“There’s ten bodies in a pool that empties out into an underground stream. They dumped them there. They, whoever did it. They’re bones but... this water should be cleaner. I hadn’t gotten to...” A tear runs down the side of his face. “I wanted to put them all to rest first. That’s all... I should have told you.”
“Fucker, you should have. I would have helped you. You don’t have to do everything yourself. You know that, right?” I want to wrap the big lug in a hug, but... but I’m not sure that’s what he wants. Instead, I squat and fill up the stack of water bottles I have. I pack them in my rucksack and put it on. WhenI turn back to Calvin, he hasn’t moved. “You okay, mate?” I step up to him.
“You would have helped me? Not told Haley?”
“Fuck man, I’m pissed that you would even have to ask that. There’s no way I would have told Little Bird about a bloody massacre. I would have helped you. Fuck, don’t take this to heart, but I would probably help you bury a fresh body. You’re my friend. Don’t go and muck that up.”
Calvin winces.
And I realize what I’ve said. “You really think Easton’s not going to make it?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s just this place. It makes me go dark inside.”
“I can see why. It’s too beautiful to think that something so horrific happened here.”
We’re both standing staring back over the bluff at the ocean. There’s a nice breeze, and it’s more protected. I’m locked in, mesmerized by the way the water crashes against the rocks below with the stream running over them. “I bet the people who lived here really liked it. And they were happy.”
“Happy?”
“Yeah, how could they not be? Getting to look at that all day—they had it all.”
“Until they didn’t,” Calvin says. His hands rest on his hips as he glances back at the more intact structure.
“But there comes a time when we all leave this world. There aren’t a lot of people who leave this world without pain.” I grip my sides. Because I think of my dad whenever I think about death. But if ever there was a man on the planet who thought daily about how to live life, it was my dad. And there’s no way he’d want me to think about how he died and not how he lived it. With purpose. He was the best at what he did, living.
“No, I suppose you’re right,” he says. But Calvin doesn’t get it. Not yet. Maybe he never will.
“You ready to go back to the others? When Easton’s good, we can come back and take care of the rest of those who need to be buried.”
“Thank you.”
The way back to the other huts is a lot faster than the way over. A universal truth, but this time I’m in the lead. And I keep turning back to check on Calvin. He’s keeping up but lagging. We break through the jungle into the overgrown clearing by the huts. Dante’s sitting on a pile of rocks, looking at a mound of earth, Penny at his feet.
“You okay?” I ask.
“This was an oven.” Dante’s poking at the surrounding crumbled mud bricks and grass with a long stick.
“How’s Easton?” We were gone less than an hour.
“He’s not going to die, if that’s what you’re asking.” Dante sits upright. “You didn’t need to scare Sassy that way, Calvin.”
“I—”
“Don’t, we’re pissed. And that’s not the royal ‘we.’ That’s all of us. But good job getting the two of you out of there,” Dante growls.
And Penny barks.
“I know.” Calvin drops to his knees.
“Damn. I?—”
“There’s more to all this.” I wave my hands around the ghost farm, just as two cats, a white one and a brown one, come running over to Calvin. The white one rubs itself on Calvin’s thighs. And the other one pushes its head between Calvin’s knees until Calvin drops down to the ground and the other cat curls up in his lap. Calvin scratches the cats behind their ears as his head hangs low.
“Yeah, I’m guessing that. But we didn’t need to be kept in the dark. There’s no military clearance needed. Not here. That’s only going to bring us more problems.” Dante hands me Penny’s leash and sits in the dirt next to Calvin.
Calvin lifts his head. “How is he really?”
Dante glances at the hut. “It’s going to hurt like hell when we take him over the mountain. Not just for him, but for us too.”
