Page 35 of Dance Practice, Marooned: Part 2

I squeeze back, letting him know I hear him.

Kellen shuffles, moving around, tripping over a few things and cursing. The moon is the only light we have, and it’s not great. Still, it’s enough I guess for him to see the basics. It’s crazy how your eyes learn to adjust quickly to darkness when there is no light around. For the first few weeks out here, I hated the night, but now it is almost like muscle memory. I can move around, no flashlight, and I can do it with ease.

We all can.

“I’ll get closer, see what I can find out,” Kellen whispers, then he’s gone.

“Do you think we can actually get their ship?” I ask Ace, shifting closer as the cold wind makes me shiver.

“I think if they’re all off the ship, yeah, we can.”

“Aren’t those things usually full?”

“Not necessarily, no. Not all pirates are travellin’ in big groups. It’s not a fictional movie. These guys, they’re real, they’re rotten and it may very well be just the ones we saw.”

I hope he’s right.

Because it might mean we have a chance here.

“What about their weapons?” Aggie murmurs from somewhere behind me.

“If this plan works, we don’t need to worry about their weapons,” Ace murmurs.

What the hell have they got planned?

The silence surrounds us again, and I sit, tucked against Ace, my hand firmly clasped in his, just waiting for Kellen to return. I don’t know how long he is gone, but it’s long enough that my legs go dead under me. We’re all spiralling inside, each of us in our own silent hell, and the only thing that keeps me from unravelling completely is the warmth of Ace’s body pressed up against mine.

I don’t know where everyone else is sitting, but they’re all close.

In the dead silence, I can hear their breathing.

Every second feels like a decade. By the time I hear Kellen’s feet rustling, my spine feels like a row of shattered glass. He drops down beside us hard, all breath and adrenaline, smelling like sweat. Ace moves quickly, pulling away from me and leaving a cold chill where he was. “What’s the word?”

“Zeke’s alive still, thank fuck,” Kellen murmurs, low. “They brought him up to their fire. They bandaged him up, got him tied at the wrists but he is just sitting there. Pirate has a gun on him, but those idiots are drinking again. Same bunch as last time, doesn’t appear to be any extras.”

“You hear them question him at all?”

“Yeah, they were askin’ him where we were. He just barked that he didn’t fuckin’ know what they were talking about. They kept pushing. Sayin’ there was no way he is alone out here. He was refusin’ to answer, which is exactly what we want him to do.”

“Do you think they have any more people on the ship?” I ask.

“I’m guessin’ maybe one or two people keeping guard, but I don’t think so. I think these fuckers are it.”

“So, do we get to hear the plan now?” Rachel asks, her voice short, but a little scared.

“Alright. Here’s how it’s gonna go. We are basing all of this on the hope that Zeke keeps tellin’ them we aren’t here, because we know they don’t believe him. Kellen and I moved the ship we are fixin’ earlier, before they got here. We got it on the edge of the water, ready to push in. It ain’t ready to float, but it’s enough to look like it’s going to.”

I shake my head, even though nobody can see. “I’m confused.”

“Kellen is goin’ to create a distraction, draw them over there. They’ll think we’re tryin’ to escape, and they’ll be so fuckin’ focused on it, they won’t realise that we’re not even there, not at first. Once they’re there, Kellen is goin’ to circle back around, get Zeke and meet us at the ship.”

“The ship?” Tati gasps. “We’re stealing the ship?”

“Damn fuckin’ right we are,” Kellen answers.

“You ladies are going to be positioned near the ship, but out of sight in case anything goes wrong,” Ace goes on. “Once I go on, clear the ship, you will all get on.”

“What if it’s full?” Adrian asks.