This time as he urged the girl from her spot, she didn’t protest.
35
‘I don’t think I like this,’ Abbey grumbled.
James looked sideways at her. ‘It was your idea.’
‘Don’t remind me. Does it feel to anyone else like we’re in violation of one of God’s laws, or something?’
Anthony snorted.
‘Something to add, Anthony?’
‘God’s laws…’ the scarred man mumbled. ‘You people have a warped sense of morality.’
From further along the line, Sebastian took a brave step forwards. ‘You think there’s something morally righteous with what we’re about to do here?’
‘Yes,’ said Anthony flatly.
‘Then you’ve got some serious issues, chief.’
Anthony made no effort to respond.
‘I notice the Aussie isn’t helping again,’ Sebastian observed. ‘What’s his deal?’
‘He graced us with his presence for a few hours this morning,’ said Abbey. ‘Thankfully he was sleeping. When he woke up, he vanished back into the jungle.’
‘Anyone know where he’s spending his time?’
Nobody did.
‘So come on,’ James piped up, ‘who’s going first?’
Sebastian grinned. ‘Well, you know what they say…ladies first.’
Abbey hesitated. She supposed she was as good a person as any to make a start. Even James seemed tentative.
Spread out before the four of them was the mass of bodies swimming against the rocky outcropping, the rancid stink of the bloated corpses polluting the air. It didn’t take an undertaker to work out what needed to be done. The bodies couldn’t be buried – no lye; the putrid odour would penetrate the surface of the sand. They couldn’t be dragged out to sea – the tide would just whip them back to shore. Only one conceivable method remained – the bodies would have to be stacked into some kind of grizzly bonfire and reduced to ash.
Abbey waded out into the murky water, the first of the bodies billowing towards her. What she was feeling was odd, an almost indifferent emotion. Standing amongst so many unmarked graves peculiarly felt no different to standing amongst the marked ones of a graveyard.
Gripping the corpse of a medium-sized woman beneath the arms, she dragged her from the water, the woman’s heels leaving twin tracks in the sand. Following suit, James headed out and picked a corpse of his own, pursued Abbey to the centre of the beach and laid it down.
Soon the four of them were back and forth, gag reflex down to a minimum. They transferred four bodies in one journey, some missing limbs, others twisted in horrific and gnarled ways. Between trips they introduced wood and other flammables to the pile.
Anthony was working hard, Sebastian too. Since starting work the birth-marked man hadn’t uttered a syllable. In turn, Sebastian hadn’t shut up, his suit jacket now off, the sleeves of his tattered shirt rolled up.
Teri passed them by as she walked, eyes blackened from Elaine’s assault. She didn’t offer to help, didn’t speak to anyone, merely eyed each of them with contempt as she passed.
She was ignored.
The sun went down in quiet splendour as they worked, reminding them how long they’d been at it. As the last body went on, the daylight vanished altogether.
Dropping onto the sand, Sebastian wiped beads of sweat from his forehead and observed their work. ‘Is it wrong that I’m happy with the results?’ he wheezed.
Picking up a few straggling items from the sand, Anthony tossed them onto the pile.
Around seven or eight feet high and twenty feet long, the gruesome bonfire held their solemn attention. Abbey wanted to say something of meaning, but appropriate words failed her. Instead she said, ‘How’re we going to light it?’
‘With one of these, presumably.’ Sebastian was holding up a lighter.
‘I’m not talking about the flame. The bodies are damp. We’re going to need some kind of accelerant.’
Sebastian pocketed the lighter. ‘I don’t know if anybody’s noticed, but there don’t appear to be any gas stations around here.’
‘Leave the accelerant to me,’ said James. ‘I have that covered.’
From the end of the line, Sebastian sniggered. ‘I love this guy. Everything’s so dramatic.’
Abbey grinned and turned to look at James.
‘Don’t encourage him,’ James smirked.
Gradually her smile transformed into laughter, she couldn’t help it. Sebastian’s comment had tickled her. Soon after, Sebastian and even James joined in with the gratuitous chuckling, caught up in the somehow hysterical moment. Only Anthony remained quiet. His eyes lingered unwaveringly on the gory effigy.
‘Something funny about death?’
Elaine had approached stealthily along the beach, the sand aiding her silence.
‘We weren’t laughing at that, Elaine,’ James explained. ‘The laughter was at my expense.’
Hardly appropriate, though, is it? Standing before the shells of so many departed souls. Do you think God would approve?’
Anthony’s quiet sneer was lucid to all.
‘I say something funny, Anthony? Are you mocking God’s name? Because I can assure you, you’ll pay for it when you’re kneeling at His feet.’
Anthony turned his back. ‘Better watch out for that then.’ The sarcasm wasn’t lost on anybody.
‘How dare you stand before me and ridicule my beliefs! Jesus Christ died for your sins.’
Anthony offered a humourless smile, mouth full of crooked teeth. ‘What sin exactly, The Tree of Knowledge? I have some depressing news for you, Elaine, that story is a metaphor. Only a moron would believe it as fact.’
‘Blasphemer!’ she cried. ‘This is how you choose to exercise your free will, by ridiculing God's name?’
‘No, I exercise my free will to not believe in Him.’
Elaine was visibly paling. ‘He didn’t give you free will for that purpose, Anthony. He gave it to you so you make good decisions in life, and strive to be a good man.’
‘Says who?’
‘Says our Lord, Jesus Christ!’
‘Your Lord, not mine.’
Taking a step back, Elaine reeled in disbelief. ‘Are you not thankful for surviving the crash? Do you not believe it a miracle you’re still alive?’
Anthony’s face visibly
