The Fallen Survivors

Chapter six- gone.

Elijah p.o.v

Traveling through the jungle during the day was even worse than at night. The humidity was stifling and made my shirt cling desperately onto me. Beads of sweat fell from my forehead.

Trudging through the jungle, hopes of finding food safe to eat were dwindling slowly. I kinda regret offering to go into the jungle and wished I just stayed silent and stayed with Eliza. She's much nicer company.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Amelia and Milly, but they couldn't compare to Eliza. No one could, I think that Eliza is just perfect. Her hazel eyes are stunning, her brown hair beautiful. Everything about her is amazing and I've spent the past year trying to work up the courage to speak to her. It was kinda pathetic of me to be honest.

As we went along, in order to not get lost and to reach a horrible fate I scratched deep crosses into trees with a rock from the ground. This way we couldn't get lost.

"Hey is it just me or can you hear the ocean?" Amelia asked.

"Well we are on an island so thats quite possible" Milly responded.

"Yeah I think you can see a glimpse of the ocean just over there," I said pointing in front of us, "looks like it might be a cliff of some sort."

We continued heading forwards before exiting the jungle and arriving at the edge of precipice. The fresh sea breeze was a pleasant gift. Looking down, I saw jagged rocks jutting out from the violent crashing waves. It was a long fall down that would certainly end in nothing but death. A shiver ran down my spine at the prospect of falling down there. Looking to my left I saw a little trail, leading downwards to a small patch of sand.

"Let's keep looking, I don't like standing here, gives me the chills," Amelia said.

I nodded and began leading the way back into the jungle and blasting heat.

A few minutes later, sweaty and thinking about returning to where we were staying for a drink, we came across a sight that made us groan in frustration.

"We went round in circles, seriously," Milly said as she stared down at jagged rocks and swirling waters.

"Maybe it's a different cliff," Amelia suggested.

"No. It's too similar, but let's not think about it and head back for a drink. We all need it," I said.

With nods of approval we began our journey back to camp, following the trail of crosses I left behind. I thought it would be a surefire way to not get lost, but I was obviously wrong.

"We're back here," Milly said.

"But how?" I replied bewildered. "How, I left marks to not get lost and we followed them carefully, how did we end up here again?" I said standing at the edge of the cliff.

"Don't ask me I'm not an expert," Amelia responded with hands up in surrender.

"Let's just try again. Surely we won't end up here again," Milly said confidently.

We nodded and tried again to leave the cliff and jungle, and yet again we returned to it.

"Fuck," Milly groaned with frustration and kicked at the sand, sending it riding on the wind, "this is getting on my fucking nerves!"

Amelia sighed and scratched her head, her brows furrowed together in deep thought.

"Maybe we should head down the trail, get onto the beach and maybe find our way back from there," Amelia suggested.

"Yeah let's do that," I said.

"Might as well," Milly replied.

Heading down the treacherous path proved to be very difficult and dangerous. It was narrow and steep with nothing to prevent us from falling. It crumbled beneath us taunting us with the idea of falling. To say I was scared was an understatement. I was terrified.

When we finally reached the bottom, I was glad to finally be on solid ground without the fear of tumbling to my death.

Amelia squinted into the distance and her lips turned up a smile."Hey I think that's my suitcase!" Amelia exclaimed in excitement pointing to a cluster of suitcases, "and there are others too!"

Looking at where she was pointing I saw she was right and just like Amelia, I smiled. I guess this trip wasn't futile after all. Picking up pace, we began heading over to them.

"This means we're not too far from where we came ashore. I'm sure we'll be able to get back from here. Right?" Amelia asked still grinning.

I hummed in approval and opened the first suitcase I came across. A large navy blue fabric one with multiple compartments. Everything was soaked inside, but that problem could easily be solved. I began rifling through it and discarded anything not useful along with the idea of invading someone's privacy. Amelia and Milly did the same. Soon we were able to compact anything we deemed as useful into four out of the twelve suitcases we found. It was mostly clothes, snacks that had plastic packaging, water bottles, and a few items that we thought were needed.

We dragged the leftover suitcases further up the beach just in case and began heading over towards where we came ashore which Milly and Amelia was sure was up ahead. Amelia carried one suitcase, Milly carried another with the woven leaf bag filled to the brim, and I carried the remaining two.

All was going well, we arrived at where we came ashore  after the plane crashed and were about to head into the jungle when Milly said "that my suitcase, just in the shallow water, I brought a bunch of snacks with me which I hadn't eaten yet. Wait here I'll just wade out and get it."

"Are you sure that a good idea, it seems quite far out," I said, but it fell on deaf ears as Milly had already reached halfway down the sand. Amelia and I shared nervous glances and waited anxiously as Milly swam out to her suitcase.

She was swimming back with it in tow and our nerves were relaxing when she screamed. A piercing scream that made me and Amelia drop everything and run blindly towards Milly, unsure of the danger that awaited us.

Once we reached the edge of the water, there was silence and Milly was gone. An unsettling silence fell onto the coast. All I could think was what the fuck just happened?