Island Rush (Sample)

Chapter 14

It took Mr. Rush a few tries to get the vine to wrap up and around the stem – and actually, get it to stay. But when it did, I played my part well. I grabbed the other end as it swung around the stem and then came to stand at his side. Each of us holding an end, I stared up at the stem holding the bananas. This better work. That was a ton of bananas, and my stomach was starting to get demanding.

"Pull hard when I say."

"Kay," I said, a smile tugging at my lips.

"Okay," he corrected with a small laugh, knowing I did that on purpose. It was fun to see this side of him. Being an English teacher, he couldn't help it even when in a situation like this. "Now, pull!"

Both my hands gripped the vine, ready. After he had said those words, I tugged back as hard as I could with him. The stem broke in no time with the force. The cluster fell to the ground, but that wasn't the only thing.

Unfortunately, though we both knew it would snap easily, we hadn't expected it to happen so quickly. That was why we fell back and hit the ground. I glanced beside me to his stunned face and could imagine mine mirrored his. His expression was priceless, and I couldn't keep my laughter back.

He kept the expression glued there as I laughed, blinking a few times before turning slowly towards me. It made me laugh harder. He stared at me with wide eyes; he really hadn't expected that. Soon, he was laughing just as hard with me as we both got back on our feet.

We walked over, and he picked up the bananas, all still hitched together in a huge cluster. It made my stomach twist in need as I watched him pull two off, one for each of us. They didn't look ripe enough, but we didn't care. We settled under a tree in the shade where the feast of a lifetime began. When I peeled back the rubbery shell as he did the same with his, I knew this was going to be good. And when I sunk my teeth into it... dear god, I can't express how wonderful it felt and tasted. I loved bananas and being so hungry made it that much better. I made sure it lasted and to not shove the whole thing down my throat like I wanted to.

"It was foolish to think there wasn't more food than we originally thought. We need to keep our eyes open."

I bit off another delicious piece, forcing myself to take my time to chew and swallow. "Well, we got berries, bananas, coconuts, and fish on this island. What else do you think there is?"

"A lot could be seafood. Oysters, crabs, and lobsters if we are lucky enough to find them. It would be easier than chasing fish down, that's for sure. But fish are still essential. Plus I am sure there are more fruits."

I nodded in agreement to that. "Any animals outside of the ones who spend the majority of their time swimming?"

"We haven't come across any yet, other than the birds we see. We can eat birds if we can catch them. That seems too hard to bother with, though, and they are small. But this place is big. There are probably other animals here."

I thought over all those options for food as I finished my banana. How much were we missing? We had no idea where we were so we had no idea of what could be living and growing here. All we could do was continue on since we can't live off the dew forever. We needed to find the creek and with that, I was positive we would find more food.

"I won't be worried about food for a while," I said, nodding to the bananas. There had to be maybe a little less than a dozen left. "The only pain is we are going to have to carry them."

"I can handle that, it won't be too bad if you can carry the spear."

That's exactly what we did as we continued on. Thankfully, the bananas weren't budging from the stem so Mr. Rush managed to carry it with just one hand. Having left the leaf cone behind after agreeing we could just make another, our load was not bad. Whether we were carrying stuff or not, though, the late evening heat started beating us down more and making it worse. Even the shade couldn't provide much relief.