At the same time…
On the desert island…
Tom and Sybil had reached the beach at last and they were now pulling the two slides behind them. Their progression was hard because the sand was slowing them down. The heat was stifling and the effort they were putting forth wasn't simplifying things. Sybil's shirt had gone into the river a long time ago, and she was now only clad in her swimsuit top.
At last, they saw their camp and their steps went magically faster.
Once near the plane and still in a comfortable silence, they started to work together without wasting a minute. They had a goal: leave the island as quickly as possible. Sybil started to cut some palm tree branches as Tom worked under the plane to prepare it to welcome its new landing gear of fortune. When Sybil was finished with the branches, Tom cleaned them to make big logs as she was untangling some rope.
In the adversity, the pair seemed to be quite efficient. Tasks and gestures were made with a sustained cadence, without the need to share a lot of words. A simple look was enough to understand each other.
When everything was ready, they put Tom's plan in motion. Sybil slid the rope under one of the wings as Tom climbed along a palm tree to tie up the other end. Then, still with the help of ropes, they installed some sort of big support made with logs in order to act as a crowbar to try and lift the plane's nose from the sand.
"It's ok," cried Sybil who was at the helm of their installment.
Tom started to operate this sort of pulley and the plane, little by little, started to stand up.
"It's working!" Sybil happily exclaimed.
Tom smiled to himself, happy to have proved to her he knew how to use his hands!
Once the plane was completely out of the sand and up, thanks to his wood support, they started to cut some big bamboos to change them into logs. Lost in their mission, they forgot that dangerous pirates were probably still looking for them but neither Tom nor Sybil seemed currently to care.
When everything was cut, Tom started to dig into the sand in front of the wheels of the plane to free them and allow the installation of the new landing gear. He had, at last, taken off his shirt and Sybil started to watch his muscles, well defined by the efforts that were showing under his tanned skin. Feeling her eyes on him, Tom looked up and Sybil looked away quickly, reaching for one of the big canteens to drink. Tom smiled and got up. He took a few steps toward her and, as she was drinking, he started to wipe the sand that was sticking on her soft skin because of the heat.
Sybil jumped at the feel of his hands on her body and turned to him. He didn't say a word and just took the canteen from her to take a sip.
After this short break, they started to work again for some more time. When everything was ready, they slid the slides from the Japanese plane under Tom's one. Then, they needed to fix them on the plane which was a difficult affair because of the materials they had (only sticks of bamboos and rope). They succeeded in the end, giving Tom's plane the appearance of a seaplane albeit a little wobbly.
They gazed proudly at their work, exhausted and silent. With the means at their disposal, they had taken one step closer to their return to civilization, even if they still were far from out of the tunnel. Now, this strange construction needed to take off and, despite the trust she had in Tom, Sybil doubted it could.
An explosion brought them back to reality and, before they could react, something exploded right behind the plane, burning a palm tree. Tom turned towards the sea.
"Oh, shit! Look!" he called to Sybil.
She turned to the direction he was showing to see the pirates' boat coming to them. They were aiming at them with what looked like rockets. They better not hang around much longer!
In a silent agreement, Tom and Sybil ran to the wood stand that was holding the plane up and started to get it out of the way. They didn't have a choice now- make the plane take off or to wait quietly for death. As to show them they were right, a rocket blew up near them, throwing Sybil in Tom's arms.
"Don't stay here," he cried, pushing her to the plane.
Sybil stepped up as Tom ran to the back of the plane to retrieve a bag of supplies. As he was reaching for it, a new rocket exploded almost on him, throwing him violently on the ground. Sybil leaned out on the pilot's side and saw him lying down, lifeless.
"Oh My God!" she breathed before rushing out of the plane to help him. "Tom? Are you alright?" she asked as she was reaching him.
Tom rolled onto his back and tried to get up. Sybil let out a relieved breath.
Thank God, he wasn't dead!
But Tom couldn't get up and fell again on his belly. Sybil caught him and rolled him onto his back again so she could grip him more firmly. Tom groaned and that's when she saw the blood spoiling his shirt and his torso.
"Oh My God! You're hurt!"
"It's ok," he said, greeting his teeth. "It's not serious."
Sybil helped him up and guided him to the plane. She pushed him inside and behind the controls.
"It's alright, it's alright," he moaned. "Get up! Hurry!"
Once seated, Tom started the engine and the propeller that, to their relief, worked right away. Obviously, the motor hadn't been damaged in the crash. Busy with their preparations neither Tom nor Sybil thought about checking it.
"Why doesn't it move?" Sybil worriedly asked when nothing happened.
"Come on, baby," muttered Tom to his plane.
At last, as rockets were now raining around them, the plane shook and slid towards the ocean. After a few jumps, it stabilized and slid on the water, right to the pirate's boat.
"Come on, take off!" yelled Tom, pulling on the joystick.
"We're gonna hit them," breathed Sybil, her eyes wide from fear.
She turned to Tom who was focusing on his piloting and repeated:
"We're gonna hit them!"
"Help me to pull on the joystick," yelled Tom who was handicapped with his right arm because of his injury.
Sybil took the joystick in front of her.
"Pull! Pull with all your strength!" cheered Tom.
A few seconds before the impact between the boat and the plane, the nose of the plane rose up and flew into the sky. Furious, one of the pirates followed the path of the plane with his rocket launcher and shot. The missile got up in the air and the pirates soon realized by hearing the hissing coming back to them that their boat was now the target. With messy cries, they all jumped in the water just a few seconds before the missile hit the boat, shattering it in a loud explosion.
Tom and Sybil watched the show playing under them before they relaxed against their seats with a breath of relief. They did it! By working together, they escaped a deadly fate. Sybil smiled as she watched the horizon in front of her and then turned to Tom who was too silent for her taste.
Immediately, her smile faded and her blood got cold. Something was wrong. Tom had his head down against the side window, his eyes closed and he was heavily sweating. In front of his shirt, blood was spreading like a big spider. Sybil leaned to him and put her arms around his shoulder to prop him up.
"Come on," she cheered. "Stay with me, Tom, stay with me. Everything's gonna be ok, come on."
"Listen," said Tom in a faint voice, feeling his strength leave him. "I need to tell you two or three little things about planes."
"Why's that?"
"I may be out when time comes to land."
"Oh shit," moaned Sybil. "Don't do that to me."
"Take the joystick," he commanded to her. "You need to get used to it."
Tom closed his eyes because of the pain he was feeling and Sybil gulped. Tom didn't normally complain or give up but something was telling her that it was different this time. She put a hand on his cheek to wake him. He opened his eyes and she plunged her stare in his.
"You're serious, aren't you?"
Tom weakly nodded.
"Do it," he said.
"Alright," she answered, moving away from him to take the joystick.
The plane made a jolt.
"Careful, go easy."
"Sorry."
"Correct gently."
"Correct gently," repeated Sybil while glancing at him sideways.
"Look at the horizon," scolded Tom.
Sybil obeyed.
"Once over there, you need to put the plane parallel to the beach about 30 meters in the open sea."
"30 meters in the open sea. Got it."
Makatea, a few minutes later…On one of the beaches on the island, the hotel had organized a little commemorative ceremony for the missing two. In accordance with the local customs, everybody was wearing a flower necklace and was gathered on the white sand. A man was breathing in a big shell, playing a gloomy sound like a knell. In front of the little gathering stood Larry and Edna. They went to the water and bent down together to put two flower necklaces on the waves, representing the souls of their loved ones missing at sea.
When they turned back to the people, singing and prayers started. Larry was wondering how things could have gone so wrong so quickly. He had come here to finally propose to the woman he was in love with and now he was forced to say goodbye without being able to mourn and cry over her body. The hotel director's voice brought him back to reality.
"We're all gathered today to honor the memory of two amazing people: Miss Sybil Crawley and, a friend of mine, Mr. Tom Branson…"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…."
Larry's moans attracted all the attention to him as he threw himself at the feet of the priest.
"Please, forgive me, father, because I have sinned. I was wrong, father…so wrong…"
Under gazes of dismay, Edna ran to him and tried to bring him back to reason.
"Larry, please, everybody is looking at you…Larry!"
Larry was still moaning the same but had, at last, stopped his complaints about himself and the director cleared his throat to start again.
"I wanted to say a few words about our friend Tom Branson. He was a man who would have done anything for his friends, a generous soul, a brave man…"
Edna, engrossed in her task of comforting Larry lost the train of the speech. She kneeled beside the man and smoothed his hair.
"Larry," she breathed in his ear.
She only received more tears and she sighed, resigning herself to let him express his pain. She was about to get back to the others when a humming coming from the sea hooked her attention. She turned quickly to the ocean and a big smile appeared on her face when she recognized the familiar plane.
"It's Tommy boy!" she exclaimed. "Look, it's Tommy boy!"
All the heads turned to her and even Larry seemed to get out of his lethargy and got up.
To be continued…