Wild

2.

*Rusty*
I was shaken awake by Camila as she tried to tell me something but I wasn't listening.
"What?" I asked rubbing my eyes.
"Lauren and I went for a walk and we found something," she rushed out and I sat up quickly.
"What did you find?" I asked searching her eyes as if the answer would be in the chocolate depths.
"Two girls. They are awake but very weak," she glanced around before focusing back on me, "I think they're from the boat," she whispered. I stood up and only then noticed that Dinah was no longer laying beside me and my flannel was nowhere in sight. As if she noticed Camila spoke up, " Dinah is with the girls and Lauren. She is wearing you flannel because she doesn't have a shirt remember." I nodded and followed Camila down the beach to where Lauren was.
"They're about 500 meters in," Lauren said pointing ahead into the dark forest where the sun only sprinkled through the gaps where leaves were missing.
"Ok I'll go talk to them. You two wait here," they nodded in agreement as I made my way into the forest hearing their private conversation slowly fade out the further ahead I went. I saw Dinah up ahead bent over a figure on the floor as she moved to the side I noticed her holding a piece of cloth to the other girls bleeding head.
"Hey," Dinah acknowledged my presence as I glanced at the girl who was unattended.
"Hi," I replied smiling down at her. She looked like she was in better condition then yesterday. Her face had more colour in it and she was actually smiling. "I'm Rusty," I said kneeling down in front of the unnamed girls.
"I'm Ally," replied the blonde haired girl that Dinah was tending to.
"Normani," the other one said weakly letting out a cough and attempting to smile.
"How did you girls get here?" I asked as I looked over Normani for any noticeable injuries. Her skin was dark and clear and her hair was black with blonde tips. She looked very in shape and stylish based of the now ripped clothes she was sporting.
"Boat crashed," the replied at the same time.
"Have you seen anyone else or just us?" I asked hoping that maybe they had seen a sign of civilization.
"No just you," Normani replied and smiled at me, "I'm glad we finally found somebody."
"Unfortunately all of us came from the boat too," I replied looking down at the ground in defeat. I felt guilty that I couldn't help them. That I wasn't a civilian who could take them home. Let the rest of their family know that they made it. That they're safe.
"We have a spot on the beach," Dinah said to them after a long pause, "We can help you get there and start working out what we can do to get out of here."

We eventually made it to the beach and in our absence Lauren and Camila had made little beds for us out of leaves.
"How'd you make these so well?" Dinah asked laying on them face down because of her cut back.
"When I was younger my bad and I watched a lot of problem solving/survival tv shows," Camila said in a monotone voice. Almost as if any emotion in that sentence would make her cry. "If we had duck-tape I could put an episode of mythbusters to the test," she said with a laugh and we all laughed along. It felt good to laugh. We had been stranded god knows where and we were scared, young and missed our families but that small bit of laughter made us all feel ok again, even if it was for just a second.

Ally and Normani made themselves comfortable in the small group we had made and we all settled down into some friendly conversation. I guess we were all tired of being scared. As the girls talked about their favorite movie one liners I felt Dinah move closer to me. Her hand nervously slipped into mine and bought me a strong feeling of comfort. I looked across the circle we were sitting in and noticed Camila and Lauren cuddling up to each other and smiled slightly at them. I felt safe with these girls around. We knew barely anything about one another but it didn't seem to matter as we sat below the burning of the stars on a black canvas.
"You ok?" Dinah asked in a hushed voice in order to keep the conversation private.
"Just happy that I'm not alone anymore," I replied looking into her soft brown eyes.
"Me too. I don't know what I would've done if I was by myself out in the forest still," she paused and looked at the sky, "I'd probably be crying at the bottom of that tree still. I'd be thinking about my family and friends. I'd be thinking about how alone I felt and how I wished my life would just end so I wouldn't have to suffer anymore. I wouldn't fight," she glanced back down into my eyes and smiled, "but now you've given me a reason to fight Rusty," she said softly.
"My real name is actually May," I replied randomly.
"What?" She said confused as she sat up.
"My real name is May. Rusty is my nickname," I said with a small smile.
"How do you get Rusty from May?" She replied. Her forehead had a small crease in it showing her confusion.
"My Dad called me Rusty because I helped him fix up old cars when I was little. He passed away when I was twelve and I made everybody call me Rusty so that he'd always be here with me," I paused, "Some people don't even know Rusty is a nickname," when I finished talking Dinah had this adorable smile on her face.
"Well I'm glad I know," she said softly and rested her head on my shoulder. I soon felt her head get heavy and her breathing evened out.

"Rusty," Lauren called softly over to me.
"Yeah," I replied softly as I rested Dinah's sleeping form onto the makeshift bed.
"We need to start trying to get out of here, or at least work out where we are," she said glancing down at Camila sleeping beside her, " We can't stay like this forever," she sighed out. Her eyes were tired and the bright green they portrayed yesterday were now murky green. She always put on a strong front but inside she was hurt.
"We'll work it out," I paused and glanced out at the ocean, "one day at a time," I whispered out but I knew she heard it by the small hum of response. Soon we were all laying on the makeshift beds and drifting off into a restless sleep.