Africa (Complete)

Chapter Fifteen

Kam was conscious and alive, but bleeding badly. He was now in a dire survival situation, alone at sea, with nothing but the clothes on his back and the air in his lungs. As long as he still had a pulse, he was going to fight, no matter how bleak his chances of survival looked.

Staring at the lights of the boat as it sailed away, Kam made his best guess as to where Bill was located. He yelled as loud as he could, but the choppy North Atlantic did not allow him to do so without flooding his mouth with the cold and salty water. Not discouraged, he tried several more times before abandoning the approach.

"Bill! Help! Bill!"

Filling his lungs with air, he plunged his head into the water and began swimming in the direction he thought Bill would be. Every so often, Kam would pop his head up and look around. There was nothing around him, but a black sea and a black sky. The stars were covered and were of no use to help him navigate. The only thing giving him any sense of direction was a small fading light of the boat that was disappearing in the fog. He treaded water, watching as it completely vanished from his sight.

Kam was now lost at sea. He tried to yell again, but did not hear a response.

His body temperature was quickly dropping and he knew his only chance of survival was to somehow make it back to Bill's boat. He started thinking of possible plan B scenarios. He knew he could probably go three weeks without food and three days without water. But he would likely only last three hours out at sea before his arms fatigued and he could no longer use them to tread water.

Exhaustion was first on his list of challenges he needed to overcome. He gave up searching randomly for Bill's boat. That would only drain his energy faster. Instead, he filled his lungs with air and laid on his back in a dead man's float. The water was freezing and caused his entire body to shiver. It also got into his ears, nose, mouth, and eyes. Wiping his eyes did nothing to alleviate the sting since his fingers were wet.

With no sense of direction, Kam floated aimlessly, the waves lifting his body up and down. If he were to survive the night, he would need a miracle.

In the distance, Kam heard splashing. He spun around and started yelling. "Hey! I'm over here! Bill!" Water quickly filled his mouth, reminding him not to yell. Looking all around, he couldn't see anything. There was just enough light coming from the moon to see that the noise was not coming from Bill's boat. He first saw splashing, then a fin. He instinctively looked down around him as if he would be able to see, but of course, he couldn't.

Something swam beneath him, something big. Kam's nose had stopped bleeding, but he assumed the blood in the water had attracted sharks. If now was his time to die, he was mentally prepared. He felt that would be a quicker and more painless death than slowly dying of starvation and dehydration. The unknown creature brushed up against him again. Whatever it was, it was curious about him. On its next pass, came reached out and felt under the water. As the creature swam by, Kam felt the rigid shell of the giant sea turtle. The thought occurred to him to grab a hold of it and ride it to land, but he never got that opportunity. Within a minute or so, the large turtle lost interest in him and swam off.

Kam wanted to sleep, but was unable to fully drift off. He was slipping in and out of consciousness. An hour later, he felt something hard bump into his head. Thinking it was the turtle returning for another late-night visit, he reached into the water to pet it, but couldn't find its body. 

Another bump. 

Kam turned his head and saw that it was not a turtle at all, it was the miracle he had been asking for.