The Island

11. Pros and Cons

Jordyn

Sam grabs my elbow and jerks me towards the treeline.

"Stay!" he barks at Kaia, and she nods in agreement.

I stumble along behind him, coddling my cut arm.

He leads me back through the trees to the little stream of water. Then, wiith a forceful shove, he tosses my elbow towards the ground. I have no choice but to fall onto my knees.

"What's wrong with you?" I ask in whispered tones as I glare up at him.

"Wash that off," he says. His voice returns to its normal soft tone. "You don't want it to get infected."

He kneels down in the leaves beside me and watches as I scoop handfuls of water up to my arm. It might be easier to dunk my entire arm in, but I can't bring myself to do that. Even though the logical side of my brain tells me this stream is harmless, the current could sweep me away. It's enough water to drown in, and so, it's enough to scare me away.

"Why did you drag me out here?" I ask, rubbing some of the dried blood off my face and jumpsuit.

"We need to talk about that deal," he says.

"What's there to talk about? You're going to go back out there and slice them both up, and then, we are going back to the alcove to hide."

Sam looks down at the ground and begins to draw circles with his finger in the loose dirt.

"I don't really want to kill them," he says in an even softer voice. It's almost a child's. "I was just putting on a tough face. Didn't want 'em to know how little of a threat we really are."

I groan.

"They can't be trusted, Sam. They're complete strangers."

"That shoe fits you, too, Jordyn. I didn't know you before we became partners."

I bite my lip and let my arm fall down into my lap.

He's so right that it hurts. We're all strangers.

Yet, I don't want another set of partners. They're two more sets of hands to stab me in the back, two more mouths to whisper threats in my mind, and two more sets of fists to punch me with. I've just grown used to Sam, and now, he's opening the festering wounds that line the scar tissue around my inner being.

"They could kill us in our sleep," I mutter feebly, my hands shaking.

"But they can feed us," Sam replies as he reaches to grab my hands. I jerk away from him, and he continues, "I know you're hungry. I hear your stomach growling."

I clamp my hands over my stomach and grimace.

"Yeah, but that's two more mouths to share that food with," I say.

Sam searches my face, opens and closes his mouth a few times, and sighs.

"They can defend us," he says softly.

"So can you."

"Not from everything, Jordy. There are things I can't spear to death. Those monkeys? I couldn't nail one down unless it sat still. The blood birds? If they ever attack us, we're out of luck."

"Have a little confidence," I whisper.

"I have plenty of confidence," he whispers back, "but I know my limits. So do you. You're not strong; you're fast. You can't keep outrunning everything."

I scrunch up my face at his words. He's observant. First, he figured out I'm afraid of water, and now, he's found my strength. Did he know before I did?