The Missing

by Kiersten Modglin

  “What do you mean?” She hugged her knees tighter.

  “There has to be a reason they targeted each of us. If we have something in common, and we can narrow down what that is, maybe we can determine what’s going on.”

  I knew it was a long shot. Money was the most obvious thing we could have in common. If we were being trafficked, though, it was likely completely random, but I needed to give her hope, if for no other reason than if at least one of us still held on to hope, it meant it wasn’t entirely lost.

  “You think someone planned this? Someone…picked us out?” she asked, apparently horrified at the thought. “You think this was done on purpose?”

  “I just don’t know what to think,” I said. “We’ll figure out more in the morning, okay?”

  She nodded but didn’t say anything else, and I worried I’d been short with her, but the truth was, I was exhausted. And terrified. And the longer I sat, the more both emotions began to wear on me.

  I wanted to go home. I wanted to see my husband and talk to my friends and relax in a bed. Instead, I was sitting on a forest bed of branches and rocks and sand digging into my bare legs, and shivering from lack of suitable clothing to protect me from the raging winds, surrounded by complete strangers with no idea who I could trust.

  And, if I could trust them all, it meant there was someone out there we couldn’t trust. Someone who’d put us here for a reason we didn’t yet know.

  As I sat contemplating those concerns, the fact that I had no idea who it could be made me shrink in fear. Something very bad was happening…but what?

  Chapter Seven

  “Hey!” the harsh voice called, and I felt a hand shoving me. My back screamed in pain with the movement, like knives scraping into my flesh. When I opened my eyes, I was staring up at Noah’s body looming over me. The sunlight peeked through the trees behind him.

  “Shit!” I sat up, realizing I’d fallen asleep. My back was etched with the pattern of the ground beneath me, and I lifted a hand to wipe the dirt and debris off to the best of my ability.

  “You fell asleep,” Noah said, gesturing toward a sheepish-looking Ava. “Both of you. Why didn’t you wake us up if you knew you weren’t going to be able to stay awake any longer?” The anger was etched into his wrinkles and the stern way he was standing, his feet planted in the soil firmly. “You could’ve gotten us killed. We made the plan for a reason.”

  “Ease up, Noah,” I warned. “We didn’t plan to fall asleep. We all had a long day yesterday, and it must’ve taken it out of me more than I realized. Everyone’s fine, aren’t they?” I glanced around. James was standing behind Noah, and a weary Harry was still sitting underneath the rock, rubbing the backs of his legs.

  “No thanks to you,” he seethed.

  “Okay, well, they still are. Turning on each other isn’t going to solve anything right now, so instead of yelling at me, why don’t we form a plan for what we’re going to do today.”

  He folded his arms across his chest, looking prepared to argue, but Harry spoke up. “She’s right. We need to form a plan. We need some sort of SOS signal on the beach, where planes could see it if they flew overhead, and we need to build a fire. Plus, we need to search for food and start looking for, or building, a more permanent shelter.”

  “What do we need a fire for right now? It’s not like it’s cold,” James said.

  Harry stood from underneath the rock and approached the group. He counted the reasons on his fingers. “Because we’re going to need somewhere to cook our food, if we’re able to find any, because fire keeps predators away but could attract help should any arrive, and because we’re going to use it to desalinate our water.”

  “De-what it?” James asked, his brow furrowed as if Harry were speaking a foreign language.

  “Make it drinkable,” he explained.

  “Do you actually know how to do that?” I asked him, impressed. Funnily enough, I’d looked it up several times, always wanting to know how to do it should the need ever present itself, but I’d never absorbed anything I’d read. I knew we needed to do something with condensation and sand…

  “Yeah, I do,” Harry said firmly, not bothering to explain. “So, we need to split up. We don’t have a lot of time. The afternoon heat will be hard on us all, so we need to do most of our work in the mornings and evenings. James, do you think you can build a fire for us? I’ll need two. A bigger one for a smoke signal and to keep predators away, and a smaller one for cooking and desalinating the water.”

  “Yeah, I think I can build a fire.” James scoffed, appearing insulted, and walked toward the pile of sticks, branches, and logs he’d built last night. He picked up four of the largest ones, turning to walk back out toward the beach.

  “What are you doing? Shouldn’t you build them here?” Noah asked.

  “There’s too much brush here,” James said without looking back. “With the wind, it’ll start a fire. I’m going to find a spot in the sand.”

  “He’s right,” Harry agreed.

  “I don’t need your confirmation. No one appointed you captain here,” James called spitefully over his shoulder.

  Harry looked crestfallen, his cheeks pale with embarrassment, but I jumped in quickly. “Okay, that’s taken care of. What else do we need to do?”

  He appeared grateful, pressing his lips together as he thought aloud. “Someone needs to go hunting for food.” Then, he seemed to think better of what he’d said. “Maybe just gathering for today. If we could find some fruit, particularly coconuts or pineapples, that would help keep us from dehydrating. We’ll have to fashion some spears before we can actually hunt, but that’s a project for tomorrow.”

  “What about this?” Noah asked, pulling a knife—its blade engaged—from his pocket.

  In unison, Ava, Harry, and I gasped. “Why the hell do you have that thing?” I asked.

  He smirked. “Just be glad I do. I’d like to see you try to open a coconut with a seashell or rock instead of this. We’d all dehydrate before you managed to get an ounce.”

  “Well, just put it away,” I whined, putting up a hand to shield myself from it.

  “I don’t think I will. I’m going to go find us some dinner.”

  “You’re going to gather fruit?” Harry asked skeptically.

  “Nah, I’m talking about real dinner. There’s gotta be some wild animals out here.” He pointed the knife directly at me. “What do you prefer, boar or rabbit?” Then he pointed the knife at Ava. “Or maybe rattlesnake.”

  To my surprise, Ava’s grin spread. “I’d like to see you kill anything besides a rabbit with that measly thing. You’re not even holding it right.” She reached for it, managing to swipe it from his grasp with minimal effort. “Besides, if we only have one, we’re much better off using it to sharpen the ends of sticks. If this breaks or dulls too quickly, we’re toast.”

  He ripped the knife back from her, his fingertips carefully gripping the blade. “Well, it’s my knife, so I think I’ll do what I want with it.”

  “Hang on now,” I interjected. “That’s very possibly the only thing we have to find food for any of us. Ava seems to know what she’s talking about. We need to listen to her.”

  “I do know what I’m talking about,” she said. “My dad and I go hunting and camping all the time. If that knife hits a bone in something like a boar or a goat, it’ll break. We can use it to fashion other spears that we can use for fishing and hunting, and it’ll give us a much better range. And we can sharpen it on rocks or sea glass when it gets dull.”

  “Well, if you were going to be picky about its uses, I guess you all should’ve brought a knife of your own, shouldn’t you?” he replied, folding it back up and sliding it into his pocket as he walked away, a gleeful grin on his lips.

  “Where are you going?” Harry called. “We need your help!”

  “I’m going to find food,” he said. “You can thank me later.”

  “We shouldn’t separate! It’s too dangerous!” I
yelled after him, but it was no use. He was gone. Huffing a breath of frustration, I turned back toward Harry and Ava.

  “I guess it’s up to us,” Ava said sadly, a haunted look in her eyes.

  “Then I think while James is building a fire, the three of us should build an SOS signal. It won’t take long, and once it’s done, we can search for shelter and maybe even some sort of stream with fresh water.”

  “Okay… How are we going to make the signal?” I asked.

  “Let’s get some of these sticks and logs that James didn’t use, and we’ll lay them out on the sand…” He went on instructing, and Ava and I followed his lead, carrying the logs to a clear spot of sand far enough away from the water that they wouldn’t get washed away, yet not so close to the tree line that they might be covered up. We wanted a plane to see us. It was one of our only chances of escaping.

  As we worked, we discussed theories about what had happened.

  Ava had thought her parents might be trying to punish her by sending her to the island, but she had her doubts about why they’d include the rest of us.

  Harry thought they may have gone back for help, but neither of us could understand why they wouldn’t have told us that.

  I told them my theory—that we had been kidnapped and that we may be trafficked or held for ransom. No one argued with the possibility, though we did agree it seemed far-fetched.

  “I don’t have a lot of money,” Harry said. “I can’t imagine why they’d choose me.”

  “My parents are well-off,” Ava confirmed. At least I’d found a connection with one of them, but if Harry wasn’t, the ransom made less sense.

  As we worked, I watched James several feet away from us, still digging a hole around the fire pit he’d constructed. We hadn’t seen Noah since he’d disappeared, and though that made me worry about him, I kept reminding myself that he’d chosen to go out on his own.

  If he was in danger, it was his own fault.

  “Hey, Harry, did you charter the boat or were you invited to ride on it?” I asked, remembering my question from the night before.

  He wouldn’t meet my eye, busying himself with straightening the logs. “They let me ride for free. I guess you guys didn’t fill it up all the way or something.”

  “That’s what they told us, too,” Ava and I said at the same time. I watched the truth wash over Harry’s expression, more worry seeping into it.

  “We were chosen, then. For something. There’s no way that’s a coincidence…” He trailed off, shaking his head. For a while, we worked in silence, each left to our own thoughts.

  When we’d finished, we stepped back, admiring our handiwork. The three letters were several feet thick, made up of sticks, logs, and stones.

  SOS

  “Do you think that’ll work?” Ava asked, her fists pressed into her hips.

  “It has to,” Harry said, wiping sweat from his brow. He glanced up at the sky, squinting as he looked toward the sun. “If a plane flies overhead, even if they couldn’t read it, they’d be able to see that something was here. The thickness of the letters, plus the contrast of the dark objects on the white sand…”

  “What about at night?” Ava asked, chewing her bottom lip. She brushed a bit of her hair from her eyes.

  “That’s why we’ll have to keep the fire going,” he said.

  “How often do you think planes fly over here? I haven’t seen one yet,” I pointed out, looking at the sky too. It was true; I hadn’t seen nor heard a single plane in the sky since we’d arrived.

  “It depends on where exactly we are. We’d been sailing for less than a day, less than half a day most likely. We couldn’t have gone more than two hundred miles, so we’re looking at an island off the coast of…the Bahamas or Cuba, most likely. But…” He was thinking aloud again, not really talking to either of us as he mumbled and stammered along. “When we traveled and the sun had begun to set, I don’t remember it being behind us. I’m nearly positive it was to our right, so we were heading south. That narrows it down to either Cuba or a part of the Keys that remains uninhabited. There are some private islands around here, but most are owned by billionaires. I can’t see why this one would be sitting empty.”

  “Unless it’s not empty,” Ava whispered, causing me to look at her.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What if it’s not empty, after all? What if there are others here?”

  “You mean others who’ve been kidnapped?” Harry asked. “Or our kidnappers?”

  “Either. Neither. Just…maybe there are others who live here. We haven’t seen every part of the island. Maybe the other side has houses or people…maybe even a town.”

  Harry looked at me and one eyebrow shot up as if to say, she’s got a point.

  “But if there are other people on the island, do you think they know we’re here?” I asked.

  “They can’t,” Ava said quickly. “Right?”

  “If they did, why would they just leave us out here to fend for ourselves?” I agreed, touching her arm gently. Harry looked toward the horizon.

  “If there are others, we’ll need to figure out where they might be. Even if there aren’t, I think trying to get somewhere higher, somewhere where we can get a better sense of the island would be helpful. We can find out if there are structures, waterfalls, mountains, places for shelter, places to find food. As it stands, we don’t know anything about this space. If it’s big or small, even. If we can find a stream, or a waterfall, we’ll find fresh water, but also plants and animals for food, too.”

  “How do you know so much about this?” I asked, narrowing my gaze quizzically at him. “Not just about the waterfalls, but about how far we traveled and what direction? And about what we should be doing? You said you read a lot of survival books. Are you some type of…adventurer?” I said the word, well aware of how bizarre it sounded. It wasn’t as if that were an actual job title, was it?

  He gave me a patronizing grin, but there was nothing cold in his gaze. In fact, he almost seemed embarrassed. “No,” he said, shoving his glasses up over the hump on his nose. “Not at all. I just read a lot. I like to know things.”

  “What’s the capital of Mumbai?” Ava challenged, crossing her arms.

  “What are you talking about?” Harry asked.

  “You really expect us to believe that you just happen to know all the things that will help save us here? How do we know you’re not involved in it all?” She jutted a finger in his direction.

  I looked at her, then at him. Despite the truth in her words, I did trust Harry. But was I wrong to trust? It did strike me as odd that he knew so much about our surroundings and next steps.

  He looked at me, his brow furrowed as he waited for me to come to his rescue, but when I didn’t, he sighed. “It’s a trick question. Nothing is the capital of Mumbai. Mumbai is actually the capital of Maharashtra. It’s also India’s biggest city. And a lovely one. My husband and I went a few years ago.” He tucked a hand in his pocket, waiting for us to respond. When I looked at Ava, her jaw was slack.

  “Well?” I prompted. “Is he right?”

  “How should I know?” she asked. “I was just throwing out a random question.”

  “You didn’t even know the answer?” I scoffed, shaking my head.

  “Well, what was I supposed to ask him? The capital of freakin’...Kentucky? I wanted to give him something everyone doesn’t know.”

  “What is the capital of Kentucky?” Harry challenged her with a laugh, his head cocked to the side.

  “Lexington,” she said. “No, Louisville.”

  “Frankfort,” he corrected. “Now, if we’re done with that… Can we move on?”

  I nodded, unofficially having been made the middleman in their argument. “So, where should we go?”

  Harry looked up to where James was still working diligently on the fire, knocking over pieces of wood and struggling to keep them standing as he went.

  “We should start a desalination system becau
se we’re all going to start dehydrating soon, and then we should go and search for water, because no matter how quickly we’re able to produce clean water, without pots or pans or bottles to store anything, it’ll never be enough.” With a grim expression, he turned away from us and began walking back in the direction we’d come from, back toward the rock that had provided us with shelter the night before.

  When we arrived, we stopped, Harry’s arms held back to keep us from moving forward.

  “What is it—” Ava started to ask, but cut herself off when she saw what we were both staring at.

  A small piece of bright orange paper lay folded on the forest ground, a heavy stone on its corner to keep it from moving. Harry looked at me, and I looked at Ava.

  “Should we open it?” he asked.

  I nodded, moving forward just an inch. “Maybe it’s from Noah. Maybe he came back and couldn’t find us. Maybe he found food and is telling us where to come.” Even as I said it, I knew it was untrue. Noah didn’t have paper, or the pencil that someone had used to scribble the message we were now all staring at, the paper laying open in my hands. No, I doubted very much that this message had come from Noah. But, if not him, then who?

  I read the message twice before looking at the others, the words refusing to make sense in my muddled mind. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. I glanced back down, forcing myself to read it again.

  Kill your friends, save yourself.

  Only one of you will leave alive.

  Chapter Eight

  We didn’t know how to react to the note. If you asked each of us, you might get different answers about why we did it, but the truth was, we only hid it because we were trying to figure out what to do with the new information.