“Endless Summer, this is United States Navy, Search and Rescue, Guam. We have your GPS and are inbound by helicopter. What is your current condition, over?”
Travis screamed at the top of his lungs. “Wally! Wally! The radio! They’re on the radio!”
Wally ran from the aft quarter berth and made the three small steps to the cockpit in one leap. He grabbed the radio from the wall and tried to keep his composure.
“US Navy, this is Endless Summer, Captain Walter Lawson. I have two very sick passengers and one dead crew. They were attacked by something in the water and may have been poisoned. I can move my boat closer to the shore if you can land on the beach for medi-vac, over. Situation extremely urgent.”
“Affirmative, Endless Summer. If you can safely move your passengers to the shore, we will land and extract your injured and dead crewman. We have medical staff aboard. Estimate ten minutes to your location, over.”
“Understood, navy. I cannot move the passengers myself, but will move my vessel as close as possible to the beach. Thank you! Out!”
Wally raced to the bow and pulled up the anchor, with Tanner rushing up to help. Wally was trying his best to be cool in front of the boys, but could barely contain himself. “Help’s coming, Tanner! Thank God, help’s coming!”
Tanner finished pulling up and securing the anchor while Wally ran back and turned on the diesel engine. They moved full throttle back towards the beach, as close as they dared until the keel was almost hitting the sand below them. Once there, Wally yelled for Tanner to throw the anchor, and then cut the engine. By the time Wally got back downstairs to the quarter berth, Abby was unconscious next to Maynard. Both of them looked purplish-grey, like they were dead, but they were making groaning noises, so Wally knew they were hanging in there. Both of them had impossibly bloated stomachs, and had lost blood from both ends.
Wally dropped to his knees and held Abby. “I’m sorry, Abby! I’m sorry! I wish I knew what to do for you!” He rocked her and tried to soothe her, but she convulsed and threw up dark blood again. Maynard made a long deep groan from his berth and opened his mouth so wide his jaw popped. His tongue rolled forward, now so dark it was almost black. It was so swollen it reached his chin.
“Jesus,” cried Wally, tears now coming. “What did this to you?”
Tanner started coming down the steps and Wally jumped up and stopped him. “No, no! Stay up topside and look for that helicopter! Tell your brother to man the radio!” Wally didn’t want the boys seeing their parents. In less than thirty minutes their condition had deteriorated so much the boys would be traumatized.
The helicopter, an MH-60S Sea Hawk in navy grey, finally appeared in the distance. It was coming in fast, at one hundred and sixty knots. As soon as the boys saw it, they started jumping up and down and screaming, waving their hands. Wally heard them and ran back to the cockpit where he pulled open an emergency cabinet and grabbed the flare gun. He jumped to the forward deck and fired it straight up, then stood with his arms around the boys.
“Should we help mom bring dad up?” asked Tanner. The boys didn’t know their mom was now just as helpless as their dad.
“Listen boys, your mom and dad are both really sick. Let’s wait until the medical staff arrives, okay? They’ll have real corpsmen on the helicopter. In the meantime, help me lower the dinghy from the davits, okay? We’ll get the dinghy to shore and bring back the doctors.”
The three of them lowered the dinghy and got inside, then Wally turned on the small electric outboard and buzzed to shore. The helicopter roared overhead and banked hard, then hovered and descended on the soft sand of the beach. The large side door slid open, and a woman in a gray flight suit and helmet jumped out.
As the dinghy beached, the woman in the flight suit ran over extending her hand, talking loudly over the wash of the rotors. “Captain, I’m Karen Witherspoon, crew chief of this bird. We have two corpsmen coming with gurneys. Are your passengers mobile?”
Wally shook her hand with two of his, overjoyed to see her. “Wally Lawson. No ma’am, they’re in bad shape. Real bad. These two young men are their children. Maybe you can take them with their parents? My mate didn’t make it.”
Behind her, two more sailors from the helicopter ran through the sand with heavy field packs on their back, and two folded gurneys between them.
“It’ll be better if you bring the kids with you over to Guam. Let my crew concentrate on helping their parents.”
“Yes, ma’am. If your folks can help me get them to the dinghy, we can push them to shore and transfer them.”
Wally yelled at the boys to stay on the beach and sit tight until they could get their parents back to the beach and aboard the helicopter. Wally and the three crewmen sloshed through the water with the dinghy until they were waist deep, then hopped up into it and revved the small engine, racing to the sailboat. Travis and Tanner watched helplessly from the beach, hugging each other and crying.
Karen and the two corpsmen moved down to the rear quarter berth and froze when they saw Abby on the floor. She looked like a corpse that had been left in the sun for a few days. Just when they were about to ask Wally what was going on, Abby groaned and dry heaved.
“She’s alive!” snapped the corpsman names Rivers. He was shocked. Abby didn’t look like any human he’d ever seen before, and Rivers had been a combat medic with four tours under his belt. This was supposed to be his “easy post.” He knelt next to her and put his fingers on her neck. “Pulse is weak, but regular. Let’s just get these two in the bird ASAP and figure out what’s going on in the air. We don’t have any extra time here!”
The three crewmen and Wally helped move Maynard, Abby and Ellis, who was wrapped in a bedsheet, to the small inflatable. They returned to shore and the crew transferred Maynard and Abby to the gurneys and Ellis to a body bag, and ran to the awaiting helicopter.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Karen to Wally. “Did you see what stung them?”
“Yeah, but I have no idea what they were. They looked like sea slugs or something, but they were aggressive. It was like they were trying to kill him or eat him or something. One of them bit Abby on the hand, but we thought it was nothing. An hour later, she was turning colors. I don’t have any anti-venom or anything like that. I just tried antihistamines. They didn’t do anything. Hit Manny with an epi-pen, too.” Wally looked back at the boys watching their parents being loaded into the helicopter. “You sure you shouldn’t take them?”
“Sir, it’s cramped in the bird, and those two are in bad shape. It’ll be harder for the kids if they’re watching it. Guam is a hundred and fifty miles. Sail to the marina there with the kids. Andersen Air Base, US Naval Hospital, you can’t miss it. You have passports and personal effects for these folks? I’ll need to notify State Department of this.”
“Yes ma’am.” Wally pulled a small waterproof pouch from his pocket and slapped it into her hand. Their passports, driver’s license and contact info.”
The rotors were picking up speed. The crew chief took a knee and held the two boys by their shoulders. “We’re going to do everything we can to help your mom and dad. Be safe and we’ll see you tonight.” She gave them a quick pat on the shoulders and shook Wally’s hand quickly. “We’re out! Smooth sailing!”
She ran to the helicopter and slid the door closed behind her. Wally held the two boys and watched the Sea Hawk lift off. The three of them stood and watched it get smaller and smaller, as they cried and held each other tight.