Willard Price by Anthony McGowan

Author:Anthony McGowan [McGowan, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141339498
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
Published: 2012-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

It had only taken half an hour to walk round the headland to the turtle beach, but it took them the best part of an hour to drag Bluey back. By that stage his whole leg had become reddened, and even his face was flushed.

And he was becoming heavier – with each step, Amazon and Frazer had to bear more of his weight.

‘This isn’t … right,’ he mumbled, as at long last they approached the hut. ‘Reckon I’ve had an allergic reaction … Should take some of the antihistamine in the med kit.’

Bluey staggered over to his pack, dug out the medical kit and twisted off the top of a bottle of pills. He emptied the contents into his hand. There were just two of the small pills left.

‘Should have checked this,’ he said in a voice barely more than a whisper. Then he swallowed the pills and slumped down on to his mat. ‘They’ll kick in soon. Just need to sleep.’

‘Bluey,’ said Amazon, her voice full of concern, ‘do you want us to get someone from the village …? Maybe they can help?’

Bluey shook his head. ‘No, no contact. That’s what the chief said. Don’t want to endanger the mission. And there’s nothing to worry about anyway. And just because I’m crocked doesn’t mean the mission is off. I want you to get back to the other beach. I’ll keep an eye on this one from here. It takes more than a slight allergic reaction to derail TRACKS. Now go!’

So, dragging their feet, and with many a backward glance, they went.

It was a horrible day, full of boredom and worry. They took it in turns to run back to check on Bluey, finding him either dozing fitfully or staring fixedly through red eyes out at the beach.

The allergy pills definitely seemed to help, but their effect gradually wore off towards the evening, and his face grew as red as his hair and sweat glistened on his forehead.

They finally came back at sunset and found him fast asleep. They tucked him up, and then Frazer went outside to try again with the sat phone.

‘This is dumb, dumb, dumb,’ he spat when all he got was the now familiar static. ‘Either it’s bust or there’s someone trying to jam it. If I’d have got through, I’d definitely have asked Dad to sort out a medical evac. This has all gone too far. You said before that I like to pretend I’m in a movie … Well, maybe I do, but this is the wrong sort of picture. It’s like a zombie apocalypse.’

‘There’s no point raving like a madman,’ Amazon said. ‘We’ve got to work with what we’ve got. I say we go and ask at the village for some more allergy pills. I know Bluey’s against it, but I don’t think he’s thinking straight.’

Frazer nodded. ‘OK, I’m sick of doing nothing but watching sand all day. And I bet big chief Huru Huru has every medication under the sun, all paid for with that Swiss bank account.

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