Free Landfall: Islands in the Aftermath (The Pulse Series Book 4) by Scott B. Williams

this phase of the operation, Larry had taken his biggest anchor some one hundred feet from the water’s edge and buried it in a pocket of deep sand among the rocks. The lead of the rode was as straight as possible off the bow, so that there would be no binding as the winch ratcheted up the tension.
    Larry had said the catamaran was light for its size, and Russell believed him, because he knew all catamarans and trimarans had to be lightweight to sail at the speeds they did. He still thought the design was too minimal though, and like he had told Larry, he would have built more cabin space onto it if it were his boat. It just seemed a waste to leave all that deck area open like that. But he would sail on it, no question about that. He didn’t care if it was a raft if it was a way off this island and a way to go wherever Jessica was going.  
    The hull beside him began to move, and Russell followed it, wading forward to the point where the keel curved upwards in a gentle sweep to the bow stem. He held the line attached to the big inflatable fender in one hand as it floated next to the hull. Larry wanted them to stuff the first fender under that forward rocker area of the keel, so that the hulls would lift up over the sand as the boat was winched forward. Russell aligned the fender perpendicular to the bow and passed the rope attached to the other end to Jessica, who was across from him on the inner side of the hull. He could see that Tara and Casey were doing the same thing on their hull. It took some effort to force the fully inflated fender into position, because of its buoyancy, but with Jessica pulling and pushing from the other side to help him, at last it was done.
    “Watch your fingers, Jessica!” he warned as they finagled it in place. He was staring at her again, trying to make eye contact, but she quickly turned away. It didn’t matter. Russell was sure she was interested. How could she not be? She obviously liked boats and he was a boatman. He was a survivor too, and she would be impressed the more she learned about how he’d managed to make it here on this island all alone for so many weeks. Girls like Jessica needed survivors in this new reality. She might not have looked his way back in her old world before the grid collapse, but she couldn’t ignore him now. Those college boys from that other life were probably all dead now and what she needed was a man. A real man who could do things! Russell grinned at her again as the hull began to lift onto the fender.  
    Larry said that if they used enough of them to distribute the weight, the heavy-duty inflatable fenders could completely support the catamaran out of the water. He had a lot of them, enough to put four of them under each of the twin hulls, but it was going to be a slow process, getting them all in place. Jessica was hidden from view now on the other side of the hull as the boat steadily moved forward, pulled onward by the inexorable force of the winch. As the weight of the keels forced them down onto the hard sand bottom, the first two fenders were squeezed and distorted, but seemed to be holding up. Russell grabbed a second one off the beach while Tara and Casey did the same on their side.  
    “It looks like it’s working,” Russell said, smiling at Jessica as she stepped forward to help him when the time was right to place the next fender in front of the first.  
    “Of course it is. Larry knows what he’s doing. He’ll have it fixed and back in the water in no time too.”
    “It’s still going to be tricky, getting back out through these reefs to clear water from this side. It’s a wonder you got through them coming in without a lot more damage. Your friend Grant should have been keeping a better watch.”
    “Anybody could have made the same mistake. Larry said so himself. Grant was doing the best he could.”
    “Maybe. But running right into an island is not very good sailing.”
    Jessica ignored him and Russell didn’t press it. As