Free Survivors (Stranded) by Jeff Probst, Christopher Tebbetts Page A

back again.
    “What can we do?” Carter asked.
    “I don’t know!” Vanessa said.
    “You have to . . . pee . . . on it,” Buzz gritted out.
    “He’s right!” Jane said, and looked straight at Carter. “I’ve heard about this. Peeing on it gets rid of the pain.”
    “What?” Carter asked. “What do you mean, pee?”
    “Like, urinate,” Jane said.
    “I know what
pee
means, Jane. I’m just asking—”
    “JUST DO IT!” Buzz said, with as much force as Jane had ever heard from him.
    If anyone was going to do this, it had to be Carter. That went without saying. But Carter wasn’t looking so good himself. He’d overdone it—Jane could tell with a glance. He was hunched over with his hands on his knees, as though he were struggling to keep to his feet.
    “Okay,” he said into the ground. “I’ve got this.”
    Without being asked, Jane and Vanessa looked away. Jane squeezed Vanessa’s hand and watched the water. It was hard, knowing Buzz was in so much pain, and to hear him groaning there on the rocks.
    “Could you hurry up already?” Buzz said behind her.
    “I’m working on it,” Carter said.
    “Just do it. And don’t pee on the fish!”
    “Just shut up, okay?”
    There was a long, silent pause. When Buzz spoke again, Jane could hear that some of the tension had already left his voice. It sounded as if the peeing had actually worked, and quickly, too.
    “By the way, this never happened,” Buzz said.
    “You’re telling me,” Carter added, zipping up his shorts.
    Jane bit her lip to stop from laughing and kept her eyes on the water. She could see a few loose pieces of bamboo floating out by the reef. One of the paddles was in sight, but the other was gone, along with the Hawaiian sling. They’d have to start all over on a new raft, but at least they still had the fish.
    “Hey!” Vanessa shouted out. “It’s back!”
    Jane turned to look where Vanessa was pointing. A gray fin was just slipping beneath the water’s surface. It sent a chill through her, thinking about what could have happened to them out there.
    “Buzz, Carter, look!” she said, without turning around. She kept her eyes on the spot where the fin had been a second ago.
    And then, a few yards farther off, something big burst out of the water. Jane screamed with surprise. It came straight up, spun all the way around, and splashed down out of sight.
    It hadn’t been a shark at all, she realized. It was a dolphin. A spinner dolphin. There had been no real danger to begin with.
    Before anyone could respond, another dolphin took to the air. And then another, even farther out. Each one of them landed back in the water and continued on its way as smoothly as any gymnast or acrobat.
    There seemed to be a whole family of them. Several more surfaced as the pod went by, showing their dorsal fins and expelling air. Jane couldn’t tear her eyes away. She wanted to catch as much of the show as possible. The leapers seemed to spin right out of the water for the sheer pleasure of it. They looked so free, so at home here, each one as beautiful as it was amazing to watch.
    “Are you guys seeing this?” she asked.
    When Buzz finally answered, it wasn’t what she expected to hear. “Carter?” he said. And then, “Carter!”
    Now Jane did turn around. Her brother was swaying on his feet, almost as if he were in a trance.
    “I think I, uh . . . need to lie down,” he said.
    Buzz sat up fast, but Carter was already falling. By the time Jane reached for him, Carter’s eyes had rolled back in his head. His knees buckled and he dropped, passed out right there on the rocks.

CHAPTER 13

    C arter’s mind felt like gray fuzz. The fever kept him in a sweat, while the rest of his body seemed to prickle with goose bumps no matter how close to the fire he stayed.
    “I think he’s awake,” someone said.
    “Was I asleep?” Carter asked. He remembered stumbling back to the ship, but not much more. “What time is it?”
    “The sun’s