White Sand (A Zodiac Story)

Ryan

After the storm last night, the morning air was freezing.

Ryan woke up, cold. Alex lay next to him, fast asleep. After what happened yesterday with Marcus, Ryan didn't want to let her out of sight. She was still pretty shaken up. He had consoled her all day yesterday. They had just talked, about life, their past and what they wanted to be, back in the normal world. He had spent the night in her tent. Nothing had happened between them, not even a kiss, but it was for the better. Ryan wanted to take it slow. He knew he was in love with her, but he didn't know if she was in love with him. Right now she just needed a friend and he wanted to be there for her in that capacity. Nothing more, nothing less.

He went outside. The sky was still heavily clouded, but the rain had stopped. A low mist hung over the forest behind them. He went to the backside to clean up. 

As he came back, Alex had woken up. She was standing outside, drinking water. She saw him and smiled at him. Ryan smiled back. He never smiled, but Alex always made him crack one.

"Had a good night's sleep?" Ryan asked her. Alex nodded and said, "Yeah. Thank you. For everything."

Ryan smiled at her, "You don't need to say thank you. I'm just glad to be of help."

Alex thought about something for a moment. Before she could say anything however, Emma came running towards.

"Guys, something's happened, come quick!", she led them to the main fence on the other side of the beach. Kate, Mia, Peter and Marian were already there. 

Ryan stopped in his tracks at the fence and asked, "What's going on?".

Kate looked at him and said, "Marian will explain".

Marian took a deep breath and said, "I was running up the hill near the cliffs for my workout. I reached the top and i could see everything from there. My vision is pretty excellent that way, so I was just admiring the view when all of a sudden I saw Marcus in the jungle all by himself. He was running and he seemed injured. He stopped by a tree and was suddenly surrounded by the tribals. He fought them off as much as he could, but they overwhelmed him. They knocked him out and kidnapped him".

"Did you see where they took him?", Ryan asked.

Marian shook her head, "I don't know where, but they left in the direction of the Twin Peaks mountains".

Ryan nodded. Twin Peaks was the name they had given to the pair of mountains that were in  the background. It was near those mountains, that Ryan had been separated from Emma and Peter on their first day on the island. The mountains were huge, and were identical to each other, hence the name, Twin Peaks. They were the largest mountains in the backdrop of their camp, and were covered in a dense rainforest. They group had speculated that, one of the main villages of the tribals were situated either at the base of the Peaks or on it. What Marian had just said, seemed to provide evidence for that theory. 

Ryan turned to Kate, "So what is the plan of action? Are we going after him?". Kate nodded and said, "Yeah. We are gonna go after him. We'll find him, so that i can kill him myself for jeopardizing this camp. We'll also be able to see what the tribals are up to."

Ryan nodded, "We are gonna need a hunting party. I think it should be you, me, Marian and John."

Kate hesitated a bit and said, "I think you should stay back. We are gonna need someone to protect the camp".

Ryan smirked and said, "Yeah, I don't think so. Peter will take care of the camp. I am coming with you. No discussion."

Before Kate could argue back, Alex interjected, "I will come with you guys too. Marcus will be hurt, and he might need medical attention".

Ryan frowned at her and said, "Alex, it's dangerous out there. There's no way I am gonna put you in harm's way. You'll be safe here".

"Oh safe, like when the camp was attacked by those tribals and i saved Peter and your lives? Sure. I am coming with you. No discussion", Alex replied.

Ryan sighed and said, "Fine. But you are sticking with me. And you do what I say on the trail. Deal?". Alex nodded, "Deal".

Kate shook her head and said, "I am not okay with this". 

Ryan smirked again, said, "I don't care", and walked past her to his tent, "We leave in an hour".

*** An hour later ***

Ryan, Alex, Kate, John and Marian gathered at the start of the trail, where Marian had last seen Marcus. John, who was an expert hunter and tracker, started following Marcus' trail. 

A few miles in, they started seeing increasing signs of struggle. Apparently, Marcus had tried to escape, but without any success. Above them, the sky began to rumble. There was another storm coming. 

As they hiked through the forest in silence, Kate suddenly stopped and said, "Wait".

"What's wrong?" John asked.

"Something's not right", Ryan said, "It's too quiet". 

Kate nodded in agreement as her and Ryan stood back to back, while Marian stood over John and Alex protectively. They formed a quick circle, each of them facing in opposite direction. Ryan could hear Kate's breath next to him. 

All of a sudden, someone dropped from the trees above them and attacked Marian. Her quick reflexes saved her as she rolled out of the way and shot an arrow at her attacker. Behind Ryan, another attacker jumped from the trees. He attacked Ryan with a sword. Ryan dodged the blade and slashed his attacker with his tomahawk. Behind him, Kate was having trouble with two attackers who had dropped down  from the sky. 

The attackers had the advantage of surprise and stealth, but the team's skills and reflexes had saved them. Ryan stabbed his attacker with his hidden knife and jumped next to Kate as they fought their attackers. John tried to attack the Tribal who fighting Marian without a weapon, but he wasn't much of a fighter, and was knocked aside pretty easily. Marian slashed at her attacker with an arrow, rolled to the side and shot an arrow at Kate's attacker, then jumped at her attacker and stabbed him with an arrow. Ryan ran at his attacker and tackled him to the ground. Kate jumped on him and stabbed him with her sword. Once all the attackers were down, they looked around. It had started raining. Alex helped John up and joined them. Without saying anything, they continued down the trail.