Chapter 27

Four days later...

The hot sun had been beating down on them, blistering their skin. They had begun to ration their food and water. Four days later, they were still in the middle of nowhere, no land anywhere. They still had a tin of water left, and a decent handful of fruits but they were not sure if it would last them.

On the third night things had gotten rough, they were glad for the shelter. Two would sleep while one sailed through the storm, controlling the rigging and tiller. The waves were tall, rocking the raft and spilling over the deck. The girls had taken to tying themselves with extra vines to the deck so that they would not be washed overboard. This was due to a certain event...

Flashback

Rikki was at the helm sailing their raft over the large waves as Anna and Cleo got a little shut-eye.

Just as she tacked, Cleo decided to come onto the deck, with an oomph she was sent flying off the deck as the boom had collided with her head.

"Cleo!" Rikki called out. She loosened the sails fully and dropped the tiller, looking out into the raging oceans. When Anna didn't wake instantly Rikki grabbed a long extra vine and tied it first to the mast and then around her middle.

"Anna!" she yelled. Finally, she woke. "Cleo's been washed overboard, take the rudder!"

This got her up and ready for action.

Rikki threw herself off the deck to where she saw Cleo's unconscious body floating face down. She swam quickly to where her friend was, Anna trying her best to keep the raft from drifting too far. Rikki was thankful that she had adjusted to swimming without a tail back on the island.

She turned Cleo over quickly. "Come on Cleo,"

"Anna! Throw out another rope...No; tie it to the mast first!"

This was quickly tied to Cleo and Anna pulled her in as Rikki pulled her own rope to help herself get back onto the raft. They were soon onboard, wet and cold.

Cleo began to come-to with Anna and Rikki leaning over her. She grimaced and started coughing up water before her eyes fluttered open. Her friends both were relieved. Anna took over the controls and Rikki and Cleo went to have a well-earned rest. From now on they would have ropes tied around their waists and would call out before leaving the shelter.

End Flashback

The evening of the fourth night at sea, the storm moved away, clearing a space for the sun to poke through. They were alternating between sailing and rowing. The storm had done some good; they had collected a bit of rainwater – a precious substance.

The next morning...Their fifth day at sea...

After a coconut each, Anna and Rikki came out of the shelter to relieve Cleo of her task. Rikki would row and Anna would steer. After a few hours, Cleo came out to join them after a brief nap. She blinked, rubbed her eyes and looked again. Were her eyes deceiving her?

"Guys!" she exclaimed. "Land ho!"

They looked and found that Cleo was indeed right, smiles spread across their faces. They rowed towards what looked like civilised land; They could see the white sails of boats on the horizon line. It would be quite a way to go before they reached the land. After an hour of paddling, they were getting closer but were still far away. They lessened the pace and brought out the food and water to have as they went along. The three women took the raft slowly towards the land. A couple of yachts sailed by, their crews giving them strange stares. The trio laughed them off, they were so close to their goal.

"It is land! Hallelujah!" Anna said as they jumped off the raft to pull it to the shore. They dragged the raft up the beach, out of the tides reach. As they stood on solid ground for the first time in five days, their legs were like jelly, causing them to wobble. The three of them lay down in the sand, thankful that they had got there safely...although, they didn't exactly know where 'There' was.

"Wow, this really is a tropical paradise," Cleo said as she fully took in her surroundings.

After changing their wet clothes in their shelter, they grabbed their water bottles and waterproof bags, anything they would need and headed up the beach. After a while they found a road and walked down it, waiting to find some sort of settlement. After twenty minutes, they found one.

As they walked, Rikki whipped out her cell phone, it had the smallest bit of battery.

"Yes, reception!" she exclaimed.

'ZANE. WE R SAFE & WELL. LOVE RIKKI' She texted as fast as she could. It sent. She let go a sigh of relief. As soon as it was gone, her phone died.

OoOoO

'Beep beep, beep beep'

Zane's phone went off. Alex and Jay were playing with their cars in the cafe's office and he was bored, sorting out the accounts. Zane looked at his phone without interest and looked back at the computer screen. His eyes widened and he looked back at his phone.

'One Message from Rikki Bennett' He quickly clicked it open.

'ZANE. WE R SAFE & WELL. LOVE RIKKI' He smiled overjoyed, he had always known they were still alive. His smile quickly turned to a frown, Where were they? Why hadn't they contacted us earlier? He had to show this to Ben and Lewis.

OoOoO

"Hey, could you tell us where we are?" Cleo asked a woman who was passing by on the street.

The woman looked at the three of them quizzically before answering her question.

"You are at Knowles Village,"

"Where is that?"

"Cat Island," Cleo still was blank. Realisation dawned on Anna however.

"The Bahamas?" Anna said.

"That's right," the woman replied.

"Where abouts is the nearest airport?" Rikki asked

"The New Bight Airport is about nine kilometres that way," she pointed the direction of the road.

"Thank you very much," Anna said. Rikki and Cleo also said their thanks.

They headed off walking in that direction.

Forty minutes later they came to Smith Town – again they had asked the locals for help. Here they had a rest and food break, they had a small amount of food left, they were going to save it for their next stop.

Another hour of walking, and the sun was very low in the sky, about to disappear from the horizon. They decided they would try in finding some overnight accommodation here. They approached the 'Fernandez Bay Village Hotel,' They checked in without trouble and went upstairs to their room with three beds. The price of the room was not too bad seeing as they hadn't been paying for anything over the past month, they paid a third each. The hotel staff were surprised at how little they carried, truly they only had their waterproof bags, and how wild they looked.

"Ahh," Cleo said in bliss as she lay down on the soft mattress, a luxury that had been denied to them.

"Bags the shower first!" Rikki said.

They all took turns In the shower, feeling the sweat and grime from their journey be washed away, enjoying the warm water, another luxury that had not been experienced in quite a while. The hotel had free toiletries which were readily taken advantage of. For the first time in a long while, they felt truly clean again. The beds felt alien to them after a long time of sleeping on the ground, soon they were asleep, and thankful they had made it there.

OoOoO

The next morning they ordered room service breakfast – this was easier than having to find something themselves. At about nine in the Bahamas morning, after they'd eaten, Cleo used the phone in their room to dial the Benjamin's home phone number, she didn't know what time it was there (Rikki's watch had died) and she knew that Bella would probably be looking after the young kids.

"Hello, Bella Benjamin speaking," she yawned.

"Bella, it is us..." Cleo started.

They head a shriek coming over the speakerphone.

"Oh my gosh guys! Are you all there..."

"Whoa, calm down Bella, it is good to hear you too, yes; the three of us are safe and well." Anna put in.

"Do you have any idea what we've been going through? Zane has been the worst." They all shared a look of understanding.

"But Bella, do you know what we've been through..."

"No, and I'm dying to find out, what happened?"

"Could you get everyone? It would be easier to tell everyone at once,"

"Do you realise that it is the middle of the night?"

"Oh, sorry."

"No, don't be sorry, we've been waiting for this phone call a long time, besides apparently yesterday Zane got a text from Rikki, we knew you'd call sooner or later. When he replied, it didn't deliver."

"Yeah, my phone died," Rikki said.

"That's why we didn't call earlier. One: we didn't have reception, Two: the battery on our phones died." Anna said

"Could you get the others? This is costing us you know,"

"Just a sec, I'll go wake the camp up, stay on the line!" Bella said.

A/N: Please review :P