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Chapter Forty-Eight

M ackenzie woke with his mouth dirt dry and his skin crawling with fire. A damp cloth brushed against his chest, but his eyes took a while to focus on Abi smiling above him. The sky behind her was marbled with orange and fuchsia.

“Hey, you’re awake?” She leaned in and kissed him, her lips soft and cool.

His body ached and recalling the itching, he gasped at the large red welts and hundreds of small, festering pimples along his arms.

“You had an allergic reaction.” She helped him to sit.

He ran his tongue around his dry mouth. “Did I black out?”

“For most of the day.”

“Jesus.” His brow furrowed as her statement sunk in. “Really?” He shook his head. “Are you okay?”

“I am now. I thought I was going to lose you.” Tears threatened to spill over her lashes.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “You must be exhausted.”

“I’m more hungry than tired. I haven’t eaten since our plate of grubs.”

He stretched to release the knot between his shoulder blades. “I feel like I’ve been clubbed over the head,” he groaned. “Why didn’t you eat the beans? ”

“I couldn’t eat without you. We share, remember?”

He smiled as he remembered their fight over the chocolate bar on the first day of the crash; it seemed like years ago. Maybe it was. “How about you grab a bean can and I’ll get the fire going.”

“Actually, I may have caught us dinner.” She had a cheeky smile.

He cocked his head. “Really?”

She aimed a finger at the tree, and it took him a moment to work out what she was pointing at. “Is that a snake?”

She nodded, her eyes sparkling.

“Holy shit!” Mackenzie climbed to his feet and walked toward it. It was the biggest snake he’d ever seen. “It’s huge. How the hell did you get it?”

Abi was bursting with excitement as she relayed how she caught it.

Mackenzie hugged her to his chest and kissed her forehead. “Wish I’d seen you, would’ve been like Xena Warrior Princess.”

“Who?”

He feigned shock. “How could you not know her? She’s only the hottest Amazon warrior ever.”

She blushed. “Think we can eat it?”

“I don’t see why not. It’s so big though, we’ll be eating snake for a week.” He laughed and she joined him but the dark circles under her eyes confirmed that her day must have been horrible. “How about I make us some snake kebabs then?”

“Yes, please. I’m starving.”

Abi loaded the fire while Mackenzie cooked the entire snake in batches and as the sun set, they feasted on their most substantial meal in weeks. But even with a full stomach and an undeniable sense of achievement, not everything was rosy. They forgot to hang their bed in another tree and had to settle for another uncomfortable night, back-to-back, in the dirt.

The next morning, they ate another snake meal before Mackenzie declared it time to get moving. They loaded up their gear and he traipsed ahead with renewed vitality.

At Abi’s insistence, he wore socks on his hands to stop him from scratching, but as the day rolled on the itching drove him crazy. He tried to direct his anger into each step, but the monotony of the never-ending bush eroded his patience. For seven days they’d travelled along the 225- degree marker on the compass, the heading Mackenzie had noted while perched high in the tree and he was beginning to doubt the cliff face even existed. Could the vision from the tree over a week ago have been the result of his desperation for something other than greenery?

Dark clouds rolled in, reducing the sinking sunset to a dull glow, yet the heat from the day remained brutal. A flash of lightning lit up the sky, followed by a sickening crack of thunder that rumbled through Mackenzie’s chest. “Fucking hell, not again,” he yelled at the heavens.

Some afternoons culminated in an impressive display of lightning and a thundering encore. A torrential but brief downpour would follow, soaking them to their skins. Their only blessing being that fresh water was in abundant supply.

Mackenzie found Abi’s newfound determination both impressive and irritating and her constant words of encouragement became an annoying babble in his ears.

He pushed through a bush and a rigid branch whipped back and sliced his cheek just below his eye. That was the clincher. He ripped the socks off his hands, tossed his pack to the ground and shot up the nearest tree, ignoring the obvious threat of rain.

“What are you doing?” Abi yelled.

Her voice was a distant noise in his head.

“Mack, talk to me!”

Fear in her voice made him respond. “I need to see where that fucking cliff is.”

Anger drove him upward, his jaw tight. Abi’s pleading was drowned out by a boom of thunder. A fat raindrop fell right between his eyes like a warning, but he continued upwards. His head told him he should be preparing their camp for the night, but he couldn’t stop. He needed to prove the cliff wasn’t a figment of his imagination.

Darkness shrouded him and then the storm cloud burst open and heavy rain thundered upon his head, stinging his upper body. He resisted the urge to look beyond the tree and focused on climbing the now slippery branches. Finally, at a point where he could climb no further, he secured his position and peered through the leaves. A flash of lightning lit up the sky … and there it was. The giant cliff face loomed before him, bold and dominant. His heart raced and his head spun.

“We’re here,” he yelled .

A dark hole in the cliff stood out like an empty eye socket. A cave! He cheered as he tried to relay the sight before him to Abi, but he could tell she couldn’t hear him. Renewed energy flooded through him, and he practically raced back down the tree. At the bottom he gathered Abi into his arms, and they spun around until they fell into a laughing heap on the muddy forest floor.

They lay side by side with the soaking rain still falling onto their already drenched bodies. “There’s a large cave in the cliff. It looks perfect.”

“I can’t wait to see it.”

The clouds suddenly separated, and sunlight poured over them, bringing light and warmth.

Mackenzie wasn’t ready to stop. He put his pack on and helped Abi with hers. He grabbed the trolley case by the handle, reached for Abi’s hand and dragged her forward. “Come on.”

They ploughed through the scrub ignoring the punishment to their skin. He dropped Abi’s hand and pointed ahead when he spied the orange sandstone.

In dramatic contrast to the surrounding green vegetation, it towered above them, full of hope and promise, a glorious sight.

They just had to figure out how to climb up it.