We had gone back to the cave for shelter because of the heavy rain and terrible storm that had started. We had to take a chance not knowing if we’d find another one of those boars, or perhaps the young ones. I had to take a chance for Odala’s sake. He’d not have survived in that cold with his wound.

The small fire I had started would hopefully keep us warm for a while. I grabbed one of the burning branches so I could burn Odala’s wound with it. It was the only chance to sterilise the wound if he wanted to make it out of there alive.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Relax,” I said smiling, trying to make him comfortable, make him remember I was still on his side.

“It will hurt a lot, but I need you to be strong for me because it will help you to get back on your feet,” I explained.

I removed the jacket that had stopped most of the bleeding and put it aside. He grabbed my hand tightly. I placed the burning wood on his wound for about five seconds. He screamed.

After I had finished I took the jacket and wrapped it around the wound again just to keep it cool for the night. He was breathless with the pain, but glad that it was over at the same time.

Afterwards we sat up and had a chat since we couldn’t sleep.

“So how long have you been working on that boat?” he asked.

“Urmm.” I hesitated to tell him it was my first day. I saw him looking at me raising his eyebrows waiting for an answer.

“It’s actually my first day,” I finally told him.

“What? I’m sorry about that,” he said feeling pity for me.

“No, it’s okay. It just wasn’t my lucky day I guess.”

“No. I’m sorry for having such a terrible attitude on your first day.”

He placed his fingers on mines. He looked at me and brushed my cheek with his thumb.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered as his thumb went down to my bottom lip.

“Well, you can make it up to me by finding me a position at your company. I have a business management degree – if we make it out of here alive that is,” I took my chances for my future.

“You have a BM degree?” he asked, surprised.

“Yeah…”

“Beautiful and educated.”

We stared into each other’s eyes as he pulled my head closer to him. I held my hand against his cheeks and our lips met halfway. I felt his soft lips as he kissed me gently. I moved my hand down to his waist, but forgot that he was injured.

“Oouuchh,” he hissed in pain.

“I’m sorry,” I apologised.

I stopped, realising that he couldn’t give me more until that wound had got better. He placed my head on his shoulder as we dozed off.

In the morning when he woke me up, I was a confused about where I was and who he was until I realised we were stuck on an island.

“Hey,” he greeted me smiling and kissing my cheek.

“Hey,” I smiled back when he lifted me up.

His wound had got better and he was up on his feet again.

“Thank you. I’m in no pain anymore,” he said when I smiled at him.

We heard loud voices shouting. “Helloooooooowww. Is anyone here?!”

We went out of the cave quickly to see who was there. We saw soldiers; a group of six.

“Hello there. Are you the only survivors from that boat?” one of the men asked. He had a white beard and moustache and a mischievous look in his eyes. He was probably the leader of the group.

“Yes. It’s just the two of us. It took you long enough to find us,” Odala said with a note of anger.

“We tried to get here as fast as we could. But it seems you both are doing fine since you had a shelter to rest in until we got here.”

“Fine? Are you fucking kidding me! There are bloody deadly creatures all over this island that attacked us. We’re lucky to be still alive.” Odala had lost his temper with this man’s attitude. I tried to calm him down since they were here to help us. I put my hand on his shoulder when he looked at me and he nodded.

“Can we just get the hell out of here please,” he said with a calm tone.

“We have a driver that is waiting for us back at our boat. Follow me,” The man lead the way when we followed him back.

On our way back to the boat they had arrived in, a shadow moved over us. The birds again suddenly flew away. We stopped.

“Something is here,” I whispered.

“What? Your deadly creatures again?” the man asked making a joke of it.

The other men had their rifles ready to shoot whatever was coming. There was nothing for a few seconds. When we started to move again a giant owl came out of the trees, grabbed one of the soldiers by the head, and ripped him apart.

The other soldiers had started shooting with their rifles, but it wasn’t much help. That thing was bulletproof it seemed. The bullets rolled off its wings that were like a blade and cut two men in half. The owl stepped on the other soldier and it stabbed him on his chest with its long, sharp claws.

“Run! Now!” the leader shouted giving us orders while we made a run for it. He was shooting from behind. Odala held my hand and didn’t let go. When I turned my head I saw the owl ripping the last soldier to pieces.

“What the hell was that?” the leader asked while he found a small spot to rest. It seemed we had lost the owl.

“Next time you should take it seriously when people tell you something!” Odala pointed his finger at him.

“Guys, we need to move. We can’t stay here,” I told them trying to stop them from getting into a fight. The leader gave me a grenade. Odala still had the handgun.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” I asked curiously, not knowing how to even use it.

“Just use it.”

When we moved again, the owl came back again. We started running for our lives again.

***

Tell us: What would you do to get away from something that was chasing you?