Chapter 10
It had been Kevin's suggestion that they all return to the camp, the boys going carefully ahead, each armed with a heavy stick. Kevin knew that the weapons were pretty useless, but he thought that a show of force might prove effective.
Earlier in the day they had listened to Sally's calm recital of her rape at the hands of Pedro, Bob and Eva. And then they had heard what had happened to Phillip. It was Kevin who had to spell out for the girls what had been meant when Bob wanted to turn Sally over. But if there was shock all around the group, it didn't show. Sally thought it would be terrible for herself, but Mary remembered her own reactions to being buggered. Even as she thought of the night before, she blushed and held onto Kevin's hand tighter.
They were almost back to the camp when one of the boys in front shouted for everyone to be quiet, "It's a plane," he cried. They listened and then they all heard the steady drone of a small plane.
Forgotten was the trio at the camp as they ran out of the jungle and onto the beach. The girls all took off their blouses and were waving them frantically overhead when the sound gradually died away. Now the keen sense of disappointment ran through the group, but Kevin rallied them. Wait, he told them. It has to come back. It must, he prayed to himself, squeezing Mary's hand even tighter than she had squeezed his.
And it did come back, winging low over the edge of the jungle. Some of the kids ran out into the surf and waved hysterically, and they were seen. The pilot swooped low and banked sharply and made another pass over the group. Pulling up, the plane seemed to hover, and then Kevin noticed that the pilot was wagging the wings. They had been seen.
The plane made another pass over them and then took out over the water. Kevin sat down on the sand and wanted to laugh out loud. It was all right, he kept shouting to the others, reassuring them that they had all been seen and the pilot was probably already radioing for help. It was the end of it all, he cried, and he really cried, tears running down his cheeks as Mary pressed him to her bosom.
"How soon before they send help?"
He told the group that gathered around him that they would probably be on a homeward bound boat tomorrow. It was the greatest news they could have heard.
The droning engine did not go unnoticed by Eva and Pedro, either. Both of them watched the circling plane, and when Pedro pointed out how it had wagged its wings, he said, "It's all over, Mees Gorst. They were spotted by the plane all right. So now what?"
Eva looked up at him and shook her head. "I don't really know. It could mean a helluva jail sentence for us. Statutory rape and all that."
"Maybe not," Pedro said, slipping the knife from his belt. "Maybe not. I sort of think that the kids will be too glad to be able to go home. They might be just as worried about the truth as you are."
Eva looked at him, recognizing for the first time that the man was not just the burly stud that she had always taken him for. But she told herself that he was all wrong. After what they had done to Mary and Sally and after what they had done to Phillip? She shook her head. It was an impossible idea. Somewhere something had happened. Kevin and Mary had found some sort of puppy love, but it was worse than a more mature kind. The boy would be out for vengeance, and he wouldn't care if he had to drag his girl friend's name through the dirt.
She looked up at Pedro suddenly. "You know, you might be right. But only if we can keep Kevin from blowing the whole thing. He's the one I worry about." She looked down at the knife that Pedro had pulled from his belt It gave her an idea. "An accident?"
Pedro flicked his thumb over the edge of the blade. He nodded and laughed. "An accident. It's so understandable on an island."
After Bob had run out from the hut and left Sally behind, he realized that he didn't want to be with Eva or Pedro. For the first time in his life, he felt the sharp pain of remorse over what he was about to do to Sally and it made him sick. He turned from the beach and ran towards the waterfall area. He ran for a long time, but he never found the waterfall, only more and more jungle and bugs and heat. Wandering for a couple of hours, he realized that he was running in circles.
He sat down at last, exhausted, his flesh bruised badly from the leaves he had run through. He knew that he would never find the other lads, and as he sat alone in the heat of the afternoon and heard the plane overhead, he realized that they might not want him back even if he did find them. Rested, he got up and started walking back towards the camp. What he had done was done, he told himself. There would be a rescue and when he was back home his father would take care of everything. He hadn't really killed Phillip, he told himself. The stupid faggot killed himself. It was simple and the more he thought about it the quicker his pace through the jungle became. But it was slow going through the underbrush.
Pedro smiled at Eva and walked away into the jungle. He knew the way to the waterfall, but since Sally had escaped he felt certain the kids would not be there. He considered the possibility that with the prospect of an imminent rescue that they might try to return to the camp, and the more he thought of it the more convinced he became. Would they sneak up? Of course. It seemed so obviously the thing to do. There were, after all, ten of them against the two. He hefted the knife and moved through the underbrush slowly, his ears straining to hear the slightest strange sound.
So like a dumb kid, Pedro thought when he heard something. He froze behind a tree and listened more intently to the footfalls. A dumb lad, he thought, coming through like the cavalry, not caring that he was making any noise or that someone might be there to squelch his invasion.
Pedro waited until the leaves near the path swung outward and then he whirled around the tree, his knife belly level and driving hard. He felt the resistance of first impact and then the sickening slip of the blade as it cut through. There was a gasp, hardly louder than a cough and then silence. Pedro had struck the boy even before he could see the face and when he did he dropped his grip on the handle and left the knife buried to the belly.
After the plane had left, Kevin called everyone around him and told them that the best thing to do was to stick together on the beach. They would not be going back to the camp until the next morning.
"It's almost sunset now," he said. "The best thing to do is to find someplace around here that's comfortable and wait until dawn. We'd only get lost in the dark."
They knew they wouldn't be eating anything that night, but the glorious thoughts of rescue the next day made the pangs of hunger faint. They could wait.
Kevin and Mary sat on the sand for a long time after the others had found places to lie down. There had been enough excitement to make most of them sleepy early, but the two oldest, Kevin and Mary, were still talking quietly on the beach after the stars had come out. Yet they seemed to have very little to say-a rehash of what had happened in the last twenty-four hours and then the silent conversation of their bodies so close together. There was no further need to comfort Mary, and both of them became aware of the fact that rescue would mean the end of their relationship. Without a word, Kevin helped Mary to her feet and led her across the cool sand and into the shelter of the jungle's edge. He made her lie down and told her to try to get some sleep.
"Stay with me," she said.
"I can't. I'm going back to the camp and see what has happened. They heard the plane, too, you know. Don't worry. Ill be all right. Wait for me."
Mary had not had much sleep in the last day and while she protested his leaving, she was suddenly very tired and the cool grass felt too inviting to resist. She waved farewell to him and turned over. It was something that boys had to do, she thought, a shiny armor land of thing, and it made her feel better to think of that.
Kevin kept close to the edge of the jungle until he was about two hundred yards from the camp. Then he moved deep into the underbrush and crept softly towards the camp.
The moon was up by then and made its eerie Tight bright on the dark green foliage. He pushed through it slowly and froze as the moon exposed the corpse of Bob Haas. Kevin wanted to be sick, but he stood and looked down at the dead boy, the knife, Pedro's knife, still buried in his belly.
Kevin turned and moved back as quickly as he could to where the others were sleeping on the beach. Suddenly he realized that they were all in danger. When he reached the beach, however, he knew he couldn't make it to the others. Pedro stood about twenty yards from him. For a second neither moved and then the first mate charged in a low crouch, his powerful arms tensed and low for a brutal tackle. Kevin gauged his run and sidestepped the big man and ran for the water. He wasn't sure that Pedro was a good swimmer, but he knew that he was and that he would have to swim for his life. But at the last second, Kevin changed his mind and dashed through the surf instead of plunging into the water. Pedro raced behind and was gaining on the boy. As the fear of what the boy knew hammered in his head, the first-mate found new strength, his breath coming in great gulps, but he knew he was going to catch Kevin.
The boy felt like plunging into the water, but his wind was going fast. Pedro was rapidly closing the distance and seemed to be getting stronger. As he neared the point, Kevin remembered the coral, just slightly submerged. If he could ... He stopped and swallowed deeply, breathing faster to hyperaspirate himself. Then as Pedro's big hands were almost upon him, Kevin hurled himself into the water, arching his body to hit the surface flat and hopefully, shallow enough to avoid the jagged coral just beneath the surface. Pedro cursed as the boy's body seemed to melt away from his grasp and into the water. The boy was swimming quickly away as Pedro made up his mind. Without looking he plunged into the water, diving nicely, but unaware of the sharp edges of the coral inches under the surface.
From twenty yards out, Kevin heard the scream as Pedro's torso was ripped open on the razor-edged coral. Then there was silence. Kevin swam out another ten yards before slowly paddling his way back to the beach some distance from where he had dove in. In the light of the moon he could see the first mate's body floating face-down on the calm water. The dark area around the body would be blood, he thought as he turned and walked slowly up the beach. This time he would find Eva alone. There was no one else to comfort her and what she had done to the group of kids in her charge.
It was nearly dawn when Kevin stretched out beside Mary. The girl's warm body responded immediately even though she was not yet fully awake. He had come back, and she knew what she had to do. Her lips found his and her arms went around his shoulders, pulled him closer. She shot her tongue into his mouth and let her hand roam down to the bulge in his shorts. Ooh, she sighed to herself, that's what I want.
They stripped themselves in silence and let their bodies join. Her crotch was ready, moist from thinking of his cock in there, and when he penetrated her tight hole of love she wrapped her legs around him, held him tightly and squeezed from herself all the thoughts of what had happened to her with Pedro and Eva.
Fatigue and the excitement of the events made Kevin quick with his pent-up release. He shot his semen into her and felt that he had not yet satisfied her, but her body throbbed against his as if to say that everything was all right. And it was.
Later on he explained to Mary that he had not been able to find Eva. He told her about Bob and Pedro and then told the rest of the group.
"The boat's on the way," he said as they all stood on the beach and-watched the whaler being rowed slowly towards them. "But a lot has happened here to all of us. Miss Gorst is gone. She's somewhere on the island, I guess, but maybe she just took a swim. At any rate, it doesn't seem to be much purpose in telling what went on here these weeks. My guess is that the first mate went mad and killed Bob. Phillip had an accident. Miss Gorst is missing. Let them look for her."
They all looked at each other and silently agreed that what he said made sense. Sally was happy to forget it. Ellen would have denied it. And Ann and Carl and Alex. Norma wasn't sure what had happened, but she agreed to say nothing.
The boat pulled up to the beach, and one by one they got into it, hardly saying more than yes or no to the questions of the reporters who were there. When they were all aboard the ship that stood outside the lagoon, Kevin and Mary leaned over the rail and watched as the small boat returned with the body of Bob Haas. They had not been able to find Pedro's body.
"Is it over for us?" Mary asked.
"I don't know," he said. "I don't think well ever be able to forget it." Mary nodded in agreement.
Eva Gorst stood behind a tree and watched the rescue take place. It seemed fitting that she would not be among those rescued. What was the difference, she asked herself? This island as a prison or some other prison? It all seemed the same to her. There was the escape of the sea. Phillip had taken that way. But Eva knew that she would not be able to kill herself.
She remained standing on the beach as the ship pulled farther and farther over the horizon and wondered if any of the kids would remember her, remember what she had done to them and for them. She told herself that she had done something for some of them. Kevin would be a good man. Someday. And Mary? A strong girl. She would survive. Ann? What had happened to her only happened sooner than it would have. Sally, too. And Carl. He would grow out of it. The others didn't seem to matter any more, and as the last wisp of smoke curled into the bright blue sky, she laughed. And she kept on laughing right on into the night and the next day.