Survival

Isis could feel the sun beating down on her skin. She moved and felt sand under her and sat up straight, her eyes open wide as she looked around at the island they had landed on. The lifeboat was off to the side and everyone was crowded around it.



Gabe was the first to come to her, looking her up and down. “Are you alright, Isis? You passed out after you got Vicky and Abby into the boat.”



“I’m fine. Exhaustion does that to me. Where are we?”



“We don’t know. We were looking over the maps, but none of us seem to be able to read them right.”



Isis sighed and, with a little of his help, moved over to the group. She looked over map, looking up at the sun then to the horizon. She laid a finger on the map and frowned, as there was nothing there. “We’re right about here, meaning we’re fucked.”



“There’s nothing there.” Vicky was already getting on Isis’s nerves and she had only said one thing. “We can’t be there.” Two things.



“I know what I’m talking about. The ship was right about here when it sunk. We’ve drifted a hundred and fifty miles off course. It’ll take them a week to realize the boat has sunk and two to realize there were survivors. We’re stuck here for a while.” Isis wasn’t too happy about that and let it show in her voice.



She shook her head and stood up, looking around the island. She pulled her bag out of the lifeboat and opened it, pulling out her shoulder holster and guns, putting it all on and popping a clip into the guns, slipping them into the holster. “We have to check out the island and see if there are any people on here. If there’s not, we have to find something to eat and somewhere defendable to build shelter.”



“I am not building anything.” Vicky crossed her arms, always the stubborn little princess. “I just got a manicure. It would ruin my nails.”



“Fine, then you will be sleeping in the open on the sand.” Isis didn’t wait for her response. She just started to walk toward the forest with Gabe, Ryley, and Clara following her. The A-List looked at each other and followed her quickly, seeing as she had probably done this before and she was the only one with a gun.



She walked straight through the heart of the island, finding fresh water, and then kept going, coming out the other side of the island. They walked all around the island and found nothing but wild hogs and a few monkeys. She led them back to the lifeboat and grabbed her bags, heading back into the forest without waiting for any of them.



“Where are you going, Isis?” Vicky was going to end up with a bullet in her if she didn’t shut up.



“Shelter.” She ran into the forest with the sound of the guys behind her, all the guys. She found a tree a few hundred feet from the water fall and nodded, pulling out a large machete. “Ok, boys, here’s the deal. I’ve done this before so it’ll be easy for me to get up there and do it, but I’m going to need some help getting the trees up there to tied everything together.”



They all nodded and she climbed the tree with relative ease, already chopping pieces of it down to build the shelters. They would pass her stuff when she asked, but for the most part, it was all her. The sun was going down when she finished the second tree house, but it was worth the extra effort because she was not going to be in the same room as the A-List.



“Done. Now we can go see what progress the girls have had in finding edible food.” She leapt from the tree, landing smoothly in front of Alex. She shrugged of his look and started back through the forest, sighing as she saw that Vicky and Abby were in the same place she had left them. “So, did you get any food?”



“No.” Vicky’s stomach could be heard growling even as she spoke. “And don’t mention food.”



“I have some, I.” Clara came around the corner with berries in her bag. “I found them by the waterfall. There were some hogs eating them, so they’re safe.”



Vicky moved to get up and go to them, but Isis stopped her. “No. Rules are that if you don’t work to get the food, you don’t get the food.”



“What makes you the queen of this camp?” Abby finally managed to speak.



“Have any of you done this before?” Isis looked at all of their faces as they shook their heads no. “That’s why I’m queen of this camp.”



They ate, sending Vicky and Abby in the dark to get their own food, and then, with great difficulty on Vicky and Abby’s part, climbed the trees into their lofts on high. Isis lay in the dark, cuddled between Gabe and Ryley, and knew that they would be here for a long time. She didn’t know how they were going to survive on nothing but berries.



Sighing, she crawled from between the two guys and crawled silently down the tree. She landed with a heavy thud, but no one, as far as she could tell, had woken up. She ran through the forest to the waterfall and began to build a system that would bring water to the tree top homes.



She worked late into the night, but managed to get the water to the houses as the sun was breaking. Sighing, she went back to the water fountain and found a stick, carving a point into it. She killed seven or eight fish from the clear water before heading back into camp, sitting below the trees and cooking the fish so that the smell rose to those that were sleeping above.



One by one, they all piled out of the trees and down to eat the fish Isis had painstakingly caught for them. Even the A-List were appreciative, thanking her profusely. She nodded and they went through the day fixing the makeshift pipes she had installed while they slept. She went to bed with the group that night, slept three hours, and then crawled out of the tree.



She headed back to the waterfall, but this time had someone following her. She had left all her weapons but a single blade in the tree house, but she didn’t need any weapons for what she was doing.



She took her clothes off and dove into the water, wearing nothing but her skin. She stood under the waterfall and let the water flow down her skin, soothing the pain from the work she had been doing all day. She heard the sound of twigs snapping close to her right and turned to find Alex standing there.



She quickly sank into the water before yelling at him. “What the hell are you doing?”



“I’m sorry, Isis.” He averted his eyes, looking in the other direction. “I felt bad that you had done all that work alone last night and wanted to help tonight. I thought you were going fishing again. I’m sorry.”



Isis sighed. “It’s alright. I just needed a moment to relax. What about Vicky? Don’t you think she’ll need you when she wakes up?”



“Ha! She’s got her boss to do all that for her. We’re not even really dating any more. She just uses me as her trophy boyfriend. I don’t know why. My life’s not that glamorous.” He didn’t look at Isis, but he sat against a rock.



“What do you mean, Alex? I thought you wanted to be a professional soccer player in high school.”



“I did, but it didn’t work out. Now I coach soccer at our rival’s high school.”



“That’s good though. You can be a good influence on the children.” Why was she being nice to a member of the A-List? Alex had never really done anything to her personally, it had always been Vicky. Alex had just never stopped her.



“I never thought of it that way, but you’re right. I just hope we survive this so I can get back to them. I’m just glad we got stranded with you, Isis. I don’t think we could have made it through the first day without you.” The honesty was so thick in his voice that Isis had to look at him.



He was looking at her back and she couldn’t figure out why. She touched her chest and remembered why. The hole in the front was no bigger than a dime, but the one on the back looked like something had shoved an aluminum can into her back.



She touched it and shuddered. “I was shot a few years back. It’s hideous, I know.”



“I don’t think it’s hideous, Isis. I think it gives you character. Not like you didn’t have enough before, but more character.” Alex sighed and stood. “I’ll let you finish up here, but if you decide to go fishing, promise you’ll come get me.”



“I promise.” Isis watched as he walked away, but called to him. “Alex?”



“Yes, Isis?”



“Thanks.” Alex shrugged and then headed back to their shelter. She didn’t know why, but she had a new respect for him that she didn’t have in high school. He wasn’t Vicky’s puppet anymore. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as she had originally thought.