Poison Paradise - Damned of the 2/19th

Mysteries in the Green

Sarah sat on a flat rock, winding the shoelace around the bamboo and through the holes punched in the thick green leave. Don and Kevin had lashed the bamboo into a rough frame, Charlie had poked holes in the leaves, Mike was gathering shoes to remove the shoelaces from them, and Lori was holding the baby. The baby seemed to think helping was running over, grabbing something, and running away giggling. If she made it that far, she'd throw it in the creek.

Tommy, Bree, and Renee were still down at the lagoon. Supposedly they were gathering up the supplies left behind, but Sarah had noticed that Raincloud, Emily, and Richard were the ones bringing up the suitcases and the other wreckage the group of survivors had recovered.

Sarah stopped, leaning back to ease the pain in her lower back and to flex her hands. She already had blisters from cutting the leaves, then lacing them onto the frame.

Only two shelters had been "finished", if you could call it that, or even really call them shelters. They were lopsided, not tall enough to stand up in, barely long enough to lay down in, and too wide to be really comfortable.

Emily came up, hauling two more suitcases, setting them down and puffing heavily. The heavyset late-twenties housewife was red, her brown hair matted with sweat and grease, and her face covered in sweat that ran down her face in thick rivulets.

"Those three lazy assholes are just sitting around watching us work," She snarled.

"I know. We should all be pulling together, but sometimes it doesn't work that way," Don said, holding the bamboo rod so that Kevin could tie it to the to next one.

"Doesn't it bother any of you?" Emily asked, swinging her arms back and forth to work out the soreness.

"Well, yeah, but we can't force them to help us," Mike shrugged. "What are we going to do, tell them they can't pick fruit or something?"

"I don't know, something. I'm getting sick of Tommy the Smart Ass and Miss Richer Than Thou and Little Miss Valley Girl all sitting around on their asses," Emily said, turning and walking away. "It's going to be hard enough to survive without having to support three spoiled little brats," she threw over her shoulder.

Sarah just nodded, picking up another leaf and starting to tie it onto the bamboo frame.

"We're almost out of shoe laces," Kevin said. He shook his head. "Never thought I'd be irritated that more people didn't pack shoes instead of wearing them when they died."

Everyone stared anywhere but at each other at the reminder of all the dead from the plane.

The steady knocking sound had resumed and was loud in the uncomfortable silence.

"That's really starting to get on my nerves," Lori said, waving her hand at the surrounding jungle. "Doesn't he ever rest?"

"NO!" The baby yelled out, then laughed and started running for the stream. Lori caught her a few paces away.

Sarah finished up the section she was working on, handing off to Don and Kevin for them to lash it to the almost finished shelter, making three total.

"I need a break," Sarah said, holding her hands out for everyone to see.

"Ouch," Lori said, wincing at the sight of the blistered and reddened skin on her hands. "That looks painful."

Sarah nodded. "It really is."

"Three's not bad for a day," Don said, holding the frame in place and watching as Kevin tied it to the other frames.

Raincloud, Emily, and Richard pushed through the ferns at the edge of the clearing, each carrying two suitcases. All three of them were red and sweating.