Dark Island Book 1 (Complete)

Chapter 18

The sounds faded into the jungle. I felt my shoulders drop and sighed in relief. What were those sounds anyway? Letting out another sigh, I could only explain the upheaval as animals fighting over territory. Nothing else made any sense. One thing we all knew we had to do to survive was to stay calm. With hard work and luck, we were going to find our way back home...after I rescue Joe Franklin.

Things were hard and I knew I had to keep my emotions in check. I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind and focused on the waves lapping at my ankles. I wriggled my toes in the sand, enjoying the soft caress against my skin but the sounds kept nagging at me.
Harold sat on a large piece of twisted white driftwood, his messy hair blowing in the wind. I could see that he was still confused, his face still showing the same expression as before.
Ronnie’s voice suddenly pierced through my thoughts.
“Hey, Jack.”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“I need to cool off for a minute.” Wiping the sweat off his brow, he squinted at the sun on the horizon, the noise from before seemingly forgotten. He whipped off his shirt and dashed into the surf; scooping up a handful of water and pouring it over his head. Not afraid of being sunburned I thought.
“We should start making a shelter,” said Harold. “I think we could make a base out of vines and logs and then use some large leaves for the roof.”
I nodded. Knowing him, he would probably build an attic, basement, and deck too. Having Harold here with us helped a lot. I knew he would keep us alive with all of his survival skills until help came.

Ronnie stood, knee deep in the water, and laughed. “Hey, give rescue a chance to get here before we go building a hut.” With a mischievous smile, he pointed to Harold. “He needs to chill...maybe cool down a bit. Jack, are you thing what I’m thinking?” My arms ached from all the heavy logs I had carried, but turn down one of Ronnie’s schemes? Never! “Yep!”

At the same time, we scooped up handfuls of water and threw them at Harold. Laughing, he raised his hands to protect his face. Droplets flew in the air, soaking his face and dripping down his arms.
“Refreshing, huh?” asked Ronnie.
A smile curled up on my face. “I bet it was. Hey, Harold, want another blast or do you just want to sit there and mope about things?”
He chuckled. “Ha ha. Keep that up, and you’ll both gut your own fish.”
Ronnie laughed and dove back into the water. Harold walked over to a nearby tree and came back. He handed me a coconut shell filled with water from the river. “I boiled another batch. It’s been in the shade for a little while.”

I couldn’t stop the grin that formed on my face. “Thanks man. I don’t know what we would’ve done without your survival skills.”
He just smiled. I took a sip before I pulled back, using my fingers to pick something off my tongue. I looked at the water and noticed black specs floating in it. Peering closer, I realized it was ashes from the fire. No wonder Ronnie wasn’t rushing over for a drink.

“Are you two ready to get back to work?” asked Harold.
Ronnie stepped out of the ocean and folded his arms.
“Look, Harold. The wood is stacked and the fires are blazing. Don’t you think we’ve done enough for a while? Want us to get heatstroke? Let’s cool off first and then we can start making shelter.
“Nice compromise,” I said.
Harold took a sip of water from a coconut shell. “I agree that we’ve been working our butts off, but we need to get this done.”
As kids, Ronnie and Harold had never fought, but now they often butted heads. Ronnie’s carefree attitude clashed with Harold’s workaholic, perfectionist personality. I set down the coconut shell and tried to cheer up the mood a bit.
“You know what helps...”

A sharp pain suddenly pierced through my head. Almost like that off a migraine, but couldn’t make out or compare. In addition, for a second I was gone.
“Jack. Jack, are you okay?” I could hear Ronnie call out to me, but his voice sounded vague for a moment.
“Jack! Dude, what happened? You were talking just now and then fell over.”
“I don’t know...my head; I felt an intense pain piercing through it.”