"Aargh!" Lucas growled in frustration, as the spear he thrust into the water and pulled back out came up empty - again. "How can this be so hard?"
His stomach growled as if in answer. Lucas couldn't remember ever being this hungry. He had never been overly interested in food, only eating when he really needed to, as his slim build attested. He would sometimes surface from a particularly intense session working on his latest project and realize he had not eaten for a day and was hungry, but this was the first time he had experienced the gnawing ache of real hunger.
He had crept into the house two weeks ago, while Bridger slept, and stolen what food he could carry. Once that was gone, he was desperate enough to try again, but found that Captain Bridger had destroyed the food supplies. As more evidence of his disturbed mental state, it didn't seem that Bridger had kept anything back even for himself. He had destroyed everything in the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry, spoiling and defiling it until Lucas hadn't been able to find anything still edible.
He had decided his best option was fishing. He knew where the Captain kept the fishing supplies, but when he undertook a carefully planned out mission to procure some for his own use, he found that Bridger had booby-trapped the storage building. He had narrowly escaped a crushing injury from the large stones that had fallen as he opened the door. As he had fled empty-handed into the jungle, he had heard the sound of Captain Bridger laughing behind him.
Lucas had been forced to improvise with a pointed rock lashed to a long stick by vines to create a spear. He had found a shallow lagoon with small fish in it, but so far he hadn't been able to catch any of them.
As Lucas leaned back against a rock to rest for a moment, he carefully scanned the area around him for any sign of Captain Bridger. The area seemed quiet but Lucas couldn't be too careful, as the previous weeks had taught him. Lucas had hoped that the Captain would start to heal and he would see signs that he was becoming himself again, but those hopes had proved to be in vain thus far.
A sudden chatter beyond the shallow waters where he stood drew his attention toward the ocean. Darwin was swimming back and forth, as if beckoning to Lucas.
After one more cautious look around, Lucas started swimming toward the dolphin. He had always loved Darwin, but now that the dolphin had saved his life more than once, he had even stronger feelings for him.
As Lucas drew near, he could see that Darwin held something in his mouth. The dolphin swung his head and threw that something at Lucas. As it splashed nearby, Lucas swam over and saw that it was a dead fish. He quickly grabbed it.
"Darwin, buddy, you are the best!" he exclaimed, swimming toward the dolphin and patting his melon when he reached him. "I am so going to enjoy this!"
Darwin chattered and swam back out, returning a short time later with another fish. "Thanks, Darwin," Lucas said. "You've saved me again. If we ever get out of this, I'll find some way to repay you." Patting the dolphin again, he swam toward the shore with his precious cargo.
Reaching the shore, he moved into the cover of the jungle to examine his prize. As hungry as he was, he couldn't quite bring himself to bite into the cool flesh of the fish. A fire might lead Bridger to him, though.
Studying the position of the sun in the sky, Lucas calculated there were only about two hours of daylight left. He decided his best bet would be to wait until the cover of darkness, then dig a pit in the sand of the beach out of sight of the house. If he built a fire in the pit, then the sand should hide it from Bridger's view. Hopefully, the darkness would hide its smoke. And he would get far enough away from the house that the smell wouldn't reach.
Sighing, he settled down to wait, trying to ignore the gnawing pain in his stomach.
Biting down into the cooked flesh of the fish, Lucas almost groaned in appreciation. Nothing had ever tasted so good to him! He devoured the first fish down to the bones, licking his fingers for every last bit.
His plan seemed to be working. Lucas had watched Bridger enter the house as darkness fell, then moved far along the beach to dig his pit and cook his dinner. The night was quiet, with only the sounds of the surf toward the ocean and insects toward the island's interior.
As Lucas bit into the second fish, the natural sounds of ocean and jungle were disturbed by a whizzing sound. Just as Lucas registered the noise, a fierce and shocking pain erupted in his side. Dropping the fish, Lucas grabbed at his side, his hands encountering something extending from his skin.
Looking down, Lucas saw an arrow shaft protruding from the side of his abdomen. Blood was trickling down and dripping into the fire, making sizzling sounds. Lucas looked wildly about and saw Captain Bridger standing above him, a bow in his hand. He was fitting another arrow onto the string.
"Not too smart, boy," Bridger said, smiling down at the terror-stricken boy beneath him. "If you'd been studying your enemy as you should have been, you'd have known I make perimeter rounds every night after dark. They've been disappointing so far, but I think tonight is going to make up for that!"
As Bridger began to bring the bow up, Lucas desperately grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on - a burning log from the fire. The log burned his hands, but Lucas ignored the pain and slung it at Bridger with all his might.
Even in his panic, or maybe because of it, Lucas's projectile flew true and straight. As it struck Bridger, causing him to drop the bow, Lucas frantically scrambled out of the pit, clutching his side, and fled into the jungle. Glancing back, he saw that the log had ignited Bridger's shirt sleeve and he was hurriedly patting the flame out.
That gave Lucas enough of a head start to find a hiding place. He curled around himself, trying to keep from crying out with the pain in his side and in his burned hands, while listening for sounds of pursuit. He couldn't hear anything but past experience had taught him that Bridger was a wily opponent and he couldn't let his guard down.
Lucas lay there, shivering and spent, praying that the Captain would lose interest, until the shock and blood loss from his wound sent him into unconsciousness.
Lucas came awake slowly. At first, he couldn't remember where he was and what had happened. But as he tried to sit up, a stabbing pain in his side brought memories of the previous night into sharp focus.
Lucas managed to work his way into a sitting position and took stock of his injuries. His hands were slightly burned, on top of his earlier acid burns, but they didn't seem too serious to him. Looking down, he saw the arrow shaft protruding from the right side of his abdomen. Feeling behind him, he found that the head of the arrow had passed through and was sticking out of his back. It hurt like hell, but after some painful probing, it seemed to Lucas that the arrow had passed just beneath his rib cage. He didn't feel as if any organs had been hit; it seemed as though the arrow had just passed through the flesh and muscle in his side. The blood loss had been minimal. He knew that he had to get the arrow out, but he also knew it was going to hurt like the devil. He had stolen some medical supplies earlier from the boat, so he would be able to clean and bandage the wound, but he found himself hesitating, unable to face the pain.
"You can do this, Lucas," he muttered to himself, steeling himself to move. "You have to stay in the game. You're Captain Bridger's only chance. You've got to come up with a plan to help him." Biting his lip, he managed to get to his feet by holding onto a nearby tree trunk. He swayed as he was assailed by dizziness, but after a few moments, his swimming head cleared and he felt strong enough to move.
He wasn't too far from his main hiding place, where he kept his supplies. Bridger hadn't discovered it yet. If he could reach it, he'd be able to treat his wound and rest for a while.
It took him the better part of an hour, but he made the painful trek through the jungle to his hidden den. Crawling inside, he slumped to the ground, exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to lose himself to the oblivion of sleep, but he knew he had to see to the arrow wound.
Reaching down with both hands, Lucas took hold of the long length of shaft in front of him. He knew he would have to break the shaft to be able to draw the arrow out from the back and the fletching from the front. Holding his breath, he snapped the shaft.
He tried to muffle the scream that he couldn't stop entirely. His side felt like it was on fire! Reaching behind him quickly, he grabbed the arrow and pulled it out, crying out at the pain. Blood began to flow from his front and back, but it didn't seem excessive as if any major blood vessels had been hit.
Lucas grabbed the strip of cloth he had ripped from his shirt during his preparations and pressed it to the entry and exit wounds. After cleaning the wounds with hydrogen peroxide, he bandaged them with gauze and wrapped an ace bandage around his middle to hold the bandages in place. Only then did he crawl onto his blanket and allow his encroaching weakness to envelop him. As he lay on his side, with his side and back throbbing and his hands burning, he let himself fall into a restless sleep.