Survival

TWENTY-ONE

Li stared up at the cliff face. It towered above her: a vertical slab of dark, volcanic rock rising out of the mountainside. it looked smooth and featureless at first glance, but Li had been studying it for a good five minutes as she planned her route to the top and her sharp eyes had picked out hundreds of tiny ledges and crevices.

A little way down the slope behind her, the others were sitting with their backs against a group of rocks. It was only mid-morning but they were glad of the rest. Drenched in sweat, they had been on the move since dawn, struggling through primary rainforest to reach the lower slopes of the mountain. As well as carrying two rucksacks, two coils of rope and the rolled bunk blankets on their backs, they were also hauling Hex along on a makeshift stretcher-bed. Alex and Paulo had taken the heavier, head-end of the stretcher, with Amber and Li bringing up the rear. Alex had secured his vine ropes to each corner of the stretcher, where they served as four shoulder straps and helped to distribute the weight more evenly, but still the constant friction of the bamboo stretcher poles had rubbed blisters into the palms of their hands.

Li glanced over at the rest of the group, then turned back to the cliff. She mapped the route one more time, turning her head from side to side and squinting as she concentrated.

'Easy peasy,' she murmured, stepping back. She backed straight into Paulo, who had left the others and was hovering anxiously behind her.

'Li. You should not climb first,' he said. 'Not without a rope. Let me climb for you. Please.'

Li sighed. 'Listen to me, Paulo. It was funny on the Phoenix . Here, it's just a pain.'

'I am sorry?' said Paulo.

'Stop treating me as though I'm made of glass, Paulo!'

'But I am only caring for you.'

'Don't be ridiculous!' snapped Li. 'I could climb that with my eyes shut, so why not let me get on with it?'

Paulo hung his head. 'I could not bear it if you fell.'

He looked so miserable that Li reached up and put her arms around his neck. 'I won't,' she said softly. 'I promise.'

Paulo beamed down at her, then they both went to join the others.

'OK,' said Li, tying one end of the thinner, nylon line around her waist with a bowline. 'Here's the plan. I go first. The rest of you, watch where I put my hands and feet. Once I'm up here, I'll anchor the rope and keep it taut for the next climber.'

'What about Hex?' asked Amber, quietly. They all looked over at the stretcher. Hex was sweating too, but with fever, not exertion. His leg was swollen, despite their attempts to keep the wound as clean as possible, and his face was pale and gaunt.

'That's what this is for,' said Alex, picking up the thicker rope that had originally tied the tender up to the Phoenix . 'Once you and Paulo are up there, I'm going to tie one end of this rope to the nylon line and make a sort of a cradle out of the other end for the stretcher to rest in. Then you pull up the thicker rope-'

'And use that to haul him to the top,' finished Paulo, nodding with understanding.

'Good,' said Li. She sat down and began untying her boot laces. 'I'm going barefoot,' she said, hauling off her boots and socks and stuffing them into the top of one of the rucksacks. 'Just to test the footholds for the rest of you. See ya!'

She walked to the base of the cliff and let the coiled nylon rope drop to the ground. Paulo hurried to pick it up and she turned to wink at him then, casually, began to climb. It was like watching a slow dance. Li seemed to flow up the cliff, gripping tiny ledges of rock with her fingers or toes. She moved one hand or foot at a time, then made sure of her holds before moving again. The coil of rope Paulo held grew smaller and smaller as she made her way higher, a tail of rope swinging behind her. In less than five minutes, she was on the mountain slope at the top of the cliff and securing the rope to a large boulder.

The other three shared out the rucksacks and bunk blankets and strapped them on, then Amber climbed next, with Li belaying the rope for her. Paulo followed more slowly. He was not a natural climber, and his arm and leg muscles were shaking with the strain by the time he hauled himself over the higher slopes and collapsed onto the stony ground.

Alex used a bunk blanket and the longer length of vine rope to secure Hex to the stretcher like a baby in a papoose. Hex groaned as the rope tightened over his injured leg.

'Sorry,' muttered Alex.

'You will be,' said Hex faintly.

Alex grinned at Hex, then he tested the knots of the rope cradle one last time before giving the signal to the others to start hauling. He held onto the stretcher until it was above head height, steadying it for as long as he could, then he stepped back and watched as it made its slow, spinning way up the cliff. When the stretcher finally disappeared over the top of the stone outcrop, Alex sucked in a lungful of air and realized he had been holding his breath through the whole procedure.

While he waited for Li to drop the nylon line back down to him, Alex put down another trail-marker. This time he used three small rocks, one resting on top of another and the third placed ahead of the first two to show the direction of travel. He had left direction-markers all the way along the route. Sometimes it was a cleft stick with another stick resting in the cleft, pointing the way ahead. Sometimes it was a clump of tall grasses, tied together in an overhand knot, with the tops of the grasses nodding the way to go.

Alex stared back along their route, visualizing each marker all the way back to their lagoon. There he had used stones to make a large direction arrow in the sand, above the high-tide line. The markers were a way of trying to stop the doubts which were building up in his mind. What if he had made the wrong decision? What if rescuers were, even now, arriving at the lagoon, pulling their boats up onto the empty beach, walking around the deserted camp? Surely they would spot the stone arrow? Surely they would follow his markers across the island? Again, Alex had an image of the rescuers shaking their heads in puzzlement as they left the lagoon behind and headed back out to sea. He groaned quietly. The lagoon was hidden away in a fold of the rainforest, but Alex scanned the sea around it, checking one last time for any sign of boats before they left this side of the island. Then the rope dropped down the cliff again and Alex wiped the sweat from his face and hands before tying the rope around his waist and starting to climb.

Half an hour later, they had made their way around the shoulder of the mountain and were standing on the lower slopes, looking down on the northern side of the island. The south side, with the lagoon and their camp, was now hidden behind the mountain.

'What do you think?' asked Paulo, peering down into the green blanket of rainforest spread out at their feet.

'I think we just wasted our time,' groaned Amber, easing her T-shirt away from her sweaty neck. 'It looks just the same as the other side! And I can't see any camp.'

'What were you expecting?' giggled Li. A big sign, maybe? "Follow the red arrows to secret Japanese wartime camp"?'

Paulo sniggered behind his hand and even Alex could not stop a tired smile spreading across his face. Amber turned her back on them and sat down beside the stretcher to loosen her boots for a moment.

'Li's right,' said Alex, scanning the land below. 'It's not going to be obvious – and it's not going to be out here in the open, either.'

'OK, Mister Clever,' pouted Amber. 'You tell me. Where do we start looking?'

Alex let his gaze travel down to the sea, then he followed the coastline until he came to a V-shaped wedge of blue where the sea showed through the forest. He pulled out his compass and took a reading. The blue wedge was directly north north-west of their position. 'See that?' he said, pointing down to the coast. 'We can't see it from up here, but I think that's a rivermouth. There's probably a cove down there where a large boat could be hidden – and a stretch of beach to build a camp. If I was looking for a good wartime base, that would be it.'

'OK,' said Li. 'I'll buy that. Shall we go?'

'Guys?' said Amber, uncertainly. They turned around and she pointed to the stretcher. Hex was staring sightlessly up at the sky with fever-bright eyes. His skin had taken on a yellow tinge and a red rash had appeared on his chest. Alex hurried over and laid a hand on Hex's forehead. It was burning with a dry heat.

'I'll walk,' said Hex, staring past Alex's shoulder. 'I can walk!'

Hex's eyes fluttered closed again and Amber and Alex shared a look across the stretcher.

'We'd better find this army camp soon,' whispered Amber. 'I don't think we have much time.'

They picked up the stretcher and hurried on down the mountain. Everyone was getting tired now and the stretcher tugged at their arms, threatening to pull them down the slope with it. Soon the muscles down the backs of their legs ached with the effort of holding back but they stumbled on, filled with a new sense of urgency. Gradually the slope grew gentler as they reached the tangled undergrowth of the rainforest fringe. They found a game trail and followed it until they were in the shade of the primary rainforest.

There they stopped and laid the stretcher down while Alex took a reading from his compass. Nobody spoke – they just stood there like exhausted horses, covered in a sheen of sweat and breathing hard. Hex tossed and turned beneath the high, green canopy of leaves. His white face seemed to shine with a pale light in the shadows. Li looked down at him and her lower lip trembled.

'He looks like a ghost already,' she whispered.

'This way,' said Alex grimly, pocketing the compass. He moved off, setting the pace, forcing them on through the forest and stopping only to take compass readings. He had made a promise and he would not give up, even though he could see that Hex was growing steadily worse as the bacteria multiplied in his blood. The doubts were loud in his head, now. If there was a camp, it might take them days to find it. And what were the chances of finding a second radio or some antibiotics? The doubts marched around his head in time with his marching feet until, at last, something interrupted his thoughts. Alex stumbled to a halt and lifted his head.

'Listen,' he said. 'Can you hear – surf?'

At first all they could hear was the harsh breath wheezing in their throats and their own hearts drumming in their ears, but gradually their breathing eased. Amber cocked her head, trying to filter out the rustle of the leaves and the song of the crickets.

'I hear it,' she said.

The canopy grew thinner and sunlight began to filter through as they hurried on. Finally, there was only a thin barrier of undergrowth between them and the sea. Gently, they laid down the stretcher and Alex pushed his way through the bushes, ignoring the thorns. He parted the leaves with his hands and looked out into the bright sunshine. The air hissed through his teeth as he drew in a sharp breath and he became very still.

'What?' said Amber, pushing through behind him, Paulo and Li on her heels. 'What can you see? Is it an army camp?'

'No,' said Alex. 'It's better than that.'