Castaway: A TDI Fanfic Ch. 1, Pt. 2

Total Drama Castaway

Chapter 1, Part 2 - All Good Things...


Aaron arrived back at the wreckage where he was found just minutes before, looking to see scattered luggage, papers and shards of metal scattered across the jungle floor. Approaching the hole where he had been pulled out, he knelled down to avoid hitting his head, before stepping slowly along what used to be the floor of the plane. The boy cringed a bit when seeing a body over near the edge of the dug-in fuselage. Slowly making his way over, he leaned over to see if he could find anything to identify it.

What he found was the unmoving, paled corpse of an anonymous man; he looked like he was in his mid 30's or so, well-dressed, and had a pretty clean haircut. Upon further inspection, Aaron noticed something bulging behind the lapel of the man's jacket, something so large and distinctive in shape that it stood out. Reaching his hand down, Aaron gingerly pulled back the lapel...he stopped suddenly, surprised, when he saw a pistol holster, the gun still inside. He then looked down at the man's belt buckle to see a badge attached to his wallet - still shiny despite everything else being so dingy. Apparently, he'd been some sort of Air Marshal...

Warily, Aaron looked up at his surroundings again, but only for only a brief moment. In the end, Aaron decided to take the gun...just in case. The only experience he'd ever had with guns was on hunting trips, but then, somebody had provided the gun; he'd never thought that he'd ever pull one off of a dead body...

Upon further inspection of the corpse, Aaron found large bruises around the base of the man's neck. Seems he died on impact, slamming his head up into the ceiling. Pulling the pistol out and checking it over, Aaron then stuffed it into his pocket along with two spare clips he found in the man's other jacket pockets.

"Umm...if you're done robbing from a dead guy, could you help me out of this tree?!" called a strained, slightly irritated voice. Aaron quickly turned and found a thin, short and tanned male teenager wrapped around the trunk of a palm tree, clinging for dear life. Teeth gritted, the teen  was looking over fearfully at some sort of small, but very aggravated creature, possibly  what had trapped him in his current predicament. It looked like some sort of wild dog, Aaron mused, while watching it hissing and foaming; froth forming around its lower lip.

"...you okay? That thing didn't bite you...did it?" Aaron asked, hoping that wasn't the case if this creature had rabies.

"It DID bite me!" he cried out, digging his fingers deeper into the tree bark. "I've had rabies shots, though...Up to date, too! Now could you please get rid of this thing?!"

Jeez, he didn't have to be so loud, Aaron thought to himself, cringing a bit at the shrill pitch and tone of the other boy's voice. But then he noticed that the trapped victim had a nasty looking, oozing gash on his ankle. One wrong move, even by a few millimeters from the tree trunk, and the poor guy could end up with more than just a messed up ankle! No wonder he was pretty much in 'panic' mode.

Slowly, Aaron reached for the gun he had taken just moments before. He didn't want to just kill it...but it looked like he didn't have any other choice. Suddenly, the dog's attention went from the one trapped in the tree to Aaron.

"...easy now," he soothed, being gentle as he rose the pistol up in his hand, aiming right at it. "...easy...," he told the dog again, seeing it lurching back, as if ready to strike at him. That was it, then - no other choice. Closing his eyes for a moment, he pulled the trigger.


BANG!


Aaron heard a light thump, then he opened his eyes now to see the dog: laying on the ground, dead, after a bullet struck it right in the head. In some distant part of his mind, Aaron's nerves were rattled; the experience had been fairly disorienting. The last few minutes had been  a disconcerting series of strange, unpleasant events. Now wasn't really the time to think it over; first rule of survival was keeping your head and staying cool. Expect the unexpected.


Shaking his own head now, to clear his own thoughts and calm himself, Aaron pushed the pistol back into his pants pocket. Then he walked over to the tree and tried to help the boy down. "C'mon - it's alright...it's dead!"

Slowly reaching out for Aaron's arm, the teen boy managed to climb down, his red and blue shirt quite torn up from being stuck in that tree. Maybe he had gotten flung up into it during the crash?

Suddenly, he then turned heel and grabbed the front of Aaron's shirt, clenching it in his fist and looking at the other boy with bloodshot, crazed eyes; his voice oozed desperation and hysteria."We have to find the other dogs!" he gasped. "We have to KILL them all!" His nostrils were flaring like a bull's. "I was the lucky one...I saw a woman get carried off by those things! They're carnivores. They want to eat us...eat whatever's left of us...Please tell me you found more guns!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Aaron cried out as he grabbed at the boy's shoulders and pushed him back up into the tree. Shaking his head some he pulled out the gun again, holding it in both hands but didn't see anything else around. No dogs - nothing.

"Look, we don't have time to be hunting wild animals. You need to get your head on straight. We're trying to stay alive, not get killed." He then looked back at him, seeing that he was in quite a bit of shock from the crash. Perhaps...the woman he saw was sadly already expired, and the dogs were just dragging her away?

"Was the woman alive?" Aaron asked as a follow-up to that thought train. It was obvious by the other boy's eyes that...yes, it was quite possible she wasn't. As much as Aaron didn't want to believe that there was another dead body...he had already seen several today...and there were bound to be hundreds more. The thought was sobering, and very depressing, in a way that made Aaron scrunch his eyebrows in pain at the distant thought, but-necessary evil definitely put things into perspective...

"No..." The dog-bite victim reached up and gingerly touched his forehead. "She wasn't..." He started taking deep breaths. His forehead creased and his pupils shrank; it looked like he was plunging into the recesses of his own mind, like a form of mental retreat.

"I'm not sure about this," he said, looking like he was trying his best to stay calm. "But...I think Ezekiel was taken by the dogs, too."

"Ezekiel? He a friend of yours?" Aaron asked, listening to tropical birds crying out in the distance and the sounds of flapping wings overhead. The boy just nodded a bit to Aaron's question. "In a sense...yeah..."

"Do you know where the dogs took him?"

"I...I think to the north," he mentioned, pointing off into the thick dense jungle. There was no way either one of them would be able to follow Ezekiel through that by themselves. Besides, he had been bitten and needed some form medical attention. ASAP. Perhaps, Aaron mused, his friend Jessie could help the dog-bitten victim with first aid and the two of them could regroup...
"Are there any other survivors?" the boy asked, his expression hopeful.

"Yeah, a few of 'em actually," Aaron replied in a straightforward way. "They're holding up just down range that way. We can get that leg of yours checked out...then we can try to find your friend,...if he's still alive." Leaning down, once again Aaron used another part of his long sleeve as a makeshift bandage, wrapping it around the boy's ankle.

"Right...okay, let's head on back then, see if the guys found anyone else too, " Aaron said as he finished fastenening a knot in the bandage. Levvying himself back up, Aaron put the pistol away before extending his hand out. "...guess I should introduce myself too. I'm Aaron...Aaron Paige." For a brief moment, the boy looked uncertainly at Aaron's extended hand, then his expression vanished into a coy, contemplative smile. "I'm Noah," he said, giving Aaron's hand a firm shake. "Thanks for...technically saving my life, by the way. But don't expect me to be your personal manservant."

Aaron gave a bit of a 'you kidding me' look along with a chuckle before shaking Noah's hand, then shook his head as the two started to walk. "Technically? You wouldn't have lasted long in that tree if the dog knew how to climb. And forget about it...I'd rather focus on staying alive now."

Making their way through the thick jungle yet again and going along the same path as before, they soon found the rest of the group, already making a bit of a makeshift 'camp' around where Courtney had been found. The skies were getting a bit cloudy, but the humidity had finally died down and it was getting a little cooler with a soft breeze blowing through. "Found another one!" Aaron called out over to his friend, the group seeing who had been rescued.

Jessie ran over, raising his hand in a "hello" gesture at Aaron. When he was close enough, he looked at Noah and smiled, slapping him lightly on the shoulder. "Good to see ya, brah!" he said.

Noah rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're definitely the first to tell me that," Noah said, smiling around his comment. "So, what's your name?"

"Jessie," he replied. Noah nodded, then he folded his arms and looked expectantly at Aaron. "So, how do you plan on going about this, Steve Urwin?"

Aaron rubbed the back of his neck, just shaking his head. "Um...well I haven't really thought that far ahead. Just thought I'd take who I can with me, the rest stays here, and we try to find Ezekiel." As dumbly simple as that sounded - it was honestly the best option. Right now they couldn't take many with them, as the others had to stay here - especially Jessie. "Jessie stays here though. Same with you, you need that leg checked out."

"I really wanted revenge on those dogs..," Noah said, frowning a little. Then he looked at his ankle. "But you're right..." At that, Jessie looked down at Noah's ankle, suddenly, his eyes widening and a brow raising. Noah's ankle bore a bright and angry looking pinkish bruise. There was blood-crimson blood, leaking into what was left of Noah's socks, staining them. Set on auto pilot, Jessie reached up and grabbed the collar of his wet suit, ripping off a long strip of cloth. Quickly, he started wrapping the cloth around Noah's ankle, Noah just watching.

"I didn't even know it'd been bleeding..." he said absently.

Watching as Jessie patched up Noah, Aaron nodded a bit, glad his friend could help out. He'd have to explain everything else later on, though. For now, he looked back as Gwen slowly though nervously stepped forward. "I overheard you guys..." she admitted sheepishly, wearing a small smile. "Duncan wants to stay here and comfort Courtney, but Tyler said he could help. I can, too... if you need me." Following what Gwen said, Tyler gave a small nod and a thumbs-up.

"If you think you're up for it Gwen, okay. Tyler can come with us too. The rest of you guys can stay here." Aaron tilted his head back and stared at the clouds, thoughts rolling in a mental blender.  Then his attention went over to Jessie, nodding to him. "Feel the wind coming in Jessie? Gonna be getting some rain...don't think it's a storm, though."

"I hope not..." Jessie commented, blowing out a breath. "Don't have a shelter set up yet! Rain would be pretty uncomfortable for people not used to being pelted by water. Am I right, Bridgette?" Bridgette looked up from her perch where she was tending to Courtney's leg and smiled mutely. Jessie then gave Aaron a thumbs up.

Triumphantly, Gwen held up a long, deadly looking stick she'd just found, smiling proudly. Tyler was still looking around for a weapon. When he couldn't find one, he pulled off what was left of his red sweat pants, whipping them around like a pair of nun-chucks.

Aaron definitely had to admire the enthusiasm, spirit, and optimism of this rag tag group of survivors...Shaking his head and chuckling lightly, Aaron walked over to his bag, dug out a pair of extra shorts and tossed them to Tyler. Last thing he wanted to see was Tyler walking around in the jungle with just his underwear. "Alright...we'll be back soon. We'll try not to take too long..." Nodding to both the Goth girl and wannabee jock, the three of them proceeded back into the jungle, heading north as Noah had told them before.


~~~~~


Along the way, Tyler slapped the back of his neck some, not used to the bugs flying around them before looking back at Aaron. "So...I know maybe no one's asked this yet but...are they going to come and get us? I mean they did send out a distress call or something...right?"

Aaron looked back for a moment as they continued walking, unable to give a definite yes or no. "Can't say for sure.."

"That's a good question," Gwen echoed, looking skeptically at Aaron. Suddenly, something on the ground caught her eye. When she looked down, she saw sets of dog paw prints, leading off into the flora and fauna. She gestured with her hand. "Tyler! Aaron! I think I just found how we can find Zeke."

Stopping quickly, both boys turned around and walked back over to where Gwen was, looking down at the dog prints, then back at Gwen. "You think this will lead us right to where Ezekiel is?" Aaron asked, while Tyler kept a close eye out around them, just in case.

"It's worth a try," Gwen replied, shrugging as she started walking. Two steps-and she stopped. A huge lump formed in her throat as a ghastly stench permeated her nostrils. When she looked closer...she saw the rotting carcass of a smaller animal- fur, bones, and everything. Pinching her nostrils shut, she desperately wished that death would stop becoming more and more of a familiar sight. She made herself start walking again, then found herself stopping-again. But this time, it was because she saw several scraps of olive green cloth. The same color as Zeke's hoodie. "We're going the right way," she affirmed, shivers running down her spine as unbidden and macabre thoughts came to mind.

Aaron and Tyler also stopped, cringing at the thick and odorous scent. "Guh...what the hell, man?!" the jock cursed to himself, shaking his head as they tried to walk past it. "Looks old...probably been there a few days..."

As they continued on, they stopped, both teens looking at the torn fabric before nodding back to Gwen. Hopefully they would find the boy safe and sound. But as they approached a small clearing, they heard a voice crying out, and the sounds of dogs whimpering and yelping out in pain.

"Yeah! Take that! And that! You want some too!? Get back! Yeah!" The voice didn't sound familiar to Aaron - but both Tyler and Gwen would easily know who it was - a certain brunette geek.


~~~~~


Cody laughed as he held the long, metal scrap of plane that he'd found. These dogs were barely any more menacing than the ones that lived next door to him; if he could handle pet sitting three pit bulls and a crazy Labrador retriever, this was a cake walk! The dogs kept whining. Just a little bit more and they'd be gone for good. He felt Zeke digging his fingers into his arm, looking curiously over his shoulder.

"Off with you!" Cody commanded, hefting the metal scrap piece and giving it one last mighty swing. One dog got hit in its' flank; it whined, but then it took off. All of the dogs turned and started running, as fast as their legs could carry them. Cody placed his hands on his hips, smiling. Then he turned to look at Zeke, wondering what to do next...

"Let's hope they don't come back, eh? That wouldn't be any good," Zeke commented, his hoodie and cap pretty much torn to shreds after the dogs tried to take a nice, good bite out of him. Cody meanwhile had at least taken care of those wild animals from trying to hurt him and the home-schooled kid. Just as they wondered what to do next, the bushes up near the edge of the small clearing opened up - showing Aaron, Tyler and Gwen approaching...now dumbstruck as they watched the dogs running away from Cody.

"How did you manage to do that?!" Gwen squawked, her eyes wide. She was obviously in disbelief. Cody felt like bragging and showboating, but at the same time, he felt offended by Gwen's incredulity. Before he could do anything, Tyler walked up and held up his fist, smiling. "Brofist, dude! That was awesome!" he cheered. Feebly, Cody returned the gesture. Then he looked at Zeke, then back to the three new arrivals. "Did you guys come looking for us?" he asked.

Aaron nodded, putting the pistol away before he stepped forward. "Yeah, Noah saw Ezekiel being taken away by those dogs, so we came out here to try and find him...guess we found you, too. You guys alright? They didn't bite you or anything did they?" Aaron asked earnestly, a distinct worry pulling at his expression.

"No, eh. We're alright - though I would've been dog food if it weren't for Cody here!" Zeke told them all with a smile, still holding onto Cody's shoulder in thanks.

"Ah...stop it! You're embarrassing me!" Cody said, smiling and blushing. Then he reached up and pulled Zeke's hand off of his shoulder, nervously looking over at Gwen; she was looking in a different direction. "Seriously," he added, for extra emphasis. Despite his hints, though, Zeke put his hand back there anyway. Poor guy was still scared.

Sighing, Cody looked over at Aaron. "Have you found any food?" he asked on an unrelated note. "I don't mean to pull an Owen, but I'm getting kind of hungry..."

"We might be able to scavenge something from the wreckage...might be some food that's still edible if it hasn't spoiled. Let's head on back...I don't think there's anyone else left except us..." Aaron explained, knowing if they were lucky enough to find all of them so far...it was either a miracle, or just luck that they would be able to find anyone else alive. For now, Aaron just wished to head on back to the camp, seeing the dark clouds lumbering off in the distance.


~~~~~

"Hey Owen, could you pick this up?" Duncan asked, pointing at a large piece of metal. The bug guy scratched his hair, then walked over and obliged, visibly straining under the enormous weight. Quickly, Duncan scurried into the new opening, entering a hollowed out part of the plane. Just as he'd suspected, there was some food here. There was a huge pile of airplane peanut bags, another one of bottled water. This had probably been where the stewardess' quarters of the plane were. Wishing for a better selection, Duncan started scooping up as many packs of peanuts as he could carry. He had to hurry before Owen gave out and dropped the plane part.

Upon Duncan and Owen's return to the campsite, there was a small decent array of snack foods and bottled water - but the snacks were not to be eaten unless necessary. Since they were salty, they would only encourage them to drink more water. They would have to find a different and more suitable food source. Soon arriving at their little 'camp', Aaron would see that the final survivor had been found - Heather. While they had been out to try and find Ezekiel, they found Heather walking aimlessly through the jungle, lost, confused and obviously in a little bit of shock. The only reason Heather was the only familiar person here, was that they had met weeks before back in Hawaii, near the end of the third season. Though that was a story to be told much later.


~~~~~

"We got any food Jessie?" he asked his friend, setting his t-shirt and bag down, hoping that they had at least found something to munch on to make up for their otherwise piteous arrangement of dehydrating snack foods.

"Bridgette wandered back to the beach and found some coconuts," Jessie replied, dragging his fingers through his blond hair as he thought. "Unfortunately, that's all. The plane's not going to be any more help. Duncan said that peanuts were the ONLY thing he found. That and bottled water, but most of the bottles were leaking or just empty from the crash." Sighing, Jessie started absentmindedly picking up little twigs around his feet. "We'll have to go on another search tomorrow. There's probably other food-it's just too far into the forest to venture into right now..."

"Well, at least the bottles we can patch up or re-use." he told Jessie, pulling out from his bag a small roll of duck tape accompanied by a coy smile. "A thousand uses." Aaron chuckled, before tossing the roll to his friend, then grabbing one of the bottles to fill up with some water. "...is everyone else doing okay?" he asked him now, leaning in a bit closer to keep quiet. He didn't want everyone to be scared about a 'worst possible scenario' going through their heads if it was found out.

"I think Heather's suffering from a slight case of heat exhaustion...," Jessie replied, surveying the group in front of them.

Gwen, Cody, and Tyler were poking around the perimeter of the makeshift camp for firewood; Duncan was tending to Courtney again, using pieces of his shirt as a fresh bandage. Owen and Bridgette were tending to Heather and Noah, and Zeke just sat off to the side with nothing to do, poking vacantly at a bag of peanuts. "Courtney won't be able to move for an entire week at maximum. Noah's out for a few days, too, due to his leg injury. But everybody else is fine. When Gwen and Cody are done, they're going to round up Zeke and then continue work on the shelter."

"I'm sure they'll want a sit down eventually...talk and sort things out," Aaron said quietly, seeing everyone working a bit on auto-pilot as they just tried to get everything situated for now. Once they were settled down, had a bit of food and water and were rested, they'd want to talk things over and figure out their next plan of action.

While everyone else seemed to be busy doing something, Aaron's attention couldn't help honing in on Ezekiel again: he was just looking down at the one bag of peanuts he had, prodding and poking them while he felt a hand through his hair. His hat had been pretty much tore up during the flight, and his hoodie wasn't going to do him any good in this hot and humid weather.

Jessie took closer notice of Zeke now, too. He frowned and shook his head. "I think you'll need to work some of your magic again, brah," he said, standing up. "Zeke looks really out of it. I'm going to see how Cody, Gwen, and Tyler are doing. Get them rounded up, then we'll disperse the food and water and talk things over. Think you can get through to Zeke by then, or at least figure out how to help him get productive?"

"I'll see what I can do...and it ain't 'magic', man. Just got to say the right things..." Aaron said with a shake of his head, walking over to where Zeke was and sat down beside him. He watched the homeschooled kid just sit quietly for a moment before Aaron cleared his throat and spoke. "So...you guys were on that TV show 'Total Drama' or whatever...right? What was it like?"

"I spent my summer in the cargo hold of the plane," Zeke said casually, looking up and shrugging. "I actually became in tune with the wilderness. Spoke with the rats, cockroaches, Sasquatchanawkwa. When we crashed down here, I tried to talk to the dogs, eh, but they just hate humans. Really hate humans. I ran into some other creatures and they all hate humans, too."

"Talk to animals?...huh." Aaron wasn't expecting to hear that, but he did hear rumors that poor 'Zeke' was stuck in the back of a plane and had turned...a bit more feral. At least after everything had ended, he had managed to heal up and get back to normal. Still, it wasn't easy for Aaron to come up with something to say or talk to him about. "So how do you feel being back with your friends?...um...well if any of them are your friends."

"...I don't know anymore, eh. It's been a weird transition, being a caveman and then a normal boy again, you know? It's like going through puberty again! Gahh!"

Aaron just watched as Ezekiel physically emoted how he was going through a lot of emotional stress; Zeke had buried his face in his palms and was dragging his fingers through his bangs, down his eyes, scratching his nose...Most of this was because of a "transformation" of sorts, as he had put it.

"What is normal?" Aaron started up suddenly, drawing Zeke's attention from his personal self-pity party. "To be an outcast, to be a 'jock', 'goth', or 'nerd'...to me, I don't see the world as normal. Now. I probably can't understand what you're going through, but...if you need to talk to someone, I'm here to talk to. And I'm sure the others would be willing to open up, too."

Zeke looked at Aaron, tears glittering at the edges of his eyes. He sniffed, then swiped at his face with the sleeve of his hoodie. "Thanks, dawg," he said sincerely. "It feels like you and Cody are the only people willing to...tolerate me." He shook his head. "Is there anything I can do? I'm beginning to feel pretty useless...I don't even like peanuts anyway!" He pushed the peanut bag aside and looked at Aaron hopefully, almost expectantly.

Aaron chuckled a little bit at being called 'dawg'. Wasn't something he was used to be called, but it was better than his nickname back in school. Looking up as the rain clouds were moving in, he nodded back to Ezekiel as he stood up. "There is. I was going to head out to see what else I can salvage. Thought I saw some tarps near what's left of the cargo hatch. We could use that for a outdoor roof and cover up any holes in what's left of our little camp," he offered, before handing Ezekiel his little makeshift canteen bottle, offering him some water.

"Thanks," Zeke said, gratefully taking the canteen and sipping a bit of water. Then he climbed to his feet. "Sounds like a plan, G!" he said brightly, already cheering up at the prospect of being able to do something. Though, just as he and Aaron were planning to move out, Jessie came up behind Aaron and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. Behind Jessie stood Gwen, Tyler, and Cody, all three of them looking curious and a little bit impatient. Tyler's stomach growled loudly, prompting Cody to look at him and laugh merrily.

"Um...perhaps we should grab some food first," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. As they headed back to the center of their camp, Duncan came back with a few wrapped sandwiches. They were a bit warm, but weren't spoiled. It was probably the only good meal they'd have for awhile. Taking one of the sandwiches, Aaron sat himself down on a broken down log, taking his time to eat it while swigging down some water every so often, as the others also joined in, trying to eat what they could, though some wished they could save it for later. Then again, they didn't exactly have a magical cooler or fridge to keep it fresh with.

Heather was still a bit delirious; she found herself swaying and landed against Aaron, using him as a crutch to support herself. Duncan was still bragging about finding the sandwiches after a second, more thorough search of the plane as Courtney lightheartedly chastised him between bites of her own sandwich. Bridgette was explaining-tediously so-that there were no fridges on the island. And Jessie was tapping his foot as he passed around now-filled water bottles.

At some point in the conversation, Jessie cleared his throat. First, he looked over at Duncan. "It's getting dark. Could you light the fire?" Duncan obliged - his lighter somehow still in tact. Then Jessie gestured at Aaron. "I think now would be a good time to discuss our current situation and what to do next. Aaron's going to help me outline what we're going to do. Care to say anything before starting, Aaron?"

Aaron felt Heather still leaning against his shoulder, unable to talk much since she was still under the effects of heat exhaustion. It was quite hot out earlier in the day. And with the dark clouds looming overhead, it was starting to get a bit gloomy. While Duncan pulled out his lighter and tried to start up the small little bonfire they had arranged in the middle, Aaron sighed as he leaned forward a bit, unsure how to start things off. "I guess I'll just say this right now...we're all very lucky to be alive. But it's going to take more than luck to keep it that way." Everyone was a bit silent now, listening to Aaron as he spoke his mind.

"We have very little food, a decent source of fresh drinking water, a bit of a shelter and fire to keep things warm. But the most important thing right now...is us." He paused a moment for emphasis. "Now maybe some of you disliked one another before, or hated one another but...that's not the case now. We're miles from home...stuck on...wherever we are. Maybe they'll find us tomorrow; maybe they won't. But the sooner we put aside or differences, the better. If we're to survive this, we have to work as a team, and it will give us better odds in the long run." Shrugging Aaron rubbed a hand over his forehead, sighing, before speaking once more: "...guess that's about it for now."

"Thank you, Aaron," Jessie said, taking the proverbial baton. He knew that a motivational type of speech would raise morale and make the upcoming set of tasks, trials, and tribulations that much easier.

Folding his hands, Jessie started to launch into his own spiel: "I've been keeping tabs on each of your individual skills. From there, I'm going to assign a task to each of you for tomorrow. Bridgette, Aaron, and I will continue attending to those of you who still have injuries. If you guys need anything, feel free to ask any of the three of us. Cody, Gwen, and Tyler-you three will be rotating between finding firewood, keeping watch for wild animals, and food scavenging. Duncan and Owen, you'll be rotating between food scavenging and constant patrol of the perimeter. Everybody will be chipping in to build the shelter when needed."

"So...who's the leader then?" Tyler raised his hand up to ask. Seems everyone was wondering about the answer to that particular question.

Jessie tapped his fingers against his knee, thinking. He didn't really want to give a direct answer, but everyone's eyes were on both him and Aaron, waiting, breath bated, for an answer. But just as he was about to say something, Heather stirred, pushing herself into a sitting position. "It's obvious who the leaders are," she said, somewhat irritably, but it had less of an effect due to her current state. "Aaron and Jessie. Now shut up and lemme take a..." She slumped backwards, falling off of the log and onto the sand.

Everyone else seemed to just fall silent after that, despite Heather's abrupt rude remark. As she had fallen down Aaron quickly helped her back up, allowing her to rest and lean up against him for support. The rest of the small group just gathered around the campfire, hoping to stay warm as the dark clouds continued to loom overhead.

The only thing that was running through Aaron's mind right now...was how? How could this whole summer vacation of his turn into this? How could a simple plane trip back home, end in disaster? And how would they ever get home? The sounds of the snapping of firewood and twigs echoed around him, as he remembered just hours before how this all began...