Page 24 of Lost In Kakadu

“Can you put it on the grass? I’ll let it cool for a while.”

As he sipped from his hot can, she admired how relaxed he seemed to be.

When the can was cool enough to hold, she picked it up. “Thank you.” She sipped and the hot liquid stung the inside of her mouth as she forced the disgusting liquid down. “That’s bloody awful!”

He glared at her. “Well, I’m sorry. The cappuccino machine is broken.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“You’re so ungrateful.” Mackenzie took his coffee and returned to the plane, disappearing into the cabin.

She tossed her coffee into the fire creating a dramatic sizzle and a cloud of steam. Replaying the conversation in her mind, she couldn’t fathom why he was so angry at her. She gave up, convinced she’d done nothing wrong.

The coffee’s bitter aftertaste lingered, and she reached for the water, wiped the rim, and drank the rest of the water.

She threw the plastic bottle into the fire, and it shrivelled to a third of its side, turning black. The pungent smell wafted toward her, and she stood to move away from the thick smoke that curled toward the wreckage.

With the dark forest backdrop, the plane dominated the scenery, appearing luminous in the firelight. . . the gaping hole in its side was like a gangrenous wound.

“What the hell’s that smell?” Mackenzie shattered her reverie.

“What?” She stiffened. “The plastic?”

Mackenzie scrambled from the wreckage and stormed toward her with his hands rigid at his sides. “You drank the water?”

He jabbed a finger at her. “Your coffee was your ration of water.”

Her jaw dropped. “I didn’t know we were rationing.”

“Of course you bloody well didn’t. You’re so caught up in your makeup that you still haven’t grasped our fucking situation.”

“Don’t swear at me.”

The tendons in his neck bulged. “Oh my God! Will you listen to me?”

“You’re talking so loud that everyone for miles is listening to you.”

“Thereisno-one for miles! Just you and me. And now we only have two bottles of water until we’re rescued.”

“I didn’t know.”

“That’s right. You don’t know. From now on you don’t eat or drink anything without asking.”

“I will not ask for permission to eat or drink.”

“Okay then.” He put his fists on his hips. “What doyouthink we should do?”

Abigail folded her arms across her chest, scrambling for something intelligent to say, to prove her worth. On many occasions, Spencer had told her stories of running out of water or food in one or more of his jungle safaris. For the first time ever, she wished she’d taken more notice.

What would Spencer do?

But she had nothing.

“You’re right.” She sighed, embarrassed that she couldn’t even think of one thing that would be useful. “Spencer knew what to do in these situations. Not me.”

Mackenzie’s tension melted from his shoulders. “I guess we didn’t really discuss it.”

Abigail nodded.

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