Chapter Twenty-Five
Sunk
Mad Water Delta — Seabed / Shoreline
Int. Endurance — Control Center — Day
Endurance II lies at an odd angle on the seabed.
Bubbles rise from its base. Toby takes a deep breath as he watches the bubbles.
Of seven crew, two remain—the others killed on impact are now lined up in a neat row, wrapped in silver body bags.
Toby COUGHS as he expels the stagnant air.
Toby
(quietly estimating)
Thirty minutes—maximum.
Water trickles.
He turns in his seat, looks at Schuster’s pale, sweat-glistened face.
Toby
(V.O.)
Not long for him. Better he’s asleep.
Then, barely perceptible movement, like the earth shaking.
His eyes snap open.
Toby
(V.O.)
Could I be imagining it? Yes—beginning of the end.
Then a slow RUMBLE.
He forces his body to the window.
Directly adjacent to the broken wing, there is a glow.
He looks to the control center, staggers across to get the binoculars.
He uses his last remaining energy to ease them over his eyes.
He focuses on a string bag wrapped around a jutting piece of wood.
The glow increases in strength.
The bag is moving as though caught in a current—but everything else is still.
Toby slips onto the floor just as the emergency power fails.
Darkness.
Ext. Mad Water Delta Area — Evening
Feelgood beckons for Budya to follow.
With renewed energy, he strides like an athlete towards Mad Water Delta.
The moon is large, casting silver light.
Mad Water Delta sparkles into sight.
The ocean is flat, yet the delta seems disturbed—ruffled like the feathers of an angry bird.
He reaches the banks, casts his eyes to the right: the land falls gently away to form a sand spit dividing the mainland from Stinkwood Island, protecting the delta from the open sea.
The lighthouse is silhouetted against the sky.
He follows the bank until his feet touch the sand.
Budya stays close behind.
Another sound, above. A helicopter, moving fast, heading for the lighthouse.
Feelgood
(sighing with relief)
Only a bloody helicopter this time. Any other time, I would have sworn the spirits had come to get me.
He hesitates.
Dread.
He looks back.
Budya
(urging)
For Juba.
The helicopter has settled.
Feelgood skirts the lighthouse and almost bumps into Blake as he rushes from the entrance.
End of Chapter Twenty-Five