Abject in the Dust

Chapter 4 - Lost at Sea

"What do you mean? You must tell me." Rize shook Sam hard, disturbing both her approaching slumber and her memories.

"I must do nothing." Sam said shaking off arms which held little strength.

"Please! You must share what you know." Rize sunk to his knees in the small boat.

"Get up. Get up!" Sam shouted. "Get off your knees."

"Please tell us what you know." Rize sobbed as he begged.

"Fine!" Sam said irritably. "Just get off your knees."

Rize wiped away tears which were already flowing down his aged cheeks before shuffling back onto his seat.

"There was division between the hierarchy. I don't know the details." Sam waved her hand dismissively. "The ship you're talking about, together with a flotilla of others moved to the Sea of Asov."

"That must be why we lost contact." Lykke interrupted.

"Shush! Who's telling this story?" Sam sneered at Lykke. "But ... probably. The ship went into lockdown and then ... well, then it all kicked off."

"What do you mean?" Rize asked as he wiped away the last of his tears.

"The division didn't end with the splitting of the ships. The Kuznetsov and its flotilla of ships was pursued."

"Pursued? By whom?" Lykke asked.

"Stop interrupting!" Sam snapped. "Half the Russian Navy. How do I know."

"What happened?" Rize asked as he motioned Lykke not to interrupt again.

"There was a battle. It shouldn't have gone the way it did, but ..."

"But what?" Lykke could not help herself, despite two sets of disapproving looks.

"The Sea of Asov was littered with ships – relics of a gone by time. The Kuznetsov still had air power, so it should have been able to put up a defence from the two battleships."

"Battleships!" Lykke blurted out.

"Yes, two of them. Pay attention." Sam continued. "An ammunition barge attached to the Kuznetsov flotilla was moored up alongside an old cargo ship. It was well away from the Kuznetsov itself. But the battleships put a high explosive round into it."

"Why?" Lykke interrupted again.

"How do I know. Do I look like a Naval Captain?" Lykke screwed up her face. "Could have been to deny the Kuznetsov ammunition. More likely they were using it for ranging before they started to engage the Kuznetsov. Whatever the reason, it did them more harm than good."

"I don't understand?"

Sam continued despite the interruptions. "Nobody realised, but the ammunition barge was tied up alongside a huge cargo ship carrying fertiliser."

"Fertiliser?" Lykke interrupted yet again.

"Fertiliser can be an explosive." Rize explained. "The capital city of Nova Scotia was near wiped off the face of the earth when a ship far out to sea carrying fertiliser exploded."

"Really?" Lykke asked with some disbelief.

"Well." Sam continued. "I guess that with the absence of crops, there wasn't the need for fertiliser and the Sea of Asov had become a dumping ground for ships carrying the stuff. Who knew?"

"What happened?" Lykke asked leaning forward.

"Boom!" Sam shouted and clapped her hands together, sending Lykke back off of the small wooden seat, so that her legs flailed in the air. "What do you think happened." Sam laughed. "The ammunition barge started a chain reaction. Ship after ship exploded, each one sending a shock wave destroying everything within miles around. The first shock wave took the planes clean off the deck of the Kuznetsov. The second drove one of the smaller support vessels into the rudder assembly. The Kuznetsov had no way of turning and just kept heading further into the tempest. It was completely destroyed. Nothing afloat on the sea that day fared much better."

"How do you know all of this?" Rize asked as he listened intently.

"I just do." Sam explained whilst avoiding eye contact.

"You were on board, weren't you?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Lykke interrupted. "Only the brightest and best made it on board the ships. What would she be doing on board any ship, let alone the Kuznetsov?" Lykke pointed accusingly at Sam. "Although I suppose the brightest and best needed somebody to clean their toilets."

"There you go then, question asked and answered." Sam replied with a sneer. "But at least I made it on to one of the ships. I guess you weren't even bright enough to clean the shit of others. Poor little girl – locked away in some underground caves in the middle of nowhere." Sam rubbed her eyes with her balled hands. "Boo, hoo."

"I wasn't even born when they took to the ships, you idiot ..." Lykke stopped her chastisement as she studied Sam in a way she had not before. "Nor were you for that matter. You cannot be more than a few years older than me?"

Sam did not reply as she tried to ignore the reference to her age.

"How on earth did you get on board that vessel?"

"None of your business." Sam snapped.

"Then will you share how you managed to get off?" Rize asked more gently.

"No!" Sam softened her tone, but not by much. "I've already said as much as I am going to. Get some sleep." Sam barked as she buried her face from view. "We have a long day tomorrow."

Rize and Lykke settled as best they could in the small boat as dark replaced light. The cool sea breeze offered a surprisingly soft embrace as the gentle swell rocked the occupants of the small silver vessel to sleep. As she hovered between sleep and the waking world, Lykke

"I remember the good people of Nyzand. Good people. Good people, who beat me. Good people who enslaved me. Good people who sold me for food. Good people."