‘Isagani!’ I try to call for them, to push through the throng and find them.
Everyone is shouting for someone or at someone else. It is a cesspool of fear and anger.
The captain shakes their head, as though they’ve given up, and has to force back overzealous passengers who are half-boarded. They wrestle with the crowd for the boarding plank, pushing back the land dwellers.
‘We’ll come back!’ the captain insists, although the promises sound empty and desperate. ‘The quicker you let go, the quicker we’ll return!’
The captain begins to cast off, and the crowd undulates back and forward, eventually relinquishing the plank. One of the front row who was holding on is thrown forward by the impact, landing in the water. Some of the others rush to help retrieve them, hands and rope offered as a line. The captain looks torn as the plank is hauled onto the boat by the crew and we set sail.
I catch a glimpse between the press of bodies around me. At the front of the crowd, helping the person who fell off the dock, is a scrawny figure I recognise. A small pale face and large dark eyes.
‘Isagani!’ I yell, waving frantically. ‘Isagani!’
I don’t know if they can see or hear me, but they look up at the ferry and then around the dock, searching for me.
‘Please, I need to go back for them!’ I push my way towards one of the crew, my voice hoarse from yelling.
‘There’s no going back. They can get the next ferry.’
‘There is no next ferry, you fucks, and you know it.’
The crew member looks at me aghast, and I break down in tears.
‘Will you go back?’ I ask over and over again, staring at Umasa’s dock retreating in the distance. ‘Go back.’
The nearby passengers lower their gaze and turn towards the sea.
‘Your kid will be all right,’ a young man tries to reassure me.
My kid. Isagani was my responsibility.
‘I abandoned them,’ I cry.
‘No, it was an accident. You’re not to blame,’ the man says, trying for conviction in his voice.
We are all scattered to the wind. I look towards the Spring Isle in the distance and can only hope Salvacion and Biba made it safely there. We know we are the lucky ones.
chapter sixty-four
finlyr
The slow death gripof Adarna suddenly loosens. I’m on my hands and knees, but my joints feel looser, warmth spreading across my skin. When I can look up, I see massive bits of stone falling from the sky and the echo of Adarna’s shriek.
I roll to avoid the falling debris, crawling away across bodies mangled by stone. Seaguardians and stewards emerge from the ruin of the Bastion. I scramble down the hill, frantic among the chaos. Umasa is a wreck. Families scream as they try to shift the rubble.
The streets are alight with confusion. There’s a feral energy to the town that sits uneasily with me. This is a pyre ready to catch. My instincts to run or hide have never been stronger.
Everyone else has had the same idea, and a head start on getting to the docks. Folks have their possessions with them; others have nothing but the clothes on their back. Children left crying and pissing in the streets. Ruins of houses plundered for everything they’re worth. It never ceases to amaze how thin the fabric of Paranish truly is. We’re all fucked, either way.
I move towards the dock, people parting when they feel my hand on their shoulder and see the bulky mass it’s attached to.
‘Where’s the ferry?’ I ask.
‘Gone. They’re all gone,’ an older woman reluctantly admits.
‘When are they coming back?’
A young man shrugs. ‘Who knows.’
