“You go ahead,” he said, “I don’t have much of an appetite.” He walked away, watching the sunset over the water.
Sara and Abby were silent, though Abby could tell Sara was in deep thought. She looked troubled. “Don’t worry about him,” Abby assured her. “I’ll talk to him again. He’s just being protective. We’ve been through a lot.”
“Abby, I appreciate you taking me in. I’ve been lonely and hungry for months, but I don’t want to cause trouble between you two,” Sara said. “Maybe I should just go for now and let him cool off?”
“No, stay here. I’ll talk to him.”
Abby walked onto the beach with Eric. He was standing on the wet sand at the edge of the water, letting the small waves lap at his feet. He gazed out toward the sun setting behind the island in the distance. From behind him, she rested her small hands on his large shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “After the other night, I’m just having a hard time believing this random woman finding us is a coincidence.”
“We met in the woods, while I was out looking for you. I sent her away, and she was willing to go. That’s when I knew she wasn’t lying. I figured maybe we could help each other out. If we’re going to paddle however far it is to that island over there, an extra set of arms would be helpful, don’t you think?”
Eric thought about that. “She will be extra weight, too.”
“I really think she’s all right. She seems lonely and desperate. She never even tried to put up a fight, when I easily could have sliced her throat. But if you don’t trust me on this, then we’ll just send her away and do our own thing.”
“I trust you. I don’t know, though. I’m keeping an eye on her.”
Walking back toward their camp, Abby said over her shoulder, “Just be nice and come have something to eat.”
Eventually, he made his way back, and they sat together. Abby and Sara shared stories about their lives before they got to the island. Eric just sat, had a few bites, and watched them talk. He did not join in the conversation.
* * *
She certainly is beautiful, Eric thought. Sara reminded him of a whole bunch of blond-haired, blue-eyed Texas girls he had known. That didn’t mean she was worth his trust, though. She and Abby seemed to have hit it off rather quickly. He figured women were just like that. They needed someone to talk to besides a guy.
Something about her was just not sitting right with him. Abby had said she seemed genuine, and when she told her to take a hike, she was willing to leave. Maybe she should have let her walk. That would have been a real test.
He decided to go along with Abby for now, but he would keep a close eye on their new companion. When he’d met Abby on the beach, he had a good feeling. He felt at home with her almost instantly. He thought it was very strange at the time, but then, he’d had the same gut feeling the other night when they ran into Robert in the trees, and he’d helped them hide from Tom’s people. He didn’t have the same feeling about Sara. Instead, he was feeling like he should keep her at arm’s length, and it was a feeling he could not shake.
* * *
After a night spent trying to sleep without much success, Eric spent the next morning dragging wood to the beach for their raft. He had to rely on trees that had already fallen, given that they had no way to cut anything down. The tricky part was finding enough that were the same length, or close enough. For the vines to lash the raft together, he decided to cut some fresh ones, using Abby’s knife. They were much more flexible and less likely to break apart than the dry vines he was finding on the ground.
Abby and Sara were on paddle duty, which was somehow more tedious than hauling logs. They attached the paddles to the ends of straight, strong branches. The paddles were constructed of dozens of palm leaves that they layered and wove together to make a scoop, which they figured would make a good paddle. During Sara’s time on the island, she had taught herself how to weave leaves together to make baskets to store fruits and supplies at her camp. They just adapted the shape and made them stronger. Abby smiled at the thought that their friendship had already proven very useful.
“I’m going to take a break and go refill our water,” Abby announced. “Want to come?”
“No, I’ll stay here.”
“All right, I’ll be back in a bit.” Abby grabbed the mostly empty water bag and walked off into the trees. The bag could purify saltwater, too, but she had found that the fresh stream water tasted better and purified faster than the saltwater. The saltwater option would have to do once they launched their raft, but as long as she had the clear, fresh water from the stream nearby, she decided she would use that.
She thought about their new friend, Sara. She was definitely not the kind of girl who would have been her friend in another life, but right here and now, it made sense, given their situation. She was very pretty. She was exceptionally skinny now, but when Abby pictured her with another ten or fifteen pounds on her, she became a knockout.
As skinny as she was, her chest certainly had not suffered. The skintight tank top definitely did not do anything to hide her assets. Abby assumed they were implants. It would explain why they hadn’t shrunk along with the rest of her body. Looking down, Abby was thankful she was well-endowed enough that she had never considered it for herself.
It was not that she wasn’t friends with pretty girls. It was just that Sara didn’t strike Abby as the type of person who would give her the time of day, had they not been trapped on an island together.
After refilling their water bag, she hurried back to the camp. Eric had been dragging wood all morning and had never so much as come over for a sip. The thought of him put a little extra spring in her step. He was another one she probably never would have associated with, if not for their current situation.
He was handsome and very sweet. He was genuinely concerned for her, even though they had only known each other for a short time. Of course, she would never have fallen for him in her world. He is too good. She mentally ticked down the list of men she had let into her life. By and large, they were all bad choices. She could not think of a single one of them she would want to be stuck here with.
No, Eric was a great guy. She decided it was time she should do something about it, too. She remembered what a miserable failure trying to kiss him the other night had been. She wasn’t going to let that be the moment she let him get away. No, that would be a minor hiccup in their otherwise fantastical story.
At least, that was what she thought, until she got back to the beach to find Sara “helping” him with the raft. Abby watched from the edge of the trees. If he had not noticed the full breasts barely concealed in her tank top before now, there was no way he did not notice them at this point. Abby watched in disgust as Sara leaned over in front of him, practically hitting him in the face with them.
Abby was too far away to hear what they were talking about. Eric wasn’t doing much talking, but whenever he opened his mouth, Sara laughed and touched his shoulder. Abby kicked herself for not kissing him when she’d had the chance. Who was this woman she’d brought into their little circle and forced him to be nice to? She could just about slap herself across the face.
No, she thought. Relax. He’s not buying into it. Abby could tell from fifty yards away that Sara was laying it on thick and sending out all the right signals. At the same time, she could tell Eric was not into it. There was no way he could be missing what she was putting out there, but Eric was focused entirely on the raft.
Abby smiled. He’s not into Sara; he’s into me.
Then she thought, What kind of person does that? She comes into my camp and starts making a move on my guy? She laughed to herself. No fighting it now. She was referring to him as “my guy”. What did she know about this woman? Her story seemed believable. What had sold her was how genuine she seemed. Her heart had gone out to her. Sara was so lonely and vulnerable. She certainly didn’t seem that way now, prancing around the beach like a cute little puppy, begging for attention.
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Eric saw Abby at the edge of the trees and waved. Sara’s demeanor instantly changed. Abby waved back and held up the water bag, and Eric trotted over to her, with Sara bringing up the rear.
“Thanks,” Eric said, gulping down close to a full liter.
Abby turned to Sara. “Give up on the paddles?”
“No,” she said, smiling. “Just taking a break. This guy looked like he could use a hand.”
“I’m sure he did.” Abby turned to go back to her weaving.
Eric shrugged. “I’m gonna get back to it. If I can finish this afternoon, we can talk about heading out for a test run tomorrow morning.”
“Sounds great!” Abby said.
After Eric had left them alone, Sara spoke up. “What’s that supposed to mean? ‘I’m sure he did’?”
Abby looked at her and rolled her eyes. “I saw you out there, and you were obviously flirting with him.”
“So, what if I was? He’s a handsome man, and we’re on an island without much to do.” Sara smiled at Abby, who didn’t look up. Her smile quickly dissipated. “Oh, my. Are you two a thing?”
Abby laughed. “No, we are not a ‘thing’.”
“Then, what’s the problem?”
“Maybe I want to be a thing.”
“Then, why aren’t you?”
Abby sighed. “I don’t know. I always wind up with the wrong guys, and he’s so sweet. I just don’t want to screw it up.”
“Well, if that’s what you want, don’t let me stop you.”
“Thanks.” Abby laughed. “I don’t think I could compete with you anyway—at least, not without those,” she said, gesturing to Sara’s chest.
“Life is a competition sweetheart—especially here.”
Abby wondered exactly what she meant by that. They sat in silence, weaving, strengthening, and lashing, until they had four good, solid oars. They figured it would be best to bring a couple extra. If they somehow lost one out there, it was going to be a long way to land.
Abby nodded in approval. “I think this just might work.”
Sara seemed doubtful.
“What? If our test run goes well in the morning, as long as the thing floats, we could be over there by tomorrow night!”
“We’ll see.”
Abby looked out and saw Eric heading toward them again. He was moving slowly, obviously exhausted, but the fact that he was coming over must have meant he was done, too.
Abby turned to Sara. “Do you have anything at your camp that you need? That you want to bring with you? You should go before it gets dark.”
“Trying to get rid of me?”
Abby laughed, but Sara wasn’t smiling. “No, I’m just saying, we don’t want to get held up any longer than we need to tomorrow, so you should get your things.”
“I don’t have things.” She raised her voice. “I have all the things I need with me.”
“That’s for sure,” Abby said, raising an eyebrow at Sara’s chest.
Sara took a step toward her as Eric arrived. “Hey,” he said. “What’s going on here?”
The two women were silent and didn’t take their eyes off each other.
“Can’t you girls play nice?” he said, laughing.
Sara looked at him. “Apparently not.” She turned and stormed off into the trees.
“What was that about?”
“You don’t want to know,” Abby said.
“Well, I might want to know.” He looked at Sara, walking away from the camp. “Is she still coming with us?”
“Why? Would you like that? You want her to come with us? Yesterday, you didn’t want anything to do with her. Why the sudden change of heart, huh?” She poked him in the chest.
“Whoa, what are you talking about? She seems nice, and you’re the one who said to give her a chance.”
She stared him straight in the eyes, trying to read his mind. “Asshole,” she said, running off into the trees after Sara.
9
HOW COULD she have disappeared so quickly? Abby was trying to track Sara through the trees without being noticed. The problem was, she was not noticing Sara, either. Wherever she had gone, she had gone quickly.
Abby followed along the trail where they had met yesterday at just about this time. When she arrived at the very spot where they had met, she stopped to look around. Yesterday, Sara had been off on the side of the trail and somewhat hidden in the trees. Without having any other sort of guidance, Abby figured that would be the best way to continue her search. Going off the trail, she started looking for any type of clue that indicated Sara had gone back this way.
After wandering for quite some time, Abby was beginning to accept that she was out of luck. The sun was getting lower in the sky and would be setting sometime in the next hour. She figured that as long as she headed toward the beach before the sun completely set, she could find her way back.
She didn’t want to call off her search, but she only had a few more minutes to pick through the brush before she would be forced to turn and head back. Sara clearly did not want to be found. That’s probably for the best, Abby thought.
She felt bad for leaving her there while they fled the island. At the same time, Sara might have been an entirely different person than Abby first thought. The way she’d reacted back at camp wasn’t what Abby expected. Then again, how could she have known what to expect from someone she had barely known for a day?
In the distance, there was a slight clearing in the trees, and Abby saw something on the ground—a white cloth, maybe. Walking to the edge of the trees that surrounded the clearing, she squinted to see. It was Sara’s tank top! If her shirt was on the ground, where was she?
Abby reached down with her right hand and wrapped her fingers around the handle of her knife, drawing it from the sheath. Closing her eyes, she listened and heard nothing. Dead silence. No sounds of struggle, or someone being dragged through the trees. She had not, and still didn’t, hear any screaming—muffled or otherwise.
With knife in hand, she stepped back several paces and slowly circled around the clearing. Masked by the trees, she stepped carefully, not making a sound, scanning the ground for any clues. She wasn’t sure what she would find, but maybe there would be some sign of where Sara had been taken.
Abby thought about watching Sara flirt with Eric on the beach. The woman certainly liked attention, but Abby couldn’t imagine she would just strip off her shirt and leave it on the ground to go prancing through the woods. Someone else—or perhaps several others—must have grabbed her. It appeared Sara’s luck in avoiding her old friends had run out.
Abby completed a full circle back to where she had started. There was no sign of what might have happened to Sara. She found no blood-smeared leaves and no freshly-broken branches, nor any other articles of clothing. After having circled the entire area, she was sure there was no one else around, but going out into the open clearing made her nervous, nonetheless. Abby weighed her options. It was getting late at this point, and the sun was getting low. If she didn’t head back in the next few minutes, she wasn’t sure she would be able to find her way.
Abby decided she would run into the clearing, grab the shirt, and run back to the trees to head straight toward the beach. It wouldn’t take her thirty seconds. She secured her knife and had one last look around. “Out, back, home,” she repeated to herself, over and over.
She ran faster than she would have imagined. Closing the distance quickly, something flashed ahead, and looking up, she was shocked to see Sara, standing at the edge of the trees. Just as she started to slow her pace, Abby stepped onto a patch of dry grass that immediately gave way under her feet, sending her flailing forward. She hit the ground in front of her and crashed through, falling ten feet down and landing with a thud that knocked the wind out of her.
Rolling over, she looked up and saw the opening she had just fallen through. Sara was standing at the edge and putting her top back on. “Sorry, sweetie; it had to be done. Get comfortable. I’ll be back
soon.” With that, she was gone.
Abby sat up and flexed her right shoulder, which had absorbed most of the impact. There were fallen branches all around her, and a ton of dried grass that had apparently been piled on top of the branches to conceal the hole she had fallen into. This wasn’t something Sara had just set up in haste. No, this had been there, waiting. This had been planned.
Anger set in before panic. She screamed at the top of her lungs. How could she have been tricked so easily? She listened and heard nothing but the sounds of nature around her. What had she said? Get comfortable? Abby realized Sara must be alone out there, but probably not for long. She was going to get the others.
Abby decided she wasn’t going to wait around for them to get back. She tried jumping up and grabbing the top, but it was far too high over her head. Even her fingertips wouldn’t reach the edge. She tried to climb the sides of the hole, but the dirt was loose, and the wall crumbled in her hands.
Looking around, she found nothing of use at her disposal. She plopped down on the ground and thought about how she was going to get out of this. There were some very large branches over the top of the hole that had served to support the smaller branches and grasses covering it. If she could get one of those down, she could prop it against the side and try to climb it to the top.
At first, she tried jumping and hitting them, but they were too high. She tried poking at them and hitting them with the smaller branches, but they didn’t budge. They must have been secured somehow at the ground level. She took a slightly larger stick, maybe two inches in diameter and a couple feet long, and pushed hard against the branches overhead. She got the same result. In anger, she took the stick that she was holding, threw it at the wall, and began pacing like a caged tiger.
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