My Name is Thea Queen, I Am the Arrow

Alan Durand

"Hey. Drink." I say strongly to Slade as I lift a cup to his mouth.

Slade tries to hold in his panting and coughing as he chugs the fluids. Slade turns his head away from me and spits it out.

"That tastes like dirt." Slade complains, his voice scratchy and wavering.

"You've got to stay hydrated, okay?" I reason.

"Hydration is not my problem. My problem is getting a bullet dug out of my arm with a dull blade." Slade snaps.

"Let me take a look." I say.

I peal back the gauze covering Slade's bullet wound and I immediately feel queasy.

"Oh, I'm gonna puke." I groan as I cover it back up.

"It's infected. Go figure." He huffs.

"Yeah, uh, I have to stop that before it spreads." I say as I stand up.

"When you swing by the drugstore for those antibiotics you want to get me a copy of "Maxim" or maybe a "Sports Illustrated"?" Slade says sarcastically with a slight laugh as I pick up a knife.

"Yao Fei had these super herbs back in the cave that'd heal anything. Alright, I'm gonna go get get them." I say strongly.

"You're not gonna last an hour out there." Slade pants as he tries to get up.

"Well, I guess you better hope I get back in 45 minutes then." I smile nervously as I push him down gently and make run out of the plane wreck.

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As I enter the cave, I look around and memories of my time here try to overwhelm me. I push these memories and feelings down, remembering why I'm here and begin looking for the herbs. I smile to myself as I find the small bag of herbs and tuck it into my jacket. As I go to stand up and leave, I hear coughing. I immediately jump back and aim the flash light in that area.

"Who's there?" I ask firmly though I'm afraid.

"Help me." A bloody and bruise man begs as he tries to stand to his feet but collapses on his knees instead.

"Who are you?" I ask as I slowly inch towards him.

"My name is Alan Durand. I'm an, I'm an exchange student. I was on a fishing excursion with my class. We got lost and our boat caught fire. We had, uh, was some mechanic malfunction. We had to jump ship." Alan explains, almost crying as he does so.

"When?" I ask.

"2 days ago. It was awful. I thought I was gonna die." Alan sobs.

"Where are the other students? Where's the boats crew, huh?" I push.

"I think I'm the only one who made it. I managed to get to shore. I thought I was lucky, but-." He tries to explain.

"There is no luck out here. So what? Somebody found you? Soldiers or-?" I ask.

"Yes! Yes, they had theses masks on and they attacked me and beat me. They left me here! Who are they? You can untie me at any point, by the way." Alan cries.

I look at him suspiciously and I'm at a crossroads. What do I do with Alan? And, can he be trusted?

"I don't know when these men are coming back! You have to believe me. Untie me, please! What, what, do you think these men they, they planted me here, some kind of trap or something?" Alan cries.

"I don't know! Well, why'd they, why'd they tie you up like that and then just leave you, huh? Why not just kill you?" I ask.

"They were going to, they got called away at some, some altercation somewhere else on the island. If they come back, they will kill both of us! Please, you have to believe me. Please." Alan begs.

"Alright, turn around, alright, turn, turn around." I stumble out with a shaky voice.

"Thank you." He sobs.

As I lean down and take out my knife, I go to cut the rope bounding Alan's hands. But, I hesitate. I think about Alan's story, I think about Yao Fei and his lessons, I think about Slade and his hard knocks.

"I'm sorry, but I can't." I say softly as I pull the knife away from the ropes.

"What? Why? Why not?" He asks as I stand up to my feet and back away from him.

"Because I don't know you." I sigh.

"Are you out of your mind? You can't do this! You can't just leave me here!" Alan screams as I leave.

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I stand to the side, captivated in my own thoughts as Slade drinks the herbs.

"Ah, it tastes like an ashtray but it does the job. I owe you one." Slade sighs.

I nod, still trapped in my memory of everything that happened with Alan.

"You didn't get into any trouble out there, did you, kid?" Slade asks carefully.

"Hm? No, not a bit." I smile reassuringly.

Author's Note: vote and comment what you think! What would you have done in Thea's position??? I honestly I have no idea, but Alan's story did seem fishy to me. Comment what you think!