Escape, a New Life (12 page)

“REMIND ME, why are we here?  I say we just head straight for the raft,” Eric said.

He and Abby crouched in the brush about fifty yards from their camp.  It was as close as they dared get for the moment. 

“I’m going in there to get the solar bag,” Abby whispered.

“Like hell you are.”

“Eric, God knows how long it is going to take us to get over to the other island.  If we are going to head out without a way to purify drinking water, we may as well just stay here and die.
We won’t make it more than a day in this sun without water.”

He thought about
it. “Well, you ain’t goin’ in to get it.  I’ll go.”

“How is it that you think I’m
not capable enough to do it myself?”

“You are, but I’ve got a feeling this is a trap.”

“We’ve been sitting here for close to an hour.  There is no sign of Tom or Sara.  I’m sure they figured you went looking for me.  They probably gave up hanging out and waiting for you well before we got here, and they’re heading back to their own camp for sure.  We had better get our bag and head out of here before they get to their camp and see how we left the rest of them.” 

She stood up to make her way to their
shelter.  Eric grabbed her by the elbow to stop her. “I’ll go.”

Abby was dazed after standing up so quickly.  His grabbing her had steadied her as much as it stopped her.  She had a splitting headache.  Feeling the back of her head
, she remembered how she was clubbed unconscious last night, just as she made her way out of that pit.

“Are you OK?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I just stood up too fast.”  She took a knee to compose herself. “Why do you think you should be the one to go?”

“I’m bigger and stronger.  If they are waiting out there, I want to deal with them.”

“Yes, well, I’m smaller and faster,” she smiled.

“Fine, we’ll both go.”

Abby thought about that, “No, one of us should stay back, just in case.  You can be the big man this time.  I’ll wait here.”  She gave him a kiss.  Abby was not giving in; she just hated the thought of him having to come to her rescue if this was, in fact, a trap.

He knew she was placating him, but he was fine with that.  They had a clear sightline to the shelter.  The oars were propped against the side.  He would walk straight in, grab the bag and oars, and then head on a diagonal path to the beach.  She would cut straight through the trees to the beach.  There, they would meet and launch the raft.  It was the best kind of plan. 
A simple one.

Eric had made it more than halfway without incident.  Still, Abby did not allow herself to relax.  If Tom and Sara were waiting, they would probably be right in camp
, possibly even inside the shelter she had built.  Abby figured if they were in there, she should probably be closer than she is.

Standing from her crouched position
, she took several cautious steps forward.  Something seemed off, but she could not place it.  She heard something rustle, directly behind her.  Abby reached down to grab her knife, but another hand beat her and was holding it against her throat before she could process what had just happened. 

Abby reached up to
grip the hand as Sara whispered in her ear, “Go ahead and scream.  It will be the last sound you ever make.”

Her warning scream to Eric stopped in her throat.  However
, she did not loosen her grip on Sara’s hand.  She tried prying the hand from her neck, but did not want to make Sara press the knife into her flesh any harder.  Her adrenaline was pumping as her mind raced trying to figure out a solution.

Sara continued to whisper to her, “Tom is right up there.  He is right in that nice little shelter you built.  Want to guess what’s going to happen?  Well
, of course, you know what’s going to happen.  We’re going to kill that good-looking man of yours.  It’s really a shame you never got to seal the deal with him.”

Abby struggled a bit less, hoping to get Sara to relax.  Almost immediately
, she felt Sara’s hand lighten up a bit.

“You would be surprised just how hard it can be to kill someone Abby.  I mean
, sure, we could just run him through with this knife here, but where is the fun in that?  Don’t worry.  We’ve had awhile to think about things, waiting here all night for him to show up.  You’re a nice surprise, though.”

Abby realized they had been here all night.  Meaning they had not been back to their camp to see the carnage she and Eric had left behind.  She breathed a slight sigh of relief. 

“Tom will be happy to see you, I’ll tell you that.  We weren’t going to kill Eric right away.  Just knock him out, or break his legs, then drag him back to camp so we could kill him in front of you.  But you made it so much easier by showing up here yourself!  Your man is a big drink of water.  That was not going to be fun dragging him back.”

Abby was watching Eric.  He was getting very close to the shelter.  If he gets there and Tom surprises him, even if she
could figure out some way to intervene, he might still wind up with some sort of broken limb.  That just would not do.

She gripped the knife as hard as she could, trying
to pry it away from her neck.  Her muscles strained as she forced the knife from her throat. She managed to gain an inch of clearance before kicking her heel back into Sara’s shin with every ounce of strength she had.  Sara’s grip on the knife loosened just for a second, but it was long enough for Abby to rip it from her hand.  Spinning forward out of her grip, she swung her arm back just hoping to connect with something.  Elbow cocked, she slammed the bone of her elbow into the bridge of Sara’s nose.  They were both stunned.  Blood gushed from her nose as she collapsed to the ground.  

Eric heard the commotion and turned to see Abby spr
inting toward him.  “Look out!” she screamed, pointing behind him.

He turned, as Tom was in mid-swing
, bringing what looked like a large club straight down toward Eric’s head.  Eric made a quick move to the right and raised his arm.  This caused the club to graze his left shoulder.  He threw an uppercut that connected to Tom’s jaw with a crack, sending him reeling backwards. 

Abby was closing the distance, but
was only halfway there when Tom recovered.  Still on the ground, he caught Eric by surprise and smashed the club into the side of his leg, sending Eric collapsing to the ground.  Tom quickly sprung up and raised the club to bring it down and presumably break Eric’s leg. 

Eric was on the ground, and Abby was too far away.  She would not get there in time.  She did the only thing she could think of.  Screaming, she threw her knife at Tom with every bit of force she could muster.  He
r scream caused him to look up as her knife sailed through the air toward him. 

Before his mind could register what was happening, the knife caught him and
glanced off of the side of his neck.  For a second, Abby thought he had escaped uninjured.  Then she realized that it must have hit something important, as a fountain of blood sprayed through the air.  He was so stunned, he did nothing as a few seconds later Abby tackled him at a full sprint, and they crashed to the ground. 

She rolled off him to the right as he tried to stand up.  Every heartbeat sent blood spewing from the gash in the side of his neck.  He never made it up from his knees.  A moment later
, he collapsed to the ground and lay there in a heap.  She had not seen where the knife had wound up after hitting him, and there was no time to look.  It was time to go.  Anyone who was close enough to stop them was incapacitated for the moment, but who knew how long that would last. 

She helped Eric to his feet.  He was hobbling, but getting around well enough.  Tom had caught him just above the knee with his club.  They grabbed the bag and four of the oars, and moved as fast as they could to the raft on the beach.

They left the oars on the sand while they hauled the raft from the tree line toward the water.  It was a decent-sized raft, long enough and wide enough for two full-grown adults to lie on it comfortably and easily accommodate a third, as they originally built it with the thought that Sara would be joining them on their trip.  It took some effort, but the two of them eventually got it to the water.  The tide was going out, so the sand was hard and wet, which made the trip in a little easier.  Wasting no time, they pushed the raft into the water to find that it did, indeed, float. 

“Well
, look at that,” Eric said with a smile.  “Hold it here. I’m gonna grab the oars.  We’ll be off this rock in just a couple of minutes.”

“Finally!”

“Don’t leave without me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it
.” She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.

She watched him trot up the beach toward the tree line to grab the oars.  Turning, she looked out over the water at the island in the distance.  The water was sparkling in the early morning sun.  With any luck
, they would get there before the sun sets tonight, and start finding their way back to… where?  They could not just go their separate ways.  Not after what they had been through together.  She had never been to Texas, but that was an adventure she certainly was willing to take.

A small swell caused their raft to bump against her leg
and brought her back from her daydream.  She turned her gaze from their future back toward Eric with a smile.  He was smiling back only ten paces away, but Abby gasped as she saw Sara running up fast behind him.  Sara’s entire chest was covered in blood that was still flowing from her broken nose.  Her face was smeared with blood and tears, nearly to the point that it was unrecognizable.  In her right hand, Abby saw that she had found the knife, which meant she had also found Tom.

Eric saw Abby’s
face, but he was slow to react.  Too slow.  Abby abandoned the raft and dashed past him, grabbing Sara’s knife hand and wrestling her away just before she reached Eric.  Sara landed a left hook to Abby’s ear, sending her sprawling onto the sand.  Sara jumped on top of her, but Eric swiftly kicked her in the ribs knocking the wind out of her, flipping her on her back in the sand.  The knife landed a few feet out of reach. 

He jumped on top of Sara, pinning her hands to the ground.  He shouted at Abby, “Get the raft!”

“What?”

“The raft!
  It’s floating away!”

Abby looked out to the raft that was
quickly being carried out with the tide.

“Go!  What are you waiting for?”

“No, finish her off!  Then we swim out together.”

“Finish her off
?  Are you insane?  I’m not going to kill an unarmed woman that I’ve got pinned to the ground.  Get the raft and bring it back.  It’s gonna be gone in another thirty seconds.” 

Abby did not move.  She was paralyzed by indecision.

“GO!” he screamed at her.

Reluctantly she dove into the water and swam out toward the raft.  It did not take long.  However when she climbed on top of it she was shocked at just how far out she was.  She was at least twenty
yards out, maybe more.  She could see the oars on the beach next to Eric and Sara.  With no other way to paddle in, she laid chest down with her arms hanging over the front and tried paddling back toward the shore with her hands.  The water splashed up in her face, so she could not see her progress.  She paddled her hardest until her arms were dead tired and she stopped to look up, figuring she must be close. 

She felt the air rush from her lungs as she saw that she was even
farther out than when she started.  Eric and Sara were struggling on the beach.  Looking from at least sixty yards out, they were tiny.  She laid down again, hanging her legs off the back of the raft and kicking.  She was not making any progress.  She kicked harder, but felt the current carrying her out still farther.  In this position, she could at least see them clearly on the beach. 

They were on their feet now
, though Abby couldn’t figure out how Sara had slipped out from under him.  Sara had the knife, and Eric had an oar.  He was swinging at her, but she kept her distance so he did not catch anything but air.  Someone else came running through the trees and yelled at them.  Abby recognized her fiery red hair even at this distance.  It was Emily, the one that she had left unconscious and tied up a few hours ago.  The other woman, with the broken leg, was nowhere to be seen.

Sara never took her eyes off of Eric.  However
, Eric turned when the redhead yelled out something Abby could not hear.  She was too far out to hear what was said, and too far out to hear Eric scream when Sara slashed him with the knife, though she saw it clearly.  Abby screamed, and jumped onto the raft.  She was still going out to sea quickly, caught in some sort of riptide.  She saw the redhead streaking across the sand toward Eric and Sara.  Eric was lying on the sand, clutching his side, helpless. 

Her arms and legs were dead tired, but she could not just float out here and watch him die.  She had to try.  Using the raft as a platform, she dove into the water and swam as hard as she could.  She was going against the
current, and fighting a losing battle.  The pain burned through her shoulders, and she could not see the beach over the swells in the water.  She did not make it five minutes before she was forced to give up, smacking the water with her open hand in frustration.