Going over Josh’s words in her mind, she began to feel more and more ill at ease. They needed to get the hell out of here. He had said the group that did this was made up of at least five men, and it was not beyond probability that they would return.
She motioned to Deedee and Jamie to keep watch, then crouched back down next to Josh. The spasms seemed to have stopped, but he remained curled up. He was nearly a man and yet to her he seemed still a little boy. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what he had gone through. And her skin crawled with horror at the thought that if it hadn’t been for Rebecca, they would have walked on and he would still be tied to the car. The vultures waiting until it was their time to feast.
After a long moment, he painfully pulled himself back into a sitting position by which point as scared as she was for the boy, she was ready to scream with frustration and fear. They needed to get moving.
‘Do you think you can walk?’ she asked trying to keep her voice composed, ‘because we can’t stay here any longer than absolutely necessary, it is too…,’ she stopped, she had been going to say too dangerous, but that would have been stating the bloody obvious.
‘I think so, but they took my shoes.’
Georgia dug down through her pack. I don’t have any spare shoes at all, but if you wear several pairs of socks, stuffed with grass between them, that might help.’
‘I’ll do that,’ Rebecca said, grabbing the socks out of Georgia’s hand and hurrying over to the verge. She obviously wanted to get moving as well.
As soon as Georgia had tugged the socks up over his ankles, they helped him to his feet, wrapped the blanket around him rather like a toga and then guided him over the barrier and into the relative safety of the trees. They made hellishly slow progress as he could barely walk; Jamie and Rebecca doing their best to support him. They paused frequently, allowing him to catch his breath, and take a few more sips of water.
After an hour, Georgia called a stop. Josh wanted to carry on, not seeming to care where they were going. He seemed desperate to put as much distance between himself and the car as possible, but for all his bravado he was very weak, and clearly in terrible pain. Georgia was afraid that he would collapse and die if he overdid it. In spite of his reassurances that he did not have a headache, she was still afraid that he could have sunstroke.
As for distancing himself from the freeway and the car and the yellow ropes, Georgia knew he never would, at least not in his mind. They would always be present in the back of his thoughts.
Despite his protests, Georgia was firm. ‘No, we need to stop, you need to rest a bit and you can’t keep on with that blanket, you keep tripping over it for starters.’ She made him sit down and handed him the bottle with the grape juice. ‘This might be better for you, it’s really sweet and I think the sugar will help. Just sip it slowly.’
She searched through her pack again, wishing she had antibiotic cream and Solar-Caine spray or even Calamine lotion to treat his wounds and sunburn. But the calamine was long gone, and the Solar-Caine spray and antibiotic cream an inconceivable luxury. All she had, was the little tube of salve that had originally come with the First aid kit. But it was better than nothing.
‘Sorry, this is going to hurt,’ she said as she began to gently apply the ointment to his skin.
He stoically remained silent during the whole ordeal and once that was done, she carefully examined his wrists. The skin was badly bruised and abraded, and covered in dried blood where he had struggled in vain to free himself; the impression of the ropes looking like deep gashes.
‘I don’t dare clean this up,’ she said, indicating his wrists. ‘I don’t want to introduce an infection, but once we get back to the house, I can make up some sterile saline solution. Best I can do.’
She began putting everything away in her pack, then stopped, ‘oh, I forgot these were even in here, they might fit you.’ She held up her now faded, pink pajama bottoms, the ones that had become too loose for her. She never had gotten round to tightening the elastic.
‘Sorry about the color,’ she said, as she handed them to him, ‘but I think the fabric will at least be gentle against your skin.’
‘No problem,’ he gave a cracked laugh, ‘it kind of matches the flowers on my top.’ Thank God he has a sense of humor. He might actually get past what had been done to him. He was speaking a little easier now, but his voice was really hoarse, like someone recovering from a really wicked case of laryngitis.
‘Well, it’s not my top,’ he added, emphasizing the ‘my’. A couple of weeks wearing the same t-shirt kind of made me need to change clothes. My jeans were okay, but anyway this was the only thing I found that fit me.’
Georgia smiled. ‘Believe me, we totally understand, especially Deedee,’ she said, nodding in Deedee’s direction. ‘She has been living in boy’s clothes pretty much since we left home.’
He turned slowly to look at Deedee, wincing as he moved, taking in her appearance, the feathers, and the bow; the traces of ‘war paint’ still on her cheeks. ‘So you like to play Indians,’ he said, ‘pretty cool huh.’
Deedee gave him such a look that Georgia just knew she wanted to shoot him then and there, and be done with it.
Actually, they are not playing,’ Georgia said. ‘Believe me, both of them, Jamie as well, they know how to use those bows and they are deadly accurate.’
‘Oh.’ the youth said, looking suddenly ill at ease. Deedee continued to glare at him, and Georgia hastily introduced Rebecca, in an effort to break the tension that was suddenly building up around them.
‘This is Rebecca, you owe your life to her.’
‘I thank you for that,’ he said, holding out his hand. Rebecca gave him a shy smile and tentatively shook his hand.
‘My name is Joshua,’ he said. ‘Reckon I already told you that, but my full name is Joshua Hennessey, from Springfield. But everyone calls…,’ he paused, a catch in his throat, ‘yeah well everyone used to call me Josh, not so much now though.’
Then, still holding onto Rebecca’s hand he looked over at Georgia. ‘And you are?’
‘I am Georgia,’ she said simply.
‘So, you must be their mum?’
‘Yeah,’ Deedee said, before Georgia could answer, and Lola is our auntie, and Ruby is our granny.’
‘Oh,’ Josh said, looking around, as though expecting to see them appear through the trees.
‘Yes,’ Georgia said ‘they’re back at the house.’
‘So you live near here?’
‘No, not exactly, I’ll explain later, right now I need to finish tending to the rest of your sunburn, the back of your legs and your, your…,’
She bit her lip, his bottom was badly blistered, and he needed salve there as well, but she didn’t quite know how to put it, certainly not in front of the kids.
‘Oh,’ he said again, ‘Um, sure, but first do you have any spare water, so I can, you know, wash?’ he flushed deeply as he spoke.
‘No, we don’t have a lot left, and we still have a ways to go, but I think we have something else that will work.’ She stepped over to Ants pink bag as she spoke and lifted out the bottle of champagne. Sorry Lola, but I think his need is greater.
‘Rebecca, can you grab me the towel?’ And stop holding onto Josh’s hand like some sort of…,’ she didn’t finish the thought. Instead deftly cutting round the top of the champagne cork, she pulled away the metal revealing the cork, letting it slide out under the pressure, keeping her thumbs over it to prevent it making too much noise.
‘You want me to use this,’ he said, looking very uncertain, as she handed him the bottle.
‘Yeah, I am sure it will work fine. I had a meal at restaurant once in Holland, specializing in eels and after the meal, they brought round bowls of schnapps for us to rinse our hands in. I can’t imagine this would be that different.’ Then as an afterthought she added, ‘it might sting though.’
‘Just wanted to make sure I understood you right,’ he said, ‘Mum alwa
ys says…,’ he suddenly stopped and his face became contorted, as though struggling to compose himself. He didn’t finish what he was going to say and the silence began to feel awkward, as they all stood looking at him waiting for him to finish. When he still didn’t speak, Georgia reached for the blanket.
‘I’ll hold up this up to give you some privacy if you like.’
‘That would be great,’ he said.
‘I don’t see why,’ Deedee remarked, ‘it’s not like we haven’t all seen his Mr Wiggley.’
‘Deedee!’ Georgia exclaimed, mortified.
‘It’s okay,’ Josh said. ‘I reckon she’s right.’
‘Even so, I will hold the blanket up for you,’ she said, giving Deedee a look that clearly said that she would be having words with her later. Once Josh had cleaned up, she offered to apply the last of the salve.
‘If you wouldn’t mind.’ He had managed to clean most of the blood from his face, but his hair was still stiff with blood, a long watery red streak trickled slowly down his temple. Georgia took the towel from him and wiped that away, then told him to turn round.
His bottom had really blistered and was seeping clear fluid in places. She knew that it was probably best left uncovered, but she also knew that if he didn’t wear something he would be scratched to ribbons by the time they reached Stolen Canoe Point. If the pajama fabric stuck, they would have to deal with that later.
‘We can’t keep him,’ she thought, half an hour later, as they picked their way across the open field and past the Spyder. Josh was half supported by Rebecca who was talking nonstop to him.
Look at me, talking about him as though he were a stray puppy. They could barely feed themselves, how on earth would they manage to feed a ‘teenage almost man’ as well. They eat as much as four normal people. She smiled to herself, thinking of her brother, how mad her parents had been. They had gone away for the weekend, leaving him in charge of the house, and he had somehow managed to consume an entire two weeks of groceries in two days.
‘But I was hungry,’ he had said by way of explanation.
This youth would be capable of eating all their rations in one sitting by the look of him. Then there was the problem of what Lola and Ruby would have to say. Introducing another person to the group was going to throw the dynamics out all over again.
Jamie was already giving him deadly looks because he had his arm over his sister’s shoulder. It didn’t seem to matter that he could barely walk in a straight line. Rebecca was clearly smitten, and that in itself could be a problem, and Deedee made it clear that she still hadn’t forgiven him for his ‘playing’ comment.
But as Georgia looked at Josh she knew she would not be able to send him away. He was clearly alone in the world, and judging from his near skeletal body, he obviously was not coping.
At around five thirty they stopped again, though by now they were barely making any progress, Josh was staggering and sweating profusely. Which had to be a really bad thing. He felt cold to the touch and when Georgia checked his pulse, it was all over the place. As she helped him to the ground, she looked over at the others. ‘I think we are going to have to carry him.’
‘Nah,’ Josh said, ‘I can do it.’ But his protest was weak, and just by looking at him it was obvious he was not going any further on his own.
‘How?’ Rebecca asked.
We could do a fireman’s lift, or…,’ Georgia began when Jamie interrupted her, ‘we can make a stretcher, we have the blanket, and…,
‘I don’t know, Georgia began, we would need to…,’
‘No, seriously,’ Jamie continued, determined to be heard, ‘I know how, Grandpa showed me, it’s real easy, we just need two long poles.’
The mention of that bastard had the hairs at the back of Georgia’s neck standing up, what would he know? But then she recalled that he had been a survivalist, and realized that chances were, he did know.
‘Okay, show me.’
Jamie fetched the blanket and lay it out on the ground. Okay, imagine we have two poles, you place one a third of the way from the right edge, like here, and then fold the right flap over it like this, then you take the other pole and lay it here, one third from the left edge, so it’s on top of both layers, and lastly you fold the left flap over the top of the pole.’
‘It looks simple enough,’ Georgia thought, then asked, ‘but won’t the blanket come loose?’
‘Nope, the weight of the person being carried, keeps it in place.’
Three quarters of an hour later and two downed saplings, Georgia discovered that the stretcher really did hold together. Ignoring Josh’s protests they lay him on it, and with Jamie and Rebecca in front, Georgia took up the rear. Deedee was put in charge of Ant, now back in her bag while the other two dogs did their best to trip them up, zigzagging under the stretcher at every opportunity.
She was half tempted to lay the shotgun on the stretcher with Josh, but then decided against it. He might be injured and weak and all that, but he was in essence a stranger, and therefore not entirely to be trusted, so she kept it slung over her shoulder.
Even though he was painfully thin, it was heavy work, and their hands were chaffed and blistered, their shoulders aching by the time the sun began lowering in the sky, but no one complained. Every so often Josh would mumble something about it was wrong that they had to carry him, but mostly he slept.
As the colors faded from the day, Georgia began to feel a sense of panic. For all the worrying that morning, about how they might get Ruby up the hill, she now had to come up with a plan to get Josh down the hill.
Once the blackness of night fell, they were forced to make their way up to a road. The moon had not yet risen, and they could barely make out the pale ribbon of the asphalt but it was better than being lost in the absolute darkness amongst the trees. They moved silent as spirits past the occasional house. Only one appeared to be occupied judging by the pale blue glow emitting from a side window. A gas lantern, she decided. How wonderful it would be to have one of those!
By the time they reached the hill top looking down over Stolen Canoe Point, the moon had risen, its reflection rippling across the surface of the black stretch of river far below. Silently they lay the stretcher down, sinking to the ground, exhausted. They drank the last of the water, and then helped Josh sit up, giving him the last of the grape juice.
His pulse was a lot steadier, if still a little fast. ‘I can manage from here,’ he said. Georgia was not so sure, but as loathe as she was to risk going down that hill in the dark, she could not shake the thought of Lola and Ruby alone in the house; alone and unarmed. They had not anticipated taking so long to come back and she could only imagine what the two must be thinking. Well probably only Lola, Ruby no doubt had not even realized they were gone. And as for Josh, aside from his injuries, he needed to eat, because from what she could tell he had not eaten for at least twenty four hours, and he needed more fluids.
They had run out of water, and back at the house she would be able to make up a batch of basic electrolytes, from salt and sugar and boiled water. There was nothing for it really but to attempt the descent, and trust the moonlight would be sufficient illumination to find their way safely down.
‘It’s going to be a bit rough on the way down, Josh,’ she said in a low voice. It is really steep in places and there is a huge patch of blackberry bushes somewhere below us, but if we go slowly, I think we can do it.’
‘You know what,’ he said. ‘If it means I can lie down afterwards in one of those beds Rebecca told me about then I am ready to crawl over broken glass.’
She dismantled the stretcher, then folding the blanket in half, wrapped it tightly round him. ‘You are going to need this to protect your sunburn on the way down.’
They managed to get back down to level ground without major incident, though there had been a couple of close calls when Josh nearly lost his footing. The second time this happened, Georgia set herself slightly below him, guiding his feet with her hands du
ring the steepest parts, shaking with exertion as she held on to nearby shrubs with one hand.
Everyone remained absolutely silent during the descent and the only sound came from Millie, who yelped loud enough to wake the dead when Deedee stepped on her paw. Naturally, Ant slept comfortably through it all, curled up on her pink cushion at the bottom of her bag. Once they had reached level ground they stopped once more.
‘Everyone okay?’ Georgia whispered.
Aside from innumerable scratches, grazed knees, and raw palms, everyone seemed to be doing just great.
Even Josh rasped that he was, ‘A Okay,’ which they all promptly told him was a lie, because there was no way, with his sunburn as horrific as it was that he could be.
They cautiously approached the house, which disturbingly was in total darkness. ‘Do you think they are still here?’ Rebecca asked, ‘I can’t see any candle light or anything.’
Georgia had been wondering the same thing. ‘I don’t know, but I guess we will soon find out.’ Unceremoniously, she unslung her shotgun and walked over to the kitchen window and knocked on the pane of glass.
There was a hair raising scream from within, then silence.
‘Yeah Lola is still here,’ Jamie said, as Georgia called out,
‘It’s Okay, Lola it is only us.’
There was silence, then suddenly a querulous voice, muffled by the glass said. ‘Is that you Georgia?’
‘Yes, it is, let us in.’
‘Oh Heavens to Betsy, thank goodness. You’ve no idea…, I…,’ the rest of her words faded away.
Georgia stood there for a moment, then realized that Lola had obviously moved out of the kitchen and was heading to the front door.
As they reached the steps, the door was flung open and Lola came flying out. ‘Oh Georgia, thank goodness you are back. I’ve been beside myself with worry, I’ve got a….’
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