Castaway Island

Chapter 9

        Meanwhile, on a cruise boat,...

"Vanessa!" Vannessa's mom screamed for her. "Get on the lifeboat with all those other kids!" The cruise ship Vanessa had been traveling on had started going crazy. There was something wrong with the engine. At least thats what everyone thought. None of the staff was telling them anything. The ship's sirens were blaring. So far, nobody had come to rescue them. 

               "No!" Vanessa screamed. "I won't leave you alone on this ship!" Vanessa's mother nodded. She looked very thoughtful. That was easy. Vanessa smiled smugly. Then she remembered the situation they were in. Suddenly, she was shoved into the lifeboat by an attendant. Vanessa looked around her. There were 4 kids around her in total, all of them looked frightful. Vanessa started to climb out to get toward her mother.

       The attendant who had shoved her, started to unravel the lifeboat. The other kids in the lifeboat shreiked in fear. It was clear to Vanessa that these kids did not realize the severity of this until now. The attendant took out a gun from his pocket. All the kids stopped screaming immediately.

           "Row away," The attendant said poking his gun in one of the kids' face. "Don't come back or I will shoot your families." Vanessa gasped. So did a few kids behind her.

             "Wait! Wait!" A boy around Vanessa's age came running to the boat. He seemed oblivious to the attendant's gun. "Take me with you!" Yelled the boy. In his hand, he had a suitcase and a book. The attendant allowed the boy to jump into the boat. Clumsily, he tripped and fell on his face. 

        "Young man!" The attendant snarled. "Why are you so eager to leave your family?"

"They'll find another life boat! I know the boat is sinking! We need to get out of here!"  The boy called up to the attendant. The attendant was lowering the boat. Vanessa realized the boy was the only one with a suitcase. Hopefully, he had water and food in there. Vanessa was thankful the boy had come with them.

          "Get out of here!" The attendant said. "Lucky for you, I don't kill kids unless they're really annoying me." He gave them a stern glare. "Row away, as fast as you can. After all, for every ten minutes you are in sight, I will shoot a passenger." 

A girl sitting behind Vanessa gasped. "That's impossible! Look around you! There's nothing but ocean!" The attendant's lips turned up.

          "You better hurry then. I might just end up shooting one of your parents." That was enough for Vanessa. She grabbed an oar and started to row away. The kids around her quickly helped her row. She was afraid they would be too late to save everyone but maybe they could get out of there before more than 3 people were killed. The boy who had boarded the lifeboat last was the only one not rowing. He was reading out of a book.

            "Hey!" A boy yelled. "Start rowing." The boy reading the book looked around for an oar, pointedly.

              "I'm Valarie, if anyone cares." The girl sitting behind Vanessa said. Vanessa turned to her.

           "We don't. Keep going everyone!" Vanessa snapped. Everyone started going faster. Valarie was going the fastest. She was obviously very upset. Good. Now she would go fast. After a few hours, everyone's rowing had slowed. They were all very exhausted. Vanessa looked behind her. The cruise ship was out of sight. Vanessa sighed with relief.

             The girl named Valarie slumped in her seat. Her head was resting on her neck. Then, she fell out of the lifeboat. Everyone looked on in shock. Valarie was asleep. How could she save herself? A boy in the back was the first to react. He jumped into the ocean.