From Sand to Nand

Chapter Three

The tide lowered by morning, giving the shore several more meters of firm, undisturbed sediment. The flattened beach was almost twice as long as it had been the night before, tapered more steeply into the sea.

It had been several hours since the crew tended to the fires. By sunrise, the pits didn't spout flames, but rather smoked subtly from their red-hot coals covered in smoldering white ash. The crowd stirred at different points in time with individuals awakening sporadically from their light sleeps. One family was shooing away the black-tailed gulls attempting to steal their scraps of food left out from the night before. Everyone who awakened did so to the disturbing realization that they were no longer in the peaceful dreamworld they enjoyed only moments earlier. The reminder of their situation was abrupt and not one person failed to wish themselves into an alternate reality.

Captain Royce didn't shut his eyes even for a moment as he had been working tirelessly through the morning. Over the course of it, families continued to discover their perished loved ones as he and his crew had brought them in slowly just before dawn. All bodies visible in the water had been cleared out and set aside with the others. The pile started to smell in the hot morning sun, but the aroma was not yet unbearable—though foul, nonetheless. There were still hundreds of bodies spread out across the beach, resting beside their loved ones who had only begun to grieve.

"Officer McSchmitt!" the captain commanded, refusing to succumb to his exhaustion.

The weary Master at Arms shuffled over to face his boss. He nor the crew rested for the entirety of the evening. "Captain," he greeted with a slight nod. "We've got roughly 801 alive. Of them, 97 are injured. Of the injured, 16 are critical. In total—so far—468 are deceased."

The captain did some quick mental math. "We had 1,367 when we departed. We're missing roughly 98 heads, then." He became anxious. "Count again."

"But Captain—"

"COUNT AGAIN!"

The vehement order made people everywhere stop as the captain quickly recollected himself. "Aye, sir," McSchmitt submitted. He wasn't upset that he had been yelled at, but rather caught off guard.

So far, the captain had been holding his wits together since the tragic fate of the Elevation and its passengers, but his worry for the whereabouts of the missing passengers was completely understandable.

McSchmitt wanted to find the missing people just as badly. "We don't have much food or water, sir. These people will get hungry when we run out," he whispered to the captain before heading off for a second count. "Don't worry, Captain. We'll get through this."

After a quick brotherly hug, the officer turned to do as he was told before receiving one last order. "And make every attempt to contact rescue."

The captain stood for a moment in silence observing the confident appeal in his right-hand man—his best friend. "Pei!" he then shouted to the south-Asian boy who approached. "You did a fantastic job last night, son. Thank you."

Pei, humbled by the comment, replied, "No need to thank me, sir. Just doing my humanitarian duty."

"I want you to stay with me. We're going to assemble a company and go look for water. Have you got the energy?"

"Yes, sir," the young man affirmed without hesitation.

"Very good."

Finding volunteers to search for food wasn't difficult. Most people approaching were very hungry and thirsty. Some freelancers had already begun searching the forest edge while others found remote areas to urinate and defecate.