The Island (18+)

Chapter Five - Cortland | Signs of Life

Chapter Five : Signs of Life

Between us, there were 9 boys and 8 girls. I counted. Counting things out has been a habit since I could pronounce numbers. After the introductions on the beach, everyone headed back inside the woods with their cases to where the bunkers and the small wooden cabins were. Everything looked like it was about to fall apart from above us, but still, we dispersed and began exploring.

Harvey found the two bunkers with the beds. It seemed almost obvious that one bunker would be for the ladies and the other for the men. But the first bunker only had 4 twin sized beds with mattresses that seemed like they were from the last century and covers that were somehow even worse. The second bunker had 6 beds, but one of them had broken down.Each bunker had wooden built cupboards but Harvey said he wasn't about to open one of them because he had "spent way too much time out of the closet to ever touch it again." Kit left the room.

I heard Piper say that they could use the wood from the broken bed to start a fire tonight. I thought she was quite brilliant, actually. Somehow everyone except a couple of the boys felt comfortable with her natural inclination to take the lead. The cliché frustrated me so I steered away from them.

I blew my hair out of my face before entering one of the cabins, it was small enough that it made me curious. When I pushed open the lanky wooden door, the smell hit me first. It smelled like an operating room had been left to go to shit with the body still inside. I covered my mouth with the inside of my elbow and ventured further in.

There was small bowls made of thick leaf and bark root laying on the raised shelves of wood that edged the cabin. There were pestles and mortars with dried herbs powdered beside them. Then there was the odd four straight edged mattresses laying on the floor lined side by side. It clicked.

This was an infirmary.

I smiled. Somehow, the locals that lived here before us practiced herbal and natural medicine enough for them to assign an entire cabin for it. This entire island, it seemed was bustling with signs of life but nothing living.

I walked towards where the grinders and bamboo bowls were and looked at the different inscriptions on the wood. Someone had carved numbers and letters, some sort of prescription. There were wooden boards that were nailed with something on the open panels of the cabin, so little to no light came in other than the door. That was odd, I thought. You need light to heal.

Before I could think about it more, I heard an excruciatingly painful scream come from somewhere outside. I whipped my head towards the door but I couldn't see anything. I ran out of the infirmary and saw Remington whip his head around the area furiously searching for someone before settling his alarmed eyes on me.

"The wood fucking dropped on top of her head!" he rushed out.

I shook my head, confused but ran towards him anyway. "What the hell?"

"Amara," he breathed out. Grabbing my hand and taking me towards one of the cabins.

I paled.

"She was looking at the seating place, it was like a meeting room or something and then the roof collapsed on top of her head. Piper fished her out but she's bleeding like crazy from and there's a massive cut on her head."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Is she awake?"

"Barely"

We reached the cabin and I pushed the door all the way through that it broke from where it was hinged. I moved towards the crowd of people centered around a body lying on the ground.