The Price of Friendship Chapter 11
The three figures knelt silently, watching as four young men were reunited with one. In hushed tones, and a language unknown to the five Americans, the three began to communicate.
�We must leave quickly to finish the job before they are able to finish helping their friend.�
�I wish that we could��
�No�we must not interfere�not yet.�
�You�re right. Do we have everything that we need?�
�Yes. Let�s go.�
Without a sound, the trio crawled through the thick underbrush toward the waterfall in the distance.
�He�s out again,� said Justin with a groan. For more than 30 minutes, Joey had been drifting in and out of consciousness as the rest of the group worked carefully to free him. Justin gently brushed away tears of pain that had escaped Joey�s closed eyes before returning to Lance�s side.
�I think the pain is really starting to get to him,� said Justin as he once again began to work to free Joey�s right arm.
�It�ll be better once we get this limb off of his arm,� said Lance in a frustrated tone.
�The sooner we get him out from under there, the sooner we can get some food and water in him,� commented JC as he and Chris continued to fight against the final branches pinning Joey�s legs to the ground.
The branches around Joey�s upper torso had been removed first and now all that remained were the branches covering his legs and right arm. Lance and Justin were busily digging a hole under Joey�s arm instead of trying to lift the heavy branches. They were just too thick for them to try to break without causing Joey any more pain.
�Guys�look at this,� commented Chris. Everyone stood up and looked to see that Chris was pointing at the vine wrapped tightly around Joey�s left ankle.
�How did he manage to get tangled up in two of those things?� asked Lance, remembering the vine they had found wrapped around Joey�s left wrist.
�Where�s that knife Lance?� asked JC. Lance cautiously picked up the knife and handed it over to JC. The sight of the knife still caused shivers to run up and down Lance�s spine as he recalled how the others had found him and Joey bound, gagged and unconscious on the beach two days ago. Fear had run deeply through JC, Justin, and Chris when they saw their friends, but what had disturbed them most, was the sight of the wicked looking knife. Its blade had been forcibly embedded in the log that Lance was lying beside�embedded right above his head. Joey had told the group what he had seen happen�the memory was enough to make Lance nauseous, but he managed to control his rolling stomach as he returned his attention to freeing Joey.
JC quickly sliced through the vine and Chris unwound its severed end from around Joey�s ankle then held it up to look at it.
Justin also glanced at the vine and suddenly became curious. He reached over to Chris. �Let me see that.�
�What?� asked Chris as he passed him the pieces.
�You know�the vines that had they had tied us up with were kind of like this, but not so rough.�
�Huh?� Lance took one of the pieces from Justin and examined it.
�He�s right. Those were ropes�not vines like we thought, Jace.� Chris handed JC a piece of the vine and he rolled it about in his hands.
�What are you getting at Just?�
�It might mean that �
A small moan and slight movement coming from Joey interrupted Justin and he lost his train of thought.
�Well, that little brain cell just died,� he thought sarcastically to himself as he threw the pieces of vine that he had been holding into the nearby bushes.
�Come on guys�let�s finish this up,� urged Chris. Everyone quickly continued to work at freeing Joey from the branches.
Minutes later, the last of the remaining branches were removed from Joey�s legs at the same time that his arm was finally freed.
�There,� said Lance. �We got his arm out.�
Justin let out a low whistle as he looked at the bruises covering Joey�s arm.
�Let me see.� JC knelt down and leaned over Joey�s body in order to get a better look since there was not enough room on the other side due to the branches still attached to the main limb being in the way, along with Lance and Justin.
�J, run your hands down the length of his arm. See if you feel any kind of swelling�anything not where it�s supposed to be.�
JC and the others watched as Justin gently ran his hands up and down Joey�s bruised and bloodied arm.
�Everything feels okay. A little swollen where the weight of the branch was, but I don�t think it�s broken.�
�Where is that blood coming from?� JC asked as visually searched the area for the source but there was too much blood and grime to see exactly where it was coming from.
�I don�t know for sure. Hand me that bottle of water,� Justin said as he pointed to a bottle not too far behind Chris.
It was handed to him and he slowly poured a small trickle of water over the area as he gently rubbed it with his fingers.
Seconds later he found that there were several shallow puncture marks along Joey�s forearm.
�It looks like some of the branches punctured his skin, but I don�t see any pieces of stick still in him,� he said as he sat back up and glanced at his friends.
�That�s good,� Chris said in relief. He couldn�t see putting Joey through any more pain by pulling pieces of wood out of his wounded arm.
�Let�s get him turned over then,� JC said as he moved further down Joey�s left side. �Lance, you support his head. Justin, you need to put his arm to his side like this.� JC gently placed Joey�s left arm against his side and Justin copied him.
�I�ll get his feet,� said Chris as he scooted further down Joey�s body.
�Okay�roll him like a log�slowly,� JC said, as they all carefully did their parts in turning Joey over.
The movement elicited a small groan from Joey and his eyelids began to flutter.
�You doing okay Joe?� asked Lance, looking down into his friend�s face as he watched Joey�s eyes slowly open.
�Yeah...water?� Joey coughed as he looked directly into Lance�s face hanging right above him. His throat was so dry.
�In just a minute Joey,� said JC from his right side. �Can you move your arms and legs?�
Joey moved his legs and arms�anything to get some water, but winced slightly at the effort.
�Yeah,� he quietly whispered. �Nothing feels broken but�� he couldn�t continue because of more coughing.
�Can you move your head?�
Joey gave a small nod as he continued coughing. He was so thirsty and growing tired of JC�s questions.
�Okay, give him the water, but just a little Justin. We don�t want him to get sick.�
JC and Chris slowly lifted Joey up into a sitting position before Justin held the water bottle to Joey�s dry lips.
The group watched as Joey took several sips of the water before leaning back heavily against Chris who had pulled him over to sit against his chest.
�We�re in this same position just a day or two ago Joey�I hope this won�t become a habit,� Chris quietly teased as he ran a hand over Joey�s tangled hair.
�Nah�two more times makes a habit,� Joey weakly commented trying to put everyone at ease. There was soft laughter, along with relief at Joey�s joke. It was good to see that he was finally somewhat alert and doing well.
�Do you think you can stand up?� Lance asked. �We found the cave last night and you can rest there.� He knew that the best thing for Joey would be for him to sleep by a nice warm fire and to eat some of the fruit that they had found earlier in the morning.
�Give me just a minute�still kinda dizzy,� Joey said as he settled in even further against Chris and closed his eyes. He could feel the darkness that he had just left minutes ago beginning to beckon to him once again. He wanted to fight it, but he was just too tired and he allowed himself to be sucked into its warm embrace once again.
�No Joey�we can�t have you going out on us again,� said JC as he quickly reached toward his friend, only to watch his head slowly loll to the side.
�Did he go out again? He just got real heavy,� said Chris, trying to look over Joey�s shoulder, but judging by the way his head was limply hanging he pretty much knew what the answer was. Besides that, the looks on his friend�s faces answered his question for him.
Lance nodded, �This is so not good guys.�
Meanwhile, Russell and Leigh Johnson were busily checking their monitoring equipment. There seemed to be some damaged cameras throughout the island where the five young men were located, but they had yet to determine exactly which ones. Davis walked into the room and cleared his throat causing the Johnsons to whip around.
�There you are. Why did you not return last night?� asked Russell accusingly as he approached the dark native.
�The storm made it impossible, Mr. Johnson. I found shelter in an abandoned hut on the near side of the island,� Davis explained, hoping that the Johnsons would not detect his lie, but he doubted they would. He had learned how to deceive from the masters�the very individuals standing before him.
�What is that under your arm?� asked Leigh as she approached.
�One of the video cameras was damaged last night when the limb that it was attached to fell.�
�Where was it located?�