The Pathway To Us (6 page)

“Oh my god! I thought something might have happened to you.” Lily attempted to lighten his load by taking some of it away from him.

“I’m fine. I told you I was a big boy. I tried to get back as soon as I could. I needed to go a little deeper in there than I wanted to find the dry wood. I’ll need to go back. This won’t last us throughout the night.”

“I have two arms, Logan. I can help.”

“Yes, you can but not today and not right now. You almost drowned. I need you healthy so take it easy.” Lily and Logan walked back to where they’d made their makeshift camp. “There is always tomorrow. Plus, there are all kinds of dangerous animals, poisonous snakes, and bugs in there. I need to focus on getting this wood out as quickly as possible.” He looked up at the sky. “I’ve got maybe less than an hour or so of light left. I can’t do that if I’m worried about you.”

Lily smacked her arm from another mosquito bite. She was being eaten alive. She hadn’t thought about the specific dangers of a jungle. Now that Logan had described it in detail she was even more apprehensive.

Logan dropped the wood and leaves on the sand. His face was tight. “I’ve got something for that. Otherwise, these damn bugs are going to be the death of us . . . literally.”

Lily put down the small amount of wood and leaves too. She wholeheartedly agreed about the bugs and was doing her best to ignore them. She dusted off her hands then massaged her forehead. Her goal was to be a help, not a hindrance. “Okay, then what can I do? I can’t just sit here and watch you do all the work. I need to feel useful and do my part.”

He rubbed the back of his neck while thinking about it. Logan wanted to keep her mind occupied, so she didn’t do anything to endanger herself or him. After mulling it over, he thought of something. “Okay, see if you can gather up several large rocks. Nothing too heavy. Maybe ten to fifteen of them and put them in a circle. We’ll need to make a fire pit. If you get tired, then stop. And, be careful. Snakes like to hide in dark places, and underneath rocks are an excellent hideout. And, don’t get too close to the jungle’s edge.”

Lily wanted to dissolve into a puddle at the thought of running into something like that. She looked over his shoulder at the densely populated rainforest. If he could go in there then she for damn sure could look for rocks. “All right. I can do that.”

Lily didn’t realize how exhausted she was until she sat down. She’d found the rocks like Logan had asked and put them in a circle. He had returned after several trips into the mysterious jungle and was in the process of building a fire in the pit she’d made. There was more wood stacked up close by and covered with the tarp. Guiltily, she chastised herself. If she was exhausted, then a word probably hadn’t been invented for what Logan was.

Her voice was a near whisper. “Thank goodness for that tarp.”

Logan had been concentrating so hard he almost didn’t hear her. “What?”

She pointed to it. “The tarp. It’s been a sail, a blanket, and now it’s covering the wood.”

He turned his head in that direction. “Oh. Yeah. It’s been a lifesaver.”

“So have you. Thank you for today—for saving my life. You’ve also kept the bugs away just like you said you would. I don’t think I’ve been bitten by a mosquito or any other insect in the last fifteen minutes. Thank you for that too.”

A hint of a smile turned up at the corners of his lips. “If I can get this fire started, steaming the lemon-eucalyptus leaves in that metal can from the boat will keep them at bay for a while.” Finally, a burst of orange exploded. The flames danced as the fire roared to life.

She clapped to celebrate the victory. “
Ohmygosh
…Congratulations! Man creates fire.”

Logan looked up at the sky. “Thank god. I didn’t think I was going to be able to get it blazing like this before nightfall.”

Adoringly, Lily gazed at him with stars in her eyes. “Well, you did it.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t do all of this on my own. You helped a lot considering you almost drowned and have a nasty cut on your head. You’re tough as nails lady, so thank you too.”

Instinctively, Lily touched the side of her head. She guessed her adrenaline levels had been so high, that she’d forgotten about it. Not to mention, it felt good being useful to someone. That rarely happened. Rubbing her arms with her hands as she sat cross-legged, inwardly, Lily smiled to herself. “How do you know so much about all of this stuff?”

Logan sat back on his hunches and rolled his head and shoulders. “I spent quite a few years in the Amazon jungle.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Seriously? Or, is that a joke?”

Thinking back on how he got the small scar above his eyebrow, Logan moved his thumb back and forth over it. “Nope. No joke. My parents are doctors and worked with a lot of the indigenous people of that region. I learned a lot about nature, survival, and living in the jungle.”

“Wow. I would never have guessed that. You’ve lived an exciting life.”

“Not really. Why wouldn’t you think that I know a little bit about how to survive in this environment?”

“I don’t know. It’s not common for one, but also . . .” She shrugged. “I just . . . I mean . . . we met on a fifty-million-dollar yacht. I would think most of the people on it weren’t very hands on.”

“Ah. I get it.” Logan laughed. “You believe that we’re all spoiled brats. You know I could say the exact same thing about you.”

“Me?” Lily laughed too. “I was there working for Megan’s uncle and was lucky enough to tag along on this cruise in exchange for it. I could never afford anything like that on my salary.”

Logan smirked. “What? You mean to tell me you’re not some kind of spoiled little socialite princess?”

“My goodness no.” She sighed. “I don’t know what that even feels like. But, I can tell you, it sure would be nice to find out. What woman doesn’t want to be pampered and not have to worry about money? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I make a good living, but I work because I have to not because I want to.” Lily was rambling. The words seemed to just fall out of her mouth when she was around him. Abruptly, Lily stopped talking. However, she couldn’t help herself. “It’s good to know one of us knows what to do. So, I guess if I have to be stranded with anyone, I’m glad that it’s with you.”

“We don’t necessarily know that we’re stranded.” Logan wanted to give Lily a bit of hope, maybe even a little for himself. “Tomorrow we could find out that this is a vacation hot-spot. Or, we could be rescued. There just wasn’t enough daylight for us to explore and you needed to rest. A jungle can be a dangerous place to be when you can’t see what’s in front of you.”

Lily agreed. Her voice was soft, quiet, almost inaudible. “Seems to me it can be a dangerous place even with perfect vision.”

He’d heard her and couldn’t agree more.

Lily looked out at the expanse of water. She inhaled then slowly exhaled. The salt in the night air had been like heaven not even twenty-four hours ago. It had been calming. Tonight, not so much. As brave as Lily tried to be, she was terrified of their situation. It was hard to take in the surreal events.

Logan was right about so many things. Especially about how much daylight they’d had left. The sun was setting pretty quickly and looked as if it were disappearing deep below the ocean. The color of the horizon changed right before her eyes. It was as if a light switch had been turned off. They were suddenly draped in darkness with only the light from the fire to see. He was right
again
. Though Logan was sitting right across from her, if it hadn’t been for the flickering of the flames, she wouldn’t have been able to see him.

In the dark, unfamiliar sounds and things moving in the jungle were also more pronounced than they had been earlier. It made Lily jumpy. She was scared and doubted very seriously either one of them was going to get much sleep.

Lily’s stomach growled, and her hunger pains temporarily stole her attention. Embarrassed, she spread her hands across it as if it would calm down the noise. Logan had to have heard the rumblings. When she glanced over at him, he seemed lost in his own thoughts. She peeked inside the survival box and found a couple of protein bars. “When we get off of this island, I’m going to have to thank Mr. Laws for at least making sure his life rafts kept some of the essentials in it.”

Her voice brought him out of his thoughts. They hadn’t taken a complete inventory of what was in the kits. “That’s right. We need to find out what is in there.”

Lily looked back over into the box. “Well, there are some protein bars, and surprisingly, I’m starving, so that’s perfect.” Lily tossed one over to him. “I’m sure you are too. Umm…let’s see. There are some bottled waters. You know about that already. A pack of pills that says filtration on them. I’m not quite sure what that is for. Oh…here is some netting! That’s for mosquito’s right? I’ve seen that in movies, so I don’t feel so completely dumb.”

Logan crawled over to take a look. It wasn’t a big box so even with his engineering degree it probably didn’t have the necessary parts to fix the communications radio on the boat. There was a flashlight. He pulled it out and clicked it on and off. It worked. Thank god it was solar powered. He’d lost the binoculars when Lily fell overboard. It would have been nice to have those, but they would get by without them. There was also a small blanket. Logan had already taken the knife. A machete is what he would need, but he would have to make do. Once they removed all of the contents of the survival kit, Logan noticed what looked like two buttons one on each side of the box. “What’s this?” He pressed each one at the same time. It seemed to hide another part of the box; a false bottom. When he lifted the top off of it, he was surprised but grateful to find a gun.

Lily turned to him. “A gun? Do you know how to use one of those?”

One never knew what they might find in a situation like this. And, while Logan had never been in one like this before, he understood not everyone or
thing
they might come into contact with would be friendly. “Yes, I’m very familiar with guns. I assume you aren’t?”

It must be the situation that was making Lily respond in uncharacteristic ways. Sarcastically, she smirked as she gave him a look. “Didn’t you just show me how to use a flare gun? Do you really think I’ve ever used a real one?”

“Good point. Well, if our little vacation turns into more than just a couple of days, I’ll show you how to use it.”

A noise from the tree line behind her caused Lily to almost jump out of her skin. Gone was her easy banter with Logan. Her eyes went wide as she tried to focus them on the darkness just behind her. She couldn’t see a thing, her heart raced a mile a minute.

Logan didn’t move or seem to be phased. He knew they were pretty safe on the beach with the fire going. He also knew that there were animals in the jungle that were very curious about the two of them.

Lily stuttered. “D—d—do you mind if I come sit over by you?”

“There’s nothing to worry about, but if it helps you feel safe, come on over.”

Maybe she was over-reacting, but Lily was too scared to care how it might look.

The sun had barely come up before Logan started formulating a plan to explore the island. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, his body ached all over. He was so stiff that there were parts of him he wasn’t exactly sure he could even move. He’d sat in almost the same position most of the night barely dozing. At some point, Lily had fallen asleep too and rested her head on his shoulder. She was still sleeping. He hated to wake her considering what she’d been through yesterday.
God, she was beautiful.
He had to continuously remind himself that she was also
off limits
.

Logan thought he could gather up all of their supplies first, then wake her so they could get moving and figure out what was on this island. The earlier they got started the better.

Gently, Logan moved Lily’s sleeping head from his shoulder and eased her down onto the ground. He folded up the blanket and tucked it underneath her head like a pillow. Once he was satisfied that she was comfortable, he set off to get the things they would need for their excursion.

It wasn’t long after Logan had left that Lily woke up. She yawned and stretched to get the kinks out of her body. As Lily stood, she looked around but didn’t see him. Where was he? Then like magic, he appeared from the jungle carrying more leaves and what looked to be bananas. She smiled. “Good morning.”

“Hey. How are you feeling?”