Asiatica 5679

ACT SEVEN

Survival Inlet, Kakete Island, Chimei Archipelago

The waves crashed against the Island's shores. The sound was peaceful, serene, a far cry from the ravaging waters of the storm last night. Florence stood atop a small rock, overlooking the island just off the coast. The small island was nowhere near the size of the island they were stuck on, and had much steeper cliffs with only minimal vegetation on it. It looked almost windswept, terrible for hair. Florence was glad they were on this island and not the other one. 

Florence was dressed in a blazer, sunglasses, black high heel boots, a blouse and some flared pants. Her hair was in a pony tail and she was adorned with various pieces of gold jewellery, which shone in the morning sun. "Watcha looking at?" 

Florence looks down at the beach below her, to see Mercer shielding their eyes from the sun and looking back up at her. "That island," she answers. "And what a miserable place it looks to be."

"Are you ready to head off?" Mercer questions. 

"Who else is coming?" 

"You, me, Eli, Trinity, Lucy and Rylan, at this point," replies Mercer. "Some of the others might tag along if they see us going though."

"Wonderful, lets head off, that way right?" Florence motions up the beach. 

"Yeah, I'd say so. A couple of the others have gone the other way back towards the crash zone, so I think we should head this way instead."

Florence and Mercer begin walking up the beach, and the others catch up with them. The beach snakes around, past the little island, and up further north. Parrots and seabirds caw and holler at one another from the trees. "What do you think we're going to do?" Mercer asks Florence, as they walk.

"What do you mean, like, in general, or on this walk?" Florence responds.

"Well, both, I guess."

"Well on this walk I suppose I'd like to find something interesting. Food, water, shelter, I guess. In general, we shall have to see, won't we?" 

They continue onward, the beach wrapping around, and inward toward a mangrove forest. The six teens stop before the semi-submerged forest, and look into it. The mangroves are dense, and there seems to be no way through them that would not require wading through knee-high water. "Hell no we aren't doing this," Florence finally announces. "Let's just go through the forest." 

The group turn and head inland, through the not-submerged rainforest which coats the island. It is wet, a little muggy, but quite cool. The forest is filled with cycads and palms, fig trees and ferns. At one point they stop to admire a small monkey in a bush. It screams at them in response. 

After a short while, they emerge back out onto another beach. There is mangroves to their right, and so they head left, to leave the swampy trees behind. The beach here wraps around, creating a sort of large U-shape, with the mangroves on the right side, and the beach continuing onward to the left. 

"What the fuck is that?" Rylan stops and points toward a moving shape on the beach. The shape darts back and forth, barely distinguishable against the sand. 

"That looks like a crab Rylan!" Elijah announces, mocking his friend. Sure enough the large orange crab picks itself up to reveal a large set of pincers. It stares at the group, and taps its pincers. They stare back, unsure of what to do. 

"Guys just go around it, come on," Mercer announces, striding forward towards the crustacean. In response, it darts towards them, attempting to grab their shoe. Mercer retreats and Rylan giggles. The crab returns itself to sifting through the sand, searching for morsels of food to eat.