13
She could see the strange animals at the edge of the forest. Little furry things like monkeys and lizards as big as a dog hanging from branches. She didn't recognise any of them but thought little about it.
The rock pool couldn't be the main source of water on the island. It was only as big as a small car. But it was the middle of the day and the sun felt as if it was a few thousand miles closer than it should be. She was on her knees scooping handfuls of warm water into her mouth. Beside her Billy had been less restrained and had put his whole head in.
The animals that she had no name for continued to watch them from the forest. She had scared them away so they could get to the rock pool. Apparently they were waiting for them to leave so they could get back to it.
A few of the pools contained what looked like crabs. She saw them scuttling in and out of holes. At first she had thought they could be killed and eaten but when she'd tried to pick one up it had bitten her. Now her hand was wrapped in a strip of Billy's t-shirt and she was reluctant to go near one again.
Billy sat back and gave a loud, satisfied burp. She turned to look at him and saw water pouring down his face. His hair was plastered to his head.
"Sorry," he said.
She smiled and then burped herself, longer and louder than he had. "What for? Being beaten by a girl."
He laughed and then she laughed and something changed between them, or changed for her. Up until now she had felt responsible for him, as if he was somehow relying on the skills he didn't know she had to survive. But now she saw it through his eyes and it wasn't like that at all; they were two people who had been lucky enough to survive a shipwreck and they needed to help each other.
"Where next?" he said and she was pleased that she didn't have to explain why they couldn't stay there. The animals were starting to become less timid and a few had begun to creep out of the shadows towards them. They looked even stranger when she had the time to examine them. She was sure she saw one creature that looked like a bear cub with a third eye.
"Keep going I guess," she said. "There must be a bigger source of water somewhere." Maybe even people, she thought. They had been walking for a few hours and she didn't think they'd reached the middle yet. On an island this size they might find an indigenous population. There might not be anything they could use to call for help but surely they would have a boat or something.
They set off again and pushed through the forest. She felt like laughing but at the same time dizzy and a little bit sick. The water had helped but it was so hot that she thought she probably had heat stroke.
The further they went the thinner the forest became. There wasn't anything like a path but the ground was dry and flat where animals had walked on it. Then they were walking on grass. The forest was behind them and the next tree was more than a hundred metres away, standing by itself.
The heat from the sun was even more intense out of the shade. It seemed to press down on her chest like a giant hand. She didn't want to move through it and considered turning back to the forest until dark.
"Come on," said Billy appearing beside her. He was drenched in sweat but forced an uncomfortable smile. "It can't be far now, look at all the grass."
She nodded but didn't feel strong enough to talk. She kept pace with him as they trekked away from the relatively cool forest.
The sun had bleached the grass white and in places there was just bare soil, as if the green had been burned away. There were no animals except the constant excited buzzing of insects.
They walked on into the heat of the day. The air seemed so thick that she could actually see it, shimmering waves of heat rose from the long dry grass and hung in the air like a ghost.
They had been walking in the burning suffocating heat for more than an hour when Billy said, "what's that?"
She looked up and saw him pointing into the distance where a black shape seemed to hover in the air. It looked like a bird. A little bigger maybe but not an unusual size. There was something strange about it though. It seemed to float rather than fly and when it did move its wings the motion seemed stiff and jerky. They stopped and watched it until it flew over their heads and disappeared behind the forest.
They continued on their way and steadily the ground began to rise. As the afternoon wore on the air cooled but not enough to dry the sweat that clung to her clothes and skin. She could hear Billy panting, doing his best to keep up with her. By rights he was better suited to this environment than her, he was tall and slim while she was short. But he hadn't endured the months of training that she had.
"What did you do before you worked on the boat?" she said, feeling the need to talk to take her mind off the situation. This sort of question ran the risk of being reciprocated but she had a story worked out if it was.
"School," he said.
She knew he had been on the ship for a couple of years but assumed he was in his late twenties like her. Assuming he'd gone to university, maybe taken a year out, that still left a couple of years unaccounted for. "What did you study?"
"Nothing much, you know."
"I wouldn't have asked if I did," she said.
She slowed down so they were walking side by side but he didn't look at her. He walked past her in silence and she had to jog to catch up.
"What is it Billy? What did you study? Was it something weird?"
"Weird? No. Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?"
She shrugged as if she didn't really care but she loved a mystery. She wondered how she could get him to tell her without using force.
"What about you anyway?"
She smiled. "Oh no, if you won't tell me I'm not telling you."
"Show me yours and I'll show you mine?" he said.
"What?"
He shook his head. "It's just an expression."
If it was she hadn't heard it before. Of course that didn't mean much; she'd been out of the real world for so long that she had no idea about lots of things. There were times on the boat where she'd listened in on conversations and it was like people were talking another language.
At the top of a hill the land beyond revealed another forest in the distance. The trees were taller and more foreign. It spread across the horizon so unless they were going to turn back they had to go towards it.
"Stop!" she said and held up a hand.
"What is it?" said Billy creeping up beside her.
She was crouched on the ground. A thick cable hung in front of her. She didn't need to explain.
"A fence?" he said.
She looked up. There was another cable above and another above that. There was probably another one above that as well but she couldn't see it. If it was a fence then the real question was, what was it keeping in or out. She and Billy could easily fit between the cables. An elephant could probably fit through them. She didn't like to think about the animal that couldn't.
There was a few hundred metres of grass beyond the fence before the second forest began. "What do you think?" she said.
"If there's a fence there's probably people," said Billy. "Someone who might be able to help us get home."
The other option was the only option they'd ever had, turn away and go back to the beach. They would have to make regular trips to the rock pool for water and hope that a ship appeared before they starved to death. She considered it though. Then she stood up and brushed herself down. The day was rapidly cooling, before long it might even be cold. "Okay then," she said. "Follow me and don't touch anything."
He nodded and she moved forwards. She could practically feel the electric current buzzing through the cables. It must have been a very high voltage but she tried not to think about what would need a fence that big and that powerfully electrified.
14
Thorns dug into his arms and the sun scorched the back of his neck as he crouched in the unusual bush. Peter watched the rabbit hop into the middle of the clearing and then stop. It was grey and white, as if it had been a darker colour but bleached b
y the sun. It lifted its head and twitched its nose; it could sense danger.
He edged forwards silently, the knife already in his hand, his fingers wrapped tightly around the handle. The rabbit lowered its head to examine something on the ground. Peter didn't take his eyes off it. He breathed slowly and silently as he crept towards the rabbit.
He paused again at the edge of the clearing. He checked both ways to see where the animal was likely to run if it was spooked. On all sides there were thick bushes, he would lose it if it made it to one of them so he would have to be careful not to spook it.
The rabbit looked up and froze as he threw himself out of the bush towards it. He landed slightly to the right of the animal and grabbed it before it could get away.
Its fur was soft and warm from the sun. He rolled onto his back and took his knife to its throat, soaking the white fun in blood. It struggled for a moment, even when it was dead, and then it was still.
Peter carried the dead rabbit back to the camp under his arm. The blood dried on the animals fur and stuck it to his shirt. He was pleased with himself and felt like he could whistle but he had seen enough strangeness in the forest to realise that it wasn't a good idea.
Instead he weaved through the overgrowth silently and emerged a few minutes later at his new camp. He could hear the two girls talking to each other in whispers beneath the canvas shelter he had put up.
The camp was only a few square metres beneath several tree canopies. It was cloaked in shadow and would do for most of the day. There was a small stream to the north in a larger clearing. He had filled up a plastic bottle for each of the girls and one for himself. As he approached them he was pleased to see that they had not been able to resist drinking it.
They stopped talking and looked up as he approached. He ignored them and dropped the rabbit on the ground beneath the twigs and dry leaves he had gathered earlier to make a fire.
While he waited for the fire to heat up he took out his knife and skinned the rabbit. He laid the fur out carefully on the ground beside him. He picked up the stick he had sharpened earlier and held open the rabbits mouth. He pushed it in until the skinless animal was completely skewered. When he had finished he held it over the fire.
It took a long time to cook an animal that way but he didn't mind. He was a man of great patience and he could enjoy the sounds of the forest around him.
The girls had started talking again, muttering to each other. He couldn't hear what they were saying but imagined they were working out how they could escape. While he waited for the rabbit to cook he played along with the exercise: if he was in their situation how would he get away?
He would start with the vines. He knew they weren't particularly strong and with a little patience and discomfort he would have been able to get his hands free. He would have started as soon as they left camp that morning and, now that it was starting to get dark, he would be able to untie his legs. Then, while the person who had taken him hostage was occupied with cooking dinner, he would sneak silently up behind them and strangle them with the vines.
Peter turned around suddenly expecting to see one of them there. He saw nothing except the grass and rocks. Their voices were still whispers coming from the shelter. He relaxed. Of course he would be able to escape but they were just a couple of helpless cruise ship tarts.
When the rabbit was cooked through he let it cool for a moment and then tore tender flesh from its body.
"Hey?" shouted one of the girls, the dirty one, he thought but didn't look around to confirm it. "Hey are you going to share that?"
"Please," said the other girl, her voice was weedy and weak. "We're starving."
He didn't reply but ate more of the rabbit. He ran through another plan of escape in his mind, this one involving his captor taking pity on him and giving him food. His hands by this point would be free and when his captor got close enough he would attack. He smiled to himself, he would be fine if he was in their situation but the girls were not him.
They continued to shout and beg for food while he ignored them. He ate as much of the rabbit as he needed but no more. A lot of food would make him sleepy and he needed to be alert. When he was done he put it down on the ground beside him.
"Please," said the girl with the dirty mouth. He smiled to himself but waited a moment longer. "Please we're hungry."
He stood and walked over to the shelter carrying the remains of the rabbit. They cowered on the ground, filthy and starving. "You want some food?"
"Yes," said the girl with the dirty mouth.
"Please," said the other one.
He pulled out his knife and crouched down in front of them, dangling it between his legs by the blade. "How do you feel about eating human flesh?"
They looked at him with wide startled eyes.
"Say I pick one of you," he pointed the knife at the dirty girl, "you've got a bit of meat on you. How about I cut you up and me and your friend here can eat like kings for a week."
The dirty girl tried to back away from him but she was still tied to the tree and couldn't get very far. The skinny girl looked as if she was about to cry.
He slipped the knife back into his pocket and held up his hands. "Kidding, kidding."
Neither of them seemed to find it funny but they shut up and that was the important thing. "Sure I'll share with you, but you need to do something for me too."
"What?" said the skinny girl eagerly.
The girl with the dirty mouth was more cautious. "What sort of thing?" If she had her hands free, Peter thought, she would be covering her chest as she spoke.
"I need some information."
"What sort of information?" she said, still sounding cautious.
"You know a girl called Samantha Black."
She thought for a moment and shook her head.
"It wasn't a question," he said. "Maybe she changed her name but I know you know her. She worked on the cruise ship."
She thought again but it was the skinny girl that answered. "I know a Samantha Klein," she said.
The dirty girl shot her a wicked glance but she didn't seem to notice it.
"That's her. What do you know about Samantha?"
"She joined the crew this year. She's from Wreathing," said the skinny girl.
He reached behind him and grabbed the rabbit. He tore off a piece of flesh and held it up to her mouth. She took it daintily like a well trained dog and knocked back her head to chew it.
"What else?" he said, turning to the dirty girl.
She shook her head. "That's it, that's all we know.”
He shrugged. "Your loss." He tore off another piece of rabbit and put it into his own mouth.
He chewed slowly and with exaggerated enjoyment. When he had finished her turned back to the skinny girl, "you, what else?"
Having tasted the flesh she was eager for more and told him everything he needed to know. Samantha was a waitress at the Seaview Diner, she didn't speak about her past but everyone thought she had left to get away from an ex-boyfriend. "Are you her ex?" asked the skinny girl around a mouthful of meat.
He shook his head. "I never had the pleasure," he said, amused at the idea that he would have gone anywhere near her.
"So why are you so interested in her then?" said the dirty girl.
"If you can't answer my questions why should I answer yours?" he said.
She closed her mouth and turned her away.
"It's you funeral," he said and then turned back to the skinny girl. She had a hungry look in her eyes. "Tell me about the boy," he said. "Tell me about William South."
She told him and he fed her. By the time the rabbit was finished he had all the information he needed about Samantha Black and William South. The dirty girl's silence hadn't helped anyone.
15
Samantha watched with some surprise as Billy rubbed the sticks together and produced first a spark and then a flame. They had made it to the edge of the second forest and the cold had come on quickly. She had been happy to sp
end another night huddled next to Billy and had decided not to share the information that she knew how to make a fire. But Billy knew. "I saw it on a television program once," he said.
She hadn't expected it to work. They always made it seem so easy on television, they didn't show you the countless failed attempts, the blistered fingers or the wide shot where the knowledgeable presenter had stepped aside to let a real expert have a go. As far as the viewer was concerned those were the presents hands shot in close up.
"Must have got lucky," he said as he stepped back from the flame.
"I guess so," she said, wondering if it might be more than that.
They sat side by side but he didn't put his arm around her as he had done the previous night. She sort of wished he would.
The night settled in. Fireflies danced around the burning embers and stars shined above. Samantha was starting to realise that Billy was not exactly who or what he claimed to be and she wasn't sure what that meant. He'd never asked her what she'd done before joining the cruise ship, where she grew up or where she went to school. If he had done, and she'd answered honestly, he would have discovered that she too had gaps in her past.
The question she really needed to answer was; did Billy represent a danger to her? The question she kept coming back to, however, was, did she feel attracted to Billy in the same way he was attracted to her? Before the answer was easy but now she wasn't so sure. Maybe it had something to do with them seeming to be the only two people stranded on the island but Billy was starting to look a lot like her ideal man.
She lay on her back and stared at the stars through the gaps in the trees. Billy remained sitting at the fire beside her. She wondered whether it was safe to sleep with Billy there but in the end she didn't have a choice. Her eyes became too heavy to hold open and the stars disappeared.
"Sam!"
She opened her eyes to see Billy leaning down over her. It was still dark but she could make out the look of wild eyed panic on his face. "What is it?" she said. Her voice sounded slow as if her mouth was still asleep.
Three Stories Tall Page 19
