FLOOD

A Greater Power

All I could do was hold onto the side of the boat, squinting over the metal railing at the water behind us. It was hard to see, since I was being jostled violently each time the boat went over a patch of rough waves, and the boat threw spray up behind it. But I could make out a dark blob skimming over the water way behind us. Our boat was faster, wasn’t it? It had to be.

Overhead, the sky was a solid mass of dark grey. Storm clouds had collected, unnoticed, during the chase. I watched the sky, gut churning. There was a flash from deep within the clouds, electricity brewing. A storm really was going to hit us in the next few minutes.

“You have to be kidding me,” I muttered, and Eli glanced back at me from his position at the wheel, as if he had somehow heard me, even over the noise of the engine and the waves beating against the hull of our boat.

He gave me a half smile, a pained grimace, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing. We were on the run from bad guys, skimming over the ocean in a tin can, and now the sky gods were about to rip the clouds open and hurl thunder and lightening down on us.

Well, perhaps he wasn’t thinking that exactly. But something along those lines.

We were screwed.

Even though I knew Fiske wouldn’t do well on the open sea, I felt a pang of regret start to tighten my chest. He would hate this, but I wished he was here.

We’re going back for him. We’re just going to get help. I had to keep repeating it in my head in order to stave off the waves of guilt that began rolling in.

A low grumble sounded over the noisy engine, making me jerk my head up to look at the sky again. The wind was whipping my hair against my face and neck even harder. The storm was almost on us now.

My fingers were curled around the metal railing so tightly that they were turning numb. When I glanced back at Eli, it was to find him staring past me, a look of panic on his face. I whipped around, angrily tugging my hair out of my face when it obscured my vision.

The dark blob was getting closer. Close enough that I could make it out properly.  I could tell it was a boat now, and that there was a dark, miserable figure hunched over the wheel at the prow. Was that Cain? It was impossible to tell from here.

They were gaining on us. They were too close. I had wondered if ours was the faster boat, and here was my answer. They were going to catch us.

Eli put his head down against the wind, and I could hear his mumbled curses drifting back to me. He pressed down on the lever beside him, jamming down on the throttle. The engine whined, but we didn’t go much faster.

The rumble of thunder was louder the next time it happened, enough to make us both jump. Then a jagged streak of lightening lit up the sky. For a second it painted the scene as brightly as daylight, and I could see the people in the boat behind us. Cain at the wheel, shoulders hunched, expression blank. His grandfather behind him, bracing himself against the ship’s railing. A third man I didn’t recognize was huddled in the back, a long dark shape resting against his shoulder. A rifle.

Then it was dark again, and I was back looking at them through the gloom and the fog of the ocean’s spray. My heart was slamming frantically against my ribs.

The waves were growing gradually rougher, tossing the boat more violently, tossing me more violently. At one point I tipped forward, nearly pitching over the railing when we hit a particularly rough patch, and a wave crashed over the side of the boat, soaking me completely. The weird thing was I could feel it coming. I knew where the water was, I realized. I knew what it was doing. What it was about to do.