Chapter 15 #2
The first two days, all Tatiana does is cry.
She just cries.
Her head hurts, her body hurts, and she is scratching her arms to try and relieve some tension.
On days three and four, she vomits. A lot.
She can’t keep anything down, and she groans all night, finally passing out during the day.
It’s horrible to watch. She is strong, but she’s also broken right now and all she wants to do is curl up and not wake up.
Those were her words to me on the fifth morning, when the ache in her muscles got too much.
We are keeping the electrolytes up to her, it is the only thing that helps.
She refuses to even take Tylenol for the headaches, afraid it will send her spiraling, which is fair enough.
On the eighth day, she finally loses it.
She’s sobbing, rocking, nails scratching.
When I try to hold her she shoves me away so hard I hit my head against the boulder we’re leaning against. She bolts, bare feet crunching through the jungle, and it’s Zeke who finally chases her down, tackling her at the edge of the water like she’s a wild animal brought to ground.
When he carries her back, she’s limp, shaking, eyes glassy with something less than terror and more than pain. Kellen mixes up electrolyte powder and holds the cup to her lips, his voice gentle. “You just gotta keep breathing, that’s all you focus on right now. Breathing.”
Finally, on the tenth day, we see color come back into her face and she even laughs at one of Adrian’s bad jokes.
The guys are busy trying to fix the old boat up, and Adrian spends his days with his makeshift spear, cursing at the fish as he tries desperately to get one.
Him talking to himself has become so normal, none of us even notice now.
I am almost convinced it will be okay. That maybe we are turning a corner.
But of course, nothing is ever that easy.
Because the next day, everything changes.
Adrian has decided he is going to swim finally, certain he has learned well enough to be able to spear some fish.
He is desperate to bring something in, but mostly, I think it keeps him entertained, and us, because it’s hilarious to watch.
With his uncoordinated flailing, all we can see are his legs flapping around as he dives under.
But, he seems to be holding his own, so we let him go.
It is just a normal day, I am sitting on the shore beside Aggie, watching him float and sink, curse and bellow.
But then his curses turn into something I have never heard coming from him.
Blood-curdling screams.
The kind of sound I will never forget.
I shove to my feet, heart in my throat as I try to see him.
All I can see is the water splashing, and then, it just turns red.
Like a bad fucking horror movie. I gasp, reeling backwards and I am screaming out for help without thought.
Kellen is the first to react, launching himself down the beach at a full sprint.
He plunges straight into the water and swims out.
Tatiana is yelling that there is a shark out there and Rachel is pressing her hands to her mouth, eyes wide as she watches in horror.
“Kellen,” Aggie shouts. “Kellen, there is a shark!”
Kellen doesn’t stop.
He reaches Adrian just as he sinks below the surface.
Ace is already running down the beach, knife in hand, diving in after him.
We all watch, our feet stuck to the ground as they try and drag Adrian back to the shore.
He has stopped screaming, and his body has gone limp.
There is so much blood the water is just a red river that follows them all the way back.
When they drag Adrian onto the shore, they are covered in his blood, dripping with water, their faces pale as they lay him down, and stare.
It is the worst thing I have ever seen.
By the time I reach them, I can already tell how bad it is.
His leg is hanging. Not just cut, but fucking hanging. There are jagged, teeth-shaped punctures all up the calf, and then right at his knee, it is just exposed flesh and bone. Vomit rises in my throat as blood pools on the sand, and Adrian is completely passed out.
Nobody moves, it’s as if we’re all frozen in shock.
I can’t take my eyes off the horror scene before me.
Aggie screams, breaking the silence and Tatiana covers her face and starts hyperventilating.
Rachel hits the deck, Kellen catching her just in time.
He drops to the ground with her, slapping her cheeks, telling her to snap out of it.
Zeke is just staring at Adrian, his face pale in a way I have never seen it.
Ace is the first to act, and he drops to his knees next to Adrian and immediately yanks off his shirt, tying it around Adrian’s upper leg as tightly as he can.
Adrian is pale, lips blue, and he’s not making any sound.
I don’t even know if he’s breathing, so I drop down beside him and feel for a pulse.
He has one, so I tell them we need to start CPR to get him breathing again.
Ace takes over, beginning CPR until Adrian gasps for air, and then begins shaking, a whole body tremble that causes blood to trickle out of his mouth, no doubt from biting his tongue.
“What do we do?” I cry, still on my knees beside him. “What the fuck do we do?”
Kellen is beside me now, after getting Rachel secure. “His... his fuckin’ leg is barely hanging on. He’s goin’ to bleed to death if we don’t do something right fuckin’ now.”
Ace makes a split-second decision. “Get the medical kit. All the tourniquets, tape, bandages and anything else you can carry. Run.”
I sprint, leaping over the rocks, slicing my ankle open on one but barely feeling it.
I gather up the first aid kits, and anything else I can carry in my arms. By the time I make it back, they’ve got Adrian flat on the sand and Zeke is holding his head, talking to him in the soft, persuasive tones I’ve never heard from the man before.
“We... we can’t leave his leg like that,” I whisper, watching Ace tie another shirt around the top of Adrian’s leg.
“It needs to go,” Kellen says, his voice so low I’m sure I haven’t heard him correctly. “It’s the only way he even has a chance.”
“What?” I gasp, shaking my head in horror.
Ace and Kellen stare at each other, for so long, as if they’re having a silent conversation.
“You know I’m right,” Kellen goes on, his voice low and heavy. “Then we have to seal it, or he’ll bleed out.”
Seal it? What the fuck are they talking about?
Ace nods. “I need a sterilised knife, the sharpest you can find, and then bandages, a fuckin’ lot of them, or anything that can be used. We gotta clean this, as best we can, so we’re goin’ to need a lot of alcohol to knock him out. Then, we’re goin’ to need something really fuckin’ hot.”
Aggie vomits, just leans over and vomits.
“You girls need to go,” Kellen orders. “You don’t want to see this.”
He doesn’t have to tell them twice, the three of them disappear but I don’t move. “I’m not leaving.”
“Go find the alcohol, and put something flat in the fire, something we can hold.”
I do as he asks.
I rush back to camp, gathering a bottle of vodka and then laying a metal fire stoker in the coals.
We found it on the boat, and the guys use it to shove the coals around, to keep the fire burning.
It has a pointed end, but it is the only thing they can hold on one end and heat up the other.
I don’t have time to search for anything else.
I run back down with the blankets from my bed, and the vodka in my hand.
“Here,” I thrust it at Ace.
Zeke is still sitting behind Adrian, holding his head as he drifts in and out of consciousness.
“Give it to him, as much as he can drink,” Ace nods and Zeke takes the bottle.
“Drink this, my friend,” Zeke orders Adrian, tipping it to his lips.
He coughs and splutters but wakes up long enough to take a few gulps before the pain knocks him out again.
“Put all of those blankets beneath his leg, we want to keep as much sand out as possible,” Ace orders.
I do as he asks, and watch in sheer horror as Ace and Kellen lift what’s left of Adrian’s leg so I can slide the blankets underneath.
Sticky, warm blood coats my arms, as I adjust it and then they put his leg back down.
My stomach twists, and I try to look at anything but the horrific mess the shark left.
All I can see, in the quick glances, is exposed bone and flesh.
Ace pours vodka all over his hands, cleaning them as best he can. “Everyone ready?”
I close my eyes.
“Gracie,” Ace goes on, and my eyes pop open. “Go and get the hot stick, bring it down. You really don’t want to see this.”
He’s right, I don’t.
Kellen is holding the knife that he just heated in the fire to kill any germs, and he has the first aid kit open and every bandage laid out, as well as a whole bottle of antiseptic rinse. I push to my feet, just as Ace is ordering Zeke to hold on, and not to let him go no matter what.
I don’t look back.
Even when Adrian screams.
The noise is a guttural, howling thing that makes my skin tingle and tears roll down my cheeks.
I can hear a distinct crunch, and it is enough for me to pause, but not turn.
I lean down, hands on my knees, taking a deep breath so I don’t pass out.
For a second I am certain I will vomit, but the only thing that comes up is a dry, retching sound.