Chapter Four
The fish they’d caught sat sizzling on a spit over their new fire when Ben woke up.
“Over here!” Robert yelled, “and bring some food!”
Becka ran over, the others following, bringing some of the fruit they’d picked to Ben.
“Here, eat.” She told the young boy, handing him the food.
He took it graciously, eating and drinking and then gingerly sitting up.
“What happened?” Ashelea asked, nervously,
“I- I don’t know.” He started, “Me and the others were unloading supplies, when all the sudden you hear this great hissing roar. These two giant…” he paused, searching for a word, “things came out of the water. They looked like… like giant lobsters or crayfish-creatures. They kept snapping their claws as we tried to fight them back. Captain Seilrite started trying to fight them off, slashing at them with his sword – but all they did was snap it with one blow from their claws. I was more focused on getting out of the way and not getting killed then what other creatures might be in the water, but I could see something big, and dark blue-grey, I think, out underneath the water. But while I was distracted, one of those creatures grabbed my arm and wrenched it back, and then the next thing I know, I’m here.” Ben finished, taking in a deep breath. Then, after a pause, “A-are the others… you know… dead?” He asked quitely.
Talli sighed, “Yes. I don’t know what happened to them, but half of the crew were just missing – not even a body left.” Talli patted him on the shoulder, sitting down beside him and doing her best to comfort him, “You’re lucky you survived. And now we have to get off this island.”
Standing up, thinking as fast as she could, Talli started to form a plan. “Okay, we have to do this quickly. The sun’s nearly set and we don’t have shelter. Dylan, Ashelea and Briar, you go out with machetes and cut down as much bamboo as you can find – and carry -- in that forest. Get some vines also. Becka, you tend to the fish, which must be well-cooked by now, and try and get a meal together enough for all…” Talli paused, counting heads, “…Seven of us. Robert, you see if there’s anything more you can do to help Ben, and if not, perhaps check again for any supplies that have drifted back to shore.” Talli said. “But be careful!” She added.
Most of the survivors had a mixture of doubt and hope in their eyes, but Dylan looked only afraid and angry.
“Why? What good are bamboo and vines going to be against huge lobster-things, Firecrow?! And why, all of the sudden, are you the leader? Why, pirate?”
Talli winced at that last remark, but chose to ignore it -- it didn’t matter. Though she was curious how he’d heard of that… but, no, it didn’t matter. She’d answer his questions, not ask ones that were meaningless. “Would you rather sleep on the sand tonight? Because to me, bamboo and vines don’t seem that worthless. If anything, we’ll be able to make some windbreaks and at least a platform to sleep on, maybe even a hammock if we have enough salvaged cloth. Do you want to die? To get eaten by whatever took the rest of the crew? Be my guest, if that is the case. And why am I the leader? Because we have to have one. And none else has stood up and tried to organize everyone. If we want to survive, we need to be organized and not afraid.” Talli said, rather proud of her own little speech.
Dylan glared at her, gritting his teeth, but turned and followed Ashelea and Briar up the beach to the forest, swinging his machete frustratedly.
“Oh, and any food you find is good, and much needed!” Talli added after them, everything starting to get dimmer and dimmer as the sun disappeared more and more behind the orange-stained waves all around.
“Here,” Robert said, showing Talli a handful of tangled rope and some large, torn up scraps of sail. “I’d hate to think whatever could’ve torn up sailcloth and sheared through wood and rope like a knife through butter, but at least there’s some supplies left.”
“Good, good.” Talli said, looking over what he’d gathered. “Let the cloth dry out —no, no, just lay it on the sand somewhere out of the way. Yes. The rope we’ll keep, and I expect it’ll be quite useful.”
“Dinner’s ready!” Becka yelled, and the thought of food made Talli’s stomach growl and she realized just how hungry she’d been.
Ben was already over by the fire, warming up and nibbling on some fruit and the bit of fish Becka’d given him.
“There’s not much to spare, with all seven of us hungry and only one small fish to eat, but I figure we can all have a small dinner – if you like fruit a lot, at least.” Becka said, handing Talli and Robert both a sliver of fish to eat. “Careful, it’s hot, and I don’t have any plates to put food on, at the moment.” Becka warned, as Talli tossed her share of fish from hand to hand.
“Quite… hot…” Talli said, still juggling the fish, while Robert just gulped it down, still hot.
“The others better be back soon…” Ben said, looking over toward the place in the forest they’d just disappeared into.
Then, just as he said that, Talli heard the chatter and screech of some creature in the forest.
“Oh no!” Talli said, gulping down her piece of fish and running over towards the forest, dreading what she’d see.
No comments:
Post a Comment