“I can’t imagine losing it.”
“I can’t either. And I pray to God that we haven’t. But if we do, we need to mourn that loss and take the necessary time to accept it, and then we need to try again. I want you to have my child. My children. More than ever, I want us to have a family.”
“I love you so much, Alex.”
“You have no idea how much I love you. Or what I’d do to protect you.”
I swept his hair out his eyes. “Your voice sounds better—it’s not as rough. How does your throat feel?”
“It’ll heal. I’m strong. I don’t know what hit me when we crashed, but it must have been substantial to knock me down like this. You’ll see. With food and water in my stomach, I’m already feeling better. I’ll be even better by morning.”
“Morning,” I said. “There’s so much to do. We need to find fresh drinking water. We have some food for tonight, but that’s it. Tomorrow, we’ll need to look for fruit to eat. There has to be some on this island, and I know for a fact that Alexa will be all over that. After that wild boar attack, which you thankfully missed for the most part, we also need to protect ourselves from predators. I also think we need to build something large on the beach that says ‘SOS’ if only so those who are looking for us can spot us.”
“Agreed.”
“Do you think they will?”
Alex had never once lied to me, and he didn’t now. “I don’t know. I’m not sure where the cockpit was dropped when it broke away from us, although it must be near here. I’m also not sure if the box will still be operational after that explosion. It should be—it’s designed to sustain a substantial blow. But a crash and three explosions? I’m not sure. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. We should know in a day or two whether those signals are being picked up.”
“A day or two?”
“We’re somewhere in the South Pacific, which means it will take time for people to reach us. You need to be prepared for that.”
“I’m worried about Cutter.”
“So am I.”
“He’s such a good man. We can’t lose him, too.”
“Maybe we won’t. Maybe he’s still out there, recuperating. Laying low because he knows he has to heal before he moves. Who knows how badly he was hurt? But he’s a survivalist by nature and by training. I’m praying that he’ll just suddenly show up. That he’ll surprise all of us with his presence. And then you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to take all of those little bottles of alcohol he brought off the plane, and we’re going to get drunk. I know why he grabbed them—to pour over any wounds in an effort to fight infection. But if he does show up, we’re all having a drink in his honor.”
“I’ll just have a sip of yours.”
“And that’s how I want you to think.”
“We would have been in Singapore at this point, you know?”
“I’ve been thinking of that. Wei Jei also should have learned the news that we crashed by now. I hate to say this, but I have to wonder if he’s relieved about that given his production issues. He now has no reason to beef up production of the chips we need, which might stall production of our phone, and that’s something that can’t happen for obvious reasons. With every piece of negative news that surrounds Wenn, our stock will only continue to fall. Worse is that with us missing—and with me out as CEO for the time being—I have to wonder what the board will do. Will Rowe be put in as interim CEO? If he thinks we’re dead, he very well might make his move. If he’s smart, he’ll take a wait-and-see attitude because you threatened to expose him to his wife. Either way, with me out of the equation—and depending on how the press runs with the news that we’ve crashed—the future of Wenn looks bleak right now.”
“We’re not going to lose Wenn.”
“Let’s not talk about that right now. Maybe we can discuss it tomorrow, when my head is on straight. But right now, I just want to be grateful for what really matters—that you’re at my side, and that the majority of us survived. Wenn is just a thing, Jennifer. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter, does it? This is what matters. That we’re together is what matters. That we’re in love is what matters. That’s how I’m choosing to look at this.”
I rested my head on his shoulder, put my hand onto his thigh, and gave it a squeeze. Alex was wearing the white, button-front shirt and the dark brown suit pants he’d dressed in this morning—but gone were the jacket and tie. His clothes were dry—as were mine at this point. Despite all that had happened, and all that was about to challenge us as we fought to make it on this island, I knew that I was beyond lucky to be alive and to be here with my friends and with my husband.
Especially my husband. When he leaned over and kissed me on the neck and then nuzzled his unshaven face against my ear to whisper to me that he loved me and that we would get through this, I looked out at the sun setting over the ocean and thought about how oddly beautiful it was. To be faced with such beauty after one of the cruelest days of my life was a dichotomy I couldn’t fathom. But there it was—the sun slipping magnificently into an ocean that seemed ablaze with flames.
We all had each other. Now we just needed to stay alive.
* * *
Later, when it was time to eat, all of us chose to sit outside, where Tank had built us a fire pit on the beach. After the storm, finding something suitable to burn had been a challenge, but Tank, with Alexa’s help, had found enough kindling to get a roaring fire going that all of us gathered around.
The hut was now prepped for us to sleep in it. We each had a blanket. There were no pillows, but through quick thinking, Cutter had grabbed a large tarp that now covered the entire hut’s floor. It was so tight inside that we’d practically be sleeping on top of each other, but Tank had said that tomorrow or the next day—depending on how long it took to find a fresh source of drinking water—that he would expand the hut to make it more comfortable for all of us. For now, this would have to do—and I wasn’t complaining. It was amazing what they had accomplished in such a short period of time. We were lucky to have a place to sleep tonight.
And we were lucky to have each other.
There were food items from the plane that would last tonight, and perhaps tomorrow morning. But by tomorrow afternoon, all of the food we had now would spoil. For something to eat, we took the sandwiches first—roast beef, chicken with tomato, basil, and mozzarella, and a few I knew were ordered especially for Blackwell—a roll stuffed with spinach, tomato, avocado, and other vegetables, but no meat. It was, in a sense, her roughage sandwich.
We used only four of the remaining eleven bottles of water, so there would be five left for the next day. We ate in silence as the fire sparked and caused our bodies to glow in the twilight. We shared the water—a bottle for Alex and me, one for Tank and Lisa, another for Daniella and Alexa, and Blackwell had her own, which I noticed she only sipped, likely wanting to save as much as she could for morning.
“Water never tasted so good,” she said, holding her bottle in front of her. “And neither has food. Thank God for Cutter.”
Tank lifted his own bottle, and the rest of us followed suit. “We will get through this,” he said. “Enjoy the sandwiches. If you’re hungry, I suggest eating whatever else Cutter was able to get off that plane for us, because it’s only going to spoil. So—eat. I plan to. Otherwise, until they come for us, there is plenty of fruit on this island. There also will be greens. And I can promise you that on a tropical island such as this, we will find fresh drinking water. Also, so we can wash ourselves, there might be some sort of waterfall nearby. Or a lake. You never know what we’ll find here. Alexa, maybe you’d like to help me find those items.”
“Absolutely,” she said. “I’m eager to explore the island and help.”
“I’ll be glad for the company. When we find something suitable, we’ll be able to rinse off and feel clean again. If we need to, we can wash our clothes in the waterfall. For privacy reasons, we’ll need to take turns doing that
, but I suspect that Alex and Jennifer, as well as Lisa and I, won’t have any problem washing off together. The rest of you can do so alone. Given the heat, our clothes should dry fast, even if we have to put them on damp. The sun here is strong and we should be dry within an hour. It won’t be pleasant, but we can do it.”
“Aren’t you cold?” Alex asked. “You’ve been without a shirt all day because of me.”
“I’m fine. I’ll wash the shirt tomorrow. Plus, Lisa and I will be sleeping together under the same blankets, so it’s a non-issue. I’ve endured worse than this.”
“In training?” I asked.
“Some of it was in training, but most of it wasn’t. And that’s a good thing. Training simulates the real world, but it isn’t the real world. I’ve been on islands like this before—and places worse than this. I know what I need to do to keep warm—even if I’m naked. That’s why the fire is so close to the hut.” He elbowed Lisa. “And why I have her.”
“How is my perfect little size zero going to keep you warm, Tank?” Blackwell said in an effort to lighten the moment. “Unlike Jennifer, she doesn’t have any meat on her bones—not that I’m objecting.”
“What you don’t know about my fiancée is that she’s a little firebox, Barbara.”
“Really? Well. Who knew?”
“It’s true,” Lisa said. “I run hot. Tank’s just lucky that I’m not one of my zombies. If I were, he’d be chilled to the core—and screwed in other ways.”
“I know exactly how hot you run,” he said.
“Well, then,” Blackwell said. “How revealing. How unusually specific. But who in the hell is going to keep me warm?”
“Not that veggie sandwich,” I said. “It’s not nearly going to be enough. While we have food, you should eat it.”
“Eat more? You should be happy that I’m even eating bread,” she said. “It never passes my lips. Full of carbs. Ruinous for your figure, as you obviously know, Jennifer. But I’m no fool. I know I need to keep up my strength, so I’ll eat what’s put in front of me, and I’ll be happy to have it. Soon, someone will come for us, and we’ll be back home.” She paused when she said that, and then whatever humor she’d tried to inject into our conversation faded from her face. “Here’s to Amy,” she said, lifting her bottle of water. “And to Max and to the pilots. May they rest in peace. And may we forever be grateful to each of them for getting us on this island with only minor injuries. They are our heroes. I will never forget what they did for us. How they saved my friends, and especially my girls.”
“I can’t even think about what happened to them,” Lisa said. “When I do, I just cry. They left families behind. Mothers, fathers, siblings, wives, husbands, children. It’s too much. I’m devastated that they’re gone.”
“We’re all in mourning,” Blackwell said. “And that’s only natural, my dear. Cry if you want to—there’s no shame in that. But I’m afraid the weight of what happened to us today hasn’t even hit us yet. I think many of us are still in shock and are just going through the motions in an effort to survive. Tomorrow will be worse. Tomorrow is going to be the real test, because tomorrow, everything that feels unreal now will suddenly feel very real to all of us.”
She waved a hand in front of her face, and I could see her eyes become bright. “But enough of that. Tank is correct—we need to eat as much of this food as we can before it spoils. Tomorrow is another day, and we must work together to get through it. We must pray for Cutter, and hope that he comes back to us. I can’t imagine not having that young man in my life, and I know that all of you feel the same.”
“Cutter will be back,” Tank said.
Blackwell looked at him. “So he will. And I’ll spoil him rotten when we return to the States.”
“Tank,” Daniella said. “Do you think we’ll see those boars again?”
“Maybe not the same ones, but it’s likely that we’ll see more. Another confrontation with them is probably inevitable. But there’s more that everyone needs to be aware of. There are other predators on this island. Poisonous snakes and spiders will actually be worse and more prevalent than the boars we encountered earlier. Scorpions are here, and much like the spiders, they will get into our shoes at night. And perhaps into bed with us, as will ticks and other bugs, such as cockroaches. The cockroaches won’t bother you, but they will frighten you—they’re about four inches long in these parts. Each morning, we’ll all have to do a routine check of our bodies for potential bites.” He looked around at all of us. “I’m not trying to frighten anyone, but you all need to know the consequences of being here. Those are some of them.”
“We also need to be aware of the plants and the flowers on this island,” Alexa said. “Be careful what you touch. You won’t die from any of the foliage here—unless you decide to consume something that’s toxic—but rashes might develop if you handle the wrong plant, and that can be painful. So be careful. The good news is that none of us is wearing shorts, so when we venture into the jungle, we’ll be protected because most of the poisonous varieties of flora grow low to the ground. If you have a question about a certain kind of plant, I can probably identify it for you.”
“And so my little tree hugger of a sister finally reveals the necessity of her studies,” Daniella said. “I’m sorry if I’ve teased you about what you love to study, Alexa. I have a feeling that your knowledge is going to become very important while we’re here. I want to apologize now for making fun of what you’re passionate about. I never saw its importance before, but I see it now.”
“Thank you,” she said. And then she winked at her sister. “But just so you know, you’re still a bitch.”
“Girl, please. You haven’t even seen a bitch until some spider bites my ass. Just so all of you know, all hell will break loose then.” She raised her palms to the heavens, and I saw the human spirit rise above the darkness again—with humor. “Totes for real.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
When we woke early the next morning, it was humid and already warm.
The sun was just beginning to rise when Tank stepped out of the hut. Even though he left as quietly as he could with his shirt in his hand, the crinkling sounds from the tarp beneath his feet gave him away.
After all of us had checked ourselves for ticks and bites—of which there thankfully were none that we could see—we used the jungle, otherwise known as our restroom in this case, and then joined Tank. He was standing just outside the hut on the edge of the beach, bloody shirt in hand, looking over at the plane.
He’s thinking of Cutter, I thought.
If he was wearing that shirt, I knew he’d give it off his back to have Cutter safely back with us again. They weren’t just colleagues—they were close friends. I could only imagine how he was feeling right now. I’d only known Cutter for about a year—but Tank had known him for many years, and the idea of not knowing whether his friend was dead or fighting for his life in an unknown jungle must have been eating him up inside.
Not that he’d ever show his emotions to us again. He had once—briefly—but I knew that was it for him. That’s just who Tank was—a closed box to most, but with a massive heart of gold that those closest to him could feel down to their cores.
He turned to face us.
“At this point, whatever food Cutter got off the plane is unusable due to the heat. The exceptions are the non-perishable foods—like the bags of chips, crackers, peanuts, and whatever else fits into that category. Those are fine to eat, but ration them. Today, we need to find food and water. We’ll discuss who’s going to venture into the jungle in a minute. But there are all sorts of bananas, coconuts, and citrus on this island. We’ll likely also find breadfruit, papaya, and pineapple. We’ll bring back whatever we can.”
“How will we get all of that back here?” Daniella asked.
“We’ll take one of the blankets and use it as a sack. Those of us who go need to be careful out there. I don’t think we’ll have to wander far to find what we’re seeking, but
those of you who come need to be aware of boars, insects, and snakes. Remember that snakes often hang low in trees. They’ll drop down on you if they feel threatened or, if they’re large enough, if they’re hungry. But most, if not all, will just let you pass. Still, you need to look for them and listen for them. If you come upon a large spider web, don’t go near it. If you hear a hissing sound, step away from it and alert the rest of us so we can take another path. Be aware of your surroundings and listen to your instincts. Those who go need to become one with the jungle when we enter it. As beautiful and as seductive as it is, it’s dangerous.”
“Why are you being vague about who’s going?” Blackwell asked.
“Because I want to let everyone know what they should expect to find out there should they decide to come.”
“What if we run into those horrid boars again?”
“What happened yesterday was unusual,” Tank said. “Boars generally aren’t that aggressive. But I think the crash rattled them. I think they were frightened, and they reacted on that fear. Frankly, the insects and the snakes concern me more than the boars, so take heed. That said, if we do come upon any boars, the best way to handle them in an open environment, such as the jungle is to just stand still until they walk away. If we do that, we should be fine, despite what happened yesterday.”
“Then I’d like to do my part and go,” Blackwell said. “Alexa also should come. She’s a naturalist, which will be helpful. As for Daniella, I’m afraid the jury’s out.”
“Why is the jury out on me?”
“Because I know how you are.”
“I want to come,” she said. “I want to help.”
“Help or harp?” Alexa said. “Which is it?”
“Help. I’m sorry about how I behaved on the plane. I apologize for it—and I want to do something good to make up for it.”
Annihilate Me 2: Omnibus (Complete Vols. 1-3, Annihilate Me 2) Page 25
