After Dry Land

 

AN: I wrote this a while back, and never began posting it.  I know it's an old movie, but I still like it.  So, if this gets any interest, I'll get back on it and maybe finish it.  What'ya say?

Pairings include: Mariner/Helen, Mariner/Enola(implied), Warder/older man, and some OCs that will come along.  There will be more muto's and some descriptions of depravity and non-con sex, but not between our characters, okay?

 

Chapter One: The Prologue  

 

The pontoon boat had been well built and very sea worthy.  The Mariner believed it had brought the previous settlers to the land and they had chosen to stay. He liked the name that was faded, but still visible on the front of the port side.  The Tri-wind.

He took his time on the first run, angling along the land's coast to the north and trying to measure the size of this world.  The coastline stretched for miles, jutting out periodically to form bays and coves.  Some so well hidden he wondered if he could even maneuver the wide boat into them.  At one of these he caught sight of a strange piece of color among the greens of the trees.  He angled in and headed for it.

As the cove opened out, he saw an exciting and  terrifying thing.  There nestled on the smooth sandy beach, was a pair of sailboats.

He brought the pontoon to rest and tied it off before searching the area.  He found three small graves, old and nearly covered by the brush that had grown back after the burial.  Nearby, he found a hut, built like Enola's but more weathered and falling to pieces.  Inside was the remains of a man, long dead and decayed. Near him was a book that he had been writing in.  The Mariner lifted it carefully and flipped it closed.  Ship's log was embossed in gold on the cover.

Inside, the book began with odd coordinates, far from their location, then these drifted off. The next pages were dated with sporadic entries over many years.  Finally, it came to the most recent entries and he guessed them to be twenty or so years back.  The first was only an announcement of their landing here, then they took on an ominous note after only six months.

"Finding land was such a miracle, we thought we were saved.  But land takes its toll just like the sea.  We are too few to battle the elements and one by one they are taking us.  Wild animals, the book calls wolves, roam and kill, this is how we lost Took, then the bitter cold comes and their is no food for months.  We lost the baby before she could even be named to this fate.  Now, I am the last, after Nona died of fever, and I fear I will soon join her.  I bitterly wish we had never come here."

And there the writings ended.

The Mariner closed the book and set it on the table.  He looked around and made his decision.

After carefully burying the remains of the man, he rummaged their goods.  The small boat was in need of repairs before it could be made seaworthy, so he stripped it of needed gear and loaded it on the bigger one. 

The Tempest Hawk was a twenty food cabin cruiser with a strong watertight wooden hull and plenty of sail.  It only took him a week to make it ready and three days more to provision it.  The plants from the pontoon could be latched tightly to the roof of the cabin and his supply of hydro kept in the cabin below.  He filled three large jars with good dark soil and settled them into a closed compartment that he hid behind some stacks of rope and books he had located in the other room. On a large strip of sailcloth, that was the remains of the Seagull's main sail, he charted the cove and the land between it and the larger bay that was Enola's home.

Then, he made fast the Tri-wind and left the cove.

Once out to sea, he angled back and headed for the family he had left behind.  In the time he had been gone, the four had cleaned out Enola's hut and built another for Gregor and the Enforcer.

They had gathered wood for camp first and caught a few fish.  The plants near the water had already been stripped clean of  fruits and they had begun scavenging deeper inland for food stuffs.

When the Mariner dropped anchor off the beach and swam to land, only the old man was still about.  They talked for hours about the things he had found out and an agreement was reached.  All before the others returned.

Carefully, they transported the books to the shore and the Mariner caught four nets full of fish to feed them.  These would be smoked to make them last until he could return. 

Then, he boarded his ship and aimed for open sea.

His goal was to bring back the things they would need to survive as well as select people to help with the work of building a community. It was a great task.  

 

Okay, so here's my request.  Read, review or rate, and let me know if anyone else out there liked this movie as much as I did, and was left incomplete by the ending.  I look forward to hearing from you.