Page 9

Departed the Ship

Dante

“ Y ou got her?” I tighten the straps on Sam’s shoulders. I would have thought Penny would have put up more of a fight, being stuffed into a backpack and clamped onto Sam’s back, but she’s got her front paws on Sam’s shoulders and her head on his.

Haley hasn’t put her backpack on yet, since Sam had to trade it back for his own. I lift it up. “What do you have in here, Sassy? Rocks? There are plenty of rocks on this side of the island.” I slip my pack off and hand it to her. “I’ll carry this one for you.”

“Wait, I want to get something out of the front pocket. For this, I have to turn Zane’s phone on.

I need a picture of this.” She knows right where it is and yanks it out.

“Hey, you two cuties, look at me. She takes a thousand pictures as if she’s going to put them on Instagram and needs a hundred different shots to choose from. “What?” she asks me.

“Nothing.”

“Go ahead and make fun of me.”

“I wouldn’t dare, Sassy. You’re having fun. I like fun.” I put my head next to hers, take the phone from her, and take a half dozen shots of the two of us. I turn my head and stick my tongue in her ear.

“Dante!” She laughs and steps next to Zane, then takes a few photos with him before turning the phone off and putting it away in her pack.

I put my hand out. “Let me have it.”

“I can?—”

“Of course you can, but you don’t need to.”

“Well, thank you.” She hands it over and takes mine, sliding it onto her back. “Ready?” she asks all of us.

“Ready.” A chorus of echoes follows her down the mountain.

Zane’s got the lead, followed by Haley. Sam and I are bringing up the rear now. It’s steep, and for some reason, the same size boulders Penny could jump onto she can’t jump off of.

We trudge ahead for an hour, making our way over the boulders. There isn’t really a path, but we hold a relative course with the bearing being simply down. Down to the water, down to where we hopefully find a way over to a rock outcropping that divides the two halves of this side of the island.

Zane stops, and we stop in a line behind him. “To get over Chicken Beach, we need to leave this path and head south.” He’s got a machete out, and he points to the thicket of bamboo that blocks the side near the rocky way.

“Agreed,” Sam says.

It’s a slog. I’ve lost track of what time it even is.

But I’m taking a turn with the machete again.

Then I’ll carry Penny while Sam takes a turn.

Then Zane again and round and round. The muscles in my arm ache.

My skin’s pruned from the water shaking off the bamboo.

We’re all torn up from stumbling over the cut bamboo.

Our chopping is becoming narrower and narrower, just wide enough that we can slip through.

I chop through a clump, and there on the other side is the rock outcropping that cuts down the island, racing to the ocean.

A former lava line, the soil we’re standing on was once as tall as the rocks I’m staring at.

But time and erosion have carried it to the sea.

“Stand back. Let me make it a little bigger.” I chop and chop. When there’s enough room for all four of us, I wave them in.

“Holy fuck.” Zane cranes his neck up.

“Yeah,” Haley says.

Penny barks.

“We’re not getting over that. Not without the right equipment. At least not right here, we’re not. We’ll have to travel next to it until we find something more hospitable,” I say.

Zane reaches up and tries to climb it. He pulls his hand back. “It’s like fucking broken glass. I don’t know how we’re going to get over it here.”

Sam grunts. “Two options. Back along the path we came down, where it sounds like Calvin goes to get the pomelos. We try to get around it by the ocean. It has to have been smoothed by the waves. Or we stay our course and cut down the side.”

“The bamboo isn’t as thick here,” Zane says.

“There might be someplace to climb over. The wind always blows from this direction. The waves are going to be crazy. Even if the rock is smoother, it’s possible it will be too rough and we’ll have to come back.

Plus, the bamboo isn’t as thick next to the rocks. It will be a little faster-moving.”

“I agree.” I slide between a clump of bamboo and make it thirty feet without having to cut anything.

Penny barks.

“If you let her down, Sam, we’ll all be able to fit through the bamboo. Maybe we can bend it and not chop it.” Haley runs her hand over Penny’s leg.

“We can give it a try.” He lets her down and out. She shakes the metal tags on her collar, and the clinking echoes in the overly quiet jungle. She tilts her head back and takes off past Zane. She turns and barks, then runs again.

Haley jumps. “Do you think she can scent them?”

“It’s that or stinky seaweed,” Zane says.

Sam cups his hands. “Penny. Don’t get too far ahead.”

Penny barks back and takes off. She darts through the bamboo like they’re slalom poles for a skier.

“Penny,” Haley calls. “We need to be able to follow you.”

Penny yips and waits until we’re almost caught up, then she takes off again.

It’s a rinse and repeat. Over and over, but now with bamboo not as thick, we’re making much better progress.

Even though the outcropping isn’t anything we’ll be able to climb over, I’m starting to think we might not need to.

Not with the way that Penny is taking off.

Though it might be before we get to the ocean.

The ocean’s getting louder, but Penny tears through the bamboo, away from the westerly trail we were taking.

When we break through the bamboo, it drops us into an ethereal world.

Straight lines of fruit trees with waving dried grass underneath them.

Rows and rows. Some healthy, some dead, all of them overgrown.

I pick a pomelo from the ground and toss it back.

There are branches of another fruit tree hanging heavy up ahead.

“But Calvin said there wasn’t any sign of humans on this side, just lots of trees.” Haley’s fingertips touch the tree.

“Last time I checked, Sassy, trees don’t grow naturally in straight lines.”

“Why would he lie to us?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know.” The same thing rolls around in the back of my brain. “I’m sure he had his reasons.”

“They better be damn good,” Sam growls.

Damn. Good.

But my stomach turns. Something’s not right.

Calvin

It’s midday. Almost afternoon. And I’m thinking I might have to leave Easton here and trudge back to camp. Get Zane and some medical supplies. And have Zane help me pull Easton back over the mountain.

The hole in his arm isn’t looking good. It’s red around the edges, and getting him to wake up is one thing, but getting him to stay awake is something completely different.

I kneel down next to him. “Here, drink some water.” I didn’t want to, but I’ve brought him into the corner of the best of the three mud huts.

This one has a little more roof left. It also only had one corpse in it.

Whereas the others? I spent the morning digging a grave for this one.

I’ve been doing one or two graves each time I come. And I’ve snuck over here many mornings.

Easton eyes the cup.

“I’ve washed it.” He was furious when I told him. But then I showed him the second mud house. Not because I wanted to but because he wouldn’t shut up about it.

He rolls over on the mat of palm fronds I’ve made him. He touches the wall, his finger inside one of the holes. “Bullet hole,” he says.

I don’t know if it’s a question or a statement.

Doesn’t matter, I suppose. “Yes. Now drink some water and eat some more of this. Whatever it is.” The last time I was here, I dug three graves and brought back as many pomelos as I could.

But there are a lot more graves to dig for the other huts down the beach.

It’s taken everything in me to keep the others from coming here.

It didn’t change anything about this island for me.

I’ve never imagined us getting off it. Not from the moment we landed.

But the others? The others, they’ve had hope, and seeing the bones of three families long gone?

That isn’t going to make the others have hope.

There’s nothing here we need. The fabric from their clothes is rotten.

A few cups? We had coconut bowls. We had a pot from the derelict.

Better to leave this as their graveyard and keep Haley’s hope alive.

“Drink, Rockwell.”

He lifts his head and takes a sip. “What’s that?”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“I hear a dog barking.” Easton lifts his neck.

I put my hand on his forehead. “I’m going to get you some water for your forehead.”

“We need to talk.” His blue eyes hold mine before he lets his head sink.

“Yeah, I’ll be right back.”

I grab one of the non-rotten sleeves of a shirt I found in the last house and make my way over to where the stream rolls to the ocean. That’s when I hear it too. It’s a dog barking. Pepper’s brothers and sisters take off for the far cottage, the one they spend most of their time in.

Penny comes racing down the beach and jumps at me.

I drop the cloth and catch her. “Hey girl. You’re not alone, are you?” For a second, my mind races to how she could have gotten here. And then I see them coming out of the orchard.

Zane first, Sam, and then Haley, who races for me. “Calvin.” Penny’s jumping around my feet, but I manage to grab Haley and bring her into my arms. “I love you. You’re alive. I love you.” She kisses me and then pulls her head back and whispers, “Easton?”

“He’s over in that mud hut.” I call it what it is. It’s a little hard to deny it now. “He’s injured. It’s not good. He’s not good...”

She cocks her head. “Injured?” She runs to the second hut, and a brown cat follows her. They’ve gotten used to me bringing them fish jerky. “There’s a cat...” She turns back for a second but then races to Easton.

I’ve got three angry-looking men staring at me. “What do you want to know first?”

“Easton,” Sam says. “Pirates, then this shit.”

Zane crosses his arms over his chest. “Agreed.”

Penny nuzzles up against my leg. At least I still have one ally.

I run my fingers through the hair on the top of her head.

“Easton and the pirates are the same conversation. We saw and heard the pirates coming from far enough away that we had time to move. It was late, but we were still up... fuck... I’ll get to that part later.

We were up and we hid in between the crew mess and the toy hauler while they were running around the top of the Rock Candy, getting into the liquor.

Before anyone came down to the engine room, we were able to slide into the water and swim for the cave.

It took them all night, but they managed to get the yacht pulled out.

It was almost high tide when they left. We thought the coast was clear. I tied the knots so you would know?—”

“Yes, that was a good idea,” Sam says.

“High tide, we needed to get out of the cave. And it sounded like they were completely gone. We took the WaveRunner to Chicken Beach.”

“Away from camp, smart.” Dante shows up with his arms full of the fruit I’ve been feeding Easton.

“But they weren’t gone. They chased us, and Easton got hit. Tell me you have a first aid kit in one of those bags.”

“Yes.” Zane pulls one out from the pack Dante had on.

“He’s going to need all the antibiotics we can get him. I’m not sure. Fuck.” I’m not going to cry. I don’t cry. But honestly, I’m not sure he’s going to make it.