Straight Shot ➳ Oliver Queen

26. Something to Die For

However, I still found them and they led me to a trickling wall of vines and overgrown plants. One was a typical, run of the mill vine, another was a dark green flora with tiny yellow flowers. The flowers were used to derive a potent poison, similar to curare.

I kept my distance from the wall, not because of the venom, but because of another danger. Oliver had warned that this area would be heavily booby-trapped from when Yao Fei lived here. I assume that when he left, he had expected to be back and protected his substitution for a home.

A dug a device out of my back pocket. It was round and looked like the face of a fancy camping watch. However, when I poked the tiny button on the side, it didn't display the time but was supposed to show the coordinates of my current location. The coordinates were off. According to the watch, I was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Something on the island was scrambling the location trackers.

I tapped the screen and an icon appeared: an option for contact. I selected it and a green line stretched across the screen, jumping up and down like a heartbeat to show the connection attempting to be made.

"Oliver, I reached Lian Yu. I'm at Yao Fei's place and I'm about to go in." I reported as Oliver had directed me to.

A response reached the watch and I could recognize Oliver's voice, but the signal was so distorted and choppy that I couldn't understand him. I asked him to repeat it, but halfway through the message, it cut out and I lost all touch with him.

I gave up on the contact and instead, took a step back. I quickly checked the area for landmines, but I didn't see any. I had been warned of landmines left here by the Japanese after World War II, but Yao Fei hadn't acquired any.

Still, I was careful. I found the largest rock I could pick up and held it with both hands. With a grunt, I heaved it forward and it slammed onto the leaf-covered mulch of the forest floor. Dirt kicked up around the rock just as two spears propelled from the right and embedded themselves into trees on the other side.

I checked for any other booby traps, and when I trusted that there weren't anymore, I proceeded. I was careful to avoid the poisonous vines as I slipped a long-bladed machete from my pack, slicing at the vines in front of me until they split into an opening.

I watched out for the yellow buds as I stepped through the portal I had created and into a dark cave. The only light source in the cave was the opening I had made and a few minor cracks overhead. Besides the thin streams, the cave was drenched in darkness. I took a flashlight out from the side pocket of my cargo pants and flipped it on, scanning my surroundings.

There were Chinese characters carved into the walls, probably from the man Oliver had told me about– Yao Fei. He had been one of Oliver's mentors and saved his life when he first washed up on the island. The hood Oliver wore was once Yao Fei's and Oliver wore it to honor the man's memory.

There were makeshift cots and even small cages fashioned out of flexible, thin branches and dried out vines. They had probably been used as traps for birds. Weapons made of bamboo and nets made of twine and vines were littered throughout the cave.

In the corner of the room was a woven basket holding a cache of long, thin rods. I picked one up slowly and carefully examined it. A trimmed feather was knotted to the end. The stick was intentionally balanced and on the other end was a flat stone that had been hammered and ground into a point: an arrow.

I remembered the task at hand and tossed the arrow aside, beginning to root through the piles of junk stored away in the cave. I set the flashlight down to reflect light on the area while allowing me two hands to search. I rifled through a stack of bamboo staffs and small piles of cleaned animal bones.

Finally, under a tarp of patched-together fabric was a rickety wooden chest, like the one Oliver had brought back with arrows like the ones in the corner and other goodies from the island. The chest was locked, but the lock was old and deteriorating. I picked up the metal flashlight and bangs the rim on the lock a couple times. The mechanisms crumbled and I opened the chest easy enough.

Oliver had described to me what I was looking for, but I was no doctor or pharmacologist. I knew a little about army medicine, but these were all new to me. It didn't help they were in unlabeled, glass vials and jars rather than specifically marked orange prescription bottles.

I found a few that closely resembled what Oliver had told me to get and I stuffed them into a secure place in my pack, grabbing the flashlight and flicking it off before preparing to get the hell out of there and back to Karter.

Just as I turned around, I was startled by movement coming from the entrance of the cave. In stumbled the pilot, my old army buddy. He was battered and bruised and was limping something awful. He looked as though he had just picked a fight with one of the landmines and the landmine had won.

"Dig..." He muttered the best he could through his bloody and swollen mouth, "Help me..."

Oliver's POV:

I hurried to the hospital and easily surpassed the nurses and doctors to get to Karter's room. When I reached the hallway, a sudden panic tore through my chest when I saw an army of nurses flooding out of her room.

I sped to the door, watching the nurses leave. Finally, Dr. Lamb stepped out, draping his stethoscope around his neck. I caught his arm and attempted to glance around him, but I couldn't see Karter from outside the door.

"What's going on?!" I demanded, staring at the doctor for answers I desperately needed.

Dr. Lamb answered, but I could tell he was growing impatient with the constant demands from me, as well as Tommy. I had heard Tommy had been giving Dr. Lamb a hard time and asking a lot of questions. "Miss Mitchell just had a minor seizure, but she's awake and stable for now." Dr. Lamb assured me.

"A seizure, what does that mean for her?" I questioned, practically interrogating the doctor.

"It means her condition is worsening. The curare is working faster than we expected." He said and I felt even more anxious than I had before. Karter had already survived longer than anyone with curare in their system ever should have.

"How much time does she have left?" She should have already been dead by now.

"Mr. Queen, I would prefer not to–"

"How much time?" I interrupted, my voice sharp and urgent.

Dr. Lamb sighed. "The seizure indicates that the toxin has spread significantly throughout her body. I would give her a few hours. Five or six, at the most." I closed my eyes, taking a deep breathing as I hung my head. Five hours. I could potentially only have five more hours with Karter, the woman I had known since I was just a kid.

It was my fault that Karter had been shot at the stock auction. She should have never been there. It was all my fault she was in that hospital bed with only a few hours left to live. Diggle was right. I had to talk to her.

"I'll leave you to say your goodbyes." The doctor said carefully and proceeded down the hall.

I took a deep breath before stepping into the room. I tried not to remember that it could be the last time I saw her.