When 17 young adults find themselves on a deserted island, they must build a life from the ground up. Being stranded means hard days, cold nights, dangerous waters and mysterious events where the castaways must learn to survive. Despite the inevita...
My minor knowledge about computer science granted me my position of "helper" in trying to start the comms system. I worked beside Oliver, a ginger haired guy and Madeline, a brunette girl that was only a couple years older than me.
They tinkered with the comms system and kept asking me to go get them tools from the cupboards. We sat in the meeting room with an open roof above us from where it fell on top of Amara. The excess light established a better workspace for them to understand how to receive a live frequency. In all honesty, I had spent the last couple of hours flirting with Maddy and watching her giggle whilst Oliver got more and more frustrated by my presence.
Tomorrow, all three of us would venture out and try and find any working cameras. At least then we would know that this was an actual experiment and we didn't just get dragged in under false pretenses. I think everyone was just reminding themselves of the eight thousand dollar paycheck they would receive at the end of this, and somehow... somehow, that made it slightly less cruel.
The meeting room still smelt like Amara's blood and the fear it brought us yesterday, but none of us brought it up. There was a lot on all our minds, but we persevered. We pushed. It was only day fucking two.
"So Mads, what do you say you let me take you out for some carpaccio and ciabatta when we get back home," I smirked. Distractions were good.
Madeline looked up at me from beneath her lashes and blushed, giggling a soft sound again. I was literally doing nothing. Just watching as both of them fidgeted around with the internal system of the device. "Why don't you just say Italian food?" she grinned.
"Where's the fucking romance?" I winked at her. She just shook her head and smiled, looking back down at the work table.
"Why don't you just take the hint and stop taking?" Oliver grumbled. I suppose he thought he said that in his head.
I turned to him and mocked a dramatic scoff, "Where's the fucking loyalty?"
Without moving his head, his eyes pinned mine, and I got the sudden feeling that I had probably overstayed my welcome. Probably.
"Alright, I'm going to see if Cortland needs anything," I stood from my seat on the table and turned to head towards the door. Before leaving I grinned back at Madeline, "you know where you can find me, beautiful."
Oliver let out a deep groan.
If I thought I wasn't needed in the meeting room, it was the exact opposite when I entered the infirmary. Cortland practically shoved all his utensils, cloths and bowls into my arms the moment I entered.
"I need you to take these down to the ocean and rinse them." He said in a low whisper. I turned to see Amara sleeping and nodded. "They need to be sterilized or she'll catch an infection."
"Sir, yes, sir." I mumbled. I felt like a weight. All I was good for was washing the fucking dishes. But I guess that was better than not being needed at all. I stabilized my arms underneath all the supplies and made my way out the door.
When I reached the ocean, I saw Diana knelt down in the shallow waters pushing something down into the water. I strode my way to her and looked down to see her washing a pile of clothes in the salt. I dropped all of Cortland's supplies next to her and she turned and smiled when she saw me. I liked Diana. She didn't say much but it was a comfortable silence she lived in.
"Hey," I greeted her. "Did you get put on helper duty too?" Selfishly, that made me feel better, if I wasn't the only one on this island without an actual job.
"Pardon?" she looked down at the supplies that were now floating in the sea. "Oh no, I just gathered everyone's grimy clothes from the bunkers and decided I would wash them myself."
Well then. It really does suck to suck.
I huffed out a breath and then dropped my knees to the sand bed. The water was slightly frothy and I could feel the saline tinge my nostrils. The water seemed gentle, like it didn't speak the language of humans, but the way it surrounded Diana was almost as if it was comforting her. Like she had taken the time to learn how to be gentle, and now they both spoke the fluency of silence.
I could see the small fish swim beneath the pale surface. They all probably had important jobs to do in their fish hierarchy. "Do fish even have hierarchies?" I mumbled.
"Sorry?" she said.
I shook my head and told her not to mind. Even I didn't know what I was saying.
I started rinsing the bowls and the fabrics, watching as Amara's blood suddenly made the water angry. I tried keeping the red away from Diana. I pushed it ahead of me and let the waves take care of it. A bowl had started to escape and move away, in front of me. I sighed and went to reach for it but something else caught my sight in the distance.
I glowered against the sunlight and squinted to get a better view. In an instant, a surge of hope bloomed within my lungs and I couldn't breathe. It looked like a raft. A small boat, maybe. I reached for Diana but she was already looking in that direction.
"Diana, is that" I felt my nerves on edge. God, please be "a boat?"
Diana moved further into the water, leaving the bundle of clothes that floated behind her. Her golden hair was slightly wet and I saw her start to shake her head softly. "It's too small," she whispered softly. Repeated, "it's too small to be a boat, Rem."
Then she suddenly looked down at her knees where the water reached and frowned. I saw something metal glint against the light and she reached down and picked whatever it was up. I moved closer to see it was a small silver ring, encasing a red ruby.
I saw her inhale sharply before dragging her gaze up at the object in the distance. "Oh my god." For the first time, she was loud enough that I heard her urgency, her sudden panic. Confused, I reached out toward her. She clutched her hand to her open mouth and I saw the tears start to shadow her dark blue eyes.
I unexpectedly felt the need to console her, I parted my lips to ask her what was wrong when I saw it.
The object in the distance drew closer. Only, it wasn't an object at all. It wasn't something that was floating ashore, washing up inland. It was a someone.
It was a lifeless body.
"Penny," a sob broke from Diana's lips.
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A/N: I really think that the song linked above sets the mood for the entire book ;)
