Pushing through a tangled thicket of brush, Charlie and Carmen emerged onto a promontory that stood above the steaming jungle below.  It was late afternoon and they had experienced a frustrating day of slipping, sliding, falling and getting snagged on their journey in the dark rainforest.  It was almost a complete surprise to them to find that the sun still burned brightly in clear skies, dotted here and there with large, fluffy pillows of cumulus clouds.   To escape from the stifling confines of the jungle, even for a minute, was a relief.  They breathed in air untainted by the smell of rot and decay, refreshed by a gentle breeze that caressed the top of the crag.

Charlie was encrusted with mud and his arms and legs were sore with scratches from thorns; bruises from falls; and bites from the many and varied insect life of Solitude.  Aching, he sat down with a sigh and lay flat on the bare, black, volcanic rock, hoping that the sun would re-energise him.  “OMG, I am so thirsty!” he said exhaustedly.  Looking across at Carmen, he realised that she looked almost as bad as he felt, being similarly coated in filth.  Her hair stood out rigidly from her head in muddy strands, tangled reminders of falls in the forest.

Collapsing beside him and sitting cross legged on the rock, Carmen moaned with relief.  “Oh, that feels good!  I think I’ve got blisters on my blisters.”  She slipped off her yellow canvas sneakers and rubbed at her dirty, red raw toes.  Ominous white cushions glared at her from the soles of her feet.  “I don’t think I could go another step.” 

“I know what you mean,” Charlie said with feeling.  His feet ached but at least they didn’t look sore like Carmen’s.  Probably due to all that running away from Darren Holding, Charlie thought, I have indestructible feet!  “Are you gonna be all right?” he asked with concern.

“I s’pose,” Carmen said grumpily.   She simmered for a moment, then suddenly burst with helpless anger, “Why did those two have to leave us alone on the Cat!  What were they thinking of?  Now we’re lost and alone!  I don’t know where my dad is!  I don’t know if he’s okay!  What if he and Rick fly off because we’re not on the Cat?”

“I hardly think they’re going to do that!”  Charlie countered.  “When they find out we’re not on the plane, they’ll come looking for us, you’ll see.”

“I s’pose,” she repeated moodily.  She picked up a pebble and threw it at the ground, where it clattered away into the rocks. “Still, they shouldn’t have left us.”

“No, maybe not.  It doesn’t change the fact that we’re alone on this poxy rock, we’re thirsty, and you’ve got blisters!”
            “I s’pose.” Carmen threw another pebble into the rocks.

“The thing is, Carmen, what are we going to do?  We need water and you need something on your feet.”

Carmen suddenly sat bolt upright.  “I am such an idiot!”  she said with exasperation, slapping her forehead with the flat of her hand.  “The survival kit!  We have the survival kit!  Let’s open it up, Charlie!”  She dragged the now dirt engrained yellow plastic case round from behind her - where she had dropped it when they halted - and popped open the moulded clasps.

Inside was a treasure trove of mysterious objects, most of which were clad in clear cellophane. Rooting through it like eager toddlers on Christmas morning, they found fishing tackle, water purification tablets, firelighters, weatherproof matches, emergency rations, a torch, a mirror, a multi-tool, a first aid kit, a whistle with a compass built into it, and a strange coil of wire that proclaimed itself to be for snares on the packet.  Nestling in one side of the case was a glittering plastic bottle of beautiful, crystal clear water.

Carmen cackled and launched herself at the first aid kit. 

“Do you want any help with that?”  Charlie asked.

“No, it’s OK, thanks!”   she said. “I have my first aid badge in Scouts.”

“Did you do a survival one too?”  Charlie asked hopefully.

“That was for next term.  Don’t worry, Charlie, I know some,”  Carmen answered, as she wiped her feet with an antiseptic wipe that she had torn from its pack.

“Great, ‘cos all I know I got from TV,” Charlie said.  “I wish I paid more attention.”

Within a few minutes, Carmen had dressed her blisters and put her shoes back on.  They both decided to eat a chocolate bar each from the emergency rations, which left six in the case.  When it came to the water, they agreed to share half the bottle.  Carmen stressed one thing to Charlie: they could not afford to go without water.  She could always climb palms to retrieve coconuts if they really needed to.  It was one thing that the people of the islands knew how to do – or at least the people in her family. Fresh coconuts were full of a refreshing watery fluid that would keep them going. However, to get to the coconut palms, they would have to head back to the coast, which they could see was only about two kilometres south of their current position.  As they looked, they could see quite a large portion of Solitude.  To the south west they could see the beach they landed at and further out in the bay they could see the tiny shape of the Cat.  It could not have seemed closer yet more remote if it tried.  Over to the west they could see a narrow headland jutting out into the ocean that encompassed one side of a lagoon.  Behind them, to the north, the glowering, dark slopes of the volcano rose above the forest. Improbably, trees clung to its sides, almost defying gravity, all the way to the top, blanketing it, giving the volcano a ragged appearance.

As they rested, Carmen resumed casting pebbles into the rocks. 

Click, clack, clack!  

Charlie continued to gaze about him, the events of the day replaying in his head like some bizarre nightmare that he could not escape from.  He stared at the distant headland and the glittering ocean behind, the sun low in the sky, heading inexorably to the western horizon.

Clack, click, click!

What was that?  What was glittering on the headland?  He peered, shading his eyes against the sun.  Something was catching the light on that headland.  He wondered what it could be and then it dawned on him.

Click, clack, clack, click.

Whatever wasshining on that headland was man made.  The only people on the island that he knew of that would have something that would catch the light were the ‘TV people’.  Could it be possible that there were people over there watching Carmen and him sunning themselves on their crag through binoculars? Or maybe they could be watching through a telescopic sight.

Feeling very exposed, his stomach churning with the chocolate and the water, Charlie grabbed Carmen’s arm.  “Look over there!” 

He pointed at the headland just as Carmen threw her last pebble. Her hand jerked and the pebble flew over the edge of the crag, rattling down the rocks into the forest below.  

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