Subject: XVII part 1. Couldn't cut too much out of this one
Author: marta i (198.232.250.51)
Date: 01-14-2000 13:02
it's so breathtaking.. DBA really had a gift:
Juan swims up to the surface and dives his head back into the water.
The water is boiling hot but the hot air coming down from the
mountain/volcano is even more unbearable. He notices there are many
other men struggling to stay affloat like him. Their faces are
darkened/blackened and burned, their arms waving in search of help,
still bodies, some alive and some dead, injured and unscaped, a wide
mass of beings struggling and fearfull and not fully aware of what
has happened. Juan swims toward the last place he saw Colibri at,
finally grabs him and brings him up to the surface, trying to wake
him up to his surroundings. Colibri is panicked, afraid they will
die, the water and air are too hot!!
Juan says he's not going to die! Hold On!! Grab that beam!! Juan
swims, dragging Colibri towards a small boat that it is on its side
but is easy to flip over. Juan is holding on to it, holding Colibri
with his other arm. Another arm comes up to hold on to the boat.
Another face partially deformed and burned, ready to dispute with
Juan that which represents their last hope for survival.
-Sueltame, Renato!!
Again, they are face to face, fate has placed them again in battle
with each other. They both struggle for the same air, with the same
desperation. Still full of hate, Renato shouts
-You sank my ship!! You made it blow up!!
-Are you crazy?? How could I have??! It was the volcano!!
-OH!.. the volcano.. what about Monica?? Was she on the Luzbel?
-No, she wasn't! I took her to safety!
- Then it's true!.. Oh.. I can't hold on anymore...
The water around Renato turns blood red (he's badly wounded) Juan's
arm is holding a now unconscious Colibri affloat.
-Renato,.. Pull up!! Get in the boat! Hold on to me! Don't let go!
-It's useless, Juan! I'm wounded! Save the kid! Save yourself!
(relief.. he still has a heart)
Juan gets Colibri and Renato in the boat, one at a time. HE has some
difficulty pulling
Renato up into the boat but does it. With the last breath of his
energy he pulls himself up and ends up standing in the middle of the
boat with Renato and Colibri laying on it,
horrified while staring at the tragedy all around him. He's bleeding
through ten different
wounds, his clothes are burned and ripped apart, his skin burned and
scraped, but none of that is as terrifying as what his eyes are
contemplating.
-What happened, patron? Did they shoot us down? Did they sink the
Luzbel?
- No, not the Luzbel. There she is.. burned, wounded, but floating.
The Galion sank and the other ships too. Look!!
Juan spots some of his men struggling on the water. Juan shouts to
them to grab on to anything they can reach and he will go for help.
He grabs a floating beam and uses it to row the boat.Then he lifts
his eyes towards shore and screams in horror...
-Colibri! Am I going crazy?? Look! Look at Saint Pierre! What is
that in front of us?!?
-Nothing, patron! There's nothing there!
Juan rows toward the beach like a crazy man. His eyes look around
the houses that are no more, the familiar sights are gone. Not a
roof, not a tree is standing. The green valley where the richest and
greatest city in the small Antilles is a giant hole filled with lava
and ashes.
-Monica.. Monica!!
The beloved name is the only thing that comes out of his lips, a
dagger of light and fire that goes through him. He needs to get
closer to assimilate it all. He keeps rowing as if losing his mind.
His mind does not give credit to the terrible truth until he reaches
the beach. He runs without even feeling the burning soil on his bare
feet.
-Saint Pierre was here! It can't be!! It can't be true!! - shouts
Juan still in disbelief.
The volcano rumbles again as if awakening him to reality. He notices
the volcano's top has blown itself off and is still releasing a
stream of lava and steam through its giant crack on its side. Juan
returns to the boat where le left Colibri and badly injured Renato.
-What happened?
-Saint Pierre was here! But it is no more! The city where I was born
is no more! And her... Monica.. Monica!! Where are you??!!