Liam shrugged and moved away from the pile of clothes, turning his focus to the other belongings that had been scattered.

  “Guys, that boar could come back at any time. Don’t you think we should get a move on towards the cave?” Emily pleaded.

  Sarah threw a vest in her direction. “Sure,” she said. “We probably should speed it up a little.” Glancing in Liam’s direction, she could see Mark trying to move the IT guy away from his things.

  “That’s enough,” Mark said.

  “Deodorant, soap…I didn’t know you used these,” Liam laughed, holding Mark’s washbag out of its owner’s reach.

  “Give it to me.”

  Mark snatched at the bag, but Liam, although a slimmer man, was taller.

  “Condoms?” Liam laughed, waving the strip of three contraceptives for all to see. “Who did you think you were going to get lucky with? It’s a work retreat, not an all exclusive singles break, mate.”

  Jackson joined in with the laughter; Sarah and Karen looked at each other.

  Liam threw them back onto the jungle floor. “We won’t be needing those, eh?” he said, still laughing.

  From behind, Emily’s voice rose. “Bring them,” she said. “They might be useful.”

  The coworkers all turned to look at her, but there was no trace of embarrassment on her face.

  “Whatever,” Liam said, scooping them up and throwing them over to her. “But if you’re looking at me, love, I have to tell you now, you’re really not my type.”

  Emily gave the flicker of a polite smile and put the strip of condoms into her pocket.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Sarah took a small notebook and a pen. Liam salvaged two partially melted Dairy Milk bars. The rest of the group took what spare clothes they could manage, and the rest of Mark’s belongings were left behind.

  The group moved forward cautiously, the incident with the boar fresh in their minds. The torches were mercifully still burning in Thompson and Jackson’s grips. Atkins, Bellamy and the other two men still wielded their sticks, but each of the team scanned the undergrowth and kept their voices low as they walked, for fear that they might miss the warning signs of an ambush.

  As they trudged through the dense jungle, Chen and Liam took to the fore, leading the way to the cave they had discovered. There seemed no doubt in their minds about the direction in which the group should head. With all the disagreement over the contents of Mark’s luggage, and who should take possession of what, their shared purpose was a welcome break.

  Mark himself was silent, his face stern with the displeasure of having been forced to relinquish his personal belongings to the other members of the team. He chugged on his water bottle and kept his eyes down at the ground, focusing on the path forwards and whatever was spinning around in his mind.

  The surrounding jungle seemed more oppressive than ever. Every rustle of leaves and every distant chirp of an unseen animal sent shivers down their spines. Their previous encounter with the boar had shaken their nerves, and those who had them clutched their makeshift weapons with white knuckled determination.

  Emily walked in silence, a couple of steps behind Sarah and Karen, who were engaged in a hushed conversation. It was hard to make out their words over the ambient sounds of the jungle, but the tension in their voices was palpable. Emily couldn’t help but feel like an outsider, the intern amidst a group of coworkers who were grappling not only with the challenges of survival but also with their own interpersonal dynamics. She stuck her hands into her pockets and felt them rest on the contents with a self-reflective smile.

  Jackson and Bellamy had taken position at the back, the men forming an unspoken border at front and rear of the women.

  “This is going to sound ridiculous,” Jackson said, as they walked, “but has this ever happened to you before?”

  Bellamy put his hand over his mouth to contain what might otherwise have been a loud burst of laughter.

  “Have I ever been stranded on a deserted island before?” Bellamy asked, eyebrows raised. “It’s not something that happens to most people more than once, I wouldn’t have thought.”

  He patted Jackson on the back.

  “Have you ever had to crash…I mean, perform an emergency landing before?” Jonathan said, unrattled and unsmiling.

  “Oh, you’re serious?” Bellamy said, changing his expression. “Well, of course, we are trained for such things,” he explained. He seemed to think for a moment before continuing. “I had a close call once. I was with an instructor doing advanced training. We were coming in to land and, I don’t know, something felt off to me. I told him I needed a go around.”

  Jackson nodded to show he understood.

  “He gave me a firm negative. Told me to land the bloody plane. I knew, though. We were coming in too steep. Just before we hit the ground, he pulled up on the controls and we made the go around. Stupid bastard could have done for the pair of us. And the company’s plane.”

  “Couldn’t you have just followed your instincts?” Jackson asked.

  Bellamy shook his head, and beads of sweat flew as it moved.

  “I listened to my superior. He made the decision, and I followed it.”

  “But it was dangerous. He was wrong,” Jackson said.

  “Yep,” Bellamy agreed. “And that was the closest I’ve come to an accident in my career.”

  “Until now.”

  “Until now,” Bellamy repeated. “Until now.”

  After what felt like hours of gruelling trekking, the team finally reached the cave. It was a large, imposing opening in the side of a rocky hill. The entrance was shadowed, and it seemed to swallow the light that dared to enter. As they stepped inside, the interior was cooler than the stifling jungle, and the relief was immediate.

  The walls of the cave were damp, and the ground was uneven, but it offered a semblance of safety they hadn’t felt since finding themselves on the island.

  Although the cave roof was high enough for even Bellamy, the tallest of the party, to stand, it was only around seven feet wide. They could lie in a line to sleep, but that was going to be their only option.

  “Will we all fit in here?” Jackson asked. “To sleep, I mean?”

  He stepped towards the rear of the cave, using the torch to illuminate the deeper crevices. It was going to be more of a tight squeeze and less of a comfortable experience than Liam and the doctor had led them to believe.

  “Let’s get a proper fire going outside again and take stock,” Emily said.

  Karen nodded, and Sarah smiled in agreement. They had started the fire from scratch on the beach. Lighting a new one from the already blazing torches would be easy. It was a relief amidst a day that had started off badly and had only become worse.

  “You could gather some dry leaves and branches for us to sleep on,” Emily suggested to Chen and Liam.

  “I’ll help,” Bellamy said, walking to join the two men.

  That left Thompson and Jackson without tasks to fulfil. Jonathan emerged from the back of the cave looking exhausted and haggard. Mark sat at the entrance to their temporary shelter, looking out into the jungle beyond.

  Emily looked over to them, the two people she had been aspiring to be like, and turned away, leading the other women to a small open area by the cave entrance she knew would be perfect for their firepit.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Mark’s brooding continued long after the fire had been lit. He couldn’t shake off the frustration he felt at the group’s decision to redistribute his belongings. Each time his gaze landed on Emily, who had inexplicably insisted on keeping his condoms, his scowl deepened. The presence of a young intern, of all people, having possession of his personal items was a dent to his ego he couldn’t ignore.

  Jonathan noticed Mark’s sour mood but chose not to engage. He understood that the situation had brought out the worst in some, and he preferred not to fan the flames of tension further. Instead, he glanced at Thompson, who was fidgeting restlessly near the cave entrance.

  When Chen and Foster returned with their final pile of covering for the cave floor, Jackson cleared his throat to speak.

  “I propose I continue the exploration of the island before the sun falls.”

  Mark snapped his head up to look at his colleague. In a tone that mocked Jackson’s he repeated, “I propose blah blah blah-dy blah. Bloody hell, Jacko, we aren’t in a board meeting now. Are you going to get the intern to start taking notes too?”

  “Not a bad idea,” Jackson said, ignoring Mark’s snide remarks and latching onto the useful suggestion he had inadvertently come up with. “Sarah,” he said, turning to the HR manager. “You picked up the paper and pen?”

  She nodded.

  “Can I use them, please? I want to make a map. To be sure that I have covered everywhere, and note down where the stream is, and anything else I might find.”

  Sarah pointed towards the cave entrance.

  “I left them inside. Take them. That’s a good idea.”

  “You shouldn’t go alone,” Bellamy said.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go with him,” Jonathan said, waving a hand in Mark’s direction.

  “Exploration isn’t really my specialist area,” Liam said as Bellamy’s gaze fell upon him.

  Michael Chen spoke slowly, as though deep in thought.

  “Your specialist area,” he said. “IT, isn’t it? You have your mobile phone, Jonathan,” he said, looking at Jackson. “Can Liam do something with it to help us contact someone?”

  The IT expert was already shaking his head before Chen had finished speaking.

  “No shakes, I’m afraid,” he said. “Short of building a radio transmitter, there’s no way we are getting in touch with anyone using a mobile phone.”

  “You’re IT. You must know how to fix things,” Jackson said.

  Liam leaned back and tilted his head towards the sky.

  “I know how to fix things,” he said, with a sigh that did nothing to hide the condescension in his tone. “If those things are your desktop computer, the network back in the office or…”

  Jackson cut him off. “You don’t need to get smart with me…”

  “Liam,” Liam said, shaking his head and letting out a sharp laugh. “You don’t even know my name. We’ve been working in the same office for the past eight years. I’ve fixed things for you on a semi-regular basis. You should know my name by now.”

  “I do. I’m sorry, Liam.” Jonathan pronounced the man’s name with particular emphasis. “I’m not having a very good day, I’m afraid, and I think…”

  He stopped midway through the sentence, as he noticed Mark looking over at him with a wide grin.

  “Hilarious, Thompson. I’m sure this is all fun and games and boy scouting for you. Here’s a news flash: we are stuck here with each other for as long as it takes for us to find someone to get us out of here. And that might be forever. I might never see Helena again. Your colleagues here might never see their loved ones again. And sure, that’s fine for you because you have nothing at home to go back to and no one to miss, certainly no one to miss you…but…”

  Mark pushed himself to his feet. Already smarting from the loss of his belongings, his expression was of a man tipped over the edge.

  “You know what, Jackson? Forget it. You want to be the hero. You want to be the leader. Go ahead.” Turning to the rest of the group, he addressed them. “You all want to share my stuff between you and steal everything I own? Go ahead. Screw you all.”

  “Mark…” Karen said, with shrill anxiety sharpening her voice.

  “Mark nothing. Don’t think you’re special. You never were. You never were, Karen. Screw you. Screw you all.”

  With that, Mark picked up his torch from where it was resting beside him and strode off into the undergrowth, alone.

  “Thompson!” Jonathan shouted.

  The rest of the team stood and watched, seeming not to know what to say.

  “Should someone go after him?” Emily asked to no one in particular.

  The pilot answered.

  “Maybe he needs to do this by himself,” he said.

  “More likely he’s gone to find a conch,” Jonathan said, drolly.

  But exactly what Mark had to do by himself and where that left the rest of the group was anyone’s guess.

  Only Karen, her eyes red and moist with budding tears, looked away, and sat back down beside the fire whilst the others watched their colleague thrash his way away from them, into the jungle, into the unknown.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  As Mark’s receding figure disappeared into the dense jungle, an unsettling silence gripped the remaining members of the group. Karen, her face streaked with tears, stared into the flickering fire, her hands trembling as she clutched a stick. Sarah glanced around at the others, her eyes filled with concern.

  “What should we do?” she finally asked, breaking the oppressive silence.

  Jonathan, still holding the pen and paper in his hand, looked at Liam, who shrugged, his expression helpless. Michael Chen’s gaze was distant, his thoughts likely consumed by their dire situation. Emily fidgeted nervously, her eyes darting between her colleagues.

  It was Bellamy, the pilot, who eventually spoke up. “Let him be for now,” he suggested. “Mark needs some time alone to clear his head. We’re all under an enormous amount of stress. He’ll come back when he’s ready.”

  Emily nodded. “Or as soon as he realises that he’s better off sticking with us than being on his own out there.”

  “I don’t think sticking with anyone is one of Mark’s strong points,” Jackson said, not even trying to hide the animosity in his voice.

  “I know you two have had your problems,” Emily said. “But if you ever needed a reason to work together, isn’t this it?” She indicated the surrounding island.

  “Well, it’s certainly got you doing more than I’ve ever seen back at the office,” Sarah said. “When I told you that you needed to do something that makes you stand out, I didn’t think you’d start acting as the Yoda of the team. You always seem to have the right words now, don’t you?”

  Emily blinked at Sarah’s sudden antagonism.

  “I’m trying to keep focused,” she said, her voice trembling. “If I stop for a moment to think about what has happened and what might happen to us here, I think I might just…” Emily bit her lip to stop the rest of the sentence coming out. She had been trying her best to appear strong and confident. Revealing her true thoughts would only make her look weak.

  “Fall apart, dear?” Sarah said, unkindly. “Well, join the bloody club.”

  “Look,” Karen said. “Fighting isn’t going to help. Mark has already gone off. The last thing we need is any more disruption between us. For what it’s worth, I agree with Emily. If I start thinking about my kids back home, how they’ll be waiting to hear from me…”

  “Oh, give it a break, love,” Sarah spat. “Do you not think everyone knows about you and Mark? You weren’t thinking about your kids when you started screwing him instead of your own husband, were you?”

  Liam whispered to Doctor Chen. “Mark and Karen? Did you know?”

  Chen tried to bat him away, as though he was another of the mosquitos that were buzzing around in the humid air.

  “You miserable old bitch,” Karen hissed, rising to a standing position and leaning over Sarah as she talked. “You’re just jealous because all you have in your life is your work. You’re married to InnovaTech, aren’t you? At least the company is screwing you now.”

  Sarah scrambled to her feet too, and pushed her hands against Karen’s chest, sending her reeling. Arms flailing, she fell unceremoniously onto her backside.

  “You…” Karen seethed.

  Karen leapt back to her feet and ran at the HR manager, her face contorted with rage. Sarah raised her arms, bracing for the impact.

  The collision between the two women was a chaotic tangle of limbs and emotions. They grappled with each other, their hands clawing and fingers digging into the fabric of the T-shirts they had only recently salvaged from Mark’s luggage. Karen’s desperate need to assert herself clashed with Sarah’s determination not to yield. The animosity that had simmered beneath the surface of the women’s working relationship for so long had finally come to boiling point.

  Someone was bound to get hurt.

  Sarah managed to pin Karen’s shoulders to the ground, her chest heaving with exertion.

  “Stop it!” Emily shrieked. “Guys,” she said, looking between the men for support. “Do something. Stop them!”

  “Maybe they need to fight it out,” Liam said with a nonchalant shrug.

  Chen’s expression was more uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem like any assistance was going to come from his direction.

  “Jonathan,” she pleaded.

  “Right,” he said awkwardly. “Sarah. Karen. Please.”

  His voice went unheard. Karen was trying to push Sarah off her, panting and sweaty.

  “You’re wasting your energy,” Bellamy said. “Literally.”

  Sarah turned her head in his direction, and Karen took the opportunity created by Sarah’s distraction to give an almighty shove and launch her backwards, away from her.

  “Karen,” Bellamy said. “You too. You’re going to need all the energy you can conserve.” His voice was calm and steady, and it seemed to get through to the women.

  Karen looked Sarah dead in the eyes.

  “When we get home…” she said.

  “I’ll see you in my office,” Sarah replied with a dry smile. “We’re on work time.”

  “You started it,” Karen yelled. “There are witnesses.” She indicated the other workers, who tried not to make eye contact as she looked between them. “Yeah, thanks a lot, guys.”

  “Emotional energy counts too,” Bellamy said, walking over to Sarah and offering her a hand to lift her to her feet again.