7
WE SIT FOR WHAT FEELS like hours.
The sun begins to set, the smoke from our now burned-out fire rising through the thick island trees.
I’m on the edge of the cave, knees to my chin, arms wrapped tightly around myself as I wait.
I am just waiting to see what happens next, even though it feels like it might just kill me.
The others are sitting too; we stopped talking a while ago. What is there to say?
Ace and Kellen aren’t back, but the ship has moved closer.
As it gets closer to dark, it comes in, slowly, as if it is taunting us.
I haven’t heard any gunshots, but I haven’t seen anyone either, so I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing.
All I know is this waiting is fucking killing me.
My legs ache, my body is tired, but I can’t sit around much longer. Aggie comes over, crouching down beside me. “Should we... go look?” she asks, so quietly the words nearly vanish into the surf.
“I don’t know,” I say, and that’s the simple, broken truth.
She presses her lips together for a minute, then nods. “What if they don’t know where we are?”
I have been having the same thought.
We are well hidden, and they may spend hours going in the wrong direction looking for us. Could that put everyone at risk? Maybe.
“You’re right. We should go out, just a bit, and see if we can find them before the ship makes landfall and it’s too dark. Let’s go,” I say, shoving myself up.
Aggie blinks at me, surprised, then nods. “Yeah, okay.”
We don’t give the others a chance to argue.
We simply tell them we’re going, and they need to stay here, no matter what.
Tati tries to protest, but Aggie and I disappear before she can.
It’s colder than usual, too fast a drop in temperature, and it makes everything feel urgent and raw.
The jungle is close and thick, and every sound is an enemy.
We stick to the cliffs for as long as we can, then we sneak into the thick trees, heading in the direction of the camp.
At the very least, we’re well hidden in here.
Aggie is better than I expected at keeping quiet, which makes me weirdly proud of her.
She stays low and keeps pace, only stopping when I do.
I hear footsteps just before we reach the old camp, and I pause, stopping Aggie.
I put my finger up to my lips and we duck behind a tree.
Of course, it’s most likely to be Kellen and Ace, but right now, we take no risks.
A few minutes later, they appear. Both of them out of breath and coated in a mix of blood and mud. We step out, causing them to jolt, and then Ace’s face twists with frustration. “What the fuck are you two doin’ out here? Why aren’t you hidden?”
I glance at Aggie, then back to him. “Because we can’t just sit there doing nothing, Ace. We needed to make sure you guys knew where we were, and it had been so long...”
Aggie turns to Kellen, her eyes locking on his. “Is he... is Zeke okay?”
It didn’t go unnoticed that Zeke isn’t with them.
“He’s alive. Bullet went through his arm so no major damage.”
I’m so stunned it takes a second for the words to register. “Where is he then?”
“Refused to fuckin’ come,” Ace growls. “He said let them think he’s there alone, it’s the only way to get any kind of jump on them. He’s not wrong, but it’s fuckin’ risky leavin’ him injured. If they have no use for him...”
“They’ll just kill him,” I whisper. “We should go and get him...”
“No,” Kellen says. “No, he’s right. This is the only chance we have. He was adamant and arguing with him will waste time. Zeke knows how to survive, we just have to trust that he will.”
“So we’re just supposed to leave him?” I ask.
Kellen nods, sharply. “Yeah, we are. He’s drawing them to him, so we can take their boat. We have a plan in place, you need to trust us.”
It’s so insane I want to laugh, but the way Kellen says it, all broken and resigned, I almost believe it. Aggie does too, because she wipes her nose with the back of her hand and nods, like, okay, that’s what we do now.
Ace jerks his chin. “We can’t sit around waitin’ here. We need to get out of sight. Take us to the camp, we will go over the plan. Then, when night falls, we move.”
We haul arse back to the cave, and I notice as we move that the whole jungle seems to be holding its breath. The air is so tight and thick I can barely get it into my lungs; my muscles want to give up, to drop me right there in the undergrowth, but Ace is behind me and I can’t let him down.
When we get back, the others are waiting.
Rachel is on her feet, looking more animal than girl, hair wild and eyes glassy.
She doesn’t bother with words, just looks at Ace, waiting for news.
Tati pushes to her feet, her eyes wide, and just stares at us.
They all want to know the same thing – is Zeke alive.
“He’s alive,” I say. “We have a plan.”
I notice Tati’s shoulders slump, like she had been holding her breath this entire time just waiting.
“We’re goin’ to find a better position,” Ace says, looking around. “This is a good spot to hide, well done there, but we need to be able to move, fast. Can’t do that up here.”
He’s right.
Once darkness hits, we won’t be able to climb down without using a flashlight. We can’t risk that, so the only option is to get back down to ground level. Riskier, but easier.
“Let’s move then,” Rachel says, gathering what she can in her arms.
The guys help Adrian down, and then we retrace the path on the edge of the cliffs, past all the landmarks we’d imprinted into our memories over the last month or so.
I think about Zeke. I hope he’s still okay out there, and not just buying us time with his own life.
I hope he’s not suffering, but that feels stupid.
Of course he’s suffering. That’s all this place ever gives us.
Fucking suffering.
The last hundred metres, Ace slows us down, motioning for total silence.
We are far down the east of the island, behind a row of thick trees, but it allows us to see better while we can.
The pirate ship has crept almost to the mouth of the cove—close enough that we can hear the splutter of the engines and voices from the deck.
It feels like standing at the edge of the world, knowing that if you so much as breathe too loud, you fall off.
We wait there.
The moon rises and the sun disappears. We wait. All of us pressed together, hiding in a clump of undergrowth like prey animals, and I realise for the first time that this is what we are now—just things waiting to be wiped out by something faster and crueler.
I don’t know what the plan is, but Kellen and Ace have something up their sleeves.
We just have to trust it.
“Ace?” I whisper, into the darkness.
“Mmmm?”
“What is the plan here?”
“You’ll know when it is time,” he murmurs, curling a hand around mine. “But know this, Gracie. Tonight... tonight we’re fuckin’ going home.”
We’re going home?
Oh god.
We’re going home.
“I’M GOIN’ IN NOW,” Kellen says, his voice low. “I need to scope out the situation, see where Zeke is so we can go onto the next part of the plan.”
We’re just sitting, all of us, bums in the dirt, darkness consuming us.
We can’t see, the only thing we have is the distant sounds of pirates yelling and partying.
I have to assume that’s a good sign, that they haven’t come looking for us.
What does that mean for Zeke, though? Have they done something awful to him?
Ace still hasn’t told us.
I’m not entirely certain why.
Maybe he hasn’t come up with a plan yet, or maybe he’s scared everyone will argue with him and they’ll be left empty-handed. Either way, they’re about to do something. What, I don’t know, but something.
“Go,” Ace nods. “Stay covered, don’t let anyone see you. Not yet.”
Not yet? Are we not letting them assume we’re not here?
“Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Tati asks from the darkness. “Or do we just sit here, in the dark, guessing?”
Everyone falls silent.
“We need to confirm Zeke is still kickin’ first, then, we’ll ensure you all know the plan,” Kellen answers her. “Just sit tight.”
Easy for him to say.
“There has to be something we can do?” I pipe up. “Surely you two aren’t the only ones carrying out this plan?”
Ace squeezes my hand. “We’re goin’ to need all of you soon, but for right now, we just need to work out the situation and then we can ensure our plan will work.”
I squeeze back, letting him know I hear him.
Kellen shuffles, moving around, tripping over a few things and cursing.
The moon is the only light we have, and it’s not great.
Still, it’s enough I guess for him to see the basics.
It’s crazy how your eyes learn to adjust quickly to darkness when there is no light around.
For the first few weeks out here, I hated the night, but now it is almost like muscle memory.
I can move around, no flashlight, and I can do it with ease.
We all can.
“I’ll get closer, see what I can find out,” Kellen whispers, then he’s gone.
“Do you think we can actually get their ship?” I ask Ace, shifting closer as the cold wind makes me shiver.
“I think if they’re all off the ship, yeah, we can.”
“Aren’t those things usually full?”
“Not necessarily, no. Not all pirates are travellin’ in big groups. It’s not a fictional movie. These guys, they’re real, they’re rotten and it may very well be just the ones we saw.”
I hope he’s right.
Because it might mean we have a chance here.
“What about their weapons?” Aggie murmurs from somewhere behind me.
“If this plan works, we don’t need to worry about their weapons,” Ace murmurs.
What the hell have they got planned?
The silence surrounds us again, and I sit, tucked against Ace, my hand firmly clasped in his, just waiting for Kellen to return.
I don’t know how long he is gone, but it’s long enough that my legs go dead under me.
We’re all spiralling inside, each of us in our own silent hell, and the only thing that keeps me from unravelling completely is the warmth of Ace’s body pressed up against mine.
I don’t know where everyone else is sitting, but they’re all close.
In the dead silence, I can hear their breathing.
Every second feels like a decade. By the time I hear Kellen’s feet rustling, my spine feels like a row of shattered glass. He drops down beside us hard, all breath and adrenaline, smelling like sweat. Ace moves quickly, pulling away from me and leaving a cold chill where he was. “What’s the word?”
“Zeke’s alive still, thank fuck,” Kellen murmurs, low. “They brought him up to their fire. They bandaged him up, got him tied at the wrists but he is just sitting there. Pirate has a gun on him, but those idiots are drinking again. Same bunch as last time, doesn’t appear to be any extras.”
“You hear them question him at all?”
“Yeah, they were askin’ him where we were. He just barked that he didn’t fuckin’ know what they were talking about. They kept pushing. Sayin’ there was no way he is alone out here. He was refusin’ to answer, which is exactly what we want him to do.”
“Do you think they have any more people on the ship?” I ask.
“I’m guessin’ maybe one or two people keeping guard, but I don’t think so. I think these fuckers are it.”
“So, do we get to hear the plan now?” Rachel asks, her voice short, but a little scared.
“Alright. Here’s how it’s gonna go. We are basing all of this on the hope that Zeke keeps tellin’ them we aren’t here, because we know they don’t believe him.
Kellen and I moved the ship we are fixin’ earlier, before they got here.
We got it on the edge of the water, ready to push in.
It ain’t ready to float, but it’s enough to look like it’s going to. ”
I shake my head, even though nobody can see. “I’m confused.”
“Kellen is goin’ to create a distraction, draw them over there. They’ll think we’re tryin’ to escape, and they’ll be so fuckin’ focused on it, they won’t realise that we’re not even there, not at first. Once they’re there, Kellen is goin’ to circle back around, get Zeke and meet us at the ship.”
“The ship?” Tati gasps. “We’re stealing the ship?”
“Damn fuckin’ right we are,” Kellen answers.
“You ladies are going to be positioned near the ship, but out of sight in case anything goes wrong,” Ace goes on. “Once I go on, clear the ship, you will all get on.”
“What if it’s full?” Adrian asks.
“That’s for me to sort out,” Ace answers, his voice so low and determined it’s terrifying.
“So we just what,” I mumble, “wait and pray?”
“You’re comin’ with me, Grace,” Ace says in my general direction.
“We are going to make sure the ship is cleared. Aggie, you’re in charge of getting Adrian as close as you can.
Rachel and Tati, you get as much stuff as you can gather, we need as many supplies as possible.
We can’t assume the ship is stocked, and we have no idea how far away from land we actually are. It won’t be easy but get what you can.”
“When are we going to hit them?” Rachel asks.
“Just after midnight,” Ace answers her. “When they’re drunk and fuckin’ stupid.”
“They have weapons,” Tati says, her voice soft but scared. “We have nothing.”
“I’m goin’ to do the best I can to gather some weapons,” Kellen says. “I’m workin’ on it.”
“So, we clear on the plan?” Ace asks.
We all agree.
“Ladies,” he goes on, “if you sense danger, if you see anything that doesn’t feel right, hide. No matter what, just fuckin’ hide. Don’t be heroes. We need to get out of here in one piece.”
More agreeance.
“I’m quite a good ship operator,” Adrian pipes up. “I can get that ship out as quickly as possible.”
Well, there we go.
“When you’re on board, you go straight into operation,” Kellen orders him. “Get us out.”
“Aye aye,” Adrian answers.
I fight the urge to roll my eyes.
It’s dangerous, but if it works, we could actually get off this island.
We could actually go home.
Why does that feel more terrifying than what we are about to do?