Survivors (Stranded) Read Free Page B

Like a cool shower for his throat and insides.
    For several long silent moments, nobody spoke. Carter and Jane had picked their own spots, where they gulped the water down in fast, loud sips. Vanessa stood back and waited for them to finish before she took her own drink.
    Once he’d had his fill, Buzz turned his attention back to the boat. Its starboard hull loomed over the back of the cove like a giant metal wall. It looked as though it had been painted blue once, but most of it had gone to rust. A few black holes showed where the metal had corroded all the way through.
    Five minutes ago, the idea of climbing up and exploring the ship had seemed overwhelming to Buzz. Now he was excited to see what they might find.
    “Can we live here?” Jane asked.
    “Why not?” Carter said. “It’s huge. And the water supply’s right here. We can’t keep hiking back and forth over those rocks every time we need a drink.”
    Buzz liked the idea already. The boat would be dry, and there were probably real bunks on board. It also meant not having to rebuild their burned-out shelter.Trying to sleep on bamboo the last several nights had been like torture, anyway.
    “Maybe we should look inside first,” Jane said.
    “Let’s do it,” Carter said, and started toward the ship.
    “Actually,” Vanessa said. “Hold on a second. There’s something else you guys should see first.”
    Buzz looked at his sister. She had a strange expression on her face, but he couldn’t tell what it was about.
    “What kind of something else?” Carter asked.
    Vanessa pointed over her shoulder, to a clearing in the woods. It sat at the top of the rock wall with the stream, and overlooked the whole cove. As for what might be up there, Buzz could only wonder.
    But Vanessa seemed intent on showing them. Already, she was climbing up that way.
    “Vanessa? What’s going on?” he asked.
    “Just come on,” she said without looking back. “It’s better if I show you.”

    Carter climbed up to the clearing behind Vanessa, Buzz, and Jane. It didn’t take much effort, but by the time he reached it, all three of the others had stopped.
    In fact, they’d gone perfectly still. And then Carter saw why.
    Right there, stuck into the ground, was a handmade wooden cross. The wood was rough with age, just two cracked gray planks nailed together. There was no name, or markings of any kind.
    “Is that a . . . grave?” he asked.
    “I think so,” Vanessa said. “And there’s more. Don’t freak out, but there’s a bunch of bones over there—”
    “What?”
Buzz asked.
    “Actually, not just bones,” Vanessa said. “More like a skeleton.”
    Carter felt a chill run through him. He looked in the direction Vanessa had pointed, but he couldn’t see anything.
    She led them across the clearing and pulled back some low-hanging vines. What Carter saw there on the ground looked like some kind of movie prop, even though it clearly wasn’t. He’d seen skeletons before, at the Museum of Science and Industry back home in Chicago.
    This one was definitely real. It was half sunk into the ground and mostly the color of dirt from however many years it had been here.
    Jane reached over and took Carter’s hand.
    “Do you think there are more?” Buzz asked. “That’s a big boat for two people.”
    “It’s possible the others got rescued,” Vanessa said.
    “Or maybe there’s more than one person buried under that cross,” Carter said. He looked down at the skeleton again and shivered. “This guy was probably the last one.”
    “That’s what I was thinking,” Vanessa said. “There wasn’t anyone left to . . . take care of him.”
    Only Jane stayed silent. She pulled her hand out of Carter’s and knelt down by the remains. Slowly, she reached out and laid her fingers over the delicate hand bones of whoever this person had been.
    “Don’t touch it!” Vanessa said.
    “Why not?” Jane asked. She kept her gaze down, and Carter could see the tears on her