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No Country for the Tide

adventure◐ Mature
5 contributors · 4 paragraphs deep

He found the church, half-sunk and roofless, its bell lying green in the mud. Ten paces north, his shovel struck wood. He dug fast and pulled up a sealed iron box, heavier than it looked. The tide was already turning, water creeping back across the flats toward his ankles.

The water rose faster than it should, coming in against the wind. It climbed past his knees in seconds, far quicker than any tide he knew. Halloran clutched the box and ran for the dinghy, but the flats had turned to soup and his boots stuck fast. Whatever was buried here, the island was fighting to keep it.

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Halloran lost his grip and the box vanished under the rising water. He thrashed back to the dinghy with nothing but the notebook and his life. From the trawler he watched the island sink, taking its secret with it. He'd failed the job. But he was breathing, and the dead man in the notebook was not.

SV
Sasha Volkov
6 votes · future 1 of 2