Desperate Measures by Jeff Probst Page A

back.”
    â€œIt’ll be faster if I cut it when I’m ready and meet you down there,” Jane said.
    â€œThe current’s too tricky,” Vanessa said. “You’ll get washed right past us if we’re not careful.”
    Jane didn’t argue. The one thing they didn’t have right now was time. Without another word, Vanessa turned downstream with Buzz and Carter to head for the enormous gate at the far end of the channel.
    â€œWe’ll see you in a minute,” she called back, and kept on moving.

    Jane worked with what little light she had from the fires. She ran up and down the bank, cutting every big leaf and frond she could reach, then piling them into Ani’s canoe. There was no time to pick and choose. They could be caught by the elders or the guards at any second.
    She could see some waterskins were already in the boat, and two big bunches of coconuts, still on the stem. It didn’t look like much. They’d have to ration.
    But first, and most of all, they had to get away.
    After three trips up and down the bank, she turned again—and stopped short. Someone was coming up the trail. She could see a torch but nothing else.
    Jane stepped back and dropped into Ani’s canoe. Had she been seen? Was it all over, just like that? Lying flat, she stayed out of sight, listening for whoever it was.
    There were footsteps. And then a voice.
    â€œCar-tare? Jane?”
    Mima’s voice.
    â€œBuzz? Ba-nessa?”
she said.
    Jane’s breath was fast and shaky. There was no knowing anything for sure right now, but she took the risk and sat up.
    â€œMima?” she said.
    â€œ
Jane!”
she said.
“Betta a tikka, Car-tare? Buzz betto, Ba-nessa?”
    Jane shot out of the canoe and up the bank. Mima went stiff when Jane tried to hug her, but it wasn’t like before when she’d captured Carter. That was just the way Mima was. She busied herself instead, scraping her torch against the ground to put it out.She was probably trying to avoid being seen, now that they’d found each other.
    It was all making sense. And Mima was as strong as any of them. Stronger, in fact. She’d be able to help get the screen open.
    â€œOver there!” Jane said, pointing downstream. “
Ekka-ka!
Go and help them, please!
Ekka-ka?
”
    â€œEkka-ka,”
Mima said.
    Even now, it was a relief to hear the
ka—
for
friends
. Mima had been so full of anger before. Or at least, she’d been acting like it for the tribe.
    She pressed a bundle of some kind into Jane’s hands. Then she said something else in Nukula and disappeared downstream to go help the others.
    The bundle was probably more supplies, Jane thought. It was tied up with a vine, and she dropped it into the canoe. Her time was better spent gathering fronds right now. They’d sort everything else out later.
    It was only after Mima had moved on that Jane realized who had probably started this whole fire. And why.
    Thank you, Mima. Thank you, thank you.
    Forever.

    â€œHow does this work?” Carter asked.
    They’d told him about the bamboo-and-foliage gate, but seeing it was different. He’d imagined something smaller. This thing was as tall as a house.
    â€œIt slides open,” Vanessa said. “At least, it did when they had a whole bunch of people on both sides of it.”
    â€œAll right. We’ve got this,” Carter said, though it was hard to know for sure. “Let’s go. I want to get back to Jane.”
    â€œWait!” Buzz said. He looked upstream. “Someone’s coming.”
    â€œLet’s go then! Hurry!” Carter said. He already had his hands on the bamboo frame.
    â€œCar-tare!”
    Mima’s voice stopped him. She was there now, not much more than a shadow. But even the shadow moved just like her.
    â€œOver here!” Vanessa said. She motioned for Mima, trying to show what they wanted to do.
    Carter could tell she understood