Page 39 of The Island

The day was cooling.

The earth was warm.

When he closed his eyes, the world disappeared completely.

He couldn’t feel his fingertips.

He couldn’t feel his legs.

And then there was no “he” to feel anything at all.

10

Heather had the hemp rope around Danny’s neck and she just kept tightening it until Danny collapsed to his knees, dropping the knife.

“Stop this, Ivan!” Ma said.

Ivan grabbed Heather by the hair and tossed her into the dirt like she was nothing.

“I’ll have her,” Danny snarled, recovering himself.

“You’ve done enough mischief tonight, mate,” Jacko said, putting a boot on Danny’s back and flattening him. Matt took the rifle off his shoulder and pointed it at Danny. “That’s enough, Dan!” he yelled.

Danny laughed bitterly. “Oh, it’s come to this, has it? Who are you, anyway? You don’t give orders to anybody here. Least of all me.”

“I’m as much an O’Neill as anyone. And I am not going to have you tell me any different,” Matt said.

Heather wasn’t interested in any of this now. She crawled toward Tom.

He was lying on his side in a pool of blood.

“We have to call an ambulance!” she wailed hysterically.

“We’ve no phones here,” Kate said.

“You have to help him!” Heather yelled.

“That’s enough,” Ma said.

“No! We can still save him,” Heather said. “Please! We can help him!”

Heather grabbed Danny’s fallen knife in her tied hands and struggled to her feet. There were half a dozen guns pointed at her now.

“You have to help,” Heather pleaded, brandishing the knife.

“You should drop it, sweetheart,” Kate said.

Ivan smacked Heather on the side of the head and snatched the knife out of her hands as she fell.

And then Kate fired a barrel of her shotgun into the air and everyone froze.

“Thank you, my dear,” Ma said. “This is a bloody shambles, this is! Takes me to sort it as usual, eh? Never a moment’s peace. First things first—get the bodies up to the house. Take ’em to the old meat locker.”

“Krauts are up in the house. What about them?” Ivan said.

“Jesus wept! Don’t let them see anything. And don’t let them go. Keep them here until we figure out what we’re going to bloody do,” Ma said.

“We know what we’re going to do,” Jacko said. “We’re not letting the cops have Danny.”