Back On Board

Bill Hunt, George Paxton and Mark Clooney are the local coastguard headed out to the ocean to see if they can find a lost speedboat, which was occupied by a group of four friends just three days ago. It is believed to be that the friends may have been swept up in a dangerous wave and were tossed out of their boat and into the ocean, possibly losing their lives. The trio are aboard their boat sailing into an approaching storm.

“Why the hell are we out here in this again?” Mark asked irately. “Because those two couples went missing, Mr. Compassion” George answered sarcastically. “Save your attitude” Mark began. “We’re coming up on one of the most dangerous storms in local history and I’m not tryna-” “Enough!” Bill interrupted. “You two have been at it nonstop ever since our shift swing last month. I’ve heard enough of it. Get your minds right. We have to find out what happened to those people.”

“Bill, you know what happened to those people” George began. “I don’t need your pessimism, Georgie?” Bill started. “It’s not pessimism, it’s called a truth pill.” Mark interrupted. “Those people are dead and gone, Billy. They got caught in the devil’s wave and it killed them”. “I hate to admit, but Mark is right, Bill” George added. “This isn’t a search and rescue. It’s a salvage mission. We’re looking for the corpses of those two couples so their families can have some bodies to bury.”

Bill stared straight ahead with an annoyed, yet blank look on his face. He was reluctant to admit it, but he knew Mark and George were right about their mission. “Maybe I am in denial” Bill began. “Maybe I’m afraid to admit that we’re out here looking for corpses because I wish it didn’t have to go down this way. All I’ve had in my head is the faces of those four people’s family worried and afraid that their children are never coming home and now it appears that may be the case.”

George and Mark glanced at each other, then looked back at Bill with feelings of empathy. “Bill we all wish it didn’t have to be this way” Mark started calmly. “But the truth of the matter is, we’re out here looking for bodies, Bill.” “Yeah.” Bill started with an exhale. “I guess I just…really wish we were coming to pick up some survivors.”

“The sooner we confront the truth the sooner the families can too” Mark interjected. Bill took in Mark’s words with solidarity. “So what now?” Bill asked. Before either Mark or George could answer his question a rumble of thunder roared just above their heads. The three men looked up and saw the dark clouds getting thicker above them.

“The storm” Bill started. “It’s coming back around.” “If we don’t get outta here we’re gonna end up like those four” George added. “We gotta go, cap” Mark said to Bill with urgency. Bill hastily turned the boat south away from where the storm was forming and sped up as the rain began. The trio was now three miles from the docks they departed. From beneath them the waves started to pick up. “Oh goodness!” Mark trembled. “Is this the devil’s wave?” “Yes, but we’re nearly out of it” Bill replied. “I’ve been navigating us through it this whole time. I know my way around them, but the storm has pushed the wave in our direction.”

As Bill navigated the trio through the waves the storm began to pick up. Thunder and lightening clapped down on the group rocking their boat every which as Bill steadied the boat at the controls the best he could. “Do you think it was storm that got the group or the wave?” George asked while trying to keep on his feet. “Probably a combination of both” Mark rebuttaled.

The sky became darker and storm became more aggressive as the group was nearly within a mile of the docks. “Good lord this storm is hectic” George called out. “Yeah, luckily we’re almost to the docks” Bill replied while being gusted by the wind. “We’re almost home boy-”. Before Bill could finish the trio’s boat was suddenly knocked off balance by an unmanned speedboat.

“AAAHHHH!!!!” Bill screamed as the jolt knocked him out of the boat. “BILL!!!” George and Mark screamed simultaneously. George and Mark quickly grabbed the helm of the boat stirred it toward the direct in which Bill fell. While under the stormy waters Bill was being swayed every which way while trying to stay above water. As the waves swayed him back under the water a group of bodies traveled passed him. They were the bodies of Larry Wahlberg, Ashley Paxton, Kenneth Hunt and Alexandria Clooney, the group of four who went missing on their speedboat just days earlier.

A startled Bill finally managed to make his way back above water, George and Mark saw him in the short distance and stirred the boat towards him. “BILL WE’RE COMING!” Mark yelled out. In the haze of the subsiding storm George just barely managed to steady the boat where Bill surfaced. Mark reached out and grabbed him as George leaned over with his right arm and assisted Mark with pulling Bill back on board. As Bill fell back into the boat he quickly rose to his feet as he caught his breath. He then returned to the helm of the boat and led the trio back to land.

The storm was now subsiding as the boat arrived back at the dock. “I saw them” Bill began. “Saw who?” George asked. “I saw the group of four who went missing. Their bodies were in the water. That was their speedboat that hit us.” “Larry Wahlberg” Mark started. “That was Larry Wahlberg and his friends” “Goodness gracious” George added. “This is gonna be so hard on their families.” The trio stopped the boat and climbed out onto the docks. As they prepared to go inside they looked back at the water and saw Larry’s speedboat in the distance.

“Thank God we made it out alive” George said softly. “Yeah we are, but what about the others?” Mark asked. “I’ll guess we’ll just have to put our heads together and pray on it” Bill replied.

~This story is a sequel to my first Overboard challenge entry “Hateboat”.