CHAPTER FOUR: STRANDED

Barely a few hours after the crash, the first dead body, after floating back to the surface of the sea and pulled out from the ocean by the group, lay bloated on the beach floor with its face and exposed skin devoured by creatures in the deep. The only identification was the clothes on his back

"Holy shit, it's Captain Bailey" Elijah blurted out standing over the deceased pilot

Avery's face suddenly turned green as what was left in her stomach came flying out before she could make it the bushes at the entrance of the forest

"How does she still have anything in her body to throw up?" Elijah asked, his eyes following Avery as she bolted away

Emma shot him a look that had him throwing his hands in the air "Too soon"

"That brings the total death toll to one" Lucas said looking over the group "Let's hope the numbers don't rise till we find the rest and get the fuck out of this island"

"How do you plan on getting us out of here?" Sophia asked, wiping away the tears in her eyes "We don't even know where we are"

"One problem at a time" Lucas responded turning his attention to the body on the floor "Right now, our main priority is finding the rest of our group and I hope to God that they're not dead as well"

"There's nothing much we can do about anything tonight so let's try to get some shut eye" Owen clapped his hand, calling the attention of everyone around him

One by one the group slowly dispersed and gathered back around the campfire taking their place on the sandy beach floor leaving behind Owen and Lucas

"What are we going to do about him?" Owen asks pointing at the dead body

"We'll have to bury him somewhere" Lucas sighed taking a quick look at what's left of Captain Bailey

"I don't think anyone traveled with a shovel" Owen responded

"We'll make due with what we can find and make" Lucas said letting out a large exhale "For now I need to sleep

He walked away with a hand supporting his casted shoulder, laying down close to the campfire before slowly drifting off.

***

The chirping sounds of birds overhead was enough to pull everyone out from their slumber as their eyes fiercely snapped open. The group looking around their environment as reality dawned on them, it wasn't a collective dream they all shared as if plugged into a simulation and it wasn't their imaginations playing tricks on them either. They were stranded on an island with a dead body barely a few feet away from them.

It was now their reality and they had to accept it with scattered groans and tears falling from a few eyes.

"I'd give anything to wake up on my own bed right now" Elijah was the first to speak, breaking the depressing silence to enveloped the lost party.

"I second that" Max stretched, with a few bones snapping into place like a visit to a chiropractor would cause.

"Now let's handle that" Lucas nodded at the body of the deceased pilot

"Anybody got a shovel in their pockets?" Elijah asked

"You've got jokes, don't you?" Emma asked sarcastically

He sighed, before running his thumb and index finger over his lips emulating a zip

"Wouldn't it be better if we just pushed him back into the ocean?" Chloe asks, before receiving multiple shocked stares from the group

"I'm starting to think Elijah's jokes were better to hear" Emma furrowed her brows as she stared at Chloe

Unzipping his lips and directing his attention towards Emma "You never know what you have until it's gone"

"Zip it" She rolled her eyes and Elijah did as she asked

"Anybody with an idea on how to make a shovel?" Lucas asks ignoring Emma and Elijah's back and forth

No hands raised as the group looked over themselves "Guess we're digging with our hands" Lucas said as he ran his hand through his sandy short brown hair

Silent shrugs and nods in agreement went across the entire group as they made their way towards Captain Bailey. While Owen and Elijah dug a grave rather slowly, Emma, Avery and Chloe with Max and Evan cheering them from the sides dragged the body a bit closer to soon to be final resting place of the late pilot

"You both know you can help out" Avery snapped at the boys

"We know but when do you girls ever do any heavy lifting?" Evan asks with a smile spread across his face

"This is why you're both still single" Chloe rolled her eyes at the boys as they continued to drag the body

"Lift with your hips" Max said demonstrating how they should carry the body

Emma said nothing but rather shot him a look that could easily read Another word from you and it'll be your body we're lifting with our hips

"Message received" Max said with his hands raised in defeat before huffing over to Emma's side with Evan following suit holding Captain Bailey's right hand and leg

"One two three" Max counted and the two boys hoisted the body up from the ground and moved him over to the grave diggers

"How about you guys try digging with these?" Lucas said tossing tree barks over to Elijah and Owen

"These should work" Owen said, examining the items handed over them

"Anything to make the job go faster" Elijah let out a large breath as if he just finished running a marathon

"How far have you guys gone?" Max asked as he and Evan arrived

"About-" Owen looked down at the hole in front of them "A feet" He sighed "A feet and half at best"

"At this rate we'd spend the whole day digging a grave" Chloe said wiping a streak of sweat from her forehead

"We?" Elijah asked with a confused look on his face "I don't see you digging your nails into the earth"

"You know what I mean" Chloe said in her defense

"No, I don't" Elijah says looking down at the hole "If you wanna say we again, grab a rock or the side of a tree and start digging"

Chloe scoffed before rolling her eyes at him, walking away to the foot of the beach

"A little less rude next time" Avery said before walking away from the group

"That's what happens when you get stranded with women" Elijah shrugged before he resumed digging with the tree bark

A few feet later into digging the grave Elijah groaned, bending up to look at Lucas "My shovel is out"

"You mean the tree bark?" Lucas corrects

"Hey you see a tree bark, I see a shovel. Either way it's broken and I think this should do" Elijah says as he hoisted himself out of the shallow grave

"Let's hope this is the only grave we'd dig on this island" Lucas said signaling the rest from the foot of the beach

Max and Evan, gently carrying Captain Bailey by his hands and legs, lowered him into the hole, as the rest of the bunch, stands over the grave with hands folded in front of them "We didn't know who he was but we hope he's resting well now" Lucas said "A moment of silence to honor the dead"

The group bowed their heads in silence. For the next minute, no words were shared and no jokes were uttered. The only thing written on their fallen expressions was absolute grief and fear racing through their minds.

"Let's cover it up" Owen says, tossing a handful of sand into the hole with the rest following suit. A few minutes later the grave was covered, with a makeshift cross made by Avery standing on it.

"Now let's go find our friends" Lucas said clearing his throat

The group split into two search parties, with Lucas Avery and Elijah and Sophia, Owen Emma, Max and Evan in the other.

"Head in that direction, and with any luck, you'll come across the rest of us on the beach over there." Lucas said, pointing in the direction where Owen found Emma and the rest "And we'd search through the other side" He pointed behind him "And we'd meet in the middle, cut through the forest and settle back by the campfire here"

"See you guys on the other side" Elijah said with a smile spread across his face as he backed away following the rest of his search party

"Don't do anything stupid" Owen called out to the other group as they separated heading towards either side of the island.

"What are the odds that we'd find them unconscious on the beach like the way you found Emma yesterday?" Evan asked as they departed from the campground

"Very slim" Owen started "Considering a day has already passed since we crashed here. They'd probably have woken up and tried to either find the rest of us like Lucas and I did or they-"

"Didn't survive the crash and we'd find their dead bodies floating in the water or laying lifeless on the beach" Emma finished

"Yeah that" Owen sighed heavily

"Stay positive guys" Max spoke up with a hand on Emma's back "Best case scenario, they're alive and well"

"Worst case scenario, they're lost inside the forest" Evan said looking at the giant trees that enveloped the middle of the island

"If that's the case then we'll find them eventually" Owen said looking through the trees before darting his attention back to the waves and the beach in front of them

The rest of the search continued in silence for the next thirty minutes as they tried to cover enough ground, walking side by side. Upon closer inspection, the plane parts from the front of the beach where their camp ground was located could also be found on the sides as well

"Is it just me or does it feel like the waves are moving in a circle?" Emma asked looking at the clothes sprawled out across the beach floor and the sea around the island "Cause I don't really get how all of this got to this part of the island when the plane crashed close to camp?"

"Well we don't really know where the plane crashed cause when I woke up I didn't see the entire plane. Just pieces upon pieces of metal" Owen said turning to face Emma who didn't seem satisfied with that answer

"But she does have a point though" Max said looking at the beach floor "How exactly did we all get scattered across the island when we were all within the same plane, crashing into the same place"

"And the fact that we all came out of that crash with small bruises and scratches" Evan added

"Coupled with the fact that, we could see the island from both the left and right sides of the plane" Emma reminded the group

"There's definitely something off about this island" Evan said in an almost whisper

They turned to look at Owen who seemed to be analyzing their collective thoughts in his mind before turning to look at them "Let's just find our friends first. We can solve the mysteries of the island later" He said picking up the pace "The sooner we find them the better. I'd rather not be away from the campfire for too long"

Emma, Evan and Max threw confused looks between themselves before throwing the thoughts away, hurrying up to meet up with Owen who was already a few steps ahead of them.

"How's your hand?" Avery asks Lucas as he uses his free hand to adjust the sling over his shoulders

"Still hurts like a bitch but I'll survive" He responded

"You're lucky you met Owen when you did" Elijah says picking up a stick from the ground, using it as a walking cane

"Yeah. He came out from inside the forest which was rather surprising" Lucas said

"Inside the forest?" Thin lines cut across Elijah's forehead as he turned to look at Lucas "How did he get inside the forest?"

"I don't know. Maybe he woke up before I did and went looking for everyone inside the forest" Lucas said turning to look at the forest beside him "that seemed like a logical approach"

""The logical approach"" Elijah made air quotes "would be to search around the beach for the rest of us"

"Don't forget he found you" Lucas reminded him

"Yeah before he proceeded to smack the shit out of me" Elijah rubbed his cheek where Owen slapped him to wake him up "A simple wake up Elijah would've worked"

"Would it have worked though?" Sophia chuckled

"What do you mean?" Elijah shot her a questioning look

"We've all seen how you sleep in class. It takes the intervention of almost the entire class just to wake you up sometimes, let alone having to wake you up after being unconscious for long" Sophia laughed

"I'm surprised Owen didn't leave you and assume you were dead" Avery added causing Lucas to laugh as well

"How did I become the subject of mockery in barely thirty seconds?" Elijah grinned as he joined the group in their short bursts of laughter

"Well the clown is always an object of laughter" Lucas said looking at Elijah

"So I'm the clown now?" Elijah asked

"If the red nose fits" Lucas snickered

"I do not have a red nose" Elijah said rubbing on his nose just to be sure no one played a prank on him while he was asleep

"Whatever you say Rudolf" Avery added causing the group to burst into another series of laughs

The rest of the search came up short as they arrived at the middle of the mark. "Up ahead" Lucas said nodding forward

With the other search party coming up ahead, with the same number of people they left with only means one thing, they also didn't find anyone.

"Nothing on your end?" Lucas asks as the two groups became one

"Not a single person, but we did come up with a few conspiracy theories on the way here" Max said looking at Lucas

"So did we" Elijah said, turning his attention to Owen who seemed lost in thought

"Everything okay Owen?" Lucas asked, patting his shoulder

"Oh uhm yeah" He said looking at Lucas with a smile appearing on his face before disappearing almost immediately

"Let's head back to camp." Lucas said, turning to face the forest beside them. "Should we cut through the forest?"

"Hard pass-"

"I'd prefer we don't"

Avery and Sophia blurted out simultaneously.

"The long way then" Lucas raised his hand in defeat

The group turned on their heels and went back the path Lucas's group came out from before arriving back at camp about thirty minutes later. They all took their seats around where the campfire burned the night before. With the sun already setting, Max started a brand new fire with twigs and shredded clothes, just like he did the night before.

"So what's the hypothesis we're working with here?" Max asked taking a seat besides Emma

"Hypothesis one" Owen started "They managed to survive the crash and they're somewhere inside forest, looking for food and shelter"

"Speaking of food, we haven't had anything to eat today" Elijah groaned, rubbing his growling stomach

"Hypothesis two" Lucas spoke up "They didn't survive the crash and their bodies are somewhere in the middle of the ocean by now"

"But based on what we observed, the current flows around the island so their bodies are probably circling the island meaning they'd pop up soon, just like how Captain Bailey's body came out of the water" Emma said not looking up from the fire

"What do you mean the currents flow around the island?" Lucas asks with arched brows

Emma looked up, only just realizing that almost all eyes are now on her "it's just a theory but while we set out to find the rest earlier today, we kind of noticed that plane parts and clothes were scattered all over that part of the island. Given how we crashed, everything should at least be packed up on one spot or drifted back into the open sea where it could be easily seen and followed but that's not the case here"

"It's like there's something keeping the plane parts and clothes on the island or at least around it" Max added

"So it's not just about the currents but maybe like a force pulling everything towards the island" Elijah said running his hands through his dark hair.

"The circular currents would kind of explain why we all woke on different parts of the island" Lucas said looking at Emma

"It doesn't explain how Owen came out from inside the forest" Elijah said tossing a suspicious look over to Owen who just smiled

"I woke up on the other side of the island, where we all met up earlier. I cut through the forest when I heard a very faint voice calling out to everyone. The closer I got to the other side, the louder the voice got and by the time I popped out on the other side, I met Lucas with a dislocated shoulder and we'll the rest is history" Owen sighed as he finished speaking

"Happy now?" Avery shot a look over to Elijah

"Yeah sure" Elijah sat back resting his weight on his hands on the sand

"There's definitely something weird about this island" Emma said "our plane was literally pulled out from the sky when we flew over the island"

"Not to mention, most of us seeing the plane from two sides" Avery added

"Yeah we had that same thought earlier today" Max said

Silence covered the grouped as they all tried to make sense of the questions and thoughts racing through their minds, trying to make sense of it all.

"There's nothing more we can do about it tonight, so let's all try to get some shut eye and figure it out tomorrow" Lucas said, calling the group's attention to him.

"Do you really think anyone would be able to sleep with this level of information that was just dumped on us?" Sophia asked

"We're just going to have to" Lucas said to her

The words barely completely left his lips before the rustling of leaves from the forest beside them sent their heads snapping towards the direction in synchronization. Everyone mentally counting their breaths, waiting for another sound to escape from the woods. Twigs snapping under the weight of something sent them all on their feet, slowly backing away from the forest, not breaking eye contact from where the sounds are coming from and then -

A scream screeched through the chilled night sky. Not so loud that it is deafening, but loud enough to hear it from where they stood at the edge of the water.

"What the fuck was that?" Elijah asked, panicked

"That was definitely a scream" Avery responded

"Maybe we heard wrong" Evan whispered

The sounds of twigs snapping and leaves rustling increased, pushing out from the same point within the forest, growing louder and louder.

Owen bent down, picking a picking a piece of the plane that looked like a piece of the propeller blade

"What are you going to do with that??" Avery asked looking at the blade like object in his hand

"im taking whatever it is with me, or at least leaving it with a scar so deep it doesn't forget about me even after my death" Owen said, clutching the piece in his hand, hardening his grip

The rustling stopped as something came out of the woods with its figure slowly revealed by the light from the campfire.

"Is that how you guys say hello to your classmate?" Caleb asked, with a huge grin on his face.

"Fucking Caleb" Owen sighed and then chuckled as he approached his friend, embracing him in a tight hug just as the rest of the missing class, made their way out from within the woods

Zara, Mia, Milo, Isabel and Natalie stepped into the light with cuts and bruises clearly displayed on their skin and clothes.

"Where's Ava?" Avery asks after scanning the group

"We never found her body" Caleb said after a long silence

"What do you mean you couldn't find her body?" Elijah asks

"We've been searching for Ava nonstop since we woke up five nights ago" Caleb said

"What do you mean five nights ago?" Emma asks wide eyed, the words barely audible

"We've only been on the island for two nights" Lucas spoke up

"We've been on this island for a week now" Caleb added