Chapter 21
We’re under strict instructions from Ozzy today. Find things to help us survive, don’t get into any scrapes that might kill us. Easier said than done.
He pretty much gave us a TED Talk, on all things survival, imparting so much information it inadvertently went in one ear and out of the other.
My two main takeaways, and I think they’ll serve me well, are this: don’t eat anything without getting him to check it first (he mentioned various toxic fruits) and watch out for eels. I will most definitely be watching out for eels.
So it’s just me and Lockie, walking through the jungle, looking for anything that might be useful. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything useful out here, least of all us.
Lockie walks ahead, using a big stick to push things out of the way.
‘In a dream world,’ he begins, pausing to swipe leaves out the way, ‘I want to find a stone pizza oven, and all the ingredients to make pizza. What about you?’
‘An M&S Simply Food,’ I say with a sigh. Now this is my kind of fantasising. ‘A Colin the Caterpillar would really take the edge off right now.’
‘I miss food,’ he replies. ‘Even just, like, the rush of getting a Tesco Meal Deal, getting ￡9 worth of stuff for like half the price.’
‘I’m so hungry for bread, I’d pay the ￡9,’ I say with a laugh.
‘I’d even settle for a PlayStation,’ he replies. ‘Just, something to do. I could play Red Dead Redemption 2 for days without moving, that would pass the time.’
I laugh at him.
‘You’re sort of living it,’ I remind him.
‘It’s not the same,’ he reassures me. ‘Plus, I don’t have a horse, and if I did, Ozzy would probably try to eat it for the protein.’
He probably would. That’s not a joke.
‘How long before he starts trying to work out which one of us has the most meat on us?’ I reply.
‘I’ve definitely seen him eyeing you up,’ Lockie replies.
Hmm, I wonder what he means by that, there’s a tone I can’t quite put my finger on.
‘There’s higher ground up near the ridge,’ Lockie says. ‘If we climb it, who knows, maybe we’ll be able to see something, or start a fire so that someone can see us? It’s worth a try, right?’
‘And if we fall to our deaths?’ I reply.
‘I mean, you seem more likely to fall than me, but I’ll keep you safe,’ he tells me. ‘So I’m up for it if you are.’
‘I’ve nothing better to do,’ I reply.
The deeper you head into the jungle, the more it feels like it’s swallowing you whole.
Lockie leads the way, his big stick still in his hand, chopping through the vines like he’s done this before. Then again, we’ve been walking for ages now. At least it feels that way.
We reach a clearing halfway up the ridge. There’s an old metal mast, half-rusted, sticking out of the ground like some relic from a different era.
‘What’s that?’ I ask.
‘It could be a relay tower,’ Lockie says. ‘I don’t know if they use it… Either way, it looks fried. Like it’s been hit by lightning.’
‘Can we fix it?’ I ask optimistically – I’m not usually an optimist, so I don’t know why I’m starting now.
‘Even if we have the skills, we don’t have the tools,’ he says. ‘But we could follow the cable, see where it goes? Maybe a control room or something.’
‘It’s worth a try, right?’ I reply, unsure of myself. That optimism didn’t last long.
We follow the line of cable down a narrow slope, ducking under branches and clambering over roots, until the ground levels out into a small clearing. And there, right in the middle, is a hatch. The metal hinges look corroded but intact.
Lockie crouches and brushes dirt away. ‘This could lead somewhere,’ he says.
‘This isn’t Lost,’ I remind him. ‘There’s no one down there.’
‘I know,’ he says with a sigh. ‘I thought there might be power, but I can’t get it open. There’s power somewhere, we just need to find it. I suppose we can keep looking, but we should probably head back to camp. I think this might be a lost cause.’
‘I think that about almost everything, all of the time,’ I half-joke.
‘You’re an overthinker?’ he replies.
I nod. ‘Isn’t everyone these days?’
‘Sounds difficult,’ he says, silently confirming that he doesn’t have this issue. He can’t be that easy-breezy, can he?
‘Well, when you’re going about your day, what do you think about all day?’ I ask.
‘Nothing,’ he replies. ‘Just… whatever the task at hand is. What do you think about?’
‘Everything,’ I say, deadpan. ‘Anything. All day.’
He laughs a little at my delivery, rather than my – y’know – overwhelming anxiety.
We push through another patch of trees and find running water – a stream.
It’s maybe ten feet across, the water seeming like it’s rushing fast enough to take you with it, whether you want to go or not.
‘I’m not crossing that,’ I tell him.
‘Why not?’ he replies.
‘Eels,’ I tell him.
‘Do you even know what an eel looks like?’ he replies.
‘No, which is why I’m not chancing it,’ I insist.
It’s his turn to laugh at me.
‘It’s just water,’ he says.
‘It’s fast and it’s mysterious and I just can’t bring myself to do it,’ I reply. ‘You can go, if you like, I’ll head back…’
‘Yes, because I can just let you walk back alone, without worrying about you,’ he chuckles sarcastically. ‘Come on.’
He bends next to me, hooks an arm under my knees and another around my back, and scoops me up – again.
I shriek and cling to his neck.
‘Lockie, oh my God,’ I squeak.
‘If this is the only way, it’s the only way,’ he says.
He strides through the water with me in his arms, steady as anything, and if he does feel an eel then he keeps it to himself.
‘That okay?’ he asks as we reach the other side.
‘No, not really,’ I reply. ‘You’ll probably have to carry me all the way back to camp too.’
‘In your dreams,’ he says with a smile as he sets me down.
‘Worth a try,’ I reply.
It’s nice to be able to have a laugh, in the middle of all of this. Well, if you don’t laugh, you cry, and none of us can afford to give up the fluids.