Page 6 of Dance Practice, Marooned: Part 2

“Pirates,” he growls, his voice low. “I think it’s fucking pirates.”

Aggie gasps beside me. Rachel is so still I think she might pass out. Tatiana swears under her breath, so softly I can’t make out the words.

“How do you even know? It could be nothing,” Adrian asks. “How can you tell it’s pirates from that far out? Are you sure you’re not being dramatic?”

Ace shoots him a look that has him shrinking back a little. “Because they are flying what looks like a fucking black flag. We ain’t takin’ that risk.”

“What do we do?” Aggie asks.

“We fuckin’ make ourselves vanish, that’s what we fuckin’ do,” Zeke orders. “Put the fire out, right fucking now. Get every bit of washing that is hanging, take everything down. If they go past with a scope, we need to make sure they can’t see a fucking thing.”

I stare in horror. Our camp is set up, it has been for a while, to take it all down is a huge job.

“Get it all,” Ace grits out, “every fucking bit of it.”

“What if you’re wrong?”

It’s Rachel who speaks, her voice tiny.

We all pause, turning to stare at her.

“What are you talkin’ about?” Kellen asks.

“What if you’re wrong, and it isn’t pirates, and we miss our one chance at getting out of here?”

My eyes dart to Aggie, who gives me a concerned look.

We all understand where she’s coming from, of course we do, but it is a huge risk to take if we’re wrong. Either way it goes.

“I’m tellin’ you,” Kellen bites out, his face firm. “That ships out here, with flags like that, are very unlikely to be good people.”

“I hear what you’re saying,” Rachel throws back at him. “But if you’re wrong, we lose every chance we have.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Ace mutters. “It ain’t worth riskin’ our lives to assume it’s someone here to rescue us.”

“You expect us to trust any of you?” Rachel fires, her face getting redder by the second. “You’re the fucking reason we’re here. For all we know, you could have this all planned out.”

“Don’t fuckin’ start,” Kellen warns her, his voice low. “Now ain’t the time.”

“Enough,” Zeke snaps, throwing his hands up. “You two can sit out here and fucking argue if you like, but I’m not riskin’ my life for anyone. Let’s pack up, and assume the worst. We can have a lookout as the ship gets closer if it makes you feel better, and if it isn’t pirates, we will flag them down.”

“Good plan,” Tati nods. “Can we get moving?”

“I have always wondered what it would be like to meet an actual pirate,” Adrian ponders.

“Adrian,” I mutter. “Not now.”

He shrugs. “It could be fun.”

“Fuck me,” Ace grunts. “Let’s just get this done.”

Nobody argues after that. We all get to work, making the space look like we were never here, as quickly as we can. We find a place by the cliffs to stash our things, we cover the fire pit with sand and fronds, we take down anything we have hung, and we take anything away from the shipwreck that makes it look like we’re fixing a boat. We can’t do much about it laying there, and we all know it will likely draw them in closer, to see if anyone is here, but what do we do?

Pray and hope they assume it is just a wreck.

“We’re goin’ to miss something,” Kellen growls. “I just fuckin’ know it.”

I almost bite back at Kellen, but he’s probably right. There’s always something left: a loop of cord, a shard of glass, a footprint in the dirt. But the best we can do is try, so we spread out and sweep the sand, shoulder to shoulder. Aggie takes the lead, scouring for anything we might have missed, wrappers from the ration packs, the plastic bits off water bottles, hell, just a stray hair clip or shoelace is enough to set it all in motion. The guys keep their focus on the shipwreck and making it look untouched.