Fire roaring, Sebastian was preparing the fish he’d caught earlier in the spill, offering his catch to others. It was a welcome change from fruit.
Everybody bar Sol and Teri were accounted for, and so his concern was not unjust; Abbey and Anthony had been gone too long.
‘Chief,’ Sebastian called. ‘You want some of this?’
James waved in acknowledgment as he panned the coast, the moon already high in the sky. When the light failed entirely, the situation would become a whole other entity. He would no longer be able to sit on his hands.
And then he heard his name being called, faint and indistinct. It was Abbey’s voice, he was certain.
James!
The second call was clearer, some of the others turning their heads.
He narrowed his eyes to the west.
‘Where are you?’ he uttered to himself.
James!
There she was, stumbling over the rocky panhandle, Anthony draped over her.
‘Oli!’ yelled James. ‘Eric!’
He sprinted towards them, covering the bay in seconds. Standing before the bedraggled duo, he paused in awe. Abbey looked disorientated, confused, her eyes harbouring bloodshot panic.
‘What happened?’
‘Take him!’ she cried.
‘Abbey, what happened?’
‘Just take him!’
As James shouldered the burden of Anthony, Abbey crashed to the sand. Anthony looked barely conscious, his hair matted with dried blood.
As Oli and Eric arrived on the scene, James said, ‘Eric, take Anthony. Carry him back to the camp and lay him down in Gibson’s tent.’
Without question, the big man hoisted Anthony over his shoulder.
‘Oli,’ James said, ‘help me with Abbey.’
She waved them away. ‘I’m not injured, just exhausted. Had him over my shoulder for more than two miles.’
‘What happened out there?’ Oli cried. ‘Were you attacked?’
She closed her eyes, fell onto her back. ‘We’re in trouble,’ she gasped. ‘We need to get off this island.’
*
For over an hour Abbey sat with James and Elaine, the others out of earshot, and filled them in as best she could. When she brought up the discovery of Jerry Benton’s skeleton, James fished the photograph from his shorts and ran his thumb over the image.
‘Unbelievable,’ he murmured. ‘He’s still here.’
‘Been here since 1925. He carved it into the rock face.’
James shook his head in astonishment. ‘What happened after that?’
‘Anthony vanished,’ she replied, her head shaking. ‘I screamed for him to pull me up but he didn’t answer. Next thing I knew, the vine was being thrown into the chasm. Whoever threw it over intended to keep me down there.’
‘Did you see anybody?’ said Elaine.
‘Nobody. It was weird.’
‘So how did you get out if this guy never managed it?’ said James tapping the picture.
‘Jerry Benton was injured, broken leg,’ she revealed. ‘The climb wasn’t so tough. If Jerry had been able-bodied he wouldn’t have died on that shelf. When I reached the top I found Anthony face down in a pool of his own blood. He can’t remember what happened, just remembers hitting the deck, a scuffle of feet around him, and then lights out.’
Elaine appeared anxious. ‘What does this mean?’
James eyed the picture.
‘Come on, guys,’ Abbey said resignedly. ‘Get your heads out of the sand. It’s obvious what’s going on here, isn't it? This island isn’t as deserted as we thought.’
‘Whoa, that's a bit of a jump, Abbey!’ James challenged. ‘What about Sol, what about Teri, they’re both roaming around out there.’
‘They didn’t do this. We know enough about Sol and Teri to rule them out.’
‘What do you know? You met them three days ago.’
‘I know enough. Sol’s a deadhead and Teri’s twenty-one years old and angry. Neither of them is insane.’
‘What about fresh footprints? Another camp, anything like that?’
‘No, nothing.’
In the subtle orange hue, Elaine fixed Abbey with a concentrated stare. Then she shifted her gaze to James. She seemed fidgety, nervous.
‘Elaine, you okay?’
Elaine shook her head and glanced warily over her shoulder.
‘We’re alone, Elaine. What is it?’
‘There’s something I have to tell you,’ she revealed quietly. ‘I think I know what happened to Teri.’
A pause.
‘Elaine,’ said Abbey, ‘I would really appreciate you telling me this information came to light after I left.’
Elaine continued to scan the sand, doggedly refusing to meet Abbey’s eyes.
‘Great,’ Abbey uttered. ‘Fantastic.’
‘Look, all I had to go on was Eric’s word. I honestly didn’t think it was relevant. I’ve raised him for forty-six years and you just kind of get used to his strange stories. Most of the time they’re nothing more than adaptations of something he’s seen on TV.’
‘What is actually wrong with Eric, Elaine?’ James asked.
Glancing up warily, Elaine said, ‘When I met Eric’s father, Graham, he was a good man. Strong-willed, handsome, motivated. He was involved in rugby in a big way, a local hero in our community. It had been his dream since childhood to one day play for the All Blacks, and when he turned twenty, things started happening for him. He was playing for a lower league club when he was scouted by the Wellington Hurricanes, but during his second week of training, his left knee was bent ninety degrees the wrong way. After that he was never able to play in competition again.’
Further along the sand, Eric was laughing at something Oli had said.
‘Predictably Graham took to the bottle. He became abusive and brutish, but somewhere along the way I fell pregnant with Eric. I should’ve seen it coming, but by then I was so blinded and living in fear that I ran out of bargaining chips.
‘Eric was born a perfectly healthy child, and he remained that way until he was twelve. He loved to read, spent most of his time in the library. God knows, he was a smart kid. Graham didn’t like
