Page 11

Baren

Zane

T here’s a loud scream from the mud huts where we left the rest of the group. It’s sharp and clear but stops as quickly as it started. I’m pivoting to go back when Calvin grips my arm.

“They’re cleaning him up,” Calvin says without stopping his pace into the jungle. “As long as we hear nothing else, we should get the water. The sooner we can get him back to camp, the better off everyone will be. This side of the island is better off left for the ghosts.”

I’m glaring at the backside of the knuckle-nut’s head. Seriously. “Or this side of the island has goats, chickens, and?—”

“—a fuck-ton of cats. And there’s no chicken. If there had been chickens, I would have brought one back. And what are we going to do with a goat? You think Haley would let us eat one? And keeping them for their milk? Too much work. Plus, I told you there were goats.”

I stop on the narrow trail. “But you could have told us that this was over here.” I’m steamed.

“I was planning on it. But I wanted to... I wanted to bury the dead first. Then we found the Rock Candy and I thought...” He’s not stopping, so I have to quickstep to catch up with him.

“You thought what?”

“I had fucking hoped, okay? For the first time in a long time, I had hope. With enough man hours, we could have gotten the thing started and then, with what we found last night, I thought we could make it out of here.”

“You mean you found the pirates?” I jog to keep up with him.

“It doesn’t matter. The stream’s up ahead. Let’s just get the water.”

“What the bloody hell, mate? You need to get your shit in order. No more secrets.” I push back a branch and there in front of us is a large bay. It’s rocky, but under other circumstances I’d be shocked by the beauty of the place.

“The freshwater stream’s up there. It’s a bit of a scramble. You ready?”

I’m scowling at him, but it’s more than a scramble to get over the giant boulders.

I’m using all the air in my lungs to keep up with him, which might be his plan to keep me from yelling at him.

The serious fucker. I want to smack him into next week.

“How many times have you come over here without us knowing?” I shout into the waves.

He turns around and gives me that silent stare. “It’s up here. You need a hand?” He stops, standing on a tall boulder, and reaches down to me.

“Nah, I’ve got it.” I’m not short by any means, and in a lot of ways, I’m a lot nimbler than the damn Viking.

I can smell the fresh water before I see it. There’s a small waterfall where the freshwater makes its way into the ocean. There’s a rainbow in the spray as the water crashes over the rocks. I stop next to it and pull the water bottles out of my pack.

“Give them to me. I’ll climb up there and get it from the stream. There’s bound to be salt in this section from the ocean spray.”

“No, I’ll climb up. You can wait here.”

Calvin shrugs. “We can both go up.” He grabs handholds with the swiftness of someone who’s been here many times. And in the end, he’s standing on the edge next to the waterfall before I can get there.

It’s flat, and the jungle is thin here. Off in the distance is another structure. Compared to the ones on the other beach, this one appears whole.

“What’s that?”

“I haven’t... Listen, there are things that the rest of you don’t need to carry. Okay? Please.” Calvin runs his hand over his face.

I’ve got my chin jutted out, and I take a few steps down the stream. It splits a hundred feet up ahead and goes back the way of the other huts. “Any reason that we couldn’t have just gone the other way? Any bloody reason we couldn’t have come around the back of the huts and gone there?”

“Yeah, about ten.”

“Calvin?” I hold my hands in the air.

“There’s ten bodies in a pool that empties out into an underground stream.

They dumped them there. They, whoever did it.

They’re bones but... this water should be cleaner.

I hadn’t gotten to...” A tear runs down the side of his face.

“I wanted to put them all to rest first. That’s all. .. I should have told you.”

“Fucker, you should have. I would have helped you. You don’t have to do everything yourself.

You know that, right?” I want to wrap the big lug in a hug, but.

.. but I’m not sure that’s what he wants.

Instead, I squat and fill up the stack of water bottles I have.

I pack them in my rucksack and put it on.

When I turn back to Calvin, he hasn’t moved. “You okay, mate?” I step up to him.

“You would have helped me? Not told Haley?”

“Fuck man, I’m pissed that you would even have to ask that. There’s no way I would have told Little Bird about a bloody massacre. I would have helped you. Fuck, don’t take this to heart, but I would probably help you bury a fresh body. You’re my friend. Don’t go and muck that up.”

Calvin winces.

And I realize what I’ve said. “You really think Easton’s not going to make it?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s just this place. It makes me go dark inside.”

“I can see why. It’s too beautiful to think that something so horrific happened here.”

We’re both standing staring back over the bluff at the ocean. There’s a nice breeze, and it’s more protected. I’m locked in, mesmerized by the way the water crashes against the rocks below with the stream running over them. “I bet the people who lived here really liked it. And they were happy.”

“Happy?”

“Yeah, how could they not be? Getting to look at that all day—they had it all.”

“Until they didn’t,” Calvin says. His hands rest on his hips as he glances back at the more intact structure.

“But there comes a time when we all leave this world. There aren’t a lot of people who leave this world without pain.

” I grip my sides. Because I think of my dad whenever I think about death.

But if ever there was a man on the planet who thought daily about how to live life, it was my dad.

And there’s no way he’d want me to think about how he died and not how he lived it.

With purpose. He was the best at what he did, living.

“No, I suppose you’re right,” he says. But Calvin doesn’t get it. Not yet. Maybe he never will.

“You ready to go back to the others? When Easton’s good, we can come back and take care of the rest of those who need to be buried.”

“Thank you.”

The way back to the other huts is a lot faster than the way over.

A universal truth, but this time I’m in the lead.

And I keep turning back to check on Calvin.

He’s keeping up but lagging. We break through the jungle into the overgrown clearing by the huts.

Dante’s sitting on a pile of rocks, looking at a mound of earth, Penny at his feet.

“You okay?” I ask.

“This was an oven.” Dante’s poking at the surrounding crumbled mud bricks and grass with a long stick.

“How’s Easton?” We were gone less than an hour.

“He’s not going to die, if that’s what you’re asking.” Dante sits upright. “You didn’t need to scare Sassy that way, Calvin.”

“I—”

“Don’t, we’re pissed. And that’s not the royal ‘we.’ That’s all of us. But good job getting the two of you out of there,” Dante growls.

And Penny barks.

“I know.” Calvin drops to his knees.

“Damn. I?—”

“There’s more to all this.” I wave my hands around the ghost farm, just as two cats, a white one and a brown one, come running over to Calvin.

The white one rubs itself on Calvin’s thighs.

And the other one pushes its head between Calvin’s knees until Calvin drops down to the ground and the other cat curls up in his lap.

Calvin scratches the cats behind their ears as his head hangs low.

“Yeah, I’m guessing that. But we didn’t need to be kept in the dark. There’s no military clearance needed. Not here. That’s only going to bring us more problems.” Dante hands me Penny’s leash and sits in the dirt next to Calvin.

Calvin lifts his head. “How is he really?”

Dante glances at the hut. “It’s going to hurt like hell when we take him over the mountain. Not just for him, but for us too.”

“I’ll do it,” Calvin says.

I really want to smack him. “Like Little Bird says, we’re a family, Calvin. We’ll all do it together. You’re not the only one here with muscles. Brothers help each other.”

Calvin scoffs.

“Well, good brothers do. And I aim to be a good brother,” I say.

“I know you do, Zane. There’s not a bad cell in your body.”

I laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far.” I touch Calvin and Dante each on the head. “I’m going to check on them.” I shrug my rucksack off and take a fresh water bottle with me.

It’s dark and stale in the mud hut. But Calvin’s right, this place has a sadness to it. The type of sadness that leaches into your soul. Easton’s sleeping, and Haley’s sitting on Sam’s lap, her head resting against his chest.

“Hey,” I say softly. Easton opens his eyes, and Haley sits up. “How are you doing?”

“Better now that Sam’s not pouring acid on me. I’d like to get the hell out of here.”

Haley slides off Sam’s lap and sits next to Easton. “I think you should rest more.”

“I don’t want to stay here, not overnight, not again.”

I glance at Sam, and he gives me a sideways cock of his head. “You think you can walk?”

“Through the bamboo?” Haley asks. “Oh, no. We won’t have to go through the bamboo, since we’re not trying to get to Chicken Beach.”

“It’s not as bad coming down the other path.” Calvin’s in the doorway. “Even if you think you can walk, we should make a pallet to put you on in case that changes.”

“Agreed. We’ll be right back.” I kiss Haley’s cheek and nod at Easton and Sam. “Bamboo?” I ask Calvin.

“There’s plenty of it around.”

Carrying Easton down past the waterfall on our side of the mountain is a hell of a lot easier than the way up the other side, where every step I worried about him tumbling off the stretcher. “You doing okay?” I’ve got his head and Calvin’s got his feet, and most of the weight.

“I’d do better if you let me walk.”

“Calvin, I think we can let him try to walk,” I call ahead.

Sam has taken the lead with Penny on his back again, and Dante and Haley are behind us.

I’ve been watching the expressions on Easton’s face almost as much as where I step. The rocking of the pallet, with the difference in pacing between Calvin and me, causes him to grimace as his body is torqued.

“We’re almost there,” Calvin says.

“Calvin?” Haley calls. “Stop.” And he does.

“You want to walk?” Calvin lowers the stretcher to the ground, and I follow suit.

“I do.” Easton swings his legs around and I help him up.

“Let me know if you get tired.” I’m ready to grab him around the waist if I need to.

“I’m good.” Easton stumbles a half-step, and I reach out to grab him, but he rights himself before I have to. “It will be good to be home.” He laughs.

“Yeah, it will.” Home. It’s where your family is.