The Survivors

Chapter 39-Sunset Memories

I stand in the warm turquoise water with my pants rolled up to my knees. I stare out at the horizon as my bare feet sink into the soft sand. The gentle waves push up against my shins, splashing and getting the edges of my pants wet. I hold my prosthetic arm close to me, knowing that I can't move it as much anymore with it hurting. Recently, I made the decision to be more careful with it. Everyone was getting nervous that it would fall off or something.

The sky is faded with light pinks and violet just as the indigo bleeds onto the canvas of the sky. Rolling clouds that have been painted with soft shades of the sunset. A light breeze nudges the waves towards the beach, running across my hairy legs. The sun has just disappeared under the horizon leaving the sky empty of blinding light. The ocean water reflects the stained sky, rippling with every breeze.

I inhale the sharp scent of salt, knowing that this is a beautiful sight. I should enjoy it more. But I'm not. The sight has gotten old now. All I want now is to go home. I look down at my feet wondering if there are any shells around here. I bet Mom would love one, so would Thalia and Jenny. But anger against Jenny turns my thoughts bitter.

We haven't talked since our meeting at lunch. Since then, I've been avoiding her and hanging around Ayden and Teren, strangely enough. After our sad lunch of scraps, Sammy broke and started screaming at us that he was a murderer. Then tried to kill Seth. Seth's reaction was more shocking than Sammy's break because Seth did nothing to defend himself. He pretty much laid on the ground and let Sammy attack him.

We managed to pull Sammy off him and my mom, being a hero and mom, led him back to the plane to talk. Sammy was bawling which was unsettling enough and let Mom led him away. I haven't seen him since then but Teren told me that he was still talking to Mom. I'm glad Mom's here, if she wasn't, I think I would have snapped a while ago. Having an adult here is also helping with coping with our trauma.

She's become everyone's mom now. She's kind and listens to everyone, and now is comforting the broken. I saw Jenny go in the plane a while ago, she's probably still in there. For the rest of the day, we decided to try the raft again. It's more impossible than you'd think. But we tried for a couple hours and ended up screaming at each other in the end. We were hot, tired, frustrated, and scared. Teamwork never works when those feelings are combined.

So we stopped and decided to try the phones again. Shane and Teren are messing with them now, with Thalia's help. Elliot is making soldiers with scrap driftwood by his sandcastles. My stomach churns at the image of the sandcastles, reminding me of the trauma of the violent deaths of Bree and Oliver. Those innocent sandcastles on the dune, shielding the blood and death from view.

I'm taking a break from everyone while Ayden plays with Elliot. Turns out, he's great with kids. Which was strange to figure out but the look on his face while he played was enough to convince me. Ayden was having the time of his life playing with the stick soldiers, invading Elliot's kingdom of bucket castles. I decided not to say anything and let them have their fun. I didn't want to ruin it.

As the sun set, I found myself able to zone out and collect my thoughts. I'm calmer than before now. But then again, there's a creepy, vine lady running wild in the jungle with her pack of cannibal mutants. So... calm as I can be. I'm going to be braver. I'm going to protect the last survivors with my life. And if I die tonight, so be it. But everyone must be safe because of it, or else it wouldn't even matter.

"Levi?"

I look back slowly, trying not to show the anger on my face.

Standing at the edge of the water is Jenny. She changed her shirt, now it's a black tank top with a rounded neckline with thin straps. Embarrassing images of seeing her washing off in the ocean flash through my head making me feel uncomfortable. Then I remember who tricked me into seeing her like that. Lukas and Oliver.