Chapter 37-On the losing end

Chapter 37: 37-On the losing end

Outside, another hurricane swallowed the horizon. The sky turned almost black. Clouds twisted violently as lightning tore through the darkness.

The ship veered away from the worst of the storm, engines straining against monstrous waves.

It was battered and underpowered compared to Aymara’s vessel. Its defenses were limited. Its supplies, no matter how carefully Noel and Ambrose rationed them, would eventually run out.

But it had survived the first hours of the apocalypse and for now, that was enough.

Noel stood at the control panel, one hand braced against the console while Ambrose checked the ship’s systems for the third time.

Each flash of lightning transformed the waves into towering walls. Noel imagined the hull splitting beneath them, cold black water rushing through the corridors while Ambrose looked to him for an answer.

Luckily for him, that didn’t happen and he pressed on against the waves smoothly.

---

Far away, Sarah and Dylan faced the apocalypse aboard their ordinary ship. Their preparations had seemed impressive only hours ago. Now they looked laughably fragile.

The vessel lurched as enormous tsunami waves passed beneath it, lifting the ship so high that, for several terrifying seconds, Sarah saw nothing but a wall of water.

"Dylan!" She screamed, hitting the highest note that her voice could reach.

"I’m here!" Dylan appeared behind her, he was holding on for his dear life.

"What’s happening?" She asked, she didn’t remember the apocalypse being that harsh on the first day in the past. But in the past, it had also not caught her at sea so she was startled and frightened.

"I don’t know!"

The ship tilted sharply. Boxes tumbled from shelves, bottles shattered on the ground and one of the freezers tore loose and slammed into the wall with a deafening crash.

Sarah grabbed the nearest railing. "Our food!" She cried out bitterly.

"Forget the food!" Dylan shouted. Their lives was more important than risking it all for some food.

"But..." Sarah was worried. She knew the truth, the apocalypse was going to last a long time and every single ration counts.

"Forget it!"

Another wave struck and the entire ship groaned. Sarah’s face went white. All those days of preparation suddenly seemed meaningless: the food, bottled water, medicine, fuel, frozen meat, and expensive equipment.

None of it mattered if the ship couldn’t survive the first days of the apocalypse.

She had told herself preparation meant safety. Now every crash sounded like proof that she had lied to both of them. She wanted Dylan to promise they would make it, but the panic in his voice told her he couldn’t.

The ocean was no longer something they could sail across. It was something they had to survive. Basically, a living monster.

Then the sky ahead turned black. Dylan froze as a gigantic hurricane was forming directly in their path.

The clouds twisted into a colossal spiral, swallowing the horizon as lightning flashed inside the rotating darkness.

Wind slammed into the ship, rain struck the deck like thrown stones and the vessel lurched sideways.

"Aaargh!" Sarah screamed as it rose between two monstrous waves, then plunged into the trough. "Dylan!" Her voice was loud but it got swallowed by the storm.

"Hold on!" He seized the railing. "We have to turn!"

"The controls aren’t responding!" Sarah told him.

She was scared and shaking from head to toe. And for a moment, her mind moved to Aymara and she wondered how Aymara was faring on her end and how she’d managed to survive in their first life.

"What?" Dylan rushed to the controls and fought with the steering system.

Nothing happened despite his efforts. The ship refused to respond.

He pulled harder, as if force could make the dead system obey. Behind him, Sarah called his name, but he couldn’t answer. If he admitted he had no idea what to do, she might hear the truth he was trying to hide: he was terrified, and he might not be able to save himself let alone protect her.

Another gust tore across the deck, ripping equipment from its restraints and sending it tumbling into the darkness.

Sarah watched as one of their storage containers disappeared overboard and then another and another.

"No..." She cried.

She had spent days gathering those supplies, imagining them as a shield against the end of the world and a better life than Aymara. Now they vanished one by one, and with each loss, the promise she had made to Dylan weakened.

She had promised they would be ready, that careful planning would give them a chance to rule the apocalypse and here the ocean was swallowing both promises.

The storm grew stronger, the waves grew higher and darkness stretched in every direction.

The ocean was no longer merely rising as an endless chain of storms and hurricanes whipped it into a frenzy, reducing their ship to a scrap of debris caught in the middle of it.

Waves slammed against the hull with the force of collapsing buildings, each impact shuddering through Sarah’s bones. Salt spray lashed her face, cold and sharp, while the wind tore at her clothes and filled her mouth with brine.

Her fingers tightened around the railing until the metal bit into her palms.

"I don’t think we..." Her voice trembled. She swallowed hard. "I don’t think we’re going to make it."

She didn’t dare raise her voice. If she heard the terror in it, Dylan would hear it too.

Somewhere behind her, he was still struggling with the controls. Sarah stared at his rigid shoulders and gripping hands as her thoughts spiraled faster than the storm.

Dylan had always been like this, a man with a fickle heart, following his interests or his survival wherever they led him and that terrified her more than the waves.

What if survival came down to choosing between her and Aymara? What if Dylan decided Aymara was safer, more capable of keeping him alive? What if he looked at her and saw only a liability?

With or without foreknowledge, Aymara had survived the apocalypse in her previous life. She had secured a ship, gathered a crew, and stockpiled supplies while countless others died.

What was stopping her from doing it all again?

Judging by the chaos outside, she had probably prepared even better this time.

Sarah’s breathing grew heavier. She had believed rebirth would finally give her an advantage over Aymara.

She had known what was coming, taken loans, emptied her savings, bought a ship, and gathered food, medicine, fuel, water, and everything else she might need.

But staring at the monstrous ocean rising around them, she realized knowing the future didn’t automatically make her better at surviving it and if Aymara had the same foreknowledge, then she might still lose. Again.

The thought struck like a blade between her ribs. She glanced at Dylan, and a horrible possibility surfaced.

What if he abandoned me? What if, when their supplies ran out and the ship became impossible to defend, he remembered Aymara? What if he crawled back to her while she starved beside him?

Sarah’s nails dug into her palms until the pain steadied her. "No..." The word slipped from her lips, thin and desperate.

She couldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t. She had already lost to Aymara once. She refused to lose again; not Dylan, not her life, and not everything she had clawed together with bleeding hands.

Her eyes burned as she looked toward the raging sea. "Why can’t I have your luck, Aymara?" her voice was barely audible beneath the thunder. "Why is everything always easier for you?"

A bitter laugh broke apart in the wind. Even after being reborn, even after knowing the future, Sarah still felt trapped in Aymara’s shadow. A shadow stretching across every part of her life and reaching for Dylan too.

Aymara had wealth, resources, and hard-won knowledge of survival. Now she had another chance to prepare.

Sarah gritted her teeth until her jaw ached. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t compare. She couldn’t surpass her.

The realization infuriated her and frightened her enough to make her hands shake.

Sarah’s gaze hardened. She didn’t know where Aymara was or what kind of fortress she had built. She didn’t know how many supplies she had gathered but she was certain of one thing.

Aymara was surviving and if Dylan ever had to choose, Sarah feared he would choose her.