The Island

(Chapter 2) Lost (Revised)

I awaken to the end of my dream. I swear it's going to show me the ending at one point.

As I look around the room, I find it empty, "Mom? Henry?"

No answer.

I jump off the bed and head out the door. People are screaming past me, the halls are flooded with fear-stricken people. I then grab someone in the crowd and ask, "What is going on?"

They detach their arm and yell, "The boat is sinking!" he repeats it and disappears back into the crowd.

Following the crowd outside, the sirens fill the air.

Everyone is desperately trying to get on lifeboats.

I feel a hand grab my shoulder, its Henry, "David! Mom and I were eating dinner when we heard, she sent me to come get you!" He pulls me and leads me towards the front of the ship, "She said that there was a lifeboat for us. But, we have to hurry!"

We're being shoved and pushed so much so that we are at the railing of the ship, I lift my arm in the air and point downward, "Henry, is that a lifeboat down there?"

He stops and looks over at the direction of my finger, "I think so, it looks empty!"

As the words escape our lips the two people behind push Henry and I off the ship.

Time seems to slow down as I flail through the air. My body falls right onto the base of the lifeboat. I try and lift myself up and yell, "Hey, everyone, there is a lifeboat down here, jump!" No one seems to hear me, except for a girl who hops into the water two feet in front of me. I grab her arm and help her onto the raft. Henry calls from behind, "Help me up asshole!" I turn around and grab the back of his shirt, lifting him on board. Henry coughs the water he inhaled and asks, "Where are the oars, I don't see them?"

I look around in despration, "I don't see them either!"

To my right comes two voices, "Help." two men call out.

Henry and I pull both of them onto the raft. The waves kicked up by the wind blind us from looking for anyone else. I call out to everyone to hang onto a sheet I pulled out of a box that was set underneath one of the seats. We all grab the edges of it and pull it over each other, laying across the surface of our raft.

Day 1

Three hours go by and the storm finally settles. I pull the sheet off of me and call out to everyone. They must have fallen asleep. The first to appear above the sheet is a young women, she wipes away her brown hair from her eyes and looks at me. I wave and look to her right. Henry pops his head out and shakes the water from his face, his eyes blood shot red. I hear groans to my left and two heads poke of from underneath the sheet. I look over at the women and ask, "What is your name?" She looks at me in a shiver, "Melissa."

"Well, its nice to meet you Melissa, my name is David..." I point to Henry and say, "This is Henry." I look over at the to men and ask, "What's your name?"

They both wipe away the water from their faces and one of them speaks up, "My name is Tom and this here is my brother Clint."

I pull the sheet up and look around the bottom of our seats, two big boxes sit underneath the women's seat, I then speak up, "Um, Melissa, could you pull those two boxes out?"

She looks down and reaches for them. Two orange cases with brown stripes lay on its surface. Melissa cracks open the two boxes to reveal four large jugs of water. The other box contains an assortment of sealed food.

I then say, "We need to figure out how we are going to ration this out."

A voice from my left calls out, "I don't think so."

Tom and Clint have both pulled out knives and are pointing them in Melissa's direction.

Clint licks his lips and says, "You see, my brother and I claim that food."

My anger rises, "You claim it? That food is supposed to be for everyone!"

Tom quickly sets the knife to my throat, "The way I see it, that food their is ours."

I look over at Henry and I can see it in his eyes, he's just waiting for me to make the first move.

I pull my head back and slap Tom's hand away from me. Henry then grabs Clint's arm and they begin to wrestle. Tom whips back his knife and lunges at me and tackles me trying to drive the knife into my chest. Melissa jumps up and kicks Tom in the face, giving me a change to grab the knife. Tom shoves Melissa overboard and I snatch the knife from his hand. Tom rubs his chin and looks at me. He then lunges at me again and I hold the knife out. Silence falls and so does Tom's body. I look over at Henry who has just slit Clint's throat. Clint grabs his neck and shivers to the floor. He's body eventually lays completely motionless still gripping the base of his neck, eyes staring into the distance.

Henry pulls Melissa out of the water and crys out, "We got those motherfuckers! Don't mess with David and Henry, give me five!" his hand lifts in the air toward me.

I slowly look at Henry utterly repulsed, "We just murdered those two! How can you say that?"

He lifts Clints body over the edge and tosses his body with the knife into the water, "No, we didn't."

I then punch him, "You son of a -."

He punches me back, "What is your problem?"

I am almost speechless, "Your attitude is my problem, you took a life that wasn't yours to take. Does that not bother you?"

He shakes his head, "Why should it? They were going to kill us! We had to defend ourselves."

I nod, "Yes, but not kill, just disarm."

He points at the knife in my hands, "Well, I don't see you had much success in disarming him."

I shake and look down, "I did disarm him... but... it was an accident."

Melissa yells, "Hey! Stop it! They are dead end of story, and unless we want to smell Tom's dead corpse I suggest dumping his body too."

Henry and Melissa then lift Tom's body over the edge dropping his body into the water.

Henry sits back on the boat and points to the knife still in my grasp, "You should toss that too."

I close my eyes and drop the knife into the water.

That night voices keep me awake.

Day 2

At night we wish for the sun, but in the day we wish for the moon.

Henry takes a drink of water, "It is so hot."

Day 5

Land is still nowhere to be seen, the silence of the water has begun to make Henry crazy.

Melissa has begun to feel sick.

Day 10

The sickness is not getting better, we are beginning to vomit, and because we haven't eaten much, acid comes out most of the time.

Day 14

We are in so much pain from vomiting and the sunburn, we are all cherry red and our lips crusted over. I lift my head and look for land, but still nothing.

Day 24

We can't even speak to each other our mouths are so dry, our water is depleting faster than I expected. Still nothing but open ocean.

Day 27

Its gone, the water is all gone. All the food has been consumed, at this point we are all waiting to die.

That night I feel our boat come to a stop.