Page 59 of Lost In Kakadu

With absolutely nothing else to do, she flopped in thechair opposite Charlie. A knot right between her shoulder blades was so uncomfortable that she twisted her shoulders from side to side, trying to release it.

She scanned the bushes behind the plane, preparing an angry torrent of words to blast at Mackenzie upon his return.

“Stupid idiot,” she mumbled.

She slipped her shoes off and massaged the balls of her feet. They felt foreign, aching and sore.

Smoke drifted in her direction, and she fanned it away. But the persistent coils continued to invade her space.

“I’m going to kill him when he gets back!”

Now I’m going nuts talking to myself.

“Hey Charlie, are you awake?”

Charlie’s sweat-dampened hair clung to his powder-white forehead. She knew nothing about his history but sensed his eternal loneliness and hoped her life was never as desolate as his seemed to be.

Glancing at the bush behind the plane, she willed Mackenzie to materialise. Being alone was not in her repertoire.

Come on, where are you?

The wind shifted direction and as the smoke began to waft across Charlie’s face, she glared at him, anticipating the moment he opened his eyes. But he didn’t move. The smoke curled in miniature donuts on his cheeks, drifted up over his forehead and continued its journey. Abigail’s eyes widened.

“Charlie?”

He remained completely still.

She inched toward him and touched his shoulder. “Charlie?”

His head wavered but his eyes remained closed. Cringing, she felt his forehead and recoiled at his clammy skin. “Charlie. Oh God, Charlie, wake up.” She shook him harder, and his head wobbled loosely.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

She forced herself to place two fingers against his throat to feel for a pulse.

Nothing.

“MACKENZIE!”

She ran to the edge of the bush.

“Charlie’s dead. Where the hell are you?”

Her body trembled. Tears streamed down her face.

She fell to her knees and released a gut-wrenching scream of despair.

ChapterTwenty-Six

Mackenzie’s back slammed onto a flat surface, hammering the wind out of him before he smashed right through it. He gasped, swallowing crisp mouthfuls of liquid.Water!The surface dazzled above him, and he clawed toward it, gulping at the fresh air when he broke free.

The frilled neck lizard splashed into the water beside him, and he grabbed it and forced it under. With clenched teeth and brute force, he held it there until the lizard finally stopped struggling.

It was several minutes before he pulled the carcass above the surface and looked into its lifeless eyes. He’d never killed anything before, and he shivered as the enormity of what he’d just done hit him like hot chilli.

“Holy shit,” he yelled, punching the water. “Woo hoo.”

He spun around soaking up the magnificent surroundings. Water tumbled down a waterfall into the lagoon which was about six metres across at its widest point. At the opposite side to the waterfall, the water channelled through a narrow gap created by two huge boulders before plunging over the side.

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