"Troy, wake up," Drew whispered, softly nudging my right shoulder. "We need some water. There's a stream down below. Come help me fill these bottles, several of the wounded are asking for water." I felt the small, slightly crushed empty plastic water bottles hit my back.
I wasn't surprised he woke me up instead of Jack who I could hear snoring right next to me. Though Jack was the shortest of the family, he was also the stockiest, and ill-tempered if woken from his slumber. Standing at about five foot nine and one hundred and eighty pounds of mostly muscle, he was quick to challenge any man who wronged him. Years of wrestling in high-school only fine-tuned his abilities, making it easy for him to quickly take down a man twice his size and keep him pinned.
I reluctantly opened my eyes. They weren't ready for the daylight, and I lifted my hand up to shield them from the sun. I took a breath and was immediately hit with a terrible stench that smelled like a mixture of jet fuel, burnt metal, and another horrible odor. Then I had the sick realization that it was probably the passengers that had died on impact . The ones we didn't even bother trying to save because they were burning along with pieces of the plane.
It was surprisingly quiet. I stood up and sharp pains shot through my body, but I noticed the gash on my stomach had clotted up nicely in the night. I climbed up and over the boulder we had slept next to and got my first view of our surroundings. It was not what I expected.
Beautiful large dark green pine trees went on as far as I could see. They were huge, larger than the great sequoias I had seen in northern California. I looked down the mountainside and could see Drew up ahead, making his way to a small creek that fed into a large aqua-blue lake below. On all sides of us were towering, snow-capped, jagged mountain ranges that brushed the slow-moving clouds above.
"Can I help you guys?" asked an eager voice from behind. I turned to find a blonde-haired man of about six feet running to catch up to me, holding several empty bottles in his hands.
"Sure, that would be great," I replied. "I'm Troy."
"I'm Larry," said the man in an American accent as he shuffled the bottles into his arm and reached out a hand. He had bright blonde hair that somehow seemed combed, sharp cheekbones, and sky blue eyes.
"You seem to be one of the lucky ones," I said, noticing he hardly had any cuts or bruises, nor were his clothes tattered like mine.
"Yeah... I was really lucky," he agreed somberly, looking down at his feet. "My girlfriend's parents were both killed in the crash. She's really shaken up about it."
"I bet."
"We were on our way back to Johannesburg for a position she took at the University there. Her parents came to visit us in the States before we left. She begged them to come, even though they hate flying. She convinced them it was the safest form of travel."
"Oh no... I'm sorry to hear that," I responded. I didn't really know what else to say, so I picked up the pace, trying to catch up with Drew.
"Where do you think we are?" he asked from behind, hurrying to keep up.
"I'm not sure. This doesn't look like Africa. We should have been over the Atlantic somewhere, so this doesn't make sense. I would guess we have to be on some kind of island."
"Looks like a big island. I'm surprised no rescue planes have flown over yet. They have to know we went down, and they had all night to get here."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."
I pulled out my shattered cell phone, which still wouldn't turn on.
Larry watched me put my phone back in my pocket and said, "I can't get my cell phone to work either. I've already tried a couple of others too. My watch stopped working too. I watched several people die from their wounds last night. Maybe they would have made it if they had medical treatment. Luckily, I found two survivors who had some medical experience this morning. They're doing the best they can with the supplies that we have. I think I'm going to go climb to the top of that little ridge up there and see if I can see something. We've got to find help!"
"I think that's a good idea. Drew, did you hear what he said?" I asked, as we approached the stream and started filling our bottles with him.
"Yeah, it is a good idea," he said, looking up at the gray clouds. "I'm going to start separating the dead from the others and making sure the wounded all have shelter before it starts raining again."
Drew was always one to help those in need. Even though he was younger, I looked up to him in a lot of ways.
"This is Larry," I said.
"Nice to meet you, Larry," replied Drew, nodding his head in greeting. "You should take some other passengers with you when you hike over there."
"Yeah, good idea. I'll take my girlfriend, Aly, and a couple of the guys who slept by us last night. I'll catch up with you two later." He finished filling his bottles and walked back towards the wreckage.
All that day, we worked to move the wounded under different shelters to ensure their protection from the weather. We did the best we could to make sure everyone was taken care of. We also started to cover the dead. It was really difficult, as more than once we had to take a dead loved one from a child. They couldn't understand and would cry and scream as we took away the only safe thing they had left.
It started to rain again, lightly this time. I carried the last dead passenger over to the other bodies. She looked to be in her early thirties and had just died about an hour before from her wounds.
"That's seventy-six dead, and two hundred and four still alive," Jack said in a grateful whisper to me. "I have no idea how many are missing or dead. It's a miracle we all made it."
When no one said anything, he continued, "I think we need to try and move down by the lake. It smells like death up here, and we would be closer to the water."
"Yeah," said Drew. "It stinks up here, and it's only going to get worse with the bodies. We need water, but mostly it would be much easier to see us from the air next to that open area down by the lake. We could make some big bonfires and try to fish. The food left over from the wreck is only going to last us a little bit longer."
"It just doesn't make sense! Shouldn't someone have come to rescue us by now?" I said.
"Well, we can't worry about that right now. We've got to plan on being here for a while just in case," Drew responded.
"I agree," said Cubby. I think moving to the clearing by the lake is a good idea. Let's plan on it tomorrow though. I can't—"
Cubby was cut off by a faint scream in the distance. It came from the direction Larry had gone. Then another one. We could barely make it out.
"Help! Help!"..
"Let's go!" Drew yelled, picking up a metal piece of debris and running in the direction of the screams. I chased after him with Jack and a few others in tow. We ran through the thick forest, my thoughts racing, trying to think of what we might find. If we were in Africa, it could be any kind of wild animal.
"Help! Someone!" came the scream again. This time we could tell it was a man's voice, followed by a woman's screech. They were getting closer. A clearing came into view, and we saw a man and woman come out of the forest on the other side of the field running towards us. It was Larry and a woman with pretty light brown skin and jet black hair who seemed to be in her early thirties. I assumed it was Larry's girlfriend Aly.
"Are you okay!?" I yelled out, hurrying towards them. They kept looking over their shoulders as they ran over to us, and I could see Aly was limping and Larry's arm was bleeding.
"No!" yelled Larry as he waved his arms frantically. "Get out of here! Run!" Both their faces had a look of complete terror, and they stumbled over their own feet and the uneven ground. Jack and I helped Aly while Drew and some others helped Larry. We ran as fast as we could, terrified that whatever had attacked them would catch up.
"Where are the others?" I asked Aly, who continued to look behind us, obviously thinking they would soon enter the clearing.
"Dead! They're dead!" she cried out.
We got back to the wreckage, and Larry hunched over with his hands on his knees, wheezing and trying to catch his breath. We were all waiting for him to say something.
"We were walking back from that peak..." he said, still gasping for breath. "One of the other guys, Alan...no... Andy, I think his name was... had to stop and tie his shoe. He was kneeling down, when out of nowhere this gigantic creature landed right on him. It bit off half of his head before throwing him up in the air and leaping onto the other guy. Once he landed on the other guy, he just started..." His voice broke, and Aly began sobbing. "He was eating him. Right in front of us!" he shrieked, his voice shaking with panic.
"That-that thing just starting eating him alive while he screamed," said Aly, her voice breaking as she spoke. "We just turned and ran as fast as we could. He didn't even have a chance." Her big dark brown eyes spilled out tears.
"What was it?" asked Drew. "A lion, an ape?"
"I don't know! I don't know! No!" Aly cried, putting her face in her hands as she fell to her knees. " It was huge. Much bigger than an ape or lion, and looked almost like a cross between a bear and a giant ape or something with dark blue fur."
"Well, what is that supposed to mean?" demanded Drew. "Was it a bear or an ape?"
"Leave her alone!" snapped Larry. "We don't know what it was. All I know is it just ate those two guys, and was like nothing I'd ever imagined. It just ripped them apart!"
"Okay, guys... okay. It's all right..." said Cubby. "Why don't you two just go rest with the others until we figure out what to do next." He led Aly over to one of the shelter areas and Larry followed, a numb look on his face. Drew motioned me and Jack over.
"What do you guys think?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" I said.
"He means, do you believe them?" said Jack. "I mean, maybe they're just so scared and it's bigger in their heads than it really is."
"Well, no matter how big it is, something killed those other guys and attacked them," I said.
"And that thing could still be hungry and smell all these dead bodies," said Drew. "We need to make some weapons and be ready. It could come tonight. If we're in Africa, then there could be all sorts of animals coming for us. We need to at least make some spears and try and keep some fires going so we're not sitting ducks."
"Yeah, you're right," I replied. I bent down and grabbed a long stick from the brush nearby." I can start by carving one of the ends of this with a small knife. I found in the luggage earlier."
We spent the next few hours building up the fires and carving and handing out makeshift spears we made to the survivors that seemed like they were in good enough condition to help defend the camp. Some of them just started crying when we explained what was going on. This was the last thing they needed to hear.
I found myself exhausted from the long day. Cubby and Jack were going to take first watch, so Drew and I tried to get some sleep. It was hard to relax with the constant moans and crying all around us. The stench of the dead and the burnt bodies made me sick to my stomach. My mind raced with questions as I thought of what the night might bring.
Where is our rescue? Are they not coming? What had attacked Larry and Aly? I had no idea. I only hoped tomorrow things would start to get better.
(You made it through Chapter 2! Glad you didn't die in that crash :). If you like the chapter please vote. I'd also love to hear your comments. Thanks)