lex felt Cleo press her small, yet curvy frame against his body and relished the warmth it provided. A sigh escaped from his lips, as Cleo smothered his half naked body with hers.
“Does that feel good,” she asked. Her lips brushing against his ear.
“Yes,” said Lex, still shivering from the cold night air.
Lex heard the small engine of the dinghy roar to life, as his mother squeezed the throttle. He was only vaguely aware of the waves crashing against the small rubber boat, as they sped through the fog headed for the coast. His eyes fluttered open and shut, each time gazing up into Cleo’s deep brown eyes staring down at him lovingly.
When Lex opened his eyes again he saw stars illuminated in the dark sky above. He sat up and look around, noticing shadows dancing on the walls. He closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again. He was surprised to discover he was lying inside of a large, hallowed out tree trunk. In the center of the trunk was a small fire and lying in a circle around it was Cleo, Beth, Jesse and Jillian.