“Stand down,” he hushed.
“Nothing is touching Alex,” I said. “They can have at me first.”
“Are you seriously willing to take that chance?”
“Wouldn’t you do the same for Lisa?”
That caused him to pause.
“If you’re going to stand there, I need you to look confident when they appear. Assured. Don’t look afraid no matter what gestures or sounds they make. Stare them down, but don’t move. If we’re lucky, they’ll move on.”
“What if they don’t?” Daniella asked.
“Then I’ll deal with them,” Tank said.
“With one stick? Against how many, Tank? Listen to them,” she said. “They’re almost upon us. We should call Cutter.”
“If you do that, Daniella, I swear to God that I will beat the shit out of you myself,” I said. “Just sit there, shut up, and do what Tank says. This isn’t any time to fuck around like you did on the plane. Are you hearing me, girl? Because you’d better be.”
And Daniella, clearly shocked by how I’d spoken to her, shrank away from me to console Lisa just as the grunts and snorts came within mere feet of us. I stood still and listened. I prayed for Blackwell, who had yet to move. Was she dead? Was she alive? Tank had said nothing to us about her condition. Was there a reason for that? As concerned as I was, I knew that I had to focus on the moment, and when I did, time slowed. There was an excruciating moment of dead silence in which the seconds seemed to pass like minutes. And then, with a sudden burst of rage, the tall foliage in front of us suddenly blasted open as if someone had just slammed a wrecking ball through it.
Only this ball was a boar, and it revealed itself to us just twenty feet away.
I looked at it in horror. This pig didn’t look like a piglet to me. This pig was a beast. It swept us with its gaze, lifted its broad snout into the air, and then let out one horrific, menacing squeal that shook me to my core.
I felt faint, but I stood motionless. Panic had a stranglehold on my heart, but I managed to keep my features neutral. I heard more movement scrambling toward us in the jungle, and then three smaller pigs appeared from between the folds of the dripping wet greenery. Somehow, they seemed even more agitated than the larger boar, which had to be their mother, and which would protect them at any cost, as any mother would. One of them turned toward me and stomped its hoof on the ground while my heart started to thrash in my chest.
And then the best thing—and the worst thing—happened at once. Blackwell stirred. She was alive! But how would we ever keep her in check now? She didn’t know where she was, what was happening. Who knows what would come out of her mouth? I looked at Daniella, but with the pigs upon us, there was nothing she could do.
“Where am I?” Blackwell asked in a groggy voice. “Why am I on the ground? And why am I soaking wet? And what in God’s name is that rancid smell? Somebody needs a goddamned mint.”
She started to push herself up into a sitting position, but Tank smoothly nudged his foot against her shoulder, pressed her down, and told her in a low voice not to move. “Our plane crashed,” he said in a calm, measured voice meant to reassure her and not to startle the animals. “We’re in a jungle now, Barbara. Four wild boars are challenging us. I need to you stay down, not move, and keep quiet. Do you understand me?”
She sounded delirious when she spoke. “How in the hell am I supposed to understand that?”
The larger pig shook its wet coat, let out a deep grunt, and took a menacing step forward. Tank turned to it and stood firm, the branch at his side. They stared at each other, each waiting for the other to make the next move.
I watched Alexa reach for her mother’s hand and say something I couldn’t quite hear. In the plane, I thought for sure that she’d been impaled by a tree limb, but it was the chair she’d been sitting in that must have taken the damage, not her. Like most, the crash had rendered her unconscious, and I could see by the look on her face that she was fighting for clarity. Unlike her sister, Alexa somehow understood the direness of our situation, even in her foggy state of mind. She knew that she had to keep her mother quiet—if that was even possible.
“Pigs,” Blackwell said. “The last time I saw a pig, it was Immaculata Almendarez. What’s she doing here?”
“Mom, you’re not well. You might have a concussion. You need to be quiet. Please. You have to stay silent for all of our sakes.”
One of the smaller boars charged toward me, only to be stopped dead in its tracks by its mother, who let loose perhaps her loudest squeal yet. Unable to move, I looked at her offspring—now just ten feet away from me—and saw that its hackles were up, just as its mother’s were.
I narrowed my eyes at it, and stood my ground. Anything to show it that I was unafraid of it, even though that was far from the truth. Could it smell my fear? Sense it? Use it against me? I wasn’t sure, but the tension between all of us was becoming so great, I felt that something was about to break—and that this standoff was unsustainable. As weak as I was, I’d fight that sonofabitch if I had to, even though I knew in my heart that if it did attack me, the others would as well, and I’d lose against all of them—just as Tank would. There was no possible way that he and I could protect everyone, let alone ourselves.
“Go!” Tank shouted at the mother boar in his baritone voice. “Get out of here! Leave!”
There was a crashing clap of thunder when he shouted those words, and then lightning lit the dim sky in a way that surprised all of us—including the boars. They lifted their heads to the sky and retreated a bit. The smaller one, who had come close to me, turned in a circle, and went back to its mother’s side while the other juveniles spread out to the left and right of us.
“What do we do, Tank?” I asked.
“Wait them out.”
But there was no waiting. At that moment, the mother boar decided to rush Tank, who swiftly moved as far to the left of us as he could in an effort to protect us. He swung the branch hard and bashed it against the side of the boar’s head. She let out a kind of heaving gasp, tottered sideways away from us, and then fell onto her side. While she lay there, struggling to catch her breath, her piglets swarmed around her. Nuzzled her. Snorted into her ear and nudged their noses against her face in an effort to get her on her feet.
It worked.
It was a struggle for her, but the mother boar stood while her piglets turned toward the rest of us with unbridled fury in their eyes.
“Tank,” I said.
“Quiet—they might leave.”
For a moment, the mother was unsteady on her feet, but with a brisk look at Tank, it was clear that it wasn’t out of the game just yet. If anything, she was more in it than ever. She lowered her head at Tank and let out a furious cry, which caused Daniella to scream as the boar lunged toward Tank again.
This time, Tank swung the branch against her rib cage, likely hoping to break bones, but when it connected with her flesh, the branch snapped in half. Then, the pig, looking unfazed, rushed him again. Tank dropped what was left of the branch and took hold of the boar’s head. Together, they wrestled in a mad skirmish while two of the three piglets directed their attention at me. The third moved to Tank’s right, raised its hackles, and prepared to strike. Tank rained down blows on the mother boar’s head as she snapped her jaws at him, each time coming dangerously close to taking a bite out of one of his thighs. Behind me, Alex came to and called out my name just as one of the juveniles punched toward me, followed by the other.
I shrieked in fear, and kicked the boar in the face when it was within striking distance—and then everything stopped when another explosion of light and sound shook the sky with such force, it could have rattled the stars and the moon.
Only this time, it wasn’t lightning or thunder. This time, a wave of heat rolled over us that was so searing, it frightened the boars to the point that the juveniles stopped dead in their tracks and their mother broke away from Tank. She reared backward in a kind of awe and looked above hi
m, and in her large, liquid brown eyes, I saw the twisting curls of bright-orange flames. It was the plane. It had exploded.
And then it exploded again.
Frightened by the commotion, the pigs turned on their hooves, and ran into the jungle.
I whipped around, saw that the plane’s engine was on fire, and knew that the worst was yet to come. In a flash, the flames reached out for the main fuselage, found it half-filled with fuel, and happily ignited it.
When the plane blew apart, the eruption was enough to lift the plane high into the air as if it were made of tin.
“Get down!” Tank shouted at me. “Everyone cover their heads!”
Both of us fell to the ground—me on top of Alex, and Tank spreading himself over Lisa, Blackwell, Alexa, and Daniella. Wreckage shot onto the beach, splintered into the jungle, and soared on fire high above us, where it smashed through the jungle in smoking shards of metal and debris that leveled plants, trees, and limbs. When it was over, I sat there in disbelief, holding onto Alex and searching the beach for Cutter.
But there were no signs of him. I couldn’t see him anywhere, and the very real possibility that he was gone was too much to bear.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“I need to get to Cutter,” Tank said as he stood.
“I don’t see him out there,” I said, pushing myself up. “Earlier, I saw him stacking supplies over there on the beach, but he’s nowhere now. I’ve been looking for him.”
“Then you haven’t been looking in the right place,” he said with an edge. “He could have been thrown. I need you and Daniella to care for everyone. The boars won’t be back—I’m certain of that. But Cutter is alive. He has to be. I’ve already lost one brother today. I’m not about to lose another.”
Before he left, he went over to Lisa, who was sitting up but leaning against Daniella for support.
“Are you OK?” he asked as he pressed his palm against her cheek.
“Go and find Cutter. Help him if you can. I’m fine. When we landed, I must have blacked out. I’ve survived worse than this—remember?”
“Too well,” he said.
After giving her a meaningful kiss, Tank cut away from all of us, hurried down onto the beach, and started his search. I watched him run and thought of how brave he was and how lucky we were to have him in our lives for so many reasons. But as I watched him move toward the smoldering, ruined plane—which was in pieces at this point—it occurred to me that it had stopped raining. At some point during our run-in with the boars, the storm must have broke, because parts of the sky had cleared. From my time on Alex’s island, I knew that was typical of the tropics. Storms would burst in just as quickly as they’d burst out. Soon, the sun would appear. And then we could really assess everyone’s health.
I went over to Alex and, to my relief, saw that the bleeding at his throat seemed to have stopped—the bloodstain on Tank’s shirt was about the same size that it had been earlier. He also no longer looked as pale. “Are you feeling better?” I asked.
“I need to help Tank.”
“No, you don’t. You went into cardiac arrest, likely because of the amount of blood you lost and the shock of the crash. You need to lie still for now. If you move, the wound could open again. I’m worried about infection.”
“If he develops one, I can help with that,” Alexa said. “We’re in a subtropical climate. There are all sorts of plants here that, if used correctly, are nearly as powerful as penicillin.”
“Then you’re our go-to person for that should we need to find those plants.” I turned back to Alex, saw the concern in his eyes, and knew that he was thinking about our child. “We’re going to be fine,” I said. “Get some rest.”
“Help Barbara.”
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I looked over at Lisa. “Do you need anything?”
“I’ll be OK. Help Barbara. See if she’s all right.”
I walked over to Blackwell, and knelt beside her and Alexa. Both were sitting up. After all of the excitement, Alexa seemed to be more alert than she had been earlier, but her mother wasn’t. Blackwell’s eyes were blinking in an effort to clear her head. I could see her trying to take in the enormity of the moment, her surroundings, everything that had just happened.
I placed the palm of my hand against her back. “How are you?” I asked.
“I can’t believe this happened,” she said.
“Are you all right?”
“I hurt like a sonofabitch, but I’ll live.”
“Do you remember the crash?”
“Other than the storm and fighting with my clueless daughter to get her ass buckled into a chair, I don’t remember much of anything.”
“I saw something hit the side of your head while we were going down. Let me check to see if anything is swollen, or if you’re bleeding.” To my surprise, she actually let me. I ran my fingers gently over and around her wet scalp, and she winced when I touched a slightly raised spot just above her left ear.
“That’s where you were hit,” I said. I checked my fingers for any trace of blood, but there wasn’t any. “You’re not bleeding, though you are swollen. Do you feel nauseous?”
“Somewhat.”
“You likely have a concussion.”
“Obviously, it could have been worse.” She turned to me and looked me in the eyes. “So, let me ask you. Are you all right, Jennifer?”
I know what she was really asking, but I didn’t want to discuss that now.
“I’m fine.”
“You know what I’m referring to.”
“Of course I do.” Helplessness washed over me and I shrugged at her. Tears stung at my eyes when I spoke. “But I have no answers. None. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
Her hand tightened around mine. “Don’t give up hope. We’ll find out together.”
“Find out about what?” Daniella asked.
There was no way in hell that I was going to keep this a secret, so what was the point of even trying? These were my friends—only Daniella and Alexa didn’t know that I was pregnant. So, I said the words. “I’m pregnant,” I said. “Alex and I are. We just recently found out. And now, after the crash, we’re concerned about the baby.”
“And that’s all she’s going to say about it,” Blackwell said.
“Jennifer—” Alexa said.
“Let’s not talk about it. I don’t want to upset Alex or me any more than we already are. This baby could turn out to be a miracle. If all of us could survive that crash, there’s every chance that our child has, too. All I ask is for your prayers. That’s it. And Barbara is right—that’s all I’m going to say on the subject. At least for now.”
Blackwell looked at me, and then she looked around her as the first slants of sunlight began to cut through the trees. “Where is Max?” she asked. “Where are the pilots? Amy?”
“They’re gone,” I said. “The plane hit something when we were descending. I think we struck a mountaintop or something, because when we did, the cockpit ripped off, and it took them away from us.”
“Oh, my God,” Blackwell said. “I don’t know what to say. Those poor people. Our Max is gone. And that dear girl.”
And that was all I could take. Grief overcame me, and I shut my eyes tight. I still could see the front part of the plane cracking off as if it were nothing more than an eggshell. Amy, Max, and the pilots were pulled away from us as if their lives had no significance. No meaning. Despite the sudden roar of air that hit us when the cockpit broke away, I still heard Amy’s screams as she and the others were tossed into the unknown. Even now I could hear her screaming—high and pierced in the face of certain death. And the memory of it was enough to make me put my face in my hands, and begin to weep for all that we had lost.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Tank was gone for four hours, but when he returned, it was without Cutter.
All of us had since moved onto the beach. While Alex rested on the side
lines due to the cut at his throat and the sheer amount of blood he had lost, the rest of us went through the dozens of boxes Cutter had managed to grab for us.
And now we knew just how lucky we were that he’d done what he’d done for us. Inside those boxes were medical supplies, blankets, fresh drinking water, food, and other items that would assist us until the plane’s black box marked our location, and help came for us.
But when I first saw Tank, I could tell by his troubled expression that it was best to tread lightly. In a hushed voice, I told the others that we still had to hold out hope that Cutter was alive. I told them that under no circumstances was this it for him, and that we all needed to believe in his survival in an effort to support Tank regardless of what he said to us.
I watched Lisa move toward him. Wordlessly, their bodies connected as one, their arms went around each other, and they just stood there like that until Lisa placed her hands on either side of Tank’s face and they kissed deeply. When they parted, he took her hand in his, and I saw his thumb press against the engagement ring he’d given to her, and then they started to walk toward us.
“There is every reason to believe that Cutter is alive,” Tank said. “I saw no sign of body parts. The trouble is that the jungle is thick—he could be lying anywhere right now. The good news is that Cutter is a trained SEAL, and he knows how to take care of himself in situations such as this. I have complete faith that he’s alive and that he will find his way back to us. I came back because I need to build us some sort of a shelter before it gets too late.”
“I can help,” Alexa said.
“So can I,” Daniella said.
I gave them both an appreciate look.
Blackwell retrieved a bottle of water from one of the boxes and brought it over to Tank. He hesitated before he took it, but when he did, I knew it was because he was no fool. Without water, all of us would be worthless. And so he thanked her, opened the bottle, and drank deeply from it. The sun had been out in full force for three hours, and to say that it was hot was an understatement. All of us needed to remain hydrated. The problem was that there were only twelve bottles of water to share among us, and one of them was now gone. At some point soon, likely by morning, we’d need to find a fresh water source, provided there was one nearby.
Annihilate Me 2: Omnibus (Complete Vols. 1-3, Annihilate Me 2) Page 23