Stranded

Chapter Seven

Tord.

We've been walking for at least two hours now. No sign of Tom yet.. I'm starting to get really worried about him.

What if he's still in the ocean, long dead by now? How am I supposed to protect him?!

I must've been panicking, because Edd tapped on my shoulder.

"Tord, are you okay? I'm really worried about you." Edd said, with care in his voice. I sighed, and looked at him.

"...To be honest, I'm really worried about Tom.." I said, glancing down at the coconut. I looked up, at the horizon, seeing something floating in the water. Tom? I threw the coconut to Edd, who just barely caught it, and waded out into the water. Sure enough, floating face-up, was Tom. 

Is he alive?! I dragged him onto shore, immediately checking his pulse. It was there, but faint, and slowing down quickly. I laced my hands together, and did thirty or so quick compressions on his chest. I laid my ear against his chest to try and hear if his heart was steadying. No luck. 
I groaned because I knew what I had to do.

I pinched my fingers over Toms nose, opened his mouth, and tilted his head back. I took a deep breath in, and put my mouth to Tom's, blowing air into his lungs. I did this five times, before going back to doing chest compressions. 

After five to ten minutes, Tom's eyes opened, and he sat up, immediately coughing up all the water in his lungs.

I turned to Edd and Matt.

"We speak of this, never." I said, glaring at them. Matt looked like he was happy, for some reason, and Edd looked spiteful. Nonetheless, they both nodded.

I turned back over to Tom, who was now taking shaky breaths. I stood up, and dusted myself off of sand. I offered a hand to Tom, who hesitantly accepted it. We all started walking. I helped Tom, by wrapping my arm around his shoulder, and letting him use me as support. 

I looked up at the sky, which was growing dark. 

"We're going to need to either find, or build a shelter." I suggested, looking around for materials to build with.

Edd pointed to a cave in the distance.

"There!" he shouted triumphantly. I shook my head.

"There's probably an animal that already lives in there, and we have no means to defend ourselves." I said, still half dragging Tom. I'm pretty sure he fell asleep, so instead of dragging him, I just full on picked him up. He was extremely light for his height, and age. Probably not good. 

-Time Skip.

I had passed Tom to Matt about twenty minutes ago, so I could fashion a shelter. Since the trees were mainly palm trees, it would be hard to get sticks, so I walked deeper into the green, 
jungle-like area. I surveyed the area. Vines, good. Leaves, good. Lack of sticks, not too good. I gathered lots of vines, coiling them, and storing them into my hood, like a pouch or a bag. Next, I collected leaves, carrying them in my arms as to not damage, or break the fragile material.

I walked back to where we decided to set up a small camp, to see a small campfire, lit by Edd. Tom was curled up in a little ball, still asleep. Matt was crying about not having a mirror, and had resorted to looking at his face in a small stream nearby. I sighed, and rolled my eyes, and began to set up camp.

-Time Skip. 

I was finally finished. It had taken me a decently long amount of time to build a shelter all by my self. I had used the vines as rope, and tied leaves, to the trees surrounding us. I had connected the leaves with more leaves, and more vine, creating a roof-like cover over our heads. Needless to say, I was quite proud of it. Although there were no walls, we could hold with just a ceiling for a while.

Suddenly a heard a small child-like scream. I jolted up, and strained to hear anything signaling the whereabouts of said child. I was rewarded with yet another scream. I jumped up, and ran towards the sound. Although I'm a ruthless leader, I'm allowed to help whoever the heck I want.

I saw a small child sitting down on the sand, shirtless, and deeply sunburnt. Even with the lack of light, I could see his sunburn. He must've been laying here in the sun all day. I went up to the small boy, still slightly panting for air from my run.

"A-Are you okay?" I asked, breathing heavily between my words. He gasped, and scooted away from me slightly.

"S-Stranger Dan-Danger!" He said, obviously scared. I tried to calm him down.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here to help you.." I said, soothingly. Eventually he calmed down enough to let me sit down near him, but never let me get too close, or let me touch him. I decided to get a little bit of information from him.

"What's your name?" 

"Owen..."

"How old are you?"

"F-Four.." That's all I really needed to know. Might as well take him back with us to camp.

"Owen, would you like to come back to our camp with me?" I asked, trying to keep my voice as calm as I could muster. Owen looked hesitant, but eventually gave in. I stood up, and started walking back in the direction of the camp, when something touched my hand. It was Owen's hand. I flinched, but didn't let go of his hand. This kid needed comfort.

Eventually we made it back. Edd looked at me, and then the child.

"Who's kid?" He asked, casually. I shrugged, and sat Owen near the fire, because he was probably cold. I looked over at Tom, still sleeping... Was he really sleeping? Did he die?! 

I scooted over to Tom as nonchalantly as I could, but started shaking him to wake him up. His eyes flew open, white with fear.

"AHH!" He screamed. I flinched back, but was overall relieved he was still alive.

"Sorry, Tom, just making sure you're not dead." I said, truthfully. He was breathing heavily.

"Wh-Where are we?" He said, looking around. 

"I don't exactly know.. An island somewhere, I suppose.." I responded, glancing at our surroundings.

Tom suddenly caught sight of Owen.

"Who is that?" He asked pointing at Owen, who had silent tears running down his face. I scooted to Owen, on my knees, and hugged him, saying things like 'Shh' and 'It's all okay' Soon, he calmed down, but wouldn't let me let go of him. I turned to face Tom.

"This is Owen, I found him." Tom nodded.

"Okay, so, how're we going to survive." Edd asked, not looking too happy.

I have no clue.