Tempest

This is my entry for the writer's contest that won me third place at the writer's conference:

Tempest

Lightning never strikes twice, but in my case it did. Or rather, this was the second time I had been marooned in this same general area of the ocean. The second time this year. There was no convenient island nearby so my friend Briny and I were dumped in the water. We could see the stern of the galleon, Defiance, as she sailed away.

If you don’t think it’s hard to walk on the ocean, you are mistaken. The waves pummeled my legs and I stumbled and slid across the roiling surface. I would be in up to my knees sometimes in water that was at least two miles deep.

“Kale!” Briny called, yelling to be heard above the roaring of the sea. I looked and he pointed to the sky. The gray clouds were almost black, churning like an upside down maelstrom. Lightning flickered and I could just barely see the metallic sheen of a gargantuan flying ship. Then it was behind the clouds again. Its great engines turned and the sky shook with thunder.

Something fell and hit the water with a splash. I tossed my stinging wet hair out of my face, could barely see through the waves. There was movement, something gray like rock. A blur. Suddenly I knew what it was and deftly drew my cutlass from its sheath, brandishing it in front of me.

The creature leaped and I fell back with a yelp, lashing out to bring the blade slicing across its hardened shell. It was barely affected. I could see its spindly legs, waving antennae, and sharp, snapping claws. But this was no ordinary crab. From some unknown planet, the creature was about six feet wide and its shell was stippled with green and orange.

“Come on!” I yelled, grabbing for Briny’s arm and making a run for it.

Then, as if nature were out to get us, it started to rain.