Alone Together

Chapter 4

There was a storm last night. It didn't affect the island but you could see it out at sea, it looked exactly like the one that had happened to the group a few weeks ago. It didn't wake anybody up and it probably would've gone unnoticed had nobody seen what came ashore that morning...

"Morning guys." Louis said as he came out of his hut. "Louis, how're you?" Ollie asked as he got up and went to grab him and Damien's spear. "Good, you?" He asked as he grabbed the nets. "Ready?" Kate asked as she took her net from Louis. "Yup, let's do it." Louis and Kate took their nets and began to walk towards the shore. "Ready?" Damien asked Oliver as he came out of his hut. "Yeah, just a few more..." Oliver said before being interrupted by Kate. "GUYYYYYYYYYYS! GET OVER HERE!" She yelled. The Damien and Oliver ran over to them. April then came out of her hut as Daisy came out of Damien's and ran to the others. "What's wrong?!" Damien asked as they gathered around Kate and Louis. They moved out of the way to reveal two bodies that were partially in the water. "Oh my God." April said as Ollie and Damien pulled them to the camp. "Get the fire going, we should get them warm." April said to Louis as the others set the bodies near the fire pit. "What do we do now?" Daisy asked as they all stared at the bodies. "They're breathing, so all we need to do is wait for them to wake up. We'll cancel all work for today, it won't slow us down any." Ollie said as he examined the two. Kate and Louis came across a boy and girl that looked to be the same age but slightly banged up from the waves. The group then waited that most of that day for them to wake up. Kate and Damien began a layout for two new huts during this time. Ollie and April went to the field and grabbed as much of the tall grass as they could for the new huts. Louis stayed by the fire pit and watched over the new people.

It wasn't until 2 o'clock that one of the two woke up. By this time, Kate and Damien had just finished a hut and Ollie and April where insulating the inside with the tall grass. Louis had gone to gather a small amount of fish so they wouldn't be behind that day and Daisy was watching the two for him. "Ughhh....where am I?" Asked the guy as he slowly got up and looked around. "Oh my God...Ollie!" Daisy yelled while staying at the guy. "Oh shit...hey man, whats up? You ok?" Ollie asked as he he helped him up. "Dizzy...but yeah, I'm ok." He replied as Olliver helped him sit against a tree so he wouldn't be dizzy. "My name's Oliver. We'll introduce you to everyone else when you're settled. Can you tell me your name?" Ollie asked as they gathered around him. "Sure....my name....my name is...Zack...Zack Goodman." He said while holding his head in pain. "It's nice to meet you Zack, I'm April." She said as she reached for a handshake. "Oh, hello." Zack replied while shaking her hand. "Do you know who this is?" Kate asked while pointing at the unconscious girl. "No, I don't think so." He replied while examining the girl. "What do you remember, why would you wind up on a beach?" Damien asked with suspiciousness. "My dad got this distress signal sent to his boat while putting her away for the weekend. He sent me out with it to go see if there was anything in that area. When I got there, the ocean was empty. On my way home a storm came out of nowhere, and the last thing I remember was seeing a huge wave coming down and being thrust into the wall." Zack explained as he stood up by himself. "Did you get a distress signal out?" Damien asked as he sat down. "Yeah, It was the first thing I did when the went from Sunny and 75 to pitch black." He said while clearly using sarcasm. "I like this guy, not even five minutes awake and he's already using sarcasm." Ollie said before shaking Zack's hand. "Shut the fuck up" He said to Ollie. "Well, lets hope she didn't send a distress signal out because if she did we're gonna end up with a whole lot of fuckin' people." Damien said before heading to his hut. "Ignore him, he's  a born-to-be asshole." April said to Zack loudly. "I heard that!" Damien yelled from his hut. "I know!" She replied as they all laughed silently. "Once we found you two we started to build huts, in the event that you woke up. Since you did, this hut is yours." Kate explained as he walked over and examined it. "Wow, how long have you guys been here?" He asked while coming out of his hut. "Forrrrrevvvvver!" Daisy yelled from her hut. "Ignore her, she's a born-to-be bitch." Ollie whispered. "We've been here for about..." Kate said before realizing she had lost track. "Almost three weeks, right?" Louis said after counting the rotations in his head. "That sounds about right. We thought it was better to focus on surviving than on waiting. So if help does come, great but if not we're ready to live here as long as possible." She explained to him. "That's a little depressing, not gonna lie." Zack replied. "We prefer realistic, depressing is just a...depressing word." Ollie said to cheer him up. "Ha, I feel yah. I know I've been out for quite a while but you guys don't mind if I get some rest, do you?" He asked, feeling as if he was somewhat unwanted. "Sure thing man, we'll fill you in on what your part will be in our work system." Ollie replied before Zack entered his hut. "He seems nice." Louis whispered to the others. "Yeah, I'm just happy that we'll finally have someone to pick up Daisy's slack." Kate whispered. They all laughed under their breaths and kept chatting by the fire for a few hours.

Later that evening the girl finally woke up. "Where the heck am I?!" She yelled as she shot up. "It's ok, you're not in any danger." April said, trying to calm the girl down. "Where am I?" She asked again, but in a more calm manner. "We dunno where we're at, but we all are stuck on this island together." Kate explained as Damien, Zack, and Daisy all came out of their huts. "You've all been stranded here?" The girl asked as she looked at the group and the huts. "Kind of, I just woke up not that long ago." Zack asked as he sat down across from her. "What's the last thing you remember?" Ollie asked while lighting the fire pit. "I went surfing, and swam out quite a ways and then took a nap on my board. I woke up to a storm and then last thing I remember...enormous wave." She replied before beating Louis to the punch. "My name is Ashley...Ashley Reed, but you can call me Ash if you want." She as she stood up and stretched. "Nice to meet you Ashley, I'm Kate. Sadly, we couldn't finish your hut in time, but we'll have it done tomorrow." Kate said as she got up and shook Ashley's hand. "You built these?" Ashley asked as she examined the huts. "Yep, they took a lot of work but nothing we couldn't handle." Oliver replied as he got up too. "Where should she sleep, since her hut isn't finished yet?" Louis asked while looking at a partially built hut. "She could sleep next to the..." April started to say before Oliver interrupted her. "She can use my hut tonight, I'll sleep by the fire." He said from behind everybody. "Are you sure?" April asked as she looked back at him. "Totally." He replied as he laid near the fire. "Thank you." Ashley said while walking to his hut. "We'll fill you and Zack in on everything tomorrow." Kate said to her as she and everybody else walked to their huts.

Around his usual time that night, Oliver woke up and walked to his hideout a few yards from the camp. He looked down the whole time he walked there, like he did every other night but once he got the rock he lays on to stare at the stars something new was there...

"Three Hundred....Three Hundred-and-One...Three Hundred-and-Two." Ashley was laying on Oliver's rock, staring at the stars and counting them. "Oh...Ashley, what're you doing here?" He asked awkwardly, since this was his secret spot. "I just woke up not too long ago and couldn't fall back asleep, so I went for a walk and came across these rocks and just started to count." She explained while sitting up. "Yeah, that's what I do too..alone though." He said as he sat next to her on the rock. "Pretty, aren't they?" He asked as he laid back onto the smooth rock. "God yes, I could see these same stars every night and never get bored of their beauty." Ashley said as she laid back too. "I couldn't have said it any better myself." Ollie replied while gazing at the stars. "What's it been like? Living on this island?" She asked, hoping to kill the silence. "It hasn't been as bad as hard as you would imagine, at least not since we got used to it and past the somewhat hard stuff." He explained while looking at her. "And you all washed up here together?" She asked as she turned to him. "Yes, except for Zack. You two were found at the same time...today." He continued while they looked at each other. "Do you miss home?" Ashley asked while looking back up. "Would it be weird if I said "no?" He asked while looking back up. "I guess not, it depends on what your life back home is like." Ashley said as she looked back at him. "Then no....I'm actually happy we ended up here." Oliver replied, continuing to look up...