Survival

'What the hell are chiggers?' asked Hex.

'They're a type of flea,' explained Alex. 'Chigoes is the proper name for them. They attach themselves to the shafts of hairs on your skin, then they feed off you by injecting saliva under the skin then sucking-'

'OK,' said Amber, hastily, 'I get the idea.'

'If you don't winkle them out, the bite'll become infected.' Alex had removed his boots and socks and was checking his feet and ankles. He pointed to three red dots just above his ankle bone. 'There. Chiggers. If we had some vaseline, I could smear some on and suffocate them. As it is, I'll have to use a sterilized needle to dig them out.'

'OK. Now I'm really grossed out,' said Amber.

'Is everything on this island out to get us?' groaned Hex.

Alex grinned. 'Just keep your boots on during the day, wash your socks every night, and you should avoid getting too many of them.'

They took it in turn to bathe their scrapes and bites and remove any chiggers while the food cooked. Li gave Alex's raw wrist and head wound extra attention, but both wounds seemed to be healing well.

Next Alex produced a small pack of anti-malaria tablets. 'These are special,' he said. 'They're not like the ones they were doling out every day on the Phoenix . You only need to take one and you have protection against malaria for a month. I have just enough for one each.

'And finally,' said Alex, once they had taken the tablets, 'we have the coconut oil.' Carefully, he picked up the two half-shells that Amber had managed to collect and handed one to each bench. 'Smear it on any exposed flesh. The smoke from the fire'll keep some of the mosquitoes away, but this'll deter the rest.'

'Can't we do it after we eat?' asked Paulo, gazing longingly at the steaming bamboo tubes.

'Nope. This is important. It's something we need to do every night. If we don't keep clean in humid heat like this, we've had it.'

The food was wonderful. To drink, they had half coconuts full of fresh boiled water. Alex crumbled a salt tablet into it before he served it out, to make sure everyone replaced the salt they had lost through the hot, sweaty day. They finished off the meal with the pawpaw fruit which Amber and Li had brought back with them that morning. It tasted rather like a melon and the soft flesh was full of juice. Once the pawpaw had all disappeared, they sat back in a tired, companionable silence, staring into the fire as the sun began to set behind the mountain. After a few minutes, Amber got up quietly and headed down to the tide line, where she sat with her back to them.

'Is she all right?' Alex asked, looking at Li.

'I think she's gone to do her injection,' said Li. 'Best leave her to it.'

'Poor kid,' muttered Hex to himself. The others looked at him in surprise. 'What?' he demanded, scowling fiercely.

'How did her parents die?' asked Li, looking at Hex with frank curiosity.

'Plane crash,' he answered. 'Just over a year ago. It was a small, private plane, with just the two of them in it. Her dad was piloting. Amber was due to fly with them, but changed her mind at the last minute and stayed on with friends instead. One of the engines caught fire over the Alps, and the plane crashed into the side of a mountain.'

'Did they find the bodies?' asked Paulo.

'Yeah,' said Hex. 'Apparently, they were badly burned. From what I read, the authorities wouldn't let Amber see them.' He frowned. 'Maybe that's why she's having a hard time moving on. You know that twist of gold she wears around her neck? Shaped like a broken circle?'

'Yes,' said Alex. 'Does it have some special meaning?'

Hex hesitated. 'I think so,' he said. 'That's an Omega sign.'

'Omega?' asked Li.

'It's the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Omega. The End.'

'The end of what?' asked Paulo.

Hex rubbed his nose while he tried to think of the right words to explain. 'Remember, back on the Phoenix , she said she didn't want a new beginning? She said her parents were dead. The End. Remember?'

Hex looked around at the others and they all nodded. 'And have you noticed how the gold is all rough and unpolished, as though it was beaten into shape? I think that golden Omega sign was probably made by hammering her parents' wedding rings together. The End. Do you see what I'm getting at? Amber can't move on. She doesn't want to.'

'Ten out of ten, code boy,' said Amber, softly, making Hex jump. 'I forgot, you're pretty good at puzzles, aren't you?' She moved into the circle of firelight and sat down on the bench, giving Hex a cool stare.

'So, I guessed right?' asked Hex.

'Yeah,' said Amber. 'You guessed right, code boy. But there is one thing you're wrong about.'

'What's that?' asked Hex.

'Back on the Phoenix you accused me of thinking money fixes everything.' Amber held out the golden Omega sign so that it glittered dully in the firelight. She looked at Hex with eyes full of a deep sadness. 'So, you tell me, Hex. How does money fix this?'

FOURTEEN

Paulo was deeply asleep, lying flat on his back, when his bed started shaking. He tried to ignore it, but the shaking persisted. Then something light and feathery stroked a ticklish path back and forth across his face. He groaned and opened his eyes. Li was bending over him, tickling him under the chin with a handful of her long, black hair.

'C'mon, sleepyhead,' she whispered. 'Time to get up. You're on breakfast duty.'

'Go 'way,' muttered Paulo and closed his eyes again. They had all gone to bed with the sunset, exhausted by the day's activities and subdued by Amber's sad face, but Paulo's sleep had been broken when Alex woke him in the middle of the night to take his turn on watch. Now, all he wanted to do was sleep for another ten hours.

'Wakey wakey,' persisted Li, moving the hank of hair round to Paulo's ear. He did not shift. 'OK,' warned Li, 'I'm going for the belly now, so you'd better move.'

She lifted the hem of Paulo's T-shirt, then froze, eyes wide, staring down at his stomach. 'Paulo,' she said, quietly. 'Don't move.'

'Move, do not move,' grumbled Paulo, starting to turn onto his side. 'Make up your mind-'

'I said, don't move!'

Li's voice was sharp with urgency and suddenly Paulo was fully awake. He could feel something lying heavily on his stomach. Slowly he raised his head to see what was there. Equally slowly, Li eased his T-shirt away from his stomach and folded it back onto his chest.

For two seconds, Paulo stared at the sleeping snake coiled on his belly. He wanted to jump up and knock it away from him, but he forced himself to stay calm while he tried to identify it. The snake was about the same length as his arm. The head was small and the body was ringed with thick, alternating, black and white bands.

Paulo closed his eyes and took a slow breath. He was almost sure the snake was a small krait. The only thing he had going for him was that kraits were rarely aggressive. They had no need to be. Their bite was fatal.

'Krait?' he breathed, looking up at Li.

She nodded, staring at the snake with big eyes. 'What shall I do?'

'Step back,' whispered Paulo. 'Then make some noise.'

Carefully, Li moved backwards, one step at a time. She reached the campfire and picked up the storage tin and a coconut shell.

'Sure?' she whispered, looking uncertainly at Paulo. He gave the faintest of nods and she started bashing the coconut shell against the side of the tin. The snake stirred. It reared its head and turned, focusing its beady, black eyes on Li.

The other three woke up, complaining about the noise as Li continued to bash the tin. Li pointed to Paulo and, one by one, they saw the snake and froze.

The krait uncoiled and darted its head back and forth. It was disturbed by the noise, but reluctant to abandon the warm spot it had found. It moved up onto Paulo's chest and looked down into his face. The forked tongue flickered in and out of its mouth as it tested the air. Paulo held his breath but he could not stop his heart from pounding and his chest jumped under the snake with every beat. Finally, the krait decided it was time to move on. With one fluid motion, it slid down onto the sand and slithered away into the forest.