Chapter Four
Something cold, wet, and very tiny dropped onto Greg's face. Then another, and another, and yet another. He opened his eyes wearily, letting them hover half-open, half-closed as he peered at his surroundings. His right arm burned painfully, coming in soft stabbing throbs that he ignored.
He couldn't see anything except gray clouds above as rain slowly drizzled down around him. Greg sat up, pulling his left hand out from beneath his head and shaking out the numbness in it. Sara was slumbering peacefully to his right, the backside of her jeans coated with the sand around them. She was on her back, eyes closed, her hands resting on her stomach, stray bits of damp dark hair beginning to curl.
Greg tore his eyes away from her and looked ahead where Catherine was dozing. She too was on her back, Lauren slept on her right, her brown hair mingling with grains of sand. Matt too was sleeping cozily, his head pressed on Catherine's left shoulder with the woman's arm enveloping him.
Greg exhaled through his nose, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his hands around them. Only one person was missing, and he had just realized it now. Where was Ecklie? Greg released his knees and looked around frantically. Ecklie should have been right there, on Greg's far left.
"Hey, hey Sara," Greg turned to her, poking her in the side.
"Hmmm…." Her eyebrows bent in anger and her original straight mouth turned to a frown. She rolled onto her side, away from Greg, and sighed, her body sagging as she fell back into a deep sleep.
"Sara!"
No response.
"Hey! Hey! Sara!" She still wouldn't say anything. Greg thought for a moment, then prayed for surviving the next five minutes. He took a deep breath, then shouted, "Oh my God there's a spider crawling on your back!"
"Whaaat…?" Sara groaned, as if she hadn't heard him properly.
"There's a spider on your back! Kill it! Kill it!"
Sara's eyes bugged out and she yelped, a hand snapping around to her back and reaching to brush off the spider that was not there. Greg was laughing, slapping his knee as an extra, unnecessary measure.
"GREG!" Sara roared, sitting up completely and turning to face him, "That's not funny!"
"Yeah it is!" he cried, shaking with his laughter, his eyes watering amongst the film of drizzle dampening it already.
"No it isn't!"
"I thought you weren't afraid of bugs?" Greg managed to gasp through his snickers.
"I'm not but you caught me off guard."
"Is that it? I caught you off guard?"
Sara leaned forward, resting her forehead in her hand and heaving a sigh that raised her shoulders.
"What was the point of that anyway?" Sara snapped.
"To wake you up."
"Yeah, well I'm awake, now why'd you want me awake in the first place?"
"Ecklie's gone."
"Good, maybe a jaguar ate him. Or maybe that shark came back. Or maybe I got rid of him in my sleep. Frankly, I don't care how he went as long as he's gone. I'm not going to live with him on a freaking deserted island. I'm going back to bed…" Sara suddenly caught sight of the sand she was sitting on, "I mean sleep…" She made to turn around and hunker down, but Greg shot out a hand and grabbed her shoulder.
"You're not going back to bed, because we have to go find him."
"Why...? I already saved his life once today; I shouldn't have to do it again!" Sara brushed his hand off her shoulder and turning yet again to face him.
"Your hair is curly." Greg stated randomly, taking in notice of her no longer straight hair.
"What? Oh…Damnit!" She reached up to her hair, pulling on a strand of it. It stretched out, and when she let go it sprung back into a curl. "Well that's just great."
"I haven't seen your hair curly since you first got to the lab." Greg stated, tilting his head to one side. "But you know what? I'll stop reminding you it's curly if you help me go find Ecklie."
Sara stood up, reaching out and brushing the sand from her jeans and shirt as best she could. She stated that she'd take care of her hair later, then ordered Greg to wake up Catherine, Matt, and Lauren. "We need to get out of the drizzle anyway," is how she put it. He did so, receiving many protests from Catherine
"Okay…so…we're CSI's, it should be easy for us to find another CSI, right? Or at least a politically centered CSI." Greg said in a strange, bright, and overly confident voice.
"Of course it should be." Catherine agreed.
"Footprints lead in that direction," Sara offered, pointing away from the ocean waves and through to a rainforest in front of them. The island mainly was forest, forest starting about twenty or so feet from the ocean and creeping around the rest of the mile-wide island, forest creeping up a mountain slope, forest surrounding the small inlet of sand the CSI's had found themselves in once they arrived.
"Well then let's—"
But suddenly leaves rustled in the direction Sara had pointed. Thin palm trees waved back and forth and foliage crunched. Then, Ecklie stumbled out. In his arms were piles of palm fronds, bamboo-like poles, vines, ferns, and a whole bunch of other materials.
"Found him." Sara said flatly.
"Ecklie, what are you doing? You had us worried!" Catherine called to him. Worried was probably an overstatement, more like 'worried that when they were found and he was dead, they would be blamed'. The woman passed Lauren, who had been resting on her hip, over to Sara and walked up to Ecklie.
"What are you doing Ecklie?" Catherine asked with an impatient tone.
"I'm building a shelter."
"Really?" Catherine raised her eyebrows skeptically and stared at Ecklie as if seeing him in a new perspective.
"Yes, there's some more back there if you want to find your own stuff to make your own shelter."
Catherine's jaw dropped. Of course. He was making a shelter…for himself.
"That's great Ecklie."
"Hey, Cath!" Greg was calling.
"See ya Ecklie, have fun."
"I will."
Catherine turned back and rolled her eyes as she walked up to Greg, who was standing alone with Matt.
"Where'd Sara go?"
"She found a cave." Greg was beaming.
"Where?"
Greg pointed to his right with his bandaged arm. Catherine could just make out Sara's red shirt, weaving through the vegetation towards an earthy colored mound.
"Come on," Greg took off after Sara, Matt following him with his narrow, athletic little boy legs.
Catherine glanced first at Ecklie, who appeared to be having difficulties assembling his would be fortress.
"Hey, Ecklie! We found a cave, come on! It'll be easier."
Ecklie did nothing but look up, glare at her, then return to his chore. Catherine sighed, then followed Greg through the underbrush.
"I don't see any bats," Sara announced, scouting the cavern.
"Me neither." Greg affirmed.
Lauren suddenly said, "It's dark in here." Sara patted the girls shoulder soothingly, even though the girl had just stated the obvious, not meaning she was frightened.
"I can't see much." Matt groped around, and found Greg's belt loop. He stuck a finger through it, in a measure to make sure he wasn't separated from the group.
"First things first...Somebody needs to go out and grab some wood before the rain gets it all." Sara bossed.
"I'll do that." Catherine answered, before ducking out of the cave.
"And step two?" Greg prodded.
"We need light, which mean we need fire, which means that we may be out of luck if we can't get anything going. I hear some water though…hope to God it's freshwater Greg."
"I'm more concerned about what you mean by out of luck"
"I'm not sure what I mean anymore. Give me awhile to think." Sara, careful with Lauren on her hip, was feeling around the cave, trying to get a feel for her surroundings…literally.
"I'm back. The rain's starting to get a bit heavier. Found some coconuts too." Catherine's silhouette showed up in the entrance of the cave, with odd pointed shadows sticking out.
"Thanks Catherine. Try to come back toward me. We have to find the farthest back point of the cave. It's not that big so it shouldn't be that hard."
Catherine's shoes could be heard clicking against the stony floor. She found Sara, by clonking Lauren on the head with one of the pieces of wood. The girl instantly began to cry, and Catherine spent the next two minutes trying to comfort her.
"Let's trade." Sara urged, reaching with her left hand to grasp the piles of wood Catherine had brought in. Lauren was passed yet again, like a hot potato, still screaming with shrieks that echoed through the grotto.
"Greg, were you ever a boy scout?" Sara called above the racket.
"One of the best." Greg made his way towards her voice.
"Then you must know how to start a fire."
"Indeed I do. Though I might be a bit rusty,"
"Just try all right?"
In the dark, Greg rubbed his hands, cracked his knuckles, then bent down in the shadow of black.
"I found a spot of dirt. Help me dig." He reached forward with his hands, digging down through the soil. Sara came up beside him, set down her load, and helped. Soon they had forged a six-inch deep hole, with a one-and-a-half-foot diameter. Catherine had made her way to the front of the cave, soothing Lauren and rubbing the injury to stop the pain. "We need some rocks, to contain it." Greg said loudly, but lowered his voice to normal when Lauren changed to soft whimpers instead.
"I think I felt some over that way."
"They need to be about medium sized."
Sara felt her way towards the right, reaching around for the rocks she had felt earlier, angrily brushing her curly hair out of her face in the mean time.
Greg waited for her patiently, when suddenly; he heard something go 'kerplunk' as if it had fallen into a pond of water, a soft gasp following.
"Sara?"
"I found the freshwater," she moaned. "…and the rocks…"
"Bring 'em over here. Are you sure you're all right?"
"I'm fine."
A squelching noise reached Greg's ears, and Sara materialized by his side, small boulders held in her arms.
"What did you do?" Greg chuckled.
"I…er…stepped in the water and now my shoe is soaked again. But at least it's fresh, and inside the cave."
"Whatever."
Sara handed Greg half of the rocks and they firmly set them around the hole.
"Okay…now what?" Sara inquired.
"Gimme some tinder. That's bark shavings, dried grass, something small and easy to burn."
"I know what tinder is," Sara muttered haughtily.
Sara went back to where she had dumped her load earlier and dug around that would fit the requirements of tinder.
"I've got coconut husk."
"Perfect."
Sara handed the soft, fiber-like, but numerous coconut husk to Greg who heaped them inside the circle.
"Okay, from here, you get two sticks."
Greg held an open palm out and Sara placed two relatively dried out pieces of wood in it.
"Now watch the master…"
Sara raised an eyebrow, though it went unseen in the darkness. Greg cracked his knuckles once more, took the flatter stick Sara had given him, and placed it among the tinder. He then took the other stick, forced a small crack into the one among the coconut husk with it, and began to rub.
"Oh this is going to take a while…" Sara declared.
"Uh-uh-uh…Let the master concentrate. This takes exact precision."
Sara didn't respond. Instead, she stood up and (her right shoe squelching all the way) stepped over towards Catherine, where there was light, limited light due to the overhead blackening clouds and leaves of trees, but there was light all the same.
"How's Lauren doing?" Sara questioned, sitting down on the hard ground with Catherine and Matt, who was silent.
"It was just a booboo, right Lauren?" Catherine said. Lauren buried her head into Catherine's shoulder and sighed, a small goose egg forming on the right side of her forehead.
"I want my mommy!" she cried in a whining drone.
Catherine and Sara's jaws dropped and they stared at each other. How do you break it to a three-year-old that her mother and father weren't going to come back? That they were dead and gone forever?
"Hey, Lauren, guess what Sara's got!" Catherine gushed suddenly, as if struck by an idea.
"What?" Lauren sniveled, looking up at Catherine.
"Sara's got a dolly, do you want the dolly?"
Lauren sniffled, whether fake or real no one would know. "Yes…"
Sara dug into her jean pocket again and pulled out the McDonalds Barbie doll, handing its pink and blue-clothed body to Lauren, who took it eagerly.
"Thank you," she mumbled.
"You're very welcome."
Lauren squirmed out of Catherine's hold and over to Sara.
"Are you going to play house with me now?"
Sara laughed once, reaching out to Lauren and lifting the girl into her lap.
"But there's only one doll. I can't play house."
"I'm the mommy, and you're the daddy, and this is the baby!" Lauren waved the Barbie at Sara.
Catherine was sniggering quietly, a hand over her mouth to hide her smile, though her eyes clearly showed she was amused.
"Ummm…What if I don't want to be the daddy?" Sara pointed out.
"But you have to!" Lauren's face fell and the hand holding the Barbie drooped.
"What else could I be?"
Lauren thought for a moment.
"You could be the doggy."
Sara's mouth dropped and Catherine had heard enough. She let out a soft snort of mirth and leaned forward in her seat, doubled over with giggles.
"You know…I still haven't quite figured out how to play house. Why don't you go ask Catherine to play with you?" It was more of a command than a question.
Her shoulders drooped forward in a pout, but she grudgingly obeyed Sara's request. Catherine was eager to play with the little girl, and soon they were both laughing and squealing. Sara remained sitting where she was, watching as Catherine first talked in a deep voice like a man, and then broke out in barks as a puppy.
Every few minutes Sara would glance back at Greg to see if she could catch a glimpse of a spark but nothing had happened yet.
The rain increased. The sky darkened further. Thunder began to roll and Lauren and Catherine had halted their game. Matt was still sitting in the same spot as before, legs crossed, elbows resting on his knees and hands folded under his chin.
"Let there be light!" Greg suddenly shouted from the back of the cave. Sara and Catherine spun around to glimpse Greg quickly sorting through the mound of wood Catherine had brought in. A small flicker of light could be seen beyond Greg's head as he worked to keep it going. It grew steadily larger, until the entire cave was illuminated.
The cavern had a high ceiling, maybe seven or eight feet. The fire was in the very back of it, so the smoke could rise up and out of the cave.
The newly acquired light was located in a space of dirt that was close to a gently flowing spring, trickling from the far back ceiling and settling into the pond Sara had stepped in at the floor of the cave. It then ran downwards through a crack in the cave's floor. They could only assume it led to an underground reservoir of some sort.
"Need any help oh Mighty King of Fire?" Sara asked sarcastically.
"Nope. I've got it goin. Hey, do we have anything to eat? Drink maybe? I'm starving…"
Indeed, Sara and Catherine were hungry as well, and neither of them had any reason to doubt Lauren and Matt were too.
"I brought in some coconuts from outside…and that stream looks clear enough to drink." Catherine acknowledged. She and Sara stood up, Catherine carrying Lauren, and they walked to the back where Greg was seated, holding his hands out for the flame to warm.
"Before we eat, Greg, you need to leave."
"What?"
"Sara and I need to dry our clothes out."
"We do?"
"You do?"
"Just go find Ecklie or something. See how he's doing. Take Matt with you. Lauren needs to dry hers out too. Use a palm tree leaf or something to keep yourselves dry."
Greg stared flabbergasted over at Catherine, and then at Sara who shrugged.
"I am Fire King, and you kick me out of my castle?"
"Go on Greg," Catherine laughed, giving his shoulder a slight shove.
"Fine. I see I'm not appreciated among my female peers."
"You're appreciated Greg, but thankfully, privacy is too."
Greg wasn't listening. He walked straight over to Matt, who was still stoically sitting in the entrance of the cave. He said a few words to the boy, who responded with a nod, stood up, and followed Greg out of the women's sights.
"Don't worry Sara," Catherine reassured. "It'll just be like wearing a bikini. And I got rid of Greg for you…Not that he'd be seeing anything new after you two took that shower together." Catherine stared at Sara, whose eyes were widened, covered by one or two stray, messy, curls. "You…have worn a bikini, correct?"
"No, not really."
"You've lived your life in one-pieces?"
"Except when I was like…five…and my mom bought me this really cute tye-dye two-piece to go to the beach…yeah…"
"Sara…you really need to learn how to flaunt it."
"And this is coming from an ex-stripper." Sara said, showing her gap-toothed smile.
"Ex-dancer," Catherine corrected.
"My mistake,"
"Come on, we should get dry as soon as possible."
Catherine removed her navy blue t-shirt and set it against the cave wall above the fire.
"It'll smell like smoke, but it might cover up the fact that we're going to smell like B.O. the entire time we're here."
"Great…"
Catherine took of her jeans next, placing them next to her shirt, but Sara remained reluctant.
"Well come on Sara, what did you do in gym when you had to change in front of other girls?"
"Changed in a bathroom stall?"
Catherine's brightness faded as she removed her shoes and socks.
"I'm going to dry Lauren out. You can go ahead and catch cold or something like that…malaria…"
"Malaria is from mosquitoes." Sara stated blandly.
"Oh whatever," Catherine bent down to Lauren, who had been interestedly watching the conversation. She took off the girl's cotton white, blue, and purple striped turtleneck and placed it by her own clothes, then Lauren's jeans, socks, and then shoes, putting them in the same place.
With a large sigh, and Catherine's back turned, Sara unbuttoned the front of her blouse, and placed it on the rock-face. Then her jeans, and her shoes and socks, which were still quite damp.
"There, happy?" Sara muttered scathingly.
Catherine turned around from where she was speaking with Lauren and looked Sara in the eye, glancing over to where her clothes were lined up on the rock face.
"You need to comb your hair. It's a mess."
"Am I supposed to have a brush with me?"
"Use your fingers."
"Fine."
Sara angrily sat down cross-legged on the cold, hard, stone floor and began to comb through her curls with her long fingers. The fire's heat radiated out, drying out her damp, salt scraped skin. Catherine sat down on Sara's left, placing Lauren between the two women, and all three stared at the flames, allowing it to wash over them with the dry warmth that was familiar to the Las Vegans. Lauren yawned, then like dominoes, Sara followed suit and then Catherine.
For what felt like an hour, but was more than likely no more than fifteen minutes, they sat there, until—
"Hey, can I come back in please? I don't feel like getting struck by lightning and Matt's getting kinda scared."
"I'm not scared," Matt defended.
Sara and Catherine's eyes turned back to the cave's entrance, where Greg's arm was waving frantically. Not his face, just his un-bandaged arm waving at them, as if requesting entrance.
"Give us a second Greg," Catherine called. She stood up and walked over to the clothes. She picked up Sara's shirt first, rubbing her hand on it to see how wet it was. It wasn't.
"Here you go," she tossed it at Sara who put it on quickly. Next came Sara's jeans that were dried out as well. Catherine swiftly put her own clothes back on, and then dressed Lauren back up again.
"Come on in Greg," Catherine called.
Greg and Matt walked in, palm leaf over their heads.
"You know it's nice, dry, and cozy in here." Catherine said.
"I would have expected as much." Greg muttered, dropping the leaf on the ground and walking deeper inside, out from the dark blue sky outside.
"Have a seat Greg," Sara half-ordered, half-requested.
Greg did as asked, Matt crawling up behind him and resting his head on Greg's shoulder.
"Update on Ecklie's progress?" Catherine prompted, using her fingers to shake out her hair.
Greg cleared his throat, then reported. "He tried to make a tent of some sort with those poles and stuff, in the sand…didn't really work…and now with the storm and all he's pretty wet. It kinda all fell in on him so he's…well, under a leafy blanket, which isn't keeping him all that dry."
Silence filled the cave except for the crackling fire and the dribbling stream.
"Should we invite him in?" Sara offered.
"I already did." Catherine muttered.
"And…?"
"He decided to make his own 'shelter' anyway."
"Do you think he'll ever come in with us?"
"When ever he decides to take his head out of his—" Catherine stopped herself, noting that Matt and Lauren were listening. "Out of…his behind."
"I'm still hungry." Greg complained. He reached over to the pile of things Catherine had brought in, coming out with a coconut.
"Do you know karate too Greg? Or are you only long-distance swimming champion, Boy Scout, and King of Fire?"
"Well, I was actually going to ask you if you'd break this on a rock for me 'cause my arm isn't feeling too good right now."
"How so?" Sara asked, one of her eyebrows raising itself with slight concern.
"Burns. Probably need to find some other bandage. Anyway, yes, you need to break the coconut. Immediate needs first and a manly man needs food."
Sara took the coconut from Greg's hand, put it on the ground, grabbed a rock from the side of the cave, and pounded away at it. Soon, she had a small hole in its shell.
"Here, pass it around and drink the milk and then we'll eat the flesh inside."
Greg took it, gulped down a sip, and smacked his lips in satisfaction. He then passed it to Catherine, who gave Lauren a drink first, and then Matt and finally herself. Sara drained off the last of the milk, and then smashed the shell completely. She handed the pieces out to the others and they ate their share silently.
Lightning crackled, lighting up the entrance of the cave, and thunder soon followed it.
"Do you think they'll find us soon?" Sara said quietly. She was expressing the question on everyone's mind, now that the overall shock had blown over and they were settled in.
"Not to put a damper on things…but I don't think they'll be able to come anywhere near us until this storm has blown over."
As if on cue, another great flash of lightning shone and more thunder rumbled.
Nobody said anything.
Then suddenly, from the opening of the cave, the sound of crunching vegetation, caused by something coming closer to them resonated in everyone's ears…