The Jungle

The Jungle floats by to our right, and 100 feet down to our left, the ocean. We keep running full speed ahead going nowhere and everywhere. They are gaining now. We run faster. My legs creak beneath me threatening to give way. I silently tell them to quiet, but they only seem to shout louder. A few feet ahead, Josh points to the right and dives into the trees. I pause for a moment before darting in after him. We duck and weave, twist and turn. My shoulder brushes against a branch. It is the only thing I feel over the booming throb of adrenaline. We cut a corner and Josh pulls further ahead. I think I'm slowing down, or maybe Josh is speeding up, I can't tell. I shake my head and try to catch up to him. We cut another corner, but Josh skids to a stop. I pull up next to him and look over his shoulder. The ground is gone. I turn around, ready to find another way, but there is nowhere else to go. They are here.

.........

    The floor sways as we come over the peak of the oncoming wave. Josh is knocked out on the deck. Jean and Liz occupy the bed in the master suite. We've been out here since yesterday morning. Josh had the great idea to "borrow" his parent's yacht for the day without checking the gas or battery. We spent half the day contemplating how we were supposed to get back to the mainland.

    Outside a storm is brewing off in the distance. Storm clouds circle the boat in a dark billow of smokey despair. The clouds cover the full moon and color the ocean black. The wall of dark destruction creeps closer, rumbling and rolling. I shake Josh awake and go inside to wake the others.

"What's the deal?" Josh complains from the patio.
"There's a storm and we need to discuss how we are going to avoid it, get up."

    Jean and Liz are the couple on this little cruise. Josh and Jean argued for hours on who was getting the master suite. Jean won, obviously. Josh wasn't getting anything on this horror excursion. I knock on the door and wait for an answer. When I don't hear a sound, I open the door a crack.

    The bed is messy and empty. I hurry to the bathroom door and search for the missing lovebirds in there. They're gone. I rush out to the deck and shake Josh back awake.

"Josh! Jean and Liz are gone!"

"God fucking damn it." Josh mumbles under his breath.

"What?" I ask, confused of his bad language.

"The life raft."

"You had a life raft and you didn't mention to tell us?" I exploded in exasperation.

"It's not big enough to fit four people."

I paced back and fourth thinking aloud.
"I can't believe they would strand us out here!" I yelled, pulling at my hair.

"Maybe they went to get help." Josh responds coolly.

"Sure Josh, they went to go get help without telling us they were taking the life raft. That makes a lot of sense. So while they go get us our help, let's just sit back and chill without any food or water and no god damned life raft! And what are we going to do about this fucking storm?"

Josh flops back down on the patio chair and pulls the covers over him.
"Just go back to sleep and let it pass. We'll discuss how to get back to the mainland tomorrow."

    I pace around the deck few more times before eventually laying back down, defeated. I could feel the yacht sway back and forth, as if willing me to sleep.

    I wake up on a beach and my head screams in agony. I spit some sand out of my mouth and turn onto my side. My vision clears from the bright sunlight and my eyes meet with a blue faced Jean. I scream and jump back in horror. The gruesome sight causes me to empty my stomach into the sand beside me, tears welling in the corner of my eyes. When I was finished revisiting my pitiful dinner from the previous night, I turned to look my late friend in his cold lifeless eyes. His body is blue and black and there are chunks of flesh missing all over his body, almost like bite marks. An animal must have found him last night. Tears well in my eyes again and a choked sob catches in my throat, regret settling like a cold brick in my chest as I remember cursing him for taking the life raft just hours before. I look around at the wreckage and scan the horizon. I don't see Josh or Liz anywhere. My body aches and I cough up some saltwater.