as unsinkable as i can be // the wilds

chapter one.

My mouth was full of sand when my mind finally woke up.

I had this weird feeling of having my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, and after a few seconds of lying there, I bolted up and vomited everything in my stomach, including that slice of chocolate cake we had had on the flight.

My whole body shook, from fear, from pain, from being empty, and I just wanted to close my eyes and retract into my head. The French braids I had done before arriving onto the plane were coming completely undone, mud and sand and salt water seeping into the strands.

There were pieces of sand still in my mouth, but I fell to my knees, my eyes watering or crying or just responding to my surroundings as I tried to regain myself, my composure. I was pretty far up on the beach - if that's what you want to call it - and my body felt like lead, my eyes dizzy, my hands bleeding from some sort of cuts I had gotten from God knows where, saltwater inevitably inside of them, the pain registering after a few seconds.

It finally dawned on me that one of the girls from the plane was moving a few yards down the beach from me, and I could tell she was trying her hardest to keep her stomach at rest as she stumbled to her feet.

"MARTY!" she called, her voice hoarse and in a low register, her black braid swaying back and forth. "MARTHA! MARTY!" Her head whipped back and forth, and she tried to run down the beach, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. I winced as she vomited long and hard, her body shuddering.

There was a moment of pause in me, but it was only a moment. That girl could've been the only one to survive, and if we were truly stuck, I was not about to go through this alone.

"W-wait!" I called feebly, clearing my throat and tripping over my own feet, trying to follow her. "Wait! Please!" This time, I couldn't hold back the tears. I collapsed, shivering from the wind that whipped at my hair, starting to crawl towards her in any hope that she would notice me there.

But she heard me. Thank God, she heard me. Before I knew it, I had arms around me, holding me tight, rocking me back and forth, moving pieces of hair out of my eyes and mouth.

"Are you okay?" she asked me, her face so close to mine I could see every vein in her bloodshot eyes, the rings around them a dark red. Her skin was a tan, olive color, and her eyes were a deep chocolate that had swirls of hazel and yellow around her pupil. Her features were soft in some ways and hard in others, but I couldn't help but notice how perfect she seemed to look.

My teeth chattered together, but I managed to nod.

"What's your name? Sorry, I don't remember. I'm not a fan of the crap that Texan was trying to do on the plane." Even then, she was making a joke, despite the fact that I knew she wanted to run from me and scour the entire island for Martha, who I couldn't remember from the plane.

"R-Raelynn. Rae. Y-you?" She stripped her jacket off of her and draped it across my shoulders, drawing me in closer. I tried to tell her I didn't need it, that I was fine, but she forced it on me.

"You need it more than I do, Rae. And, it's Toni. I'm Toni"

That was the first time I met Toni.