Stranded - Day 1
#3 of Stranded
Chapter 2! :o
Good morning everyfur! As promised from my journal update from last night I got up this morning and finished up the next chapter of Stranded from last night and I'm going to start writing Silent Soul here in a bit. It's the start of day 1 on the island for our friends, and who knows what lies inside the dark jungle in the center of the island. Guess you'll just have to go read and find out! Hope you enjoy and I'll see you at the bottom of the page! :D
"Alright so if we want any chance of getting off this island we need to make ourselves noticeable to passing ships. That's going to be our best chance." I explained to Lauren who listened attentively. We were both seated on the shore, the rolling waves lapping at our feet.
"How are we going to do that? There isn't much for us to work with here. Doesn't help that this fog is still hanging around." The Lab commented. I frowned slightly as I glanced around, the thick fog that had obscured our vision causing the collision with the rocks still lingered above, effectively blocking out any sunlight that tried to penetrate the blanket.
"That's a good point, the fog definitely isn't on our side. Our best bet is going to be to try to find some kind of banner or cloth preferably, or if worst comes to worst some palm fronds tied across two big sticks. Anything that doesn't look normal is going to stick out like a sore thumb to anyone passing by." I replied.
"What about food and water? Those sandwiches from earlier won't last long." She exclaimed. "Hope you like coconuts!" I cheered mock enthusiastically, trying to lighten the mood. Luckily I managed to get a smile out of the canine.
"I do thankfully, maybe this won't be all bad." She replied optimistically.
"Alright, do you want to split up?" I asked. "That's what I was wondering. Although it would probably help get things done a little quicker we still have no idea what could be on this island. We might not be the only ones on this island." She responded.
"Another good point, we could do a little bit of exploring just to see what we're up against I guess." I suggested.
"Yeah that's fine, which way do you wanna go?" I asked. The lab covered her eyes with a paw in response, making a show of herself by spinning around multiple times.
"Eenie meenie that way!" She threw an arm out nearly striking me. Her finger ended up pointing directly back towards the ocean getting a chuckle out of me.
"No that's okay, I've had enough water for one day Lauren. Come on, let's go." I grabbed her paw leading her down the beach, allowing her to lean on me as she regained her footing from the spinning.
"I'd always dreamed of a nice walk down the beach on a deserted island. Not exactly the circumstances I would have imagined but this'll just have to do I guess." She commented humorously. I was glad she was managing to stay in good spirits, but I also worried she wasn't taking the situation seriously enough. We had no food, no water, and no timetable for rescue, if there was even going to be a rescue.
I decided it would be best to let her try to stay positive and let the gravity of the situation sink in on its own pace, knowing that it would be difficult to accomplish anything with a cloud of depression and pessimism hanging over everything we did.
"So just for future reference, where else would you like to go that doesn't involve us having to go on a boat?" I asked her curiously. I hadn't known she even wanted to go to the Bahamas until she begged me to bring her along with her in the first place.
"Well, I've always wanted to visit England. I'd love to see Buckingham Palace." She admitted, taking me by surprise when she said she wanted to visit my home country.
"Yeah, it is pretty cool. I went a few times with my parents so I've seen most of it, but it would be cool to get to explore the Palace with someone who's never been." I commented.
"Why did your parents want to move out of England anyways? I've heard the education system there is so much better than here." Lauren questioned.
"Don't get them wrong, my parents loved to flaunt the fact that they were rich. But they caught on to how it was affecting me in terms of social status and they tried to remedy that by trying to give me a more normal life. It kind of backfired though when they decided to show up at open house wearing their nicest clothes." I replied.
"Oh yeah I remember that. You were so embarrassed!" Her laugh was contagious, getting a chuckle out of me as well at her comment.
"Sometimes I wish that I'd never moved here, maybe things could have worked out there." I exclaimed quietly. Then, offering a soft smile to my companion I continued. "But then I never would have had the chance to meet you." I finished. I didn't notice her blush because of her black fur, and my smile widened when she reached out with her paw and squeezed one of my own.
"That means a lot Nick, I'm definitely glad you moved here. I can't even imagine how my life would have ended up without you here." She admitted, tail wagging happily behind her. Even though we were having a pleasant conversation I still had my eyes peeled for anything that could be of use. The island itself didn't seem like it was all that big, judging by how sharply the coast curved along the water.
If I had to give the vaguest of all guesses with little to no information about the island I would have suggested maybe a mile or two wide in any direction. Certainly nothing overwhelming by most islands standards, but it was enough to have us fairly worn out by the time we'd made it halfway around the island. I was slightly apprehensive while we were walking as I noticed a distinct lack of coconuts for a tropical island, meaning one of two things; they either just didn't grow very much on this particular island, which was known to happen occasionally, or they'd been eaten by somebody else.
"Want to take a break?" I asked the Lab who'd begun lag behind me slightly. She nodded in response, panting slightly as I lead her towards a couple of rocks on the line where the sand ended and grass started.
"Thank you." She exclaimed, plopping down onto one of the rocks.
"So, not so bad yet right?" I commented taking a seat next to her, pulling one of my legs up towards my body to get comfortable.
"Yeah, yet." She replied, sighing deeply as she stared out across the empty ocean. "Do you think they know what happened yet?" She asked quietly.
"Doubtful, although the coast guard in West End where we were supposed to be docking should be somewhat suspicious by now." I replied. Even though the statement sounded appealing, it really wasn't. More than likely the coast guard noted it down in the log that our ship was not on time and tossed it to the side. It probably will be a couple of days before they even contact Miami asking if we'd gone back, followed by contacting other ports to see if we'd just decided to dock somewhere else before they even realize that something might be up.
I didn't feel that it was necessary to mention as I didn't want to put any more stress on the Lab than needed. A loud thunder clap caused me to jump in surprise, my companion next to me yelping slightly indicating she was unprepared for the sudden noise as well. Glancing up to the sky I sighed taking note of the dark storm clouds that had gathered above us.
"We've got to try to find shelter. As soon as these clothes get wet it's going to be even more miserable for us." I explained to Lauren. Standing up from our resting spot I looked in towards the center of the island, the light grasses and shrubbery giving way to a thick tree line that blocked most of my vision.
"We can either try to keep going around the coast and hope we find a cave or something, or head inwards and have some cover in the trees." I debated, weighing the pros and cons of each choice. Our chances of finding a cave on such a small island were very small, but we had no idea what could be on the island which made the risk factor of going to the center of the island that much greater.
"I think we should just go in. If the second half of the beach is anything like the first then we'll just be wasting more time and energy walking for nothing." Lauren pointed out. I mulled her opinion over for a few moments, long striped tail waving about lazily behind me before nodding my head in agreement.
"Alright, in we go then." I led the way inland, already feeling the raindrops start to land against my white pelt.
The thick canopy helped to protect us slightly, but I could already feel my shirt growing damp again. It'd never had the chance to dry completely in the first place with the lack of sunlight, and the rain caused the temperature to drop slightly. I assumed the sun was on its way down and it wouldn't be long until we were plunged into darkness.
"Let's try to get back to the other side of the island quickly, we'll need as much sunlight as we can get if we want to build even a half decent shelter that's going to keep us off the ground. No telling what kind of creepy crawlies come out at night. We can camp out at the edge of the trees where we won't be in the actual jungle but still covered slightly." I explained.
"Sounds good." She replied. We trekked straight through the heart of the island, ears perked and eyes alert for anything out of the ordinary. The large jungle trees towered over us, twisting and turning and intertwining with each other to form the canopy above. It was very eerie, you would expect to hear the sounds of bugs buzzing and birds chirping, but the only things I could here were our footfall through the grass, the falling rain, and ever so faintly the sound of the ocean as we grew closer to the other side of the island once again.
We emerged from the greenery back out on to the beach where we'd washed ashore. I could still make out the white yacht on the other side of the rocks where we'd crashed. My parents would be furious but our only focus right now was to survive. I regretted not grabbing anything from the ship as it filled with water, and briefly considered swimming back out there to gather supplies, but after one quick glance at the rough waves crashing against the rocks I discarded the thought.
The last thing I needed was to drown or get swept out to sea and leave Lauren alone to fend for herself. Not that I doubted she could, but I definitely had more experience when it came to this kind of thing. Being rich had its perks, as I had the opportunity to go on vacations in places people could only dream of.
On one vacation in particular in the Philippines we got private lessons on basic survival skills, which is where I'd picked up the idea for making yourself noticeable as soon as possible. A flash of lightning tearing across the sky followed by another loud clap of thunder dampened those thoughts however. Nobody was going to be sailing in this, and it wasn't like they would be able to see us anyways because of the fog that still lingered above.
"We need to try to make some kind of shelter if we want to stay dry tonight. Try to gather a bunch of palm fronds, enough to cover us up and for us to lay on. If we can get off the ground we'll save ourselves a lot of heat." I explained to Lauren who nodded in response, leaving back towards the jungle to gather fronds. I remembered something from a survival TV show I'd watched previously where the host stated that "one layer below was worth two layers above", meaning that we would conserve much more heat by having something underneath us rather than on top like blankets.
I had no idea how to build a shelter out of sticks so our best bet was going to be to find two trees to sleep under where we could layer the palm fronds across the top as a makeshift roof. I walked down the other side of the beach opposite of the way we'd gone previously, surveying the tree line for a suitable shelter location.
I wasn't paying attention to where I was going which caused me great surprise when I heard the crinkle of plastic under my shoe. I was pleased as I picked up the old bottle that I'd stepped on, knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it later. Finally after a few more minutes of surveying the area I let my blue gaze rest on a pair of trees side by side, leaves hanging above that we could lay the fronds across.
Satisfied with the location I left the bottle at the base of one of the trees. I wanted to go walk the beach once again to try scavenge for anything else that could be of use. I gathered two more bottles, as well as a decent sized fishing line and a very study shell that would come in handy as well. Returning to the twin trees I sat down on the damp ground, setting my newly acquired materials in front of me.
I set the three bottles up against the base of one of the trees, trailing vines into each of them. The purpose would be to gather some of the rainwater that was currently falling. The small drip didn't seem like much but after a couple hours they will have collected a fair amount of water between the three, enough for a mouthful or two at least.
Next I turned my attention to the shell I'd picked up. I grabbed a few sticks that had been strewn about, testing to make sure they wouldn't break easily. Once I found one I was satisfied with I unsheathed one of my claws and carefully made a hole in the bottom of the shell. I cut one of the vines from the tree and peeled it away until it could fit in the hole I'd made in the shell. I tied the sharp shell to the sturdy stick, tying the vine tightly in a knot.
I gave the makeshift axe a few practice swings, grinning when it dug into the damp bark of one of the trees with ease. Satisfied with my work I decided it was time to find my companion so we could get this shelter built.
"Lauren!" I shouted, hoping she could hear me through the trees.
"What?" I heard her shout back.
"I found a spot, bring whatever fronds you've got to me!" I yelled in response.
"Okay, I'm on my way! Shout something one more time so I know where you're at!" I heard her reply.
"Something!" I snickered slightly after I shouted.
"Smart ass." I heard her voice shout closer, but I was unable to make out her figure through the darkness against the trees.
"What are you doing?" I heard Lauren's voice behind me. I felt my blood run cold, slowly turning around to face the Lab who was walking down the beach towards me.
"What...?" I whispered.
"Nick, who were you shouting at?" Lauren asked me, fear evident in her voice. Ice cold terror gripped my chest as I stared at Lauren, completely mind boggled by what had just happened.
"I don't think it was a 'who'... I think it was a 'what'." I said quietly, fur standing on end as I stared out into the dark jungle. I had no idea who or what was responding to me, but I now knew one thing for certain; we were not alone.
Dun dun dun! How's that for some drama? Looks like our friends are not alone on this island, and to think they trekked straight through the heart of the jungle where this thing could have been hiding! Makes for some spooky thoughts if you ask me. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you all later today for Silent Soul! Cya! :D