It took Laulaia sitting down beside me to bring me back up out of my exhausted fugue. Shadow growled lowly when she snuggled up to my right side and rested her head over on shoulder, but I could tell from the volume of his voice that he was too hot and drained to do anything more. Forcing my eyes opened, I Glanced over at her, surprised by how much damp sweat drenched my shirt she was wearing. Apparently, she’d been working for quite a long time in the unbearable heat and humidity.
Long damp hair fell across my chest and side as she lifted my arm and placed it around her neck so she could lean and use my body as a pillow. Waves of pain protested her weight against my side, forcing me to take a deep breath and hold it to keep from screaming out in agony. Reflexively, my hand reached down and clenched firmly together, which caused Laulaia to leak out a groan of her own. Counting to three in my mind, I forced myself to let out my swallowed breath and release my grip.
Looking over, much to my shame and embarrassment, my hand was still laid atop, and gripping, Laulaia’s right breast softly. A few soft tears trickled from the corner of her eyes from the force my involuntary grip had placed upon one of her most sensitive regions, but she neither moved away, nor attempted to move my hand. My heart wanted to apologize profusely, but the burning pulse in my side wouldn’t allow me. It was all I could do to stop myself from crying as well.
How the damn long is she just going to sit here like this?!
Enduring the agony for as long as I possibly could, I finally managed to force my arm and hand to move up away from her breast and on to her shoulder. Pushing off of her body, I started trying to make myself stand upright, but my knees were hardly up for the task. Luckily though, Laulaia saw my intention, and slowly stood upright with me, supporting me in my effort. Poor Shadow just rolled listlessly off my lap and whimpered softly, before sprawling out flat across the hot sand at our feet.
Blinking back the fog that swam unsteadily across my vision, I leaned heavily on Laulaia until my vision could clear once again. Red wasn’t anywhere in sight, that I could see, but a massive pile of sticks, vines, and leaves was gathered up and piled where I’d pointed at earlier. It took all the effort I could muster with my dry throat and nauseating pain, to croak out, “Shina,” in an attempt to praise Laulaia.
Laulaia said nothing, but smiled softly and strengthened her posture beneath me to help support me better.
Positioning myself back against the tree, so it could support my weight, I slowly moved my hand from Laulaia’s shoulder and rubbed it gently against the side of her face. “Thank you,” I croaked, sounding pitiful even to my own ears. Looking around, and checking our environment once again, I’m afraid I may have been out for too long.
The sky was considerably darker than it had been when the girls started their work, and the hot, sticky moisture in the air made it almost seem as if mother nature was trying to broil us to death. Even the insects and animals had quieted down considerably in the midst of the midday sun, and an uneasy quiet seemed to be settling down across the land.
“Laulaia,” I pleaded, as best I could in my state, “I know you’re not going to understand everything I’m trying to say, but I need your help. I need that,” I pointed down to one of the long sticks which Red had collected.
Saying something I didn’t understand, Laulaia frowned deeply, not understanding.
“Fetch,” I told her, pointing to the stick once again. If I didn’t hurt so bad, I think I’d cry. My heart doesn’t like the idea of treating women like an animal – not at all!
Nodding, Laulaia slowly eased herself out from beneath my shoulder, to make certain that I was steady enough without her support, before she gracefully strolled over and brought me back the stick I was pointing at.
“Sorry,” I apologized to her, “but I need this one for myself.” Propping my arm beneath the “Y” at the top of the stick, I used it to help prop me up and keep me from toppling over to the side. “Fetch,” I told her again, pointing down to another stick.
Nodding, and with seemingly endless patience to be taking orders from a guy she’d just met, Laulaia brought back the stick I was pointing at, without complaining.
“Here,” I told her, using the tip of my makeshift crutch to point at the ground near us. I don’t think this is the optimal place for us to be doing things, but time appears to be running short and I certainly don’t have the strength to wander up and down the beach, or inside the jungle, to find any spot more suitable.
Frowning, Laulaia held the stick out where I’d indicated, but I could tell she wasn’t certain what to do with it there. Groaning, I forced myself to take the single step forward required to close the endless distance between us, and took the stick from her with my left hand. Using all the force I could muster, I twisted it left and right several times, trying to push it deep enough into the sand so it’d stand upright on its own.
While I was finishing planting the stick where I wanted it, Red came bouncing back to us, dragging another large stack of sticks behind her. Drenched in sweat, she was still smiling broadly and humming contentedly to herself. All I can assume at the moment is she’s one of those crazy folks who actually enjoy being out and working themselves to death in the blistering heat! Watching me for just a moment, she let go of the bundle she was dragging and bounced over to take the stick from my left hand. With one swift movement, she brought it up and slammed it down into the loose dirt, burying it deeper with one thrust than I’d managed to accomplish with all my “drilling”.
“Thank you,” I told Red, while teetering precariously on my crutch. Laulaia swiftly moved over to my left side and placed herself there to steady me, before I could topple over, causing me to tell her, “Thank you,” as well. With her support, I unsteadily forced myself forward a few steps and pointed to a second spot a little in front of the first. “Fetch,” I told Red, while focusing my gaze solely on the pile of sticks she had gathered.
Nodding, Red bounced over, grabbed up and stick and once again planted it where I was indicating, with one quick thrust into the sand.
“Here, here, here, here, here, and here,” I told her, as I rested almost all my weight on Laulaia and slowly turned around in a circle, making a small line in the sand with my makeshift crutch as I did so. Red waited to make certain I was finished talking, and then she bounced off to grab several sticks to plant where I wanted. Once she was finished, she beamed a brilliant smile, flashed me a thumb’s up, and waited to see what was I needed next.
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“Fetch,” I stared over at the pile of sticks again, and she instantly bounced off and brought one back. The way she was smiling, you’d almost think she was a golden retriever happily bringing back a ball to play with to me. Holding out my left hand, she placed the long stick in it for me, and then gave another thumb up in response.
Groaning, I lifted the stick to a horizontal level, and tried to bring it up to place inside the “Y” of a stick. My mind knew what I wanted to do; however, my body was just too beat, battered, and sun-drained at the moment to accomplish it. The effort was more than I could muster, and I ended up dropping the stick.
“Kin nagu,” Red half fussed at me, bending down and picking up the stick. “Tal,” she pointed to herself with her free hand, and then lifted the stick to place it where I’d been trying to make it go, locking it between two of the upright “Y’s”.
“Others,” I told her, forcing my hand to point between the top of two different sticks. “Back and forth, crisscross them,” I tried to explain, gesturing as best I could.
Once again, Red amazed me with her ability to understand. With no more than that to go on, she quickly skipped over, grabbed several poles, and began to interlock them between the supports she’d planted. Feeling my knees quiver, I turned my gaze back to Laulaia, and almost begged her, “There,” as I nodded back over at the tree where I’d been resting earlier, near Shadow.
“Shina,” she confirmed, bracing herself under my arm, as we slowly began to turn and work our way back.
“KATOOMMBAA!!”
A sudden boom of thunder reverberated all about, causing Laulaia to squeal in surprise. Her frightened half jump caused me to completely lose my balance, and we both tumbled down onto the sand together. “Aaacchhhhh…” My breath hissed out past my lips, and the world swam away in whiteness, from the crash to the ground. It took every ounce of my willpower not to pass out from the blazing hot agony.
“Steffan, shina? Shina?” Laulaia quickly scrambled to hover above me, concern etched all across her visage. “Shina, Steffan,” she asked, again?
Lungs burning too much for me to answer, all I could do is feebly give her a thumbs up, in a vain attempt to ease her worry.
““KATTA BOOMMBAA!!”
Another peel of thunder echoed all around, and the first few drops of rain were beginning to fall intermittently amongst the surrounding leaves.
“Na… Gu… Low… Lay… A…” It took all I could do to croak out the words, but hearing the rough sounding of her name seemed to help Laulaia calm and focus on the moment better. “Fet… Ch…” Tilting my head, I forced myself to stare at the pile of leaves she’d gathered for us previously.
Wiping a few tears from her eyes, Laulaia nodded and half bit her lip, as if to reassure herself of something, before she hopped up and grabbed a handful of large ferns and brought them over to me.
“Na… Gu…” I told her, trying to tell her they weren’t for me. Forcing my hand to point up at the structure which Red was assembling. Even without me telling her to use the vines to lash the sticks together, she was now doing that on her own.
Frowning, Laulaia stared at me, concern obvious across her face, and then turned to stare back at Red and what she was building. After several long moment’s deliberation, she bit her lip again, and then gracefully got up and went over to where Red was working, before turning back to face me. “Here?” She asked, squatting down and placing the ferns on the ground.
“Na… Gu…” I shook my head slightly, amazed that she’d used my language. If she’d picked up the word and its meaning that quickly, just while hearing me use it several times with Red, she certainly wasn’t a “dumb blond”. I was amazed at how smart Red appeared to be, but Laulaia wasn’t no slouch in the learning department either!
Frowning, Laulaia glanced left, then right, trying to work out where she was supposed to place the leaves, before she gracefully stood up. Stretching, she worked one of the leaves atop the cross pattern which Red was still tying together, and then looked back at me and asked, “Here?”
Another thumb’s up was my only response as the raindrops started falling quicker, and the sound of thunder started to echo all around us.
Just as I’d suspicioned earlier, this land – island, I suppose it must be, considering where we’d crashed at – must have regular storms every day or two, on it, this time of year. The sun’s heat evaporates a lot of moisture from the ocean, as the day goes by, and as it travels over the cooler shade of the island, it condenses and forms storm clouds. I had been guessing and trying to plan for the storm almost ever since I saw how hot it was getting earlier, when I woke up in the shade where the girls had dragged me.
Closing my eyes, and opening my mouth, I tried hard to relax and enjoy the rain as it picked up and fell ever quicker. As long as it didn’t start hailing, I was quite content to just lay here and cool off. Part of me was ashamed that I couldn’t be over their helping the girls, but that part was much too small to face the exhaustion and agony which I was feeling at the moment.
As the intensity of the afternoon storm grew, both girls came over and hooked me beneath my shoulders. Gently dragging, they slid me across the sand to rest under the makeshift shelter they’d just assembled.
“Nagu,” I told them, forcing myself to sit up, onto my elbows. Laulaia immediately moved to help lift me up, then knelt behind so I could rest my body upon her knees and chest. “Fetch,” I told Red, pointing over at where Laulaia’s boots sat discarded from earlier.
Nodding, Red dashed out into the now pouring rain, and rushed back with both in her hands.
“Knife,” I told her, hoping that she remembered that word as well.
Nodding again, Red reached back under her loin cloth and produced my knife from I-don’t-know-where once again. I can only assume there must be a pocket on the inside of that flimsy thing? Pulling it from its sheath, she placed the knife in my open palm.
“Jab, jab,” I said, raising the blade up and down, while staring at the layer of leaves above us.
Frowning, Red stared at me, then stared back and forth between the blade in my hand and up at the ceiling. Saying something I couldn’t understand, she took the knife from me, and then lifted it up to the bottom of the leaves over us, before asking, “Jab? Jab?”
“Jab, jab,” I confirmed, while weakly pointing upward and trying to make a stabbing motion.
The moment Red stabbed up through the makeshift roof, water began to pour in a steady stream down and over us. Not exactly cold, the stream was heavy enough and cool enough to soak and chill us almost instantly, as I struggled to tug one of the boots under it. It took almost all my strength to get the top of the boot under the stream, but once Red saw what I was attempting, a lightbulb of understanding instantly illuminated her face. Taking the boot away from me, she placed it beneath the stream and held it open, laughing gaily the whole time.
I can’t honestly say that I enjoy the idea of drinking toe-water, but Laulaia’s boots were the only containers we had to hold fresh water at the moment. I’d checked earlier when Red took them to the ocean and dipped them in it, and the leather is high quality enough that they didn’t leak then. I can only assume they’re not going to leak now.
Food attained. Check. The girls had found it on their own – though we need to find something else soon for Shadow to eat.
Rope attained. Check.
Sticks attained. Check.
Leaves attained. Check.
Water attained. Check.
Most of the essential list items which I’d consider important for survival could already be checked off our list. We still needed weapons, fire, and shelter, but for the moment, we had the necessities to keep from dying in the next few days.
Closing my eyes, I rested contentedly propped up on Laulaia’s lap. As long as Death doesn’t take me, I think I’m just going to sit here and rest for a while – at least, until the sun goes down and it starts to cool back off a little again.