17
Darkness
Infinity took the three-foot length of cord she had braided from grass stems and kneeled beside Tequila’s injured leg. “This is gonna hurt, Scottie, but it’s gotta happen.”
His face was pale, and he hadn’t spoken much in the last half hour, but he nodded and tried to smile. “It’s numb now anyway. Get it done.”
She nodded to Horton, who was seated beside Tequila and had been gripping his ankle stump to minimize the bleeding. Horton lifted the ankle off the ground. Infinity inspected the stump and had to fight the urge to curse aloud. Tequila’s lower leg bones, the tibia and fibula, were protruding a few inches beyond the rest of his severed tendons and mangled flesh. The ends of the two bones had been snapped off by the otter’s teeth.
She threaded her cord under Tequila’s leg and instructed Horton to hold the cord in place. She then wrapped the two ends around the stump in opposite directions, pulling them as tight as she could without breaking the cord. She looped each end around the leg twice and then tied the two ends together.
She tugged on one of the tourniquet’s strands. “Seems tight enough.” She turned to Tequila. His face was contorted with pain—apparently his ankle wasn’t as numb as he’d let on. “If it breaks or comes loose, let us know. I’m going to make a replacement cord, so we’ll have it ready.”
Tequila wiped sweat from his forehead and then nodded. “Look, I appreciate it, but you need to get the clients off this island. You’re all vulnerable here.”
“No, sir!” Horton said. “I’m not getting in that water again. Besides, there might be another pack of coyotes on the other shore. And we’re not leaving you here to die.”
Tequila started to shake his head, but then he forced a slight smile. “You know, I had my doubts about you, Horton. You and Jarvis. But you guys are alright.”
Horton shot Infinity an embarrassed glance. “I guess you bridgers have inspired us.”
Infinity gave him a curt nod and got to her feet. “We have work to do.” She said, turning to the growing pile of driftwood Jarvis was collecting. Some of the pieces were much smaller than she’d have liked, but the pile was impressive nevertheless. “Horton,” she said, “you and I are going to make more braided cord. A lot more.”
“I ain’t busy at the moment,” Tequila said. “Bring me an armload of that grass and I’ll help.”
Infinity gazed down at him. “Considering what you’ve been through, I’m surprised you’re not in shock. Or unconscious. But you want to help?”
“Damn tough for an old man, huh?”
She snorted a laugh. “I’ll bring you as much grass as you want, you old geezer.”
Infinity and Horton gathered grass fibers for at least another half hour while Jarvis scoured the island’s entire perimeter for suitably large pieces of driftwood. Then they passed perhaps another two hours meticulously braiding three-foot lengths of grass cord and sharpening several driftwood weapons. During this time, they spotted individual otters watching them from the river on four different occasions. The last otter they saw actually emerged from the water and attempted to approach them. Infinity, Jarvis, and Horton immediately grabbed the driftwood weapons they had sharpened. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they jabbed at the creature until it retreated back into the river.
Infinity knew this encounter could have easily gone the other way. One misplaced swing of a weapon would have given the creature an opening. Or if any of the humans had stumbled over one of the numerous rocks bordering the shore, the beast would have been on them in seconds. After the encounter, she was even more convinced that they had to carry out her plan. She looked at their pile of driftwood and decided it was time to begin construction.
Building a cage large enough to hold four people was a solid plan, but it wasn’t going to be enough. The cage had to have enough room for the humans to maneuver and avoid claws inserted between the driftwood logs of the cage’s framework. Infinity figured it would need to be at least eight feet across.
At first she had envisioned a simple rectangular box, but Jarvis had pointed out that an igloo-like dome would hold up better if the otters decided to climb on top. Based on the size of the otter that had tried to attack them on the island, the creatures easily weighed more than four hundred pounds. So Infinity had agreed to the dome design.
Building a domed structure eight feet in diameter quickly proved to require more than the amount of driftwood they had available. Infinity could see this as soon as she started arranging the structure’s circular base. They decided to settle for six feet.
The grass cord turned out to be strong—Striker had taught the trainees well—but not so strong that Infinity couldn’t break it if she pulled with all her strength. She decided to use two cords to tie the ends of the driftwood together instead of one. Because of this, the supply of cord was almost depleted by the time the sides of the dome were only four feet high. Infinity instructed Jarvis to continue construction while she, Horton, and Tequila made more cord.
By the time the cage’s basic structure was complete, the sun was starting to drop behind the hilltops to the west.
Infinity stepped over to Tequila and kneeled. His eyes were closed, so she pressed her hand against his left temple, one of the few places without bite wounds. “Hey, partner.”
He opened his eyes.
“We’re getting in the cage now,” she said. “Sorry, but we gotta move you.”
Tequila blinked at her. “Listen. You still have time before dark to get the clients to shore.” He nodded at the crude cage. “That thing won’t protect them. It looks like a kindergartener made it.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Go on, roll your eyes. Maybe you’ll find a brain back there. Then you can use it to reason through this and understand that I’m right.”
She stared at him for a moment. “If you could actually swim, you wouldn’t have given that otter a snack, and we wouldn’t be stuck on this goddamn island.”
He started to laugh, but it turned into a cough and he winced in pain. “You’re killing me, Passie.”
Infinity furrowed her brows and turned to look at the cage. “You know what? I’m not going to make you move after all. Sit tight.”
She stepped over to the cage. Jarvis and Horton were tying on the last few lengths of cord, and she asked them to give her a hand. Together they lifted the cage, which felt like it weighed several hundred pounds. The structure groaned but held together as they carried it to Tequila. They carefully lowered it over him and then stepped back.
Infinity went to what remained of the driftwood pile and gathered an armload of smaller sticks they could use to fill in some of the gaps in the cage. She fed the sticks through to the inside while Jarvis and Horton brought more armloads of grass stems and pushed those into the cage as well. Infinity then fed three sharpened weapons through the slats.
Finally, it was time to get inside. Infinity and Jarvis lifted one edge of the cage while Horton crawled under. Once Horton was inside, he got to his knees and helped Infinity lift the edge for Jarvis. The two anthropologists then raised the structure so Infinity could enter.
There was barely enough room inside for the three of them to sit beside Tequila, but they arranged themselves as comfortably as they could and began weaving the grass fibers into cord. Just as the fading light was starting to limit her vision, Infinity used the cord to tie the small sticks to the framework, closing the largest of the gaps.
For several long minutes, everyone sat silently staring at the sunset through the bars of the cage. The river’s surface reflected a swirling, distorted version of the orange sky.
“I’m thirsty, and I’m hungry,” Horton said matter-of-factly.
“No one dies of thirst or hunger in thirty-six hours,” Infinity replied.
Several more minutes passed.
“I don’t want you to think I’m dying on you, but I gotta get some sleep,” Tequila said. “I’m totally exhausted.”
“I’ll
wake you every hour or so,” Infinity said. “To make sure you’re still with us.”
Tequila didn’t reply. Seconds later his breathing indicated he was already sleeping.
“Do you think he’ll make it until we bridge back?” Horton whispered.
“Damn right he will,” Infinity said without hesitation.
“Listen!” said Jarvis. “I think we’ve got company.”
Infinity froze. He was right—something was sloshing its way out of the river. She cautiously turned her head and stared out through the gaps in the cage. A dark shape was approaching, and two more were emerging from the water behind it. They had long bodies and arched backs—definitely otters.
“Keep away from the sides!” Infinity hissed at Jarvis and Horton. She got to her knees, lifted Tequila to a sitting position, and pulled him toward the center of the cage. He moaned but didn’t wake up.
The humans huddled together and listened as the otters came straight to the cage.
The creatures put their noses to the gaps and sniffed loudly. Infinity could smell their foul breath and wet fur. One of them scratched at the cage, jiggling the entire structure with each rake of its paws.
Infinity leaned Tequila back until he was resting against her chest as she slowly picked up one of the sharpened weapons. Jarvis and Horton followed her lead and picked up the other two.
“Not until they try to get in,” she whispered.
The otters froze at the sound of her voice. Infinity saw the silhouettes of their heads shifting up and down as they tried to get a better look through the slats. One of them shoved its snout forward, abruptly ramming the driftwood bars and pushing the cage back several inches.
Infinity shoved her weapon through the bars and felt the sharpened tip hit something solid. The otter let out a growling hiss and began attacking the cage, ripping and biting at the wood to get to the humans inside. The other two creatures joined in, tearing into the driftwood with unnerving ferocity.
“Stab them!” Infinity cried. She got out from under Tequila and thrust her weapon again.
The anthropologists sprang into action, grunting and yelling with each thrust.
“What the hell?” Tequila stammered.
“Stay back from the sides, Scottie!” Infinity shouted.
The cage jolted again, and Infinity realized the edge was lifting off the ground. The otters were trying to tip the structure over.
Jarvis dropped his weapon and grabbed the ceiling to pull the cage back down.
“Help him!” Infinity shouted to Horton.
Horton jabbed at the creatures once more and then grabbed the framework above his head.
The cage settled back onto the ground. Seconds later, one of the creatures scrambled on top of it, causing the driftwood framework to creak. Infinity could see the dark shape of its body against the sky above. She thrust her weapon up through a large gap in the driftwood. She felt the weapon penetrate deep into the creature’s belly. The otter screeched and tumbled off the dome, nearly ripping the weapon from her hands. Seconds later she heard the otter splashing its way back into the river.
The other two otters paused their attack, perhaps confused. Infinity peered out through the gaps and saw that one of the creatures was no more than a foot from her face. She gritted her teeth and rammed her weapon into the thing’s body. The otter let out a fierce, rasping growl and rolled over on the ground to get away from the cage. It then retreated to the water.
The third otter also abandoned its efforts and returned to the river.
For several seconds, the humans’ heavy breathing was the only sound.
“Well, this cage is stronger than it looks,” Tequila said.
Infinity dropped her weapon. “Maybe so, but it’s not finished. Now we need to build a floor.”
18
Dawn
Infinity gazed east through the cage slats as the sun’s edge started peeking over the hills. She shifted her butt for the thousandth time. Sitting naked on a floor made of driftwood was not a comfortable way to spend a night. Surprisingly, Jarvis and Horton had finally managed to fall asleep a few hours before dawn. They were still sleeping, strategically positioned to avoid various protrusions and rough spots in the driftwood.
The cage’s floor had proven to be worth the extra hours of work. Otters had come onto the island two more times during the night to investigate the cage. The second time, two otters had managed to actually push the cage onto its side before being forced away by sharpened weapons. Once the otters were gone, the humans had to rock the cage back to its upright position, a process that caused Tequila considerable pain.
It hadn’t been a particularly restful night.
Infinity turned to Tequila and held her hand just above his face. During the last few hours before dawn, his breathing had become so shallow that she’d decided to make a habit of checking for exhalations. Warm air brushed gently against her palm.
“Hey, partner,” she whispered as she pressed her hand to the side of his head. He didn’t respond. She shifted her position and inspected the tourniquet on his ankle. It seemed looser than before, and in the morning light she noticed a dark red stain in the sand and grass below the stump. “Shit,” she said. The grass-cord tourniquet must have stretched overnight, allowing blood to seep out.
She broke off a short stick from one of the cage’s driftwood slats and forced the end of it between the tourniquet and Tequila’s mangled leg. She slowly turned the stick until it had rotated one complete turn, tightening the cord.
Tequila groaned and opened his eyes. He blinked at the cage’s ceiling a few times as if he were trying to focus. He groaned again and lifted his head to look down at his leg.
“I had to tighten it,” Infinity whispered. “You were losing blood.”
“It’s morning?” he asked, his words raspy and pained.
She nodded. “You made it through the night, which means you’ll make it to bridge-back. You’re pretty tough, old man.”
Tequila exhaled and let his head fall back onto the driftwood floor. “I don’t feel so tough. That thing hurts like hell. Take it off.”
“The tourniquet? You know I can’t do that.” She found a length of unused grass cord and tied one end to the top of the tightening stick. Then she wrapped the cord around Tequila's leg and tied the other end to the bottom of the stick to keep it in place. “Twelve hours from now, you’ll be in the med lab getting babied by the med techs. They’ll probably even give you ice cream.”
Tequila didn’t respond. Infinity glanced up at his face. His eyes were closed again. She moved back to her position beside his head and held a hand above his mouth and nose again.
Satisfied that he was still breathing, she shifted her butt until she found a moderately comfortable position. She sighed and scanned the river on both sides of the island for otters. A yip came from the north, in the direction of the coyote colony. A few more yips followed, and then the sounds multiplied until the air was filled with the almost-song-like yaps and howls of hundreds of coyotes.
Infinity shifted again. It was going to be a long day.
19
Waiting
When the sun had passed its highest point, Infinity finally allowed herself to start believing she, Tequila, Jarvis, and Horton might actually survive until bridge-back. Their driftwood cage had held up against another otter attack and still seemed to be structurally sound. Tequila was weak from dehydration and blood loss, but he was still surprisingly alert and responsive.
Infinity hoped that their biggest challenges going into the afternoon would be avoiding sunburn and boredom. The risk of sunburn could be minimized by shifting positions frequently. Boredom, on the other hand, could only be avoided by engaging in conversation, and Infinity had never been much of a talker.
After an hour-long period of silence, Horton suddenly exclaimed, “I have a possible explanation for the absence of humans here. I’m still of the opinion that human culture tends to develop in predictable patterns
. I believe there is simply too much evidence to deny it, especially when comparing populations on our own version of Earth that had previously been isolated from each other for extensive periods of time. Therefore, I'm also still of the opinion that, if humans had migrated to North America on this world, we would see evidence of a civilization more-or-less resembling our own.”
Jarvis shifted positions in another of his never-ending attempts to get comfortable. “You’re going to suggest that humans never migrated to North America in this world. I knew you’d come to such a conclusion. But it’s absurd.”
“Absurd?” scoffed Horton.
“Yes, this world diverged from ours 50,000 years ago,” Jarvis said. “By that time, human migration had already built an unstoppable momentum. Migrating into North America was inevitable.”
Horton held up his pointer finger. “Perhaps so. But only if humans continued to exist.”
Jarvis snorted. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not? People tend to believe that the human species can’t go extinct. But that’s only because humans haven’t gone extinct. At least not yet. Do you have any idea how many bullets humanity has dodged throughout our existence? At any time, we could be wiped out by some new disease. An asteroid impact. A massive volcanic event. Any of a hundred other possible threats. And tens of thousands of years ago, humans were much more scattered and vulnerable. Think about it, Jarvis. The only possible explanation for the fact that there are no humans in this area is that there are no humans on this world.”
Jarvis gave him a sidelong look but then scrunched up his mouth as if considering the possibility.
As Infinity listened to the anthropologists, she couldn’t help but think of one of the few movies she’d watched as a child. “Maybe this world is like the Planet of the Apes,” she said. “Only with dogs. Dogs got the upper hand at some point and made humans their pets. Maybe it happened before humans could migrate to North America, and that’s why humans didn’t make it here.”
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