by Emily Asad
Chapter 15: Eternity
I didn’t bother to dock the boat; I just rowed straight to Tony. My first step on shore nearly defeated me, re-introducing my poor ankle to weight and contact. The adrenaline rush was wearing off, fast, and it was hard to pretend that it didn’t hurt anymore.
I hopped over to Tony, who lay curled up like an infant. My shadow beat me to him by several feet, falling on his face. I stood there, afraid of what I might find. Disgusted by his hand, which seemed to have hot-dogs for fingers and nasty yellow and red blisters working their way up to his elbow, I tapped him on the shoulder. “Tony?”
His eyelids fluttered open. “You came back.”
“Was I supposed to build a summer cabin there?” I stepped around the puddle of vomit to his other side, where I found a pile of pebbles with a long straight stick poking up into the air. “What’s this?”
“Sundial,” he croaked. “That shadow’s moved a lot since the fire started. Maybe an hour. I thought you drowned.”
I knelt beside him. “I thought you’d be dead by now.”
“Still fighting.”
“Me, too.” I realized how thirsty I was. All this time, I’d been at the lake, and I hadn’t even had a mouthful of water. Then I realized neither had he. “Want some water?”
He nodded.
As I shoved the canteen under the soft waves, air gurgling out its neck, I wondered if something to drink would be good or bad for him. Three sips made him heave. I wiped his face clean with a corner of my cloak, feeling rather nauseous myself. I hate the smell of vomit, and when people do it around me, I feel like puking myself.
“You feeling any better now?” I asked.
“Dizzy... my mouth tingles... my insides feel like they’re dissolving...”
Sobs caught in my throat. It was one thing to manage my own pain, but to watch another human being suffer made me despair. I knew my tears would make Tony feel even worse. “Look at that smoke, Tony,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “It’s the bonfire of the century. Surely someone will be here soon...”
His face squished up in pain, and he groaned.
“I... I... need to use the bathroom,” I gasped, then hopped away. I found a nice, low pine tree, but it was a lie. I just needed to get away from death.
What was I doing, hiding? He’d been so strong for me, and here I was, hiding like a coward. I’d seen death before, once, at my grandfather’s viewing right before the funeral. I just hadn’t been part of the dying. I stood there, terrified, surrounded by the fresh scent of pine sap, and gave myself a good mental kick. Get out there, stupid!
Just when I regained my composure, I heard Tony talking to himself. I almost replied, “Be right there,” but then another voice joined his.
Ranger Nelson!
I crept forward slowly, careful not to snap any twigs and give my position away.
“You’re not that far gone,” Nelson said, giving Tony a kick in the ribs. “So quit playing possum. I said, where’s your girlfriend?”
“We had an argument about which way to go. She split up. I don’t know where she is.”
“How poetic. A lover’s quarrel. But now I’ll have to find her, too. She wasn’t kidding about that jewelry of hers, you know. It’s genuine, and it’s expensive. Look at this.” He took my watch out of his breast pocket. “I just figured out what it does an hour ago. It’s a radio, like a walkie-talkie, only tinier. The reception is incredible. I already had a chat with the ranger in the next county over. Call me Double-Oh-Nelson, right?” He squatted down by Tony and felt his forehead. “Fever and chills, right? Guess you were bit a few hours ago, then.”
Tony jerked his head away. “Why don’t you just shoot me now and put me out of my misery?” He let out a string of insults. Although his tongue was going numb, I could understand his tone.
It occurred to me that he was trying to give me time to run away. My heart broke. There he was, helpless, still trying to protect me. No way was I going to run - but what could I do?
Nelson laughed. “...so is that when you decided to set fire to my island? I bet you expected a rescue. Good thinking, but you forgot something. I’m the one who calls for a fire squad.” He showed his teeth in a hideous grin. “And I didn’t call for one. I knew it was you.”
“You’re lying,” Tony said. “Where’s your plane? Where’s your jeep? You’re all alone out here, just like me. Have you been following this whole time?”
“You’re not as hard to track as you wanted to believe.”
“Got any food in that backpack? I’m starving.”
Nelson put his boot on Tony’s chest. “You want a last meal? Funny.” The enormous black cell phone he pulled off his utility belt looked powerful enough to phone Mars. He punched in the number. “Yeah, Mike? Got him... Yeah, still alive, but snakebit... Pretty bad... No, I already told you, I don’t do that kind of work... How much? How much? No kidding... You sure, though? He’s gonna die anyway... No, I understand. Bye.” He holstered his phone.
“Let me guess,” Tony said. “He said you can go ahead and do the right thing and get me to a hospital.”
Nelson pointed the muzzle of his pistol down at Tony. “Today’s your lucky day,” he said. “Instead of suffering for several more hours, you can just eat a bullet.”
His brave words did not match the shaking of his hand. As much as I wanted to believe that Nelson would not go through with pulling the trigger, I couldn’t be sure. I needed to come up with a plan in a hurry.
“Roll over, kid,” Nelson told Tony. “I can’t shoot you if you’re looking at me.”
“No.”
“Roll over! I don’t want to see you.”
“No!”
“Leave him alone!” I shouted, hopping toward him.
He whirled around, pointing the gun at me.
When I was sure I wouldn’t miss, I put the blow dart to my mouth and huffed for all I was worth. It struck him in the chest and stayed there.
He pulled the trigger - and would have killed me, except that Tony kicked his legs out from under him, so the bullet missed me and buried itself in the shore behind me. I pounced on him and wrestled the gun away. It was easy, actually; the dart was quick in its action. He fell to the ground, eyes closed.
I stared at him. Was it a tranquilizer or a poison? Did I just murder a person?
To my enormous relief, his chest rose and fell in a regular rhythm.
I dropped beside Tony. “Hey.”
“Hey. Nice going.” He grabbed my arm. “Do me one last favor?”
“I’m out of darts.”
He swallowed, as if talking cost him a great deal of pain and effort. “You know all those arguments you rehearse when you think nobody’s listening? You should tell them to your folks for real. Don’t waste any more time. Don’t be like...” He trailed off and then suddenly relaxed.
No amount of shaking would wake him up. I laid out my cloak on the shore, pinning down each corner with heavy rocks so the bright orange cloth wouldn’t blow away. I also grabbed Nelson’s gun, just in case. Then, my work done, I took off that confounded boot that squeezed the life out of my ankle. Then there was nothing left to do but caress Tony’s hair and watch the heavy black smoke billow into the sky.