I trotted back with my haul: a few abalones and half a coconut husk. When I came back, I saw a bunch of people running toward a marsh, and I followed them.
When I got near the marsh, I realized that there was a natural puddle with some drinkable water in it, much to my delight. I quickly scooped some up with the coconut husk before going back to Christopher. “Here, I found some water.” I fed him the water I scooped. “I’ll get you more in a bit.”
After Christopher had his fill, I finished the rest of the water in the husk. It was really earthy, but at that moment, it tasted like nectar. Once we rehydrated ourselves, I pried the abalones open with the sharp rock I picked up and fed it to Christopher.
“Let me do it myself.” Christopher took the abalone from me and sucked its flesh out.
Raw food tasted bad. It only took one bite, and I almost puked everything out. I hated the smell of seafood in the first place, but for survival’s sake, I covered my mouth and swallowed the abalone despite my stomach’s protest. This was a remote island. I was lucky to even have food in the first place.
That replenished some of my strength. I went to check on Christopher’s wound and cleaned it with water. “I wish we had medicine around. What should I do, Christopher?” I was starting to worry for him. With that deep wound on his body, it would be hard for him to survive no matter how powerful he was.
He fought with John underwater after he was wounded. If he was any other guy, he would have fainted a long time ago. The only reason he lasted that long was because he was worried about me.
Christopher leaned against the reef, his eyes half-closed. “I can go on for a few more days. It’s fine.” Even talking was a big hurdle for him.
“Shh, shh. Don’t talk. Just rest.” I turned away so he wouldn’t see my tears.
A slight rustle in the night woke me up immediately. I picked up the stone I put beside me before I slept and raised it high above my head. I thought someone was attacking us but turned out it was just Crystal coming over and gobbling up my abalones. At the same time, she was looking at me carefully, while I put my stone down.
Since I said nothing, Crystal took it as a yes and dragged Lyle over, literally. She dragged Lyle by his leg, much to my disagreement, but I said nothing about it.
After she fed Lyle the rest of the abalones, she wrapped her arms around her legs and sat there quietly. Lyle wasn’t looking too good. Since the mast crashed down on his leg, it rendered him immobile, so Crystal had to do everything for him. But her survival skills were next to zero, and she couldn’t even hunt for seafood.
I left them to their own devices and turned back to Christopher. When I touched his forehead, the heat coming off of it made me frown. Dammit. Murphy’s law. Of course he has a fever after sustaining that kind of injury. He was starting to get delusional since he didn’t realize I was beside him. “Run, Eve. Leave me,” he mumbled.
I pursed my lips and teared up again, but I held it back. It wasn’t the time to cry. I had to come up with a way to pull us through this no matter what. When I checked his wound again, I realized that it had gotten worse. It wasn’t bleeding, but the knife was still buried in his body, and the flesh around the wound was already darkening.
At this rate, Christopher will die. But I had no better idea to save him. All I could do was make a crude blanket out of leaves and hang it beside him to protect him from the winds. Then I went to scoop some water so I could cool him down with it.
I didn’t sleep a wink that night in case something were to happen to Christopher. Later that night, Christopher woke up and held my hand. He stared at me for a long while before he said, “I’m freezing, Eve. Hug me.”
I lay down beside him and hugged him as hard as I could. He used to do the same thing before this whole crisis happened. Whenever we were sleeping, he’d ask me to hug him, and I would call him a child. But now I realized those were the blissful days.
I started regretting my obstinance back then. I’d throw a lot of tantrums, but Christopher would forgive me every time. Even so, I wasn’t satisfied.
