Horizons (19 page)

That wall came tumbling down on him much sooner than Gavin would ever have suspected. He and Zach had finished their day’s work on the raft and had stopped by the pond to clean up prior to going back to camp. Gavin had put in a grueling day, and his muscles were aching worse than they had that first week of basic training.

“I’m going to soak a while,” he told Zach. “Maybe that will work out a few of the kinks.”

Zach, ready to head back, sluiced the excess water off his chest with his hands. “In that case, I’ll leave the string stretched across the path.”

They’d rigged a signal of sorts, to warn each other when the pool was in use—-just a vine with a bright piece of cloth tied to it, strung between two trees along the path to the water hole. Crude as it was, it served the purpose and kept the men from intruding on the women when they were bathing, and vice-versa.

Zach left, and Gavin was soon blissfully relaxed, his eyes closed as he lounged, naked and half-afloat, with his neck propped on the narrow ledge encircling the pool. He was contemplating how remarkable and fortunate it was that the lava forming the mini-lagoon had cooled to form such a smooth surface here. It was almost like lying in one of those pre-poured hot tubs, one built to accommodate several people comfortably, with plenty of room to stretch out. Which led him to fantasizing about what fun it would be to frolic in the pool with Alita. He could picture her naked, her creamy toffee-tan skin glistening, her hair streaming across her shoulders in wet waves. Just imagining her that way gave him an erection that made him grit his teeth.

“My, my! Something has you immensely aroused. I hope it’s me.”

Alita’s lilting voice cut unexpectedly into Gavin’s musings of her. With a startled jerk, he lost his grip on the ledge, and slid beneath the surface. He came up choking, to find her at the edge of the pool, laughing at him. “Dammit, Alita!”

W
hatever else he might have added was swept from his brain as she calmly and deliberately proceeded to undress. While he sat there, tongue-tied and bug-eyed, she stripped for him—slowly, tauntingly, with a smile to rival Mona Lisa’s. Then, with the grace of a doe, she stepped into the pool and sank onto her haunches beside him. Her hand dipped into the clear water to stroke his thigh.

“You know, I always envied the other kids, the ones with more money and nice families,” she told him, her ebony eyes sparkling above that tantalizing smile. “They got to do all the fun things, especially on the holidays. Do you know that I have never once bobbed for apples?”

“That
…
that’s a darn shame!” he croaked out.

“I agree,” she said with a nod. “Perhaps you can show me how it is done.”

Gavin nearly swallowed his tongue. “Uh
…
what do you plan to use for apples?”

She cupped his genitals, sending goosebumps chasing across his flesh. “These would do nicely, don’t you think?”

Gavin could feel beads of sweat popping out on his forehead. “I suppose, as long as you don’t intend to take a bite out of them.”

She gave him a wounded look. “You don’t trust me?”

“About as much as I’d trust a strange rottweiler,” he muttered.

“Oh, but they can be very friendly animals, once they get to know you,” she assured him. Her fingers curled more firmly around him. “Think of me as one of the nice
ones, the kind that love to lick you all over.” She gave a little shimmy that set her breasts quivering and the water rippling around them. “Pet me. Stroke me. Teach me some new tricks, Gavin.”

“Like how to retrieve apples and big sticks?”

“Si.”
She g
ave her head a playful toss. “
And perhaps, if you are a very good teacher, I will even sit up and beg for you.”

“Dear Lord!” he murmured, reaching for her with eager hands. “If I’m dreaming, please don’t wake me until after the good stuff.”

For once, Gavin lucked out—big time.

Chapter 19

D
espite his new and exciting liaison with Alita, Gavin was determined to finish the raft and still insisted that he would leave on it when it was done. His work was going more slowly, though, his mind and body often being otherwise engaged.

Thus, the small group of survivors had been marooned on the island for three weeks by the time Gavin finally announced that his tiny craft was ready and he would be sailing soon. As luck would have it, however, now that the raft was complete, the weather was taking a turn for the worse. His long-planned launch would have to wait until conditions improved.

If Gavin was disgruntled, Zach was worried. The us
ually gentl
e ocean breeze was stiffening daily, almost hourly, strengthening into a gale. The tides were running higher than normal, the waves pounding ashore with growing force. Dark clouds built on the eastern horizon and scut
tl
ed across the sky in ever-building masses—sometimes
dropping significant rain, but often traveling too fast for the precipitation to amount to much. Each day, the weather deteriorated more.

“I don’t like the feel of this,” Zach admitted to the others. “Even the birds are acting weird, as if they know something is going to happen. I’ve heard that animals are sensitive to changes in the atmosphere, the barometric pressure, and such.”

“Fish, too,” Earl put in from his post. “A storm can really mess up a fella’s fishing. ’Course, sometimes they bite real good just beforehand, like they know they ain’t gonna feed for a while with the water all stirred up.”

“I’ve read that cat
tl
e and sheep have behaved oddly just prior to an earthquake. Supposedly, they can feel those slight initial tremors much sooner than humans can,” Blair related.

Gavin huffed an exasperated breath. “Darn! If I’d just finished the raft a couple of days ago!”

“Right!” Alita scoffed. “And then where would you be?” She pointed toward the churning sea. “Out there bouncing around like live shark bait, that’s where.”

Kelly agreed. “She’s right. You wouldn’t want to be out there on that raft now. I’ll bet even seasoned sailors, on those huge transport ships, will be seasick before this is done.”

“I just wish we knew how bad it’s going to get,” Zach said. “It would be nice to know what to expect, what to prepare for.”

“Yeah, where’s a reliable meteorologist when you really need him?” Kelly mocked.

“Back on cable TV, with the Weather Channel and CNN,” Alita informed her wryly. “Probably bringing us an update as we speak.”

Zach had to laugh. “No doubt, and that’s another thing I’ve always thought so ludicrous. Have you ever noticed
how they’ll announce on television that a certain area is without power, then tell those affected not to phone in because the electric company is aware of the problem and attempting to fix it as soon as possible. Pray tell me how those people are supposed to be watching that broadcast if their power is out?”

“Well, we don’t have any electricity to start with, so I guess we’re just going to have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Kelly suggested. “But, like you, I wish we had some way to determine how strong this storm may be.”

Zach nodded. “Are we talking mediocre, a series of relatively harmless rainstorms, or a major typhoon? Are we directly in its path, or are we just going to catch the edge? Will there be a resultant storm surge, possibly even a tsunami? As it is, we don’t know whether to dig a hole, or climb to higher ground—or both. And to procrastinate too long could prove disastrous.”

T
hey spent a miserable night huddled beneath the banyan tree, which was now offering very little shelter. At dawn, which amounted to no more than a slight lightening of the darkness, Zach decided they must act immediately. Once again, they packed up their meager belongings, but this time they bundled up a couple of baskets full of fruit as well.

“We’ll stop by the water hole and fill up the coffee
pot,” Zach told them. “What I
wouldn’t give for a thermos bottle about now!”

“Where to after the pool?” Kelly asked, ducking her head as several figs blew loose from the branches overhead and pelted her.

“The cave.”

Kelly stared at him, aghast. “The cave? As in, the same
cave with the decayed soldier? We’re going to share quarters with a corpse?”

“A skeleton,” Zach corrected succinctly,

“Semantics. It’s still gruesome, any way you cut it. I vote we find someplace else.”

“There is no place else. If this turns into a full-blown typhoon, it’s the only site likely to withstand the storm.”

“Then, historic relic or not, old ‘Harry-Kari’ has to go,” Kelly insisted with a shiver that had nothing to do with the wind-driven rain dripping down her back. “Out on his bony butt.”

In good conscience, there was nothing they could do but unchain Earl and take him along with them. Zach even relented enough to couple Earl’s hands in front of him for the short jaunt to the cave, making it easier for Earl to negotiate the rough spots along the way.

“Just don’t try anything, Roberts,” he warned, pushing him ahead of him on the trail. “I’ll have my eye on you all the while.”

“You’re worse than a damned cop,” the big man retorted sullenly. “Shit! I ain’t no better off now than if I’d
gone to prison. Probably worse. At least there I wouldn’t be tied up to a danged tree day and night.”

“It’s your own fault.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

They’d hoped that once they were farther from the shore, the trees would act as a buffer from the wind and rain, but the storm was gaining momentum faster than they were. The wind swirled and gusted around them, forcing them to turn their backs to it in order to breathe, and to crab-walk sideways—while the earth beneath their feet was quickly turning into a slippery river. The rain didn’t fall, it slashed in blinding, horizontal sheets, carrying with it sand and debris. Each step was a strain, like wading through the surf, against a surging tide.

Once, Kelly lost her footing and tumbled down a slight incline, garnering several bumps and bruises. Alita, too, slipped and gashed her knee on a piece of lava rock. A particularly strong gust sent Zach stumbling into a tree trunk. Fortunately, his back and shoulders took the brunt of the blow, and Sydney, cradled against his chest, wasn’t hurt. Blair, nearly blinded by the grit aggravating her contact lenses, was reduced to hanging onto Gavin’s waistband and hoping the two of them could remain upright.

Communication between them was soon impossible— words too feeble to be heard above the roar of the wind and vision reduced to a few hazy feet. Such were their circumstances when a palm tree came crashing directly in front of them, the serrated trunk missing Zach and Sydney by scant inches. The mighty thump as it landed vibrated the ground, sending them all tumbling and skidding. One by one, gasping and trembling, they crawled into a hasty huddle.

“Anybody hurt?” Zach yelled.

Each, in turn, shook his or her head.

“Okay, let’s go on. I estimate we’re about three-quarters of the way there.”

Kelly tugged at his arm. “Wait!” she hollered. “Where’s Earl?”

Zach’s frown deepened. “He’s either under the tree or on the other side of it, I guess. Here, you take Syd.” He handed the frightened child over to her. “I’ll go have a look.”

Gavin went with him, and was back in a few minutes. “Come on. Zach’s clearing a path on the other side.”

“Earl?” Kelly inquired on a shout.

“We couldn’t find him. He’s probably somewhere ahead of us.”

It took another forty-five minutes of muscle-straining labor before they finally, gratefully, stumbled into the cave.

On leaden legs, unable to see where she was going in the murky interior, Kelly tripped over something and landed on her knees. Her hand connected with several small, cylindrical objects. Only as her vision adjusted to the dim lighting did she recognize them as the finger bones of the Japanese soldier’s skeletal remains. Her frantic scream echoed off the rock walls as she jerked away, scrambling on all fours to the opposite side of the cave, as far from the dead man as she could go. There she drew herself into a quivering, teeth-clattering ball. Blair and Alita, joined her, staring in abject horror at the macabre object still dressed in tattered uniform.

Zach approached them to hand over Sydney. “I know you women get the willies over this sort of thing, but face it. The guy can’t hurt you.”

“Get
…
rid
…
of
…
him.” Kelly forced the words out.

“Just toss the old boy out in the storm, huh?” Zach said. The wide-eyed feminine trio nodded in tandem.

“We need the cave worse than he does,” Gavin contributed. “And it’s not as if he’s in danger of catching pneumonia or anything.”

Between them, though neither was happy about performing the chore, Zach and Gavin disposed of the remains, hauling the body, clothes and all, outside. The one thing in their favor was that enough time had elapsed since the man had died that all organic matter had long since decomposed, leaving behind nothing but dry bones, dust, and moth-eaten cloth.

With a grimace, Gavin wiped his hands on his pants. “I guess it could have been a lot messier.”

Zach dredged up a chuckle. “Yeah. Give me ‘dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones’ anytime.”

All in all, once the skeleton had been removed, the cave wasn’t that dreadful. The opening faced away from the wind, which helped keep the rain from entering. And once
they’d lit the coconut oil lamps, it wasn’t nearly as gloomy. The light revealed a small stack of age-dried wood just inside the entrance, and after claiming a few logs from a nest of disgusting insects, they soon had a cheery little fire going as well. They clustered around it, drenched to the skin and all but numb with fatigue.

“How long do you suppose the storm will last?” Kelly inquired.

“Your guess is as good as any,” Gavin replied wearily. “I just hope my raft is still intact afterward.”

“You lashed it down, didn’t you?” Zach asked.

“As best I could, yes. I wedged it partway under a deadfall, where the wind wouldn’t catch it so easily.”

“Speaking of wind,” Blair said, “it nearly blew my contacts right out of my eyes. I really need to get these things out and clean them before they do permanent damage.”

“Did you pack up your eye-cups?” Alita asked. In the first week, Blair had devised a unique system for cleaning her contact lenses. She did so by employing two well-scrubbed lime halves partially filled with salt water, which substituted fairly well in place of her usual saline solution.

“Yes, would you mind fetching them for me?” Blair replied. “They’re in that red purse. But I don’t have any salt water handy.”

“You’ll just have to use fresh water this time,” Kelly told her. “I hope we have enough to last for a while. It doesn’t look as if the storm is letting up at all.”

“As long as it keeps raining like this, we don’t have to worry about getting our water from the pool,” Zach inserted. “Just set the coffeepot outside, and it will fill up in no time.”

“Or be blown to China,” Gavin claimed.

They sat quietly for a time, shifting once in a while to aim another portion of their clammy bodies and clothes
toward the fire. Gavin was first to break the silence once more.

“Where do you think Earl made off to?”

“Who gives a flying fig?” Blair muttered.

For a moment no one answered, that in itself a condemnation of Roberts. Then Kelly spoke.

“You’re sure he wasn’t caught beneath that tree?”

“Fairly certain,” Zach averred. “He wasn’t under the trunk, at any rate, which is where he should be if the palm had fallen on him.”

Kelly nodded. “As much as I resent the man, I would still hate to think of him lying out there, trapped and bleeding to death, with the rainwater slowly rising to drown him.”

“I doubt he’d return the sentiment,” Alita declared. “That is one bad
hombre.
Rotten through and through.”

With none of their usual projects to occupy them, nothing to do but watch the storm rage on outside the cave, the hours passed slowly. Alternately, they napped, nibbled on the food, played with Sydney, and carried on desultory conversation.

“If I’d known we were bound to be so bored, I’d have carved a deck of playing cards,” Zach grumbled. “Or a set of dice.”

“We could play Twenty Questions,” Kelly offered.

“Or Charades,” Blair added without much enthusiasm.

“How about trivia?” Gavin suggested. Immediately he thought better of it. “Forget that. Blair would know all the answers before we got the questions out of our mouths.”

Alita brightened. “I know what will entertain you. I could read your palms. You know, foretell the future for all of you.”

Zach snorted. “So where were you with this offer when I was standing in the airport ticket line? You sure could
have saved us all a lot of trouble if you’d proposed this about three weeks ago.”

“And why, if you can predict what is going to happen, were you on that disastrous flight?” Gavin insisted.