Three days.
Three days i've lain here, floating on what to an outsider would seem like perfect bliss, a tiny raft with a sail, lying in this shade with some water and food to keep me going. A way outsider I mean, like an alien or some sort of caveman, no living human would agree, not as they'd know this ocean is where no ocean should be.
I mean, if any of them were still alive, of course.
I'm Sarah. I have a last name, you don't need to know it, it's stupid. I'm 17 and I know it sounds naive and cliché but i've got truly no idea if anyone's left. Alive, I mean. God knows what this murky red water does to the people it takes but, whatever's left can't be described as "alive" anyway. At first I was worried it'd be too acidic for my little raft - the barrels underneath don't seem that thick. I'm pretty sure it isn't, this being my third day and all. Not that i'd know, i'm not going near that water. I call it a raft but, it's really not much. Some empty barrels, planks of wood and a stick with a flag on it. And some ropes of course, some tricky knots I was proud of until i realised the seagulls probably didn't care about the finesse in my rope manipulation. Ten years of wilderness survival, so I can make knots infront of seagulls. Thanks dad.
Dad...
Nevermind. There's something in the water, well, on the water. A canoe! Not a canoe, but one of those big boats you paddle, I dunno. I can't really tell from this distance but I think there's people inside it - yes, that's a head for sure! The figures move about the boat, there's two of them, clearly moving it in my direction. "Only one left" - How stupid I am, of course humanities' not going to be wiped out by stupid water, these'll be people from a nearby colony - searching for extra survivors to bring home and start to repopulate the population. It'll be on a nice island, with huts and exotic fruit and birdcalls in the morning, with shafts of light that'd fall in the morning and w-
They've both just gone into the water.
Shit, what?
They're alive! I mean, I don't see a reason why they wouldn't be, but I don't trust this water. But why did they jump out the boat? I don't understand, but they're swimming towards me, a weird swim, admittedly, a sort of jerky stroke, like their bodies are made of clockwork and has to move slowly. Why're they doing this? They're getting close now, in shouting distance. I get a good look.
The faces. Oh god, the faces. Gray and mottled, both hairless with no trace of humanity left in those white, white eyes. I should've known, of course I should've known. I shrink back, into the mast. But they've seen me, I mean, I practically jumped about when I saw their boat, of course they did. I don't even know what they want, I mean, i've seen there sort before. It's what the water does to them, it ruins them, kills them even. And then they come back, just, stand up and walk again. But this new life is not a fun one, their skins turns gray and they get this...rage. I can't describe it. It's not like zombies, that's stupid. But they just... Kill. I've... I've seen it before, but now this is real threat. I've no idea what to do, I didn't equip this stupid raft with any form of propulsion or direction or anything, it wasn't a planned job. Think Sarah, think think think think th-
I wasn't paying attention to them anymore, I should've been. It's so stupid, who stops looking at the problem? Who in their bloody right stupid mind decides to just look away, or to just turn away from it? I mean, Jason did but, that wasn't his fau-
Me, apparently.
A mottled hand shoots out from the lip of the raft and grabs my leg in a tight, tight grip. The claw bruises my bare, vulnerable flesh. Before I could react, before I could scream, it pulls, pulls so tight and I plunge underwater.
Dad...
