"I can't believe we made it," I gasped, then collapsed on the ground. From the top of the mountain, the island stretched out far below. The waters of the Pacific glistened deep blue as the sun beat mercilessly down. It was a little cooler at this height, being so exposed on the top of the now smouldering mountain; the sea breeze cooled the sweat on my body.
Blondie joined me on the ground; obviously, she was as unfit as I, judging the way that her body shook from the exertion.
"We should have taken his food."
She was right. I hadn't thought about food for most of the day. With Blondie mentioning it, I felt the bile working on nothing and the cramps begin to build again. Groaning, I turned onto my stomach, resting my head on my arms.
"Thanks for reminding me Lorris. By the way, where did that gun come from? When the guard pointed his gun at me, I knew that was the end. When I saw blood pouring from between his eyes, I couldn't quite believe it. Do you still have it?"
"No. I got it out of the drawer by the fish tank. Miles didn't realise, but he'd left the drawer open after he took out the fishfood. The glint of the grey metal caught my eye. I left it there. Forgot about it actually, until that guard waved his around. And no, I don't still have it. It fell over the edge when I moved across the tunnel entrance to the ledge. I didn't see where it landed."
"Pity, we could do with a weapon. I left my gun by the tunnel entrance." We lay quietly for a moment.
"I wonder how Martin is doing. Do you think he's still alive?" she asked.
Visions of the criss-cross pattern on his back oozing dark blood, of the whipper sneering as the whip fell, of Martin grunting in pain, all crossed my mind. I wondered if he got all of the extra 20 lashes Miles had ordered.
"He's still alive. I feel it. Anyway, Miles needs him."
"Needs him for what?" She sat up waiting for my answer.
"Think about it for a minute. Martin told Miles someone was on their way here. Knowing Martin, he wouldn't have said anymore than that to Miles. That must be why he was getting the whipping. Beating the answers out of him. Miles seemed to be pretty vexed though. I guess Martin wasn't planning on saying anything else."
"I hope he's still ali…" A shot of steam flew straight into the air from beside her. It missed her by inches. She screamed and jumped up.
The rumbling moved up through the ground. My head banged against my arms as the ground shook from the strain of containing the volcano.
"Get down! Lay flat!" I screamed, as the silly bitch chicken danced two feet away. "Lorris get down!" She dropped to the ground, close to me. The steam had forced itself through several cracks now. She was petrified. Hell, so was I. I pulled her close to me and we lay together as flat as we could until the rumbling eased.
"We have to get down from here!" I shouted and jumped up searching for an easier way to get down than the way up had been.
"Bess, look!" Turning, I looked in the direction she pointed. In the eastern sky, with the sun directly behind, a black blob was all I could see. I held my hand, shielding the sun and squinted, watching as the dark shape slowly grew. I heard the rotor blades before the rumbling had completely stopped.
"Oh, thank God!" Lorris jumped up and waved her arms around madly.
"Lorris stop! We don't know if their friendly or not!"
"Oh God Bess! What do we do? There's nowhere up here to hide!"
"Stay low. Wait and see if they get close enough so we can tell. Get down low!"
We both dropped to the ground. There was nothing to hide us from their view. I figured the way the helicopter was slowly coming towards us, that they'd probably seen us already.
It felt like waiting for fate to make the next move. I found myself wondering how such a huge helicopter managed to stay airborne. I watched as it came to rest in the sky above us. The pilot seemed to be struggling to hold it steady. The breeze we had felt was obviously much stronger where the chopper was, probably the updraft from the mountain's side. I had no idea how to tell if its occupants were good guys or bad guys.
"It's okay. You are safe. We will pull you up."
With all the dust and steam flying around I couldn't be sure I'd heard the voice from the loud speaker. I looked across at Blondie. Her eyes lit up and she jumped up, her hair blowing in a tangled mass around her face.
"Get up Bess! They're here to save us. Get up!" She screamed above the noise and pulled me to my feet. I dropped low as the ground shook again, and then looked up praying whoever it was would hurry. I didn't think the volcano would hold out much longer.
Two harnesses were lowered from the chopper; a man in camouflage uniform was strapped into one. He motioned toward us. Careful to stay low, we made our way closer to the edge where the chopper waited.
I pushed Blondie forward, letting her know she was going first. She turned, hugged me tightly and quickly then was held by the rescuer as he harnessed her and gave the thumbs up for them to be winched upwards.
It took forever as I watched, holding my breath until I saw her safely aboard. The chopper waved around in the air, wind turbulence seemed to be increasing. The pilot pulled the heavy machine away and slowly moved back. Holding my breath again, I watched as he returned for me. I winced as the wind threw him into the side of the mountain. The pilot pulled up and began a slower descent.
I reached up, was grabbed and held fast until the harness snapped tight around me. He crushed me against his body as my feet left the ground. Wind tried to tear us apart, but he held me in a vicelike grip.
The winch pulled us upwards. As the chopper moved away from the wind turbulence, the line steadied. We spun a little, giving me a 360-degree view. Far out at sea a handful of ships sat. I hadn't noticed them before. I guessed the top of the mountain was wider than I'd thought when I'd been standing on it. The smouldering mountain seemed far below by the time I was roughly hauled onto the chopper. My stomach heaved and I forced myself to concentrate on the two pairs of hands that dragged me into the machine and undid the harness. A pair of earmuffs snapped onto my ears and mercifully the hellish noise of the chopper's engines dulled.
Before I could think straight, I found myself sitting, staring at Blondie's bemused face directly opposite. Two soldiers dressed in camouflage uniform flanked Lorris and our rescuer sat opposite her, beside me.
I grinned. Lorris grinned back.
