The Last Resort by Susi Holliday

Author:Susi Holliday [Holliday, Susi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542020015
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2020-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

Lucy

Lucy is sitting pressed tight against a smooth rock, arms wrapped around her knees, unconsciously mirroring Tiggy’s habitual protective stance. ‘I hate this place,’ she says, kicking a stone and watching it fly over the edge and bounce down towards the inlet. ‘I wish I’d never come.’ And she really means it. It had been fun for about five minutes, but now it’s just weird and wrong, and she can’t actually believe she signed up for it. She stands, kicks another stone, then slips on the loose gravel path. James grabs her and pulls her back from the edge.

‘You need to calm down. There’s no point in us all getting freaked out here. The boat is gone. They’re not coming back for us. We need to work out what to do.’

‘We could try getting someone else to come and goddamn help us.’ Scott yanks a small branch off one of the overhanging trees and snaps it into pieces. He throws the pieces into a bush, then roots around in the leg pocket of his shorts and pulls out his phone. ‘Right, so I can’t make any proper calls, but I can sure as hell send someone a message. WhatsApp works on Wi-Fi, right? Messaging at least, if not audio?’ He starts tapping away at the screen, angry stabs of his finger peppered with an array of curses muttered under his breath.

‘Maybe we should just keep going,’ Brenda says quietly. She’s sitting on a rock, absentmindedly rubbing her leg. She looks pale and her face is a little clammy – but then they have just scrambled up a steep incline over awkward, misshapen rocks, and the sun, although low in the sky, is still pumping out heat.

Amelia has made it back up from the bay, rosy-cheeked but otherwise unscathed. ‘I think Brenda’s right,’ she says. ‘There’s no point in us sitting around here, is there? Harvey told me we’re nearly there.’ She taps her watch. ‘Can we have some directions, please?’

‘Oh, please,’ Lucy says. ‘This is ridiculous. We can’t just keep going. I don’t understand what the hell is going on here.’

The beep that always comes before a hologram cuts her off.

‘Oh, great,’ Scott says, snapping another branch. ‘Which one of us is getting humiliated next? Maybe I should just jump off this cliff and be done with it.’

Lucy feels a wave of nausea. She’d forgotten about the memory projections. None of them are immune from the reveals, are they? She tries to make light of what Scott has said. ‘Got something juicy to share, have you?’

‘I doubt it’s as juicy as yours, lady. The more I look at you, the more I see some sort of heartless deviant just itching to burst out.’

Lucy is trying her best to laugh as the holographic letters appear in front of her. Her own secret, the one she desperately hopes is never revealed, is momentarily pushed out of her mind. She turns away, looking at the sky to get the clearest view.

THINGS HAVE NOT GONE TO PLAN, BUT PLEASE DO NOT PANIC.

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