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“We trust each other,” Patton says. “It’s the only way to be sure we make it back alive.”
He doesn’t say the quiet part aloud: it’s the only way we don’t end up like Mae.
PART3
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
MAE
When I come to, my head feels like it’s been crushed under a bookcase. It’s heavy, sore. I try to look around, to search for Blake, but I see no one. Nothing. The room I’m in is pitch black.
No.
Wait…
Maybe not.
There’s something over my face. I tilt my head toward my shoulder, rubbing my cheek against it through the searing pain to confirm—yes.Something is over my head. A bag, it feels like.
Claustrophobia sets in immediately as I suck in a breath, the thick fabric pushing into my mouth. It’s a rough texture and heavily perfumed in chemicals. My skin is hot and itchy, not to mention terribly raw. I’m tired yet wide awake. My stomach is empty. I can’t move my right hand.
Where am I?
Where is Blake?
Florence?
I open my mouth to call out for them, but my throat is too dry. I can’t make my voice work.
When I hear footsteps, I freeze. Is it them? Are they coming to find me? Is this a dream?
Thinking back, I struggle to recall my last memory. I remember the cruise… We were supposed to be going on a cruise. Did we ever make it? I can’t… I can’t seem to remember anything.
Why am I so hungry?
So nauseous?
What is happening to me?
I don’t recognize the voices as they get closer to me, nor do I recognize the language that they’re speaking. Russian, maybe? Or…German? It’s a harsh language. Angry sounding. Then again, maybe they’re just angry.
I weigh my options. Should I try to draw attention to myself? Ask them what’s happening?
But what if they’re the reason I’m here?
My fuzzy mind is beginning to pull things together and as reality sets in, my heart pounds. I’m trapped. Tied up. Something is over my head, preventing me from seeing my surroundings, limiting my airflow.
I gasp for breath as the panic sets in again, but when the voices draw nearer, I somehow summon the resolve to get quiet. I need to understand what’s happening. Need to think.
I close my eyes, pressing every point of my body into the surface underneath me. I can sense the water shifting, feel the waves. It’s like being in the wave pool at the water park. We’re on a boat. The ship. Maybe we made it onto the ship after all.
I run my tongue over my lips, desperate for water. Something to drink. I’m absolutely parched.
Thinking of water makes something tingle in the back of my mind, a hint of a memory. I grasp onto it, clawing and scraping at the corners of my consciousness for where it comes from. Where it belongs.
I was at a bar I don’t immediately recognize, with…
Zach?
