To Be A Champion

Chapter 13: Seal My Fate

After we make sure we have all the equipment, we start moving. It isn't easy, but thankfully the equipment is compact and not too heavy so that I can carry it in my backpack. As the rain continues to pour like it seems to do almost every day here, we clamber over from the mass of half-sunk ships, keeping our steps light so we don't accidentally slip or fall through the rotting decks.

The first boat is easy to cross, but climbing and jumping over to the deck of the next boat is less so. When my feet hit the wet deck, my foot skids, and I'm brought to my knees. An embarrassingly loud shriek leaves my lips as dull pain erupts from the impact.

"Callista!" Sam shouts, jumping over and nearly falling himself. He grabs my arm and helps me to my feet, eyes wide with worry. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I reply with a slight hiss. I'm sure it'll be no worse than a bruise, but I reach back and feel at my backpack to make sure nothing has fallen out and am relieved. "We need to keep moving."

Sam winces as metal creaks and groans. "You're right on that one. Bloody hell. This ship's more rust than metal. Come on." His hand moves down my arm to grab my hand. "We need to get across it before it falls apart completely."

It's hard to keep my balance so I don't slip and fall again. I don't want to look even more bruised up than I already do. Even though it's been about four days since Tom and I practiced our hand-to-hand combat, my lip is still cracked and there are bruises around my eyes from being hit in the nose. Shona was the most worried out of everyone in the island who've seen me, probably because she knows Tom is my close friend and did this to me, so what can he do to her since he blames her for what happened to Janine?

She's still friendly, of course, although she's very good at dodging questions, specifically the ones Nicole and I have been asking about who started communication with Jones first. Was it the MacLeans, or him?

She either doesn't know or she doesn't want to tell. I can't imagine why she would want to keep that secret. Jones killed her uncle.

I'm beginning to wonder if there's something else. Maybe Shona doesn't know who sent the first message. Maybe there are missing messages, and she just doesn't want to tell us because she's afraid we'll see her and the islanders as incompetent. I know just how much she prides this place.

"What do you think this boat used to be?" Sam asks. "Fishing boat, I reckon. You can still smell that kind of salty, rotten whiff. There's so much stuff like this now, isn't there? So decayed, you can't even tell what it was meant to be for."

The rain splatters against the hood of his raincoat, a few droplets soaking strands of his hair that poke out, reminding me that he needs a haircut. "You know that building in Volley Ville? The big, red brick one that used to be a school? All those cheerful colored swings and one wall so many kids had chucked a ball against, you could see a dent!"

He smiles at my small laugh. "Anyway, just before everything went pear-shaped with Sage, I sent Runner Fifteen on a mission down that way. And the school's just... crumbling away. There are trees growing up through the courtyard, and the wall with the dent's fallen down. In ten, twenty years, you won't know there used to be building there at all."

"I think about that sometimes," I reply. "I think about my old home in Arkansas, or my old church... I think about how it's probably all crumbling away... gone."

I never plan on going back to America. I love the country. It's the place of my birth, but it's not my home anymore. Still, it pains me to think of it all crumbling away, and Sam notices.

"God, I'm sorry," He apologizes, looking down as water splashes off the deck from his footsteps. "It's- I don't know. Stupid. With Janine so ill, and after... after Ellie, I keep thinking about it. What we leave behind when we're gone. I mean, there's Sarah. And you've got Milo, Phineas and Adora. And that's amazing. But I want to make a difference." His face becomes serious. "Everything's decaying away, and then there's Abel. And I really feel like we're building something. Or maybe just laying foundations for other people to build it."