Chapter 16 #2
I retrieve my water bottle from the side pouch in my backpack. “Don’t drink it all,” I warn. “I need that to last the rest of the hike.”
He takes the bottle and immediately starts guzzling it.
“Hey! I just told you not to drink it all!”
He wipes the excess water from his chin. “Sorry. I was thirsty.”
“You always do this,” I say, exasperated. “Every time we go somewhere, you don’t bring your own water bottle, then you end up drinking mine!”
He gives me a look like he has no idea what I’m talking about, which only irritates me more. “I’m sure Jonah has more.”
We both look ahead, only to realize my brother is no longer in front of us. In fact, no one is.
Shit.
“They’re gone!”
“I’m sure they’re just ahead, we can catch up to them. Come on,” Liam says, ushering me to quicken my pace. But as soon as we follow the bend in the path, we’re met with a fork in the road that’s completely washed out by the mud.
“Great, now we’re lost!” I cry.
Liam shakes his head. “We’re not lost. We’re just momentarily separated from the group.”
“Which is the same as lost!”
Liam’s mouth sets into a hard line. “I’ll just text them and ask them to wait for us.” He pulls out his phone and immediately frowns. “Shit. No cell service.”
Great. Just fucking great.
“Now what are we supposed to do? Didn’t you hear what Mikayla said about spiders? What if we get eaten alive?” I look around as though afraid a giant, man-eating spider might pop out at any moment. “And we don’t even have any water, thanks to you, so we’ll probably die out here!”
Liam’s lips purse, his jaw clenching, his eyes shifting back and forth until finally he says, “Look, this isn’t ideal, but at least we’re not alone.”
“Not ideal?” I repeat. “Not ideal is when your phone charger doesn’t reach your bed—this is a disaster!”
“We’re going to be fine,” he says, his voice low like he’s trying to negotiate a hostage situation. “It’s a tourist hiking trail, not base camp at Everest.” Though from the creases in his forehead, I can tell he’s not too certain about that.
Neither Liam nor I are particularly outdoorsy. Our idea of roughing it is when Uber Eats takes more than an hour to deliver. Which means we are entirely ill-equipped for this scenario.
Panic surges through me as I imagine a series of outcomes that each end with me dying a gruesome death. Snakebite. Dehydration (thanks, Liam). Starvation. Eaten by a jaguar. Do those even live here? Now I wish I’d done more (or any) reading on the ecological habitats of Maui’s North Shore.
“Do you think we’re better off sleeping in the trees to avoid becoming jaguar dinner?” I ask. “Or making a lean-to?”
He raises one eyebrow. “Do you know how to make a lean-to?”
“Do you?”
“I grew up in London. My survival skills involve knowing how to get from Waterloo to King’s Cross when there’s a tube strike and which takeaway shops stay open past midnight.”
A dark laugh rips out of me. “Well, in that case, you’d better start drafting your will because we’re gonna die. I don’t think I can drink your pee.”
Liam makes a face. “Why would you have to drink my pee?”
“Isn’t that what happens when you’re stranded in the wilderness without water? You have to drink pee?”
“Wouldn’t you drink your own pee over mine?”
“I don’t know! I’m not a wilderness survival expert!” I exclaim, exasperated.
“Can you please just calm down? I don’t think anyone has to drink pee.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re fully hydrated.”
Liam presses the pads of his fingers to his temple as though trying to summon the patience to deal with me right now.
“Maybe we should try and walk back the way we came,” he suggests, gesturing down the muddy trail. “We could find our way back to the parking lot.”
“How are we going to do that?” I ask, gesturing to the dense greenery camouflaging either side of the trail. “We’ll just get even more lost.”
“We could wait and see if—” But I don’t get to find out what Liam thinks we should wait and see about because he freezes, his eyes stretching wide. “Don’t move,” he whispers.
I lift my hands. “But—?”
“I said don’t move.”
Liam creeps closer, his usually calm and cool demeanor sharpening into something that looks a lot like panic. Not that I’ve ever actually seen Liam panic. But if he did, this is what I imagine he’d look like.
“Roslyn, I need you to stay still,” he whispers.
I blink. “Why?”
“Because…” He hesitates to swallow. “There’s a massive spider on your shoulder.”
My vision blurs, panic strumming against my chest as I catch sight of way too many legs in my peripheral vision.
“Get it off!” I cry.
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” he says, inching closer. “Just stay still for me.”
“I’m gonna die,” I whine. “This is not what I meant by until death do us part!”
“You’re not gonna die,” he says in his gentle, Don’t worry, I’m a doctor voice. “Just breathe.”
Liam breathes deeply, mimicking for me to join him, so I inhale, holding it several seconds too long before remembering to exhale.
“Good. Now just—” But just as he’s reaching toward me, the spider moves. It fucking moves.
There’s a split second where I’m frozen with fear, unable to do anything, before full-on fight or flight takes over and I do the only thing my body knows how to do right now: I run.
“Roslyn!” he calls after me, but I don’t turn back, I don’t stop, I just keep moving.
Liam’s footsteps squelch in the mud behind me. A second later, his arms wrap around my waist and we collide, bodies suspended in the air, before we both go down, collapsing into the mud in a tangled knot of limbs.
As soon as my body hits the ground, a sharp pain that should be cause for concern shoots through my leg, but I’m too busy trying not to die via spider bite.
“Where is it?” I cry, scrambling backward on my elbows. “Is it still on me?”
Liam unwinds himself from me, his eyes darting up and down. “I think it’s gone.”
“Are you sure?”
He looks again. “I don’t see any massive, killer spiders, but if I do, I’ll be sure to mention it.”
I punch his shoulder. “Not funny!”
His mouth quirks as he catches his breath. “Are you okay?” he asks.
I look down, taking stock of all vulnerable body parts. Arms. Check. Legs. Check. Head. Check. “I think so? Are you?”
He looks down at himself, now splattered in mud. “Dirty, but okay.”
Liam stands up and holds out his hand to me. I take it, attempting to stand, but as I do, the same sharp pain I felt moments earlier returns with a vengeance.
“Ouch!”
His brows jump up with worry. “Where does it hurt?”
I chomp down on my lip, fighting back the swell of pain. “My left ankle,” I tell him.
“Can I see?”
I nod and he lowers himself, gently lifting my foot to his chest. I wince.
“Does that hurt?”
“Fuck!”
“How about that?”
“Fuuuuuck!”
“It’s starting to swell. I think it’s twisted.”
“But we need to get out of here,” I protest.
Liam shakes his head. “Roslyn, I don’t think you should walk on it.”
I reach for the words to tell him I’m fine, the way I’ve been telling everyone I am. But this time I know I’m not. And before I can stop them, hot tears sting the backs of my eyes.