Troubled Waters

Ready for this week's adventure? Then get ready for some trouble, because we're about to find a lot of it...

With a giant splash! I realized that 4T had gone a bit off course from where I’d originally planned on going.

“Trevor!” I heard Marin yelp. “Trevor, help me!”

“Oooohhhhh boy! This water is cold!” I exclaimed, thrashing around as I tried to warm my body up. “Marin, where are you?”

I swam in a circle until I caught sight of the flailing figure of my little Czech girl. She was throwing herself around, her arms going every direction as she tried to keep her head above the water.

“Trevor, help me! I can’t swim!”

She was panicking. I knew if she calmed down and remembered how to do it, she’d began to swim fine.But at the moment anything to do with swimming had fallen right out of her brain and somewhere into the ocean.

“I’m coming!” I stroked my way towards her, grabbing her arm just as she went under again. “Oww! No, Marin, don’t do that!” She’d flung herself onto my back, squeezing me as tight as she could. “You’re going to drown both of us!”

“Sorry.” She trembled, sliding off of me. “But what can I hold onto? I have nothing to hold onto! I don’t want to drown!”

“Calm down, Marin,” I assured her. “Perhaps a piece of wood will drift this way.”

“Why are we in the ocean in the first place? What ocean is this, anyways? It’s cold.”

Marin always did have a way about getting to the point.

I glanced around the water, waves pushing us one direction and then another. There was nothing to be seen. No land, no ships- nothing. “Well, I guess 4T must’ve misunderstood me.”

Though she was doing her best not to pull me under the water with her, Marin continued to hold onto my shoulders for support. “How on earth did we end up here? Where were we supposed to end up?”

“Well, I said the Atlantic Ocean,” I admitted, “I just hadn’t realized we’d literally land in the Atlantic Ocean.”

“You mean we’re nowhere near land or anything?” Marin cried. “Does that mean we’re going to die?”

“Naw,” I replied cheerily. “I’m sure there’s a reason we ended up here. 4T may get its geography messed up, but if I set it to land in a certain time in history, it’s going to find something historical for us to be part of.”

“Yeah. The ocean’s real historical. More people have died on it than any other body of water.”

I glanced over my shoulder at her. “Have some faith! We’re not going to drown, Just keep swimming. And yes, you do know how to. Remember? We worked on that for five months at the Island.”

Marin nodded, obviously not convinced but willing to give it a shot. She let go of my shoulders and began to use her arms.

“Much better,” I encouraged.

“I hope we’re not out here too long.” Marin gritted her teeth and shuddered. “It’s really cold.”

“I’m sure someone will rescue us or we’ll find land. Don’t worry.”

~oOo~

Five hours later, we’d managed to find a piece of floating wood, but no one had come to our rescue yet.

Marin and I held onto the driftwood, our teeth chattering and our hands shaking. The sun was beginning to set in the East, and I guessed that’s where land was.

“Oh, no one is ever going to find us,” Marin groaned. “We may have to drift on the water until 4T takes us home or until we drown.”

“That’s not very positive thinking,” I pointed out.

“I’m having a very hard time being positive when there’s absolutely nothing out here to save us-”

As if on cue, not more than half a mile away the water began to rise and churn. Marin gasped and I blinked as a huge, black shiny object popped out of the water and into the fading daylight.

“Is that a whale?” Marin exclaimed.

I strained my eyes and stared at the large object. It bobbed up and down on the surface, floating along the waves like a huge ship. “I don’t think that’s a whale…” Where the spout on a ordinary whale would be, a hatch opened and a tiny figure rose up. “No, that definitely is not a whale. I believe that’s a submarine.”

“A submarine!”

I glanced at the eleven-year-old girl. “Don’t worry Marin,” I said lightly. “This isn’t World War Two, there are no Nazi submarines out here.”

She visibly relaxed.

No, we just have to worry about other types of submarines and political enemies. I decided it would be best not to tell her that.

“Hey!” Marin called. “Hey! We’re over here!”

“Uhhh…” I wasn’t sure it was the best idea to call out to a unknown submarine, but then again it may be better than drifting on the ocean for an indefinite amount of time. “Over here! Help us!” I shouted.

Both Marin and I began yelling and shouting at the top of our lungs, hoping someone would hear or see us. More figures filed out of the submarine. They must’ve been on air break or something.

“Help us! We’re over here! Please, help us!”

At long last, it appeared someone had seen us. The tiny black figures against the fading sunlight began to scramble around and point in our direction. Someone waved, and we waved back.

“They’ve seen us!” Marin sang out. “They’re going to rescue us!”

Sure enough, the submarine swung around and began to head our way, but for some reason I felt uneasy about the whole situation. There was something different about this sub, something that was out of place. It didn’t remind me of a normal James Madison- class submarine, it seemed a bit more like a-

As the large watercraft came within eight hundred yards of us and pulled sideways, I knew. I glanced at Marin to see if she was paying attention, but she seemed overjoyed by the fact we were about to be rescued.

Shouts came from the submariners. Someone threw a life buoy towards us. Marin and I swam towards the life saver and grabbed onto either edge, holding on as they began to reel us in.

“You were right, Trevor!” Marin smiled at me. “4T knew where to put us at the right time, and we’re not going to drown!”

“Marin, we may be in trouble,” I told her as we came closer to the submarine. “This isn’t an American submarine.”

She shot me a look. “How do you know? I didn’t see any insignia on the side, did you see it?”

I nodded. Before I had a chance to reply, one of the men on the sub called out, “Ты в порядке? Мы тянет вас на подводной лодке!”

Marin’s face went white and she groaned. “Oh, goodness. How could I be so blind?”

I sighed and put my hand on hers. “Well, at least we’re not technically at war with the Russians. It could be a lot worse.”

I wasn’t so sure about that later when I saw the number B-59 as the men pulled us out of the water and onto the submarine. Correction, things could get a lot worse if we’re not careful.

Come back next week for part two! See you then!