Savage Island

by Bryony Pearce

  Mum’s voice carried this time. “Trust me, Will’s fine. He’s normal. He acts up a bit, but he’ll settle down.”

  The side of the hill was steep. I had to hold on to the bank with one hand as I picked my way around. Rabbit holes pitted the scrub. I could imagine the wrapped tooth being blown and snared in one of them. If the tooth had fallen from the rucksack and tumbled into the wind, it could be here.

  But there was nothing. I looked up again. “What can you see, Will?”

  “Three other teams are on the move.” He pointed at the treeline behind us and then off towards the third checkpoint.

  “What about Carmen?”

  He put his binoculars to his eyes and searched downwards, around the hillside, then further out. “I can’t see her,” he said at last.

  A horrible scream trembled through the air. My head whipped up, trying to trace it. Automatically, I looked for a seabird, assuming I had heard a new call, but something inside me knew better.

  I started back around the hillside, heading as fast as I could towards Grady. He was scrabbling and tripping his way through the rocks to meet me. “Was that you?” he shouted.

  I shook my head. “Will?” I bellowed.

  Will was half-running, half-slipping down the hill towards us. “There are plenty of other people on this island. Any one of them—”

  “Any one of them isn’t missing!” My eyes stung. “Where is she?”

  Abruptly Will stopped behind the cairn and bent over. When he rose back to his full height, he was holding something in one hand. It was Carmen’s Swiss army knife, open – the blade bloody.

  “We have to find her,” Grady wailed.

  “I know.” I said as Will shoved Carmen’s knife into his pocket. “She can’t be far. Will couldn’t see her from the top of the hill, so she has to be beneath a ledge or something.”

  We searched, looking at any spot that might be able to hide a person. I checked Grandad’s watch: over an hour had passed.

  “Lizzie’s going to be wondering where we are,” I said.

  “Keep looking,” Will said evenly. “Lizzie’s fine. Carmen needs our help.”

  “It might not have been Carmen who screamed.” Grady wiped his shining forehead with the back of his wrist. “It could’ve been anything … a bird … or a seal…”

  “Yeah.” I ducked under another ledge, hoping. It was empty except for a broken bird’s nest; twigs and smashed eggs. “Where is she?”

  “We aren’t all the way around yet.” Will was more methodical than we were, zigzagging as he walked.

  “There’s another team.” Grady pointed. All big lads, they were crossing the river and heading away from us. “How did we miss them?”

  “They must have come around the other side of the hill.” I stood. “Maybe they’ve seen Carmen. Should we go after them?”

  Will thought. “She’s not with them. If they’re good guys and they found her hurt, they’d have taken her with them.”

  “And if they’re not good guys?” Grady cleared his throat.

  “Then either they found her and left her or…”

  “Or one of them has a cut from Carmen’s knife,” I muttered darkly.

  As we searched on, the incline steepened until I realized that we weren’t so much circling a hill as the first of a series of plateaus. To the west the land sloped towards jagged cliffs and now I could see two higher peaks ahead of us, one to the north-west and the other almost directly north.

  I slumped on to a rock. “She isn’t here.”

  “Where is she, then?” Will demanded.

  “Those lads didn’t have her, but another team might have taken her with them,” Grady said, his face brightening. “If we head to the third checkpoint, we might catch up with her.”

  “And they got by without us seeing them?” I shook my head.

  “You’re assuming it was Carmen we heard before.” Grady clenched his fists. “It could have been a bird. Carmen might have been taken by another team ages ago.”

  Will said nothing, only patted the pocket where he had stashed the knife.

  “She fought,” I murmured. “Why would she need to do that?”

  Abruptly a great skua shrieked shrilly, flew towards us, then tilted and vanished below our feet, only to reappear moments later, cawing furiously. It took off again with an angry cry.

  “We’re sitting on top of a ledge.” Grady leaped to his feet. “We’d better take a look beneath us.”

  Grady saw it first, a black mark in the rock that turned out to be a shadow. “There’s a cave!”

  We started to run. Will pulled his torch out of his trouser pocket and switched it on. “There’s room to go inside.” He stepped out of view.

  “Is she there?” Grady tried to see around me. “Can you see her?”

  “Yeah.” Will’s voice was oddly subdued. “She’s here.”

  The entrance to the cave was narrow, and sharp juts of stone tore my shirt. Inside, Carmen was curled up, her back to us. Will was kneeling next to her.

  Grady nudged me and I stepped sideways to let him in.

  The light of Will’s torch showed that Carmen was lying in a puddle. It shone crimson when the beam caught it.

  “I-is she alive?” Grady whispered. He clutched my arm, fingers digging into my skin.

  “She’s alive, but she’s not conscious.” Will touched her face. “Carmen?”

  Grady kneeled beside Will. “What happened?”

  I held my hands to my chest. “Why would anyone hurt Carmen?” I mumbled.

  With his eyes on mine, Will lifted Carmen’s right wrist.

  Her arm ended in a stump. Even her kestrel tattoo was missing.

  My hand over my mouth, I reeled backwards until I hit the rough wall. I made desperate huh noises – half-sob, half-heave – trying to clear the lump from my throat. “W-what do we do?”

  With shaking hands, Grady took Carmen’s wrist from Will. “I-it’s been cauterized. Burned. See?”

  Now that he said it, the smell that had been filling my nose made sense. Burned wood, meat, copper. I retched again.

  “It’s not bleeding any more?” Will leaned in for a closer look.

  “No, but she needs properly cleaning and bandaging and…” Grady pointed to the cave floor. “She’s lost a lot of blood.”

  Will nodded. “They didn’t mean to kill her. Maybe they burned her arm quickly enough. She needs rest and, I guess, lots of water and iron.”

  “So … steak and green vegetables?” Grady said.

  “Yeah, we’ve loads of that,” I snapped.

  “I’m doing my best,” Grady cried. Then he raised his head. “Wait. I’ve got iron tablets in my kit.”

  “OK … good.” I looked at Carmen’s face. She was still passed out, a frown crease between her eyes. “She’s going to be in terrible pain. She needs something to help with that. We’ve got to get your bag, Grady.” My eyes widened. “Lizzie’s on her own out there!”

  “We can’t leave Carmen,” Grady said. “And we can’t move her. No way!”

  “You stay with Carmen; Will and I are going back for Lizzie and the bags.” I was already out of the cave and moving.

  “But what if they come back?” Grady’s howl followed us along the path and out on to the hillside. This time I put my head down and sprinted without even thinking about my knee. Please, God, let Lizzie be all right.

  Lizzie raised her head as I staggered into our camp, Will on my heels.

  “Did you find her?” Her worried cry greeted me as I rushed forwards and swept her into a hug.

  Will was already shouldering his rucksack. He slung Carmen’s over his front. “Lizzie’s fine, Ben. Let’s go.” He started back, kicking dry earth over the fire as he passed.

  Lizzie shoved me away from her. “What’s going on? Where’s Carmen? The next checkpoint is that way.” She pointed.

  “We’re not going to the next checkpoint.” I picked up my pack and grunted with the weight as I lifted G
rady’s into my arms as well. “Get your things. We need to get out of here.” We were right out in the open.

  Lizzie started to shake. “Tell me where Carmen is.”

  “She’s on the other side of the hill.” I handed Lizzie the long stick she was using as a crutch. “We’re going to her.”

  “Is she all right?” Lizzie’s eyes were wide.

  I shook my head. “No, she’s not.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The cave was crammed with all of us inside. Will and I had made a barrier across the entrance with our bags and we had every torch on, chasing the shadows into corners.

  Lizzie was pacing, swear words tumbling from her lips. “Who did this?” she pleaded. “Why?”

  “What do you think, Will?” My voice trembled.

  “Well…” he said. “I’m wondering what’s in the second geocache box.”

  Lizzie stopped and took off her glasses. “What do you mean?”

  Will leaned back. “We figured the geocache boxes would contain normal stuff, even after the tooth. But what if we were wrong? What if the next box contains something like a tooth but … bigger?”

  “You mean … a hand?” Lizzie replied faintly.

  “Something like that.”

  “You honestly think someone cut off Carmen’s hand to put in a geocache box?” I stared.

  Will looked at me curiously. “You don’t?” He shrugged. “Either someone decided to raise the stakes of the first geocache box … or all the boxes are going to keep on containing things like this, because they’re meant to.”

  “What do you mean ‘they’re meant to’?” Lizzie slid her glasses back on with shaking hands.

  “The boxes could all contain body parts,” Will said.

  Lizzie sat down beside me with a thump. “But the Gold Foundation organized this – there’s no way.” She shook her head.

  But Grady groaned. “I should’ve known. A big corporation like that.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense, Grady.” Lizzie glared at him. “What reason could they possibly have?”

  Even Grady had no answer.

  “Lizzie’s right, Will, that doesn’t make sense. Maybe there was another reason.” I took Lizzie’s hand. “What if someone had to do that to Carmen … and left her here to keep her safe.”

  “Why would anyone need to cut off—”

  “I don’t know, OK, Grady? Maybe she had a … a snake bite, or it was being crushed under a rock and she couldn’t escape. We won’t know until she wakes up.”

  Grady hung his head.

  “If it is the boxes,” Will said eventually, “you realize they left her here for safekeeping? When they know what they need next, they’ll be back.”

  Lizzie bolted upright. “We need weapons.”

  “We need to get out of here!” Grady rasped. “But … we can’t.” He looked at Carmen, then at Lizzie. “Can we?”

  She glared at him. “No. We can’t.”

  “I’m getting Will’s axe.” I crawled to his pack.

  “I’ve got my stick.” Lizzie huddled it against her.

  “Here.” Will pulled string from his jacket pocket and tossed her his penknife. “Attach that to the end. Make a spear or whatever.”

  “I-I’ve got a pick. For rock climbing,” Grady mumbled.

  “Perfect.” I rolled his bag towards him. “What about you, Lizzie, where’s your climbing stuff?”

  “My pick’s in the bottom, on top of the rope and crampons,” she said.

  “Give that to Will.” I clutched the axe to my chest. It wasn’t big, but the blade would cut through wood. If I swung it hard, it would do someone a real injury. Could I do that?

  “How could anyone hurt Carmen?” Lizzie whispered as she wrapped string around the knife. “She’s a good person. She’s going to be a vet.”

  I caught my breath. “Can she do that now?” I asked.

  Will shook his head. “I don’t think she can.”

  In Year Four, we went on our first residential trip. Two nights at Oxley Farm Outdoor Centre. Mum had panicked about letting Will out of her sight, but he’d learned how to charm by then, so he went with the rest of us.

  On the first day, we were introduced to a climbing wall. Lizzie was delighted, as was our friend Tommy.

  “I’m going to beat you up there,” Tommy called to me.

  I laughed. Will didn’t.

  When we got to the wall, Will insisted on going first. Tommy went after him. I followed, then Lizzie.

  I had just started to enjoy the climb, looking down to see how far below me my other mates were and waving at them, when I looked up and saw Tommy overtake Will.

  I put on a burst of speed, trying to catch up, but I’d been messing around and was too far behind. Tommy reached the top first.

  My brother looked at me, his face flushed. I climbed like the devil was after me, but I was too late. I didn’t see what happened exactly, but somehow Tommy’s rig got unhooked.

  He screamed as he tumbled past me. One of his feet hit Lizzie in the back and she spun out, caught by her rope. When Tommy hit the ground, we all heard the crack as his wrist snapped.

  I slid backwards, to put Will between myself and the entrance to the cave.

  Once we were armed, we kept our ears tuned to the outside, but the day wore on, Carmen didn’t wake and all we heard were the cries of gulls.

  “Do you think it’s lunchtime yet?” Grady asked.

  “Why? Are you hungry?” Lizzie frowned.

  “No…” There was still the faint smell of cooked flesh in the cave. “Just thinking that we should be on our way to the third checkpoint by now.”

  I looked at Grandad’s watch. “It’s half eleven.” My shoulders sagged. We’d lost any advantage gained by completing the second checkpoint and waking early. I pictured all the teams passing us and probed the throbbing gap in my teeth with my tongue. What a waste.

  My gut felt empty and not because I was hungry. I could feel my future slipping away.

  Then I looked at Carmen and jerked. I shouldn’t even have been thinking about the competition right now.

  “We should go home,” I said.

  Will frowned at me.

  “We’re already half a day behind. We aren’t going to win and … would you really want to?” I pointed at Carmen. “What if you’re right and the other geocaches are worse? What then – would you start giving up body parts?”

  Will shook his head. “No, but—”

  “But nothing,” I snapped. “What did you think would happen if we carried on?”

  Grady swallowed. “We could—”

  “What? Do what this team did?”

  “No! Steal from another team’s stash.”

  I paused.

  “Wasn’t that what we were planning to do anyway?” Grady frowned.

  “That was before this.” I indicated Carmen, who was groaning in her sleep.

  “You’re forgetting something, Ben.” Lizzie squeezed my hand. “We can’t go home. Not yet. The crossing is raised every three days. If we try and get to Fetlar without it, there’s quicksand and who knows what else. We can’t call anyone to come and get us. Whatever we decide about the competition, we’re stuck on this island for now.”

  “We’ve got flares,” I said stubbornly.

  “Right.” Grady looked at the bags. “But…”

  “But what?”

  “But if we set off flares, the other teams will know where we are. They’ll know we’re weak.”

  “One team already knows where we are – or at least where they left Carmen.” I bit my nail.

  “One team,” Grady said. “That leaves another eight. Who knows how many of them are out there looking for ‘body banks’ too.”

  “Do you really think they are?”

  “I don’t.” Lizzie took off her glasses again and rubbed her bloodshot eyes. “I’m sure Will’s wrong – the other checkpoints won’t be like the last one. We won’t know what really happened to Car until she
wakes up, but I don’t believe someone amputated her hand for a geocache. That’s just sick.”

  “Then what do you want to do?” I looked at them.

  “There’s only one thing to do,” Lizzie said. “We’ve got to reach the last checkpoint. I know we have to do the course alone, but there’s bound to be someone at the end, waiting for the winners – if we find them, we can get help.”

  She put one hand on Carmen’s hip and leaned on my shoulder.

  Grady lowered his voice and spoke to Will. I couldn’t make out his words, but Will nodded.

  I opened my mouth to ask, but a distant scream silenced me. I clutched my axe tighter and put an arm around Lizzie.

  “How’s Carmen doing?” I whispered to Will.

  He looked over at her. “She’s crying in her sleep.”

  We ate a subdued lunch: cold beans, packets of trail mix, corned beef, sweets.

  “Did you know,” Grady said quietly as he unwrapped a chocolate bar, “a lot of leading scientists think reality is a huge computer game?”

  “I read that.” Lizzie snorted.

  “It would be nice to think so right now, wouldn’t it?” I put a tin of beans to one side. “We could do with a reset.”

  Will looked towards the cave entrance. “I wonder how many lives we get?”

  I was silent.

  “Give us another one, Grady.” Will laid the pick on his knee and put his hands behind his head. “One we haven’t heard before.” He stretched his legs. “Go on.”

  Grady checked Carmen’s temperature, then leaned back. “There’re some who reckon dinosaurs never existed.”

  “Seriously?” Lizzie lifted her head from my shoulder.

  Grady cracked a slight smile. “They were made up by the CIA to discourage time travel.”

  Lizzie shook her head. “That one’s more insane than usual. How would the bones have been planted inside cliffs?”

  “Anyway,” I added, “the first dinosaur bones weren’t found in America.”

  “That’s what we’re told.” Grady folded his arms. “Remember, you can’t believe anything you don’t see for yourself. You should question all the time.”