Page 65 of The Beach Holiday

THEN

Kai was looking anxious this time when I returned. I hadn’t really explained about the key; I had just run. I held it up to show him and he threw his hands up in the air and then over his head and ran them down his scalp.

‘We don’t have long.’ I pushed the key into the lock. It fit. Kai’s eyes were on the lock. I heard the motion of other men, the sounds of them growing louder.

‘Shhhh!’ I called to them. ‘You want to get us all killed? Have patience.’

I held the key in place. Kai looked from my hand to my face.

‘Don’t fail me now, Sadie.’ He looked as though he might shove his hand through and try to grab the key.

I paused for a moment, my mind playing tricks on me. I was doing the right thing, wasn’t I? These men, they were all innocent. Weren’t they? They were all part of Avril’s game, her desire to build paradise, a world without men. And Clara had known the truth too.

The men’s protesting voices began to get louder. I tried to block them out. I could hear a countdown beginning. I knew I had very little time left. It was now or never. I stared at Kai, willing him to speak, willing him to let me know that I was making the right decision.

‘My name is Kai. Kai Jackson. I was born in Cape Town in 1989. I am from a good family. I had hopes and aspirations. I should never have been here.’ He bent down a little so that he was facing me. ‘Sadie, please let me out.’

I turned the key, the cage door opened and Kai fell forward. His hands were on the ground, rubbing the soil over his face.

I handed him the key. ‘Save your men.’

He was on his feet and opening cage after cage. I began running. I was halfway back when I heard the first screams coming from the main camp.

Ula had arrived.

Ula was in the centre of the camp. Flames licked around the edge in the dry foliage.

There was no routine involved, no planned structure, just her presence there was enough to make the campmates uneasy.

If I had waited another day or two then the rain would have come and the bushes would have been too wet to light.

I heard the strained voices of the campmates as Ula put herself amongst them. They would all be watching her until they realised the bushes were burning.

I watched as the flames rose higher and began to reach the cabins. But I was headed to the back beach where I had moored a boat earlier.

I took one last look at Ula, then I ran.