Coasts of Cape York Read Online Free PDF

navigator.
    Willy tried to but he could only go back up the passageway towards the cockpit. Before his horrified and disgusted eyes he saw the dead body come slithering and flopping onto the deck at his feet, hauled in by the two crewmen. Finlay and Cpl Francini both stared at it in wide-eyed horror and then spewed. The vomit poured onto the deck and then began to swill around their feet and the body as the plane rocked about. The door to the toilet opened and a pale and drawn looking Cadet Todd looked down, plainly aghast. He then heaved again and fled back into the toilet.
    â€œBack off kids!” the navigator shouted, pointing aft. Finlay, Francini and Anderson all backed away, their eyes wide with fear and shock. Along the corridor Willy could see the horrified eyes of other cadets and officers staring towards the mess at his feet. He began to back up but the navigator looked at him and called, “Pass us those garbage bags please.”
    Willy was next to the door of the tiny galley and saw some large green garbage bags there. He nodded, quite unable to speak and having trouble breathing. With shaking hands he passed the garbage bags quickly to the navigator. Unable to tear his eyes from the scene he watched with grisly fascination as the man began sliding the bag over the corpse’s head. As he did Willy began to experience searing flashbacks. This was not the first time that he had seen a dead body. Seven months before his uncle had been murdered; mutilated by a chain saw. It had been Willy who had found the body. A few weeks later he had seen a man obliterated in a spray of blood and mince when he fell into a wood pulp machine. The man had been attempting to kill Willy, who had spent the previous night in terror as he faced his death. It had been a very dark period in his life and now it chilled him with redoubled force.
    With an effort Willy snuffled and blew his nose into his handkerchief. A lump of something stuck in the back of his left nostril and he gagged and felt as though he would vomit again. His eyes watered and he clung to the door of the galley. A movement in front of him caused him to lift his eyes and through the mist of tears he saw the face of the man they had rescued.
    The man looked to be about twenty and wore only shorts and a belt with some sort of zip-up bag on it. He had blond hair and startlingly blue eyes. These were fixed on the body of the dead man as the navigator and flight engineer struggled to wrap it up. The rescued man was also standing, clinging to the opposite doorpost, the entrance to the tiny crew’s mess and bunk space.
    The navigator turned to him and reached out a hand. “Pass me a blanket please mate,” he said.
    The man did so, then shook his head in obvious distress. Willy was also very upset. He met the man’s eyes for a moment and said, “I’m sorry we weren’t quicker. If I’d seen you earlier we might have saved your friend.”
    The man stared at him and then went wide eyed and shook his head. “No. No. You couldn’t have saved him. He was dead already.”
    â€œDead already!” Willy echoed. He swivelled his eyes to stare at the body.
    â€œYes,” the man said. “He was shot.”
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CHAPTER 3
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    BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
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    â€œShot!” Willy croaked.
    The man nodded. He then pointed at the body and said, “In the chest, see.”
    Willy looked and now saw that the front of the man’s shirt was stained and torn. “Who by? Why? When?” he asked, shocked by the information.
    The man just shook his head and slumped against the door. The navigator called to Willy, “Help him! Put him on the bench.”
    Willy gripped the man around the chest under the arms and found he could hardly hold him up. With an effort he changed his grip and then struggled to half carry, half drag the man back into the tiny compartment. This had a bench seat along both