Tyler was still sitting at the water’s edge, clinging to the remains of the inflatable. ‘We’re stuck here.’
‘I told you we were,’ Liam replied. ‘No way we’re leaving this place now. You just risked your life for nothing.’
The afternoon heat was unbearable. Nash was talking to Liam about trying to catch fish, although Tyler had noted there was little enthusiasm. There were no tools to make a net with. Tyler had made another lap of their small island, hoping to see something new he may have missed the first time around, yet there was no such luck. The rock was as barren as it had been the previous day and offered little in the way of provisions. This time, there was no second thought and he ate the moss without hesitation. Hunger and thirst had come much quicker than he ever anticipated. Even the monster that lived in him would settle for water now. It was as if the energy he had was being drained by the heat of the sun. Part of him wished he hadn’t expended so much of his reserves retrieving the raft. Although potentially repairable, there was nothing to patch the hole in the rubber, and so it was useless. His lips were starting to become cracked and his tongue felt shrivelled in his mouth. When he returned to the front of the island, Liam was cleaning his father leg wound. He glanced at Tyler, the look in his eye saying that the prognosis was not good. The discolouration was increasing rapidly and infection had definitely set in.
‘Bad, isn’t it?’ Nash said. Both Liam and Tyler were surprised how jovial he was considering the situation.
‘Yeah, it’s not looking too good, Dad,’ Liam said, covering the wound with the makeshift bandage made from part of his wetsuit. ‘We need to keep it clean.’
Nash chuckled and shifted position. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it. We’ll be gone long before infection sets in. Couple more days and… well, that’s us.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘I know enough. This isn’t how it was meant to go down, that’s for sure.’
An image flashed into Tyler’s mind of the dive and the attack by the shark. It was as if the missing link in his memory had been found, and everything fit together exactly how he knew it should. ‘Just how was it supposed to go down?’ he said, glaring at Nash.
The older man stammered and looked away. ‘I just mean we were unlucky.’
‘No. That’s not it. I remember when I was down there. How those drones of yours that were supposed to give us light. They moved towards the shark when it approached. As if someone were guiding them.’
‘You’re confused, it’s just your brain playing tricks, that’s all.’
‘No, for the first time it’s clear. You moved them towards the shark, didn’t you?’ Tyler recalled what happened the way the drones had exploded. At first, he thought it was because the shark had attacked them, but now as he replayed it in his mind, he knew that wasn’t the case. ‘You put explosives in the drones, didn’t you?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Nash grunted.
‘Hey, leave him alone, what the hell is wrong with you?’ Liam stepped between his father and Tyler, but there was no stopping him now. He needed to say it.
‘You used us as bait. You knew that thing was down there and would come for us. It was never about gold, was it? It was about revenge for what happened to you all those years ago.’
‘Shut up, just shut up. It’s not true.’ Nash was flustered and agitated.
‘It all makes sense. What was supposed to happen? We go down there to draw it out, you send your explosives-filled drones to kill it and get your revenge for what it did to you then we rake up the treasure at the end? Or were we supposed to die down there, too, leaving it all for you?’
‘You’re not making sense, the sun is making you crazy,’ Nash screamed.
‘Why don’t you just admit it? The plan you had failed and now we’re all stuck here. You fucking killed us.’
‘I’m not admitting anything. You’ve got sunstroke or something. Don’t you try to put this on me.’
‘You heard him. Leave him alone,’ Liam said, glaring at Tyler. The anger was still surging through him, but he knew well enough that getting into a fight would expend more energy than there was to waste. Instead, he went to the place he now referred to as his on the rock and dragged the deflated raft with him; he had, after all, earned it and so it was his. Not wanting anything more to do with Liam or his father, Tyler pulled the raft over his head, giving him a little respite from the sun. As he lay there on the hot rocks with anger surging through him, he was more determined than ever to get off the island and to freedom, even if it meant doing so at the expense of Nash and Liam.
Night.
Without the burning heat of the sun and the alarming hunger and thirst, it could almost be paradise. Countless stars were painted across the sky which was cloudless and crisp. Tyler lay on the deflated raft, one end rolled into a pillow of sorts. He was on his back, staring at the sky and wondering if life out there was as cruel and brutal as it was on earth. He hadn’t spoken to the others since the argument earlier, and even though his anger had cooled, he was just as certain that everything he had accused Nash of was true, even if there was no way to prove it. He tried to clear his throat, but it was too dry. He would have given anything for a glass of water, just to clear away that dryness.
‘Hey.’
Tyler looked to his right. Nash was staring at him in the gloom of the moonlight. Beyond him, Liam was on his side, sleeping.
‘I’ve got nothing else to say to you.’
‘Then just listen,’ Nash said, his voice a near whisper barely audible above the crashing waves. ‘You were right.’
‘About what?’
‘Everything. I wanted it dead. That bastard thing ruined my life.’
Tyler turned to face him. ‘So why deny it? Why the denial earlier?’
‘I can’t let my son know. Just believe me when I tell you that neither of you was supposed to be in the firing line for this. You were supposed to stay still on the bottom. The explosives in the drones were supposed to kill the shark from safely above you. Remember I told you? I said stay on the bottom. If you had just done what I said, it would have worked.’