Shipwreck

It is cold at night, and nerves on the raft start to fray. Will keeps asking the time simply to see the light on Ian’s cheap National Geographic Explorer watch, and Ian talks non-stop, spouting information from TV shows about shipwrecks and sharks. They haven’t drunk water or eaten anything for 48 hours. Thirst becomes unbearable, and hunger pains grip each of them. When they see rain clouds building on the horizon, they cheer, but no rain falls on them. Luke is in shark-bait position, trying to stay awake when he hears a slurping noise. He sees Will, hanging over the edge of the raft feverishly swallowing sea water. Luke grabs Will and yells at him to stop, but Will insists that it is okay to drink. Will pauses to tell Luke that the reason they haven’t found Lyssa and J.J. is because they have already been rescued and that J.J.’s theory is correct: “[T]he captain and Radford are watching us! The others were in trouble, so they moved in and saved them. They haven't saved us yet because we're doing okay’” (115). With horror, Luke realizes that Will is “losing his grip on reality” (115).