Infection of the Soul

2

Gabrielle

A week or two passed, the wounds on our bodies beginning to fester. With each passing day, I felt worse and worse, the burning morning sunshine and the humid, hot nights driving me mad. We were starving, fruit barely keeping us awake at the moment, and our last rations of fresh water, bottles that had survived the plane crash, were gone.

Even though they looked, the guys still hadn't found any other survivors. At this point, the only thing they did now was fish, hunt and gather food and water. We barely made it through the last two weeks and more often than not, we went without eating.

One day, when I woke up, the sky was bright with light from the sun, warming the entire beach like it never had before. It wasn't brutal like the other days, the days where sitting outside for too long risked severe sunburn.

Alice was still sleeping, her wound looking more ghastly then it had the night before and when I looked outside to get some water, the boys were gone. I shifted slightly, my leg groaning with pain as I moved it, hot pulses of blood oozing out from the broken, moderately scabbed skin. Even after two weeks the wound hadn't healed much...

I sighed and propped myself up against the rough bark of the coconut tree behind me, waiting for the pain to stop. It had been nearly twenty minutes until it did. I heard a slight movement in the bushes around us, immediately making me pop my head out of our hut.

There was nothing to be seen.

"Gabby?" I heard, Alice shifting slightly in front of me. Her cheeks were lightly colored, eyes strained with worry. "You're awake?" She went to move forward, a rush of air clogging her lungs in a gasp, her hand immediately clutching her wound. Blood spewed out between her fingers, her eyes wide with pain.

"Don't move!" I hissed, my guard still up from the sounds outside. "The wound is going to break open again unless you stay still." She took a few deep breaths and crawled, weakly, outside the hut. "Alice!" I practically yelled.

"Holy shit," a meek sounding voice said. "Guys! Guys, I found them! They're alive!" Footsteps sounded all around the hut, a familiar, brown haired boy's face peeking in. He resembled a pet mouse, in that nerdy, cute sort of way.

"Tobi?" I asked, my voice squeaking. "What... what the hell are you doing out here?" He smiled lightly.

"When the reports of the plane crash got to the news, they sent out tons of boats to the ocean to try and find you guys. They had over five thousand miles to search," He forced a laugh, sitting down in front of me. "Noah was a near wreck when he found out and when one of our neighbors was volunteering to help, we all met up to find you guys." I felt hot tears slide down my face.

"There's a boat?" My voice cracked, my lip slightly quivering. "We can leave now?"

"Yes. Yes we can." Tobi looked over me once, his face paling at the sight of my injury. "Sheesh, you're a mess." He said, trying to play it off as if it was nothing.

"Who else is here?"

"Christina, Kylee, Noah and me."

"Did the others get back yet?"

"Others?"

"Jason, Daniel and Tom..."

"They survived?" he asked, astounded.

"Yeah. We've been with them since it all happened." Tobi bit his lip, his expression causing my heart to drop.

"We haven't seen them..."

"We can't just leave without them!" I squeaked, grabbing Tobi's arm. When I realized what I did, I snatched it back. "Sorry..."

"No, no, it's fine. I understand." He sighed, "I'll go let everyone know we have to wait a bit for them." I swallowed, my throat as dry as sandpaper. I suppose it was my expression that signaled I was thirsty because right after that Tobi handed me a bottle of water.

"I already drank from it, but I can see you need it more than I do. Don't mind the germs." I smiled and thanked him, watching as he left the hut.

"Alice?" a panicked, deeper voice asked. "Alice, what's wrong?"

"Tobi!" A girl yelled, "Tobi come here! We need your help!" The loud pounding of footsteps could be heard, panicked voices erupting outside.

I shoved myself up and crawled out, a ginger haired man holding Alice's limp body in his arms, blood gushing onto him from her side. His glasses covered blue eyes were wide with panic, scanning her face for any signs of life.

He found none.

"We need to get her back to Joey's boat," Tobi said as the man stood up. Alice was nestled against his chest, her own slightly moving with her breathing. Before I could blink he took off in a sprint.

"I'll meet you guys there!" He called, his voice fading into the forest. Tobi looked back to me, distressed.

"Holy shit!" Another voice from the woods said. "Dan, Tom, I found Tobi!"

"Tobi?" Daniel asked from behind him. Jason turned and the other two boys, dried blood from a speared rabbit staining their skin, looked out at the scene before them.

"Oh my god..." Tom said. "How...?"

"Not now," Tobi interrupted, walking over to me and putting half of me on his shoulder. "One of you... give me a hand please? We have an emergency and we need to get back to the boat."

"Boat?" Jason asked, joy lighting his features as he went over to help Tobi carry me.

"An emergency?" Tom asked, worried.

"Where's Alice?" Daniel asked, looking around.

"That's our emergency, dimwit." Tobi hissed. "Let's go."