Chapter Thirteen
Sara still stood frozen with the gun facing her. Did he mean for her to run? Or was she keeping her and Lauren there to make the others run? Suddenly interrupting her thoughts, Dan doubled over, lowering the gun as he mustered up the strength to stand up. Sara took the chance and dashed over to the precipice that merged seamlessly with the trees, Catherine springing into action at the drop of Sara's foot.
With Lauren pressed into her shoulder and Dan struggling to his feet behind them, Sara and Catherine met at the horribly steep rock face at the same time. It was almost a straight drop to the forest floor below. The wall was made up of rock and the occasional plant grew on small patches of dirt on the descent. Greg, Ecklie, and Matt were just reaching the foot of it, looking up at them.
"All right, you and Lauren go first Sara." Catherine muttered, throwing a backwards glance at Dan who was slowly easing himself into a standing position, his face scrunched in pain.
Sara nodded and turned around, preparing to climb down.
"Okay, Lauren, try to settle down and listen to me, okay?" Sara said, soothingly, backing into a kneeling position and reaching her right foot over the edge. Catherine abandoned her plan and began to climb down beside her. Lauren sniffed pitifully and kept her fingers clamped around Sara's neck.
"You're going to have to hold on really, really tight, all right Lauren? I can't hold you climbing down."
Lauren nodded and even further tightened her vice grip on Sara.
"Okay…" Sara said it under her breath, more to herself than anyone else. "Let's go."
Catherine had already climbed carefully halfway down the cliff, Greg, Ecklie, and Matt firmly planted on the bottom. Sara completely released her hold on Lauren; her elbows hooked to the top of the cliff, as she made certain her feet were firmly planted on the slippery precipice. Dan was almost completely standing, though he was still doubled over, seeming distracted by the good kick Lauren had landed.
With a deep breath, Sara released one hand from the plateau and grabbed a rock in front of her. Then carefully, she pulled her other arm down. Catherine was now almost at the bottom, systematically checking her footing and then reaching further down for another rock.
Sara cautiously continued down, Lauren firmly locked onto her. Then suddenly, a gunshot exploded through the air, causing Lauren to jump drastically. The movement caused Sara to lose her grip. Frantically, she flailed around to regain her handhold on the rocks but to know avail and she fell backwards.
"Gotcha!" Greg called from below, and Sara slammed into him as she came downwards, knocking the wind out of both of them when she made impact.
"Are you okay?" Catherine asked standing above them and lifting a panicked Lauren out of Sara's slack grip. Sara rolled off of Greg, trying to take deep breaths and calm her furiously beating heart, as well as catch her breath. Greg just laid there, his chest rising up and down.
"Help me up…" he finally managed, sticking his arm into the air. Catherine pulled him off the ground. He doubled over, still trying to catch his breath.
"Jeez Sara, maybe you are a little on the heavy side…" he joked, but she wasn't listening.
"Run!" It was Catherine who shouted that, taking off through the endless span of trees before them.
"Wha—" Greg began, but he was answered by another gunshot and a small cloud of dirt flying up near his ankle as a bullet zoomed past. That sprung him, Ecklie, Sara, and Matt back into survival mode, sprinting after Catherine as she zigged and zagged through the coverage of the trees, with seemingly no sense of direction.
"Cath," Sara panted, hurdling a felled tree trunk and ducking under some branches. "Where are you going?"
"You'll see! Just keep running!" Catherine continued, and this time she seemed slightly more certain. She was following a slightly faded dirt animal trail, Lauren bouncing on her hip.
They followed her directions, clearing the obstacles in their way. Suddenly, Catherine slid to a halt and turned abruptly. The others did the same and found themselves standing on top of the cave.
"I know where we're going, I know where we're going," Catherine repeated, still scampering through the forest. She slid down the papaya hill, the others following her, and she headed straight for a row of bushes before turning abruptly right and zigzagging through the trees, following a faint trail.
"Catherine," Greg said, but he was interrupted by Sara snapping. "Greg, save your breath for running!" for they had just heard another distant gunshot.
"Stop!" Catherine suddenly shouted, sliding to another halt. She had stopped at the site of two logs piled on top of each other and another one broken in two. "Okay…now my plan's run out. I took us to the quicksand and…now there's no way to get across." She doubled over to catch her breath, then muttered, "Damnit…"
Ecklie stood there panting with Matt next to him, his breath coming in soft puffs. Sara stood with her hands on her hips, still trying to catch her breath after her fall. Greg however, was standing there, pondering something.
"I've got it. Sara, come here."
"What?" Sara asked, obeying him. Greg stood next to the two logs, waving Sara over to him.
"Tarzan and Jane." he said, reaching upwards and pulling down an especially thick vine. "You Jane," he stated gruffly before shoving the vine into Sara's hands.
"Greg, how do you expect—"
"Wrap it around your leg." Greg interrupted. Sara did so. "Now step up onto the log."
"What if I fall?"
Greg responded with a grin and he reached up onto the vine and pulled down as hard as he could.
"You won't fall, Jane. But…you might get your hands rubbed. This thing is kind of…prickly…"
Sara rolled her eyes and stepped cautiously onto the stack of logs.
"Ready?"
"Greg, I'm not—"
"GO!" Greg shouted as another gunshot sounded. He pushed Sara in the small of her back, causing her to stumble off the step. She tightened her grip on the vines, grimacing as the small barb-like dug rubbed against her palms, as she swung gracefully across the sand. When she reached the far end, she let go and landed on solid ground with another painful plop.
"My hands!" she shouted, raising her palms and looking sorrowfully at them. "They feel like I've just rubbed them with fiberglass!" She waved them in the air as she stood up.
"Who cares?" Catherine declared at the sound of another shot, stepping up onto the logs with Lauren on her hip. She did the same as Sara and jumped off the two logs, swinging forcefully over to the other side. She landed just as painfully on the ground as Sara did and when she pulled herself and Lauren up, she too was wincing in pain at the sight of bright red hands.
The shots were growing much closer and Matt swung across next. Ecklie followed him, and while the four were standing on the other side of the quicksand, whimpering and blowing on their pained hands, Greg prepared himself to swing across.
"Oh jeez, this does hurt." he said, gaining his footing on the ledge. He winced as he further tightened his grip on the vine, when suddenly, as he was swinging across he called out in pain, just as another shot echoed.
"Well it didn't hurt that bad!" Ecklie said, still blowing on his hands.
"No! It's not that! I got grazed!" Greg muttered through clenched teeth getting of the ground and holding his heel. Part of his sandal was torn off at a slightly downward angle, and with it, a small part of his ankle had been clipped by the bullet, blood streaming from it.
"We should keep running," Sara pointed out, shaking her hands in the air.
"Are you kidding? I can't run like this!" Greg said, gesturing at his heel.
Sara dropped the argument and looked back across the quicksand. Some of the plants far behind it were trembling.
"We should at least hide…" she said quietly. They glanced around them at the foliage cover, the rustling plants growing closer.
"Over here," Catherine whispered, stepping over to a rather tall tree, whose roots looked like a net, twisting and turning around each other into a mass. It was surrounded by several large fern plants which provided coverage. Sara, Ecklie, and Matt followed her, cautiously glancing back across the quicksand, half expecting Dan to pop out and open fire on all of them. Greg hobbled over to them, and they all hunkered down behind the bushes, waiting anxiously with their breath held.
Another loud shot echoed, causing Lauren to gasp and clap her hands to her ears and then bury her face into Catherine's shoulder. The woman rubbed her back soothingly, though she was just as anxious. And then another loud shot exploded in the air, and a small explosion of bark from the tree behind them caused Catherine to throw herself down from the roots on which she had been sitting.
"Holy…" she began but stopped when Dan's voice was heard.
"Come out, come out wherever you are. How did you get across the quicksand? Was it Mr. Survival again? Oh Greg…"
"This guy is crazy!" Ecklie hissed quietly. The others looked at him, giant 'Duh!' expressions on their face.
"Oh, who was that I heard? Conrad? Maybe…"
Again, they held their breath, their hearts beating a hundred miles a minute as they heard crunching plants underneath Dan's feet.
"Hmm…there appear to be no footprints following the trail leading over that way. Does that maybe mean…you're hiding?" He cackled quietly, coming closer, but still on the opposite side of the sand. "I'm going to kill all of you…do you know that the end is near? That you're going to die…isn't that a horrible thought? Oh look, a vine swinging slowly. Is that how you got across?"
Unseen to them, Dan scanned the forest before him, a vine swinging faintly before his face as he stood just next to the small stack of logs. Wheezing slightly from the run, he strapped the gun around his shoulder once more and reached out to the vine. Grabbing it, he tightened his grip on its rough surface, planted his feet on the logs, and jumped.
But he hadn't properly situated himself on the vine, and the fiberglass-like barbs rubbed against his skin. Unable to support his weight, his hands slipped, and before he could get across, he dropped into the quicksand.
Behind the bushes, they heard the 'kerplunk' of Dan plopping into the sand, and cautiously, Greg reached over and peaked through the leaves. Dan was immobilized, already having sunk in up to his waist. The gun draped over his shoulder, was partially emerged in the thick mixture, and Dan was waving his hands in the air, trying to cool down his burning hands.
"I think it's safe," Greg whispered to the others. "We can come out. The gun won't work, it's full of quicksand."
"Greg, are you sure? Last time we listened to you, this happened." Sara held up her painfully red hands.
"Watch…" Greg stood up from behind the bushes, exposing himself full on.
"Greg! Are in you insane?" Catherine snapped, reaching out for Greg's arm but then remembering that her hands were basically useless. "Sit down!"
"No, look." Greg pointed out at the quicksand, his face somber. Dan was still sinking slowly, up to the middle of his stomach. He had dunked his hands in the quicksand to help with the burning sting of his hands, but his face was still scrunched with pain.
Catherine stood up next, and cautiously Sara did to. Matt stepped up to Greg's side, tears in his eyes from the pain on his little hands. Ecklie remained seated.
Dan narrowed his eyes at them and reached for his rifle, fumbling slightly with his sand covered and burning hands.
"You're dead," he said, narrowing his eyes. He aimed at them with the rifle; either craziness or hatred in his eyes, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing.
His mad grin faded into a frown and he pulled the trigger again, moving the rifle to Greg, Sara, Catherine, and back again. Still nothing. The rifle was useless.
"Throw the gun away," Greg ordered calmly. "It's only weighing you down."
"NO!" Dan shouted, pulling the trigger again, repeatedly. Still nothing happened. "No!" With a shout of rage, Dan pulled the gun down from his shoulder and threw it. It landed on the surface of the quicksand, and soon sunk into it.
"Let me die…" Dan moaned. "I'm hopeless. I'm a failure. Just leave me here."
"Tough luck, big guy. You've got to face the consequences." Sara said, trying to hide the smile threatening to show. "Attempted murder of six people, murder of more than eight people. Seven of those were first degree, and the last was…second degree?"
"Leave me alone." Dan spat, leaning backwards into the sand.
"Oh no you don't," Catherine said then quickly glanced around for a log of some sort. "You have to tell us where your plane is…" She discovered a small log off to the side of the sand, and with Sara and Greg's help, they lifted the felled tree up and over to the sand, horizontally. Then, they grabbed another nearby log and hoisted it over the first, using the pits of their elbows and knees to cradle it into position.
"Grab onto it." Catherine ordered.
"I told you to leave me alone." On his back, Dan sighed and closed his eyes, then mumbled, "Can't even kill six unarmed people on a frickin' deserted island…" Slowly, he began to submerge in the muck, the sand seeping around every line on his body.
"No!" Catherine snapped. She dipped the log downwards with the help of Sara and Greg, and quickly maneuvered it as best they could so it was touching Dan's side.
"Grab onto it Dan." Catherine ordered, more urgently.
"No…" His insanity seemed to be engulfing him, casting his voice into echoes as he sunk further into the quicksand.
"Man," Greg began, wincing as he held onto the log with his beet-red hands. "Don't you think that you should at least clear your brother's name or something? You killed Jen in Nevada, they have the death penalty; you'll probably die soon anyway."
"Greg!" Sara snapped.
"Come on Sara, I'm working on a way to stop him killing himself here!"
Dan had seemed to perk up slightly at Greg's comment, and had partially raised his head out of the sand.
"Andrew? Exempted?"
"They can't do that if you're dead, man." Greg winced again, then switched to holding the log level with his elbows.
Dan seemed to ponder that, his lower lip beginning to tremble. His face reddened and his crazed face suddenly tightened into a wavering frown. With a shuddering breath, he laboriously lifted his right arm out of the muck and hooked it over the end of the log. Then, with tears beginning to leave streaks in his dirty face, he raised his other arm and grabbed on fully. Wincing under the strain of his hurting hands, he managed to raise his head out of the mud, his ball-cap falling off into it.
"Push," Catherine said, but instead of pushing with her hands, she moved forward and laid her waist across the log's surface. Sara and Greg did the same, putting all their remaining strength out to lift the man out of the swampy mud. He grimaced as his body was slowly raised out of the pit, his entire backside covered with dripping mud.
"There, that wasn't so hard." Catherine panted, turning the log and pulling Dan onto the dry edge.
Dan said nothing, just sitting there, his lower jaw still quivering as he sat in the position of a man who had just lost everything he had ever come to live for.
"Get up," Catherine said quietly, letting the log go limp.
Dan did not move as Lauren, Matt, and Ecklie drifted out from behind the ferns and to them. Matt snuck his hand into Catherine's and hid behind her. Lauren did the same to Sara, though she seemed more curious than frightened. Ecklie trailed slowly closer to them, his face somber and nervous, hands shoved into his pockets. A light twitchy frown threatened to show on his mouth as he cautiously watched Dan, lying limp on the ground.
Catherine sternly inquired, "You said that you flew here in a plane…where is it?"
Dan suddenly seemed to spark to life. He sat up and let out a harsh cackle, wiping muck from his hands and arms.
"You don't actually expect to fly out of here?" He laughed again, shaking his head. "I would have thought you were smarter than that."
"Where is it?" Catherine repeated, even more authoritatively than before, not a single hint of amusement on her face, no emotion whatsoever other than hatred and disgust.
Dan's chuckles died out slowly and his shoulders sagged. He swiped off some mud from his pants, smirking softly, before he said, "It's destroyed. Nose crunched, wings torn off, tail bent; you won't be able to fly it." He scoffed and shook his head.
"Do you think the radio will still work?" Catherine pressed.
Dan's mouth turned downwards and he said nothing.
"Well?"
Her words were met with silence.
"Where is it?" Sara asked, trying to pry her hand out of Lauren's grip, for it stung too badly to hold hands.
Still, Dan said nothing. His mouth was set, locked with an invisible key.
"You're not going to talk to us, are you?" Sara said incredulously.
Dan's mouth broke into a leer then he began to hum a quiet, slow, nameless tune. Sara threw her hands up and let out a heavy exasperated sigh. Catherine and Ecklie glared at him and Greg's face was blank, except for his eyes, which seemed darker, as if in deep thought.
"Catherine, I've got an idea. Why don't you and Sara go up to that cliff? If trees were knocked down, you might be able to see it from up there." Greg said.
"Greg," Sara began to object, her back to them, arms folded in discontent. "We didn't see anything when we were up there." She turned around, frowning.
"That's because you weren't looking." Greg pointed out. "You were worried about getting your brains blown out by a madman."
"Come on Sara, I want to get as far away from this guy as possible." Catherine brushed past Dan, heading through the trees to the northeast. Matt trailed along after her, clinging to her side as they passed the man sitting on the ground. Sara sighed heavily, used her wrists to lift Lauren onto her hip, and took off after Catherine.
"So what was he talking about when he said Greg was a romantic? How could he know that? And what were you doing under the stars with Greg?" Catherine smirked slightly as she and Sara walked through the sand towards the cliff.
Sara blushed.
"It was nothing," she mumbled.
"Oh come on. It must have been something. What happened?"
Sara sighed and readjusted Lauren on her hip.
"I'm telling you it wasn't much…he woke me up and said he had to show me something. I followed him along the shore and we turned a corner and there had to be about a billion stars up there. He pointed out a few constellations, we saw a couple of shooting stars, the Milky Way, figured out what direction home was in, and then we went back to bed." Sara finished breathlessly as they met the cliff and began to walk up it.
Catherine's eyebrow was raised as Matt tagged along behind her.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"That's really it?"
Sara blushed harder and said nothing. A smirk crept across Catherine's face.
"What did he do?"
"Uhh…he made a wish?"
Catherine's expression was haughty, as if she thought she knew exactly what had happened.
"Please tell me he did something the kids can hear."
"Cath!" Sara exclaimed. "Of course he didn't do…that…"
"Hmm…so…what did he do?" Catherine looked away from Sara as they reached a narrowed part of the cliff and had to shift into single file in order to pass.
"It wasn't anything big…he just…when we saw a shooting star he told me to close my eyes and make a wish." Sara paused.
"And?" Catherine pressed as they began to near the very top.
"And then suddenly he kissed me, I opened my eyes, he pulled away, I told him I wasn't ready, and we went back to sleep." She said the sentence in one quick breath, then with Catherine's arrogant gaze on her, she changed the subject. "So what do you make of this…Dan Porter guy?"
Catherine shrugged, "He's an insane homicidal psychopath?"
"Close enough," Sara agreed. "And of course it had to be all Ecklie's fault."
Catherine sighed and her arrogant air drifted away, replaced with a slightly concerned frown. "Of course. Everything seems to be his fault, doesn't it?"
"I hate to say this…but I feel sorry for him." Sara admitted. "I mean…I think he might actually be human underneath that pompous, hard-headed, political shell."
Catherine opened her mouth, then closed it and said, "Yeah…"
They came to a stop at the top of the plateau, gazing out once more over the forest and sand.
"Is that it?" Catherine pointed out. She gestured over towards the complete opposite shore, where a void in the trees along the sand glared out at them, obvious now where it hadn't before.
"I…I guess it must be. I don't see anywhere else the plane could possibly be."
"Let's head back…there's no telling what Dan could do to Greg or Ecklie…"
She turned, Matt and Sara following.
Sara and Catherine returned about fifteen minutes later, the two children tagging along. Dan hadn't moved. Ecklie was leaning against a tree, and Greg was sitting on the ground by a bush, examining the small nick in his ankle.
"It's on the complete opposite of the island, near the shore. I can't believe we never went over and saw it or anything." Sara cried, setting Lauren on the ground next to Greg and seating herself. Catherine and Matt joined them.
"Do you think you could lead the way?" Greg asked, looking at both Sara and Catherine. They shared a look with each other, turned to Greg, and nodded.
"Get up Dan," Greg ordered, "We're going for a little walk."
"I don't think it's that far," Sara commented, lifting Lauren up again and beginning to walk the same way they had before, to the northeast. "It looked like it was just around the shoreline when we were standing up there."
Catherine agreed with a nod as they continued walking. First came Sara, Lauren, Catherine, and Matt, then Dan and Greg, and finally Ecklie.
"You know…" Dan began, drawing out his words as he stumbled over fallen foliage. "I didn't want to have to kill you all." That caused them to look back at him nervously. "I just…in order to kill Ecklie I would have had to take that whole plane down…and…well, don't you think that it would have been nice to put you all out of your misery?"
"We would have been rescued soon anyway," Sara snapped. "That bonfire was letting out plenty of smoke, and the weather conditions were clear enough for anyone from a rescue plane to see us."
Dan grunted as they continued through the brush.
"And Lauren, I'd like to apologize." Dan continued, "I underestimated you. You've got a good kick in those little legs of yours."
Lauren glared over Sara's shoulder, "Asshole…"
Dan chuckled.
"Cute…" he laughed.
"What exactly is it you're trying to do?" Catherine asked, turning her head over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised. "Acting friendly? For what, forgiveness? We stopped you from killing yourself. That doesn't make us 'friends'." She turned back around.
Dan shrugged. "You got a nice ass. And you're feisty, like Jen. You remind me of her."
Catherine exhaled heatedly, a flush creeping up her cheeks as she sped up.
"You both got nice asses." Dan commented.
A couple of minutes later, they were on the sandy shores, walking along it. They were heading to the northeast still, only along the shoreline. They turned the corner that Greg and Sara had passed to see the stars and continued walking. Seabirds were abundant along the shoreline and their brown speckled wings flapped as they took off into the air. Greg began to lag behind, wincing as the sand grated against his cut. Dan was between Greg and the two women now.
They neared the second corner, the one that would turn and lead them towards the airplane, perhaps their only way out.
"I need you two to tell me something…" Dan suddenly said, proposing the offer amiably. "Since I killed all those people on the plane in the middle of the ocean, would I be convicted for those murders in the Australian government, or the American?"
Sara and Catherine stopped in their tracks, pondering the question.
"We-well…I…er…I guess you would—" Sara began, but before she could finish, Dan suddenly began to sprint towards the forest.
"Hey!" Catherine shouted. She released Matt's hand and dived after Dan. She grabbed his right wrist in her hands, wincing, and tugged on him.
"Jen would have done the same." Dan commented, trying to get Catherine off of his wrist, prying at her fingers with his. "And look what happened to her." Then suddenly, he raised his right hand and let his fist fly smack into Catherine's face. A sickening crunch signaled the makings of a surely broken nose. Catherine's gasped and staggered backwards. Her eyes were scrunched, her hands plastered across her face, blooding seeping out around them.
Sara and Greg ran to her.
"Cath, are you—are you okay?" Greg asked fervently. Dan had disappeared into the trees.
"Dabit…" Catherine managed. She took down several deep gulps of air, then sat down in the sand. Blood began to drip from her hands and onto her pants and the sand.
"The plane should be right around that corner," Sara said, her face slightly panicked. "I'm going to go see if it has a working radio. Just leave Dan. He can't do anything more. Are you going to be all right Catherine?"
Catherine said nothing, her eyes still squeezed tightly shut with her hands holding her face.
Sara set Lauren down and took off running. The plane had to be there, just beyond the corner. God could only hope it had a working radio. She passed the corner and sure enough, plenty of splintered trees lay across the shore and perhaps metal pieces of an airplane. She continued running to the void and there it was, the front end of an airplane, its nose scrunched and its wings lying separated and useless at its side. Sara dashed up to the cockpit and thrust open the door. The front end was slightly smashed. A cooler sat in one of the two backseats and Sara was partially tempted to see what was inside, but half suspecting she would find takeout.
There was a set of headphones on the floor of the plane and Sara climbed into the pilot's seat. She reached down and placed the headphones over her ears. Hoping she was going to get this right, she searched for something that looked like something even close to a communication device. There was a small metal box apparently untouched by the crash in the dashboard in front of her. Biting her lip, Sara reached forward for a knob. She turned it and static filled her ears. A wide smile spread across her face.
"Perfect…uhh…hello?"
Nothing but more static. Sara turned the knob.
"H-Hello?"
A small increase in volume reached her and Sara gulped. "Hello? Is…is somebody there?"
A gargling voice filled the headphones and with a slight breath of relief at the voice of another human, Sara listened.
"Who is this?" the voice gargled.
"Er…S-Sara…I'm. I'm on this—"
"Sara? Is that you?" It was a different voice, but it was familiar.
"Brass?" Her breath caught in her throat and she smiled.
"Thank God you're all right. W-Where is everyone else? What survivors? Anybody?"
"Catherine and Greg, Ecklie, these two kids that were on the plane. That's it." Sara took in a deep breath. Not a time to start getting emotional. Stay level headed.
"Oh thank God…is-is anybody hurt?"
"Greg's got a cut on his arm that's mildly infected. I got attacked by a wild boar. Ecklie got pulled out of quicksand and might have a giant hickey, and Catherine just got her nose broken by a homicidal maniac."
"Oh God. I think Grissom mentioned something about that. Everyone's been looking for answers for the past four days."
Sara let out a small sigh of contentment. "I'm glad."
"Look, Sara, we just got out of Hawaii. We're heading towards the plane wreck, but we have no idea where you are. And-and how are you communicating with us in the first place?"
"It's the homicidal maniac's busted airplane. Thankfully the radio still works."
"Okay, Sara, do you have any possible way of telling us in what area you might be?"
Sara thought for a minute. North was…to her upper left…the nose of the airplane faced southwest…
"We're on a small island about two or three miles south southwest of the nose of the crashed airplane."
"Thank you. Sara, I'm going to disconnect. I want you to get out somewhere you can be seen. We're in one of those water-ski airplanes…whatever you call it…I'm so glad to here your voice. I really am. We were all so worried you were all dead."
"Thanks Brass…we have a bonfire going. Hopefully you'll see the smoke."
"10-4, over and out."
"Very funny."
Sara removed the headset and put it back on the floor. They were rescued. They…were…rescued. It sounded so wonderful. Sara took one final look around the plane's crushed inside, looking for anything that might be useful. She spotted a small white first-aid kit fitted onto the plane's wall and opened it. A strip of gauze, some hydrogen peroxide, band-aids, anti-itch cream, an icepack, and some Neosporin sat inside.
Smiling, she pulled them out and then turned to the cooler behind her. Inside of that were two bottles of water, a bag of potato chips, some sandwiches, and a beer. With a hint of regret, Sara tossed the beer bottle out of the cooler and replaced it with the first aid materials. With the cooler in tow, Sara stepped out of the airplane.
Now to get back to Catherine and Greg.
A/N: Hallelujah! Another chappie, and if I'm correct, the longest yet...I think. Anyway, after this one there will either be
A) One more relatively long chapter
or
B) Two relatively short chapters
A is more likely. Happy reading:D Sorry about Catherine's nose...poor girl...gives painkillers :D This was Chapter 13, is it an unlucky chapter for me? Or is 13 not bad luck after all? Tell me!