Levi's feet moved under him, steps being taken without any realization as if the sight his eyes attracted to was magnetic. His eyes focused curiously upon it, a hint of hopefulness sparkling in his eyes - the first hope in him after countless days on end of feeling nothing but fear and despair.
"T..that's not..." he asked in a soft voice, trailing off, "is it?" Levi's last words were just above a whisper.
Levi continued staring in amazement at the plane, dirt and branches piled on top of it along with a few...snakes that lingered over it. The door of the plane was wide open, the inside available for any that could fit through the inviting door. Who knows what kind of animals had found their way inside. Levi briefly told himself, but still his feet continued forward.
It was April who answered him, her words marked with hesitance as she hurried up to Levi and took a hold of his hand, trying to stop him. "No, we can't go in there. I don't want to step foot inside that plane, Levi. I don't want to see all those passengers...who lost their lives. I could have been one of them. And besides, by now they're probably picking up flies and snakes may be inside. Let's just keep walking."
"But...the plane might be the key! There might be something inside to get us home!" Levi exclaimed, his excited eyes looking into her pleading ones. Why doesn't she understand? "Another radio or something...I don't know. Or we could perhaps fly it off this island."
"'Fly it off this island'?" April said, repeating his words as if they were poisonous. "'Fly it off this island'? No! Of course we can't do that! Look at where the plane is! It's in the forest, Levi. We couldn't possibly do that, and not to mention it's more than likely busted by now. Plus no one knows how to fly one."
Someone cleared their throat noisily behind them and Levi saw that it was Captain Drake, a smirk on his face.
"What, you know how to fly a plane? Seriously?" Harry asked in surprise when the captain nodded.
"What, and you're some kind of doctor?" Captain Drake responded.
"But you also know how to defang a snake!" Levi added, flailing his hands in the air, a look of surprise on his face.
When it was obvious the captain wasn't going to give any explanation whatsoever to his remark, Levi just shook his head and turned back to April. "I'm going to just check the plane out," Levi said in a reassuring voice. But April still looked at him pleadingly, not approving of what she was told.
"Levi..." she muttered as she watched him walk toward the forest in order to get to the fallen plane, and she sighed heavily. "Then I have to go with you." After she said that, she hurried after him, leaving Harry and Captain Drake behind.
Why didn't you ask where the plane was in the first place? Levi silently asked himself as he stepped over to an opening of the forest. He looked around and grabbed the closest long, pointy stick by him and after a deep breath, cautiously went into the danger zone.
He could hear a pair of hurried feet behind him, ones he guessed belonged to April and after a brief glimpse he saw that he was right. She was likewise picking up a long and pointy stick before she dared to go into the forest.
Levi walked slowly, making sure to give a thorough look at the ground ahead of him before every step he took. He gripped his stick tightly, prepared and ready to use it if it were necessary. He zoned in on every piece of detail on the muddy ground ahead of him for half the walk to the plane until a sigh was pronounced behind him, followed by a slightly irritated voice.
"At this rate, we'll get there by nightfall. Come on!"
Levi gulped roughly and nodded his head. Moving his eyes off the ground for a quick moment, he looked ahead of him at the plane that was the safe zone in his mind, but also deep down he wasn't looking forward to see all the death that was sure to be just inside. Instead of putting his mind on the part he feared, he forced himself to think positively.
It was just a couple steps from the plane when he heard a low hiss at his side, the sound coming from behind a small bush close to him, the stick in his hands being squeezed impossible tighter.
But when he realized this, he forced his hands to undo their death-hold, feeling he should be used to this by now. Shouldn't he? Levi was okay hiding underneath a large piece of bark on the sand by the shore. There was just something about the forest that frightened him to no end, but the plane was an exception to get him to face his fear. The plane he felt might contain something that could somehow get them home. Away from all this.
He managed to avoid any interaction between himself and the snake, right after he hearing the hiss he hurried over to the plane, no longer taking his time to reach his destination. April followed not far behind.
Levi sucked in a deep breath, his lungs filling with oxygen after realizing he had been holding his breath. He took a cautious, small step to the plane entrance, his hands once again gripping the stick tightly, his knuckles turned white. The single step made a quiet patt against the ground and he was once again holding his breath.
"I'll cover for you," April insisted in a quiet and slightly nervous voice. Levi let out a startled gasp when she suddenly spoke out of nowhere, haven forgot that she was even there. "What? Oh, just nevermind. You take a peek inside and if you see anything concerning then tell me. If that's the case, lure whatever it is out of the door and I'll handle it. Got it?"
Levi nodded and braced himself before taking a peek inside. He squinted through the darkened inside. His fearful eyes looked rapidly around the plane and when he saw nothing in immediate danger he looked around more slowly with more detail.
He could make out a long, thin snake slithering toward him, its taunting red eyes glowing in the dark as they focused on him, its eyes looking its his own. Even without seeing the snake, he would be aware of its presence because all the way it hissed, the sound sending shivers down Levi's spine.
"A snake," Levi whispered to April, backing out of the plane and stroked the bridge of his nose with his fingers while he stood just behind April. His closed eyes opened as the hisses grow loudly, the snake making its way for the opening. His expression was blank when he saw her stab it with a stick as soon as it make an appearance.
"April, umm, it's incredibly hard to see in there. I know next to nothing about planes. Do you know how to turn the lights on?" Levi asked, stepping ahead of her and peeking his head inside again. And turned to her, waiting for a response.
"How to turn the inside lights on? That's in the control room at the very front of the plane. It turns on the outside lights as well," April explained unhappily. "I'll simply rub two sticks together so that we can actually see."
She shook her head, looking around for another stick and picked one up a few seconds later.
As April rubbed the sticks together, Levi's eyes subconsciously floated past her and over to the forest opening, the place where Harry and Captain Drake were last seen. And there they were. Levi saw that they each had their eyes on him, eye contact being made.
"We're almost done here!" Levi called over to them, even though he knew his own words were most likely false. They were only meant to reassure them. Really, he estimated they could very well be in the forest for another fifteen minutes or so.
Captain Drake attempted to say something to Levi, his mouth clearing forming words but he couldn't hear him at all. Levi exaggerated a shrug and waved his hands in a questioning manner in response.
Once again Captain Drake said something that couldn't be heard by Levi over such a distance, despite the man having a naturally booming voice to begin with. The captain tapped his pointer finger against his outer wrist, the place where one would put a watch.
Levi only shrugged again, this time not so exaggerated, instead the movement lacking much effort. Their "conversation" wasn't getting anywhere so he turned his attention back to April, not caring to continue. Captain Drake would understand, he was sure.
By then a small spark had been made, the fire waving especially careless every time a gust of wind decided to come its way. The owner of the hand holding the stick firmly watched it for a couple moments before speaking:
"Follow me." Her tone was stern without any un-hesitance in it. "Let's go inside."
Levi nodded and followed right behind her, making sure to be not four steps from her at all times. They had to stick together and share the torch, the only source of light in the whole plane.
He had only taken a few steps inside when he saw a snake, its eyes locked into his own. He gulped, but ignored his own nervousness, taking a step toward it. He vowed that he was going to be the one to kill it, right then and there. And he had to hurry since April was the one with the torch and she was walking away.
"Come here, boy," Levi whispered in a small voice. "Don't be shy." It was as if the snake obeyed him, for right after he spoke it began slithering his way. Levi held his stick tightly in his hands and directed it down into the snake, a sickening sound pronounced at the movement. He waited a few moments until he was sure that it was dead, before joining up with April.
He forced himself to ignore the motionless passengers that lumped against their seats, hundreds of flies swarming their lifeless bodies and maggots chewing away at their dead flesh. He was positive that it was were to so much as take a glimpse of them, he'd completely freak out and panic, even with the dark atmosphere. And so he trained his focused eyes on anything but them. It was a challenge though, because from the passengers bodies' came a sickening smell that found its way into Levi's lungs, making him plug his nose with his only free hand in order to resist gagging.
As the two continued forward, there had been many snakes spotted that could have potentially got in there way and so everyone that was seen was killed. Levi attempted to kill a number of them, every time seeing a snake hearing a voice in the back of his head that urged him to go for it, and he sometimes obeying that voice. Sometimes. But April got most of them.
There hadn't been that many, they found. They've only had to battle a little over ten snakes before the plane was theirs. After a minute of searching for some more and not finding any, Levi hurried across the plane and across the rows of seats to the plane exit and shut it. Now it really was theirs.
The two ended up splitting up, agreeing that by doing so they'd cover the plane faster and would be back to Harry and the captain sooner, despite Levi having no source of light to help him see in the dark.
His first look at the first row of seats he made sure to do so quickly, taking no more than a mere glance, unable to look no more than a few seconds at a time because of all the passengers occupying the seats. But it only took a single glance for him to force his eyes over to the row again. His eyes weren't playing tricks on his he realized, almost disappointedly. Two seats over by someone's feet lay a perfectly fine backpack that Levi knew he could certainly put into good use. He took a deep breath after sighing heavily, and held it as he carefully squirmed past, his eyes focused only on the backpack. His fingers enveloped around a strap and he staggered into the pathway, accidently touching someone in the process, their skin almost nonexistent.
Am I going to be doing this in every row? That was impossibly unpleasant! he silently exclaimed to himself.
"I think we're almost done here," Levi announced not ten minutes later, feeling he had gathered enough and was ready to go. He swung the backpack over his shoulders for the final time and made his way across the plane to find April. No response came. "April?" he questioned, and listened for any movement by her. But nothing. Now he was getting worried, his face showing just that. "A-April...where are you?" Looking around the plane frantically, he realized that his surroundings were completely dark, the torch no longer seeable.
"Over here!" she called after another moment, her voice like music to his ears. Levi listened intently for her to speak again so that he could somehow find her, and didn't have to wait too long, for another sentence soon followed. "I found us flashlights!" She scurried out of a row of seats, almost collapsing to the ground of the isle in the process. It was only a second later that a string of light suddenly cut through the darkness, making herself visible to Levi. It was only then that he realized the strange foreign light came from a flashlight.
"Turn it off!" he begged, the sudden light burning his eyes. "Turn it off!" The flashlight was turned off just as suddenly as it was turned on. When the painful light no longer awaited his squinted eyes to reopen, he allowed them to open. April was now in front of him, he could make out, with an extended hand that he guessed possessed a flashlight, and accepted it.
"What did you do with your torch?" he asked curiously, crossing his arms as he found her eyes in the dark.
"Blew it out. No sense in keeping it when I've got something else less dangerous to see with, right? Let's get into that control room. Might as well, we got this far," April stated matter-of-factly.
"Right. But we must make this quick," he stated, following right behind her. He subconsciously turned his flashlight on, the light directed upon his feet.
April wrapped her hand around the knob, her face holding a frown as she just stared at nothing in particular. "Okay," she said after a moment, seemingly talking to herself considering the single word was just above a whisper. Finally, she twisted the knob and swung the door open, the room visible.
Levi pushed past her, erupting into the room hurriedly. "We must hurry. They're probably worried by now," he rambled, looking around as she stepped inside just behind him.
In front of him were a series of buttons, all of which were for controlling the plane. Levi didn't care to take even a glimpse of them though because April was right. Sure, the captain somehow knew how to fly one, but this plane was in the forest. No way could they actually fly it....right? It wasn't possible, and therefore wasn't even logically to ponder on such a thought that the plane he was standing in right then could save them. Right? Not possible.
Levi looked around frustratedly in search of something, anything of value. He had to remind himself that even if he saw nothing worth keeping in the control room, it was still worth it. They'd still gathered many useful things by exploring the plane. But still a frown covered his face despite telling himself this. That frown soon disappeared, however, instead a large smile of excitement taking over. There, on the ground beside the very dead pilot, was...a radio?
"April!" Levi cried in happiness as he scooped it up and practically shoved it into her face. "Look! Don't you see?" He watched her expectantly, waiting for some sign of recognition on her face.
"Let's get outta here," was all she said, and with that the two hurried back to Harry and Captain Drake.