Page 6

Chapter Si x

M ackenzie’s watch beeped at six o’clock and his thoughts drifted to what he should be doing. Instead of sitting by a cosy fire sipping the icy cold beer that the brochure had offered, he was grappling with a situation beyond belief.

Shaking his head, he tried to focus. He needed to keep busy. “I think we have about twenty hours before they find us. We should do a few things to get ready for the night.”

“Such as?” Abigail sat on the grass, staring into the bush. Blood from the gash on her forehead had dribbled over her nose, staining her alabaster skin. Her red eyes looked sore, black mascara semi-circles smudged below them.

“For starters we should see what we have to eat and drink.”

She groaned and shaking his head, he walked around her, forcing his gaze to the back of the plane, rather than Rodney’s lifeless body.

The shredded edge of the cabin was suspended off the ground at shoulder height and he needed all his strength to haul himself up. As he lay on the floor, he spotted a bag trapped beneath Toni’s seat and crawled forward.

An agonising scream pierced the silence.

“Help! Help!”

His heart launched to his throat at the terror in Abigail’s voice. He jumped to the ground and ran to her. “What’s wrong? ”

She spun in circles, slapping her arms. “I’m covered in ants. Help me! They’re biting me.”

Masses of tiny ants scurried over her back and angry bites already dotted her neck. He yanked off her suit coat and tried to slap the ants away without hurting her.

When they’d flicked them all off, Abigail stared at the red welts along her arms and whimpered like a puppy wanting company.

He felt her pain. “Come on. We might find a first aid kit.” Placing his hands on her shoulders, he guided her toward the plane.

The floral scent of her hair seemed so out of place.

They stood beneath the cabin and stared into the shattered wreck. It was a miracle they’d survived and a sudden recollection of fighting with Rodney over who’d take the window seat crushed his heart. Losing that debate had saved his life.

“What do we do with them?” Abigail whispered as if they could hear.

“I don’t know.” He scanned the mess. “Let’s see if we can find something to cover them with.”

Mackenzie pulled himself into the cabin, opened the only overhead locker and clutched a small case that tumbled out. “Here, catch this.” He tossed the bag toward Abigail’s outstretched arms, and she grunted as she caught it. “Take it outside. We’ll check it in a minute.”

She obeyed in silence, disappearing from his view.

Avoiding the bodies, he searched along the aisle and at the very front, he braced against the damaged doorway and inspected the cockpit. The pilot was unrecognizable. It was hard to believe the scattered blood and flesh once belonged to a human.

He’d seen blood before, lots of it, but this was somehow not as gut wrenching, probably because he didn’t know the pilot.

He backed away from the door, fighting a fresh urge to throw up.

Pausing at Rodney’s body, he felt like his heart would implode. Tears ran freely as he touched the cheek of the man he loved. Rodney had joked on many occasions he’d go with a martini in one hand and a duck pate canapé in the other. “A quick heart attack would do it, as long as I don’t dribble,” he’d say light-heartedly. Rodney was handsome and took immense pride in his appearance. He would’ve been devastated to end his life like this .

Mackenzie turned away, choking back tears.

A bottle was wedged in Madonna’s front seat pocket. “I found water.”

He tossed the bottle toward the aisle. It landed with a hollow thud and rolled toward the back of the plane and vanished into the hole.

“What about our suitcases?” Abigail’s voice echoed in the hollow space.

“They’re in the nose of the plane, remember?”

“That’s right.” She gasped. “Oh God. The pilot … he knew something was wrong.”

“What’re you talking about?” He shuffled back to the rear, and she relayed the details of the pilot and the man in the yellow vest arguing near the plane.

“Jesus. Why didn’t you tell someone?”

“I tried to, but Spencer didn’t believe me.”

“Didn’t he see it?”

“No. He was too busy with his secretary.” She looked off to the distance.

“They wouldn’t let the plane take off if something was wrong.”

“Obviously.” She rolled her eyes.

He crouched down at the edge. “Look out. I’m coming down.”

He jumped down, stepped into the open air and a light breeze licked the sweat from his forehead. The sound of running water made him spin around. “What the hell are you doing?”

“What?” She frowned, flicking excess water off her hands.

“We need that water.”

“There’s heaps here.”

“For now. But what if they don’t find us tomorrow?”

“Of course they’ll find us.”

“You don’t know that. It could be days.”

She blinked, opened mouthed. “Oh God! How many days?”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere. They could take a week to find us.”

She cupped her hands over her ears. “Shut up. Just shut up.” Her lips bunched together, and she looked on the verge of crumbling. But then she straightened her shoulders and glared at him. Mackenzie held her stare .

“Spencer’s family will start the search immediately.” Despair and determination mingled in her dark green eyes.

“All I’m saying is go steady with the water until we’re rescued.”

“So, say that then. Don’t say stupid things.” She scratched the ant bites.

Her tendency to flit from confident to insecure kept catching him off guard. He prayed for a swift rescue. “Let’s see what’s useful in this bag.” The travel case had a toiletries bag, a jacket, camera, a book, and a Snickers chocolate bar.

He held the chocolate toward her. “Are you hungry?”

Abigail’s eyes were green pools of despair. “We’re going to starve.”

Now she’s insecure again . “Don’t be silly. Many people have survived for longer than twenty hours with just a chocolate bar. Besides, we haven’t looked in the handbags yet.”

He rummaged through the other bags. “At least we’ll have fresh breath when we’re rescued.” He showed her a packet of breath mints.

“Jesus.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Hey, we haven’t checked the other luggage yet.”

A wind gust released a shower of leaves from the towering trees and as he marched to the front of the plane Mackenzie felt the eyes of the deceased watching him.

Shuddering, he slapped that thought from his mind.

The nose of the plane had crushed to about a third of its length and a giant gum tree, as wide as his chest, was jammed against the cargo door.

“Shit!” We can’t get into the luggage that way.

Petrol fumes invaded his nostrils as amber liquid dripped from the crumpled metal and landed in the red dirt where it was quickly absorbed.

He turned to Abigail, who was scratching ant bites on her neck. “Get me a water bottle, will you?”

Groaning, she stomped away.

What’s wrong with her now?

He inspected the undercarriage. One of the wheels was completely destroyed and had rubber dangling off it like an old muddy sock. The other was miraculously intact.

When Abigail returned, she thrust a water bottle in his face .

He jumped back. “What’s your problem?”

“Why are you allowed water and not me?”

“I don’t want the water.” He pointed at the leaking petrol. “I want an empty bottle to catch these fuel drips.”

“Oh.” She averted her eyes.

“Drink as much as you want. I need an empty bottle.”

She removed the lid, wiped the rim on her shirt and gulped a third of the water before she handed it to him.

He drank the remaining water and lined the bottle under the drips. “Can you hold this here to catch the fuel?”

He moved back and Abigail took the bottle from him. Mackenzie ran his fingers around the cargo door searching for a way to open it, but it was pointless. “It’s jammed shut. We’re never getting in there.”

Backing away, he looked up at Rodney. His handsome features were contorted into a ghastly Halloween mask and crumbling at the sight, Mackenzie tore his eyes away.

Through the trees, the sky was turning slate blue.

It’ll be dark soon. We need a fire .

Eucalyptus and petrol odours filled the air, and an idea came to him. He walked to the cases and emptied out a toiletries bag. Abigail was concentrating on catching every dribble when he returned to the undercarriage and dropped onto his hands and knees.

She jumped back. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Shit, lady! What’s wrong with you?” He glared up at her. “I’m collecting the dirt covered in petrol.”

“Oh. You startled me.”

He scooped handfuls of wet dirt into the toiletries bag and as he carried it back to the bags, he listened for a plane, or any sign he was about to be rescued.

But it was silent, too silent. Fighting a wave of frustration crawling through his veins, he reached for a black canvas bag labelled Toni Walker and smiled as he removed a lighter.

“Thank you, Toni.”

Scraps of paper were everywhere. He gathered a small pile and a collection of sticks along with a huge branch that appeared to have been broken off in the collision as its shredded end still beaded amber coloured sap.

He sprinkled the fuel laden dirt in a circle and layered the paper, twigs, and tree branch over the top. He flicked the lighter and soon the fire was so big he had to move back.

Abigail arrived at his side and held the three-quarter full bottle toward him. “The drips have stopped.”

“Good work. We need more wood to keep this going all night. Come and help me.” He foraged in the bushes and when his arms were full, he shoved the bundle toward Abigail. She hesitated, then with a scowl, she wrapped her arms around them, scurried back to the fire and tossed them on the flames. Sparks shot into the air.

“Watch it!” Mackenzie yelled. “We don’t want sparks on the plane.”

She turned, pouting. “You do it then.”

“Christ. Do you have to be such a pain in the fucking arse?”

She jabbed a long red fingernail toward him. “Don’t use your gutter language on me.”

“You’ll be grateful for my fire when you’re freezing your arse off at four in the morning.”

Her eyes darted from the fire to the plane, then a smug expression crossed her face. “It’s too far from the plane to give us any heat.”

Damn. She’s right . “At least it’ll give us light when we need to do a piss.”

She stiffened.

Ha! She hadn’t thought of that.

She stomped away and sat on a suitcase with her arms folded across her chest.

Mackenzie continued gathering wood, and each time he glanced in her direction, she was either applying another layer of makeup or checking her phone.

The phone was a waste of time, he’d already tried.

Sunset came quickly as a grand display of gold and red that blazed through the tree canopy. Then, as if a heavy blanket had descended upon them, they were consumed by darkness.

Mackenzie dragged a large log near the fire and sitting on it, held his hands toward the flames. The heat warmed his fingers, and the twisting flames were mesmerising. He sat in silence for a long time before Abigail finally approached .

“Sorry for the way I behaved earlier. I should’ve helped with the wood.”

“It’s okay. You can help tomorrow.” He paused. “What’s your hurry for makeup anyway?”

Her eyes bulged in apparent shock. “Because I looked hideous.”

The glow from the fire cast a yellow tinge onto Abigail’s pale skin. He guessed her age at about forty-five but with no age lines he suspected she used Botox. The black smudges under her eyes were now gone and she’d smoothed her hair.

As Mackenzie poked the fire, instigating a spiral of sparks, hunger pains churned his stomach. “Hey, where’d we put that Snickers bar?”

Her eyes snapped wide, and her hand went to her mouth. “I, um … ate it.”

“You what?”

“You gave it to me.”

“No, I didn’t. I offered to share it with you.”

“I was hungry. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

He stabbed the fire. “Why wouldn’t I mind?”

“Well, you people are so conscious of?—”

“People? What people?”

“You know … gay.”

“Do you even know anyone who’s gay?”

“Of course not!”

His first impulse was to fight back, but she wasn’t worth it. And he was too exhausted to care. “Let’s just get through the night and after we’re rescued you can go back to your narrow-minded life.”

“That will be just fine with me.”

He tossed the stick into the fire and stormed toward the plane. His mind raged. It had been many years since he’d had an argument over his sexuality. And Rodney had been there to support him that time.

“Where are you going?” Abigail called behind him.

“Away from you.”

His silhouette was a tall, dark shadow projected onto the trees. In the distance the smooth, white bark on a large gum tree radiated in the firelight. He diverted to it to relieve himself, then returning to the cases, rummaged for his jacket. The temperature had plummeted since sunset, and he was grateful for the added layer of clothing .

Reluctantly he returned to the plane, each step was heavier than the one before.

The chair beside Rodney was as cold as his heart and his fingers trembled as he touched Rodney’s cheek.

But he recoiled at the coolness of Rodney’s skin and tears prickled his eyes.

When he couldn’t fight them anymore, he put his hands over his face and wept.

With Rodney gone, he was now completely alone.