I tied the two dozen or so life vests together into a makeshift raft. With it, I could finally pull myself out of the water and begin to dry out. I changed into the uniform I’d acquired, slightly torn but still wearable. I felt sick to my stomach. At least I couldn’t hear any of them any more. The cries for help or of pain had lasted longer than I expected and carried a lot further as well, considering how far I’d thrown them.

Was I a murderer? Had I just murdered all those people? It was self defense, in a way. They wouldn’t have ever kept quiet about me when rescue arrived and that would have resulted in me being left out here to eventually drown or die of thirst or something. I still hated what I’d done.

The uniform wasn’t a perfect fit, being a little big on me, but it was the best I could do. With how wet I was, someone would have to look pretty close to notice the issue. Though, now that I was out of the water I’d dry off by the time rescue arrived. Perhaps I would need to dip myself back in the water every once in a while to keep up the disguise, such as it was. I wouldn’t need to really worry about that until later. Rescue wasn’t due for another day at least. For now, I turned over onto my side and fell asleep while silent tears ran down my cheeks.

When I next opened my eyes it didn’t feel as though any time had passed and yet I knew it must have been hours because the sky was dark. The wind had also picked up and the waves were getting big. First thing I did was check to make sure I still had the beacon. It was tied to my left wrist and still blinking. My raft of vests was also still fine, though the growing waves were threatening to tear the knots I’d tied. I wasn’t the best with knots and only knew three or so different ways of tying things together. I doubted my knots were the optimal choice but they were the best I could do.

The only thing missing were my flippers. I’d taken them off after building the raft but had tied them to the side of the raft. They were gone now, leaving me with only the raft to keep me from drowning. That wasn’t ideal. I regretted taking them off. I should have just left them on until I saw or heard the rescue helicopter and then I could have taken them off before anyone was close enough to see what they were. Too late for that now.

As the weather turned stormier and my raft became less and less stable, I took a few of the vests and put them on myself. I’d found that about three vests were enough to keep me afloat, though five was really what I preferred. It was just difficult to keep that many strapped to me. I put two on, one over the other, and then attached one to each of my legs. The fifth I tied around my hips. In that way I could float in a sitting position and more or less be alright.

Before long, the waves were cresting way over my head and pounding down onto my raft, tearing it apart and scattering the life vests. I grabbed as many of them as I could in case the five I’d put on got torn away. Most of the waves just carried me up and down but every once in a while a wave would crash onto me, driving me down into the water, spinning me about, until the life vests towed me back up to the surface. Each time it happened I would clench myself into a tight ball, holding all of the life vests to myself so they wouldn’t get lost in the storm. They were my only hope of surviving this and each time I came back out of the water I found myself screaming in terror.

It was strange, like I was observing myself from outside, see my fear and hearing me scream without actually being fully connected to any of it. Somewhere in my mind I knew I was panicking and going into shock but there was nothing I could do about that now. The only thing I could do was cling onto the life vests and hope the storm passed quickly.

Time is a funny thing when you’re in shock. Sometimes I felt as though I’d lost consciousness, passing out from the mental and emotional weight of it all and having time flash by, while other times it seemed everything was incredibly close and in focus and I could count every second taking forever to pass by.

Besides the beacon, the only light came from the flashes of lightning, their explosive thunder directly overhead and startling me every time. A few strikes were close enough that I felt the buzz of electricity pass through me and I had to wonder if I’d been killed were it not for my powers.

Gradually, so slowly that I could only tell it was happening by comparing past hours, the storm began to wane. The waves became less monstrous and the lightning less frequent. My life vests were torn in places but still supporting me and I even managed to keep a few extras throughout the storm. When the sun peeked out from beneath the clouds I cried in relief. The storm was still going but it was no longer the terrifying experience it had been during the night. Now it was mostly just raining. The waves were a few feet high but nothing that would push me under.

I wondered if the storm would delay the rescue at all. I had no way of knowing what direction they would be coming from or how that related to the path of the storm but I hoped it didn’t effect them too much. I wanted out of this ocean and to get back onto dry land. Even if all I ended up doing was trading one prison for another I wanted out of this.

With the main threat now passed, the exhaustion hit. I’d been up all night fighting against this storm and now I was drained, mentally, emotionally, and physically. I checked all of my life vests and their knots and once I was certain they were in good shape, I lay back and let myself drift back into unconsciousness.

The noise of the helicopter brought me back out of my slumber. I knew what it meant at once and shot up, wide awake and looked around for the source. The beacon was still on my arm and I waved it around, hoping the light would catch their attention. The helicopter was to the south of me and soon it turned and began coming straight for me. I wanted to cry but held it together. I wasn’t safe yet. I was shaking with anticipation as the helicopter neared and finally hovered directly above me. It didn’t feel real even as I watched them lower a basket. I climbed on as soon as it was down and it towed me back up. That was when I began crying.

As soon as I was winched back up, several hands helped me transition from the basket into the helicopter itself. I had to remind myself to be careful that I didn’t injure anyone by grabbing them too tightly. Once inside I fell onto the first person I saw and hugged them.

“Thank you for coming,” I wept.

They patted me awkwardly on the back.

“Where’s everyone else?” someone asked.

“They didn’t make it,” I said, shaking my head. For the first time I was thankful for the storm, giving me an excuse to not explain why I was alone.

Several people helped remove the life vests from me and then got me sat down and buckled into my seat.

“Are you okay, Nayak?”

I nodded before I could stop myself. “Yes, thank you,” I said before I realized what I’d done. Terror gripped me again as my eyes shot open and I tensed, waiting for the attacks to resume.

No one moved towards me. Someone gave the pilot a thumbs up and we started heading south.

“We’ve got your dad on the radio,” the soldier nearest me said over the noise of the helicopter and held out a headset for me.

I took it, still unsure what all was going on, and put it on.

“Hello?” I said.

“Misha, are you alright?” my dad’s voice was full of worry.

“I’m okay, dad,” I said, my throat choking up a bit. “What happened?” I asked. “I thought they were going to keep trying to kill me.”

“Sandra’s news story about you went viral,” my dad explained. “Congress had to do something, and the president couldn’t ignore it either. They’re all denying that they knew what Colonel Trenton was doing and have removed him from his post. Some are saying he’s facing a court-marshal but we’ll have to wait and see about that. There’s talk that congress will be passing a law soon banning minors from joining the Protection Force.”

“Does that mean I get to come home?” I barely dared to ask it but I had to know.

“Yes, Misha,” my dad said, “you’re coming home.”

We spoke for what felt like hours. It didn’t matter what we were talking about, just hearing each other’s voices was enough. I cried and he cried but they were tears of relief and joy. The soldiers in the helicopter left me alone, with the only exception being when they offered me food and water.

Behind us, the storm passed over the horizon and out of sight just as the aircraft carrier came into view in front of us. I knew this wasn’t entirely over. I’d likely need to do a fair amount of testifying about the things I’d been through, but I could do that. The nightmare was over.

When at last my dad and I finished talking, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. My shoulders and neck relaxed and my hands stopped shaking. As the helicopter came in to land I felt a smile, a real smile cross my face. It was the first one I’d had in who knows how long.

The End