Prologue: Where They Came From

You remember that the British chased out all of those going to the New World, right? Three ships went out to America, but where did the fourth ship go?

    “God hath condemned you all!” The soldier pointed at the ship all the fleeing men and women had boarded. Other soldiers took aim. A few shots flew through the air and poked holes in the ship’s sails. Everyone had finally boarded the vessel when the sun had crept up over them and that’s when they were spotted.
    “We don’t need you,” a man shouted and climbed to the side of the ship. His fist pumped into the air and he was the very image of a dramatic freedom fighter. “We will be free.” He shook his fist at the British soldiers and they began taking aim at him. One bullet whizzed past his shoulder, and, in his surprise, he dropped into the water. A woman screamed, and many called out to him. With a huge splash, waves and foam overtook his body. For a long moment, everyone stared at that spot. The world seemed to freeze.  
    Suddenly, with a gasp, the man broke the surface near the dock. He grasped the wooden pole and clung to it for dear life. His shoulders trembled with fear and hypothermia, but he was still very much alive. “Come on, Jack, get your a*s up here,” another man called from the ship.
    Jack’s fingers turned blue as another wave crashed over his head. He spluttered and spat out salt water, then choked for a moment. Jack looked confused as he searched for the ship, but it had already begun to be taken away by the tide. With no other choice, he began climbing the post and every voice aboard the ship was screaming at him. There was no way he could swim back to this ship, though. He was stuck trying to face the redcoats on their land.
    “Jack,” William screamed again. He leaned farther over the side and reached out his hand as though he could save his friend. He stared hard to try to see better but the ocean rocked them side to side and it was impossible to keep a good view of Jack as he climbed up the pole.
    There was hope as his figure, now only visible as a blob, made its way up the pole, but that hope shattered when they heard a gunshot. Jack’s body splashed hard into the ocean and the ship went silent. A few seagulls cried overhead, the ocean continued to batter at them, and a baby cried in his mother’s arms, but otherwise they were silent.
    After a long moment, William’s voice broke the silence, and he called out, “Alright, people. Find a place to settle. We could be out here for a long… long time.”  
    William’s son ran to him and clung to his leg. “Daddy,” he asked frantically. The boy’s eyebrows knit together in concern and he grasped his father’s pant leg. With a tug to accent his fears, he plead, “Is uncle Jack coming back?” William’s heart drew up to his throat and he ran his hand through the boy’s hair.
    “No, Henry, he is not.” His voice sounded grave and it came out painfully. He bent down to scoop up his son. Once the boy was properly balanced on his hip, he turned to address the crowd once more. “Anyone that knows how to handle a ship should meet up on the top deck to discuss sailing plans. Those who can sail will bunk in the captain’s cabin. The rest of us will separate the remaining space in the crew’s cabin and the brig. We will find space for everyone, my friends. Do not be afraid of the road ahead of us. We have logic and knowledge on our side and we will survive this.” His wife made her way up through the crowd to get to him. “What is it, Bridget?”
    “Jack’s daughter is on board,” she said in a low voice. “But his wife is not.”
    “She must have fallen behind,” he sighed. “We will take the girl, so ease your worrying.” He kissed her forehead and sent her on her way.

    They traveled like this for countless months. Resources began to run low and the men were restless. William and his family tried to lead the people and raise their spirits, but after just a week it was difficult. By the end of the second month, two suicides had already been counted. A third was well on its way.  Edmund stood on the edge of the ship with tears streaming down his face. “My wife stayed behind in England,” he sobbed. “My son told me that I was going to hell before announcing that he would stay with her.” His palms were sweaty as they rubbed together. “And we truly have disobeyed the gods. There would be no other reason for the hell that we are going through.” He raised his hands and eyes to the sky but stopped midway. His eyes bulged out when they locked on that blip in the horizon. “Land… land. Land! Mr. Sadler, land ho!” He began gesturing excitedly to the first piece of solid land that any of them had seen in months.
    “What? Land?” William rushed to the edge of the ship while Edmund finally climbed down to stand beside him.
    “Look there! Out in the distance.” His point wasn’t steady as his hand shook terribly, but he managed to get the point across.
    “There is land. Land!” In a whirlwind of flailing limbs, many scrambled over to see the land they spoke of. There was no room for skepticism because so many wanted so badly for that land to be real.
    William hoisted his son up to see the land that they spoke of. His arms flailed around excitedly. “Mommy! Land!” William set him back on his feet and the boy ran to Bridget. She stood there with her arms bound tightly around her stomach and coughed fitfully.
    “Yes, dear, I see it,” she gasped between her coughs. William noticed this and pushed his way through the crowd.
    “We’ll get you onto land and you will be warm and safe. With some food in your belly you will feel better in no time,” he promised. He took her hands and wrapped them in his. “You will be fine.”
    “Yes, dear,” she repeated with a bit of a smile. “Just go lead us to the island.” She kissed the back of his hand and sent him on his way. He finally complied and began barking out orders to the men.
    “Get your things packed up. Get ready to disembark the ship. Men, take up arms just in case. We do not know what beast will greet us out there.” They set about their tasks and the ship came to life. It smelled terrible to stir up the stench of unwashed bodies. They clashed together and bruised from running into elbows and arms alike while they attempted to make their way through the crowded deck.
    Suddenly, a voice screamed above the rest. A man named Thomas stood atop the ship’s mast and pointed out to the upcoming banks of the island. “Pull the ship back! Pull away! Back! Rocks!” William whipped around and looked fearfully toward the land they were approaching faster and faster as the wind speed picked up. “Close the sails!” They began scurrying around to pull everything in. Women secured children to their chests and sobbed fearfully. Men grabbed their women to hold them where they would feel safest.
    “William,” Bridget called. “William what can we do?” She grabbed their son and held him to her chest, then coughed furiously into his shoulder. The boy looked up at her with concern.
    “Mommy, will you be okay?” He tugged on her shirt as she coughed harder. “Daddy,” he called. Bridget coughed harder still and tried to twist her head away. “Daddy, Mommy won’t talk.” William came running and grabbed her.
    “Come on, Bridget,” he whispered urgently. “You’ve got to get it together this time. We’re about to crash and we just need to get the children safe.” She nodded and wheezed painfully.
    “I know,” she gasped and dropped to her knees, still coughing. William stared between her and the crying little boy for a moment before grabbing the child and pulling him to his chest. A wave crashed over the side of the ship at that time. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled Jack’s daughter against him as well. Women screamed and men yelled over the wailing of frightened children. Then, over the top of every other sound, everyone heard the wood splintering and groaning as the rocks tore through the ship’s boards.
    Water flooded the ship and people began floating over into the ocean. People clung to anything they could--crates, loose boards of wood, each other, or even the rocks threatening to steal their lives. William held tight to his family as the water washed him up and away, but they seemed to float away from everyone else. He bobbed with the ocean until his head smashed against a rock and everything went black.

    The next thing anyone remembered, if they were alive to remember it, was laying on a sandy shore. William coughed up some water before sitting up quickly to search for his family. Dizziness overtook him when he got over excited and he slowly laid back down. Then he heard coughing. “Bridget!” he called and rolled over. “Bridget? Henry?” He remembered his friend’s child that he promised to care for, then added, “Samantha?” He looked around. Bodies littered the beach, some unconscious, and some seeming to be dead. He tried to stand and collapsed back to the ground. “Ah, blast it!” He looked down at his leg and found it bleeding profusely.
    “William?” Bridget called weakly from a few yards away. He looked up and quickly rushed to her side. She looked pale and her lips were blue. “We finally found a land we can survive on.” Her eyes barely opened so that she could look at him, and she smiled a little.
    “Hush,” he whispered and sighed. “Just… rest. I will go build us a fire. You will be fine. Just rest.” He kissed her forehead. She shook her head and grabbed his hand.
    “Go find the children. Save everyone you can. And lead our people to life.” She kissed his hand. “Take care of them, William. You can do it.” Her words were broken up and choppy as she coughed furiously every time she spoke. Blood dribbled down her chin; apparently something had caused internal bleeding. It was potentially from the massive bruising visible on her exposed ribs.
    He held his wife until her coughing subsided and her breathing slowed to a halt. Then he sat there for a while to sob. Later, he would have to organize an island.

Author's Note

I don't particularly like this chapter, but it's necessary to get a history of where it came from. I think it gives it more of a potential to be realistic. If you've got any tips/hints of how to make the ship life better, or if anyone knows how long they would have to travel from Britain to... ehhh, Southern Africa, for example, it'd be nice to know. Gauging how long they'd be on there, y'know?
Anyway, please, I love feedback.