Chris Ryan - Survival

Amber jumped high in the air, lifting her heels up behind her, and the knife swished by. She landed, staggered, then righted herself and once again ran for the door. The pirate guard was clambering to his feet behind her as she struggled with the sliding door. She could see him in the glass as he focused on her back and raised his knife above his head.

'Please, please, please…' she begged as her sweaty fingers slipped from the door handle yet again. 'Please open.'

The guard charged just as Amber finally got a grip on the handle and pulled. The vacuum seal held for a second longer, then the door slid open and she was out onto the deck. She ran for the ladder but the man was close on her heels. He raised the knife above his head and, instinctively, she ducked down onto the deck.

The man could not stop himself in time. He crashed into Amber, crushing her against the deck rail. His feet flew out from under him and he soared into the air above her crouching back, then carried on over the deck rail and down into the water on the seaward side of the yacht.

It took Amber a while to clamber to her feet and pull some breath into her winded lungs. She looked over the rail as the man surfaced. His face was full of fear as he stared up into her eyes. He looked over his shoulder as a grey dorsal fin rose out of the sea behind him, then he turned back and gazed up into Amber's face, pleading silently for help.

With a sob, Amber grabbed the lifebelt from the deck rail and threw it into the sea. The man reached out and hooked his arm over it just as the great white slammed into his back with its mouth wide open. The jaws closed over his head and chest and bit down. The water turned red as the shark shook back and forth. When it pulled away, the man's head and chest were gone. His arm remained, still hooked over the lifebelt as it bobbed on the surface.

As Amber stood frozen on the deck, the second shark appeared, grabbed the arm and the lifebelt together and swallowed them down. Then both sharks dived, going after the rest of the body. The whole dreadful scene had been acted out in virtual silence.

Amber choked back her sobs as she realized that she had to swim for it – now, while the sharks were still occupied with the remains of the pirate. She shinned down the ladder to the boarding platform and glanced quickly at the beach, half expecting to see two loaded rifles pointing at her. The other pirates were still lounging casually on the side of the motor launch. They had seen and heard nothing. Silently Amber slid into the water and headed for the shore.

Behind her in the quiet, air-conditioned saloon, the light on the satellite phone blinked as it kept following the redial instruction, connecting again and again to an answer-machine in New York.

In the rainforest base. Paulo sat with Li, one arm cupped around her shoulders. Alex knelt beside the stretcher, dipping a corner of the bunk blanket into a water-filled coconut shell and sponging Hex's face and chest with it. Around them, the rainforest engine hummed, but they were silent, apart from Li's soft sobbing and the occasional fever-fuelled murmur from Hex. Nobody looked up to see what rustled in the undergrowth between the forest and the beach. Amber's shirt, shorts and belt pouch had been folded neatly and placed on top of her boots in the middle of the clearing and that sad little pile was taking all their attention.

'Omega,' said Paulo, staring at the little twist of gold lying on top of Amber's shirt. 'The end.'

'Hey,' said a familiar voice behind them. 'What does a girl have to do to get some food around here?'

Three heads jerked up in unison and three faces turned towards Amber, each filled with incredulous joy. A second later, she was squashed in the middle of a three-sided bear hug.

'Whoa! Back off!' she hissed. 'Mind the drugs! Don't squash the drugs!'

'You got them?' said Alex, grabbing her by the shoulders, holding her at arm's-length to look into her eyes.

Amber patted the dripping plastic bag which hung at her neck and Alex took her face between his hands and kissed her full on the mouth.

'Wow!' said Amber. 'I must swim in shark-infested waters more often.'

'We thought you were dead,' said Paulo, grinning hugely. 'We thought the sharks had eaten you.'

'Sheesh,' sneered Amber. 'It'd take more than three sharks to get rid of me. Now, let me through to Hex. I need to get these antibiotics into him. And I meant what I said earlier. I have to eat. Now.'

Paulo looked more closely at Amber, noting the sweaty face and the greyness around the mouth. 'Me and Li will go and find you something,' he said.

Paulo and Li disappeared into the forest together, grinning back at Amber as they went, still not quite believing she had come back to them. Amber knelt down beside Hex. 'Jeez, he looks nearly as bad as I do,' she murmured, staring down at his pale face.

Alex put a blanket around Amber's shoulders and brought a couple of glucose tablets from her pouch, which she chewed as she prepared the injection. First, she ripped open the wrapping on a disposable syringe. Then she lined up four of the little rubber topped vials which held the antibiotic powder, together with the ampoules of sterile water.

'Is that the right dosage?' asked Alex, watching her work.

'Philippe said to give a double dose to start with. That's four vials,' said Amber. 'Here, break these open for me, one at a time.'

Alex took the four glass ampoules. He snapped the top off the first one and Amber drew the liquid up into the syringe, then injected it through the top of one of the vials. She shook the vial to dissolve the drug into the water, then they did the same for the other three vials. Finally, Amber turned each vial upside down and slowly drew the liquid from each one into the body of the syringe.

'OK,' she said. 'Here we go.' Alex held the syringe while Amber tied the plastic bag around Hex's arm above the elbow to act as a tourniquet. She tapped her fingers against the crook of his elbow until the vein stood out, then she broke open an antiseptic wipe from her own pouch and cleaned the area.

'You sure you can do this?' asked Alex as Amber took the syringe and tapped it to get rid of any air bubbles. Amber gave him her best withering look then bent over Hex's arm. She stretched the skin with her other hand then carefully found a vein with the needle. She pulled back the plunger slightly and gave a satisfied grunt when a swirl of blood clouded the clear liquid.

'Untie the tourniquet,' she instructed. Alex loosened the bag around Hex's arm and, slowly, Amber pressed down the plunger of the syringe. They both watched in silence as the antibiotics flowed into Hex's bloodstream.

'Let's hope that's not too late,' said Amber as she slumped back against the trunk of a tree and pulled the blanket more tightly around her. 'I had a real job picking up the prescription.'

Li reappeared first, carrying a small collection of figs and mangoes which Alex opened up with his knife and fed to Amber. Paulo arrived not long after Li. In one hand he carried a whole branch heavily laden with clusters of yellow, apple-sized fruits. In his other hand, he held a carefully folded leaf.

'I thought these looked good,' he said, dropping the branch at Amber's feet. Hungrily, she reached for a fruit, but Li grabbed her by the wrist.

'Wait a minute,' she said. She snapped one of the fruits from the branch, then picked up a stone and smashed it open. Three large seeds nestled inside. 'Yep. I thought so,' Li continued. 'These are physic nuts. Their seeds are poisonous.'

Amber tutted and pushed the branch to one side with her bare foot. 'What's in the leaf, Paulo?' she asked.

Paulo laid the leaf on the ground and opened it up to reveal nine or ten plump, squirming beetle grubs. 'I found them under the bark of a rotting tree trunk,' he said proudly.