Endless Blue

Chapter 4

(Sips' PoV)

I sit beside the woman with the wound in her head, her breathing feeble and weak, and I know that there's nothing else we can do for her. She's gonna die; I just don't know what to do. 

"Sips, right?" A voice says and I look up to see Smith, and I smile weakly at him, and he sits down.

"Yeah, I'm Sips. Real name's Chris, but Sips is more... Unique I guess." I say and he smirks, before chuckling a bit.

"So, whats going on with her? Is she gonna make it?" Smith asks quietly and i sigh, unable to give him a definite answer.

"I...I don't know. I just know she's on the verge of dying, and before we ran into you lot, she told me she was looking for someone, her daughter. I want to be able to reunite them before she goes, ya know what I mean?" I say and Smith nods, looking out at the calm ocean waters.

"Yeah, I get ya. If I was dying, I'd want Ross and Trott by my side, just so that nobody would have to tell them. So that we could say our goodbyes...." Smith says and I know he's deeply troubled, since his younger brother Trott was still missing, and no one had seen him since the ship.

"But we won't say our goodbyes. Not for a long time." Smith says firmly and I nod, and I stand up, and I look at Smith.

"No one should have to be in this situation. It seems like a different ocean, than the one we were in when we first sailed off. It's just cruel. So many of us have already been confirmed dead, or missing, and nearly all of us are injured. It's just sick." I say and i walk over to Ross and Rythian.

(Hannah's PoV)

I walk beside Lewis and Martyn, the two still helping me walk some, since my leg's still messed up.

I pause and looks at the jungle, and I stammer, "Lewis...Martyn... There's something over there." Pointing at a clump of bushes.

Martyn pushes us behind him, being the adult, and I glance at Lewis worriedly.

"Survivors! Thank God I finally found someone!" A voice, filled with pure relief, says and a man stumbles out of the bushes. He has short brown hair and a brown beard, and a long, narrow cut above his left eye.

"Uhm, hello. Who are you?" Martyn says, looking at the two of us with hope and worry in his eyes. Me and Lewis return the glance, both knowing why. This was the first survivor we had run into since we found each other.

"My name is Paul Sykes. Please, I'm not lying. I've been on my own for this whole time." Paul says and I take a small step forwards, wincing slightly.

"I'm Hannah Rutherford." I say quietly, sticking my hand out to Paul, which he takes and shakes it.

"Nice to meet ya Hannah." He says cheerfully and I smile lightly, looking back at Lewis and Martyn.

"Martyn Littlewood." Martyn introduces himself, shaking hands with Paul and Lewis still looks untrustingly at Paul, and I punch his shoulder softly.

"Fine, fine. I'm Lewis Brindley." He says and Paul smiles lightly at Lewis, before looking at Martyn.

"You have any kind of group?" Paul asks and Martyn shakes his head sadly.

"No, sadly. We're looking though. Come with us. We could use another member for our little ragtag group." Martyn offers and Paul nods.

"Of course. I can't be by myself anymore." Paul says thankfully and we all start walking down the beach, me leaning on Lewis for support.

We walk for a while until it gets to sunset, and Lewis's eyes light up with hope.

"Guys! That's a campfire up ahead! There's gotta be somebody there!" He says and we all nod enthusiastically.

"Come on! Let's go see what we've got." Martyn says and we walk hurriedly up the beach, Lewis and I moving as fast as we can manage.

"PAUL!!" A male's voice shouts and a nearly bald man starts running down the beach, and Paul runs towards the man, an idiotic grin on his face.

"CHRIS!" Paul shouts and the two collide, hugging each other tightly, as if they're afraid to let go of each other.

"Sips? What's going on?" A tired voice says and a man with darker brown hair steps out and he sees us.

"Oh, man, hello. I'm Rythian. Come on, come to our camp. You've got to all be exhausted." He invites and we smile with relief, the three of us moving slowly towards the man.

"I'm Martyn. The boy's Lewis, and the girl's Hannah." Martyn introduces us and Ryhtian nods, shaking Martyn's hand.

"Well, the man with your guy is Sips. The other two are Ross and Smith. And... There's a woman. We're pretty sure she won't make it through the night. We don't know who she is though." Rythian says and my heart drops.

"Can-Can I see her? The woman?" I stutter, looking at him with huge fearful eyes.

"Uh, sure." Rythian says and leads me to where a blonde woman lays on the sand, and everything inside of me breaks and I fall to my knees.

"M-Mum...?" I whisper, grabbing her hand and her eye's open slowly, but immediately fix on me.

"Hannah.... Oh my sweet Hannah, your  ok." She whispers, and silent tears fall down my face.

"Mum, Mum, don't go. Please, please stay with me." I say, and she looks sadly at me, silent tears going down her own face.

"I have to go. I'll...I'll be with your father. You can make it though, Hannah. You're strong. I know you are." She says weakly, like all the life has just been drained from her.

"Please... I don't want you to go." I say, touching my forehead to her hand that I'm holding.

"I'm sorry, my sweet girl, but I can't stay anymore. Just know that you are strong and that you...You can do this..." She says and the remaining light dies from her eyes, and I look at her, frozen in that exact moment.

"Hannah.... Hannah, I'm so sorry." I hear Lewis say and he kneels next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, and I collapse into his arms, sobbing into his shirt, not letting go of my mother's hand.

Lewis holds me tightly as I sob my heart out, and the other's just watch with a horror and sympathy in their eyes, but I just let the world slip away from me