Elizabeth and the Vampire's Cabin(31)

"I don't know about this, Elizabeth. We don't know how far we are from land. For all we know, Joe pushes that boat at a hundred miles an hour."

"Well I know what I want! I want off of this island. And if I die in the process then so be it. At least I died trying."

"Alright," Arthur sighed. "I'll go with you. But let me make some breakfast first. Then we should hunt and wait about an hour for the food to digest. Then we'll start out on the sea."

They had cereal and snacked on cut up pieces of fruits and vegetables. Then they went for a hunt in their animal forms. Elizabeth saw a feral cat, the first she had ever seen on the island, and ate that. It was large and filled her up. She became a human again and gave a small burp. She had eaten too fast. Soon after, Arthur dropped down from the trees in chimp form. A dead bald eagle lay at his feet and he had part of a raccoon in his mouth. Having eaten his fill of tree dwelling animals, he morphed back into a human.

They headed back to the cabin. They knew they couldn't afford to weigh down the boat any more than necessary, so they decided that they would only bring a case of water, some towels, an extra set of clothes, and Elizabeth's snorkeling gear. They didn't require much. They only drank maybe about 8 ounces of pure water a day. And that wasn't even out of any kind of sense of thirst. They just liked the taste of the water after consuming so much salty blood and raw meat. Neither of them even knew if they needed it to survive. Aaron once said he went a whole month without water, before he finally started feeling mildly thirsty. But they weren't Aaron. They were half vampires and knew the rules were different for them. It was possible they could start to wear out in far less time. Unfortunately, the only way to find out was to test themselves, and they were going to have to do that out in the ocean.

They loaded up the boat and carefully carried it down the cliff. After their precarious descent, they pulled the boat across the shore and into the water. Arthur wore his board shorts and Elizabeth wore a bikini as they made their way out into the ocean. Then she hopped into the boat and he began to paddle his feet in the water while holding onto the back of the boat. He had insisted on paddling first and she allowed it. Ever since being abducted, she had learned to appreciate Arthur and his kind gestures. His kindness was what helped sustain her through the last month on the island. She needed that kindness to sustain her resolve to depart it.

They took turns paddling every hour. Elizabeth had basic snorkeling gear (goggles and a snorkel), and they were grateful for it. This would make their journey go quicker if they didn't have to come up for air. Elizabeth was by far the more powerful swimmer. She had told Arthur, while she was a passenger, that it felt like he was leisurely rowing her across a lake. However, when Elizabeth was the paddler, Arthur told her it felt like she was rowing crew for the Olympics.

Their first mishap while paddling took place when it was Elizabeth's turn to push the boat. She was marveling at the deep, dark ocean and realizing that she would probably never get such a beautiful view of this mysterious world. What made it even more enjoyable was that she didn't experience temperature extremes, so she couldn't get too cold. She wished that she knew more about the different species of fish she observed. Through her snorkel gear she saw eels, sting rays, and schools of fish that she couldn't name. This was a world she was content to be lost in while she paddled away with her legs until, with her vampire ears, she began to hear a heartbeat. It was a monstrous heartbeat. And then she heard several of them. It was like booms moving through the ocean. She could even feel it against her skin. And then she heard noises. The word she would use to describe it was cute. She heard happy squeaks and squeals. What was that? Just as she thought this question, Arthur briskly yanked her out of the ocean.

"What is it," Elizabeth asked.

"I'm not sure. I saw a fin like a shark."

Elizabeth and Arthur looked out to sea. It wasn't a shark. They saw the head of a killer whale bob up and then go back under the ocean, his shark-like fin following a moment later. They started to see more fins. It was an entire pod of killer whales. Elizabeth guessed it was about six whales total. They began to circle the boat. Elizabeth, who had always enjoyed Sea World, still couldn't remember enough about these creatures to know whether or not they enjoyed dining on humans. She had heard of killer whale attacks on the trainers at Sea World, but she didn't know if any of the whales had ever attempted to eat the trainers. She knew she had probably seen the movie Jaws one too many times, but she was afraid they might try to attack the boat.

But the whales didn't attack. They did frolic and breach around the boat. They playfully dived underneath the hull and came up on the other side, curiously exploring this new object they had found floating atop their ocean home. She heard their complex singing and chatter and decided to give them a show. She thought of the different songs she could sing for them and then belted one out she considered appropriate: Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Walk on the Ocean." She sang out, "We spotted the ocean at the head of the trail! Where are we going, so far away? Somebody told me this is the place where every thing's better and every thing's safe."