Trapped (10 page)

Sarah's stomach clenched as she watched Marco walk away. She never thought she'd be unhappy to see him leave, but as he disappeared with Leo and the chest, she felt tears well up in her eyes. How was she going to do this without him?

“You okay?” asked Nacho.

Sarah nodded and quickly swiped away the tear that spilled over and ran down her cheek. “Yeah. Just kinda worried.”

Cash called out, “But Sarge is here. Or at least out there. He won't let anything happen to me. Or you guys.” She tilted her head. “Or your mom.”

Sarah wondered how Cash could promise that. Sarge hadn't exactly been able to stop Fox from stranding Cash, had he? Sarah dropped to the sand and touched her stepmom's shoulder lightly. “Yvonna?”

Yvonna's eyelids fluttered a little. She moaned and set a hand over her eyes. “It's so bright.”

Sarah's dark eyes met Nacho's. Was he thinking the same thing? Wondering if whatever was in the chest had done some kind of damage to Yvonna?

Sarah felt a slight chill and looked up. The sun had gone down far enough so that the shade extended far beyond their camp. “It'll be dark soon.” She hadn't spent a night alone. Well, she hadn't spent a night without an alert and capable adult. And there was no way they would make it to the cave they'd stayed in the night before. She looked overhead to the platform and the mattresses. “We've got to get her up there.”

“No way. We'll never be able to.” Nacho shot a look at the fire, which had dwindled to a weak stream of smoke. “I can build up the fire some more. We could stay there.”

Sarah thought of the crabs. “We need to be up in the trees.”

Nacho glanced overhead. “But we can't leave my mom down here alone.”

Sarah sighed. “I know.” She took Cash's elbow. “Let's get you over to the fire.”

Together, Sarah and Nacho threw more wood on the fire. The pile seemed bigger than earlier. Sarah asked Cash, “Did you gather wood?”

Cash nodded. “Before the lights went out. I wanted to help.”

Sarah smiled. “Well, you did. Nacho, help me get your mom over here.”

Sarah grabbed the blanket Yvonna had been lying on and took it over to where her stepmom had collapsed. She spread it out, then Nacho helped her roll Yvonna onto it. They each grabbed hold of a side and began to drag her through the sand.

Sarah's back started to hurt at the strain. “Rest. For just a second.” As they caught their breath, they looked out in the lagoon. Dusk was upon them, and lights from the sailboat glittered.

Nacho said, “I thought maybe they'd come in by now.”

Sarah said, “I don't think they're coming tonight. Maybe they didn't see me after all.”

Nacho pointed at the fire. “Well, they might see that.”

Which could be good or bad, Sarah thought, depending on how you looked at it. She would have liked an adult there, even one with a gun, because she had no idea what might happen in the night. She also couldn't help but think about the black cat with the crimson beard and tail, still loose on the island. And probably still hungry.

“Okay. Let's go again,” said Nacho.

They took up their edges of the blanket and pulled some more, Ahab trotting beside them, providing moral support. After another rest break and more heaving, they finally arrived at the fire.

Sarah ran back to grab a couple of pillows, then placed them under Yvonna's head. Nacho had several beach towels tucked under one arm, a mesh bag hooked on the other. He dropped the bag and spread out a towel for Cash, then helped her onto it. Once she was comfortable, Nacho plopped down on another towel as Sarah claimed the last one, Ahab joining her.

Nacho pulled a bottle of water out of the bag and handed it to Sarah.

Sarah hadn't realized how thirsty she was until she began drinking. As she downed half of the bottle, her stomach growled and gurgled. She poured some in her hand, and Ahab licked it up.

Nacho handed Cash a granola bar, then tossed two to Sarah. “Thanks.” She smiled and ripped off the wrapper, devouring the first bar in less than four bites. She read the label of the other one and peeled off the wrapper. “Well, boy, I think this is dog friendly.” Ahab devoured it and wagged his tail.

Sarah opened another bottle of water and moved closer to Yvonna. She set a hand under her head to tip it up, and then set the bottle on her stepmom's lips. “You need to drink.”

Yvonna managed to get a few swallows in before dropping her head back down.

Cash said, “So you're gonna get a brother or sister, huh?”

Sarah locked eyes with Nacho, who grinned.

“Are you happy about that?” Cash asked.

Nacho said, “Yeah. I hope it's a boy.”

Sarah didn't answer right away. At first, when Yvonna told them she was pregnant, she'd been shocked. But as she'd thought about it, she warmed to the idea. A little, anyway. She hadn't been around babies very much. She said, “Maybe it won't be that bad.”

Cash nodded. “Babies are cool. I have a little cousin who is one. He's really fun.” She took a bite of a granola bar.

Neither of them said anything else. Sarah stared into the flames as the night gradually descended around them.

Cash lay down on her side and shut her eyes.

Sarah tried not to think about what might be out there. She picked up a stick and poked it into the fire, stirring up the glowing coals. “Too bad we don't have marshmallows.”

Nacho nodded. “Yeah.” He yawned.

Sarah said, “You can go to sleep.”

“But we should keep watch,” said Nacho.

Sarah nodded. “I'll take the first shift.”

“Okay,” said Nacho. “But make sure to wake me up.”

“I will,” said Sarah.

Nacho reclined beside the fire and shut his eyes. Within minutes, his breathing slowed and his mouth fell open. How could that boy sleep? Sarah was fairly certain she wouldn't be able to. Her heart pounded too hard.

What if the crabs came back?

What if one of Leo's freaky animals showed up?

She gazed out at the water where the lights of the sailboat glowed in the darkness. She wished those people would have come ashore before dark, even if they were bad. Being the lone one awake and alert made her feel so …
responsible
.

Sarah yawned. After everything that happened that day, stressed out or not, she couldn't fight the exhaustion. She pulled a blanket up over Yvonna. As far as she could tell, her stepmother was asleep. So she went back to her spot by the fire and hunkered down a bit, trying to get more comfortable in the sand herself. Ahab stretched out and fell asleep.

Sarah lay down on her side, head propped up on her elbow as she watched the flickering fire. Maybe she should relish the peace, because who knew what would happen in the morning when the boat-jackers came ashore?

She yawned again. “You have to stay awake.”

But she let her eyes shut. Only for a moment. She was simply so tired, and it was so hard to keep them open. She couldn't help it.

“Sarah!”

Cash's panicked voice startled Sarah awake. Immediately, her heart pounded and her hands trembled. The fire was still bright, the night was still dark. Cash's face was illuminated only by the firelight.

“What's wrong?” whispered Sarah.

Cash whispered back, “I heard something. From over there.” She pointed toward the trees.

Ahab whined.

Sarah quickly tossed more wood on the fire. Whatever was out there, she hoped it hated fire. The flames might be their best—if not only—defense. For the first time, she wished she hadn't thrown that white tube into the waves. “Do you see anything?” Then she realized how stupid her question was.

They huddled together, Sarah stoking the fire. She set aside a club-sized piece of wood.

Nacho's eyes opened at a crashing in the bushes. He crawled next to Ahab and Sarah. She felt like her heart would pound its way out of her chest.

Nacho leaned into her, his voice so quiet Sarah could barely hear him as he asked, “What do you think it is?”

Sarah didn't want to think about what might be making the sound. “Probably nothing.”

She looked sideways at Nacho, who raised his eyebrows at her. Sarah shrugged. “Isn't that better than telling you it might be something that could eat us?”

A corner of his mouth turned up. “Yeah.”

Sarah picked up the piece of wood she'd set aside and let the end catch fire, then handed it to Nacho. Nacho stood up. Sarah did the same to another stick and got to her feet.

“Are you going in there?” asked Cash.

“Either that or we stay here, huddled like frightened rabbits all night.” Sarah sounded far braver than she felt. “Let's go, boy.” Ahab got to his feet beside her.

Nacho nodded. “Let's do it.”

Side by side, brandishing their torches, they crept toward the edge of the trees where they'd heard the sound. Sarah tried to hold the torch steady in her shaking hand. Impossible, so she reached up with her other hand, clutching the stick with both. She held it out in front of her.

Suddenly, a ball of fur jumped out at them.

Ahab barked and Sarah screamed as Nacho yelled. Sarah scrunched her eyes shut as she jabbed out with her torch, waiting for something to attack her.

Nacho began to laugh.

Sarah opened her eyes.

Ahab barked again.

The squirrel with the striped tail sat there, nose twitching at them. “It's not funny.” But as she looked at the squirrel, then back at Nacho, she realized it was funny. And she began to laugh too, so hard that she had to bend over and clutch her stomach. She dropped the torch, which landed with a fizz in the sand.

Still laughing, Nacho grabbed her arm. “Come on. Let's go back to the fire.”

Ahab wanted to keep barking at the creature, so Sarah pulled him by the collar until he followed them. They sat back down.

Cash asked, “Did you see anything?”

Sarah giggled. “A very weird squirrel.”

Nacho said, “Let's just build up the fire and go to sleep. If we get eaten, we get eaten.”

“By a squirrel?” asked Cash.

They began to laugh again. Then, finally, Sarah lay down beside Ahab and fell asleep, putting a stop, at last, to what had seemed like a never-ending day.

 

16

By the time the sun went down, Marco and Leo had stopped to rest exactly four times. Marco estimated the weight of the chest as not more than twenty-five pounds or so, but it was the size of a large suitcase and awkward to carry. They continued to move in the dusk on the flat, sandy beach. Marco kicked something with his foot, and saw a rock roll out of the way. A moment later, he tripped on a piece of driftwood and fell to one knee, letting his end of the chest drop to the sand. He shook his head. “It's getting too dark.”

Leo set his end of the chest in the sand. His face was barely visible in the waning light.

Marco said, “I don't know why I didn't think to bring a flashlight.” He glanced at the chest. “I guess I couldn't have carried it anyway.” Clouds began to cover the moon and stars. Soon they wouldn't have any light to see by. “I can't believe this. We're gonna have to stop for the night.”

“Why?” asked Leo.

“Duh. We can't see.” Marco rolled his eyes.

Leo said, “Light is not a problem.”

Marco mumbled, “No, just the
lack
of it is.”

Suddenly a glowing blue bubble of light surrounded them, spreading out about ten yards, revealing the sand and even stretching to the waves slipping up on the sand.

“Whoa!” Marco jumped back, but the light stayed with him.

He ran to the side a few feet. The light followed.

Marco juked and dodged, but couldn't escape the blueness. Finally, he stopped trying. “What is that?”

Leo held out his hands. “Light. So we can keep going.”

Marco relaxed. The inside of the bubble was as light as day. Just more …
blue.
“How did you do that?”

Leo turned one arm over and slid up his sleeve, revealing the black bracelet from before. “Technology.”

Marco grinned. “Can that thing make me a sandwich?”

Leo smiled and shook his head. “That has to wait until we're back at the ship.”

Marco leaned down and grabbed his end of the chest. “Well then, let's go.”

The light made things so much easier. Other than the brief periodic stops, they made good time along the beach. As they neared the spot where the sharkodile had attacked them, Leo set his end of the chest in the sand.

“Why are you stopping?” asked Marco.

“I need a rest,” Leo said.

Marco firmed up his grip. “We need to keep going. We can't stop here.”

Leo wiped some sweat off his face. “I have to rest.”

Marco dropped his end of the chest. “Listen, this is not a good place.” His gaze darted out to the waves, lit by the blue light for a little ways offshore. “Some … thing came after us here.”

Leo whirled to face the water. “A shark. With feet.”

Marco frowned. “Yeah. How did you know?”

Leo shrugged. “One of our mistakes.”

Marco sucked on his lower lip for a moment and asked something he wasn't sure he wanted an answer to. “Did you make anything else that went in the water?”

Leo picked up his end of the chest. “I think we should get going.”

Marco hefted his end, and they used quick steps for the next several minutes. When Leo finally slowed down, Marco did too. They rounded the last corner and Leo said, “We're here.”

The blue light entered the cavern before them. There was no chill air to greet them like when Marco and Sarah had first found the entrance. Marco figured it was because Leo was with him. They continued into the vast room with all the containers.

Marco immediately felt a clench in his gut at the sight of all those trapped creatures. Even though he knew Leo would take good care of them on his planet, if they made it there, the sight still freaked him out. Especially since he personally knew one of the frozen. His chest tightened as he saw the module that held Sarah's dad. He needed to get John out of there, not only for Sarah, but also his mom. For what he hoped was the last time, Marco set the chest down. He wiped his sweaty hands on his shirt, walked up to the frosty glass, and blew on it. Slowly, a patch cleared and he set his eye to it. John was there, same as before. “Can we let my stepdad out now?”