Read Online Delta-Victor by Clare Revell - Free Book Online Page A

Day and all through the camp, a wet Deefer ran making everything damp,” Jim quipped.
    “You get worse not better.” Lou groaned, wiping her face. “That’s enough, Deefer. You’ll dry soon in this heat.”
    Ailsa and Staci came back with their arms full of fruit. “We found mushrooms to go with the fish from earlier,” Staci said excitedly. “Dinner will be a feast.”
    “But that’s not the best bit,” Ailsa added. “We found a village. It’s about half a mile from here.”
    “That’s great,” Jim said, a huge grin on his face. “We’ll go now.”
    “Too hot.” Ailsa shot a sideways glance at Lou. “After dinner when it’s a little cooler will do fine.”
    She and Staci sat down and started preparing the mushrooms and other roots they had collected, while Jim started the fire.
    Lou rubbed her knee. Her leg was a lot worse than she was letting on. It was beginning to smell now and she felt rotten. But the others didn’t need to know that. At some point she’d confide in the logbook, in a coded entry no one else could read. Until they had to.
    Jim leaned across and handed her the bottle. “Time for another dose of the mytona, mate.”
    “Thank you.” She swallowed the mouthful and gave the bottle back to Jim. “At least I can swallow this now without wanting to throw up. We have a lot to thank Ailsa for. Not just this, but finding food and so on.”
    “Yeah we do.” Jim looked at Ailsa and Staci across the other side of the camp.
    They had their heads together and were giggling over something.
    Jim glanced at Lou. “They get on well, don’t they?”
    “Just as well.”
    “What are you implying?”
    Lou did her best to look innocent. “Nothing.”
    “Yes, you are. What?”
    “Well, what with your liking Ailsa, it...” She laughed as Jim blushed. “Sorry. Seriously if we didn’t get on, this trek wouldn’t be much fun, would it?”
    “We’d also starve.”
    “True. So you like her for her looks, fashion sense, or survival skills?”
    “Unfair question,” Jim said blushing again. “All of the above.”
    Lou pushed herself up. “I’ll go give them a hand while you go get some more water from the stream.” She slowly made her way over to the others and sat down. “Give me those fish, and I’ll gut them.”
    Ailsa handed over her knife and the fish. “So is Jim taken?”
    “Oh, please take him.” Staci laughed. “No. He likes you though.”
    “He’s very fond of you, Lou. I don’t want to step on your toes here if there’s something between you.”
    Lou snorted. “He doesn’t see me as anything more than a sister or a friend. He never will.”
    Ailsa concentrated on the task and didn’t look up. “Does he really like me?”
    Staci grinned. “The word besotted springs to mind. What about you?”
    Ailsa blushed and Staci giggled.
    “So it is mutual then?”
    “I never said that.”
    “You didn’t have to. Your face said it for you.” Lou looked at the fish. “Shame we can’t make the fish purple again. That was so funny.”
    Ailsa looked confused. “Purple fish?”
    “We dyed it to get our own back on Jim. You should have seen his face. He did eat it in the end.”
    Ailsa laughed. She wrapped the fish in leaves and then gave the fish to Jim to put in the fire to bake
    Staci stood up. “I’m going to get some more fruit,” she said. “I’ll take Deefer.”
    “You can’t go on your own, Stace,” Lou objected.
    “I won’t be on my own. I’m taking Deefer. Anyway it’s not far.” She grabbed a rucksack and whistled to Deefer. “Come on. Walkies.” She clipped on his lead and ran down the path, Deefer at her heels.
    Lou looked at Jim.
    Once Staci had gone out of sight, his face had changed. The almost forced happiness had vanished, leaving a mask of sorrow on his face.
    She asked gently, “Are you OK?”
    “Not really,” he said honestly. “It’s hard. I keep thinking about Mum and Dad and how we usually spent Christmas. The house would be