by Perrin Briar
It was remarkable how fast these vines grew. They challenged even bamboo for speed growth. Many of the vines were wrapped tight around the trees to which they clung. In their desperate attempt to survive, and constricting the tree’s ability to grow and breathe, they were harming their own long-term survival. Much better to keep the host alive, syphoning off its strength for yourself over the entire lifetime of the host. But that was the mistake many organisms made. A successful cancer only served to wipe itself out faster the more successful it became.
Rupert’s clothes rose and fell like the others. Something glinted just above the man’s waistband, something bright and metallic. As fast as it had flashed, it disappeared again. But Bill had seen it, and he knew perfectly well what it was that he had just seen.
The handle of a pistol.
He hadn’t been able to make out the shape of it, and wouldn’t have known what brand of weapon it was even if he had, but he knew a dangerous weapon when he saw one. Bill worked with a distracted expression for the rest of the morning as they toiled under the sun.
There were a series of events taking place here. Something was happening, and it didn’t look to spell anything good. The missing food, the unaccounted pain pills, a pistol…
But it was all conjecture. There was no use in casting aspersions until he was sure what they added up to. Still, he could relate such news to Liz and the boys—excluding Francis, who tended to blurt out anything and everything that was on his mind—so they might come up with a Plan B. What if the men did indeed turn out to be dangerous? What if they really did mean them harm?
The knowledge that someone had been stealing food from their stores was not welcome, and neither was the possession of a dangerous weapon. And then something else occurred to Bill, right at that moment.
That very morning when Bill had appeared for work, Rupert and Manuel had appeared from the thick jungle foliage. They had evidently gone in there in the early hours. Bill had thought nothing of it at the time. If a man wanted to go walking the jungle, so be it. But when added to the other mysteries, they suggested something sinister. Or was his imagination only filling his mind with darkness?
How did it all fit together? He would need to give the pieces to Ernest. He could figure it out. Such was his way. They were a jumbled mish-mash to Bill. If anyone could figure it out, Ernest could. There was little he couldn’t figure out if given the salient information. He would have made a great detective if he was in the old world, or a scientist, or anything else that involved putting evidence together. A researcher, perhaps.
Such thoughts preoccupied Bill until Liz came with their lunch. Rupert appeared to be growing used to the tasteless healthy meals, or he was just getting better at hiding his distaste.
Liz darted wary glances at Bill who, upon Liz’s exit, decided he would face Rupert directly about the gun issue.
“Can I speak with you about something for a second?” Bill said.
It was always better to confront a man after he had a full belly.
“Sure,” Rupert said. “Am I in trouble?”
“Not at all,” Bill said. “I just need to make you aware of some of the rules we have here. If you can pass them on to Manuel, I’d appreciate it.”
“Fire away,” Rupert said.
He’d better begin at a slight angle, Bill decided. No need to confront the man head-on and embarrass him.
“We don’t allow weapons here,” Bill said. “Not while we go about our normal lives, doing ordinary things.”
“Very wise,” Rupert said.
“We keep weapons, but not on our person, and always at a safe distance,” Bill said. “Am I making sense?”
Rupert’s eyes glimmered.
“I think I understand where this is coming from,” he said. “You’re worried about this.”
He reached into his waistband and took out his pistol. Now Bill could see it, he noticed it was a relatively old model.
“I found this while we were at sea,” Rupert said. “It’s old. But it still works. We were doing some reconnaissance, getting information from the local tribespeople and met unexpected resistance. I was hiding under a bush when I found it buried in the dirt. A relic from the Second World War.
“It didn’t fire, of course. Nothing so old could, but it was enough to cave in the skull of a local who attempted to route me from my hiding place. Later, I cleaned it up and fired it. I was surprised it worked!”
“Why didn’t you use it when the tribespeople came for you?” Bill said.
“One bullet against a hundred native warriors?” Rupert said. “I’m not good at math, but even I know those aren’t good odds.”
“Sorry,” Bill said. “It didn’t occur to me that you might be armed.”
“There are plenty of dangers in this jungle,” Rupert said. “You said so yourself.”
“Yes,” Bill said.
He was relieved with the explanation, but he still wasn’t sure about the situation.
Rupert smiled.
“But it still makes you uneasy,” he said. “Having a man you hardly know on an island with your family, and him armed with a gun.”
“A bit,” Bill said.
“I tell you what,” Rupert said.
He reached for the gun, pulled it out, thought for a moment, and then nodded and handed it to Bill.
“You keep hold of it,” he said.
“No, it’s okay,” Bill said.
It was a mild protest. He didn’t want to make Rupert think there was any distrust on his part, but taking the weapon, at least in the short term, was exactly the solution Bill wanted.
“I insist,” Rupert said. “The last thing I want is for there to be any uneasiness between us. You didn’t have to take us in. I know that. Manuel knows too. We really appreciate you taking care of us like this. There’s not a whole lot of folks who would do that. Now, how about you show me how to tie this knot again?”
Bill smiled and tucked the gun into his own waistband. He showed Rupert how to tie the knot. Not once did Rupert glance at the gun in Bill’s possession. Bill had made a new friend.
Bill considered brokering more information and asking about the usage of the drugs too, but he thought what they had covered already was enough for one day. You never wanted to overdo it, to put an unnecessary strain on any relationship. He would bide his time.
But he felt reassured by the fact Rupert had handed over the weapon so easily. It was a good sign, and it gave Bill confidence that whatever was going on wasn’t what he nor Liz thought it was. They needed to relax. Not everyone was evil in the world—look at the Flowers. They still maintained their humanity. Why wasn’t it possible others could have too?
Bill began to whistle as he reached up and tugged on the vines. There was nothing for them to worry about. He was certain of it.
Chapter Sixteen
“I DON’T think Rupert could have taken the food and medicine,” Bill said to Liz as she finished up preparing dinner.
“And why’s that?” Liz said.
“Because I saw he was carrying a gun earlier, and he gave it to me,” Bill said.
“A gun?” Liz said. “Where did he get that?”
“He said he found it,” Bill said.
He shrugged.
“Who cares?” he said. “The point is, he wasn’t about to use it against us. He gave it to me, and I didn’t even have to ask him for it! That’s got to mean something, hasn’t it?”
“Like what?” Liz said.
“Like, we can trust him, for one,” Bill said.
“I don’t know how you draw that conclusion,” Liz said. “I don’t see how this changes anything.”
“Don’t you understand the significance of this?” Bill said. “If someone gives you the weapon they could use to hold you hostage with, what makes you think he would steal a few items from our storage?”
“One does not excuse the other,” Liz said.
Bill gritted his teeth. He was beginning to lose patience.
“If we start blaming everyone who comes to join us, how long do you think they’re going to hang around?” Bill said. “I know I certainly wouldn’t if someone kept pointing the finger at me.”
“I understand you want them to stay,” Liz said. “But it can’t be at the cost of the safety of our family.”
Bill put his hands on his hips, shook his head, and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“Okay,” he said. “Fine. I’ll ask them about the missing items. But I’m telling you, there will be a perfectly reasonable explanation.”
“I hope so,” Liz said. “Really, I do. Don’t you think I want to trust them? I do. But I won’t do it at the expense of our family’s safety.”
Dinner began the same way it always did, with a sigh from Rupert, only today it didn’t have the same edge of disappointment. Maybe he really was getting used to eating rabbit food, Bill thought. The boys joined shortly after. There was one empty seat.
“Where’s Manuel?” Bill said.
“He’s running an errand for me,” Rupert said.
There was an edge of excitement in his voice, one that couldn’t be ignored.
A meaningful look from Liz, darted in Bill’s direction. Bill didn’t look at her. He didn’t need her to cloud his judgement. He focused on the task in hand, but to do it in a soft and gentle way.
“Let’s begin eating, shall we?” he said.
“By all means,” Rupert said.
How was Bill going to broach this subject without insulting Rupert? Bill ran a series of possibilities through his mind, but none of them ended with the conclusion he wanted. He decided he would just be direct. Rupert was in a good mood, and a little insult was unlikely to leave too much of a dent.
“I’m sorry to have to bring this up,” Bill said. “But it’s come to our attention that some of the food we have stored has gone missing. We’ve asked the kids, but none of them admit to taking it.”
“And they shouldn’t,” Rupert said around a leaf of lettuce. “I took it.”
Bill blinked.
“You admit it?” he said.
He hadn’t reckoned on him being so open about it.
“I surely did,” Rupert said.
“You have to know we don’t accept thieving here,” Bill said. “If you want something, you ask for it. You don’t just take it.”
“Understood,” Rupert said. “I thought you were going to throw it out. It did look a little yellow around the gills, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers. In exchange for the yellowing veg, we got something much better in return.”
“What?” Bill said. “I don’t understand.”
“You’re going to force me to reveal my secret,” Rupert said with a smile.
Then he saw something over Bill’s shoulder.
“Ah,” he said. “Here it is now.”
The family turned to see Manuel approaching from the direction of the jungle. Over his shoulder he was carrying a large object, but the weight didn’t seem to bother him at all.
Rupert got to his feet and welcomed Manuel and, more so, the object he was carrying. It was a full-size deer, a stag, with his antlers still in place, large, distinctive and powerful. It was a beautiful animal. It would have been even more beautiful if it was still alive and walking around, Bill thought.
“We wanted more meat,” Rupert said. “We understand you don’t have time to do the hunting, so we did it instead. What do you think?”
“It’s… great,” Bill said, at a loss for words.
In truth, he didn’t like to over hunt the wildlife. If their own food stocks were to run out, they would be forced to survive on the wildlife here, so it was better if they remained as populous as possible. But Rupert wasn’t to know that.
“We tried using the natural undergrowth here as a lure, but as the animals can get that anytime and anywhere, there’s no impetus for them to eat what we put out,” Rupert said. “But a plateful of delicious home-grown vegetation? Just what the doctor ordered.”
Bill gave Liz a smile and a shake of his head. Liz hugged herself. She was still unsure about this.
“What?” Rupert said.
“Nothing,” Bill said. “It’s just, we thought you were openly stealing from us.”
“Technically we did,” Rupert said. “Sorry about that. Thrill of the hunt and all that. I guess we got carried away.”
“It’s no problem,” Bill said. “And yes, cook what you caught by all means. I’m sure the boys would love to have a taste too.”
“I’m sorry, but there is to be no sharing,” Rupert said. “We did all the hard work, so we should eat it all.”
He had a completely straight face until he saw Bill’s expression. He broke into a grin. Bill shook his head.
“That’s a good one,” he said.
“We English do have a sense of humor… sometimes,” Rupert said. “Now, how about we get this fine specimen over the fire?”
“What about the medicine?” Liz said.
“Medicine?” Rupert said.
“That we give to Jim,” Liz said. “Bill said it’s going at a faster rate than we thought. How do you explain that?”
“I don’t know…” Rupert said. “Are you sure you measured the medicine correctly?”
“Yes,” Liz said, cutting over Bill’s response. “He’s as fastidious with keeping track of our medicine supplies as I am about keeping track of our food stock. It is missing. Where is it?”
“I’m sure I don’t know,” Rupert said, frowning with thought. “I always make up the medicine in the quantities you gave us.”
“Then I suppose it must have just vanished into thin air,” Liz said.
She was entering her unreasonable phase, Bill thought. He could tell by the way she leaned forward, confrontational.
“When we give medicine, we give ten milligrams of it, right?” Rupert said.
“No,” Bill said. “Five.”
Rupert frowned.
“I thought you said ten?” he said.
“No,” Bill said. “Ten in total, including the other ingredients. Just five of the painkiller.”
“That’ll be it, then,” Rupert said. “I’m sorry I must have misheard or otherwise misunderstood. Apologies.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” Bill said. “Apologize to Jim. He might have been put in a permanent coma with that dosage.”
“Still, I’m sorry,” Rupert said. “This is the first time I’ve ever given someone medicine before.”
“It’ll be the last time too, if Jim died,” Liz said.
“Are we good here now?” Rupert said, darting a look between Bill and Liz.
Liz opened her mouth to speak, but Bill beat her to the punch.
“Yes,” Bill said. “We’re good.”
Liz gave him a glare he wouldn’t soon forget.
“Are you sure?” Rupert said. “I wouldn’t want to cause any problems.”
“Yes,” Bill said. “We’re fine.”
Liz folded her arms and tapped her foot. Bill didn’t need to know Morse Code to know it foretold the anger he was soon going to be facing.
The deer meat looked good as Manuel stripped the skin and fur from the stag, strung it upside down and sliced it open down the middle so its contents spilled over the ground. Bill had just lost his appetite.
“Well, now seems as good a time as any,” Fritz said, raising his voice over the sound of fat dripping into the fire and the soft murmur of the others talking in polite conversation. “Mom, Pop, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk with you about.”
That got the parents’ attention. It was said in a tone of voice no parent liked to hear. It was serious and not playful as was Fritz’s custom. He had a look on his face like he was about to bestow a great secret, one he could not keep any longer. Bill saw Liz gulp. It had gotten the attention of the other boys too.
“What is it, Fritz?” Liz said.
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about ever since R
upert told us about the communities popping up all over the mainland,” Fritz said. “It means there’s a lot more out people there than we thought. We’re not the only ones here. And some of the other places are bigger than here. I want to go help them.”
Liz frowned.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t understand.”
Fritz took a moment to gather himself.
“I’m going to leave,” he said.
“Leave?” Bill said. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, go away from this place,” Fritz said.
“I don’t understand either,” Bill said.
“I mean, I’m not going to be living here anymore,” Fritz said. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I think it’s the best thing to do. I need to mix with more people like me, young people. It’s a new world out there. We all have to adapt with it and strike out if we want to do something important.”
“Yes, I know,” Liz said, “but it’s still really dangerous out there.”
“It’s dangerous here too,” Fritz said. “I can’t stay here forever.”
“Give it some time,” Liz said. “There’s no need to make rash decisions like this now, is there?”
“It’s not rash,” Fritz said. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”
“But we haven’t even discussed this before,” Liz said.
“We don’t need to discuss it,” Fritz said. “It’s my decision.”
“It might be,” Bill said. “But it will affect us all. You must see how worried we will be about you, out there on your own.”
“I won’t be alone,” Fritz said.
Bill and Liz’s eyes flicked to Ernest, who held up his hands.
“I’m not going!” Ernest said. “This is the first I’ve heard this too.”
“Then who are you going with?” Bill said to Fritz.
“Beast, of course,” Fritz said.
Of course. He would never go anywhere without his beloved bird of prey. At least he would always have something to eat, Liz thought. She wouldn’t have to worry about him going hungry.
“This has come as quite a shock,” Liz said.
“I know,” Fritz said. “But I’ve made my mind up. You and Dad have each other. I don’t have anyone, unless you count Ernest and Jack. And if I have to be with them any longer than I have to be, I’m going to kill myself.”