Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Teaser Tuesday: Barrel in the Ocean

In view of updates coming to The Infinity Mantle in the next few days, along with a brilliant new cover, here's an excerpt:



As the Calloway hurtled downward in search of its grave, her safety line was releases when the rail splintered.
Clueless how to behave in the water, instinct took over, and she pulled at the dark water with cupped hands. As she broke surface to draw panicked breath, she was knocked under to gulp seawater.
Coming up, she instinctively paddled, and found the swell aiding her away from the sucking vortex caused by the vanishing sloop.
She panicked again, before hearing Taranis’ kind voice in her mind, telling her not to panic, to trust her life jacket. Putting fear aside, she relaxed, and floated. The ocean battered and betrayed her, but she did not go under for long. Every time the inflated jacket brought her back to air.
Noticing a rope twisting on the heaving surface, she grabbed it, and held on despite the tugging from the ocean.
It was wound around one of the water barrels that was stored aft of the ship. It had to be empty to float, and was obviously thoroughly sealed against the ocean’s advances. It waited for her and she did, for dear life, take it.
She pulled it closer and painstakingly pulled her pack up. It countered the float of her jacket, she had to get it out of the water, or balance it. After countless attempts, she managed to sling it over, and secured the ropes.
The achievement meant she and her pack were then counter-balanced, the barrel between them. An added advantage was she floated high enough to dodge mouthfuls of salty water.
Looking for the others, she saw only floating debris in a dark, vicious and watery world. She tried calling, but the thunder was too loud. She paddled, but seemed to go nowhere.
She was alone, and she was alive. It was up to her.



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