6 #2
Squinting, I shelter my eyes and stare. Yeah, that’s got to be the same one, at least, I think it is. It’s hard to tell from this far, but the way it looks on the horizon is basically identical.
Shit.
“Tati,” I say, my voice shaky. “Is that... is that the same ship?”
She looks up, rubbing her eyes and staring out for a long moment. “It’s hard to tell, but it does look the same. Why would they be coming back?”
“I don’t know, but we need to find out,” I say, pushing to my feet.
She follows, and we head to the shack where we have moved our camp to, finally.
It’s quieter in here, and though we can’t see the shoreline, we ensure we continue checking it regularly just in case a ship goes by.
When we get back, Aggie is asleep, facing the wall of the shack. Tati’s eyes scan over her, and her face twists a little before she walks away. I move towards the guys, who are busy making a fire to roast the meat they managed to hunt. Again, I don’t bother asking what it is. Food is food.
Kellen turns as I approach. “You got Tati back.”
“Yeah, listen, I can see a ship on the horizon again. I think it’s the same one.”
He is moving before I finish my sentence. Scope in hand, and Zeke is straight after him. Rachel rushes over, stopping beside Ace and me. “Do you think they’ve come back just to stay?”
“Fuck,” Ace growls. “This shack can’t be hidden forever. Was a fuckin’ miracle they didn’t find it last time.”
“Do you think they know we’re here?” I say, feeling a sense of unease washing through my body.
“I don’t know,” Ace mutters. “Let’s see what Kellen notices first. Go from there.”
So we wait, for what feels like a fucking eternity we wait.
And nothing.
Not right away, at least.
Then, everything changes.
It’s funny how quickly everything goes wrong. One second everything is running, then all of a sudden it screeches to a terrifying halt and the world stops spinning.
That’s what it feels like, at least.
It starts as a sound, an echoing through trees. If you were to guess, you would say it sounded like a tree coming down and slamming against the earth. Just a crashing, rumbling sound. If only it were that simple. If only that was how this story went. But it isn’t. Nothing ever is out here.
Kellen appears through the trees, and I have never seen an expression like the one on his face.
It is twisted in pain, his mouth tight, his eyes wide with pure horror.
Jesus Christ, I don’t know how to describe it.
It’s not just fear, it’s something deeper.
Like his soul’s been cleanly scooped out and left somewhere in the sand.
He looks at Ace but doesn’t speak, his mouth doing this thing where it twitches, then stretches flat.
Something is wrong.
Ace notices it, too. He drops the makeshift roasting stick and stands, his own face a mask of something hard and military. He reaches Kellen in a matter of seconds. “What happened? Where’s Zeke?”
Kellen doesn’t answer. For a second, I think maybe he can’t. His hands are fists, hanging rigid at his sides.
“Kellen!” Ace barks.
His words come out low, sharp. “Zeke. He’s—” He looks to us, because we’re all there now. “They got him. He’s just—” He moves his hand through the air, like he can’t get the words to work properly.
Tati, who’s behind me, gasps. “What do you mean they got him?” she whispers.
Kellen ignores her, and looks straight at Ace. “We split up. I went for higher ground, to see if I could get a better look through the scope. He went to the shore. They must have been watching—he was just looking, and then they fucking shot him. They fuckin’ shot him.”
What?
My vision fuzzes at the corners, eyes already wet. There’s no blood, no body, but my brain fills it in with too much detail. All I can picture is Zeke out there, lying in the sand, surrounded by his own blood. Dead. God, is he dead?
“Is he dead?” Aggie yells out, her voice high-pitched. “Fuck, where is he, Kellen?”
“I don’t fuckin’ know. I came back here as fast as I fuckin’ could because if I went out there, I’d be shot, too.”
Ace exhales through his teeth, his jaw ticking. He isn’t the fragile type, but watching him now, I see how close he is to splintering. “Did they see you?”
Kellen shakes his head. “No, that’s why I didn’t go out.”
Ace turns to the rest of us, his whole bearing changing.
“We need to move. Kellen, you’re with me.
Leave everything but water and what you can carry in five seconds.
Get to the cliffs, hide. We are going to see what we can piece together.
It’s clear they fuckin’ figured out someone is here, nobody comes prepared like that.
We can only fuckin’ hope they think Zeke was alone, but we can’t assume that. Go.”
His voice is cold and sharp, a blade slicing through panic.
Rachel is already yanking Aggie towards the shack. Tati is crying and I want to tell her it’s going to be okay, but my own body feels cold and hollow. Adrian hobbles back to camp, mumbling.
“Do we use the same cave we went to last time?” I ask Ace before he disappears. “Or do you think they saw us there?”
“Don’t risk it, go further, deeper,” he says. “Hug the edge of the rocks, keep low. They’ll expect us to run deeper in. First sign they land, we double back, hope for a chance to get that fuckin’ boat.” His words are short, precise.
“You’re going back out there?” I say, my voice breathy, scared.
“I have to see if he’s alive. I have to see what we’re fuckin’ workin’ with. We’re goin’ to be fine, just go find somewhere and get out of sight.”
I nod.
His hand curls around the back of my neck, pressing a kiss to my forehead, then he’s gone.
We move.
We gather everything we can, and Adrian has the smart idea of tearing the beds apart, so they don’t figure out there was more than one person here.
It’s smart, really. He hauls them out, impressive considering he has one leg.
By the time he’s done, the shack is a mess and the floor is nothing more than a heap of messy palm fronds.
Then, we get the hell out of there.
We scramble through the jungle, shoving trees and shrubs, hopping over logs and running until our lungs burn.
Mine, especially. I am still recovering, and my energy levels aren’t what they should be, so I have to stop far more than I’d like.
It hurts, but I don’t stop. We decide to go along the cliffs near the shoreline instead of heading inland.
It’s harder to reach, but that’s the point.
It isn’t easy getting Adrian in, but we manage between the four of us.
We settle in one right above the rocks and ocean, more a cave than a cliff, but it works.
We shuffle in, throwing everything down.
I lower myself onto a rock, trying to breathe past the agonising burn in my lungs.
Aggie sits beside me offering some water.
Tati goes with Rachel, standing at the edge, just looking out.
From here, we can see the ship perfectly. It’s hovering, engines idling, probably waiting for cover of dark to make landfall. Bastards. I want to scream at them, tell them to fuck off, but instead I just clutch my stomach and hope it’ll stop aching.
“What are they waiting for?” Adrian grumbles, staring out.
“I think they’re waiting for night,” I say, voice low.
“Smart,” Adrian mutters. “I didn’t think pirates were clever, but it turns out I was wrong.”
“Not helpful,” I huff, turning away.
“Do you think they know there are more of us?” Aggie asks, shivering and rubbing her upper arms.
“It’s possible, or it could have been sheer accident they saw Zeke. Either way, they’re going to come in, and we need to prepare ourselves for that.”
Aggie’s eyes meet mine. “We have nothing, Grace. No weapons... nothing.”
“We don’t need weapons,” Adrian throws in. “We just need to be smarter than them. If we can draw them into the island, like Ace said, then we can take charge of their ship.”
“It’s probably full of pirates,” Rachel says, joining us. “How would we know?”
“We don’t, not until we can see the situation,” Adrian shrugs. “But it’s probably our best chance. Until then, we gather anything that can be used as a weapon. You’d be surprised what a rock can do to someone’s skull.”
We all just stare at him, somewhat horrified.
“Do you think Zeke made it?” Tati whispers from somewhere behind me.
I hope so.
God, do I fucking hope so.