Vengeance Island

https://www.eclectica.org/v21n3/boroff.html

The novella was reviewed in the literary magazine "Prick of the Spindle:

"...set in a desolate wintertime Alaska...author Linda Boroff expertly braids well-developed plot, vivid setting, and exceptional lyricism by using utterly raw prose to echo the raw landscape."

Synopsis

MEGHAN is a pretty college girl traveling up to meet her boyfriend, CLIFF, a law student interning for six months with the Alaska Public Defender office. On the plane, she meets KITTY, who has just gotten out of prison after taking the fall for her abusive boyfriend DUKE's cocaine possession. She is now fleeing to Alaska to escape him.

The two women drink away their fear of the stormy flight and share their life stories. When they land, Meghan gives Kitty her boyfriend Cliff's phone number in Anchorage.

Meghan takes a secretarial job in Anchorage for another lawyer. She realizes: "From the moment you arrive, Alaska tests you in ways that you never see coming."

As winter nears, Meghan notices that "the change of seasons is having an odd effect on Cliff: The shrinking daylight makes him jittery, and he tries to squeeze more and more activity into less and less time."

One Saturday morning, Cliff gets a call that Kitty's boyfriend Duke has been arrested for beating her up. To Cliff, this is a perfect opportunity to show off his growing courtroom skills by getting Duke freed on his "own recognizance."

He succeeds --- whereupon Duke returns home and beats Kitty to death.

From the novella: "Within minutes of murdering Kitty, Duke was on the phone, feeling remorseful, helpless and sorry for himself, as well as hungry. He should never have been let out, Duke wailed to the arriving deputies as they handcuffed him. That inexperienced little shit of a public defender cost Kitty her life, didn’t they see?"

To help the traumatized Cliff regain his confidence, his boss dispatches him to a tiny native village called Angoon, outside Juneau. Cliff invites Meghan along for companionship  and sightseeing. Cliff's task is to interview the family of a child molestation victim: The Chief’s young daughter was raped by the chief’s brother. The tribe wants the state of Alaska to take over the case to avoid vendetta and perhaps murder in retribution.

But the family of the victim does not understand that Cliff is there to defend the villain --- not to prosecute him. They welcome Cliff and Meghan as allies. They even allow Cliff to interview the little girl victim, a major breach of ethics.

Meghan remains silent. But she disapproves of Cliff's duplicity and fears it is setting him up for yet another tragedy.

Later that day, the weather turns threatening. The crusty bush pilot who has flown them to Angoon decides to try to make the return flight to Sitka. At 2 p.m. they take off into a stormy, darkening sky.

Soon, they are hopelessly lost. The pilot says he knows the route like the back of his hand. But they seem to be almost dragged or pushed off course. The pilot has no radio. Their Cessna 180 seaplane is soon forced down by the weather.

The three stumble through freezing slushy water to one of the many uninhabited islands. Here, Meghan shows off her Girl Scout skills by building a fire, but they are in deep trouble. The storm could go on for days, and this area has one of highest bear and wolf populations in Alaska.

The pilot shows Meghan how to use the rusty 30.06, and they make torches from resin-filled bushes. They chew jerky in the survival kit.

Night falls quickly. As the dark intensifies, they see eyes circling the fire and hear bizarre howling. Panicked, they rush back in the sleet storm to the plane and attempt to take off. But they cannot, and in the impact of landing, the pilot is injured.

Something does not want them to escape the island. 

Cliff and Meghan drag the pilot back to the nearly gutted fire, and she manages to get it going again.

While Cliff tries to sleep, Meghan gazes into the darkness holding the gun (she has never fired a gun in her life). She thinks about Kitty and  about the crime they have just investigated on Angoon. The native people had welcomed them warmly, not aware that Cliff was there to free the abuser, not prosecute him. Cliff let the misunderstanding persist. 

Amidst the storm, the woods suddenly come alive with howling. The nearby bushes shake violently. The pilot guesses that they may have disturbed the boundaries of a hunting or burial ground. But Meghan thinks that the spirits are angry at them for misleading the family of the little girl.

Suddenly, Cliff, who has dozed off, awakens screaming. He rises and dashes off into the bushes. Meghan and the pilot go after him. All around are flashes of bizarre light as the storm intensifies. Meghan and the pilot return to the camp. As the long night wears on, the pilot gets out a bottle of whisky and gets drunk. Meghan dozes, but awakens to the pilot attacking her. She fights him off, but doesn't dare sleep. He keeps drinking, and the night wears on.

When the short day breaks, gray and freezing cold, Meghan sets off into the woods with the gun, calling for Cliff. When she returns, the pilot attacks her again and tries to rape her. Suddenly, he is seized by something and dragged out of the campsite screaming. Horrible noises follow. Then silence. Meghan is now alone.

She cannot fly the plane. Again the storm intensifies. Suddenly, Cliff stumbles back into the campsite. He refuses to explain what happened  

As night falls again, Cliff leaves the campsite and returns with a bloody dead deer. Meghan screams and Cliff slaps her face. He then eats the meat raw. Meghan finally cooks a piece of it, to keep up her strength.

A wolf pack descends on the campsite and Meghan drags the deer carcass out to them,. The wolves circle and sniff at the terrified Meghan but don't hurt her. They take the carcass and leave, Cliff returns and gnaws at the carcass of a rabbit.

Cliff tells Meghan that it has been decided by Native spirits that they must remain until he has expiated his sins. When they hear the engine of a plane overhead during a lull in the weather, Cliff stamps out the fire and ties Meghan up, covering her with brush to hide her, then hides away himself. 

Desperate, Meghan manages to free herself. She and Cliff fight, and he menaces Meghan with a knife, but is suddenly grabbed from behind and hurled away. Every time he tries to approach her, something gets between them. It finally knocks him unconscious and Meghan ties him up. In a dreamlike trance, she hears Kitty telling her to go back to the plane. As she nears the plane, she hears the rescue plane again dipping low to look at it. She desperately shouts and waves. The rescue plane lands on its pontoons and picks them all up, returning them to Sitka.

When Meghan sets foot on the wooden pier, she gets down on her knees and kisses it. But Cliff insists tht he must return to Angoon and confess tht he lied. As Meghan boards a Grumman Goose for the trip back to Anchorage, she sees Cliff getting into another Cessna to return to Angoon to confess his lies and beg forgiveness. They embrace and Cliff gets into the plane and flies off.