Free Enduring the Crisis by K.D. Kinney Page B

I can always count on you to be with me to the very end. It’s not a bad thing. In fact if I didn’t have at least one person like you to lean on, I don’t think I could get through this.”
    Charlie pulled her hand from Tammy and folded her arms again. She was grumbling under her breath but kept pace with Tammy. “That really sucks for me. Those sisters of mine had better step it up.”
    At least Charlie wasn’t going to quit on her. Not yet.

15

Ben
    Just when Ben, Nate, and the crew had settled down after all the excitement, a wicked storm blew in so fast, Ben didn’t see it coming. He sure felt it, though. Fortunately, his medication was actually working.
    He made his way back to the wheelhouse hanging on to any rail, or rope he could find to ask how much longer before they were on land again.
    Randall was on the radio and seemed a little stressed.
    Once he was done, Ben asked, “Are we fishing soon? How much farther do we have to go?”
    Randall was busy navigating the boat, studying the churning water when he answered. “That attack back there changed plans, a lot of plans. You lucked out. No fishing this time around. This storm is a bit stronger than I anticipated and I thought it would hit us when we were closer to Dutch Harbor. Which means it hitting us now isn’t good because I think we took a hit from that blasted cruiser and these swells are what’s causing us to take on water.”
    “What? Are we going to make it?” Ben gripped the handle on the wall near the door and scanned the deck for the lifeboats.
    “It’s not that much water but the waves are so strong, they could cause more damage to the hull that is already compromised now.
Then
we will be in more trouble.”
    “Is there anything I can do?” When he asked the question, he felt even more helpless.
    “What you can do is stay out of the way unless one of the crew needs a hand. You greenhorns are a hassle unless you know what you’re doing.” Randall took a moment to look at Ben and his tone softened. “I doubt there’s anything to worry about. We’ll get there no matter what. We can call the Coast Guard if things get really bad. Now if we can leave Dutch Harbor after we get there, that one I can’t answer.”
    That left Ben totally speechless. He had no idea where Dutch Harbor was on the map. What would that mean for him and Nate? He left the wheelhouse to go find his phone.
    Of course there was no service that far from shore. There wouldn’t be any potential for service until they reached a town. Hopefully. Unless Dutch Harbor was really just a small harbor to park a boat with only a few services. It wasn’t like he could look it up on his phone to learn more about it either. There had to be a physical map somewhere on board. If the crew wasn’t so busy making sure the trawler stayed above water, he would have asked one of them if they could show him where they were going.
    When he looked for Nate, the poor guy had fallen asleep with his head on his arms at the table. Those pills did make a person drowsy and he was feeling it too. He went back to his bunk where he left his suitcases and only took off his rain gear. He let his feet dangle over the edge of the bunk and skimmed through the pictures that Tammy had been sending him while he was away. They were only of the girls, though. She never liked to take any of herself and she hated selfies. Suddenly he wished he had a picture with her in it. He wondered how she was faring. She was great at making sure they had all the things from all the food storage lists that she researched and collected all the things she’d need for long-term power outages. However, she wasn’t good at camping. He smiled as he heard her voice in his head telling him she wasn’t a happy camper. She struggled to light fires probably because she was rather anxious around any flames, even the barbeque and gas stoves caused her anxiety. Even after all the shooting outings he had with the girls and church