فصل 08

Chapter eight

Paradise to Hell

Sal gave me my instructions at a quarter to six the next morning. I had to follow Zeph, Sammy and the three other rafters across the island. When they reached the top of the waterfall, she wanted me to stop them and tell them to leave the island at once. If that didn’t work, I had to prevent them from going any further, in any way I could, until Christo was dead. After that, we would work out whether to let them into the camp or keep them out.

By setting off early, I was hoping that Zeph and Sammy would still be with their raft. Finding them would be a lot harder if they’d already entered the jungle. I was also assuming that they’d have landed on the same stretch of beach where Etienne, Francoise and I had first arrived.

The early-morning effort was worth it. The rafters were still on the beach. Even though I’d been watching them for weeks, it was a shock to see the group so near. It confirmed that it actually was Zeph and Sammy we’d been watching, and therefore that I was responsible for their presence on the island. I still hadn’t worked out what I was going to say to Sal about the map.

From where I was lying - about twenty metres from where they sat - I could see only four of them. The fifth was hidden behind the raft. One of the Germans I could see was a boy, the other a girl. With some satisfaction, I saw that the girl was pretty but not as pretty as Francoise. No one on the beach was as pretty as Francoise. The guy looked very similar to Bugs - they could have been brothers. I disliked him immediately.

Eventually I managed to see the fifth person in the group. Another girl, and annoyingly I couldn’t criticize her looks. She had a lovely figure, very long brown hair, and an attractive quiet laugh that travelled across the sand to where I lay.

The rafters didn’t make the same mistake as I had with Etienne and Francoise - walking along the coast before realizing that the only way to get to the other side of the island was to go inland. But later, they made a far more serious mistake.

Actually, I knew they were going to make the mistake even before it happened. Firstly, they hadn’t hidden their raft properly. And secondly, they chatted loudly as they walked. To me this clearly suggested one thing: they were entirely unaware of any need for caution.

When they arrived at the dope field, not one of them realized they were in a field. Sammy shouted out, ‘Man! I’ve never seen so much dope! There’s more dope here than I’ve ever seen!’ He started tearing big handfuls of leaves off the plants and throwing them in the air. Then the other four started shouting and throwing leaves in the air too. They looked like million-dollar bank robbers throwing money around. Completely out of control. It was ten o’clock. The guards would have been on duty for two hours at least, and if they hadn’t heard the rafters crashing through the jungle, they’d certainly hear them now.

By chance, I was hiding in the same bush that I’d hidden in with Etienne and Francoise. Watching Zeph and Sammy was like watching myself - what could have happened six months ago if Etienne hadn’t acted so sensibly. It looked like the problem with our uninvited guests was going to be solved, and I was also going to find out what happened when the dope guards caught someone. Better than that, I was actually going to see it.

I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I was without pity for them. I didn’t want Zeph and Sammy on the island and I knew it would be convenient if they disappeared, but it didn’t have to be this way. The ideal would be: they arrived, I had a couple of days following them as they found their way across the island, then they gave up at the waterfall and went back home. I would have had some fun, and there’d have been no spilt tears and no spilt blood.

Zeph bled like a pig. When the guards appeared, he’d begun walking straight over towards them like they were old friends. To me it was a crazy thing to do, but that’s what he did. He still hadn’t realized what was going on, even though all the guards were pointing their guns at him. Maybe he thought they were part of our community, or maybe he was so shocked that he just didn’t realize how much trouble he was in. But it didn’t matter what he thought. As soon as he got close, one of the guards smashed him hard in the face. I wasn’t surprised. The guard looked very nervous and just as confused by Zeph’s strange behaviour as I was.

After that there were a few seconds of silence while the guards and the rafters stared at each other across the top of the dope plants. It seemed as if each of the two groups was as shocked as the other. The rafters were having to make a huge mental adjustment. Paradise to Hell in a few seconds. The dope guards seemed amazed that anyone could be stupid enough to walk into their field and start tearing leaves off their plants.

It occurred to me that most of the guards were more like country boys than experienced fighters. I think in some ways it made them seem more dangerous. Maybe someone more experienced wouldn’t have panicked and smashed Zeph’s face in. Don’t people say that the only thing more dangerous than a man with a gun is a nervous man with a gun? It was certainly true in this case. When the short period of staring was over, the guards began violently beating the rafters. I suppose they might have beaten them to death right there, but another group of guards suddenly arrived, and this group appeared to have a boss. I’d never seen him before. He was older than the others. One word from him, and the beating stopped.

‘Who are you?’ he said, in English, very loudly and clearly.

A difficult question. What do you say? Do you formally introduce yourself, do you say ‘no one’, do you beg for your life?

I thought Sammy handled it very well, considering that, like Zeph, he’d just had his front teeth knocked out.

‘Were travellers from Ko Pha-Ngan,’ he replied. ‘We were looking for some other travellers. We made a mistake. We didn’t know this was your island.’

The boss nodded, not unkindly. ‘Very big mistake.’

‘Please, we’re very sorry.’

‘You alone now? And friends here now?’

‘We’re alone. We were looking for a friend. We thought he was here, and we know we made a mist-‘

‘Why you look for friend here?’

‘Our friend gave us a map.’

‘What map?’

‘I can show-‘

‘You can show me map. Later.’

‘Please. We’re very sorry.’

‘Yes. I know about you being sorry.’

‘We’d like to go. We could leave your island now and we wouldn’t tell anyone about anything.’

‘Yes. You tell no one. I know about that.’

Sammy tried to smile. All his remaining teeth were bright red. ‘Will you let us go? Please.’

‘Ah.’ The boss smiled back. ‘You can go.’

‘Thank you, sir, thank you. I promise you, we won’t tell any-‘

‘You can go with us.’

‘With you?’

‘You go with us now.’

‘No,’ Sammy began to protest. ‘Please, wait, we made a mistake! We’re very sorry! We won’t tell anyone!’

The German guy started to get up, holding his arms in the air. ‘We will not speak!’ he cried. ‘We will not speak!’

The boss stared at the German, then spoke quickly to the guards. Three of them moved forward and tried to lift Zeph by the arms. He began to struggle. Another guard stepped forward and hit him in the stomach. The other rafters began screaming. One of the German girls tried to run away, but the guards caught her and started beating her.

I covered my face in my hands as the guards began dragging their prisoners away.

The cries and screams were gradually replaced by jungle noises. I slowly stood up and set off on my way back to the camp. It wasn’t an easy journey. My head ached, my legs felt unsteady, and I kept falling over.

Looking back, it seems obvious that I’d suffered a terrible trauma and was in a hurry to leave an area which still felt heavy with screams. But that wasn’t how I saw it at the time. I only thought about the importance of getting back to the camp and telling Sal about what had happened.

After a few minutes I heard a loud noise from somewhere in the jungle. I froze. Within five or six seconds the silence was exploded by a burst of gunfire. The noise tore through the trees with shocking loudness.

‘Jesus Christ…’ I whispered to myself. ‘It’s happened. They’ve been shot.’ I felt violently sick. I imagined the rafters’ bodies, their shirts covered in blood, their limbs twisted.

As I made my way down to the waterfall, I couldn’t decide if it had all gone wrong or if it had all gone right. It was true that our problem with the new arrivals was over, and that Sal would never find out that I’d given Zeph and Sammy the map. But that didn’t seem to change the way I was feeling. Struggling to walk, I wanted to scream out loud. My brain couldn’t cope with what had just happened - it refused to even try.

Sal was waiting for me beneath the waterfall. ‘What the hell happened?’ she said, more angry than anxious. ‘Why did I hear gunshots?’

‘The rafters,’ I said.

‘They’ve been killed?’

‘Yes. I saw them get caught by the guards and then later I heard the firing.’

‘You didn’t see it?’

‘No.’

‘What happened when they were caught?’

‘They were beaten. Badly.’

‘Badly enough to scare them? Maybe just a message?’

‘Worse.’

‘Then?’

‘They got taken away somewhere. Dragged.’

‘Dragged… You didn’t follow?’

‘No.’

‘What next?’

‘The shooting…’

‘I see…’ Sal stared at me. ‘Badly beaten, you say…’

‘Very badly.’

‘You feel responsible for their deaths?’

I thought about this before replying, not wanting Sal to discover my connection to Zeph and Sammy at this late stage. ‘It was their decision to come here,’ I said eventually. ‘They made a lot of noise in the jungle. It was their fault.’

Sal nodded. ‘Others may have heard the shooting. What will you tell them?’

‘Nothing.’

‘I think Etienne might know that Christo’s dying. He’s being difficult again…’

‘I won’t tell Etienne,’ I interrupted. ‘I won’t tell Francoise or Keaty or anyone… Except Jed… You know I’ll tell Jed.’

‘Of course I do Richard,’ Sal said. ‘But it’s nice of you to ask permission.’ Then she suddenly turned and walked away. She didn’t even wait for me, or hear me whisper, ‘Actually, I wasn’t asking for your permission.’

I didn’t follow Sal back to the camp because I didn’t want to see anyone yet. In fact, I didn’t want to do anything much. Except maybe sleep. I wanted to get away from my brain that was still making me want to scream. The trouble was, if I slept I’d dream, and I knew I’d have terrible dreams.

In the end I talked to myself. Walking near the waterfall, I asked my mind to leave me alone for a while. I was trying to find some peace and quiet, but it didn’t work. So I tried to get interested in a pretty flower or the patterns on a tree. But that failed too.

No place to avoid thinking. I realized this eventually and started to walk straight into the jungle so that I could reach the beach without crossing the clearing.

I’ll keep this short. Absolutely limited to what I can remember. My memory of the next few minutes isn’t very good. No doubt a result of the morning’s trauma and my state of mind.

‘The rafters are dead,’ I said to Karl, when I’d found him on the beach. ‘Christo will be dead within forty-eight hours. All our problems are over except one. It’s time you got sane.’

Karl looked at me, or he looked through me, or he wasn’t looking at anything at all. I didn’t really care. I took a step towards him, and as I did so he hit out viciously at my legs. The blow hurt, so I hit him back.

I sat on his chest, my knees against his upper arms, trying to push a handful of rice into his mouth. He made sounds, probably words. ‘That’s right!’ I shouted. ‘I’m making you better now!’ His fingers went round my neck. I pushed them away. I think I may have lost the rice in the struggle. I think I may have been holding sand.

I assume I closed my eyes. Instead of Karl’s face, I have a mental picture of a red-brown blanket. Nothingness, so I think I must have closed my eyes. Then a blue blanket, then a red-brown blanket again.

I sat up. Karl was twenty or more metres down the beach, running like crazy. Amazed that he could still have so much strength after days of starvation, I leapt to my feet and raced after him.

Down the beach, through the trees, up the path, into the clearing, I’d nearly caught him. I was just going to get hold of his hair when I tripped over something and he escaped.

I got up quickly. Several people were standing nearby, watching. ‘Catch him!’ I shouted. But they were too shocked to react. ‘You fools! He’s getting away!’ A few seconds later, he’d disappeared.

I fell down on my knees and started banging the ground with my fists.

A light hand touched my shoulder. I looked round and saw Francoise leaning over me, and behind her a group of curious people. ‘Richard?’ she said anxiously. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Yes,’ I began, and then stopped, trying to remember what had happened. ‘I think Karl… attacked me.’

‘You are hurt?’ said Francoise.

‘I’m fine.’

‘Why did he do it?’

‘I… I really don’t know…’ I shook my head in desperation. I didn’t feel at all ready to cope with these questions. ‘Maybe… maybe he thought I was a fish. He was a fisher and… he’s mad…’

Then everyone started talking at once.

‘I should have caught him,’ someone said. ‘He ran so close!’

‘I saw the look in his eye! He looked right at me! It was awful!’

‘We should catch him and tie him up!’

Only one voice disagreed: Etienne’s. ‘This is impossible,’ he shouted above the others. ‘I do not believe Karl would attack Richard! I do not believe it! I was with him this morning!’

The others stopped talking and listened.

‘This morning I was with him for one hour! One hour, and he ate rice with me! He was getting better! I know he would not attack anyone!’

I frowned in disbelief. ‘Are you saying I’m a liar?’

Etienne hesitated, then turned away from me, talking to the others. ‘For one hour I was with him! He said my name! For the first time in a week he talked! I know he was getting better!’

Suddenly I began to agree with Etienne, just wanting to get away.

‘Yes. Etienne’s right. It may have been my fault. I could have frightened him-‘

Sal interrupted sharply. ‘No! I’m afraid Karl has become dangerous. This morning I also went to see him, and he tried to hit me too.’

Surprised, I studied her expression hard. Was she lying or telling the truth?

‘Luckily Bugs was there to stop him. I should have warned you but I was trying to work out the best way to deal with him. I didn’t want to spoil our birthday celebration with more bad news. I was stupid, but things had been going so well…’

‘Well we can’t have someone as dangerous as that just wandering around,’ someone said. ‘Something will have to be done.’

Everyone nodded, and for some strange reason, I felt they were all nodding at me.

‘I know,’ said Sal. ‘You’re quite right.’

‘No!’ cried Etienne desperately, his arms out in front of him as if he was begging us to listen. ‘Please! Please, everybody must listen! Karl is not dangerous! He needs help! I think maybe we could take him to Ko Pha…’

This time it was Francoise who made him stop, by walking away. He couldn’t speak as he watched her marching across the clearing. Then he ran after her, still holding his arms out in front of him.

When it was dark, I went over to the hospital tent. If possible, conditions were even worse inside the tent than they had been before. The terrible smell was the same, but now there was blood everywhere. Blood from Christo’s stomach on the sheets, all over the floor, and across Jed’s arms and chest.

‘Jesus Christ,’ I said. ‘What’s been going on in here?’

Jed turned towards me. He looked terrible. ‘Do you have any good news?’ he asked in a low voice. ‘I’m tired of bad news now. I only want to hear good news.’

I paused. ‘I’ve got some news. Zeph and Sammy are dead. Shot by the dope guards.’

‘Dead,’ Jed said, without emotion.

‘Aren’t you pleased? Not pleased, I mean relieved… in a way. It means the beach is safe. Our secret beach.’

‘What about the others?’ he asked.

‘The others?’

‘The people we haven’t seen yet. The ones that will arrive next week, next month, or next year, and the ones that will arrive after them,’ he said in a tired voice.