The bow of the boat burst into flames, after being struck by the
strong bolt of lightning.
“Shit!” Kevin screamed. “Nick!”
But Nick was already in action.
Kevin saw him jump the rungs of the ladder leading down to the
cabins. Over the crackling of the
flames at the front of the boat, he heard Nick’s frantic shouts to their
bandmates below deck.
Moments later, Nick scurried back up, followed directly behind by
Howie, AJ, and finally Brian. They all
dragged armfuls of supplies with them.
“The life raft!” Nick called.
“Kevin, help me!”
Kevin ran to Nick and helped him pry open a compartment on one
side of the deck. Inside was a deflated
life raft. Kevin grabbed it and held it
in his arms tightly, knowing they were going to need it. Nick opened another compartment next to the
first and yanked out several life jackets, a first aid kid, and a small supply
kit.
“Come on, guys!” he yelled, eyeing the flames, which had spread
across the deck. “We’re gonna have to
jump off!”
The four others exchanged fearful glances, but they knew this was
no option. The boat was burning, and they
had no choice but to jump overboard.
Nick quickly tossed them each one of the four life jackets he had
pulled out, going without one himself.
They hurriedly strapped them on and held tightly to the blankets and
supplies they had grabbed from below.
“Jump!” Nick yelled, shoving AJ, the nearest to him, forward. AJ hesitated only a moment, and then plunged
into the water. Howie followed
immediately behind him.
“Go Brian!” Nick shouted to his best friend, nudging him to the
side of the boat. Brian climbed over it and jumped out into the
water. “Kevin, go!”
“No, Nick, you go first,” Kevin yelled back, pushing his younger
friend forward. This may have been
Nick’s boat, but as the oldest, Kevin had always been the leader and felt
responsible for the others. He was not
getting off this boat until the other four were all safely in the water.
Without hesitation, Nick jumped over the side, and Kevin
immediately followed, the flames nearly surrounding him.
He hit the water with a loud splat. The water came over his head briefly, but he
was pulled back to the surface by his life jacket and bobbed there with the
waves, still clinging to the deflated life boat in his arms.
He saw AJ, Howie, and Brian clinging to each other, all bobbing
along with him. But Nick was nowhere to
be found.
Kevin swam to his three bandmates. “Where’s
Nick?” he yelled.
“I don’t know!” Brian yelled back, his eyes wide with worry. “He went under, and he’s not up yet!”
“Shit!” Kevin yelled, looking around frantically for the youngest
member of the group, the only member without a life jacket. Nick was a good swimmer, but they were far
out in the ocean, where the waves were strong, and the water was deep. And what if Nick had hit his head somehow
while jumping into the water? He could
drown!
“Oh my God,” AJ moaned, following Kevin’s example. All four of them did, turning this way and
that, calling for Nick.
Meanwhile, Nick’s boat was completely ablaze by now, it structure
cracking and collapsing as it burned, the damaged boat sinking slowly into the
ocean.
And still, Nick was nowhere to be found.
***