STRANDED

SEVENTEEN

Getting the boat was easy. After the death of Chervobskii, most of the camps in the area were abandoned, left to be reclaimed by the earth. The boat was rather large, having space for roughly an entire party.

Amy found a compass built in and used it to track her way back to James's island. The blue waves shot against the boat as it sped along them. The wind blew through Amy's hair. It was almost a surreal feeling, much like the morning, she had met Jim. No guns, no people trying to eat her, no violence... Just the calm wind blowing in her face.

It lasted about an hour, the boat ride, which made Amy wonder why they had used a plane. It was no matter. Amy was back in familiar territory, with the help of the map she had acquired such a long time ago.

Amy traced her way back to the village, and, once she found a great trail, headed for the village.

Amy stumbled into the village, her legs trembling from pain, and her feet sore. Dave came around a corner, talking to some militiamen when he noticed Amy struggling to walk further.

"Amy!" Dave ran over to her. They embraced in a hug. "I missed you so much, Amy!"

"I did too," said Amy, using Dave as a crutch to not fall.

"Here," Dave said, putting one of Amy's arms around his neck. "Come with me by the fire. We have a game of catch-up to play."

They walked over to the fire. It felt nice and warm as Amy sat down next to it. Dave sat on the other side of it so that they were facing each other.

"Drink?" Dave asked, grabbing a bottle.

"No, thank you," Amy said.

"Okay," Dave nodded. "So-" he leaned forward, "-tell me everything."

And so, Amy did as such. She recited all that she could recall, leaving out the special "details" of Chervobskii's compound. She did not want to worry Dave. Not now, at least.

They had sat for at least two hours, Dave attentively listening to Amy's story. After Amy had finished, Dave was in awe. He must be impressed, Amy cheekily said to herself.

"Amy..." Dave said. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah," Amy chuckled. "I guess."

"You have more strength than half of my men!"

"Well," Amy said, "when you're after someone you love, I guess you find something within you. Some 'power' you never knew you had inside yourself." Amy stared into the fire, smiling. "But yeah. I guess it was pretty impressive."

"Pretty impressive?" Dave laughed. "Amy, you are somebody we've needed for a long time now. Someone with the strength to fight back against James and take him out. But how can you do all of this?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Amy said. "I ran track in high school? Not that I was extremely 'sporty'. Your guess is as good as mine."

"We really need you, Amy," Dave said.

"I still don't know if I'm ready," Amy said unsurely.

"Oh, believe me," Dave said, "none of us are. But you need to rest up a little bit. You've been through a lot, and James most likely thinks you're still over there." Dave pointed eastward.

"Yeah," Amy admitted. If anything, she had the element of surprise on her side, so when James doesn't know any the wiser, she could take him out.

"So," Dave began, "where is your brother? You mentioned you had found out."