Alexis reached the top and opened up her arms wide, spinning herself around as she soaked in the light of the high, warm sun. “What did I tell you? Best view on the island! Could you imagine some famous actress or billionaire having a wedding up here? It’d be perfect!”
Hassan had to agree. He could see across the entire breadth of the beach, the half-buried township, even the Scorpion as she gently rocked against the length of the partially collapsed concrete dock. The steep bluff was topped with a smooth flat section, free of prickly vegetation and overgrown jungle, almost as though it had been created just for them to enjoy.
The doctor slung a backpack off his shoulder and unzipped it, retrieving a thick blanket from within. He spread the blanket out, smoothing it with his hands before fishing a few sharp rocks and brambles from underneath. Alexis recklessly flopped down onto it, pulled her boots off, and rolled on her back. She looked at him and patted the section of blanket beside her. He lowered himself next to her, slipping an arm underneath the back of her neck. She snuggled against him, using his upper bicep like a pillow.
“That climb was unexpectedly strenuous,” he grunted. “I don’t get nearly enough exercise aboard the Scorpion.”
“None of us do. Well, maybe Jonah. Every time I knock on his cabin door, he’s always doing some crazy pushups and sit-ups. Dalmar, too.”
“A prison habit,” surmised Hassan. “At least for Jonah.”
“I guess. All I know is that I get worn out just watching him go at it.” A long pause fell between them, lingering until Hassan began to feel uncomfortable.
“I can always tell when something is on your mind,” he finally said. “You keep looking at me like you want to say something.”
“You don’t want to hear it. You’ll get upset.”
“Then you must tell me. I’ll only worry if you don’t.”
Alexis sat up. She wouldn’t look at him. “Why are we together? I don’t think we have a single thing in common.”
Hassan blanched, a dull ache flooding through him as if he’d had the air knocked out of him. He thought he’d been prepared for any question — but not this. His mind raced for potential answers. How could he not have seen this coming? Was the depth of their relationship simply a projection of his own greedy imagination? Was she really breaking things off so suddenly?
Alexis spared him from having to answer. “I mean, look at Dalmar and Vitaly,” she finally said. “They’re together— but not really, you know? I feel like either one of them could suddenly— ” She paused for a moment, searching for a word other than die. “Leave, or whatever. And then the other one would just move on. They really seem to like each other, but they also seems so… I don’t know.”
“Removed? Distant?” suggested Hassan. “Noncommittal?”
“I’m probably just reading too much into it.”
“I suppose we don’t have much to do on the Scorpion besides study each other. It’s natural you would have questions. I find them both quite baffling myself.”
Alexis flipped over to her elbows, frowning as she drew a finger up and down the thin lapel of Hassan’s white linen shirt, her bare feet kicking absentmindedly in the air. “Are we like that, too?” she said. “Thrown together by circumstance? Are you with me because it’s pragmatic, because you don’t have any other options?”
“Pragmatic?” Hassan tried to laugh, but it didn’t come out the way he’d intended. The slight prickle of tears stung his eyes as he fought to keep his emotions in check, struggled to find the words. “We’re outlaws, living on the fringes of the world. We’ve seen so much loss, so much violence. And yet my first thought when I wake up, and my last before I sleep, is that I could easily lose the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. Out of everything we’ve done, following Jonah into one disaster after another and yet, somehow surviving… out of all that, loving you has been the most reckless thing I’ve ever done.”
Alexis ran her fingers through his hair, behind his neck. She pressed her lips against his forehead and each eye in turn, blinding him with kisses. Then she wrapped herself around him like they’d never kissed before and never would again.
“We could stay here, just like Robinson Crusoe,” she whispered. “There’s fresh water, endless fish, eggs, coconuts, edible plants. We could build a thatch hut on the beach; watch the sunrise every morning, and the sunset every night. Let Jonah sail off and fight his ghosts without us— this place can be ours.”
“Robinson Crusoe?” said Hassan, enchanted despite his confusion. “Is that the one where they ride ostriches and fight pirates in tiger pits?”
“You’re thinking of the Swiss Family Robinson,” said Alexis, bopping him on the nose. “Everybody gets them confused.”
It was late in the afternoon before Jonah climbed his way out of the abandoned submarine. Standing atop the concrete hanger gave him another chance to survey the overgrown airstrip, burn pile, and unmarked shipping containers. The rest of the crew had dispersed, likely making their way back to the beach, or onto the moored Scorpion. As his stomach rumbled, he realized he’d barely eaten anything since emerging from the lockout chamber nearly twenty-four hours ago.
Jonah grabbed a long, thick root and rappelled down the side of the crumbling bunker, his boots landing with a soft thud on the ground below. Turning the corner, he found Sun-Hi sitting cross-legged on the grass before the rusting metal hanger doors, waiting for him. She was carefully re-assembling the rifle he’d left leaning against the wall, an oil-soaked rag tucked into her breast pocket as she clicked the stock into position, closed the action, and re-inserted the magazine. Satisfied with her work, she stood at attention and with outstretched arms and tucked chin, formally presented the weapon.
Jonah forced himself to chew down a smile. Mimicking her formality, he flipped the rifle and examined the sights as though conducting a military inspection. Jonah gave the charging handle a quick tug to check the action. It had slid easily before, but now it was like silk. He nodded his approval.
“I found interesting thing,” she said, pointing down the overgrown airfield towards the buildings at the far end. “You go this way with me?”
“Sure,” said Jonah, pausing to sling the rifle behind his back. They walked together, Sun-Hi half-skipping to keep up until Jonah slowed his lanky pace. Before long she slipped her hand into his, leaving them to make their way in silence with hands clasped.
“It is here,” she said, pointing to a stone monument hidden amidst the overgrown vegetation. She pulled away the worst of it, revealing faded Japanese characters inlaid in bronze.
“What does it say?” said Jonah.
“It says… Japanese Research Center for… earth shake?”
“Seismology?”
“Yes — and volcano also.” “That’s it?”
“No. It says it is a gift to the people of the Philippines.”
Jonah laughed ruefully. “Not a bad cover story. There was some seriously clandestine stuff going down out here.”
Sun-Hi nodded as she looked around. “Many secrets,” she agreed.
They walked together through the jungle towards the beach. She didn’t try to hold his hand again, content to simply walk at Jonah’s side. Some of the crew had retreated to the shoreline. Marissa sat barefoot beside a small but growing pile of coconuts and oysters, holding in her shirt more than a dozen seabird eggs plucked from the rocky bluffs. Dalmar and Vitaly fished in the warm shallows with nets and spears. But, the Russian focused more on distracting the pirate with splashes until the entire effort devolved into playful wrestling. Vitaly laughed uncontrollably as the bigger man flipped him onto his shoulder and threw him splayed into the surf.