Why hadn’t they thought of making a sunshade when they were building the raft…
Everly sat on the raft under the blazing sun, with no protection at all, staring face-to-face at the equally miserable Misha.
It was late August, and the heat of midsumr had not yet faded. The outdoor temperature was still extrely high. Out at sea, where there was not even a single patch of shade, being exposed to direct sunlight the entire ti made it even worse.
On top of that, seawater reflected a large amount of ultraviolet radiation. People with lighter skin tones had less lanin and were naturally more prone to sunburn. One or two days might still be tolerable, but if they continued drifting at sea for ten days or even longer without any cover, Everly couldn’t even imagine what state she and Misha would end up in.
Sigh… they really lacked experience in wilderness survival. And they also had to bla that sudden forest fire, which had disrupted their plans and left them scrambling the entire afternoon. They had poured all their energy into completing the pre-departure preparations, leaving no room to think about anything else.
Regretting it now was useless—the key was to find a solution.
First of all, it was clear that diving into the sea to avoid the sun was not viable.
In clear water, ultraviolet rays could penetrate several ters downward. Since seawater itself reflected UV light, underwater there would not only be direct sunlight from above, but also reflected UV rays from below, effectively creating “double exposure.” Instead of reducing sunlight, it would actually intensify it.
In addition, once the skin was wet, the outer keratin layer beca more perable, allowing UV rays to penetrate even more easily.
All things considered, jumping into the sea would not reduce sun exposure at all—it would actually make sunburn worse—unless one stayed at depths of over ten ters the entire ti.
But who could possibly remain in such a place for long?
Everly went on to take stock of the supplies currently on the raft.
Food and water aside for the mont, the remaining supplies included a backpack, a Nepalese curved knife, multiple daggers, a blunt axe, a wire saw, a screwdriver, a kitchen knife, a leather apron reduced to three-quarters after being cut, two ugly head coverings, a folding pot, a dog food bucket, one condom used for freshwater production, two stockings, one stocking dip net, a small half-bottle of potassium cyanide, and a single wooden paddle.
All other items deed useless had been left behind on the island by the two of them.
After finishing the inventory, Everly’s gaze settled on the paddle.
Strictly speaking, it was more like a “long wooden plank” that could be used as a paddle.
It had been brought back from the forest by Misha while collecting firewood. At first, Misha had intended to split it for fuel, but when Everly saw it, she realized the hollow log had a good shape—its flat, slightly curved form was quite suitable for use as a paddle—so she kept it.
It was also the only piece of “lumber” they had available on board.
Without a paddle, the raft would rely lack a source of propulsion. But without a sunshade, both Everly and Misha would be roasted into dried husks under the sun.
Therefore, after weighing the options, the two decided to use the paddle as material to construct a makeshift sunshade fra on the raft.
The paddle was about 2.5 ters long and roughly 45 centiters at its widest point. Its shape resembled a beer bottle: most of the shaft was rectangular, but from about two ters upward, it had been carved by Everly with an axe into two sloping triangular sections to make it easier to grip, ending in a handle about the thickness of an arm.
After so discussion, Everly and Misha decided to use a wire saw to cut the paddle into finger-thick wooden strips. These would be combined with stockings and shoelaces to lash together a rectangular fra, which would then support a sunshade covering.
When needed, they would insert two wooden poles about one ter high at the bow and stern of the raft, then tie the fabric-covered fra onto them. This would create a removable canopy that could be assembled or taken down at any ti.
As for where the fabric for the fra would co from…
Everly and Misha sat in front of the wooden fra they had finally managed to complete, looking at each other, then at each other again, and finally accepting their fate as they lowered their heads and began taking off their clothes and pants.
Stockings were completely useless against strong sunlight, and they also needed to be used for tying mineral water bottles, so they couldn’t spare them. The leather apron, on the other hand, was actually quite good as a sun-shading item, but it was too small and could only cover about a quarter of the area. The two head coverings could barely provide shade, but even if they were taken apart, they still weren’t large enough. The backpack was very practical and more valuable intact than dismantled…
So after going through everything, the only usable materials left were the clothes they were wearing.
Misha was still wearing what she had on the day she was kidnapped: a short-sleeved won’s blouse and a pair of highly elastic jeans.
As for Everly, in order to fake her own death scene, she had swapped outer clothing with Bean, so what she was wearing now all belonged to Kurt: a black short-sleeved T-shirt printed with a skull, and a pair of loose black casual pants.
Once the outer clothes were off, there were still underwear underneath, so it wasn’t exactly full nudity. At worst, they could convince themselves they were just wearing bikinis. Besides, they were out at sea—there wasn’t anyone around to see even if they did strip completely.
The two of them examined the clothes after taking them off. Because of their irregular shapes, further modifications were needed before they could properly function as a sunshade.
Considering they would still need to go ashore later, and being too exposed wouldn’t be appropriate, they discussed it and decided to cut off all the fabric below the upper thigh area of both pairs of pants. That way, when they eventually reached land, at least they would still have makeshift shorts covering their hips.
The four pant legs that were cut off were split along the seams and fixed onto the wooden fra. Together with Misha’s blouse and Everly’s black T-shirt, they just barely managed to cover the remaining empty sections of the fra.
In this way, after more than two hours of strenuous effort, with their skin already sunburned, a small sunshade was finally erected on the drifting raft.
Although the sunshade was small, the fra sowhat low, and there were gaps between the pieces of fabric that let shafts of light slip through from ti to ti, harassing the person sitting or curled up beneath it, at least the two of them no longer had to worry about being severely sunburned.
Exhausted, Everly yawned deeply, feeling an overwhelming wave of fatigue.
She drank so water, said a few random words to Misha, then let her head fall back and her body curl into the shaded area. Without any transition at all, she quickly fell asleep.
…
The next two days were relatively calm.
Although they had used up the raft’s only paddle to build the canopy, during the subsequent drift they discovered that at this ti of year, winds across the ocean often blew from east to west, or from the southeast toward the northwest.
Both wind directions generally pushed the raft toward land. As a result, even while Everly was resting, the raft was not completely still. It was constantly moving closer to land—just at varying speeds.
On the third day, however, they ran into trouble: a heavy storm.
The torrential rain soaked the sunshade before it could be taken down, drenching both the people and everything on the raft. At the sa ti, violent winds stirred up massive waves, sotis lifting the tiny raft into the air, and other tis cruelly slamming it back down into the troughs below.
To protect the supplies on board, Misha had no choice but to sprawl across the raft like a spider, limbs spread wide, gripping the fra tightly with both hands. Beneath her palms, she pressed down on the most important items—the sunshade and the dog food bucket—while her legs were wedged in a twisted position between the gaps of the raft, using her body to shield the dog food, backpack, and other supplies from being washed away.
Heavy raindrops pelted Misha’s nearly bare back, each drop icy cold, like tiny pebbles striking her skin and making her body tremble uncontrollably. But to protect the supplies, she didn’t make a sound. Grinding her teeth, she held on and refused to let go.
Everly was not idle either.
Standing in the cold rain falling from the sky, she cleared her mind, sank her focus, and tried her best to communicate with the sea below, urging the waters around the raft to remain as calm as possible.
This was no simple task. In the face of nature’s overwhelming power, human strength was insignificantly small. Even though she had so affinity with the sea, making it defy its own “nature” and beco still still required far more ntal effort than usual.
In just over ten minutes, when the raft finally broke out of the storm zone under the push of the waves, Everly already had a splitting headache, her vision blurred with double images.
Fortunately, because of their tily response, the losses were minimal: only three of the freshwater condoms tied to the rear of the raft had been lost, along with four wooden poles supporting the sunshade that had gone missing.
Under normal circumstances, Everly could have asked the sea to help retrieve the lost items, but now her ntal strength was already completely depleted. Controlling the waters inside the storm zone to search for scattered objects was no easy task.
So the two of them had no choice but to accept the loss.
The sun was still hidden behind thick clouds, not yet coming out. After being drenched in the rain while nearly naked, both Everly and Misha felt chilled. Worse still, everything on the raft was soaked, leaving them nothing dry to wipe themselves with.
And that was not the only problem.
During a recent inspection, Everly discovered that the raft’s draft had increased significantly. When they first set off, about half of the raft had been above the water. Now, however, two-thirds of it was subrged in the sea, with only one-third remaining above the surface.
This wasn’t just because of the storm. It was also because the raft had been in the water for too long. The wood had absorbed a large amount of seawater, reducing the internal air pockets, increasing its density, and therefore decreasing its buoyancy.
It was foreseeable that, as ti went on, this situation would only worsen. Eventually, the raft would no longer be able to stay afloat—and when that ti ca, Everly and Misha would be the ones falling into the sea.
Afraid that Misha might panic, Everly did not tell her what she had discovered.
The two drenched girls shivered as they pressed close together, squatting on the raft while eating so biscuits. After so many consecutive mishaps, their moods inevitably sank a little.
While they were eating, Misha suddenly let out a startled “ah!”
Everly imdiately looked up alertly and saw Misha staring wide-eyed at the front-right side of the raft.
“T-There… that thing… is that an island?”
Everly froze for a mont, then quickly stood up. Following Misha’s gaze, she looked into the distance.
She saw a small peak rising above the sea—its top faintly showing the outlines of trees and rock formations. It was clearly the summit of a mountain.
On an endless, flat ocean where nothing but water could be seen in every direction, suddenly spotting a mountain was nothing short of astonishing.
Without even caring that her head was still throbbing in pain, Everly imdiately commanded the waves to adjust the raft’s course, turning it toward that pointed peak as they sped forward.
Faster, faster, faster…
If they could reach that place, maybe they could even find wood and make a fire to warm themselves.
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