“That’s where we’re going,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. She liked the feeling of closeness as he held her. She tried to remember the last time she’d felt so close to someone, especially someone she had known for such a short time.
Abby watched him, looking at the island. She admired his optimism; his willingness to try something that seemed impossible. Maybe it was the very strong, homemade wine she had been drinking, but she also admired the way the fire flickered in his eyes. She stared at him for several minutes, his gaze fixed on the island in the distance. He was undoubtedly plotting how to get them over there.
She decided to go for it. Standing on the tips of her toes, she leaned up to kiss him. As soon as she did, her left foot slipped out from under her on the loose rocks, sending her tumbling toward the ground, spilling her drink. Moving quickly and catching her with one arm behind her back, Eric helped her back to her feet. They locked eyes, and after a beat, she burst out laughing.
“You all right?”
She was laughing so hard, she had tears in her eyes. “Sorry, I think it’s the wine.”
“It’s strong stuff. Good, though. Here, sit down.”
They sat together on the loose earth and leaned back against a large rock. Abby finally relaxed and laid her head on his warm shoulder. She wondered if she should try to kiss him again. Did he know that was what she was trying to do when she fell? If he did, he didn’t let on.
She decided not to and told herself just to enjoy the moment. They sat like that for hours, leaning against each other, enjoying the clear sky and the perfectly fresh air as the fire slowly died out, and she fell asleep against him. He lifted her and carried her back into the cave.
Abby woke up but pretended she had not. He lay her down on the bed Robert had left vacant for them. Carefully, he lay down next to her. She shifted and snuggled in close, laying her arm over his chest and drifting off to sleep.
7
THEY PARTED WAYS with Robert early in the morning after a filling breakfast consisting of biscuits and stew. The stew was the same as it had been yesterday. It was delicious, considering the circumstances. Robert had made the biscuits from grain he grew on the side of the hill, plus wild honey and water. They were dense, grainy, and a bit smoky, having been cooked by the fire, but that didn’t matter. They were sweet and delicious to Abby and Eric’s starved palates.
Robert insisted they take a heaping bag of fresh vegetables from his garden and all the leftover biscuits. Taking his advice, they hiked down the side of the mountain that faced the island in the distance, which was their ultimate destination. He assured them their former captors had a very permanent camp set up on the other side of the mountain and should not be a problem for them.
Abby stood on the white-sand beach and looked out over the blue water to the island in the distance. Neither of them had any experience building something that could float. They debated for quite some time what to do about their situation.
“I think it looks closer than it is,” Eric said.
Abby countered, “How far could it possibly be? I went to St. Thomas over spring break a couple years ago. The island next door was four miles away and only took about 20 minutes to get to on a boat. This one doesn’t look much farther than that one did.”
“I’ll tell you; it’s a lot farther than four miles. Two or three times that, at least. Plus, we don’t have a boat—or anything to build a sail with, for that matter. We’ll be paddling the whole way, so I’d forget about that twenty minutes.”
“Obviously. But, you agree though, right? Let’s go for it?”
“What’s our option? Hang out here? I’d rather not spend the rest of my life waiting for some crazy guy with a beard to snatch us up again.”
“Agreed.”
They decided they would build the smallest raft they could; something they could sit on comfortably, but would be big enough to lie on if they had to rest. Abby would construct a couple of paddles, and they would go for it. They were already tired from the hike that morning and still had to gather wood and vines before trying to lash together something that would float. They were not getting anywhere today. In all likelihood, they were stuck there, at least for a couple more days.
Eric went hunting for wood to build their raft with, while Abby worked on constructing a simple shelter for them. Abby was hesitant about splitting up, but Eric reminded her that Robert said they would be okay on that side of the island, and he promised not to wander too far. Reluctantly, she watched him walk into the trees. She got right to work on making their shelter, using branches and materials from the trees at the forest’s edge, hoping the distraction would ease her uncertainty.
After a handful of failed attempts, she finally got a support log to hold in the crook of a tall tree that had split into a Y-shape. She used vines to lash the large support log into place and then began laying smaller branches against it to make the walls of a lean-to shelter. The blue skies didn’t look like rain, but she piled so many branches and leaves on top of their little shelter that it looked as though it could withstand a monsoon and still keep them dry inside.
Abby didn’t have the benefit of a watch, but the entire process must have taken a couple of hours. She had become so wrapped up in it that she had forgotten where Eric was. She wondered what was taking him so long and thought about going to look for him, but figured she would give it just a little while longer. No doubt, she would find him, and he would poke fun at her for being worried.
She gathered some rocks and made a little fire pit near the entrance. Afterward, she collected some wood and kindling to build a fire later and keep them warm overnight. While she didn’t have a way to tell time, the sun was getting low, and she was approaching full-blown panic over the fact that Eric had yet to return. It had been at least four hours since she had started on the shelter, and she had not seen any sign of him.
Going into the trees a few dozen yards, she took a big drink of water and refilled the solar bag purifier Robert had given them. She looked around, standing perfectly still, listening to the sounds around her. She did not hear any indication that Eric was nearby.
She went back to their makeshift camp, set the solar bag in the sun, and checked to make sure her knife was securely strapped to her right thigh. Thoughts of Eric being snatched again played through her mind. They’d never discussed how long he would be gone, but it had been most of the afternoon by now. After pacing the beach for a while, she couldn’t stand to wait any longer. The sun would be going down in the next couple of hours. She had to go look for him.
Going into the trees, Abby was tempted to call out for him, but she abandoned that idea when she remembered there could be other people out there—people she did not want to run into. She worked her way back in the direction they had come from when they had hiked down the mountain that morning. She figured that would make the most sense. If he’d followed that route, it would have given him some sort of bearing to find his way back. That is what she would have done, anyway.
She spent the better part of the next hour searching in vain. Every ten yards or so, she would stop and listen for him. Every rustling leaf or snapping twig made her jump. She continued like that for nearly an hour. The deeper she went into the trees, the less light was filtering through, and the more on edge her nerves became. Finally, she removed her knife from its sheath. She continued forward with the knife held by her side, ready to strike.
Eventually, she had made her way several miles through the trees with no sign of Eric. On the way, she had done a great deal of stopping and starting. If she were to walk back at a normal pace without stopping, she could be back at their camp before sundown. After convincing herself that Eric would be at the camp, waiting for her and worried she was gone, she decided to head back. There was no sense in being out here, lost in the dark, looking for him. If he wasn’t there when she got back, she would wait it out overnight and hike back up the mountain at dawn to enlist Robert�
�s assistance in the search.
“I won’t have to do that,” she told herself aloud. “He’s going to be waiting for me when I get back.”
A woman’s voice came from just behind her. “Who’s that?”
Abby nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun and held her knife straight out. Standing ten feet away was a dirty but beautiful young woman. Abby immediately looked at her hands. They were empty. As she looked up toward the woman’s face, she couldn’t decide what was more striking—how great her thick, blond hair looked despite being in the middle of nowhere, or her sky-blue eyes.
“Who are you?” Abby demanded.
The woman held up her empty hands to emphasize that she meant no harm. “It’s okay,” she tried to reassure Abby.
Locking eyes, they sized each other up for several uncomfortable moments, until
Abby turned and ran. Assuming there were others around, she was not about to stand there and wait to have a bag thrown over her head again.
The woman called after her, “Wait!”
Abby never broke stride, sprinting through the trees on the narrow path. She could hear the woman trying to keep pace behind her, but Abby was sure she was faster. Continually scanning the trees ahead, she anticipated someone else jumping out. She ran like that for ten minutes, flat-out, dodging trees and ducking low-lying branches. The woman was still calling after her. By the sound of her voice, Abby could tell she was tired and falling behind.
Glancing over her shoulder, she confirmed the woman was quite far behind. Also, it seemed they were alone, as there had been no sign of any of the others. Surely, she wouldn’t have made it this far if any of them were around. Abby ducked behind a thick growth of ferns and pushed her hair out of her face, breathing heavily. She waited half a minute, until the woman came jogging by. Jumping from her hiding place, she grabbed the woman by her thick hair and held the knife to her throat.
The woman pleaded, “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Okay, my ass,” Abby said. “Where are the rest of your people?”
“My people?”
“Yes, your people. The band of assholes who snatched us up a few days ago. Those people.”
The woman tried to nod, but Abby held her hair tight. “You must have run into Tom. That sounds like him.”
Abby studied the woman’s profile. She didn’t recognize her as one of the women who had been by the fire, but she had to assume there were more of them than she had seen that night. “So, you know this guy?”
The woman allowed herself to smile. “You could say that.”
“So, who the hell are you? And how do you know him?”
The woman swallowed hard. “My name is Sara. Would you mind putting that knife down?”
“Actually, I would.”
“You’re new here.”
“How can you tell?”
“You have been here probably four or five days, no?”
Abby furrowed her brow. “Yes, about five days, I think.”
“Well, for one, your clothes are still in one piece. That, and your hair is greasy.”
“There seems to be a shortage of showers around here,” Abby said wryly.
“Don’t worry. Give it another month, and you won’t believe how good it looks.” Sara could see Abby was confused. “When you wash your hair all the time, you strip out the natural oils, so you produce extra to compensate for that. If you don’t wash your hair for a few days, it gets greasy. After a few weeks, though, you’ll stop overproducing those natural oils, and your hair will look amazing.” Sara gave her a big smile, trying to relax, despite the knife against her throat. “Trust me.”
Her blond hair is gorgeous, Abby thought, so maybe she’s onto something there. But it was going to take more than a beauty tip to win her over. “How long have you been here?”
“Eight or nine months, I figure.”
Abby relaxed a bit and lowered the knife slightly.
Sara went on. “When you got here a few days ago, you woke up and had no idea where you were or how you got here. You have been noticing changes in yourself. You feel healthier or stronger than you should. There was also a man with you, about your age. You found each other within a few minutes of waking up. He also has no idea where this is or how he came to be here.”
Tightening her grip, Abby pressed the blade against her flesh. “How do you know that? Where is he?”
Sara smiled innocently. “I know because that’s exactly what happened to me.”
Abby’s heart sank. “What? Really?”
“Really.”
“What about...” She thought for a minute. “...Tom?”
Sara barely nodded, trying not to move with the knife pressed to her neck.
“What about him and his people?”
She let out a breath. “He is out of his mind, and so are the rest of them.” She paused. “Will you please relax with the knife? I’m not here to hurt you, but you’re starting to hurt me.”
The knife had been pressed flat against Sara’s throat. Had Abby tilted the knife on an angle, or had Sara made a sudden move, it would have sliced through her jugular without difficulty. Abby relaxed the pressure and lowered the knife, keeping it ready by her side. “Tell me about them.”
“Thanks,” Sara said, her eyes moving from the knife to Abby’s eyes.
“Was Tom the man you woke up next to on the island?”
“No. When we got here, Tom was already here. He said he had been here a few months and would take care of us.” She shook her head.
“Who is ‘we’?” Abby asked. “You said, ‘when we got here’.”
“Randy, the guy who arrived here with me. When we got here, Tom was already here. He seemed a little odd, but he knew his way around, so we followed his lead. Anyway, some things went on that I wasn’t okay with, but Randy was all-in with whatever Tom was up to. I decided I’d rather be on my own, so I took off one night, and I’ve managed to avoid them since.” She shrugged. “So, here we are.”
Abby studied her face. She was filthy, but she had beautiful features. What were left of her clothes didn’t do much to cover up her lean body. If she had a weapon on her, it had to be hidden someplace very uncomfortable. Her shorts looked like they used to be pants, but were torn off near the tops of her thighs, and she donned a tight tank top that clung to her sweat-soaked skin—though it was so tight that it probably would have clung to her, regardless.
Abby’s eyes came back to her face. There had been two women sitting around the fire with Tom the night she and Eric had been taken. One had her face slashed with the knife; the other one took off pretty quickly. The only thing Abby could remember about her was her fire-red hair. Sara was neither of them.
“Listen,” Sara said, “you don’t have to believe me, but whatever the reason is that we are here, we’re in the same crappy situation. I haven’t spoken to another person in months. I saw you. I know you’re not one of them. I figured we might be able to help each other out, that’s all. If you’re not interested, fine. I’ll turn around and head back to where I came from—just as soon as you promise that knife is going to stay right where it is.”
Abby looked at her knife and slid it back into its sheath. “Fine.”
Sara smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. She opened her arms and took a step toward Abby, who held her hand up to stop her.
“Turn around,” Abby ordered. “We won’t bother you if you don’t bother us, okay?”
Sara just stood, staring at her. Her blue eyes glazed over, and a tear streamed down her cheek. She stood, staring at Abby for another moment, as if she hoped Abby would say something more, before turning around and walking back into the trees.
Abby watched her walk away for a few seconds, and then broke into a run after her.
8
ABBY SHOUTED, “Wait!”
Sara stopped and stood with her back to Abby.
“I’m looking for the man who came here with me. His name is Eric. Have yo
u seen him out here?”
Sara shook her head without turning around.
“I’m sorry,” Abby said. “I’m heading back to our camp now. We have some food there. Are you hungry?”
Sara turned around. “I’ve been hungry for eight months,” she said with a desperate smile.
Abby stared at her while she thought silently. Sara seemed sincere. She hadn’t fought back when Abby could have easily killed her. Most importantly, Sara had been willing to walk away. Abby thought she seemed genuinely lonely and pathetic, and her heart went out to her. “Come on.”
As they walked back to camp, they continued looking for Eric without any luck. Abby thought that it was nice to have some company out there. While she was keeping an eye on Sara, looking for any signs that she should not trust her, she was warming up to her. Abby was certainly less nervous than she had been on the walk into the forest. Maybe they could build a slightly bigger raft and bring Sara with them. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra set of arms to help paddle. She decided she would have to talk to Eric about it.
They arrived back at camp to find Eric waiting for them, though he was shocked by Sara’s presence. “What’s this?”
“This is Sara. She’s going to stay with us for a bit. Where were you, anyway?”
“I’ve been combing the trees around this whole area to make sure none of them are here,” he said, pointing at Sara. “What are you talking about? Stay with us? Who is she? Is she one of them?”
“Relax, she’s not one of them. We can trust her.”
“How do you know that?”
Abby explained how they had met in the trees when she was out looking for Eric. She told him her story, and that she knew about Tom and had been hiding from him for months on her own.
Eric looked their guest up and down. Skepticism showed on his face. “I’m not buying it. How did you find us?”
Sara opened her mouth to speak, but Abby spoke for her. She already felt bad about putting Sara through the third degree when they’d first met. “I told you, Eric; we went through this already. I grilled the hell out of her with my knife to her throat. She’s okay. I could have killed her, and she never fought back. Trust me. Let’s just relax and talk it out.” She waited for his response and got none. “How about we have something to eat?”
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