21

Lou sat on the sand, looking out at the sea. Her crutches lay beside her. She had Deefer’s lead in her hand. Tears rolled silently down her face. She couldn’t leave him here on his own. She couldn’t go home. She had no choice. There was no way out that she could see. Despite the warmth of the sun, she shivered with cold. Alone in the darkness of the tunnel, the only light was that of the oncoming train, getting closer and closer.

Jack stood and watched her for a minute or two. He slowly walked across the sand and positioned himself so that his shadow fell across her. Lou didn’t appear to notice. “Looks like you could do with a friend,” he said. “Or at least a shoulder to cry on.” He sat down next to her and handed her a tissue.

Lou ignored it.

“Don’t I even get a hello?” he asked.

Silence. He shook his head. “Jim was telling me about your fight with the shark. How’s your leg?”

Lou responded for the first time. “Hurts.”

“Can I have a look?”

“If you want,” Lou said, not bothered one way or the other. She hitched up her skirt.

She heard Jack’s sharp intake of breath and glanced at her leg. She had to concede it did look nasty again. She had given up with the splints. All Mafuso’s hard work had been undone.

The skin that first Jim and then Mafuso had tried to piece together was splitting and pus oozed from gaping sores. The bones grated painfully every time she moved. Her foot was white and cold to the touch, the up side of this being she could no longer feel it.

She shivered again and rubbed her arms. She was so cold and tired.

Why wouldn’t they just leave her alone?

It wouldn’t be long now and she’d be with Deefer.

Jack looked away from the damaged limb and looked at Lou. “You need to get that seen to ASAP.”

Lou sighed. “Why?”

“Because looking at it and at you, the infection has spread. If it goes untreated it will kill you.”

“I already know I’m dying. Tell me something I don’t know,” Lou muttered. “The sooner I die the better.”

Jack grabbed her and turned her towards him. “Don’t you dare talk like that. You’re what, sixteen? C’mon tell me. What is so bad that you don’t wanna see seventeen?”

Lou looked away and refused to answer.

Jack shook her slightly. “Talk to me,” he ordered.

“I can’t,” Lou said. “And I‘m not going home either.”

“And why’s that?”

“Which part of I’m dying don’t you understand? I won’t put the others through that. They’ve lost enough already. Better they think I’m alive and well here than watch me die like Deefer did.”

Jack grasped her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. “We have just flown several hundred miles to rescue you. Your mom is on Guam waiting for you—waiting anxiously I might add. It was all I could do to stop her from insisting she came in the chopper with us. We are taking you home.”

“No.” Lou pulled herself free and struggled to her feet. “Leave me alone,” she cried. “I’m staying here.” She grabbed her crutches and limped away as fast as she could.

~*~

Jim stood with the others as the radio attached to the major’s flight suit crackled.

“Sam, come in.”

“Here, sir. Are you ready to go?”

“We got a problem. It’s gonna take longer than I’d hoped. Fly the others out of here. First radio the base and have them send a life flight now.”

“Sir?”

“Get a chopper sent out now. I want Doc Andrews on the flight. Tell her to bring IV antibiotics and have the base operating room standing on my return.”

“Are you sure you want us to leave you here?”

“You have to. Shove the med kit in my flight bag. Leave that and the thermos on the runway.”

“Sir, shall I leave Stevens with you?”

“No, you need a minimum crew of three. Go.”

“Aye, Sir. See you back at base.”

Jim heard her order the second flight, a life flight. How bad was Lou? He looked at the major as she turned around. “Is Lou not coming?”

“We’re going on ahead. Colonel Fitzgerald will stay here with your friend. They’ve already gotten orders and a second chopper’s on the way for them.” She opened the helicopter door and Jim, Staci, and Ailsa climbed in the back. Stevens and Murdoch strapped them in, while Corrigan started the preflight.

Murdoch gave them headsets. “These are so we can communicate,” he said. “It gets pretty noisy in here.”

Jim looked around. “This is pretty big for a chopper. How fast can it go?”

Murdoch answered, “It can carry a crew of four and eight fully armed and loaded combat soldiers. It flies at a hundred eighty knots. It carries approximately five hours fuel and is able to be refueled in the air, but should not be flown for more than twelve hours with refueling.”

Stevens laughed. “Quoting from the manual again?” The engine started and the rotors began to turn.

Staci slid her hand into Jim’s. He squeezed it. The helicopter lifted up off the ground and into the air. “Bye, island,” Staci said. “Bye, Deefer. See you soon, Lou.”

The helicopter turned and flew over the beach before swinging out over the ocean. “How long is the flight?” Jim asked.

“Just over an hour,” Corrigan answered.

“I hadn’t envisaged going back without Lou,” Jim said.

“Colonel Fitzgerald will bring her.”

The chopper lifted off. Jim watched as Agrihan disappeared behind them. He wasn’t happy about leaving Lou behind. Apparently, she was a lot sicker than she had let on. Why else had she been cutting them off the way she had been? If he hadn’t been able to get through to her, how would someone she barely knew, succeed where he had failed, and persuade her to come home?

He pulled the log book from the bag and looked up. “I don’t suppose you have a mirror, do you?”

Murdoch nodded and passed one over to him.

“Thanks.” Jim flipped back a few pages in the log book and angled the mirror over Lou’s coded entries.

I’m dying. Mafuso reckons there is nothing he can do. Not that he told me that. He insisted I was fine and healing nicely. I overheard the conversation with Amilek and when I confronted him, he didn’t deny it. The infection is too deep, it’s beyond his medical knowledge and we’ll never get rescued in time. I’ve always known I’d never recover from this. That’s why I’m not leaving Agrihan. I’ll go with the others to the base and then come back here to the village and spend my last few days on our island in the sun. It’s for the best.

Jim, when you eventually read this, forgive me. I didn’t want you to know, because I hate goodbyes. I love you, I always have. Tell Stace I love her too. Take care of her. And tell Mum…

Tell her I love her and I’m sorry.

Jim closed his eyes, the vibration of the helicopter thudding through him. His stomach pitted and a spear plunged deep into his heart. His eyes burned beneath the lids and he turned his face away from the others.

He’d never see her again. The decision he’d made in September to take Lou fishing as punishment, the one he’d made in anger over her drawing all over the log book, would result in him losing his best friend.