'The canopy!' he shouted to Danny. 'We should rip it down, stop it filling with air.'
Danny nodded and together they started clawing at the fabric. It was tough, though, and difficult to tear. Only when Ben remembered he had a set of keys in his soaking wet jeans did he manage to stab a hole in the fabric. Once that was done, it was much easier to bring down the canopy.
It made an instant difference. The boat still rocked precariously with the force of the water, but at least the canopy wasn't now acting as an out-of-control sail. When Ben, sore and soaking, took the helm, it was by no means easy. But at least it wasn't as difficult as before, and they started making better headway through the howling winds towards the plane.
As they approached the aircraft from the water, they could see that it was still burning and smouldering, as was the grass surrounding it. There was no way they could have passed it by land. The alligators became fewer and fewer, though, the nearer they got to the plane, and it was easy to tell why. Even from the water, and even in the high winds, Ben could feel the heat of the burning aircraft against his skin. It was uncomfortably hot. He manoeuvred the boat away from land and passed the aeroplane at quite some distance.
All of them, he noticed, were staring at the burning plane rather than concentrating on the rocking of the boat in the high winds. It didn't take a rocket scientist to work out that they were all considering what might have been if Ben hadn't landed that thing.
As they passed the plane, Ben snapped himself out of it. He squinted his eyes and looked towards land, trying to see if there was any sign of the other passengers — or of any gators taking refuge from the rough waters.
'Looks like the other passengers are on the move,' Ben shouted.
Danny and Angelo followed his gaze. 'We should get to land,' Danny replied. 'I don't like being on this boat any longer than we have to. Can you get closer? See if there are any alligators?'
Ben nodded and turned the boat towards the shore.
To their relief, it seemed clear. As they approached the wide marsh road, there was no sign of anything much. Danny reclaimed his shotgun and ammo from under the seat and they jumped awkwardly out of the boat and onto dry land. It felt good for Ben to have his feet on solid ground.
They were silent for a minute as the howling gales blustered around them.
'We need to keep an eye out,' Ben said finally. 'Those gators came out of nowhere, remember.'
The other two nodded seriously as Ben looked east, away from the plane.
He shrugged. 'Other than that,' he said, 'I guess the best we can do is keep moving. Let's see if we can catch up with the others. Come on — let's go.'
Chapter Eleven
The three of them started running down the road. When that became too difficult, they slowed to a fast walk. They were too out of breath to do much talking, and the screaming winds didn't help things.
Surely the weather couldn't get any worse than this. Ben had to keep his eyes half shut to protect them against the flying spray and the other bits of minuscule debris that were flying around. It made the going even trickier.
With every step he took, Ben's half-closed eyes were darting around looking for alligators. The very thought of them sent a shiver down his spine, and he didn't know what on earth they would do if they came across another horde of the beasts. He was vaguely aware of Danny loading the shotgun as he walked alongside him; but a couple of rounds from the gun wouldn't make much difference if the reptiles started swarming like they had done on the other side of the plane.
More than once, he tripped. They all did. It was impossible to stay standing against some of the gusts that were blowing now. Overhead the sky was growing darker, though it was impossible to tell whether that was because night was falling or because the sun was covered with thick, fast-moving clouds. Ben looked at his watch, but it had been damaged by the water and was as good as useless.
They had been travelling for half an hour, maybe more, when Ben stopped.
He cocked his head and listened.
There was a strange noise in the air.
'Hold on!' he shouted at the others.
They stopped. 'What is it?'
'Did you hear that?'
Angelo looked confused. 'Hear what?'
'A kind of… howling.'
His Italian friend blinked at him, then looked up into the air. 'What are you talking about, Ben? We're in the middle of a hurricane. Of course I can hear howling.'
But Ben shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'Not that. Something else—'
He stopped short. There it was again. A long, highpitched wail.
The three of them looked at each other worriedly. There was no doubting that what they had just heard wasn't the wind. It was something quite different.
'We need to keep going,' Danny said tensely. 'Whatever it is, there's no point just standing here.'
Ben found himself wishing they hadn't left the boat. One look out onto the marshland, however, told him that it would be just as dangerous out there as anywhere else. Besides, the chances of the boat still being by the road where they left it were almost zero. Danny was right. They just had to carry on.
It continued to grow darker. Ben found himself shivering. Half of that was because of the wet clothes blown cold against his skin; but half of it was something else. He was scared, obviously. Scared of the hurricane, scared of what might happen when they finally hooked up with the other passengers. But the howling had sent a chill all the way through him. He didn't know what had made the sound, and he didn't want to find out.
Just as that thought went through his head, Danny spoke.
'What's that?' he asked. His voice was taut. Tense.
They stopped, and Ben peered into the distance.
It was about thirty metres away and from this distance it didn't look much bigger than a dog. It wasn't a dog, though — Ben could tell that from its outline. Its ears were pointed and its body was lean and sleek. Ben thought back to the poster he had seen in the wardens' station, and he thought he knew what the animal was.
Before he could say anything, however, Danny was moving. He crouched down flat on the ground and pointed his shotgun in the direction of the animal in front of them. The butt of the weapon was firmly pressed into his shoulder: Ben could tell he was going to shoot any minute.
'No!' he roared. He kicked the barrel of the gun just as Danny fired it. The noise of the shot cracked through the air, but the round discharged itself harmlessly over the marshland.
'What are you doing?' Danny demanded angrily.
'You can't shoot it,' Ben shouted back. 'I think it's a Florida panther. They're incredibly rare.'
'A panther?' Angelo demanded. 'Aren't they also incredibly dangerous.'
Ben didn't answer. He looked in the direction of the animal. To his relief, he saw it running in the opposite direction.
'Look.' He pointed. 'It's running away. The noise of the gun must have scared it.' He turned to Danny, who had scrambled to his feet. 'Keep that thing loaded,' he said. 'We might need to scare it off again.'
Danny nodded, but didn't say anything. Ben could tell he was annoyed by what he'd just done, but there was nothing for it. He wasn't going to stand by and let one of these rare animals be killed. Not as long as there was another option. With a deep breath he started moving again and prayed that that was the last they'd seen of the endangered animal.
They were feeling pretty endangered themselves, now. Endangered and terrified. It was getting more and more difficult to walk because of the increasing wind, and now they had panthers to worry about as well as the alligators. It didn't take too long before Danny called them to a halt again.