Chapter 4

Night had arrived, James was finally welcomed with a warm breeze but he couldn’t take a breath, he had to find where his sister was. He then tiptoed past one massive palm tree weirdly bigger than the rest, and ducked as he saw a tall suspicious man with a black mask covering his face, shoving someone into a tent. James, worried, crept past the man hoping he hadn’t been seen, and peeped under it, he could just make out a young girl and another man sitting at his chair, but, the girl looked to be… Olivia.

James was terrified, he immediately lifted his head up in horror. He placed his head in his knees whilst thinking how he has been a bad sibling for letting his sister get caught like that. He sat there for a moment before closing his eyes and waiting for what was coming next.

“So, what did you see?” a quiet voice came from behind him, he had been caught. He turned around with a tear running down his face and held his hands up, he opened his eyes, and then he saw… Sammy!? “Sammy what are you doing here? “You scared me.” James stared at her annoyed and very angry, “Just wondered! Sorry.” James breathed for a moment and grabbed hold of Sammy’s arm. “What’s going on?” She asked, James hushed her and started to pull her along with him to the back of the tent, luckily there was a small gap, he put one eye through and looked around the tent. Suddenly, James heard a glass break it made a shattering noise for a minute and then everything fell silent, James was scared, he reached for Sammy’s arm but couldn’t feel it. He looked to the side but couldn’t see her, she had disappeared…

“Done!” Sammy said whilst giving James a massive jump scare, “What!? How did you get there?” he looked to the other side of him, “I made the bad guy faint… sorry!” James looked at her with a slight smile, he giggled whilst looking back inside the tent. There, he saw two guys laying on the ground, they must have been knocked out. But Olivia wasn’t in the tent, James scanned the tent and grabbed hold of Sammy’s arm again, he pulled her to the next tent right beside the one they had just been by, and managed to dodge another one of the men. This time there was no gap at the back of the tent so he would have to look underneath. He ducked down whilst letting go of Sammy and held his breath, crossed his fingers, and just prayed that Olivia was inside…

She was there; gripping onto one of the poles holding the tent up. She was petrified, her hands were shaking. She had little rows of tears cascading down her face, but the worst thing James saw was that she had been wounded… There was a massive cut on the top of her head, and it was dripping with blood. She took her other hand and placed it on the wound, whilst trying to stop the blood oozing. James thought for a moment, there was no way he could get to his sister by going around the tent, he would get caught! So, he was going to have to crawl under. He peered over at Sammy, she was crouching down with her fingers crossed and her eyes were closed. James then climbed underneath the tent and hoped for the best.

He managed to stand up as he just completed crawling under the worlds most squished, compact area ever! He then looked over at Olivia who was facing the other way to him, “Hey, squirt, its going to be OK. Just grab hold of me and stay calm,” he whispered. Olivia heard the message and turned around, she slowly let go of the pole and immediately grabbed hold of James’s hand. He had got her, he had completed the first step.

“Olivia, you have to follow me and keep hold of my hand, OK?” Olivia nodded as her body almost stopped shaking. James climbed underneath the tent grasping hold of Olivia’s hand, but only to find out that Sammy had once again disappeared. Suddenly, Sammy appeared right in front of him, she had some blood on her, “I knocked another guy out, he was coming your way!” James smiled at her, and nodded. He peeked to the side and questioned whether there were any other men left. He saw they were all on the ground so he scurried towards the massive palm tree and leaned Olivia against it.

“Squirt, you have to bear with me, I’m going to get this wound bandaged.” He grabbed the first aid kit, wrapped up Olivia’s cut with an extra long bandage that was surely too big. Fortunately, it just wrapped around Olivia’s head as easy as ever, and perfectly tucked in at the end. He gazed at Olivia, smiled, and lifted her up, ready to run away. “WAIT UP!” Sammy shouted, as she ran towards them. James waited for a moment before storming past the campsite and heading towards theirs. He looked behind him and saw Olivia running, he could tell how she was extremely exhausted. He stopped for a moment and took a breath. He picked Olivia up and held her like a new born baby, and started jogging as sweat dribbled off his face. He was almost there, almost back at camp but he was too exhausted, he had to stop.

He stopped. He breathed, and he dropped Olivia onto some palm tree leaves. Luckily, they were nice and soft so Olivia didn’t have a hard landing. Sammy had just about caught up with them, she sat on the ground, exhausted. Olivia pulled herself up and tightened the bandage that was nearly falling off. “James, are we almost there?” She asked before grabbing a leaf and unusually examining it. “Yes squirt, I promise. Now what are you doing with that leaf?” James stared at her, then he crouched down and gazed at the leaf with her. “I don’t see the fuss about this one leaf,” he exclaimed whilst squinting at it. Sammy looked at it as well, “It’s, it’s special…” Olivia said as she smiled at the leaf, James patted her on the head, and carried on walking, “Wait for me!” Olivia shouted before folding up the leaf and placing it in her pocket. “And me!” said Sammy.

All of a sudden, the wind started howling, James felt drops of water drizzling onto his head. He looked behind him and saw Olivia falling behind glaring up at the sky, it was dark, it was cold, and there was a storm coming… “OLIVIA, SAMMY COME HERE!” James shouted, but the wind was getting stronger, he was struggling to shout. Sammy was luckily just about strong enough to climb towards James, she grabbed hold of a tree and waited. “OLIVIA!” James yelled, but there was no point, she wouldn’t make it. He pushed himself towards Olivia but he couldn’t go any further, they would have to try something else. Suddenly, two sticks came flying past, James grabbed them and tried not to let go, “OLIVIA GRAB THE STICKS YOU CAN WALK WITH THEM!” James shouted at the top of his lungs, then he let go of them.

Fortunately, Olivia caught the sticks and stabbed them into the nasty muddy ground, James stared in horror, he had absolutely nothing. Hold on… he had just remembered, the knife! The pocket knife that he had picked up earlier! He struggled to snatch it out of his pocket, he had it. James stabbed it into the tree next to him, it was hard to stab but with all of his might, but finally, he had jabbed it in. “JAMES I’M STRUGGLING!” Olivia shouted whilst accidentally dropping the sticks, James pushed himself forward with the knife and thought for a moment, he might be able to grab hold of Olivia now! “SQUIRT, HOLD ON! STRETCH OUT YOUR ARM AND TRY TO GRAB MINE!” James shouted, as he stretched out his arm the furthest he could. Olivia stretched her arm, James reached for it…

He grabbed it, then James pulled her towards him and wrapped his arm around her waist as hard as he could. He pulled himself up towards Sammy, with the knife and hoped the storm would stop soon…

Fifteen minutes had passed. James, Olivia and Sammy were all under a massive jacket James had found in his rucksack. Pure silence echoed the desert, it was over… the storm had finished. James lifted off the jacket which had gathered massive holes all over. He then looked up, only to find the sun, peeping from behind the clouds. James smiled at Olivia and held his hands on her cheeks, he then lifted up her head, “Hey squirt, you’re the bravest, and don’t worry the storm has stopped.” He smiled at her, and then she smiled back. Sammy gazed up at the sun, “Howdie sun, how inconvenient you didn’t come out earlier, it would have made our lives much better!” she exclaimed, as she shaded her eyes. James smiled at her, now that the storm had stopped they could start planning their next adventure.