Page 51 of The Hideaway

‘No, no, please don’t touch it,’ Scott moaned. ‘It hurts like hell.’

‘Oh God,’ said Mira. ‘What happened?’

‘Ah, I’m not sure, exactly,’ said Scott. ‘Either a rock, or a tree trunk, underfoot – I stumbled over it, hard, and went down – I felt it twist all the way round as I went. Shit, it really hurts – I don’t even know if I can walk on it right now.’

‘Oh, Scott, this is the last thing we need – and while you were trying to look for Naya as well.’ Mira looked stricken; her eyes were glassy, tears ready to spill. ‘What are we going to do? Do you think you can move at all? Can you try to stand up, putting your weight on your other foot, maybe?’

Scott managed to sit up, then to kneel on his left knee – but in the process, he must have brushed against his ankle, and he let out another howl of pain.

‘I can’t,’ he said weakly.

Carly stayed silent, thought for a moment. ‘Maybe if you had some kind of crutch? Could we see if there’s a big stick or something nearby that he can use?’

‘Oh, good idea,’ said Mira, as Carly turned away and started to survey the nearby trees and branches. After a moment, she plucked a branch from the tree and headed back over to Scott, holding it out to him.

‘Here,’ she said. ‘Do you want to give this one a go?’

Scott looked up at the branch, and at the expression of hope on his face, Carly felt a deep ache of sadness – for everything that had gone wrong, and everything that might still go wrong; for Hannah and for Naya and now this. Scott was a decent guy – none of this should have happened to him. It shouldn’t have happened to any of them.

‘It looks about right – thanks.’ Groaning as he pulled himself forward to sitting, he reached up a hand to Carly. ‘Can you help me stand?’

‘I’ll try.’ Using her as a support, Scott hauled himself up, yelling as he leaned his weight on his right-hand side.

‘Quick – give me the stick,’ he said, reaching for it. Carly handed it over, and Scott propped the end of it under his shoulder, resting his weight on it. It was just sturdy enough for the job.

‘Thanks – you’re a lifesaver,’ he muttered. Carly felt her eyes flicker to the ground; a lifesaver was the last thing she felt like.

Mira was glancing around the path. ‘There’s nowhere decent to rest here – do you think you can make it back to the tree trunk where I was just sitting? It’s only a few metres away,’ she said.

‘Yeah, I reckon so – it might just take us a few minutes,’ said Scott, turning around and limping back through the trees, one lopsided step at a time.

‘Just take it slow and steady,’ said Carly.

Carly’s thoughts were racing. She needed to figure out their next steps. She turned to Mira. ‘Listen. Now that Scott’s injured himself too, there’s no way I can help both of you to walk out of here as well as keep searching for Naya. I’m sorry – but we’re running out of time. I have to focus on getting you back to safety, before dehydration and heat exhaustion properly kick in...’ She grimaced. ‘Before it’s too late.’

Mira’s face fell. ‘I know – you’re right. We need you to help us find our way out of the rainforest. You’re the only one of us who isn’t injured or lost or...’ She tailed off, found she hadn’t the stomach to finish her sentence. ‘Or missing.’

‘I think we should follow the stream, like we said we’d do – but keep looking out for Naya, calling her name every minuteor so as we go – we can scour the water for her the whole way,’ said Carly.

Mira nodded. ‘OK, that sounds good. I just need to find somewhere private before we go,’ she said. ‘I need... ah... well, my stomach doesn’t feel very settled.’

‘Of course,’ said Carly. ‘Stay close to the stream so you don’t get lost – we’ll wait for you here. You feel safe to go on your own, don’t you?’

Something flashed in Mira’s eyes then – determination, or fear maybe. But to her credit, she nodded and started to make her way upstream through the trees.

Carly watched her go for a moment, then turned to Scott.

He isn’t there.

Carly was alone.

Where the hell has he gone?

‘Scott?’ she said, whirling around, checking behind her, to the side. She spotted him then limping back towards her from a few metres away, using the stick to help him walk.

‘What were you doing – were you trying to walk off?’ she asked. ‘Or just wandering around?’

‘I thought I heard something,’ he said, pointing towards the thicket of trees behind him. ‘Over there. I wanted to check it out – I had this crazy thought that it could have been Naya...’

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