Burnt Sea: A Seabound Prequel (Seabound Chronicles Book 0) Read Online Free PDF Page B

teeth in what was probably meant to be a smile, but
her face was grim. She turned and ran down a passageway.
    “Okay, the rest of you, let’s head to the plaza and settle everyone
down,” Simon said. The pregnant woman screamed. “And see if we can find a
doctor!”

 
    Judith

 
    Judith
jogged down the dim passageway. She was heading for the front of the ship, but
beyond that she had no idea where the captain should be. Doors lined the passageway,
ornate numbers set in plates beside each of them. A pile of suitcases had been
abandoned on the carpet. She leapt over them and ran on. If she kept running,
kept her heart rate up, maybe she could avoid the terror that threatened to
overwhelm her. How can this be happening?
    At the end of the passageway she found two elevators. She pushed the
buttons, but the panel where the numbers should appear remained blank. No
elevators then. There was a service door nearby with a porthole-like window in
it. She was reaching for the handle when a face appeared in the window, right
at eye level.
    Judith gasped and jumped back. The face disappeared, then the door cracked open. A young man with a mop of black hair above a round, dark
face emerged. He wasn’t much older than Judith, and he was very short. He wore
a white uniform with a sailor’s collar and a blue embroidered logo that said,
“Catalina: Your Island at Sea . ”
    “Excuse me,” Judith said. “I’m looking for the bridge. Can you help
me?”
    “Bridge?” The young man’s eyes were the size of headlights. He had a
cut above one eye and blood dripped into his eyebrow.
    “I need to find the captain.”
    “I’m not allowed on the bridge,” the young man said softly.
    “It’s an emergency,” Judith said.
    He looked around the passageway, still halfway behind the door, like a
rabbit peeking out of a hole.
    “What’s happening?” His voice sounded like a child’s.
    For a moment Judith wanted to cry. “I don’t know.”
    They stared at each other, lost, fearful.
    Get a grip, Judith , she thought. You’re both adults. She adopted a confident
voice, the one she’d practiced to use in her interview to describe her accomplishments. The interview! It was too late for
that now. She supposed she wouldn’t need her sharp gray suit now, but she
pictured herself dressed in it anyway, hair in a perfect chignon.
    “Take me to the bridge,” she commanded.
    The young man nodded and beckoned her into the stairwell. As they
climbed, he chattered like a frightened bird.
    “I am Manny. I am from the Philippines. I am only working here for
three months. I heard the screaming, and some of the crew ran away. I am
thinking the ship is safer than the land.”
    “You’re probably right.”
    “What’s your name?” Manny asked.
    “Judith Stone.”
    “You are a guest?”
    “What?”
    “A ship guest,” Manny said patiently. “We do not call them passengers
here.”
    “Oh, no. I ran to the ship when the cloud started coming down. I’m from
San Diego.”
    “I am sorry for your family.”
    Judith stopped short. Her final step echoed through the cold stairwell.
She stared at Manny without really seeing him. Her family was in San Francisco.
Her father ran a busy tech company and rarely had time to see her. Her mother
and stepfather were preoccupied with their second family—a spoiled
four-year-old boy and a colicky baby. Judith had barely thought of them. They
were in San Francisco . They would be
far enough away from the bomb or chemical attack or whatever was going on out
there. Wouldn’t they?
    “They’re fine,” she said. They had to be.
    “As I say, I am sorry,” Manny said. He seemed to take comfort in having
something to do. He walked quickly through the ship, urging her to watch her
head when they stepped through a low doorway. He pointed out the passageway
leading to the galley, the service elevator, now silent, and the back entrance
to the captain’s clubhouse. “For the vip guests.”
    “The