Unseen Messages(67)

Together.





Chapter Twenty-Four


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G A L L O W A Y

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THE SMELL WAS what killed me.

The rotting, sickening stench.

My hands ached from using a rock to hammer the fuselage, the cuts on my fingers stung, and my ankle...crap, my ankle felt ten times worse.

All I wanted to do was sleep.

To rest.

To heal.

The clams had scratched the intolerable itch for food and the third shared water bottle had tempered my thirst for a time.

But I’d meant what I said about Estelle avoiding the dead. I didn’t want her or the children going anywhere near them. It was bad enough Conner and Pippa had seen their parents after the crash.

It would be million times worse if they saw them now.

I stood over Akin.

His neck had broken. The sudden arrival had sent him smashing through the cockpit windscreen. A spider crawled from his nose and his black hair was matted with dried blood.

Christ.

The moon barely made it through the canopy. There were no rainclouds, no hint of a storm. Fiji was supposed to be tropical, but for days, we’d had no rain.

Luckily, my imperfect eyesight wasn’t too much of a hindrance. All I needed to see was the silhouettes of trees and enough illumination to dig three graves before the sun came up.

I groaned under my breath.

How?

How exactly are you going to do that? You’re hurt beyond hell. You can’t bend. You can’t dig.

As a guy (the only guy older than thirteen), I had to man up and protect the others. But what was the use in wanting to do what was necessary when my body point blank said to get screwed?

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Standing with a dead body gave me the damn creeps.

Get it together. You need to work fast.

I didn’t know the time. Probably not too late as we’d fallen drowsy after our meal and retired. For the first time, we settled into our dug-out leaf-lined beds and were warm thanks to the fire.

Perhaps, I’ll have to wait until I’m healed.

I rolled my eyes. Eight weeks minimum before I had full use of my ankle and foot again and that was only if they healed correctly. I couldn’t wait eight weeks. The bodies would stink out the entire island by then.

We might be found before that happens.

We had a fire now. A way to signal. We had enough resources (hopefully) to keep us alive until that day.

But as much as I wanted to believe that in eight weeks I’d be somewhere where indoor plumbing and supermarkets reigned, I didn’t hold my breath.

I’d stopped believing in miracles unless I had the power to grant them. And I had no power to guarantee a rescue.

Not until I’m well enough to build a raft.

The only option I had was to suck it up and get it over with.

Pain or no pain.

Hobbling, I moved closer to Akin. His skin was purple-bloated with congealed discoloration. I gagged as I grabbed his wrist and hauled him from the helicopter windshield.

The squelch of his body sent repugnant disgust rippling down my spine.

I had to let go.

I had to clamp a hand over my mouth.

I had to stop this.

I can’t stop.

Gritting my teeth, I picked up the smaller piece of fuselage Estelle had salvaged and looked for a clearing to dig.

How the hell are you going to do this?

Ask the corpse to kindly bury itself?

Goddamn tears sprang to my eyes. In the days since we’d crashed, my temper shielded me from the helplessness inside. But here, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a forest, in the middle of nowhere, I couldn’t hold it back anymore.

I needed help. But was too bloody stubborn to ask for it.

I sniffed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

Do. Not. Dare. Cry.

My eyes burned but I managed to shove aside my need for someone, anyone, to tell me things would work out and keep it together.

I bent over to grab Akin’s wrist.

“Stop.”

My torso twisted toward the soft command. My leg screamed at the extra weight I placed on it.

Then anger blocked everything out but her.

Estelle.

The woman who’d blatantly disobeyed me.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I spun around, doing my best to shield her from the body.

Her gaze zeroed in on him anyway, her face contorting. “You were gone when I woke up.”

“That was the plan.”

“You can’t do this on your own.”

“Watch me.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t want to watch you. I want to help you.” Drifting closer, the moonlight cast her blonde hair into platinum. “Don’t ask me to walk away. Not when I just saw—”

My blood stopped flowing. “Saw what?”

She swallowed. “Saw how much you’re hurting...inside as well as out.”

I turned my back on her. “You didn’t see anything. I’m fine.”

She didn’t say a word. My scalp prickled from her presence.

Straightening, I growled, “Go away, Estelle.”

“No.”

“Do it. Before I get pissed.”

“You’re already pissed.”