“I won’t.”
Emily went to work on her feet. She had a knife—a fairly dull one. It took some effort, but she eventually cut through and freed Abby’s feet. She stood behind Abby and worked on her hands, careful not to cut her. Once she freed her wrists, she placed her hand on Abby’s shoulder, half-expecting her to turn around and take a swing. “Same team,” she reminded her.
“Same team,” Abby repeated.
Emily moved in front of Abby, and they looked at each other. Emily felt awkward as Abby rubbed her wrists. “There is something else I need to tell you.”
Abby spoke, as if she hadn’t heard her. Gesturing to the pot next to the fire, she asked, “What’s cooking?”
“That was dinner. Nothing extravagant. Are you hungry? I think we have a little bit left in there.” Emily turned to the fire, leaning over to look into the pot.
Abby reached down and grabbed a fist-sized rock that lay at her feet. She leapt, closing the small gap between them, arcing her arm through the air to connect the stone with the back of Emily’s skull. A split-second before impact, a large hand came from behind, seizing her wrist and stopping it in mid-air.
Abby was shocked. Looking up, she locked eyes with Eric.
18
ERIC LOOKED at Emily. “I told you to wait for me when she showed up.”
“I tried to wait for you, but she was coming into the camp. I had to do something.”
“Hide, that’s what you should have done. You nearly got yourself killed.” He was still holding Abby’s shocked hand in mid-air.
“I thought I had it handled,” Emily said.
Abby interrupted, “Hey!”
They both turned to her.
She spoke quietly. “You’re alive?” Abby said this more as a question than a statement. She stared into Eric’s eyes as tears began rolling down her soft cheeks.
“I am.” He smiled.
She buried her face in his chest, squeezing him hard, holding him as close as she could. Through her tears, she inhaled his scent, drinking him in.
“It’s all right, Abby. It’s real. I’m here.” He stroked her hair.
When she finally calmed down, she pulled away, drying her face with her hands. “You don’t seem surprised to see me?”
He laughed. “I never doubted you would show up. I knew you would be fine.”
She gestured toward Emily, who had been standing by, watching the scene unfold. “Can you tell me about this? Why are we friends with her?”
“She’s all right,” he said. “Trust me.”
“I trust you. It’s her I don’t trust.” Looking at Emily, she squeezed her arm around Eric’s waist, claiming him as her own. “I don’t know what she told you, but I don’t believe it. It’s Sara all over again. How do we know she’s not just playing another game? Buying time until the other two are healthy, then they come after us.”
“Trust me; she is not going back to the other women.”
“How do you know that?”
He looked at her hard. “Because they’re dead. The three of us are the only ones here, Abby.”
“They’re dead, and she’s not going to hold that against us? Revenge is a powerful emotion. Avenging your death is the only thing that kept me going out there.”
“She isn’t going to hold anything against you,” he said. “We didn’t kill them.”
“Who did?”
Emily finally spoke. “I did.”
“I told you, she could be trusted,” Eric said.
Abby was shocked. “You killed them? Why?”
“The story I told you was true, every bit of it. I have been scared of Tom and trying to find a way out for a long time. The others, they... they bought into it. Sara was furious and hell-bent on killing you guys.”
“I know,” Abby said. “I saw you both attack Eric on the beach.”
“You were pretty far out on the water,” Eric said. “Sara attacked me. If Emily hadn’t shown up when she did, I would probably be dead.”
Abby thought about it. It was true that she’d seen Emily running up to them, but she never saw what happened. That was about the time she had jumped into the water in her fruitless effort to swim to shore. “But, I saw Sara stab you. You were on the ground. I thought you were dead.” Her eyes began to well up from the memory.
Eric lifted his shirt to reveal a very long cut across his ribs. “She just grazed me. Hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. I went down, but I was all right. I wouldn’t have been for long if Em here hadn’t come along.”
“This is all happening so fast.” She turned to Emily. “I tied you up to the one with the broken leg after you attacked me.”
“First, I wasn’t attacking you; I didn’t even know you were there. If I remember right, you jumped out from behind a rock and flipped me like a pancake.”
“You’re right. I thought I had killed you at first.”
“Thanks for that.”
“So, what happened?”
“I wasn’t dead, obviously. I wasn’t even unconscious. I just figured if I got up, you would kill me. So, I stayed on the ground and let you tie me up. I saw what you did to the men at the gravesite. I figured you were going for Tom and Sara next. The woman you left me tied to, Jessica, I never liked her. Killing her was doing her a favor.”
“I thought those people were your friends?”
“No, I needed them to survive. I certainly wasn’t about to try to get away from them just to have them hunt me down and kill me. When I saw how you handled yourself when we first grabbed you, that’s when I knew I could finally get out. I just needed to join up with you.”
“What happened on the beach?”
“She saved my life,” Eric said.
“How?”
“She came running onto the beach, screaming that Tom was still alive and needed help. Sara went with her. They just left me there. I realized I wasn’t in as bad a shape as I thought. I hightailed it into the trees to watch. I couldn’t believe he was alive, but I couldn’t figure out what angle she was playing. I found out when Sara leaned over Tom to listen for his breath, and she, well...”
They all looked at each other. Abby was trying to process everything.
“I want to see the bodies,” she said.
“You don’t believe me?” Eric was confused.
“I just... I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.”
“Well, that’s going to be tough.”
“You already buried them?” Abby understood. “Just show me where. Maybe that will be enough.”
Eric and Emily shared a look.
“What?” Abby said.
Emily spoke. “We didn’t bury them.”
“Then, why can’t I see them then?”
“They’re gone.”
“Gone where?”
“We don’t know.”
Abby stood, looking at them both. “What the hell is going on?” She looked nervously at Eric, who held up his hands to reassure her.
“I... I think Emily can explain it better than I can.”
Abby looked at Emily. “Well, go ahead, then.”
“I don’t understand it myself. Just keep an open mind, all right?”
“Just tell me what’s going on.”
Emily began, “I don’t understand everything about this island. I don’t understand why we are here. I don’t understand how we got here. I don’t understand why more people keep showing up, but no one ever rescues us. And, I don’t think you understand that either, do you?”
“You have been here a year,” Abby said. “I’m going on a month. I haven’t figured it out any better than you have.”
“All right. Well, the strangest thing I don’t understand is what happens to the people who die. They just disappear.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
“No, I guarantee you I’m not. Remember how I told you Tom killed those people when we first got here? Well, I freaked out and took off. He found me in a couple of hours and brought me
back to the camp. When we got back, they were all gone. Trust me; I saw how brutally he mangled them. There was no way any of them were alive and just walked off. But, they were gone.”
“So, how do you explain it?”
“I can’t. But every time someone is really sick, really hurt, or dead, they disappear.”
Abby looked at Eric. “What do you think about this?”
“I think I don’t get it either, but it seems to be the truth. We dragged Tom and Sara away from our camp into the trees. Figured we would bury them after my side healed up in a few days. When we woke up the next day, they were gone. I also know those men we left at the gravesite were dead. No way either one of them was still alive; not the way we left them. When we got back to their camp a few days ago, they were gone, too.”
“What about the one with the broken leg?”
“I never saw her,” he said, “but I’m inclined to believe what Emily said.”
“One of the women who was here when I got to the island told me about this,” Emily said. “She said she had not seen it herself, but there was another woman who had been here longer than her and told her about it. So, this is third-hand, but the woman told her someone had fallen off a cliff and got killed. It took them the better part of a day to hike down the mountain to get the body. When they got there, it was gone. They thought maybe the person had survived, but he never showed up again.”
“This is crazy,” Abby said.
“It is. But, she told me something else, too. She said some guy had broken his arm; the bone was right through the skin. It was pretty bad, and after a couple of days, he started running a fever. They figured he must have an infection, and they were pretty sure he was going to die. He got real bad over the next couple of days, to the point where they had a twenty-four hour watch over him. She was with him one night and fell asleep. She woke up, and he was gone, but she heard something in the trees. She went out, and there were men dressed all in black, carrying him away.”
“Who were they?”
“She had no idea. They weren’t with her group. She said she followed them at a distance until they got to a cove, where she lost them. It was the middle of the night, and she had a real hard time finding her way back. She told the others what had happened, and they set out to find them. The problem was she couldn’t find her way back to the cove. Everything had been dark when she’d followed them before, so it was a dead end. She said another woman disappeared. She seemed to be perfectly healthy but was about seven months pregnant, they figured. They never found her, either.”
Abby thought about the story. The part about the cove stuck out to her. She had floated completely around the island on her raft. Granted, she had not been lucid the entire time, but she only remembered seeing one cove during her trip—the one she eventually wound up paddling into. It was on the north side of the island, shielded by tall trees all around it. It was one hell of a hike through some rough terrain and could be easy to miss if she was looking for it on land. It was only clearly visible from the water.
“What do you think the cove is all about?”
“I don’t know,” Emily said. “But, it seems there must be other people here snatching up the sick and the dead. I can’t figure out why, but that’s the only thing that makes sense. Maybe this cove is where they are. I don’t know.”
Abby thought about Robert. He had been on the island for a long time, and obviously knew where the cove was. Maybe he knows something more? She nearly voiced this thought; however, she remembered earlier, Eric had said the three of them—Abby, Eric, and Emily—were the only three people left on the island. At the time, knowing that Robert was alive and well, she’d nearly corrected him. However, she’d realized Eric could be concealing Robert from Emily for now, so she hadn’t. She decided to wait until she could speak with Eric about it before she mentioned Robert in front of her.
“I’ve been there,” she said. Abby recounted the story of the cove, where she had landed the raft.
Emily asked, “Do you think you can get us back there?”
“I think so. I was in rough shape at the time, but I remember how to get there. It’s on the north side of the island. There’s lots of heavy vegetation around it, but I can get us there.”
Eric spoke. “Let’s do it first thing in the morning. Let’s figure this thing out. If there are other people here, maybe they know how to get off this rock.”
They all agreed. At dawn, they would pack up camp and set out for the cove.
Emily excused herself and retired to the shelter, leaving Eric and Abby alone by the glow of the fire.
“I’m so happy you’re alive,” Abby said, squeezing him tightly. “I’m so happy to be back together.” She kissed him softly on the lips.
He smiled. “There was never a doubt in my mind we would be.”
She whispered, “Does she know about Robert?”
Eric shook his head. “I was keeping that one in my back pocket. Just in case. I figure if she isn’t who she says she is, and I have to cut bait, I want the option to head up the hill and stay with him for a while.”
“You’re a smart one.”
“Naw, just practical.”
Abby told him about how Robert had found her when she’d floated into the cove, brought her back to his camp, and got her back on her feet again. “I don’t know what I would have done without him. I could barely walk when he pulled me out of the water.”
“What was he doing there?” Eric wondered.
“I don’t know. I never asked, and he never offered. I guess it was like when he helped us the first time. He showed up at the right place, when we needed him.”
Eric nodded. “I wonder if we’ll be seeing him again anytime soon?”
19
ABBY WAS DREAMING of the faceless man again. She was not the one being chased this time, though. She was chasing him. He had something she needed. Something she had hidden, but he had found. She got close but could never catch him. She reached out to grab him, but her hand came up with nothing but air. She woke up, breathing hard.
Eric was sitting up, watching her, the early morning sunlight filtering through the shelter opening. “You all right?”
Abby nodded. “I’m fine. Do we have any water around here?”
He reached over and tossed her a small flask. “Emily left to get some more for the trip.”
Abby drained the flask without offering him any. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it; there’s plenty more. This is a good spot. There’s a stream ten minutes from here. Em will be back soon.”
“Em?”
“Emily.”
“I know who you mean. I didn’t know you were on cute-nickname status yet.”
Eric laughed. “It just sounds right. Ab doesn’t sound like a good nickname, but I can call you that if you want.”
“No, I’m good.”
They stood and stretched. Eric began packing some food into a satchel. “You should trust her, you know. I know it’s weird, but she’s one of us now.”
“I get that part.”
“Then, what’s the problem?”
“I was just thinking. You and I have been here for what, a month?”
“Thereabouts.”
“So, my point is, I’m already feeling like I’m losing my mind. If she’s really been here for a year, how is she not totally screwed-up?”
Eric thought about that a moment. “She was part of a group of six when we got here, right? Five of them are dead. She killed two of them. That’s pretty screwed-up to me, don’t you think?”
Abby agreed. “That’s what I’m saying. How can I trust someone like that?”
“Because she killed them to help us. She was only with them out of fear in the first place. We are her saviors. She wants to be with us and killed to make that happen. She may be screwed-up, but I’m willing to trust her for now. Don’t forget, I’ve been with her for a week, and she seems all right.”
“I guess good people can get
into bad situations. Sometimes, they have got to take extreme measures to get out, right?”
“That happens all the time. Some folks are stronger than others. Some get sucked in and never get out. Some rise to the occasion, get stronger, and overcome what they thought they couldn’t.”
She nodded in agreement. “That does happen, doesn’t it?”
“So, can you at least trust me about trusting her? I know this is all a shock to you, but for the last week, when you were MIA, I’ve gotten to know her. She is one of the good ones. One of us, and we’re better off working with her than against her. If she goes nuts, we can cut her loose. Deal?”
Abby got close to Eric. “I’ll make any deal you want right now. I thought you were dead.” She bit her lip. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I feel like we have spent a lifetime together. Before I got here, before I met you, I can barely remember what life was like.”
“You were in school, weren’t you?”
“I was, but what was I going to do with it? I was mostly just hanging out with the wrong people, making bad decisions. I’m stronger now. Not just physically, but emotionally. You’re part of that. You are different from anyone I have ever been with. I will trust you, but you have to make me a promise.”
“What’s that?”
“When we get off this island, I want to be together. Promise me that. I’m not saying we should get married or anything, but we have been through so much. We can’t just go our separate ways.”
“Of course. I was afraid I lost you once, and I’m not going to let that happen again. You’re going to be stuck with me for a long time. Hey, who knows if we’re ever getting out of here anyway, right? We don’t have to wait until we get off this rock to make any promises. Let’s be together now, and if we ever do get out of here, why change a good thing?”
They kissed. She ran her hand up his chest. He winced in pain when she grazed the scar on his ribs. “I’m sorry!”
“Don’t worry about it.” He lifted his shirt. “Emily did a great job patching me up.”
A few seconds later, Emily arrived. The solar bag was slung over her shoulder, filled with enough water for the three of them. “I did, didn’t I?”
Escape, the Complete Trilogy Page 14