FoR (On Hold)

Chapter 1.3

Spitting the grains of pure white sand out, I wiped at my mouth with a hand and shuffled to my feet. Little clouds of sand formed as I pushed myself up in a standing position. Putting my hand over my eyes to shield them from the sun, I surveyed my surroundings.

Nothing but sand, the jungle up ahead, and clear blue water. Turning around to face the ocean, I was met with a disaster. Shards of the board protruded out of the water, with floating chunks of wood and debris floating about.

Suddenly I realized what had happend.

Running towards the mess, I started shouting. "Guys! Hello?! Leo, Daichi, Alex, Theo! Where are you guys?" The survival shows I had seen in the past came flooding back to me as I panicked. Spotting a crate washed up on the shore, I walked over and tried to pry it open.

The rusted nails gave way easily, and the board fell open onto the sand. Inside the box was some rope and dried food. Well, at least we'll have something to start off with, I thought to myself. Pulling the box farther inland, I took out the content and set it far away from the tide.

Suddenly, I heard heavy footsteps behind me, and I turned. Alex, with messed-up hair and dark rings under his eyes, stumbled towards me. "Alex!" I jumped up and caught him before he could fall. "Are you okay, man? Have you seen the others?"

He didn't respond, simply breathed heavily. It was then that I noticed a trickle of blood running down his chin. Inspecting closer, I found a nasty gash on his cheek, dark red blood dribbling out of it. Above that, by his temple, was a long, thick cut, running from one side of his forehead to the other.

Helping him to the place I had put the supplies, I sat him down on the crate and checked him over. His clothes were torn and his hair was askew, but overall he seemed fine, besides the cut on his face. "Alex, I need you to tell me something. Did you see any of the others.?" I took a deep breath as I waited for a response.

He slowly nodded his head. Sighing in relief, I patted his shoulder. "Okay, thanks. Where did you see them?" Alex seemed to contemplate this, then pointed down the beach to my left. Nodding, I helped him to stand and grabbed his wrist, carefully but quickly dragging him along in he direction he had said.

Further along the beach, I saw a dark shape lying on the ground, out of place in the white sand. Setting Alex to sit down, I dashed over to the form. Theo, his glasses missing and his shirt weathered, lay there. I sank down to my knees and grasped his shoulders.

"Theo, can you hear me, dude? I need you to wake up, c'mon." Slowly his blue eyes opened and he stared up at me, like a small child woken from a nap. "J...Joshua...?" I nodded. "Yeah. Can you stand?" His eyes clouded over momentarily. "Yes, I... I think so." "Okay, I'll help you up."

I held onto his wrist and, slowly, we got him standing on his feet. "You good?" A shaky nod met my question. "Okay, we're going to go to Alex, he's sitting right over there. Let's go." Carefully, we shuffled over to where Alex was sitting on a flat rock and I helped Theo to sit.

"Alright, I don't mean to rush you, but have you seen any of the others?" Theo shook his head. "No... I just woke up." "Okay. Oh, and I think Alex is in shock. He might've gotten his head hit by something like I did." Theo glanced over at Alex. "Ah. No wonder he isn't talking."

We sat there for a while, thinking to ourselves, when we heard a noise further along the beach. I grabbed a chunk of wood and slowly moved towards the sound. Suddenly, Leo and Daichi's faces popped up around the corner, startling me.

"Oh! There you guys are," Leo exclaimed. His face was covered in small scratches. Later, he told us that he had been dragged into some rough, sharp stones down the coast. Daichi seemed to be fine at first, but then he showed us a long deep gash tuning down his back from ramming into a protruding rock.

Reunited and traipsing through the dense underbrush, we started looking for food or fresh water, anything helpful. Suddenly, farther ahead, we heard a crack of a branch and a stifled whisper.

We froze in our tracks. On this supposedly uninhabited island, we were not alone.

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Chapter 1.4 Preview

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Five strangely-dressed people came slowly out of the greenery. By the way they cautiously walked towards us, I guessed they were some sort of Indian-like tribe.

Each had different clothes, one made out of scales, another out of fur, another out of huge flower petals, another out of a strange fabric and jewels, and another with feathers, stained red from something I wasn't so eager to find out about.