About this story
As days pass without a sail, hunger turns arithmetic into a proposal no one will say outright, and a drawn lot ends with both other men going over the side. A schooner finds you alone, and Montgomery wants to know what happened to the rest. Six chapters take you from his cabin to a locked door, a scream with a word in it, a ravine where a grey creature recites the Law, and a white-haired man who promises to explain.
How it opens
The ship vanished during the night, leaving wreckage under a colourless dawn.
Your dinghy rose and fell without sail, shade, or room enough to stand.
HelmarThree of us made this boat; no one else is coming over the side.
SailorThe fourth man fell in the rigging before our hands reached him.
Choose
Count what remains before hunger begins doing the arithmetic.
Give each man an equal portion while we can still agree.