William Dietrich - Getting back

"I'm glad we had this time."

He lay there, holding her, wondering what the morning would bring. Maybe there'd be a miracle. Maybe it would rain again.

Eventually, they slept.

Daniel was prodded awake at dawn. Silhouetted against the light of the rising sun was a stranger, dark and dirty, with hair down around his ears. He was tanned a tobacco brown and wore faded synthetics patched with animal leathers, with a bone necklace that rattled when he moved. His boots, Daniel sleepily realized, left the same gridded print they'd spotted at their camp. Like a street map. He was holding a skin of water. They could smell it.

"Want some?"

The two untangled themselves and sat up. They noticed Ico a short distance behind, like a trailing schoolboy. Uncertainly, they nodded.

The man uncapped the water skin and drank himself, rivulets running down into the stubble of his beard. Then he held it out to them. "I wasn't going to come back for you, you know."

Daniel stretched his arm out and took the water skin. The warm dusty water was the sweetest he'd ever tasted. He swallowed a mouthful and gave it to Amaya.

"Careful!" the man told her. "Sip, or you'll throw up!"

She complied.

"Then why did you?" Daniel croaked.

"He came up on me when I nodded off," Ico spoke up. "I didn't have time to run. I think we'd better throw in with them."

"It wasn't him who brought me back," the stranger said.

Daniel looked up at him, puzzled.

He jerked his head backward. "It was her."

Now Daniel noticed there was a third figure in the shadows, slim and erect, looking at them with surprise. "So it is you," she said, stepping forward.

He jerked in recognition himself.

It was Raven.

"You're not supposed to be in this sector," Raven said to Daniel, her eyes flickering from him to the young woman at his side.

He stared back in amazement, taking in the familiar features. Her dark hair had been pulled into a ponytail, accentuating high cheekbones turned bronze by the sun. Her eyes revealed puzzlement. Unlike his huddled posture of defeat, she carried herself with familiar athletic quickness and grace, like a poised deer. He was confused by her confusion: he thought she'd be surprised he'd come to Australia at all, not that he was in any particular spot.

"You told me you didn't think you'd come here," he countered, his voice a croak. "Then I called and you were gone."

"Yes." She looked at the three newcomers as if trying to decide something. "My situation changed."

Daniel sipped more water and sat up straighter, the liquid tingling as it circulated, relieving the ache in his brain. "Your timing is good. We were in bad shape."

"You're very lucky."

Amaya was looking at Raven with a mixture of bewilderment and mistrust. Raven glanced at her, considering. "This is a surprise for both of us, as you can see," she said to the other woman. "We knew each other before."

Amaya absorbed this.

Daniel pointed at the man accompanying Raven. "He stole some of our food," he accused.

"No I didn't," the man said. "I saved it from a dingo. If I hadn't taken it, it would be gone."

"We ran to save Tucker," Amaya explained meekly.

"And left your means of survival to the dogs. I went to find Raven so we could decide what to do. I wasn't sure you could, or should, survive. You're in a hard world now and we weren't planning to meet anyone out here. Then we found this little guy- "

"Ethan, enough," Raven interrupted. "After talking with Ico there, we decided you needed rescue." It was clear the decision had been hers. "He told us about you."

"Why did you run from us?" Daniel asked Ethan.

"Because our business is private." He looked at Raven with the dubious expression of a follower still questioning the decision of his leader.

"And this complicates everything," Raven added. She looked out across the desert as she thought. It was almost as if she was sorry she'd found Daniel. Was she involved with this other man?

"We could just point them toward the compound," Ethan said.

"And get the Warden suspicious at the news of us? I don't want him coming out here. Besides, this group is in no condition to drag the big man that far." She pointed at the groaning Tucker. "What kind of snake? Did you see?"

"No idea."

"Well, if it was a taipan he'd probably be dead by now. Maybe just a death adder; he's too big a mouthful for that kind despite the name."

"So Tucker will live?" Amaya asked.

She shrugged. "He'll die, or get better."

There was a moment of silence at this appraisal. "She sounds like my doctor," Ico finally quipped.

Raven for the first time allowed a half smile. "You start to appreciate their wisdom out here." She looked at Daniel and Amaya. "Can you walk?"

They nodded uncertainly. "I'm feeling better," Daniel said. It was not just the water, it was this encounter with a Raven who seemed to know what she was doing. Confidence was as infectious as panic.

"Their sled might work to drag him as far as Car Camp," she said to the man called Ethan. "They can rest there while we search."

"And then what?" he asked in exasperation. "Who is this guy, anyway?"

"A friend." It was the first time she'd said it. "And then we decide what to do next."

Daniel was filled with questions. Who was Ethan? Search for what? "How did you first spot us?"

"Your fires," Raven said. "We thought you might be someone else."

"This Warden?" Amaya guessed.

"Yes. We needed to know who you were."

Amaya leaned close to Daniel, her eyes on Raven. "Is this the person you were talking about?" she asked softly.

He knew what she meant. "Yes."

Amaya looked dismayed. Raven was taller, prettier, stronger, Daniel saw through her eyes. More assertive. No, he wanted to say, it's not like that. But before he could think of what to say to the two women that would work, Raven spoke up.

"We knew each other," she said. "That's all."

Daniel didn't like that, either.

"Knew how?" Ico asked impatiently.

"She's the one who told me about Outback Adventure," Daniel explained stiffly. "She gave me the passwords. But she didn't tell me she was going."

"I didn't know then. I came in part because of you."

"Ah," Ico said, as if he understood everything. "And who's this guy?"

"Ethan Flint," the man said.

"Another trekker?"

"That was the plan."

"What happened?"

"My transport crashed."

"Oh, dear," Amaya said. "But you're here on vacation, like us?"

He laughed sardonically. "It's probably more accurate to say you're here in prison, like me."

"Prison? What the hell does that mean?" Daniel asked.

"That you can't get back unless- "

"Ethan!" Raven's voice was a warning.

"I knew it," Ico groaned. "I knew this was somehow fucked. Outback Adventure has screwed us, right? What, we have to pay more now to get out? Is that the scam?"

Ethan shook his head. "I wish it were that easy."

"Don't pay any attention to him," Raven said. "He doesn't know what he thinks he knows."

"I know enough to know- "

"I'll explain what I can soon enough," she went on quickly, firmly. "First we need to get to more water before the sun gets too high." Clearly she wouldn't tolerate too many questions yet. "Come on, we'll take turns pulling your… sled."

"Travois," Ico corrected. "But what the hell is your companion talking about?"

Raven said nothing. Ethan looked away.

Ico bent to pull the travois with Daniel. "There's something weird here, Dyson," he whispered like a conspirator. "When this pair found me, that woman of yours recognized my name."

With Raven and Ethan adding their energy to pulling the travois, progress became steady. They turned more north than east, Raven usually pointing the way but consulting occasionally with Ethan. When Flint took a break from the travois, walking silently as if lost in thought, Ico moved up beside him.