Page 39 of Lost In Kakadu

“Are you sure?” Mackenzie’s brows drew together.

Charlie nodded and with obvious reluctance Mackenzie unbuttoned the blood crusted shirt and peeled it back. A large purple bruise stained the entire side of his torso and dark, dried blood surrounded the wound. A grey bone, jagged and gruesome, pierced his pale skin.

Charlie stared in amazement. He couldn’t believe he was looking at his own body. He’d never been seriously injured before and was puzzled by his lack of fear, as if he knew he was going to survive. “So how do we fix this?”

Mackenzie reacted with a double take. “What do you mean?”

“We can’t leave the bone sticking out like this.”

Mackenzie shook his head and Charlie saw fear in his eyes.

“Did you find my backpack?” Charlie asked.

Mackenzie shrugged. “I don’t know. Why?”

“Find it. I have a bottle of rum.”

“Oh yes. We found that,” Abigail said, suddenly awkward.

“You didn’t drink it all, did you?”

“I had a small sip.” Abigail’s voice was panic stricken.

“Hopefully there’s still enough to knock me out.”

Abigail got up and moved out of his sight for a few moments. When she returned, she handed the rum bottle to Charlie.

“I was saving this for a celebration, when I found my plant.” He removed the cap and held the bottle up as a toast.

“What’re you doing?” Mackenzie asked.

“Not me. You. I should pass out when I drink all this and then you’re going to push this bone back in and wrap up my chest.”

“Oh God.” Mackenzie backed away. “I can’t do that.”

“One of you has to. I’ll die if I stay like this.”

Mackenzie helped him sit again and he chugged at the amber liquid, forcing it down like a miracle antidote. His throat burned with each potent mouthful. “You have to do it.” Tears stung his eyes.

Mackenzie knelt beside him, taking Charlie’s hand in a firm grip. Mackenzie’s fingers trembled and Charlie looked into the younger man’s eyes. The escalation in fear he saw within those brown eyes almost tilted his conviction. Almost.

As a light drinker, the rum affected him very quickly, but he needed to drink it all to ensure it knocked him out completely. His tongue soon became thick and numb; his eyelids grew heavy and for some inexplicable reason he began to giggle.

Mackenzie’s brows drilled together, and he grimaced like the plan was pure craziness.

“Lay me down.” Charlie’s voice was a ragged whisper.

Mackenzie took the bottle off him, and Charlie craned to see if he’d emptied it. But it was impossible to gauge through the thick, brown glass. As he was lowered onto the clothes, he braced for pain but was relieved it had lost its intensity.

His mind settled into a dark fog.

“If I don’t make it, please get these letters to my daughter.” The lack of response from Mackenzie or Abigail made him wonder if he’d actually spoken the words aloud.

He reached for his letters but couldn’t move. His body was like lead poured onto the rough bedding. Sombre-faced and silent, Mackenzie and Abigail reminded him of mourners at a funeral.

Hisfuneral.

His world tilted off its axis and began a slow and steady spin. Panic rose up from the depth of his sanity.Nobody heard what might’ve been my dying wish.

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