The Other Side of Nowhere Read Online Free PDF Page B

do.’
    The thought terrified me. Nick wasn’t in any shape to be the only one who knew what to do.
    ‘Okay, yeah,’ I said, trying to sound confident. ‘You just sit tight and whatever you do don’t let go of the rail … or Matt.’
    I scrambled back to Nick, who was back on the wheel in spite of his injury, trying to bring The Dolphin ’s nose around to face the oncoming sea.
    ‘Give it to me,’ I yelled, taking the wheel from him. ‘George thinks we hit something in the wave.’
    Nick said nothing and I shot a glance at him. He looked like he might be about to pass out. ‘Sounded like metal to me,’ he said. ‘Could’ve been a shipping container. They can sit just below the surface, then bam .’
    I was only half listening, trying to work out what we should do. With the mast broken we had no sail at all, and even though the motor was still chugging away it didn’t seem to be giving us any momentum. The steering was so heavy it felt like we were trying to move through wet cement. No matter how hard I pulled on it, the wheel wouldn’t budge.
    ‘Nick, I can’t get her to turn.’
    ‘Get rid of the rigging,’ he grunted.
    I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or himself. For a moment he sat quietly, just staring at the floor. Just when I was about to give him a nudge he sat upright and spoke. ‘Go to the cabin. Under the chart table, there’s a toolkit. Should be a tomahawk and a hacksaw in there.’
    ‘Sure,’ I said, pleased to have some instructions to follow. ‘Don’t go anywhere, all right?’
    Nick smiled weakly and took the wheel again. ‘Just hurry, yeah?’
    The downstairs cabin was a mess. Food, clothes and rubbish were floating in murky waist-deep water. I wondered for the first time if we were sinking. The thought made my stomach churn, but I tried to put it out of my mind and took a couple of deep breaths, knowing I had to concentrate on the task at hand. I waded into the icy water and over to the chart table. In one quick move I ducked under and found the toolkit. I opened it up on the chart table and grabbed the saw and tomahawk.
    ‘Cabin’s flooded,’ I told Nick as I stowed the tools in a compartment on deck.
    ‘Take the wheel,’ he said. Struggling to balance as The Dolphin continued to be tossed around wildly, Nick leant precariously over the side of the yacht to take in the damage. The look on his face said it all.
    ‘We’ve hit something all right. There’s a dirty great hole in the hull. So yep,’ he said matter-of-factly, ‘we’ll be taking on water for sure.’
    My heart started thumping fast and hard. I passed the wheel back to Nick and looked over the side, wanting to see the damage myself. From about halfway along the hull all the way to the stern was an ugly jagged tear on The Dolphin ’s perfect skin, just below the water line.
    Up till now everything had been a blur, a surreal craziness with no sense to it, but seeing that damage made the reality of the situation hit home.
    I took back the wheel from Nick and asked the only question on my mind. ‘We’re not going to sink, are we?’
    Nick didn’t reply. With his good arm he reached down and lifted one of the manhole covers on deck. We could both plainly see water sloshing around in the hold under the deck – even more water than before. Way too much water.
    ‘What’s going on?’ George shouted, tugging on my arm. Matt was next to her.
    Nick looked confused, like he wasn’t sure who George was. ‘Did you get the saw?’ he asked me.
    ‘Yeah, and the tomahawk.’
    ‘Okay. You’re gonna have to cut through the wires attached to the mast –’
    Even though he was right next to me I couldn’t hear the rest of it over the roar of the waves. It probably wouldn’t have made a difference if I could. I stared at the jumble of ropes and wires spread across the yacht like an upturned bowl of spaghetti. I had no clue where to start and no amount of instruction from Nick was going to change that.
    Then