Survivors (Stranded) (10 page)

B
uzz followed Jane up onto the boat, into the wheelhouse, and down through the hatch to the deck below. He hated not being able to see outside anymore, not knowing where the plane was.

“What are you doing?” he called after Jane as they moved up the passage toward the stern.

“We’re going to light the oil tank!” Jane said.

It stopped Buzz cold. “What?” he asked. “We can’t do that.”

“We have to,” Jane said. She continued into the small cabin with the manhole cover in the floor. It sat over the opening of the tank, just slightly to the side.

Jane set the burning torch on the metal floor and dropped to her knees. “Help me move this out of the way,” she said.

“The whole ship could blow up!” Buzz told her.

“Do you have a better idea?” she asked.

He didn’t. Jane was right, and Buzz knew it. In fact, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of this himself. Fire was his thing. He’d been thinking about how to make and keep fires for the last thirteen days, nonstop. But Jane’s calm focus, despite the urgency of the situation, was infectious.

He knelt down next to her and put his hands on the heavy iron disc. “One, two, three!” he said. They heaved together and twisted the cover off to the side. The smell from down below burned Buzz’s nostrils.

Outside, he could hear the sound of the plane. It was getting close.

“Okay,” Jane said as she picked up the torch. “Get ready to run like crazy.”

“Wait!” Buzz said. He knew what to do. There was no reason for two of them to be down here right now. He reached out and snatched the torch away.

“What are you doing?” Jane said.

“Go,” Buzz told her. “I’ll light it.”

“But—” Jane started to object.

“There’s no time, Jane,” Buzz cut her off. “Just go. I’ll catch up.”

“Buzz, you can’t!” she said.

He dropped the torch on the floor, put both hands on her shoulders, and shoved her toward the door. “GET OUT!” he screamed. “You’re wasting time. Go!”

Jane stumbled into the passage and let out a wail as she ran toward the front.

“Hurry, Buzz!” she called back. “Please hurry!”

Buzz stood in the middle of the cabin and picked up the burning torch. He knew that it usually took a moment before the oil caught fire. With any luck, he’d have just enough time to get out of there. And if not, it could still get the others off this island, once and for all. That was a risk worth taking, especially for Carter’s sake. He wouldn’t survive much longer.

This was it. One chance to save them. It was crazy—a complete shot in the dark. But Jane was right. They had to try.

He could hear Jane outside now screaming for the others. That was good. It meant she was off the boat.

Buzz checked the door once more to make sure he had a clear way out of the room.

He held the torch over the hole. He positioned his feet like a sprinter ready to fly. Then he took a deep breath and dropped the torch down into the tank.

Vanessa could scarcely believe what Jane was telling her.

“Yes, he’s lighting the fuel tank!” she said again. “I’m sorry, it was my idea!”

Vanessa turned toward the ship, running blindly. The plane—headed straight for the island—was forgotten. She had to get Buzz out of there. This was insane.

“Buzz!” she screamed, splashing along the edge of the cove. “Buzz! Don’t do it! Get out of there!”

She was halfway back to the boat when she saw Buzz racing through the wheelhouse on his way out.

“Run!” Buzz screamed. He threw himself off the deck and kept going. “Get away, get away, get away!”

Vanessa stopped and reversed direction, with Buzz right behind. The plane was almost directly overhead. If the ship was going to blow it needed to blow now.

“Nothing’s happening!” Buzz said, even as they were still moving.

“Are you sure you lit it?” Vanessa said back.

“I don’t know, I put the—”

A giant, hollow explosion of sound filled the air. The force of it blew through the cove like a strong wind. Vanessa felt her ears pop. She stumbled just as Buzz caught up to her. They both hit the ground, then turned to look back.

A giant, rolling red-and-orange ball was rising up from the ship. It looked as if the sky itself was on fire. It was huge. The wheelhouse had disintegrated. Vanessa threw an arm over Buzz as debris splashed down in the water and onto the ground around them. A giant piece of railing landed with a crash, just ten feet off to the right.

When she looked up again, Vanessa saw the rolling flames giving way to a black smoke that flowed up and out of the cove, like fumes through a chimney. If anything was going to be seen from a distance, it wasn’t their signal fire anymore. It was that explosion.

Adrenaline still pumping, Vanessa grabbed Buzz’s hand and ran back to the others.

“YES!” Jane shouted as Buzz and Vanessa raced toward them. It had worked. Somehow, it had worked.

But they weren’t through this yet. She stood at the water’s edge with Carter, waving and waving at the plane. This was it—the moment when it all came to an end. It had to be. There was no other option, and they all screamed at the sky.

“HELP!”

“DOWN HERE!”

“PLEASE!”

Unbelievably, the airplane never changed its course. It continued on its way, passing west over the island, while the screaming continued.

“NO! DON’T LEAVE!”

“COME BACK!”

But it was no good. Within a few moments, the plane had disappeared over the tops of the trees. Jane stood with her neck still craned upward, her gaze overhead, where there was nothing left to see anymore.

The plane was gone. Not only that, but the ship was ruined as well. It was all too much—an unbearable load of bad luck. She couldn’t hold back her tears.

“I don’t understand,” she sobbed. “How could they not see us? How could this happen—again?”

“Was it the same plane as the last time?” Vanessa asked.

“I don’t know,” Jane said. “What does it matter?”

“It doesn’t,” Vanessa said. “I just . . .” She trailed off, as if she’d realized there was nothing left to say. No way to describe what any of them were feeling. And now she was crying, too. They all were.

It couldn’t be true. The plane couldn’t have really passed them by. Not
twice
.

And yet, the empty sky over Jane’s head told her everything there was to know. The plane had moved on, and the only thing up there now was a huge black cloud of smoke, as the ship behind them—their home—burned up in flames.

Just like their chances of being rescued.

Carter didn’t even try to wipe away his tears. The pain in his hand was nothing compared to the torture of watching another rescue slip right through their fingers.

And there had been nothing he could do to help. All he’d managed was a few weak shouts at the sky, watching the speck of a plane fly over, with a horrible sense of déjà vu.

He lay back on the rocks now, feeling empty. Not just in his stomach, but in his heart, too. Everywhere. Everything. The emptiness consumed him. It felt . . . over.

Nobody said a word for a long time. They all sank to the ground around him, catching their breath at first, then crying quietly to themselves. There was simply nothing to say.

In fact, if there had been any conversation, Carter might not have heard the soft hum of the plane, coming closer again.

But he did hear it. At first, he stayed silent, thinking it might just be his imagination playing tricks on him. It wasn’t until he saw Buzz look up, and then both of the girls, too, that he let himself believe it might be true.

“Is that . . . ?” Buzz said.

“Really?” Jane said, turning around in a full circle, scanning the sky again.

There was no mistaking it now. The plane had looped around from the west and was headed back in their direction.

“They must have seen the smoke!” Vanessa said. “That has to be it!”

“They’re coming back! They’re coming back!” Jane sang out.

And then sure enough, over the tops of the trees, the beautiful sight of an airplane appeared. It was flying lower than before—much lower. This was a plane getting ready to land. But where? There wasn’t enough room on the island.

Carter could see now that this wasn’t the same craft from the other day. It was red and white, with big pontoons underneath. This was a seaplane—it could land on water.

He waved, while his brother and sisters jumped up and down, screaming as loudly as they could.

It was an unbelievable sight. An unbelievable feeling, too. Like some kind of dream he’d had more than once since they’d landed on Nowhere Island. And now it was coming true.

The plane flew in a wide arc, out over the ocean to the east, and then back again, heading straight at them. The others held Carter up on his feet as it skimmed down onto the water, propellers buzzing, less than fifty yards offshore.

It was hard for Carter to make out what Vanessa and Buzz were even saying, there was so much excitement in their voices. Jane was crying too hard for words.

He could see the pilot behind the seaplane’s small windshield. There were others on board as well, moving around inside as they continued to float closer. Soon, the door on the side opened.

And even now, with everything that had just happened, the last person Carter expected to see was the first off the plane.

“MOMMY!” Jane screamed, finding her voice.

Beth Benson reached toward them, still twenty yards away, her face crumpled up with tears of her own. Behind her, Eric Diaz emerged onto the pontoon.

“Dad!” Buzz and Vanessa yelled simultaneously.

Behind their parents, two of the flight crew had already launched a bright yellow dinghy. One of them was handing red-and-white boxes of what Carter guessed to be medical supplies down to the other.

But Mom wasn’t waiting. She plunged into the water followed by Dad, and they started swimming for the beach.

It was too much for Carter. It was as if his mind didn’t know how to process what was happening. All the fears—that they might never be rescued, that his infection might kill him—were gone. The feeling went way beyond words. There were only tears now.

Tears of joy.

Vanessa, Jane, and Buzz raced into the water toward their parents. Carter was moving, too, more slowly. Before they’d gotten very far, Buzz stopped and turned around to come back. He put an arm around Carter to hold him up, and they continued on together.