We had hiked up to a camping area, set up the tent, and then spent the next three days playing cards while sitting on top of damp sleeping bags. Eventually, the trench we dug around the tent wasn’t enough, and the whole place flooded. The sound was annoying, and I ended up punching one of the other kids for getting his muddy feet all over my pillow. When we got back to civilization, I was sent back into group care again.
I moved my head from side to side, enjoying the tickling feeling of her hair under my chin. Some of the strands were stuck in my beard. That was all right, too. I felt light and…well…kind of happy, which I didn’t really know how to handle. She felt good against me, and I wanted her to stay there. It was probably trying to figure out happiness that made me realize something was really wrong here. It could have been that plinking, plopping, dripping sound as well. It seemed to be a little louder. Raine’s breathing didn’t sound quite right, and her heart was beating awfully fast for sleep. Raine needed something – something important. I needed to know what the strange, reminds-me-of-camping sound was, and I needed to remember what Raine needed. Her name provided me with the single answer to both questions.
“Rain.”
I pushed with my hands on the bottom of the raft while my mind raced in abrupt, sharp focus. If the collection system was working properly, it should be collecting the rain pelting the top of the canopy. We should already have water to drink. Raine needed the water. She was going to die if she didn’t get it, but the muscles in my arms groaned and argued with me, refusing to hold me up.
I dropped back down again, trying to cradle Raine’s body against mine so I didn’t crush her. The rest of my body gave up, too, and I lay on the floor, hugging her to me and feeling the slow rise and fall of the waves underneath us. I tucked my forehead back into her hair and tried to breathe normally. Being here felt good – much better than trying to move. If I just rested here for a little while I could go and get…whatever it was I was supposed to get…or do…whatever. I’d do it later. I needed to rest now.
“Get the fuck up.”
“Screw you, Landon,” I grumbled at him. “We’ve been at this for five hours. I’m taking a fucking break.”
I heard the soft click of his Glock and slowly opened my eyes to see it pointed between my eyes.
“You rest, you die,” he said. His voice was cold and emotionless. “You think they’re going to wait for you to wake up for a fair fight? If you aren’t up for this, just say the word and I’ll end you right now. I’m not going to waste my time on some pussy who needs a fucking nap.”
I shoved against the floor of the raft again, cringing a little when Raine’s head dropped off of my arm and onto the floor. My stomach lurched, and my head pounded. I had to force my eyes open and look down to my legs to make my muscles move. It wasn’t that far to the collection containers, and the first one was already nearly full. Through the haze of the pain in my brain and the shaking muscles of my arms and legs, I switched the valves so water would run to the second container and pulled out the nearly full one.
In the event of loss of cabin pressure, please place the oxygen mask over your head before assisting children or other passengers.
In other words, help yourself first, even if you don’t really want to. You can’t help anyone when you’re dead. I had to have enough strength to help Raine drink, or neither of us would make it.
The hardest part of extreme thirst is convincing yourself that a little water is better than a lot. Your body doesn’t believe you no matter what the logical part of your brain is saying. I sat down slowly, tucking my legs in and holding the cup in my shaking hand. I poured slowly, just the single cup, and took a sip.
My throat was dry enough I don’t think the water actually reached my stomach. It hurt to swallow. I sipped again, swishing the water around in my mouth first and licking my lips afterwards. I drank half a cup, and then sat unmoving for a while. I wasn’t sure how long it was exactly – my “waterproof” watch had stopped working after my second fishing expedition – but I tried to wait at least fifteen minutes before I drank the rest and brought the second cup to Raine.
She wouldn’t wake up, so I had to hold her up by her shoulders to get her head in the right position to drink and tilt her chin up to get her to swallow. Honestly, it was probably easier that way than having to fight with her to keep her from drinking too much at once. I got half the cup into her before lying her back down.
I lay next to her after drinking another half cup. The rain was still coming down steadily, and at this rate, we’d have another week’s worth of water before morning. I refused to lie back down at this point because I was afraid I would fall asleep and I needed to get more water into Raine. I started counting her breaths, and after one hundred and eighty I sat her up and gave her more. Raine’s eyes opened for a moment, and her hand reached up, like she was trying to touch the cup, but it dropped back to her lap instead. At least I didn’t have to tilt her chin up to get her to swallow this time.
We went back and forth like this for a couple of hours. Raine had consumed four cups at that point, and I had drunk five. It was enough for now, and I finally allowed myself to lie back down beside her, immediately pulling her against my chest and holding her head to my shoulder. She sighed and her warm breath tickled my skin.
“I knew you would,” she mumbled against my shoulder.
“Would what?” I asked, but she was already out. I took some more deep breaths, trying to keep my mind from thinking anything before I hugged her to me again, closed my eyes, and let myself drift off as well.
…there is darkness all around and cloth touching me on my shoulders, tickling my skin like spider webs strewn across a forest path. I shudder and try to close my eyes, but then I can’t see the darkness, and I have to watch it. If I don’t watch it, I’ll never know when something comes at me. I hear footsteps and hold my breath, as if that would help. Bright lights fill the tiny room, and a strong arm hauls me out and into the room. Screaming…yelling…fists against my back...I try to curl up into a ball, but he holds me up higher so he can reach more of me…
…blood everywhere – all over me, all over the knife in my hand. I am pretty sure I have been shot near my shoulder – not bad, but it burns like a bitch. I took a good blow to the head, too. How many are left – two or three? There is movement off to my right, and I jump up, ready to face the next one…
…the ring sparkles in the light when I place the little satin black box, lid open, on the dash and drive out of the parking lot. The prisms go off in eve
ry direction, flicking into my eyes through my sunglasses. I can’t stop myself from smiling. I’ll wait until the weekend and give it to her then. I can’t wait to see it on her finger…
My eyes flew open, and I had to stop the scream trying to come out of my mouth. There was sweat on my forehead, which I’m sure I should have seen as a good sign. Before the rain, there wouldn’t have been any moisture on my skin at all. I stared at the ceiling for a while, drank more water, gave Raine a little more water, and then stared at the ceiling some more.
* * * * *
The rain stopped, and the sun came out. It was steamy and hot for a while, then clouded up again and sprinkled some more. Even with the quart and a half we had each consumed, there was still another week’s worth of water in the containers now.
An unlucky seagull bobbed up and down on the waves near the raft. I turned Raine’s swimsuit into a net while she was sleeping, which she did not appreciate in the slightest, and managed to catch it. Raine did seem to appreciate being able to eat something, though. I told her catching birds was all about knowing which direction they were going to fly, along with a little bit of speed. Sea birds weren’t that quick getting out of the water. I liked watching her eyes light up in wonder or awe – if that’s what it was – when I did something that impressed her.
“I never thought something like this would taste good,” Raine said, popping a thin piece of raw, stripped meat into her mouth.
“Starvation does that to you,” I said with a shrug.
“Still, I would have thought it would only be palatable at best, but this actually tastes good.”