Trial by Fire (5 page)

Jane knew there was no chance she and Buzz could get to the freshwater falls now. With the low battery on her camera, they were going to be lucky to make it back with any light at all.

She'd been this way only once before, traveling in the opposite direction with Carter. And that was with a working camera. Trying to navigate this maze of caverns without it would be impossible. It could even be lethal. Who knew how many wrong turns and dead ends there might be? Or what was hiding in those dead ends?

“We should just fill the bottles here and turn around,” Jane said.

She got no argument from Buzz. “It's better than nothing,” he said. “Hopefully, they'll have a fire going by the time we get back there and we can boil—”

Jane screamed as something small skittered across her foot.

“What?
What?
” Buzz asked, his own voice filled with panic all over again.

“I thought I felt something,” Jane said.

In fact, she
had
felt something. A rat, probably, but it seemed better not to put it into words. Buzz was already freaked out enough. So was she, for that matter. And the longer they stood here, the more the camera was going to run down.

Working quickly, they dipped their bottles into the freezing cold pool and let them fill all the way. Jane tried not to imagine something leaping out at them as she knelt at the water's edge. It was almost as if the darkness itself was alive, and with every passing second she wanted out of that cave a little more.

As soon as they'd screwed the caps on the bottles and zipped them back into the pack, they turned to leave.

“I'll go in front this time if you want,” Buzz said. “Keep your hand on my shoulder.”

“Thanks,” Jane said, handing off the camera. “I'm really glad you're here, Buzz.”

It was a relief to let someone else lead. Going first was exhausting. But even so, the camera's red battery indicator felt like a ticking clock, winding down to nothing. If they didn't hurry, they were going to be sorry. And at the same time, the darkness all around them made hurrying almost impossible.

All they could really do now was go one step at a time and hope for the best.

C
arter stood on the edge of Lookout Point, staring down at the
Lucky Star
,
sitting on the ocean floor.
The water was incredibly clear. It was like looking at a picture of their boat through a sheet of glass.

It wasn't too far offshore, either. Once it had washed off the rocks and sunk, it had come to rest on the edge of a coral reef maybe twenty or thirty yards away from Dead Man's Shelf. That meant all the things they thought they'd lost were very possibly within reach—flares, first-aid kit, clothes, blankets, food. It was all just waiting for them down there.

“Let's go,” Carter said. “We can do this right now.”

“It's getting late,” Vanessa said. She pointed west, where the sun was heading for the horizon. “But let's make a deal.”

Carter looked her in the eye. The truth was, he didn't totally trust Vanessa. And she probably didn't trust him.

“What kind of deal?” he asked.

She held the flare out on her palm. It didn't look like much, just an orange stick with a black cap, the size of a big Magic Marker. But they both knew that if that cap came off, the flare would burn with the intensity of a blowtorch for a full minute.

“I'll bring this down with us,” she said. “We won't use it today, but first thing in the morning, we can dive down to the boat. If we don't find more flares, or figure out some other way to make a fire by this time tomorrow, we'll do it your way. Deal?”

Carter hated the idea of another cold night. But he could be a team player, even if the others didn't think so. Maybe it was time to prove it.

“All right. Deal,” he said.

“And listen, Carter. As long as we're talking, can I ask you something?”

“What now?”

“Why are you so mad all the time?” she asked.

It was such a Vanessa question—as in totally unnecessary, Carter thought.

“I'm not mad all the time,” he said. “I'm just trying to get stuff done around here, in case you hadn't noticed.”

“Is it because you don't like being part of this family?” she asked. “You know, my parents got divorced, too, and you don't see me—”

“Are you serious?” Carter asked. “You really want to talk about that? Right now? Give me a break.”

Vanessa took a deep breath and stared at him. “Well, either way, while you're so busy
not
being mad, could you please take it easy on Buzz? He's not as strong as we are.”

“He's stronger than you think,” Carter told her. “Jane, too. They don't need you to baby them all the time.”

“I know,” Vanessa said right away. But she wasn't very convincing.

Meanwhile, the sun was going down fast. There wasn't anything else to say, so Vanessa tucked the flare into her pocket and they headed back to camp. First, they recrossed the tree bridge one at a time, crawling carefully to the other side. After that, it was a quick hike the rest of the way down, where they found Buzz and Jane waiting for them at the cave.

Jane was flat on her back, with two bloody knees. Buzz was sitting up, using the big knife to carve a point at the end of a long stick. Both of them looked exhausted and pale.

“The camera's dead,” Jane said. “The battery started to run out before we could get to the falls. We had to take water from inside the cave and turn around.”

Out by the fire pit, Carter saw two full bottles of water sitting on the ground.

“Are you guys okay?” Vanessa asked.

“We fell a couple of times,” Buzz told them. “But we're okay.”

While Vanessa gave them the good news about the
Lucky Star
, Carter couldn't wait anymore. He turned and walked back out to where the water was waiting. It didn't make any sense that they'd just leave it by the fire pit, but right now he was too thirsty to care.

He unscrewed the cap on one of the bottles and took a long swig. Then another, and another. It was hard to stop. He couldn't hog it all, he knew, but he could at least have half of a bottle. That was his share. He'd drink it now and go back into the cave for more by himself if he had to.

“CARTER, DON'T!”

Vanessa's voice jarred him out of his thoughts. He almost dropped the precious water right there.

“What?”
he asked. “I'm not hogging it.”

Something was wrong, he could tell. Jane's eyes were wide.

“We have to boil that first!” she said.

“What do you mean? Why do we have to boil it?” he asked.

“Because,” Buzz told him. “You just drank water off the bottom of a giant bat toilet. That's why!”

For the next hour or so, Jane watched Carter carefully. He didn't seem sick, but it was too early to tell.

Then, when Buzz and Vanessa brought four new coconuts up from the beach, Carter said he didn't want his. Instead, he went to lie down on the palm fronds they'd piled into thin mats inside the cave.

That's when Jane started to worry for real.

As it grew dark, the jungle seemed to close in around them. It was like a world of sounds that only got louder as it got darker. Jane could hear a million different insects, and birds, and small animals moving in the underbrush. Somewhere not too far off, a monkey screeched over and over.

It was horrible, knowing exactly how long and cold the hours ahead were going to be, without fire or drinkable water. Carter obviously wasn't well, but what if he got
really
sick? What then?

It didn't take long to find out. It was two to a muddy blanket inside the cave, and he was already shivering when Jane cuddled up next to him.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

“I dunno,” he half mumbled. He sounded terrible. And in fact, they'd barely settled in when Carter threw back the blanket and jumped up.

“Which way's the front?” he asked.

“Over there,” Jane said. There was just enough moonlight outside to show the way, but he seemed confused. She saw his shadow stumble in the right direction, until somewhere near the cave entrance he threw up for the first time.

But it wouldn't be the last. Not even close.

For hours, Carter vomited, over and over. At first, the little bit of food in his stomach seemed to come up, along with the water he'd drunk. After that, it was just a dry hacking sound that made Jane's own stomach feel queasy.

Her heart ached, too. She wished there was something—anything—she could do to make him feel better.

“I should have told him about the water,” Jane whispered to Vanessa and Buzz. “This is all my fault.”

“It's not,” Vanessa said. “We all should have noticed.”

“But I was the one who put it by the fire pit. I should have just held on to it. Or something. I don't know,” Jane said.

It was like every small mistake became huge here. There was no doctor to call, no medicine they could give Carter, not even any water to rinse his mouth. The reminders of everything they took for granted at home were endless—like toilets, and medicine cabinets, and electric lights. And parents, who took care of things when it all went wrong. All back in the “real world.”

This place felt more unreal every single day.

When Carter finally went quiet, it was almost worse. Jane could just barely see the shape of him in the pale moonlight. He sat slumped over at the far side of the clearing, not moving, or making any sound at all.

“Carter? Are you okay?” she asked.

“Unnnhhh,” was all he said back.

She shuffled her feet over the ground, trying not to trip as she went. “I'm coming,” she said. She didn't know what she was going to do when she got there, but she couldn't just watch him suffer alone.

Then something else stopped her. At first, it seemed like another sound from the brush, no different than the thousand others. But Jane quickly realized that she was hearing something bigger. Something horribly familiar.

A second later, the heavy shadow of a wild boar came pushing, sniffing, and snorting its way into the camp.

Buzz heard a small scared whine from Jane—just before he looked outside and saw the boar in the moonlight.

At the sight of it, he bolted to his feet. “Jane! Don't move,” he called out.

“Are you sure?” she asked, her voice shaking.

In fact, he wasn't sure at all. Could the boar see her? Smell her? Was it about to charge, like the night before? Already, it was moving tentatively in her direction.

Buzz fumbled through the dark now, heading for the pile of gear at the side of the cave.

“Where are you going?” Vanessa asked.

“I'm getting the axe!” he said.

He had no idea whether he could actually use the axe if he had to, but it was a weapon, anyway. He had to do
something
. Jane was so small, and Carter was in no shape for this.

He could hear Vanessa now. She was outside, screaming at the beast.

“Go away! Get out of here!”

Jane was yelling, too, but it wasn't helping. The only answer they got back was a familiar high-pitched squeal.

Buzz fumbled through the supplies. The moonlight did him no good back here. It was like being blind.

“Buzz, hurry!” Jane yelled.

And then he heard Vanessa. “Help!” was all she said. There was a louder snorting sound now, and some kind of shuffling on the ground. Jane screamed again, and Carter yelled out weakly, “Get off her!”

Those three words—
get off her
—sent a cold wave of dread right through Buzz. Where was the axe? Where was it?

“I'm coming!” he shouted.

His hands passed quickly over a life jacket . . . a spoon . . . a shoe . . . and then something small, long, and round. The flare! Of course. The four kids had been shown how to use them, back in Hawaii before they left port. Forever ago, it seemed, but it wasn't a complicated thing.

Another scream from Vanessa sent Buzz running blindly outside. He stumbled over something he couldn't see, but righted himself and kept going. Even as he moved, he held the flare out in front of him and pulled the plastic cap off with a quick, hard jerk.

It exploded to life in his hand like the world's biggest Fourth of July sparkler. Suddenly, the clearing was filled with a bright white light. Buzz charged straight at the confusion of bodies on the ground. He saw the boar standing over his sister. And he saw Vanessa kicking her legs, trying to roll free.

He yelled as he came closer, thrusting with the burning tip of the flare. The boar turned then, showing him its tusks and teeth, and its tiny wild eyes.

“GET OUT OF HERE!” he shouted. “GO!”

With another squealing scream, it reared off the ground. Vanessa rolled away just in time to avoid being stomped, and the boar bolted into the woods. Buzz followed as far as the tree line, still yelling to drive it off as far as he could. There were other boars, too—a dozen or more of them in the brush. He could hear their hooves drumming the ground as they all retreated through the woods and away from camp.

As soon as the boars were gone, Buzz dropped the flare and ran over to where Vanessa was sitting up. His own breath was still ragged, a combination of terror and trying not to cry.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Vanessa?”

“I think so,” she said.

“Buzz!” Jane yelled. “The flare! The flare!”

“What?”
he asked. Her yelling confused him. Was there another boar?

Already Jane was running over to where the flare lay, still sparking on the ground. “We need to start a fire!” she said.

The realization hit Buzz all at once. He'd been too scared to think straight. But this was their chance.

“Go . . . do it!” Vanessa said. “I'm all right!”

He took the flare from Jane and rushed over to the fire pit. The bamboo trough and ball of coconut husk were still there, but no firewood.

“Get some wood out of the cave!” he screamed.