Epilogue 4(corrected)

Once in the water Mark swam as quickly as possible to the surface, finally managing to catch his breath.

"'COUGH' 'COUGH' Selene where are you!" Mark shouted as he searched around.

"Mark 'COUGH' I'm here!"

Looking back he managed to find Selene approaching him, finally being able to let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness you're okay, can you swim to the lifeboat?"

"Yes, I can do it, don't worry" - Selene replied.

The couple swam as fast as possible and finally managed to reach the lifeboat and get on it. As they caught their breath, a pair of hands stuck to the lifeboat.

"Who is it!?" -Mark yelled as he took out the small knife he had found.

"We are the couple from before!" - Replied the frightened man. Seeing that it was them, Mark relaxed and with Selene's help helped both the man and the woman to get on.

"We're safe" - Selene couldn't help but relax.

"No, not yet. When the ship sinks it will create a vacuum that will begin to suck in everything nearby. Since we don't have oars, use our arms as if they were, we have to get away as far as possible "- Mark spoke with a grave expression.

Hearing his words they did not hesitate a second and used all their strength to get away as far as possible. Once they were far enough away they collapsed exhausted but at least they were safe.

"Thank you, thank you very much for helping us, without you I don't know where we would be, ah, but where are my manners. Nice to meet you, my name is Tomas and I'm a biologist, she's my wife and her name is Silvia" - He introduced himself and his wife.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Mark and I am an engineer while she is Selene my wife, and a doctor" - Mark said while shaking his hand.

"Excuse me, doctor, could you check if my baby is well I'm afraid of having suffered some impact" - Silvia asked worried as she stroked her belly.

"No problem, let me check... hmm, the belly has not been damaged and the only wounds I can see are simple scratches so don't worry, I bet it will be a really cute baby" - She replied with a reassuring smile.

"Thanks for the praise, but I bet yours will be prettier too" - Silvia replied embarrassed, not realizing however that Selene's expression was frozen.

"Unfortunately I can't have children" - She replied sadly.

Silvia was about to apologize in a panic, but before she could, Selene continued.

"Ah, you don't need to apologize. At first, I was depressed about not being able to have children, but thanks to Mark's words I was able to carry on "- She said while holding Mark's hand.

Selene still remembers what he told her.

{Selene I know you suffer from not being able to have children, so I was thinking why not adopt one. Maybe you don't know it but I feel very lucky, it's true that I lost my parents but I was already old enough and I was able to be welcomed by another family who loves me as if I were their son. Unfortunately, in this world, many children are alone from an early age and if adopting one could reduce that number I would do it.}

Some people would think they were just empty words, but it helped Selene to open her eyes, furthermore, who has ever said that it was not possible to love a child if you were not connected by blood. So the couple had decided that they would adopt a child and give him/her all the love he/she never received, unfortunately, they did not know that their wish would never come true.

Time passed and two weeks had passed since the shipwreck. The first week was calm, the two couples spent time chatting and getting to know each other better, but from the second week, the problems began to arise. The first was the climate, during the day the sun burned the skin and the only shelter they had was a blanket, while in the evening the temperature dropped a lot and to keep warm they had to huddle together. The second problem was the lack of food, the stocks they had run out, so they had to catch fish or seagulls that got too close. Finally, they had to make an effort not to panic about being missing, because during this time they didn't see any rescue vehicle.

At the beginning of the third week, they were all trying to fish when they heard a sound. They turned and saw Silvia throwing up as she leaned over.

"Silvia what's happening to you !?" - Tomas asked worried.

"I don't know, it's just that I feel very bad and my stomach seems to be on fire" - She said while crying for the pain.

Selene walked over and after examining her expression turned ugly.

"There are two possible causes, the first is sunstroke and it is the best case, while in the worst case... an infection."

"How dangerous would it be if it were an infection?" - Mark asked in Tomas's place, who was helping his wife.

"Usually an infection is treated with an antibiotic, but in our case ..." - Selene did not continue but everyone could understand where she was going.

"Please tell me, will my... will my baby be okay?" asked Silvia in a trembling voice.

Selene was unable to answer. Getting no response from Selene, Silvia was no longer able to hold back her tears. For a mother there was nothing worse than losing a child.

The days passed and Silvia became weaker and weaker, but the real problem began one evening.

'Splash'

Upon hearing the sound, they immediately woke up thinking that someone had fallen into the water. Seeing that everyone was okay they were confused, but the sound continued.

'Splash' 'splash' 'splash'

Striving to see in the dark the group finally managed to find the reason for the sound but when they saw the reason they paled.

"They are sharks... and there are a lot of them" - Mark murmured in shock.

"Rest assured the sharks don't attack prey bigger than them, so they won't touch the raft, the biggest problem will be that we won't be able to fish anymore. Remember sharks are attracted to vibrations so try to stay as still as possible "- Tomas said with a serious expression.

The next few days were hell, with the fact that they had to move as little as possible to avoid creating vibrations, their bodies began to stiffen and the last supplies of food that were left ran out. The only luck they had was the rain that made it possible to replenish the water.

By the fourth week, the sharks were gone but they weren't the only ones.

"Silvia I beg you open your eyes, I beg you, don't abandon me" - Tomas shouted while holding the corpse of Silvia in his arms. The infection, the lack of food, and the shock of losing the child were too much to bear for her.

Mark and Selene could only offer their condolences but were surprised when Tomas glared at them.

"It's all your fault she got sick! If it weren't for that food, she'd be fine! And you ... "- He pointed to Selene.

"Why didn't you heal her?! You're a doctor, no?! You could have cured her!" - He shouted hysterically.

"Tomas calm down, I know what it means to lose someone important, but you must not lose your reason" - Mark told him while stroking his back to calm him, but it didn't work, Tomas pushed him away and sat on the edge of the lifeboat while he continued to hold his wife in his arms.

From that day on Tomas stopped talking to them, so the couple was forced to take turns to make sure he wasn't doing stupid things. Four days after Silvia's death, due to the heat, her body had begun to release nauseating gas making it impossible to stay on the lifeboat, so Mark tried to talk to Tomas again.

"Tomas, you can't keep leaving her body in this condition. Don't you think it's disrespectful?" -Mark asked but he continued to remain silent, but shortly after he started laughing.

"Ehehehehe we will die we will die hihihihihi the fish will eat us ehehehe" - Tomas was laughing like a madman. What Mark and Selene didn't know, was that Tomas had low mental strength and with his wife death, he finally began crazy.

"Hehehehehe why don't we die together hihihihihi yes this is a great idea!" - Shouting euphoric, Tomas pulled out a sharp bone which began to slide on the lifeboat.

"Tomas don't be crazy. You know very well that Silvia would not want this, try to talk to us "- Mark tried to convince him but Tomas just kept laughing. Trying to find a solution, they heard Selene's scream.

"Shark!"

Curious, Tomas turned around, but when he saw that there was nothing he knew he had been deceived. Before he could do anything Mark sprinted with all his might and pushed him out and fell with him. Under the water they started spinning to overwhelm each other, at one point Mark got the advantage by managing to pull out the knife by stabbing Tomas in the chest, but before Tomas's life ended he managed to hit Mark's side making him scream in pain and lose almost all the air it had. By then Tomas was dead and Mark used the last amount of strength he had left to re-emerge. When Selene saw Mark appear, she immediately went to help him up and when she laid him down she noticed the blood coming out of the wound.

"'COUGH' is the wound serious?" -Mark asked hoarsely.

"The wound... the wound is on the lung" - Replied Selena who was doing everything to plug the wound while the tears were starting to fall.

"Lung eh 'COUGH' I was unlucky" - He laughed ironically.

Time passed but the blood didn't stop flowing no matter what Selene did and as she tried to find a solution she heard Mark's voice.

"Hey Selene 'COUGH' 'COUGH'."

"Shhh stay silent otherwise the wound gets worse" - She told him as she gently stroked his face.

But Mark didn't hear her and continued. - "After the death of my 'COUGH' parents, I thought that my life no longer made sense, my 'COUGH' goal was gone. In that darkness, the only light I had was hearing your voice behind that door 'COUGH' 'COUGH'."

"Why are you telling me these things now! Do not worry, help will arrive and you will heal, so we will have a big family and our future is full of happiness "- She told him while the tears come out.

"Hey, Selene do you remember what I said during the wedding? 'To you who have my heart, I will love you now and forever' 'COUGH' 'COUGH' "- Mark said as he found it increasingly difficult to stay awake.

"Stupid, how could I forget those words. I'll always love you too, so I beg you stay alive! " - At that point, Selene hugged him to try to warm him.

Surrounded by that soft warmth, Mark slowly closed his eyes and exhaled his last breath in Selene's arms.