Survival of the Fittest

Chapter Fourteen - The Selfish One/Judas

I slowly open my eyes. I hear birds squawk. A hairy arm is laying in front of my face. My head hurts.

Where am I?

I lift my head a bit and look across the hairy arm.

What is that? Am I seeing, what I think it is?

I close my eyes for a moment.

What has happened?

I open my eyes again, very slowly.

Is that...? That can't be what I think it is. Am I seeing this right now?

I try to move my right hand to my face. I feel some unknown objects touching my fingers and palm. I don't want to pay any attention to it, I need to touch my face and rub my eye.

So, I do, I rack my hand through my hair. Then try to move my other arm.

Come on, move your arm, Nessa!

I find out, I'm laying on my left side and my left arm is under my body. I try to push up myself with my right hand. When I'm a bit off of the ground, my left arm helps me push up my body. I get on my knees. I look around.

What is all this? Where am I? What happened?

The plane we were all in is burned, pieces of the big bird are everywhere, the passengers are either tossed out and laying on the wet, muddy underground or are burned. It's an awful sight to look at. The hairy arm is either from a pilot or steward, the sleeve is from a uniform only flight personnel wears.

"Oh my God!"

I say aloud. I guess nobody heard me because nobody moves and I don't hear someone respond. My fiancé lays in the dirt not far away from me. I see him and I try to get up, moving towards him. I stumble over a few people.

Are they sleeping? No, wait...it can't be. They're not...dead? Or are they? Gross, I must throw up.

I bend over and some dirty greenish-yellow liquid explodes out of my stomach through my mouth to the vine-covered ground I am on.

"Urgh!!! Gross!!! I think I am going to be sick...again."

I turn around and kneel next to my fiancé of seven months.

"Tyler! Honey, wake up!"

We went on a trip to Rio de Janeiro because we wanted to celebrate our nine-month anniversary. We started dating and within a few weeks, I moved in with Tyler, and soon after he proposed. Tyler was terribly busy with his work as a developer for apps and me as a receptionist at a local gym. We could not make the trip sooner. So, we booked it after we both had some time off. This was a break we both needed. I push him and press against his shoulders.

"Tyler, sweetie, wake up babe. Come on, sweetheart."

Tyler lays there, not responding to any of my actions.

Water. I need water. Where am I going to find that?

I look up and see some people getting up as well, so not everybody is dead. Hopefully, they're just unconscious like I hope Tyler is too.

God, Tyler...please wake up. I do not know what to do without you. It was not my idea to go to Rio, you wanted it. Saying you wanted to go sightseeing. It was not my thing.

"Okay, water...I will try to find some. Stay here Tyler."

What am I saying? He is not going anywhere.

I get up and browse around the muddy soil.

Let's see...something must be here.

"Oh...lotion. That may come in handy. What is that? A package of cigarettes..."