Page 17 of Stranded with the Surgeon

Except that Guy didn’t want to be offered any comfort.

When he finally returned to the shelter, the first rays of sunlight were lifting the temperature just enough to be noticeable. The coldest thing Jennifer was aware of had to be the expression on Guy’s face.

‘I’m so sorry, Guy,’ she said softly.

‘You didn’t even know him.’ The tone dismissed any right Jennifer had to show empathy.

‘That doesn’t stop me feeling bad. For Digger… and you.’

‘I don’t need your sympathy.’ Guy folded back the tarpaulin from where Jennifer was huddled in the entrance to the shelter. ‘I’m going to need this,’ he muttered. ‘If it gets windy or wet, you can get inside what’s left of the plane for shelter.’

‘What?’ Jennifer watched in bemusement as Guy laid the canvas square on the ground and started putting items on top of it. The billy, his pocketknife, a length of rope. He took off the dark blue anorak and replaced it with his leather jacket. Jennifer had taken it off Digger when she had covered him completely with one of the foil sheets. Guy seemed to be ignoring the sight of the shrouded body of his friend. He took the spare foil sheet and added it to the pile on the tarpaulin.

‘What are you doing?’ His actions were making Jennifer nervous.

‘Packing.’

‘Why? Have you seen something?’ Jennifer turned her gaze to the horizon. The blue of the sky was becoming brighter and the day was as clear as she could have wished, but she could see nothing that suggested rescue was at hand.

‘I’m going to walk out and get help.’ Guy picked up the half-eaten packet of chocolate biscuits and put them down beside Jennifer. ‘You can keep these.’

‘You can’t leave!’ Jennifer was horrified. ‘The first rule for anybody lost in the bush is to stay put. Even I know that.’

‘I know what I’m doing.’

‘We’re on the top of a mountain, for God’s sake! There’s no way you canwalkout.’

‘It’ll take a while,’ Guy agreed calmly. ‘Three days at the most to get to civilisation, I reckon. I’ve been having a good look. The climbing’s a bit tricky to get down to the bush line but I’ve picked out a route I think I can manage. I might find a river in the next valley and I should be able to follow that to get somewhere recognisable. I know this country pretty well. I’ll survive.’ He rolled up the items in the canvas. ‘If they find you first, you can let them know what I was planning.’

‘Ifthey find me first?’

‘There’s no guarantee they’ll come looking in the right place. I’m not going to sit up here for days getting hypothermic and dehydrated and then decide to try and walk out.’

‘You can’t leave me.’ Jennifer’s voice rose sharply. ‘I’m not going to sit here with three dead people all by myself.’

For the first time since he’d returned to the shelter, Guy turned to look at Digger. A long moment passed and Jennifer kicked herself mentally for seeming uncaring enough to have made Digger simply one of the fatalities. Guy turned away abruptly.

‘I’m going,’ he said flatly. ‘You can’t stop me.’

‘Then I’ll come with you.’

‘Ha!’ The sound was scathing. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You wouldn’t make it past the first ridge.’

‘What makes you so sure about that?’

Guy just looked at her, and Jennifer had never felt so inadequate in her life. She didn’t know what scared her more – attempting a journey that would probably be impossible, or sitting here alone, waiting for rescue that might, conceivably, never come.

‘Do you want to go rock-climbing? Fording rivers? Forcing yourself through bush that could be virtually impenetrable?’

‘No! Of course I don’t. And you shouldn’t either. If you get lost out there, it’ll be the end. At least we’re visible here. They’ll be looking for a plane.’

‘I’ll mark my route.’

‘You can’t do this!’ Jennifer shook her head, feeling horribly close to crying and begging him to stay. ‘What about your leg? Your ankle? How far do you think you’ll get on that?’

‘As far as I need to,’ Guy said grimly. ‘I’m going to see if I can unearth your cell phone in the plane. The battery on mine is dead. It’s possible I can come across a spot on a ridge that might give some coverage. There might even be a hut with a radio somewhere along the way.’

‘A hut?’ Jennifer caught her bottom lip in her teeth. ‘Is that really a possibility?’ If they had the shelter of a hut, survival was far more likely.

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