— Chapter Five —
The next day Donghyuck started like every other day. A small snack from the plane as breakfast and then hunting fish in the sea for lunch. He caught two today, not his best rate but he wasn't complaining.
He had gotten more handy with his pocket knife, now knowing how to use it properly. He still disliked cutting the fish open but if he didn't want to starve, it had to be done.
For the afternoon he decided to explore the jungle again. Not going as far in as last time but just checking out the area for any sign of civilisation. Even though his hopes of that were decreasing by the day. He had not seen a single ship in the ocean, a single plane in the air, a single human other than Mark ever since they had been stranded here.
Speaking of Mark, Donghyuck was scared he would just find the man dead one day. He had no idea where Mark was located or how he was holding up. Ever since the two had talked in the plane that one, first day, Donghyuck had not heard or seen anything that could tell him about Mark's well-being. Hence his fear of finding the man's corpse somewhere in the jungle.
Shirtless and with his short pants, Donghyuck finished his lunch and then took only his knife with him to his journey through the jungle.
The first ten, hundred meters Donghyuck felt fine. Yes, it was extremely hot. Yes, the air was shimmering in the distance. But Donghyuck couldn't give up his hope of finding someone, anyone, any sign he was not stuck alone on a remote island.
With each step into the forest, the air became more humid. Donghyuck now started to hear and see the island's wildlife in its full glory. Exotic, colourful birds flying through the trees, small mammals scurrying through the grass below him. He took it all in, almost getting lost in the nature's beauty.
Never in his life had he experienced nature like this. He had always been living in cities, the closest he got to feeling connected was a camping trip in school. So now seeing all these beautiful, tropical animals and plants felt exciting.
Donghyuck could not help but think that if paradise really existed it would look like the view he was having right now.
With his knife he cut a few vines away to make a pathway. He had been doing it the entire time, leaving a trail of trampled grass and cut vines behind. If he turned back, all he could see was his trail. The beach was long out of his sight.
Through more jungle he went, his eyes always scanning the area for any sign of anything out of the usual, may it be a predatory animal or a human.
Donghyuck had found his way to a small glade. He had almost screamed out loud when he saw something bigger than the usual animals standing on the other side. It was still small, resembling a fawn almost. He knew it wasn't one but honestly could not remember the name of the animal.
Careful to not make any sound he approached it. The big doe eyes hadn't found him, hadn't noticed his presence. Donghyuck felt captivated by the innocence and pure beauty of the animal. Its ear twitched and it looked around, the eyes finally finding Donghyuck who immediately halted his actions.
The two just looked at each other, both eyes scanning the other unfamiliar figure up and down. Donghyuck's mind was racing as he pounded of whether to further approach the animal or not. In the end he decided to risk it and took a step forward.
Wrong choice. The animal immediately let out a shriek and ran away. Donghyuck cursed under his breath but it the profanities were drowned out by another voice, this one way louder than Donghyuck's.
"Nice job! That could have been my dinner." Mark's voice could be heard. Donghyuck choked on air and looked around in bewilderment, his eyes desperately trying to find Mark's body in between all those trees.
"I'm behind you, dumbass." Mark noted, his voice suddenly a lot closer. Donghyuck turned around and let out a gasp as he saw Mark appear through the vines.
The man's appearance had changed drastically. His hair was tied up in a bun and he was shirtless just like Donghyuck. The thing that caught Donghyuck's attention the most thought was Mark's face. It was littered in bruises and cuts, a big one of the last dragging down from his cheek to his bottom lip.
"What happened to you?" Donghyuck managed to choke out, still taken aback by Mark's sudden and violent entry to the glade.
"Uh, I survived?" Mark snapped, rolling his eyes. In his hand, Donghyuck now noticed the gun. He connected the dots of Mark's statement about his dinner with the weapon in his hand.
"You wanted to shoot that deer?" he asked in terror.
Mark gave him one, pejorative look and scoffed "Yes. And for your information it's a pudu, not a deer. There's a difference."
"But why would you?" the younger asked, scanning Mark's body up and down. It was covered and sweat, not surprisingly, and a few cuts spread over his chest and shoulders down to his back. Deliberately Donghyuck did not pay attention to Mark's built and toned body. Instead he bit his lip in worry. Some of the cuts looked deep.
"Why would I hunt a pudu? Are you dumb? I need food, don't I?" Mark snorted and gave Donghyuck another cold look. The other felt shivers running down his spine. It was obvious that Mark wasn't in a good mood and that Donghyuck was the cause of that.
"I only hunt fish." Donghyuck said. He didn't know why he was giving Mark this information, seeing as the older had no use for it but he still wanted to share. He held up his knife as if it showed any proof, any fish blood on it to prove Donghyuck's statement.
"Good on you. Now get out of here, I need to hunt something for dinner and that's not going to work if your loud voice alarms any animal in a fifty meter radius." Mark snarled, his voice low and irritated.
"Why are you so rude? Literally what did I even do to you?" Donghyuck snapped. He was growing tired of Mark's arrogant and conceited attitude.
"I don't know. Let me think." Mark replied sarcastically, putting his hand to his chin in a thinker pose. Then he made a face of fake realisation and said "Ah yes. You disturbed my hunting, scared my prey away and now every animal around us knows that we're here. Also you're a brat."
"Fuck off. You don't own this jungle. I can come and go whenever I want." Donghyuck replied through gritted teeth. His hands were grasping the knife tightly, almost as if he planned on stabbing Mark. Which as of right now did not sound like a bad idea.
"Why don't you go piss off to your pretty little beach, huh? Let the real man do the hunting while you go cook some fish." Mark suggested, his voice laced in annoyance and anger. He, too, had a tight grip around his weapon.
"Real man? Oh yeah, because you're acting so mature right now. Talking about how I scared your dinner away and acting like you're so much better than me when in reality our chances of survival would be so much higher if we worked together." Donghyuck argued back.
"I would rather die than work with you to be honest. You, if anything, would probably be the reason of my death. So no thank you, I'd rather survive on my own." Mark snickered. His voice portrayed amusement but his face stayed serious, cold even. His jaw was clenched and Donghyuck could tell Mark's whole body was super tensed right now.
"Fine. You can die alone for all I care about. But don't blame me. I offered." Donghyuck said and huffed. He turned around, feeling Mark's hot glare on his back, and walked down his path, away from the glade.
He knew that the conversation could have gone better if he had apologised to Mark for scaring the pudu away. But in all honesty he didn't regret acting the way he did. Mark was suck an arrogant asshole and every time Donghyuck laid his eyes on him, all he wanted to do was make Mark shut up. Just the sight of him immediately triggered Donghyuck and he had murder on his mind. And they barely even knew each other.
Mumbling little curses and rants to himself under his breath, Donghyuck made his way back to the beach where the sun had turned the sand into hell on earth. It burned into the soles of Donghyuck's bare feet but the man didn't care, only strutted back into the water. It wasn't cool but cooler than the sand definitely and he let out a sigh once he felt the water swap around the skin of his feet.
Back to the plane he went, immediately putting on a shirt so he would not get too sunburned. He already had a huge burn on his neck and another on his arms but there was nothing he could do against that. He was sure he had heard of a plant that could cure it but never had he bothered to find out which plant it was. For what reason? He never expected to be put into this situation where the knowledge would've been useful.
He spent the next few hours just hanging around, waiting for the sky to turn dark so he could go to sleep. The fight with Mark in addition to the exploration of the jungle tired him out quite a bit. So to no surprise he fell asleep before the sun had even fully set yet.
A loud bang was the one thing that woke him up. His upper body rose up quickly as he gasped for air, looking around frantically. It was pitch black around him except for the light shimmer of the moon that reached through the plane.
At first Donghyuck thought he had awakened from a nightmare but a second loud bang told him that this was real. Filled with anxiety, he rose up. The shirt he had been using as a blanket to sleep fell off as he walked to the front part of the plane, his feet meeting the familiar, warm water.
He peeked around the airplane to the shore to see if there was anyone he could see but to his relief or maybe his displease there was no one. Still he knew he hadn't imagined the loud noise that could have not been natural. He made his way the few meters to the shore where the whole beach was bathed in the moon's light. It looked peaceful but yet mysterious and Donghyuck felt goosebumps litter his arms and legs.
Gulping he looked around, trying to find the cause of the bang. Internally he was totally freaking out and even on the outside he started panting and fiddling with his hands as a way to cope with his anxiety.
The loud noise repeated itself once again, this time significantly closer. Donghyuck let out a quiet yelp, staring at the jungle where he had located the noise. He didn't want to go there but his feet didn't seem to care as they carried him to the jungle border anyway.
It had sounded like a gun shot, Donghyuck thought. He wondered if maybe it had been Mark. But for what reason would the man go hunting at night? Especially in the jungle which was just a pitch black wall in front of Donghyuck. Not a single day of moon light managed to break through the thick vines and leaves of the trees.
This led Donghyuck to another, quite scary, possibility. It had not been Mark who had fired a gun but someone else. While that would prove some sort of civilisation on this island, Donghyuck could not really celebrate. He knew if whoever shot the gun at night in a jungle without hesitation would also not hesitate to shoot at a random korean guy that appeared in between the trees.
Donghyuck kept his distance to the jungle border but still trolled around, trying to get a glimpse of who or what had caused the loud noise. He got nothing in return, only the darkness, empty and silent.
Suddenly however, Donghyuck had already made his decision to go back, he heard something. It was a quiet, faint squeal. Donghyuck's head perked up, his eyes once again scanning the forest in front of him.
Next thing he heard were steps, obviously trying to navigate through the jungle. He heard grass being cut in addition to the ongoing quiet whimpers. Just the noise was enough to terrify Donghyuck, making his arm hairs stand up from his skin and his blood pulse through his veins. His adrenaline level shot through the roof as his eyes focused on the exact spot the noises were coming from. He went to duck low, hiding behind a stone near the border between jungle and beach.
Finally something or rather someone appeared. Donghyuck let out another gasp as he saw Mark, covered in blood and with something hanging off his shoulder.
Now knowing there was no reason to hide, Donghyuck stepped out of his hideout. He cleared his throat and watched as Mark's head whipped around. The man had his gun pointed directly at Donghyuck and even when the relief of recognising Donghyuck washed over Mark's face, he did not lower his gun.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Why are you here? And what's that on your shoulder?"
Both men had spoken at the same time. Now they glared at each other. Donghyuck already opened his mouth to speak again but Mark was quicker.
"I hunted something. Now what are you doing here?" he asked. His voice was hoarse, strained almost. Donghyuck felt intimidated as the blood seeped through Mark's pants. He, just like Donghyuck, was once again not wearing a shirt.
"I heard loud noises from the jungle and thought I should go investigate. Why are you drenched in blood?" Donghyuck replied briefly. Yes, he was relieved it was just Mark but the man had scared him shitless.
"I already told you I hunted something. Are you deaf? And going investigating in a jungle in the middle of the night is literally a suicide mission. I would know." Mark told Donghyuck. His voice, just like a few hours ago, was low and turned almost into a growl when he spoke.
"Why are you here at the beach? I thought the real men lived in the jungle." Donghyuck snickered, slowly calming down from his adrenaline high.
"I needed some light to see what I had shot. It's so dark in the jungle. Also I need to wash the blood of me, it's disgusting." Mark explained, his voice strained.
The man let down whatever it was he had hunted from his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Donghyuck's eyes followed Mark's body to the shore where Mark began washing his body off the dried, red liquid.
The water splashes were the only thing that could be heard as Donghyuck just stood and watched Mark. He didn't know why exactly, maybe it was because he didn't properly interact with another human in a week, but he was captivated by Mark. The way his body started to glow due to the moonlight reflecting on the wet skin. It looked straight out of a fairytale.
"Still staring just like you used to, huh?" Mark asked, his voice raised so Donghyuck would able to easily hear him from the few meters distance that separated them.
"God, shut up. You robbed me of a good night's sleep and this is the first time I'm seeing a human's body other than my own in ages."
"It's been only a few days." Mark commented and Donghyuck thought he might have caught a slight tone of amusement in the older's voice.
"It doesn't feel like it. It feels like it's been months." Donghyuck said quietly, more to himself than to Mark. The other just hummed and Donghyuck realised that was the first time none of them were shouting at each other.
"I'll sleep here at the beach and go back in the morning. You can go now." Mark said dismissively after he had finished his bath. Donghyuck's eyes scanned him up and down, finally finding his drowsy eyes. Mark indeed looked extremely tired.
Something in Donghyuck, most likely his need to socialise, wanted to stay with Mark. Anything for a conversation with him, even if it ended in a fight.
But Mark had made clear that he did not wish for Donghyuck's presence. The younger had not missed the way Mark was gripping his gun, always keeping it somewhat close to his hands. Not wanting to feel any consequences, whether it be a fight or a bullet through his head, Donghyuck decided it was best to leave like Mark said.
He had already opened his mouth for a good night but then realised that he absolutely did not want Mark to have a good night. That arrogant asshole could have the worst nightmare and then get eaten alive by a snake tomorrow morning for all Donghyuck cared for.
So he just turned his body away and walked through the water back to the plane. After a quick toilet visit he had laid down into the back part of the plane, his provisional bed room.
Even though he was tired still and all limps of his body were going stiff Donghyuck's mind was still wide awake. He could not help but replay the last hour or so over and over in his head. Crazy just how much a little conversation with someone after days of total loneliness could affect him.