A/n: Thank you so much for the nice review! I'm very happy with that :)
CHAPTER 5 – I NEVER MEANT TO CAUSE YOU ANY TROUBLE
"They hurt me. They hurt us. They hurt you. And you. And you. And you."
Every time he says 'you' he looks at one of us. But he blames someone… Himself.
"Dylan, whose fault is this? Not yours." "I blame them." He looks at the sicko's. "But I blame myself too." "Don't do that!" I shout. My face is very close to his face. "It's not your fault. Do you hear me? It's not your fault." He looks hurt. "Then why did it all happen to us? Because I took ya'all here for that stupid expedition." "But Dylan, you didn't take me. I went here on my own." "Because I couldn't stop you from that stupid idea! And now look how you ended up." "Dylan, I'm too stubborn to give up an idea like that. You know that. No-one could have stopped me. I did it for Josh." I stop talking. He looks at me. I think he now realizes it wasn't his fault. Bird gives her opinion. "Dutchy, it wasn't your fault. If we did a better job, we didn't need an expedition." 2Dads and RO agree. "We totally sucked. It was your right to take us out here. Who could have prevented this sort of danger? No-one could", says 2Dads. "You guys are right. I couldn't prevent this. Thanks." He says it slowly, he's still not quite over this. Then he looks at me. "I would hug you if it didn't hurt." I smile. "Friends in good and bad times, ey?" He nods.
With the whole blaming-stuff done, the mood has become so much more relaxed. Only one question kept remaining. What happened to Dutchy? How did he get all those injuries?
RO went out to grab some more wood to keep the fire on. I stayed with Dylan, 2Dads and Bird. And the two sicko's. They haven't said a word since I screamed to them. We're all sitting, half a sleep. 2Dads holds Bird, carefully, not hurting his shoulder. And I hold Dylan. He's barely awake. I'm thinking of all the things that happened today. We have no food left. Only some beers and some bottles of water. Oh, and a bottle of rum. We're waiting till the sun comes up, Swain comes and then… we can finally get off this island. We're all looking forward to that moment. But for now, we need to hang on, and do the best we can.
XXXXX-Sea Patrol-XXXX
I must have fallen asleep, because I suddenly wake up of something. It's Dylan. "I need to tell you what happened. I need to share it with someone." "I know, Dylan. And I'm here for you. You can tell me."
He takes a deep breath. There it comes. "Where do I need to begin?" He looks at me. "The part where they hung you up at your wrists." "Oh, yeah. So, they hung me up at my wrists. I needed to put weight on my leg, and that really hurted. I think the guy noticed 'cause he pulled the arrow out. The pain was almost unbearable. But I was still awake. I couldn't let that guy do things to me without me knowing it." He takes a breath. He's all in his memory, forgetting where he really is. He's back in the moment. "He opened a box, and put the arrow in it. It was still covered in blood. I saw more arrows. They were all covered in blood." I nod, supporting him to continue. I don't think he notices, anyway. He keeps going. "He walked back to me. He looked into my eyes, and then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he… He just had a knife. And then…" Tears hide behind my eyes. One tear escapes. I wipe it away. "He used the knife. The pain… I can't recall it. I was just stunned by that action. Everything hurted. My leg, my chest, my wrists, my shoulders. And then he came up with that big piece of wood. He first slammed me at the head, and I faded into darkness." He stops, takes a deep breath, looks at me. "I woke up again. I thought of you. I thought it was a dream, that I dreamed about you. You couldn't be here." "But I was Dylan. Thank god I was. I owe you so much… Now I did something back." He nods. "And then I saw that guy again. I didn't feel anything anymore. Everything was pain. But he had a gun. He pointed a gun at me." He shakes his head. "And he shot. I screamed. You must've heard that. From then on I really can't remember a thing. But from then on you were with me all the time." He looks at me. "Thank you for being here."
"Everything's gonna be allright, you know that, right?" "Yes I know." I look at the rest of us. Bird's still sleeping, leaning against 2Dads, who's also asleep. RO's leaning against a tree. The fire is a lot more hotter than when I went asleep. Sleeping… that sounds comforting. I yawn. "Oh, I'm tired." "Come here," says Dylan. He lies on the ground and takes my head in his arms. In that position, I fall asleep.
XXX-Sea Patrol-XXX
I hear some birds singing. The sun is shining. I can feel it at my skin. I open my eyes. I see trees. A lot of trees. I sit up. I look around me. I see remains of a fire. Oh yeah, I remember now. Everything that happened yesterday. I see someone moving behind me. It's Dylan. "Goodmorning", he says. "Hey. What time is it?" RO answers. "It's about 0600. In one hour Swain will be at the beach." Wow, I slept for a long time then. RO takes the sicko's to the beach. "I'll take them to the beach, I'll tie them up again and when I come back you'll be ready?" "Copy that", I say. RO leaves. He's full of energy. Dylan doesn't look that much better, though. "How are you holding up?" "I've been better. I'll be all right." "Let me take a look." Non of his injuries started bleeding again, so that's a good sign. "I'm not gonna rip the bandage of, I don't want any chance of infections." Dylan nods. "My ribs are still cracked, ey?" "You know that won't heal that fast." I see him smiling. "You! Well, I'll check your pulse and then I'll check on 2Dads and Bird." His pulse is steady, not too fast and not too slow. I stand up and walk towards 2Dads and Bird. They're both awake.
"Hey guys, how are you holding up? Had enough sleep?" "Yeah, I slept like a rose. I didn't expect that", answers Bird. "Well, I can't recall anything of tonight so OR I was really drunk OR I slept real good. I think the last." 2Dads smiles. "You hope the last", says Bird. I laugh. "That's a good one. Now, let me take a look at that wound of yours." It stopped bleeding. His pulse is fast. "All right. Well, take it easy. Bird, you'll watch him?" "Sure Curly."
Such a brave girl. "Thank you." Ah, there's RO. "I can see a mast, at the end of the horizon. Come, let's move to the beach." "2Dads, can you walk? With some help of Bird?" He nods. "All right, you go first. RO, can you help me with Dutchy?" RO's coming my way. "You support left, I'll do right." I need to be careful with his leg and shoulder. "All right. Dylan, you can hold me here, I'll try to support your leg. RO, be careful with that wound."
It's an adventure, but we make it to the beach. Dylan is in a lot of pain, but at the beach we can rest. I see 2Dads and Bird, they're hiding in the shadows of the trees. A couple meters further I see the two sicko's all tied up. I ask Dylan something. "Can you walk again?" He nods. "Well, come on then, let's join them."
"All right, put him down carefully, careful! RO! Easy! Easy, easy…That's the way." Dylan's in a lot of pain. "Dylan, how's the pain?" He looks at me. "How…?" "Bad or really bad?" "Uh, bad. I can still handle it, but some pain killers would be great." "We need to wait for Swain." He nods. "Well, let's make the best of it until then."
I stand very close to the sea, it's high tide. The sun's already up and I see a big boat at the horizon. It's the Hammersley. I can recognize it out of 1000 boats. ET's funeral was there, I was there when he had that accident with Campell Fullton… I waited so many times till that boat came in dock. Bird notices too. "It's the Hammersley! Thank god, we're save."
Suddenly, I hear a strange noise behind me. Followed by a scream from 2Dads and RO. "Quick, Melody, come over here! Something's wrong with Dutchy!" I turn around, there I see him, lying on the ground. He's having trouble breathing. I run to him. "Dylan, do you hear me? Open your eyes." I slap him on the cheek. I need to stay calm now. He's still breathing, and he still has a pulse. "Dylan, what's wrong? Dutchy!"
He opens his eyes. "My… ribs… they… hurt…" He closes his eyes. "No, don't close your eyes. Open those eyes. Come on Dylan!" I listen how he breathes. And then I realize. His rib punctured his long.
Come on Swain, I need you.
A/n: So, almost the end of their expedition! To be continued…
