Chapter 10
At sea
Luke and Laura had been at sea for about forty minutes.
"You know Angel, Jennifer was not too generous with the food while she was holding me. I am really hungry."
"This is a first. I am the one who usually says that," laughed Laura. "Ok, I will go down to the galley and see what I can find. I didn't go to all this work to rescue you, to have you starve to death."
Luke laughed.
"Thanks. Laura, in case I haven't told you lately, I love you."
"I love you too Luke."
Laura put her arms around him and kissed him. Luke was about to deepen the kiss when Laura pulled away.
"I better go get you that food."
"Laura, I am hungry for other things too," Luke said with a smile. "If you know what I mean."
Laura returned his smile.
"I know exactly what you mean. Food first, dessert later."
Luke laughed as she walked out the door. He hoped Hutch's friend had made sure there was enough food on board, because it was going to take them several days to get to Port Charles.
About five minutes later, Laura had reached the galley and made them each a sandwich. She began looking for plates. She opened a cabinet and froze.
"LUKE!" she screamed.
Luke knew that he shouldn't leave the wheel, but he knew from the sound of Laura's voice that something was terribly wrong. He ran down to the galley as fast as he could. He saw Laura standing there with her eyes wide with fear.
"Laura? Laura, what's wrong?"
She tried to speak, but nothing came out. So she just pointed into the cabinet.
Luke looked in the direction she was pointing and saw the bomb sitting there. He knelt down to examine it and saw that they only had fifteen minutes till it went off.
He knew he had to protect Laura, but he didn't know how. They were too far out to sea to be able to make it back to the harbor. There were no lifeboats onboard. They could jump overboard, but they wouldn't be able to swim long enough to find land. There may even be sharks in the water. But it would be better than being blown to pieces.
He looked at Laura. She was still frozen with fear.
"Laura?" he said.
She didn't respond. He took her by the shoulders and shook her.
"Laura! Laura, can you hear me? Laura!"
She shook her head and looked at him.
"Luke, what are we going to do?"
"We are going to have to jump. It's our only chance," he said pulling her out on deck.
"Luke, I can't! I'm not that strong a swimmer. We are miles from shore."
"Well Angel, I don't have any other ideas and we only have a few minutes left. So unless you have a better idea, that is what we are going to do."
Laura thought for a second and then smiled.
"Luke, get my bag."
"Oh no! I am not going to swim with that bag. I would sink in a second."
Laura rolled her eyes.
"I didn't ask you to swim with it. I asked to go get it."
"Why?"
"I have an idea."
"Ok tell me, what is your…"
"Luke, just get the bag!" Laura yelled at him.
Luke ran to get the bag for her. He struggled to get it back to where she was standing. He handed her the bag and watched as she rummaged through it. His mouth dropped open with amazement as she pulled out a rubber life raft.
She placed the raft on the deck and pulled the cord for it to inflate. She reached back into the bag and pulled out two small plastic paddles.
Luke took the raft and put it over the side and climbed in. He reached up to help Laura in. He was knocked backwards as she through the bag into the raft. He rolled his eyes, but decided not to say anything. Laura climbed over the edge of the boat and into the life raft.
Luke picked up the paddles and rowed as fast as he could. He wanted to be as far away from the boat as possible when it exploded.
"Laura, if I ever make fun of your packing again, remind me of this."
"I will. Trust me, I will," she teased.
Neither of them felt like laughing though.
"I love you, Angel," he said taking her hand.
He leaned forward to kiss her, but the kiss was interrupted as the boat exploded behind them. Luke instinctively covered Laura with his own body. The debris fell into the water all around them.
They were still alive, but they still had a big problem facing them. They were at sea in a rubber raft, they had no food, no water and no compass. Luke had no idea which way to row to get them to land. He looked at Laura and saw from the look on her face that she knew the seriousness of the situation.
Luke realized how tired he was. It had to be at least 4 o'clock in the morning. Whatever was going to happen to them, they would face it in the morning. For now, they needed to get some sleep. Luke put his arm around Laura and they both fell asleep as the waves rocked their tiny boat.