Survival

by Chris Ryan

  Li glanced at Amber in surprise. She did look exhausted. Her face was covered in a sheen of sweat and the skin around her mouth had an unhealthy grey tinge to it. 'Come on,' said Li, softly. 'We're nearly through it, see?' She pointed to the green dome of the rainforest, rising above the swamp. 'We can pick up the game trail again just over there—'

  Li stopped in mid-sentence as a series of hisses and deep, grunting roars came out of the rainforest and travelled clearly across the still waters of the swamp. An explosion of brightly coloured birds shot out of the top of the rainforest canopy and the undergrowth shook as something big thrashed and crashed about amongst the trees.

  'What is that?' whispered Amber.

  'I'm not sure,' said Li, gazing at the fringes of the rainforest. 'But I have a feeling it wasn't such a mistake coming back through the swamp after all.'

  'Why?'

  'Because if we'd gone around the edge of it again, we would've met – whatever that is.'

  Amber stared over at the threshing undergrowth and listened to the hissing roars. 'Trouble is, we have to go back into the forest at some time,' she said, in a wobbly voice. 'It's the only way back to the beach.'

  ELEVEN

  'Alex. It is time to head back.'

  Reluctantly, Alex came to a stop in the middle of the game trail.

  'We have walked for ten minutes,' said Paulo, tapping his watch. 'We must be back on the beach at the rendezvous time,'

  Alex nodded but stayed where he was. He did not want to retrace his steps when a stream of fresh, gurgling water could be waiting for them just around the next bend. He put a hand to his aching head, trying to decide whether to keep walking for another five minutes.

  Paulo waited patiently for Alex to make up his mind, letting the peace of the primary rainforest settle around him. The trees were massive here, with huge trunks supporting a high, green canopy of leaves so dense that the sun could not break through. Under the canopy, it was cool and dim, and there was a constant background noise made up of the singing of crickets and birds, the rustle of leaves and the tiny scrabblings of millions of insects. Paulo tilted his head, listening. The forest sounded busy, purposeful. He smiled. It reminded him of the hum of a huge piece of machinery, and he liked machines. Suddenly, his head came up and his eyes widened as he realized he was hearing a new noise.

  'Listen,' he hissed.

  Alex tensed and raised his stick, then he saw the look of sheer delight on Paulo's face.

  'I hear water,' said Paulo.

  They ran, dodging low branches and swinging vines. The trail was climbing steeply now and the light grew stronger as the canopy thinned above them. They burst out of the forest into a clearing at the base of a rock outcrop on the lower slopes of the mountain. Alex and Paulo stumbled to a halt and stared. Directly ahead of them, water poured from a hole in the face of the rock, cascading down to a shallow pool which had been hollowed out of the ground beneath.

  Alex unclipped the pouch from his belt and dropped it next to their sticks and the rucksack, then they both ran into the pool, fully dressed and still in their boots. The water was cold, clear and refreshing after its journey down through the centre of the mountain.

  'Don't drink any,' warned Alex, as Paulo plunged straight under the waterfall. He stood there, whooping and yelling as the water washed away the sticky layers of salt, sweat and blood. Alex stayed in the quieter waters, grinning with relief because they had finally found their fresh water supply. He studied the area, looking for signs that the water was good. There were plants and vines hanging from the outcrop around the waterfall and the rocks were covered with bright green mosses. The vegetation around the pool was cropped short and there were many hoofprints in the wet clay edging the water.

  Alex nodded in satisfaction. If animals were using it and plants grew beside it, the signs were good. He relaxed a little, easing into the water until he was floating on his back. He looked up at the face of the outcrop, noting that there were other openings in the rock, including a cave entrance at ground level on the far edge of the pool.

  Alex frowned and sat up, clearing the water from his face. There was something lying in front of the cave. He stood up to get a better look but still could not make out what the thing was. Alex waded over to the edge of the pool and then stumbled to a halt a few metres from the dark cave opening as all the pieces of the jigsaw slotted into place. His eyes widened with horror as, finally, he understood what he was seeing.

  It looked like a gruesome piece of modern art. Splashes of red stained the ground, darkening to black where blood had collected in the rock hollows. Ants scurried everywhere. A sour green pool of bile leaked from a shredded piece of liver and matted scraps of brown pelt were scattered around like confetti. A nub of blue-white bone poked from one tiny cloven hoof, which stood neatly in the middle of the carnage, as black and shiny as a child's patent-leather shoe.

  'What is that?' breathed Paulo.

  'That is what screamed,' said Alex. 'A small deer, I think. Hard to tell.'

  'But, there is so little left! What could have eaten a whole deer so quickly?'

  Alex peered warily into the dark cave mouth, then scanned the forest around the pool. 'I don't know.'

  Paulo backed away from the cave. 'I think it is time to leave,' he said.

  'We will,' said Alex. 'As soon as we've collected some water.'

  They waded back into the pool with the condom from Alex's survival tin and held it under the waterfall until it was filled to capacity. Alex tied the top in a knot, his fingers fumbling on the wet latex, then they eased it into the empty rucksack, sending wary glances at the cave and the forest. As soon as the rucksack straps were secured, they plunged back into the forest again, moving fast and silently along the game trail, checking every shadow and wondering whether they would make it back to the beach.

  TWELVE

  Hex was a natural loner.

  Normally, he liked nothing better than being on his own. Three hours earlier, when the other four had left him on the beach, he had been glad to see them go. Now, he was uneasy. For the past thirty minutes, he had been unable to shake off the growing feeling that something was watching him.

  Stalking him.

  Hex shrugged and made himself turn away from the rainforest to scan the sea for any sign of rescuers. Immediately, the skin between his shoulder blades prickled and the muscles of his back tightened in protest. With a curse, he swung round again, checking the beach. There was nothing there. A branch cracked in the dark forest beyond the beach and he jumped. 'Hello?' he called. 'Alex? Li?'

  The only reply was from a startled bird. Hex stared into the bushes, wondering whether he ought to go and investigate. The skin prickled on the back of his neck and he decided he did not want to go any closer.

  Earlier in the morning he had been happy to work steadily along the fringe of the rainforest for over an hour, collecting more wood for the signal fire and building a second pile nearby for their campfire. Then, after a short break and a few sips of water from his lemonade can, he had picked up the broken paddle end of the oar and gone hunting for sand crabs.

  He knew where to find them. He had spotted them earlier, at dawn, scurrying out of the water and up the sloping sand to their burrows at the top of the beach. Back then there had been other priorities, such as salvaging what could be dragged from the surf, but he had memorized the position of their burrows for later.

  Now, Hex looked over at the locker doors in the stern section of the boat and smiled. There were four big sand crabs skittering about inside those lockers, the result of twenty minutes of hard digging with the paddle. His smile broadened as he imagined the faces of the others when he showed them his catch, then faded again as he looked at his watch.

  The three hours were up.

  Where were they?

  Suddenly, Alex and Paulo burst from the undergrowth to his right and ran full-pelt along the beach towards him. Hex hurried to meet them.

  'I think there's somethi
ng in there!' he shouted, pointing to the rainforest.

  'We know,' panted Alex, coming to a halt and easing the heavy rucksack from his shoulder. 'We nearly met it.'

  'Where are the girls?' asked Paulo.

  'They're not back yet,' said Hex.

  Paulo's face tightened with worry. 'I knew I should have gone with them,' he said.

  Just then, a faint yell came from the western end of the beach. The boys turned to see Li and Amber running across the soft sand towards them. Their fear was obvious, even though they were still some distance away. They kept looking over their shoulders as though they were being chased, but there was nothing behind them.

  'Thank God,' said Paulo. 'They are safe.'

  They met at the signal fire. Amber's face was grey with fear and exhaustion. She collapsed onto the sand, too out of breath to speak. Li bent and rested her hands on her knees. 'There's . . . something . . .' she began.

  'In the rainforest,' finished Paulo. 'We know.'

  Half an hour later, they were all a lot calmer. The campfire was lit, the boiled water was cooling and the sand crabs were nearly ready.

  'So,' said Li, settling back with her second lemonade can full of water, 'we know there are at least three of them.'

  'Yeah, but three what?' asked Amber.

  'Monkeys?' guessed Paulo.

  'Monkeys wouldn't kill a deer, would they?' said Alex, leaning forward to poke a stray stick back into the fire.

  'The creatures we heard, they sounded big. Like – like tigers, or something,' said Amber, looking over her shoulder towards the headland.

  'Yeah, right. Tigers,' mocked Hex, forgetting how spooked he had been on his own, now that everyone was back at the beach. 'Or maybe a Tyrannosaurus Rex?'

  'Well, excuse me!' flared Amber. 'Brave words from a guy who was scared of a few bushes!'

  Hex glowered at Amber, but she ignored him. She was too busy watching Paulo as he prepared the cooked crabs, breaking open the shells with a stone and scraping the meat out.

  'Aren't you done yet?' she demanded. 'I need to eat now.'

  Paulo frowned and looked up at Amber. He was about to invite her to take over, but relented when he saw her grey, sweaty face. She did not look at all good. 'Nearly there,' he said instead as he mixed the crab meat with the remains of the cooked rice to make it go further. 'Just waiting for the yams to finish cooking.'

  Li was still deep in thought. 'It can't be tigers,' she said, taking Amber's suggestion seriously. 'Not on an island this small. I don't think it could sustain them. It could be wild pigs, though. They can be pretty fearsome.'

  'Well, whatever they are,' said Alex, shifting the storage tin away from the fire and flipping the lid open, 'they could do us some serious damage. So we need to take some safety precautions.'

  He used his knife to hook the peeled yams from the boiling water and laid them out on a large stone. 'One. Nobody goes into the forest alone. Two, we dig a proper latrine a good way from the camp. And three, we set watches through the night.'

  Alex looked over at Amber to see whether she would argue with that, but she was too busy rummaging through her belt pouch. He looked at the other three and they all nodded in agreement. Satisfied, Alex mashed the yams with a smaller stone, then began serving them out onto the five banana-leaf plates, next to Paulo's crab and rice mixture.

  'It looks good!' said Li.

  'Don't sound so surprised,' grinned Alex. 'Let's eat.'

  'It looks like Amber's already started,' grated Hex, with a voice as hard as stone.

  'What?' mumbled Amber, giving Hex a startled glance.

  'She just took something out of her belt pouch and stuffed it in her mouth.'

  'I did not!' protested Amber.

  Hex did not bother to reply. Instead, he grabbed Amber's wrist and squeezed until she whimpered with pain and let her hand fall open. Half a tube of glucose energy sweets fell from her fingers onto the sand. There was a silence as they all stared at the sweets then looked up at Amber.

  'How could you?' asked Li, quietly. 'How could you keep those to yourself?'

  'You don't get it,' whispered Amber, her eyes big with tears.

  'What else is in there?' said Hex, pointing to Amber's belt pouch.

  'Nothing. No more food. Just girl stuff,' said Amber, putting a protective hand over the pouch.

  Hex lunged for the pouch and yanked hard, trying to pull it away from the belt.

  'Wait! Wait!' shrieked Amber. 'You might break them!'

  'Show us, then,' said Hex. He stood over Amber, his fists clenched and his face full of anger. She hesitated, looking to the others for help.

  'We're waiting,' said Alex, icily.

  Slowly, Amber pulled out the remaining contents of the pouch. There was a little metal box with a digital display on the front, a handful of foil-wrapped antiseptic wipes, a clear plastic tube containing a bunch of thin plastic strips and three brightly coloured, chunky plastic pens. Li, Paulo and Hex stared down at the little collection of items with puzzled looks on their faces.

  'See?' said Amber. 'No more food.'

  She began to shovel everything back into her pouch but Alex gently laid his hand over hers and she stopped. 'Why didn't you tell us?' he asked.

  'Tell us what?' demanded Li. 'That she has a thing about chunky pens?'

  Alex waited for Amber to say something but she stayed silent with her head down. 'They aren't pens,' he sighed, after a few seconds. 'At least, not the sort you mean. Those two are insulin pens, and the third one is part of a blood sugar testing kit, along with that little box and the plastic strips.'

  'Insulin pens?' said Li.

  'For injecting insulin,' explained Alex. 'Amber is a diabetic'

  There was a shocked silence as they took in this new information. Amber finished repacking her belt pouch, then looked at the others defiantly, blinking the tears from her eyes.

  'But that is nothing to be ashamed of,' said Paulo.

  'I'm not ashamed!' said Amber. 'I was hiding it because I didn't want anyone treating me differently, like I was an invalid or something. I'm not. I was doing fine on the Phoenix, but since we've been on the island I've been struggling a bit.'

  'Are you running short of insulin?' asked Li.

  'Oh no, it's not the insulin. These two pens hold enough insulin to last me another month. The problem is, if I miss meals, or use more energy than usual, I can end up having a hypo. Because of low blood sugar, see? I get all sweaty and tired and irritable to start with. Then, if my blood sugar keeps going down, I pass out and – well – worst case scenario? I don't live to tell the tale.'

  The other four looked at one another, feeling vaguely ashamed of themselves.

  'Sorry,' said Paulo.

  'What for?' asked Amber.

  'All that snappy behaviour – and demanding to be fed,' said Li. 'We thought you were just—'

  'Spoilt? Selfish?' Amber grinned. 'I am! I'm a spoilt, selfish diabetic! Now gimme some food!'

  Alex, Li and Paulo burst out laughing. Hex did not join in. Instead, he got to his feet and handed one of the banana-leaf plates to Amber. Then he picked up his own food and scraped half of it onto Amber's plate. Startled, she looked up into his face. Hex met her eyes, nodded once, then sat back down, scowling fiercely. Amber swallowed, but the lump in her throat would not go away.

  'Don't worry, Amber,' said Li. 'We'll be rescued within a month, you'll see.'

  'Yeah, course we will,' said Amber, through a mouthful of crab.

  And there's plenty of food here,' said Alex. 'You'll be fine. We'll make sure of it.'

  'I know,' nodded Amber, but her gaze was turned towards the empty sea.

  'Good,' said Alex, into the awkward silence. 'As long as you know. Eat up, everyone – and don't hang about. This afternoon we're going to build ourselves a camp.'

  THIRTEEN

  Amber sat in state under a temporary shelter of banana leaves, eating wild figs while the camp slowly grew around her. It was good to rest with a
belly full of food. The grey tinge was leaving her skin and she was feeling better by the minute. Even though she was sitting still, she had plenty to do. She was keeping the fire going, gradually feeding two long logs into the centre of the flames a section at a time, and she was boiling the remains of the fresh water to make sure it was sterile. The storage tin was suspended over the flames, hanging from a stick which rested in the clefts of two upright sticks, one on each side of the fire. Her hands were busy weaving strips of palm fronds into five flower-pot style sun-hats and her eyes were busy scanning sea and sky for a glimpse of a ship or a plane.

  Under Alex's instruction, the others had nearly finished constructing A-frame beds, which were raised above the ground to keep them clear of sandflies, centipedes and scorpions. First they had made the head and foot of the beds by driving two pairs of bamboo posts into the sand at an angle and lashing the tops together with split vines. The beds themselves were two long bamboo poles with a mattress of cross-woven vines holding the poles together. Once the beds were finished it was a simple matter to slide the ends of the long poles down the outside of the two A-frames until the vine mattress was pulled taut, leaving the bed suspended well above the ground.

  'How are those coconut drinks coming along, Hex?' called Alex, as he and Paulo slotted the last bed into place on its A-frame. 'We're about ready for a break.'

  Hex had been using a sharpened bamboo stake to break open the husks of five coconuts. Then he had wedged each coconut into the sand and hammered a sharp stone into one of the black eyes until it pierced through to the sweet milk inside.

  'All done,' said Hex, handing round the coconuts.

  They sat down, tipped up the coconuts and let the milk pour into their mouths.

  'Good,' said Li, briefly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand before tipping up the nut again for another swig.

  'Take your time,' warned Alex. 'Too much too fast and you might be sick.' He laid his coconut aside and checked the wooden handles on the flexible saw. They were holding up well so he put that back into his belt pouch and took out his knife. It was a good, strong, single-bladed knife with a wooden handle and it had been invaluable throughout the afternoon's work. Alex inspected the blade, then took out his piece of sandstone and began to sharpen the knife.