Chapter Three
“What was that?”
Heart thumping, Brian wondered the same thing.
He forced his lungs to expand as he listened intently.
The sound had been utterly foreign, and undoubtedly emitted by some kind of living creature.
A tree or a plant had not made that screech.
He squinted into the black void of the jungle but couldn’t even make out the outline of Troy huddled beside him beneath the mosquito net.
They were still sitting wedged into the crevasse.
Even with a flashlight, traipsing through the jungle at night was unwise.
Especially when Brian’s head had spun wildly when he’d tried to stand.
He’d slept a little, and the Advil had made a minor dent in the dull pain throbbing from his shoulder blades up through his skull.
He should have been hungry, but he’d had to force down the protein bar.
Mosquitoes whining set his teeth on edge, and Brian wished the jungle would just shut up. The emergency blanket tucked over him and Troy crinkled as he shifted his numb butt on the unforgiving rock.
This night was never going to end.
At least he wasn’t alone. Troy brushed against him, warm and alive, his bulk a comforting presence.
It was a reminder of why Brian couldn’t zone out again even though his brain seemed wrapped in gauze.
No, he had to stay focused. Stay present.
It was unacceptable that he’d been so out of it earlier.
Troy shouldn’t have had to go out on his own.
Although, for a rock star, Troy wasn’t what Brian had expected.
He’d seemed distracted and stressed during their brief conversation on the plane, but not arrogant or spoiled.
And he’d certainly held his own after the crash.
Brian wondered what had prompted him to suddenly quit his band.
In the cockpit, Paula had mentioned a few theories involving people whose names he didn’t know, but they’d always kept idle talk to a minimum, even at cruising altitude. She’d said—
He closed his eyes through the deep pang of grief and guilt at the memory of her lilting laughter.
Choking down a swell of nausea as he remembered the sensation of her arm in his hand—her flesh still warm—Brian tried to clear his mind.
He’d felt so guilty earlier, joking with Troy about fans rescuing them.
Joking about anything when Paula was dead. When it should have been him.
But he had to be in control. Be comforting. Humor could help put the passengers—passenger—at ease and ensure their safety.
Brian cleared his throat. “It’s amazing, the noises tropical birds and frogs can make.
” He listened again but heard only the steady drone of the night insects he assumed were cicadas or something similar.
The buzzing nocturnal chorus was constant.
“At least that shriek didn’t sound like a polar bear. ”
Troy’s warm breath brushed Brian’s face. “Huh? A polar bear?”
He worked on a light tone. “Please tell me Lost is not that old already? Or that you’re that young?”
Troy chuckled. “Oh, on TV. I remember it, but I didn’t have time to watch. Our show had a tight schedule, and we had schoolwork too.”
“Your show? Concerts?”
“Wait, you mean you didn’t watch Rock ‘n’ Roll Academy?” He mock gasped. “I’m insulted.”
Brian’s smile was real. “Sorry, must have missed that one. So you’re an actor too?”
“Not really. I’m okay, but Tyson was the star. My little brother.”
That rang a bell. “Oh, is he in your band too?”
Troy was quiet for a few breaths, and when he spoke, his voice was tight. “Yeah. He’s always been super talented. Even when he was ten, he was a star. Had his first hit single—the theme song to the TV show.”
“Wow. When I was ten, my biggest accomplishment was sweeping up hair at my Grandpa’s barber shop and winning the fifth-grade spelling bee. You must have been young too?”
“I guess so. Fourteen.”
“At fourteen I was still sweeping up hair. I did win a local model airplane design contest. My spelling skills were untested since there was no bee in high school.” He took a gulp of water.
It hurt to talk, his throat rough and head a cement block on his neck, but it was better than listening to the mystery noises of the jungle in the darkness. “What was the show about?”
“We played brothers at a boarding school. I started a band with my cool middle-grade friends, and Ty was my genius little brother who skipped a bunch of years and also sang better than anyone else. So, of course, we had to let him in our band.” He snorted.
“It was so dumb. But it paid really well and ran for five years. Oh, and I’m twenty-six, for the record, so not that young. How about you?”
“Thirty-nine.” The shriek rattled them both again. “It could be a monkey, but I think I read that they’re not native to the South Pacific. Humans introduced them on some islands, but unless they’re really good swimmers…”
“I don’t think it’s a frog either,” Troy whispered. “Doesn’t sound like a ‘ribbit.’ I’m going to go with bird. Must be a bird, and not a…what else lives on these islands?” He tensed, his elbow jerking against Brian’s arm. “Could there be tigers here? We’re not in the right place for that, are we?”
“No tigers. They’re on Sumatra. Many miles away.”
“Okay, good. But what else could be here?”
“Well…” Brian tried to think of the least frightening species that could be surrounding them that very moment. “Birds, obviously. And frogs. Turtles. Fish.”
The mystery shriek vibrated through the humid air. “Loud and angry birds?”
“Apparently.” He stretched his legs out from under the net, his stiff muscles screaming.
His dress socks and leather shoes were sodden, but bare feet in the jungle wasn’t appealing.
At least the temperature hadn’t dropped much.
“I think there are bats here, but that’s good for us since they eat insects.
Maybe there could be wild pigs, but I don’t think so?
We’ll have to see how far we can walk around the island. It didn’t look big.”
“How small?”
Brian tried to imagine it, but all he could see was gray driving rain and the red and yellow of the flashing dashboard. Paula gripping the yoke as he calculated their landing speed. “I’m not sure. Our attention was on the beach. We could barely make out the sand.”
“Right, of course.” Troy was silent for a few moments, and when he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. “I’m so sorry about the other pilot. Did I say that before? She seemed really nice.”
Flexing his wet toes in his shoes, Brian’s throat was so tight it burned. “Thank you.”
Nice. A pathetically inadequate word. Paula had made such an effort to be friendly and welcoming.
The other pilots hadn’t seemed to know what to make of him.
They’d been polite and professional, but he knew they couldn’t understand why he’d only fly as first officer now, and how he could give up a career flying commercial.
And how had Brian thanked her? By turning down her invitations to the pub, or a BBQ on the beach when her parents were in town from Auckland. God, what were their names? He’d met them at the terminal one day. Her dad was…a mechanic?
I should know this.
Troy muttered miserably, “If I’d stayed, she’d be fine. We wouldn’t be stuck here. Fuck. I wanted to fix it, but I made everything a million times worse.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t blame yourself.”
“Did she… That side of the plane was gone.” Troy swallowed audibly. “Do you think she felt it?”
“No. It was too fast.” Bile rose in Brian’s throat, prickly and hot. It was true, at least. There would have only been a second or two before oblivion. The rest came out before he could stop it. “It should have been me.”
Troy’s voice rose sharply. “What? But it was an accident.”
He pushed the words past his throat. “Captain usually sits on the left. First officer on the right. But Paula liked it the other way. I never argued. Controls are the same on both sides. Figured it didn’t matter.”
“It’s not your fault. That was luck. You didn’t know this was going to happen.”
It was true, but Brian still wanted to vomit.
“If it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t yours either. I’m sorry. I know she was your friend.”
She was, and he’d been too shut off and stuck in his own world to be any kind of real friend back. Brian’s eyes burned. That he could never thank her or tell her he was sorry was one more regret to lock away.
After a few minutes of silence, Troy asked, “Are there snakes here?”
Brian was grateful for the change of topic, even if thinking about snakes while sitting in a pitch-black jungle made him shiver restlessly. “Probably.”
“Poisonous ones?”
“In all likelihood. And maybe pythons, I imagine. I think we should just assume that all snakes and spiders and various insects are dangerous and to be avoided.”
Troy shuddered. “Ugh, spiders.” Brian could hear Troy’s nails scratch over his skin. “I don’t like creepy crawly things.”
“I confess I’m not a huge fan myself. Let’s hope we can set up camp on the beach and avoid them. Although we’ll have to be careful in the ocean. Sea snakes are deadly.”
“Sea snakes? Jesus.”
“Not to mention eels and jellyfish and God knows what.”
“Okay, so the jungle and ocean are a shitshow. But the beach should be okay?”
“Definitely.” He didn’t mention that insects surely lived in the sand as well.
Leaves rustled nearby, and they both froze. Troy hissed, “Maybe we should go out there now.”
“We could get turned around,” Brian whispered. “Even with the flashlight, it’s damn dark.”
“Right. Okay. I’m sure that was nothing.”