Page 2

T rey Dorchester hopped out of the taxi, waved to the cabbie, and, with his bag over his shoulder, strode up the driveway. His gait was a little awkward, and he was still a bit sore, but he was mobile and doing a hell of a lot better than he had any right to be, considering all he’d been through.

He’d barely reached the door when it opened, and his sister-in-law threw herself into his arms. With a big shout of laughter, he picked her up and gave her a big hug before dropping her back down again. That’s when he realized a rather rounded belly was between them.

He looked at her with one eyebrow raised, and she smiled. “Jackson wanted to wait to tell you when you got home.”

“Nobody needs to tell me anything,” he muttered, with an eye roll. “It’s pretty hard to hide that.” She flushed and nodded. “On the other hand, I am thrilled for both of you.” He gave her a much gentler hug this time.

“I’m not breakable,” she protested.

“Maybe, but you’ve waited a long time for this,” he noted, “and I certainly won’t cause any distress.”

She smiled. “I don’t think you could, even if you tried. Come on in. Jackson is waiting for you.” Spying his brother behind her, patiently waiting his turn, Trey stepped around his sister-in-law and opened his arms. The two men hugged.

“It’s been too long, damn it,” Jackson muttered, as he stepped back and looked at his brother with a critical eye.

“You did come see me when I was in hospital,” Trey reminded him, with a smirk, “and, believe me, that was appreciated.”

“You could have come home. I wish you would have come back for your recuperation,” Jackson pointed out again. “I would have loved to have you here.”

Trey smiled at him and nodded. “I know it, and it was a difficult decision, but, in the end, this was really tough mentally. So I needed some time to come to terms with everything.”

“And I get that,” Jackson agreed, “and that’s the only reason I left you alone for as long as I did.” The two of them chuckled, and then his brother added, “But now that you’re coming home, I am happy, but it’s a godawful reason.”

“You heard about Missy Ragner?”

“I heard about Missy and Silas,” Jackson confirmed. “And you know search and rescue’s been called off.”

“I know,” Trey stated, “and they had a K9 dog with them. The dog was also in the military service.”

“Sure, he was always around. Silas has been darn proud of that dog. He’s been showing him off everywhere in town.”

His sister-in-law, Elizabeth, nodded. “It’s a lovely dog.”

“Was,” Jackson corrected her.

She winced at that and nodded. “That’s the problem, isn’t it?” she asked, looking at Trey. “You’re here about the dog.”

“I’m here about Missy, Silas, and the dog,” he corrected. “Yet you’re right in a way. It’s because of the War Dog that I got sent here initially,” he explained. “I didn’t realize all three of them were missing until then.”

“If anybody could still be out there,” Jackson declared, “it would be them.”

“It would certainly be Silas, and I know that Missy has a lot of skills too, but it’s a wilderness, and we don’t know if anybody is injured. The injuries are always the worst because one will often stay with the injured partner and not leave them. Then they all end up dying due to exposure,” he shared. Turning to his brother, he asked, “Do we have any marine maps, anything that shows where they went that day?”

Jackson nodded. “Yes, and the trouble is, everyone’s been to all the expected places,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Just because search and rescue was called off doesn’t mean that the rest of us have given up on them just yet. I was out there last weekend, but I saw no sign of anything,” he shared. “The trouble is, it’s miles and miles of ocean, with small craggy coves and tiny islands everywhere. You know what the place is like. You could go up and down the coast for a lifetime and not find them.”

“Oh, I hope it won’t take a lifetime,” Trey muttered soberly. “Missy is such a great person.”

“You always had a great relationship with her, didn’t you?”

“It’s not that I knew her all that well, but, what I did know, she was great,” he replied. “She was always good to us.”

“And you were always good to her,” Jackson pointed out. “If she’s out there and keeping her hopes up by thinking of who might be out there looking for her, would she think of you?”

“No, of course not,” he said. “I haven’t had anything to do with her in what, ten years? That’s how long since I enlisted.”

“Has it really been that long? Good God,” Jackson said, staring at him. “That is not what I expected.”

“It’s true, for better or for worse, right?” He smiled at Jackson. “Besides, I’m here now.”

“Yes,” Elizabeth added, eyeing him intently, “but it sounds as if you’re heading out to look for this group, and I suspect you are going alone.”

“It’s not as if anybody else can come with me,” he pointed out. “You’re not in any shape to be boating, and I wouldn’t want to take my brother away from you at this point in your pregnancy. Plus, I don’t know of too many other people around who would be willing to go. I really need someone with survival training.”

“And, if there was someone, would you take anyone?”

“Maybe,” he conceded, looking at Jackson. “Why? Are you looking to come?”

“No, you’re right. I can’t go.… I guess I’m just a little worried about your mental state.”

Trey nodded. “Understandable, but I’m fine. I’m here to see if I can do anything about the sticky situation with the War Dog. It’s not as if my construction gig will be impacted if I spend a couple days or even a week or two out there, trolling for them. You and I both know the Ragners have great outdoor skills. So, if there’s a chance that one more search will make a difference,” Trey added, “then I’m all for it.”

Jackson grinned boyishly. “I’m really glad to hear that because I’ve been feeling damn guilty. Yet it’s pretty hard to keep going out. I’ve got a job to go to, and Elizabeth’s pregnancy hasn’t been easy on us. She’s having a lot of health issues, and she’s more or less been ordered to bed rest.”

Trey turned to face her, and she immediately shrugged. “I don’t think it’s that bad, but the doctors are being pretty insistent about it.”

“Considering what you went through to get pregnant, I would highly suggest that you strictly follow those doctor’s orders,” Trey suggested.

“As if your brother would allow me to do anything else,” she said, with a smile. “But Missy, if she’s out there and waiting for a rescue,… that’s got to be hard.”

“It’s more than hard,” Trey clarified. “It’s horrific.” He watched the two of them exchange glances at his tone, and he brushed off the solemn moment. “So, I sent you a list. How did you do with collecting that stuff?”

“I’ve got it all,” Jackson confirmed, “and most of it we already had, so you should be good to go.”

“And the gun?”

He nodded. “Yes, I have that covered too. I was thinking you could take Dad’s old hunting rifle.”

Trey pondered that and then nodded. “It was a really decent one. As long as the sight and the barrel are still good, that should be fine.”

“It’s good,” Jackson stated. “I was using it myself, and I took it out when I was looking for them.”

Trey nodded. “Good enough. I’m hoping for a good night’s sleep.” Then he turned to Jackson. “As long as I can have the boat.”

“Of course you can have the boat,” Jackson stated in that tone from years past. “It’s hardly had any use. That always was your favorite damn thing. I don’t know why you wouldn’t accept it from Dad, when he wanted to give it to you before.”

“Because he gave it to me to keep me in town,” he explained, with a shrug. “You know that as well as I do, and I just couldn’t accept it. It felt like I was taking a bribe and then walking away with the prize, and I just wasn’t comfortable with that.”

“Got it.” Jackson nodded in understanding.

“Speaking of which”—Trey cast a glance at his brother—“how is Dad?”

Jackson shrugged. “Considering the fact that he doesn’t really know who we are, I would say he’s probably doing fine.” Jackson grimaced. “It is tough to see somebody give you a blank look when you stop in to say hi.”

“Right,” Trey muttered. “I’ll stop in at some point, though I’m not sure I’ll make time for it before I leave. He won’t know the difference either way.”

“No, he probably won’t, and yet sometimes I wonder if he’s there still.”

“You mean, inside?” Trey asked.

“Yeah, and just not capable of coming back out again.”

“I hope not,” Elizabeth said with a shudder. “That would be one of the worst nightmares for anybody. To be locked in their own mind, not able to let anybody know that they’re still there, yet everybody else treating you as if you’ve completely lost it.”

“I don’t think completely lost it is quite the term,” Jackson corrected, with half a smile in her direction.

Trey shrugged. “But dementia is not nothing either. As long as he’s happy in his current state, I don’t want to rock the boat. Seeing him could set him off, and I don’t want to do that either and then leave it for you to deal with.”

Jackson frowned at that but then nodded reluctantly. “You could be right, though he does ask for you a lot, but…”

“Right, it’s the but part. You know how he reacted to my leaving.”

“I know,” Jackson replied, “and yet you felt you needed to do what you needed to do.”

Trey stared at Jackson. “You don’t feel as if I needed to do it?”

“I don’t know what you needed to do,” Jackson admitted, staring at him, “but it doesn’t matter now. You did it, and this is where we’re at.”

Something was off in his brother’s tone, but Trey wasn’t exactly sure what. Glancing over to Elizabeth, her gaze tried to tell him something that he didn’t catch the meaning of. He figured that wasn’t today’s issue. He just nodded at Jackson and let it be. “So, the boat and everything is ready?”

He nodded. “I filled up the fuel, and you’ve got a couple extra tanks. We’ve got it stocked with food supplies, but you’ll need to take fresh groceries with you.”

“I’ll go shopping in the morning,” he noted.

“No need. I’ve already got some stuff here for you,” Elizabeth shared. When he looked over at her, she shrugged. “We knew what you would do when you got here, so there wasn’t any point in not preparing for it.”

“Right.” He nodded his thanks. “I appreciate that.”

“Find them, and we’ll all appreciate that you came home to find the family,” she said.

“No guarantees,” he murmured.

“My bet’s on you,” she declared, with a smile. When her husband looked at her, she shrugged. “You forget that, growing up, Trey was the one who found everything—lost keys, that ring of yours, or whatever was misplaced, it didn’t seem to matter. Trey had this weird ability to find lost things.”

Jackson looked at her and then laughed. “You’re right. I completely forgot about that.” He turned and stared at Trey, then shook his head. “Damn, maybe you are exactly who we’ve needed after all.”

“I don’t know about that,” Trey replied. “I’m just trying to help out.”

“And it’s a good thing you’re here,” she said firmly. “Come on. Let’s get you settled into your room before dinner, so you can get some sleep tonight. If I know you, you’ll be up and out of here early.”

“I will,” he agreed. “I even wondered about sleeping on the boat. I don’t want to disturb you guys.”

She frowned at him. “In what way would you be disturbing us?”

Trey rolled his eyes. “I just didn’t want to cause any trouble.”

“There is no trouble,” she declared. “You are family, and we’ve wanted you to come home for a very long time.”

“Fine,” he said, staring at her, “but it would be okay if I slept on the boat, you know?”

“You’ll spend enough nights on the boat,” she stated, “so you might as well get some sleep tonight upstairs. Getting some quality rest will only prepare you a little bit better.”

He laughed at that. “Fine. You always were stubborn.”

“ I’m stubborn?” she repeated, rolling her eyes as she moved toward the kitchen. “I’m easy to get along with in comparison,” she protested.

Jackson laughed at that. “God, you even said that with a straight face. I don’t know how you managed that.”

Smiling, she just waved him off with her fingers. “Get your brother settled in his room and then come down for coffee,” she ordered. “Dinner will be ready in about forty minutes.”

“You heard the boss,” Jackson said, as he waved his brother upstairs. “You still know which room is yours?”

“Of course I do, assuming my room is still my room.”

At that, Jackson stopped and asked, “Are you pissed off that we got the house?”

Trey shook his head. “No, if anybody needs it right now, it’s you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s your house too, you know? We’re living here, and I guess we’re living here rent-free,” he noted, as the two men climbed the stairs. “However, you weren’t here at the time, so it didn’t seem to really be an issue.”

“And it isn’t an issue now either,” Trey stated, keeping his tone steady as they headed toward the room he’d spent his childhood and teenage years in. “Being here just brings back a lot of memories.”

“And they don’t have to be bad memories,” Jackson pointed out. “You and I don’t have any problems.”

“As long as you’re okay with my going into the military,” he said, turning to look at his brother, “but I sense there are still some reservations there.”

“Not reservations,” he clarified, “but you were missed. I know that Dad has been calling for you a lot, until he went silent this last time.” Jackson grimaced. “That was really hard because I couldn’t give you to him.”

“I was stationed overseas.”

“Or,” Jackson added, “you were recovering from your accident. Either way, I feel as if I failed him because I couldn’t give him a chance to say goodbye to you.”

Those words alone were enough to break Trey’s heart. “That’s a rough way to put it.”

“But it’s the reality of what we had to deal with,” Jackson explained. “Now that he fully doesn’t recognize any of us, it’s easier in a way. It’s hard to see him brought to this point, but it’s also easier in the sense that we aren’t watching him always fighting for memories just out of his grasp. Now he doesn’t even seem to remember that he had memories.”

“ Great ,” Trey muttered. “That’ll be a tough visit.”

“It will be, and you need to prepare yourself for it.”

“Okay, well thanks for that at least.” He didn’t know what to say and was wondering if he should have come home more often. He didn’t have a particular reason why he didn’t. He was just always busy living his life, which had resulted in his more or less forgetting about everyone else’s. “It’s not that I was thinking of not coming home. I was busy at work, and, even on my time off, I was traveling the world.” He shook his head. “It was an obsession.”

“I know,” Jackson replied. “You used to send us some of the pictures of the crazy things that you would see and do. Elizabeth was quite jealous for a long time.”

“And yet you never really wanted to travel, did you?”

Jackson shook his head. “No, I’m a homebody through and through. I never really could see hassling with airplanes and all those crazy flight schedules and the stress of people going in and out all the time,” he shared. “I’m just as happy to be right here.”

There wasn’t a whole lot to argue about there, since flying in general had only gotten crazier since COVID. “Dad was never affected by COVID, was he?”

“That was another odd thing, as we thought maybe COVID had something to do with his declining health. He did get the symptoms and all, but he seemed to recover fairly well from it.”

“I don’t know if there’s any research into that yet,” Trey murmured, as he dropped his bag on the bed, then looked around the room he had spent all of his childhood and his teenage years growing up in. Shaking his head, he shared, “It’s hard to see this room in a way because it brings back so many memories.”

“But are they bad memories?” his brother persisted.

“No, of course not.”

“Yet you never came home.”

He winced at that. “I feel as if you’re looking for a reason why I didn’t come home very often.”

“Very often?”

“I did come home three times,” Trey pointed out, “but, for a homebody like you, three times just wasn’t enough.”

Jackson went silent at that. “Maybe that’s part of it, but the other part of it is,… I just missed you. And knowing that Dad was missing you just made it that much harder.”

“Right, but I can’t go back and change it now,” Trey stated, “and I don’t remember ever hearing from you how bad his condition was.”

“No, and that was Elizabeth’s doing,” he said, as they moved downstairs to join her. “She didn’t feel it needed to be emphasized. If you came home, you would know, and, if you didn’t, what would be the point of pushing it? You were obviously very busy doing what you wanted, and she wanted you to have a life doing what you wanted.”

Trey looked over at him. “And, for you, that’s a hard thing to understand?”

“I don’t know if it was a hard thing to understand, but it was a hard thing to accept,” he shared, with a nod. “But she convinced me, and here we are.”

As they walked down the stairs, he stared at Jackson carefully. “Was she wrong?”

“I don’t know whether she was wrong or not,” he said.

“I’m sure seeing Dad will be very difficult because I didn’t have the interim months of seeing him decline. I’ve gone from having a bright and mentally alert father who was always busy and off doing things on his own, to somebody you say is mentally not there anymore.”

“Oh, he’s mentally not there all right,” Jackson noted, “with zero recognition. I was honestly hoping if he saw you that he might remember you.”

“Maybe he will,” Trey suggested, “but I won’t go in that direction yet. Not until I’ve had a chance to see if I can find Missy.”

Jackson nodded at that. “Honestly, considering how long they’ve been gone, you know as well as I do that you’re the best chance she has.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“You really came because of a dog?”

He stopped and faced his brother. “Look. I didn’t know about Missy. I didn’t know about Silas. I didn’t know anything about any of it, until about four hours before my flight took off. However, I’m here now,” he pointed out, “and the reason doesn’t matter. I’ll do what I can. If I can find them in any condition that I can bring them home, you know I will.”

“I know that,” Jackson said, with a wave of his hand. “We just… We feel defeated because we tried and got nowhere.”

“That’s the other thing. I’ll need a map of where you guys have been, what areas you have looked through.”

“I’ve got that for you,” Jackson replied, as they entered the kitchen area.

“But for the moment,” Elizabeth said, “you’ll eat. Then we’ll sort out the details, so you can go have a good sleep. Then, after a good breakfast in the morning, we’ll say goodbye.”

He looked over at her and smiled. “I can see how you’ve been keeping Jackson in line these last few years.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not the first person to mention that,” she muttered. “I just like to keep things organized and on track.”

“I’m not against organization,” Trey noted.

“It makes life a whole lot easier.”

“Tell your brother that,” she said, with a laugh. “He’s against anything that slows or changes his plans.”

“He’s always been independent, hating to be held back,” Trey pointed out.

“I know,” she admitted, “and I keep trying to come back to the fact that I knew what he was like before we got married, but I’m telling you, dealing with that on a long-term basis is a very different story.”

Trey smirked at her. “You wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She grinned. “Maybe every once in a while,” she suggested, “but you’re right. Most of the time I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

And, with that, dinner carried on into a lovely evening. They spent some quality time, exchanging stories and remembering their days together. Then, after making sure he was all set for an early start, they finally called it a night and headed for bed, each of them thoroughly exhausted.

When Trey got up bright and early the next morning and came downstairs, ready to go, he found Elizabeth in the kitchen, cooking sausage and eggs for him.

She pointed to a big bag on the kitchen counter. “Here are your food supplies. It should be more than enough for a week, even with four mouths to feed, but, if not, you’ll have to improvise.”

“I’ve also got extra food storage, if I need it,” he added.

She nodded. “I sure hope you find them.”

“I do too, and I need to find them in a location where I can rescue them from. I need to get them out of where they are holed up, and, depending on what trouble they’ve gotten into, it could be bad.”

“I know,” she muttered. “I’ve spent all my life here. So believe me that I know.”

“Do you know Missy?”

“Sure,” she replied in an offhand way, “but I didn’t really have any dealings with her. Still, she’s one of us, and that’s all that matters when it comes to these things.”

And that was so very true. As soon as Trey had his brother’s vehicle loaded, Jackson waved him into his truck and drove Trey to the closest grocery store.

“How did you know I would want even more supplies?” Trey asked.

“Because Elizabeth understands, but she doesn’t understand,” Jackson explained. “She’s never been out here. You have a boat. You have storage and space, and you may end up having to pick up a few extra people,” he noted. “You’ll need all the supplies you can carry. You could be out there for a while.”

After gathering more fresh groceries, as an afterthought, he picked up a big bag of dog food and put it in the cart. His brother eyed it, shook his head, and muttered, “You’re obviously very positive.”

“It’s not that I’m positive,” Trey clarified, “but a dog is out there somewhere. If he’s had any way to survive, he’ll be doing just fine. If he didn’t have a way to survive, there’s nothing I can do for him—or for them for that matter. But this War Dog?… He could be the reason they’re all still alive.”

“You think so?” Jackson asked, staring at him.

He nodded. “Yeah, I do. I’ve worked with these dogs, and honestly there is nothing quite like them. They saved our bacon many times. Plus, this one was survival trained.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Jackson stated, “because, honest to God, I know Elizabeth doesn’t say a whole lot, but she’s pretty freaked out at the idea of locals, who have been here all their lives, yet ended up in enough trouble that they might not come home again. I suspect that, if Silas and Missy are not found safe and alive, I’ll have a hell of a time ever going fishing again.” Looking over at Trey, Jackson added, “I think the baby may have something to do with that as well.”

“I’m sure it has a lot to do with your life from now on,” Trey stated, with a nod at his brother. “Think about everything she’s already gone through and about the family she’s already lost. In this case, I don’t think she’s prepared to lose anymore, and that includes you.”

“I know,” he conceded, “but it still feels as if I need to be out there helping everyone else.”

“Is anybody else looking?”

Jackson sighed. “No, not anymore. There was hell of a ruckus over it, but all the searches have been called off.”

“Now you know one more is ongoing,” Trey declared. “The radios are all working?”

“Radios are in fine shape,” Jackson stated. “The only thing not in fine shape”—Jackson turned to glare at his brother—“is you.”

“I’m in as good a shape as I can be right now,” he declared calmly, completely ignoring what his brother meant. Jackson was not sure Trey could handle this rescue with his disabilities. “This is just one more in a long line of challenges.” Shaking his head, he continued, “But, if it’s something I can do, something I have the time for,… you can damn well believe I’ll do it.”

Missy sat behind the big rocks, protected from the wind and the little bit of rain that was starting up. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her knees. Beside her, her father lay ever still in the same unconscious state that he’d been in for the last couple days. She no longer had any hopes of his making it through this, but she was damned if she would die too because she would never give up, would never let whoever had sabotaged their boat get away with it. She hadn’t even considered sabotage, but her father had made it very clear in the early days of this adventure that he had serviced this boat and knew his boat had been tampered with.

Schooner was tucked up against her father, the warmth of his large furry body wrapped around his side, attempting to transfer some warmth to the injured man. Her father had been awake until two days ago, and then he’d slowly slipped into unconsciousness. For her, that was a death knell, and she knew what was coming. It was hard knowing that she could do absolutely nothing to stop it.

It was heartbreaking to watch anybody die, but, in these circumstances, it was beyond painful. She glared at the radio at her side, wondering if she should try it yet again.

Would it make a difference?

Would anything make a difference at this point?

A million thoughts ran through her mind. It was one thing to watch her father go down, and it was another thing to let her and Schooner die too. Without Schooner, God knows she would not have survived this long.

Shifting her position ever-so-slightly broke that warm cocoon she’d built around herself, and she winced as she tried to relax her sore muscles. If it had been summertime, she wouldn’t be anywhere near as worried, but it was fall and settling into cold, muddy, cloudy weather, enough to make anybody anxious. In her case, she cast another worried glance at her father, knowing these conditions could have fatal implications for him.

She shifted far enough over that she could pick up the radio yet again. It wasn’t her thing at all. It was her father’s little hobby, one she had never really intended to get involved in. Now though, she wished she knew a whole lot more, just for these situations. She understood the battery life could be extended, but she didn’t know how to do that, which drove her even more crazy.

She’d lost innumerable hours trying to sort it out and, even now, still didn’t quite understand this radio. She kept it off most of the time in order to preserve what little battery power was left, and she’d taken it from the boat as it was. Silas Ragner was nothing if not meticulous and prepared. He’d bought this backup radio that he attached to the boat, but it could be taken on land as needed. Taking this radio was one of the first things he’d told her to do after they crashed into this cove. That was a good thing because, as she cast a glance back over at her father’s boat, it was hidden in the rocks, with the wind knocking it about over and over.

Their boat had been beached several days ago, with a big hole in the hull. Ever since then, Mother Nature had taken several more swings at it. Thus, the boat was in much rougher shape. In the beginning, she’d tried to keep everybody close to the boat because it provided some shelter, but she couldn’t control where it was going or how it was drifting once they’d lost power and the rudders. So now, tossed up against the rocks, she had zero control over the boat.

If she could have somehow secured the boat, she might have at least been able to keep her father sheltered better. Yet no point in worrying about what could have been. The fact was, this was their current situation, and whatever would happen would happen out here. Her dad would put up a good fight, but no one in his condition and in this circumstance had ever won that fight for long. She just didn’t want it to happen on her watch, but she had very little in the way of control.

She’d just finished her veterinarian exams, and her father wanted to go out for a boat trip to celebrate, before she started working with him at his clinic. It had always been her intention to work with him, and veterinary school was a part of the plan from a very young age. She’d always been fascinated with animals and helping them, and now here she was, fully licensed and stuck out in the middle of nowhere, slowly watching her father die, something she just couldn’t stomach.

As she glared down at the radio in her hand, she turned it on once again and started playing with the dials to try to find the right frequency, where she might get through to anybody out there. She hadn’t had it on for more than thirty seconds when she heard a cackle and a man’s voice coming through, calling out for Silas and Missy.

She leaped into action as she screamed into the radio, “I’m here. I’m here.” More crackles came, amid more strange noises, but she couldn’t tell if anybody heard her or not.

“I’m here. I’m here,” she repeated, panicking like crazy. Then came a moment of clarity and a man’s voice came through.

“Missy?”

“Yes,” she screamed, “yes, I’m here.” Then she held her breath, and his voice came through again, calm and calculated.

“Thank God for that. Where are you?”

She stared out at the ocean and whispered, “I have no idea. We headed toward Boulders’ Gates and then came around the side of the island.… From there on, I don’t know. We got caught in a storm,” she explained.

As soon as she got all that out, the man called out, “Missy, are you there? Missy, Missy.” He kept repeating her name, and she realized that, once again, nobody had heard her. She groaned after trying several more times, but then the static died, and she was left with a dead radio. Beside her, Schooner woofed, and she placed her hand on his neck.

“The good news is, somebody heard me. That means they know I’m alive. That in itself should trigger more of a search. Let’s hope the rain stops, so I can start a fire.”

She couldn’t believe that they hadn’t been found already. When this nightmare started, she thought they would be stuck out here one day, maybe two. But instead of days, it had been weeks now, weeks where they’d gone through all their supplies. If not for Schooner, she didn’t know what she would have done to survive on this rock.

Schooner kept appearing with dead animals. As much as she hated to see them all mangled and gory, she refused to die. So she found a way to deal with whatever dead animal was delivered to her in the mouth of a dog. She realized more than once that she owed her life, and her father’s life, to a rescue dog that they had taken in, a dog that her father had fallen immediately in love with and wouldn’t part with under any circumstances, which was why Schooner was in the boat with them in the first place.

She didn’t think Schooner particularly liked being out in the water, but he was always right wherever her father was. As she glanced down at him again, she gave him a hug. “I don’t know what I would do without you, buddy.”

He woofed again several times and nudged her closer.

“I know. He’s not doing very well, is he?”

She’d done everything for her father that she could in these conditions, but he needed X-rays and medicine. She was pretty damn sure that when he’d been tossed from the boat and then slammed up against the hull, he had sustained some internal injuries, but he was holding on. All they needed was a rescue, any damn rescue to get them out of here, so he could be airlifted to safety, where he would have a good chance of surviving.

But if nobody knew they were alive, she didn’t have much hope. She stared down at the radio, again realizing that somebody now did know she was alive. It may not have been much communication, but it was enough. It had to be enough because, without it, then both she and her father would die.

All she had was hope that a rescue would come and would be in time.