Archipelago N.Y.: Flynn (9 page)

Flynn leaned over
the side of the
Seeker
and peered at the water. He could just about make
out the outline of a moving shadow under its surface. It was growing bigger,
coming closer. Finally, Madison's head burst through with a big splash. She
spat some water and took a big, noisy gulp of air.

“Good job!” Flynn
said, extremely pleased with the girl’s progress. “That's enough diving for
today.”

Madison removed
her goggles; grabbed Flynn’s outstretched hand, and let him hoist her up on
deck. She rolled on her back, eyes closed, trying to catch her breath, her
chest heaving from all the strain of rigging up the diving bell. Water dripped
from her glistening skin, forming a small pool on the raft’s platform.

Flynn caught
himself staring at Madison…again… and shaking his head in total disbelief…Yesterday,
Madison had been wearing a pair of scruffy overalls… her face covered with a
grimy scarf… Today, she had arrived at the docks in cut-off cargo pants, a tank
top, and her face no longer hidden by a scarf … And she had given Flynn the
surprise of his life… Back at the dock, he had stared at the girl before him, at
first not realizing it was Madison Ray. True, he had not seen her in over a
year, but the person before him bore only the faintest resemblance to the old
Madison… In his head, she had been this quirky kid… one of the boys… and
nothing special… But looking at her now, he couldn’t help noticing the
incredible transformation that had taken place… Gone was the awkward looking child
with spindly legs, matted hair and a mouth too big for its face… With her long
and slender limbs, her cascading waves of sun-streaked hair and full lips,
Madison Ray had turned into a real beauty. She was, by far, the most stunning
girl Flynn had seen on the Archipelago… It was hard not to stare!

Madison’s long
eyelashes fluttered and she opened her eyes. Flynn looked away, but not fast
enough. “What?” she asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

“Err ... nothing!”
Flynn picked up a jar filled with seal fat, scooped a handful and slapped it on
his chest. Avoiding any eye contact with Madison, he started smearing the grease
all over his body.

Madison rubbed her
arm, sniffed her fingers and scrunched up her nose. “Ugh! This stuff stinks
worse than my pigeons!”

“Yeah! But it sure
keeps you warm when you’re in the water.”

“This is harder
than I thought, Flynn… I'm not sure if I can keep pace with you....”

“You're doing fine
for someone who hasn’t practiced in a while,” said Flynn, reassuringly. He was
covered from head to toe in grease now. “A lot to catch up on, but we can't do
it in just a few days.”

“I thought I was
only going to work on the pedals and the air-pump...”

“You will be… But,
as my Crew Mate, you’ve got to dive well enough in case of an emergency. You’re
here to watch my back,” said Flynn, stretching out his hand. “Goggles, please!”

“Hey! I thought
you said enough diving for today.”

“I need to get
something… Just one quick dive and we're going back.”

Madison untangled
the goggles from her hair and handed them to Flynn. Then she shook out her long,
wet mane, sending a cloud of tiny water drops flying in the air.

“You know, you’ll
have to cut it all off,” Flynn said.

“Why?”

“Can’t take
unnecessary risks… with hair like that… It can get caught in something down
there. Trap you, or strangle you…. And you’ll be dead before you know it.”
Flynn stepped to the edge of the raft, closed his eyes and relaxed his body. Standing
perfectly still, he looked like a golden statue, his oiled skin catching the light
of the strong afternoon sun.

“What’re you
doing?”

Flynn opened one
eye slightly, caught Madison looking at him then closed it. “Concentrating…
Slowing down my heart beat.”

“Really… you can
do that…by concentrating?”

“Just watch… I'll
teach you all the tricks of deep free diving after the Trials.”

“Aren't you
supposed to take deep breaths… get more oxygen before you dive?”

“Bad idea.”

“Why?”

Flynn gave up,
opened his eyes and faced Madison. With all her questions, she was making it
really hard for him to concentrate. “’Cause I'll be hyper-ventilating then, and
black out. That's why.”

“Oh... that makes
sense,” she said, scowling. “You must think I’m stupid for asking.”

“No, I don’t!”
Flynn felt like kicking himself. The last thing he needed was for Madison to
get offended and give up on the whole Crew Mate deal. “I think you’re very
wise, asking me about stuff…” he mumbled...Wise and very pretty, Flynn thought,
not realizing he was staring at Madison again.

“So, are you going
in, or not?”

Flynn looked away
from the girl and began to scan the horizon. “Just making sure we’re alone,” he
said. Flynn had positioned the
Seeker
at the same spot he and Tony had
last scavenged. Yes, he knew that he was pushing his luck, and he shouldn’t be
there… Not so soon after being caught “trespassing”, anyway… But, he also knew
there was so much more stuff to be scavvied/found in the pharmacy down below.
It would be such a shame to abandon it now. Most importantly, there was
medicine that could help Tony get better. He had to risk it.

“Looks like the
coast’s clear!” He snapped his goggles on. “OK, one more time… When you hear
the rattle, start pumping. The second time you hear it go off, you stop. Are we
good?”

Madison nodded,
took her position on the seat and placed her foot on the oxygen pump.

“See you in a bit.”

Flynn attached his
mesh sack to his belt and without looking back at Madison, he dived in. Kicking
his feet, he made a few wide breast strokes which propelled him deeper down in
the water. Then, he placed his arms beside his torso and let himself sink. His
body went rigid and straight as an arrow, something Flynn would do on purpose
to conserve energy and air as long as possible. Now he was sinking, using his
own weight.

The sun beams
penetrated the turquoise water around him, the colors gradually becoming a
darker shade of blue as he kept going deeper and deeper. A school of silver
bellied fish shot past his head, but he paid them no attention. Flynn was
following the length of the rope and the hose attached to the diving bell. The
bell would be his first destination. Without stopping, he pinched his nose and
blew against his closed lips to equalize the pressure building up in his body.
The water was dark blue now, and he could see the diving bell, only a few feet
away. In just under three minutes, Flynn had successfully completed the first
phase of his dive to the ocean bed. The bell was his little safe haven. He dove
under it, and his head popped up in the bell’s air bubble.

Flynn took a deep
breath. The air was good enough to replenish his oxygen intake. He anchored his
feet to the small platform, attached to the bottom of the bell, and rummaged
inside his satchel. He found the flashlight, tightly sealed and secured with duct
tape, felt for the switch under the plastic wrap and pressed it. A beam of bright
light illuminated the bell, making its dome glow like a lantern in the
murkiness of the water outside. Flynn fastened the flashlight to the strap of
his goggles, took a few short breaths and swam out of the bell. This was the
second phase of his dive, and soon, the beam of his light was bouncing off the
submerged buildings of the city below.

It was always an
eerie sight, serene and hauntingly beautiful. Flynn swam down towards a mass of
twisted metal, crusted with barnacles, covering the length of what was once a
suburban Queens’ street. There were cars, trucks and buses, piled on top of
each other, having found and settled into their final resting place after the
Flood. Flynn dove under the tangled power cables, still hanging from tilted
electricity poles, and made his way through the rusty cab of a large overturned
truck. He spotted the human remains, lying in a heap on the driver’s seat. The
bones were polished clean by the fish and crabs. Flynn knew that skeletons were
everywhere when he went on such deep dives… especially in the old residential
areas. Nothing out of the ordinary, he thought. The ocean bed around the
Archipelago was one big cemetery… Flynn inspected quickly the remains for
anything worth scavenging… Sometimes, he would find a watch or a piece of
jewelry, a golden tooth crown, a pair of shoes or an item of clothing that
could still be worn…the kind of stuff he could easily trade on the Black
Market…This time, he found nothing of value in the cab and swam on toward his
final destination.

As expected, and
without much trouble, his flashlight located the pharmacy’s sign from the day
before. Flynn dived through a gap in the wall and swam straight for the row of
silt covered cabinets at the back of the shop. His hand wiped the black slime
away, revealing the cabinets’ glass doors. Behind them were shelves stacked
with vacuum-packed medicine. Flynn pulled at one of the doors, but it was
sealed shut by the thick crust of a dozen giant clams. Not wasting any time, he
rotated his arms, backed up and kicked the glass with his heel. The glass
cracked and caved in a little. He gave it another kick and it imploded. Water
rushed in, sweeping the packages into a frothy whirlpool. Avoiding the sharp
pieces of glass, Flynn grabbed at the floating packs, and began to stuff them
in his sack. He had practiced these moves many times. As always, Flynn was fast
and efficient.

Halfway through
his scavenging run, Flynn stopped, turned and swam away. He had been holding
his breath for about three and a half minutes, and he knew it was time to head
back to the diving bell for some more air. A few moments later, he was inside
the bell’s dome and immediately noticed that the air in the capsule had become
stuffy… It needed more oxygen… Flynn reached up and pulled on the piece of rope,
hanging above his head. Up on the raft, the rattle would tell Madison that she
needed to pump him some more fresh air. They had practiced the drill a hundred
times that day, so Flynn had no reason to worry. He headed straight down to the
pharmacy again, without giving the oxygen pump a second thought.

Back at the
cabinets, he gathered the remaining floating packs, took one last look around,
and his eyes fell on an overturned vending machine. It was lying on the floor,
half-buried in sea shells and kelp weeds. With its backside cracked open, there
were a few soda cans that had spilled out, and Flynn collected them quickly in
his sack. He then reached inside the vending machine, hoping to find some more
of its valuable stash. As his hand closed over a can, Flynn suddenly felt an
electrical current run through his whole body. His hand shot back out of the
crack, followed by a huge eel. Its jaws snapped shut, inches from Flynn's
fingers. Instantly, the eel coiled back into the vending machine, its mouth wide
open, waiting to strike again. For a split second Flynn thought about killing
the eel and taking it home for dinner, but then decided to let the creature
live… It would have been too risky! He was now dangerously close to running out
of oxygen again. It was time for Flynn to turn around and swim back to the bell.

Once inside, Flynn
realized that the air had become much worse than before. “What’s she doing up
there!” he shouted, grabbing for the rope. He gave it a sharp tug, then rested
his feet on the bell’s platform and waited… A few moments passed. Nothing! No
fresh air was coming down the hose. “C'mon Madison!” Flynn’s voice sounded
hollow inside the little dome as he looked up in frustration… He was beginning
to feel dizzy. The air inside the bell was now heavy with carbon dioxide.

And then, the bell
lurched violently, sending Flynn crashing into the wall behind him. If he had
not grabbed hold of the hose, he would have slipped out of the bell and into
the watery abyss below. What the hell was that? Flynn’s mind was now racing…
Was it a seal… or a shark? Flynn shone his flashlight through the clear plastic
wall into the darkness outside. He could see no farther than a few feet anyway...
Seconds later, he felt another jolt, and then to Flynn’s surprise, the diving
bell began to move. This was all wrong, he thought, trying desperately to keep
his balance. Something was dragging the bell slowly to the right with Flynn
still inside it, and with very little air left for him to survive such a ride.

Flynn knew he had to
act fast. Taking one last quick breath, he dived out of the bell, and then following
the hose, swam up as fast as he could. Soon he could see the rectangular
outline of the
Seeker
above, but his raft was not alone… It was flanked
by the silhouettes of two other vessels.  Flynn wasn’t sure, but they looked
like boats…He kicked his feet harder, and as he got closer to the surface, he saw
that the boats had powerful propellers, churning away in the water… Suddenly,
there was no longer any doubt in Flynn’s mind… the
Seeker
had two motor
boats for company and they were Government boats!

Usually, like most
experienced divers, Flynn would scream during the last few feet before surfacing
from a deep dive, in order to get all the air out of his lungs. This time, he
held his breath and came up behind his raft, making sure he was as silent as he
could possibly be. He forced himself to suppress the urge to take a deep
breath, taking a few shallow ones instead. Then he grabbed hold of one of the
tires at the back of the
Seeker
and slowly hoisted himself up, his head
peeking an inch above the platform. There was no sign of Madison! The raft was
deserted… the oxygen pump pedals stood abandoned. Flynn pulled himself up a
little higher and saw the motor boats in front of him. The bigger of the two
was the
Fury
. She was leisurely tugging the
Seeker
in her wake, and
at her helm stood the familiar figure of Leo Van Zandt.