The Rot

Chapter Six.

A half-moon rose over the ocean. Later, as the stars came out, six dark figures appeared on the beach below the cave. When Keelin and Jacob heard the loud voices, the peered down to see the Huddez gang surrounding the slight figure of a girl. It was Saphie. The boys' hearts jumped.

Jacob and Keelin glanced nervously at each other. They had a plan but didn't know if it was going to work. All they could do was hope and pray they could get Saphie back before the gang realised that they had been scammed.

"You know what you have to do?" said Jacob with excitement.

"Yes," said Keelin. "Let's go!"

Huddez shouted up, "Oi! Where is your blood? I want my cure! Give it to us and you can have Saphie back."

"Give us Saphie first and then you can have my blood!" yelled Keelin. "We've got a rope here so we can pull her up to us."

The gang talked among themselves for a moment. "OK, it'll work like this. First throw down a rope so you can pull this stupid girl up to your cave. We'll tie her on to out end- but we'll be holding onto her until you've thrown down some blood. You have got some, eh?"

"Course we have, idiot!" cried Keelin.

"Shut it if you don't want this silly cow hurt."

"All right, all right," said Jacob. "Here's the rope." He threw down the syringe containing the stranger's blood and they hauled their friend up to the cave. Jacob gave her a warm kiss when she made it to safety.

Standing beside Saphie, the boys listened to the cackling laughter of the gang as they made their way back along the beach.

Saphie turned and stared at the boys. "Eh? What have you done, boys?"

Keelin explained and Saphie allowed a broad grin to spread across her pretty face. All they had to do now was escape before the gang realise what they had done.

"Right!" snapped Jacob. "Let's get the hell out of here before they realise they have been tricked."

The three of them climbed up out of the cave and ran like lapwings to a tunnel they had seen near the church. Here they hid until the sun rose over a shimmering sea, leaving a beautiful reflection that seemed to dance on the waves.

After they had discussed various plans, Saphie suggested, "we could make a raft out of all the rubbish lying around and sail to the mainland of Canterbury."

"Great idea Saphie," said Jacob, giving her a kiss.

Keelin seethed.

Over the next three days, they split up and search for anything that could be fashioned into a boat. Keelin found a few piles of wood; Jacob found an old sleeping bag to use as a makeshift sail; Saphie found some old polystyrene blocks.

"We can use the rope we pulled Saphie up with," said Keelin. "It'll tie this stuff together."

The three worked well together, but Keelin regretted not being alone with Jacob any more. His old jealousy was back with a vengeance.

"Last night was perfect," Saphie said to Jacob in a soft, gentle tone.

Keelin heard this and mumbled under his breath, "We need to make a start on the raft as soon as possible!"

"I don't think we have enough materials yet," Saphie said, pointing to the pathetic pile of scrap wood, ripped polystyrene blocks and the dirty sleeping bag full of holes and God knows what else.

The group split up again and regrouped after an hour. Each dropped what they had in their arms- a pile of driftwood, some duck tape and general rubbish. They could now start building!

Hours and hours went by until the makeshift, rickety raft was ready. They all stood back and breathed a sigh of relief.

"We did it!" cried Saphie.

"Well done guys!" echoed Jacob.

As the sun started to set over the sea and dance over the horizon, they returned to the camp they had made by the shore. Saphie and Jacob went back into their tent, filling Keelin with even more hate and envy. When he heard laughs and giggles coming from the tent, horrible thoughts filled his mind.

Night fell and silence soon followed.