Reaching up, I try yet again to climb out of the pit, but I feel as if I might be about to faint. I lean against the wall for a moment, trying to get my breath back. After a few seconds, however, the smell of soupy human flesh starts to fill my nostrils and I feel my stomach twisting, as if I’m about to throw up.
“I have to go and check on my other friends,” Walter tells me, “but I hope you’re not going to try climbing out again, young lady. I can assure you that I’ve left a nasty little surprise up here, so if you’re smart, you’ll just stay down there in the pit and wait for the end to come. Make your peace with whatever god you believe in, and reflect upon your life a little. I was following you from the moment you left Steadfall. My friends and I know all about that little town, and I promise you it won’t last much longer. They’re already there, destroying it from the inside, just the way they destroyed all the others. We simply won’t tolerate any attempts to organize a community on the island. Whenever anyone tries, we step in and make sure that it fails. Miserably.”
With that, he turns and walks away. I can hear him tramping across the forest floor, his footsteps receding into the distance, and after a moment I look up at the top of the pit and realize that I can just about make out the stars high above. I have to find a way out of here, but my arms feel as if they’re on fire after all the attempts I’ve made to climb out. For a moment, it occurs to me that I could just stay down here and let the inevitable happen. After all, I’ve managed to survive for five years on the island, which is longer than most people. Is there really anything to live for in such a miserable place? For just a few seconds, the will to live seems to seep out of me, leaking into the soup liquid all around.
“You have to get back to Steadfall,” Della whispers in the growing darkness. “There might still be time to warn Asher and the others.”
“They’re probably all dead by now,” I imagine myself replying.
“There’s still a chance, though,” she points out. “After the way you betrayed Bran and the others five years ago, don’t you think you should try to do the right thing for once? This might be a way for you to set things right.”
I pause for a moment, trying to find the strength to agree with her. All I can feel, however, is the cold soup lapping at my waist, soaking through the fabric of my tunic to chill my flesh.
“Or are you just a coward?” Della’s voice continues, sounding further away now. “I always thought you were a better person than that, Iris. I always looked up to you as my big, tough sister. Was I wrong?”
Even though I feel as if I can’t possibly climb again, I know deep down that I have to keep trying. Taking a deep breath, I try to imagine what kind of ‘nasty little surprise’ Walter might have left up at the top of the pit, but I tell myself that he might just have been trying to scare me. Hearing a faint gurgling sound from nearby, I turn just in time to see the woman in the far corner sinking beneath the water’s surface, joining the other bodies that are slowly decomposing and adding their remains to the soup. Realizing that I’m not ready to join them yet, and that I have to try one more time to warn Asher, I dig my fingers into the muddy wall and staring climbing yet again.
The pain in my arms is excruciating, and I feel several times as if I’m about to fall. Somehow, though, I manage to keep going until finally I’m almost at the top. I pause for a moment, trying to summon the energy I need to haul myself over the edge, and then I reach up with my left hand and grab the top of the pit.
I let out a cry of pain as my fingers slice down onto a set of metal spikes that have been left in the grass at the top. This time, when I try to pull my hand back, I find that the spikes are too deeply embedded in the flesh, which at least means that I can’t fall back down.
Telling myself that I need to be strong, I realize that I can use the spikes to my advantage. Reaching up with my right hand, I slowly force it down against the spikes, letting the metal dig through my flesh so that at least I’m no longer in danger of falling. Now that I’ve impaled myself up here, I just have to work out how I’m going to find the strength to haul myself up and over the edge to freedom, because right now – hanging here with my soaking wet tunic weighing me down – I feel as if I can’t possibly move another inch.
“You’re going to die like this,” Della’s voice whispers from down in the pit. “You’re not strong enough to get out.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
He moves slowly down my body, kissing my bare flesh and avoiding all the cuts and bruises. No matter how much I tell myself that this is a mistake, I can’t bring myself to push his warmth away. My mind is screaming for me to stop, but my body craves the warmth and refuses to let go.
Chapter Thirty
Suddenly I realize I can hear Walter heading back this way. His feet are trampling through the dark undergrowth and he’s whistling too. He thinks he’s in complete control and he might be right, but I’ve got one final chance to get out of here. Still hanging at the top of the pit, shivering in my soup-soaked tunic and with my hands impaled on the metal spikes, I know that failure now will mean death down there in the pit far below.
This is it.
Life or death.
“What have we got here?” Walter says suddenly, as I hear his footsteps getting closer. “Don’t tell me… Can it be true?”
Looking up, I watch as his silhouette appears above me. There’s just enough moonlight for me to be able to see the delight in his eyes, as if he genuinely enjoys the fact that I’m fighting back.
“Well,” he continues, “I’m impressed. Truly, genuinely impressed. You might not have very much longer left in this world, my dear, but at least you’ve put up a good fight. Better than anyone else who’s ended up down there, that’s for sure. I’m almost tempted to let you go, but of course that isn’t possible. You’re very admirable, though. Very admirable indeed.”
I wait, hanging in darkness, to see how he’ll free me from the spikes. If he simply cuts my hands off, I’ll have no chance, but if he actually bothers to slip the hooks out of my flesh, I might be able to do something.
“Let’s see,” he mutters after a moment, and I feel him taking hold of my right wrist. Sure enough, he starts slowly lifting it up, and the pain is immense as he slides my hand free of the spikes. As soon as he turns his attention to my left hand, I use my right to grip the pit’s muddy edge. My fingers are already slipping through the cold mud and I know I won’t be able to stay up here for long, but I try to summon every last ounce of strength as I feel Walter starting to lift my left hand free from the spikes.
“You can’t do this,” Della’s voice whispers from the darkness below. “You’re too weak.”
“Watch me,” I imagine myself telling her. “Just watch.”
A moment later I feel my left hand coming free and I make my move, quickly gripping Walter’s wrist and holding tight. I feel bursts of pain running along my entire arm, but if I let go now, I’m dead.
“And what’s this in aid of, eh?” he asks, his voice once again filled with amusement. “Do you think I’ll show pity for you and haul you up? You poor, weak little thing, why haven’t you given up yet? Are you so desperate to cling on to life? Let me give you a word of advice here… Life isn’t worth a dime! There’s only misery and pain here on the island, so do you really want to fight so desperately to experience more of that horror? Just let go, and soon you’ll be able to leave this world behind.”