Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The sharp feminine voice instantly brought his eyes open and they focused directly on the owner in disbelief.  There before him sat a younger woman, around his age.  Her soft dark skin was complimented by a red tank top and a pair of olive green cargo pants.  Her hair was pulled back behind both ears, and her face was beautiful, even if it was a bit stern and currently glaring at him with two dark green eyes. 

“Were you planning on sleeping all day?" Her voice sank into Jacob, like a mother scolding a child it carried a pitch of discomforting negativity. 

“I did not mean to…” his voice broke now realizing the throbbing pain his head was still in.  He brought his hands to his temples, rubbing them in a circular motion as some usually did to alleviate the pain of a migraine.  His hands were filthy and although in any normal circumstances he would have been embarrassed by his lack of hygiene.

 Her look of anger at once turned to concern.

“What in the world happened to your chest?” her eyes now staring at his exposed skin. 

He felt at once the claw marks and red lines stretched across his chest.  His eyes stared in disbelief and as he touched them, and he at once could smell her scent on him. 

“It’s just a scratch.  I ran through the woods yesterday following what I can only assume was you.  I must have run through some briars or thorn-covered vines.”  His voice trailed with a sense of dishonesty and he knew all too well how poor he was at lying.  Not even he would have been convinced that thorns raked him in an exact form of fingernails across both sides of his bare chest. 

“Well regardless what you and your “thorns” were doing, I still don’t know who you are or where you came from?” her eyes once again caught his in that glare and her tone changed back to the negative motherly type. 

“My plane crashed in the storm, what I can only assume was a few days ago.  I was pulled from the plane in air and dropped onto this island.  My airplane seat broke the fall by catching on a tree limb and when I awakened I was hanging 20 feet above the ground.  Since then, I have been searching the island for any other survivors and trying to stay alive.” 

“I have been here now for two weeks.  I was aboard my boyfriend’s boat sailing around the coastline when we got stuck in some strange and sudden storm.  The boat sank and I can only assume…” her voice trailed off and her eyes appeared glassy and full of emotion, “but I ended up on a beach along the coast of this island.  I have been searching for anyone else as well, though not having any luck until you.”

“I see.  I have been trying to place an island of this sort in my mind as to where we might be, but haven’t had any luck on the matter.  That being said, I have been spending most of my time dehydrated, hungry and in pain, so my thoughts might not be the best place to wonder right now.   How much of the island have you been over since you have been here?”

“I have mainly stayed along the coastline, but from what I can tell, this is a very large island.  I had hoped to see another passing boat or transport ship coming from Hawaii to the United States, but haven’t seen so much as a floating message in a bottle so far.”

“I guess I should have expected that.  What is your name?”

“Ginger, and for the time being, I will just call you Gilligan.” She said, with an obvious smirk.

Jacob reached for his shirt on the rock, noting that it was in fact dry now and although it smelled of wood smoke, it was much better than being wet with rain water. 

“I think I make a much better Mary-Ann,” Jacob added, as he stood to stretch his arms and sore back. 

“My name is Erin.  So am I to call you Mary-Ann, or…?” she said coldly, adding insult to his attempt at humor. 

“Jacob.” 

“Well Jacob, although I typically like to find myself with better company than those who have masochistic relationships with jungle vines, I am afraid we may have to stick together and find some type of suitable shelter.  I think it would be best to travel back down to the shoreline and continue to make our way around the Western side of the island.  The sun should follow us and set in that direction so we would gain some more daylight in doing that.”

Jacob could still hear that negative sharpness to her comments, prodding into him.  He was unsure what he had done wrong that could have offended her, so he assumed this was just her normal personality towards others she had just met, or perhaps it was her attitude towards strange shirtless men she found in the woods. 

“That would be fine.” 

He followed behind her, still wishing he had brought some type of other shoes, as the rags he had made from his sleeves did little to prevent sharp rocks or sticks that littered the floor of the terrain from cutting through the thin fabric.  His feet ached like no other, and the thoughts in the back of his mind were troubled with the possibility of infection. 

Those old war movies he used to be forced to watch at his childhood home courtesy of his step father often depicted the reality of gangrene and he hoped that he was not in route to such a fate.  He knew what would have to be done at that point, but was unable to come to terms with the thought of having to remove your own feet without sterilization, a suitable knife, or sedatives.  

He watched Erin walking ahead of him, her movements fluid and natural in the dense jungle.  Her shoes were perfect, hiking boots with high straps and tough thick soles.  After a couple of hours of walking they cut through the tree line and came upon a rocky shore.  The rocks looked more grim than the jungle floor and in some strange way he had hoped they would come upon a soft and sandy white sand beach like he had witnessed the day before. 

Erin repeatedly looked behind her, as if to observe Jacob’s movements and turned about and stopped him in his tracks by firmly grabbing his shoulders. 

“I didn’t notice before you were not wearing shoes.” She chided, in that same ridiculing manner that made him feel 5 inches tall. 

He thought a moment before answering her, not wanting to admit he had taken off his $300 leather designer shoes back on the beach, and left them to pursue a red blotch through the jungle. 

“They were lost during the plane crash.  I believe they were pulled from my feet when the side of the plane gave way.”

“Well, we have to find something else to wrap your feet than shirt sleeves or else we won’t make it very far and I, for one, do not intend to make camp on a pile of leaves again.  Not that I didn’t enjoy the company of a random shirtless and shoeless man taking up beside me, the desires I may otherwise have had were trumped by my own discomfort.”

Jacob smiled, but noting the sharp and disdaining look he was getting in return, meant that either that joke she made was not a joke, or that she was simply the most dry-humored individual he had ever met. 

Erin searched about and took note of something in the tree line. 

“You can either wait here, or hobble along behind.  I think I may have a solution to your shoe problem.”

As she walked off Jacob followed, watching as she pulled a knife from her pocket.  He noted she was quite resourceful and chided himself silently for not being as prepared for anything as she was.  She began removing bark from a nearby tree and then sliced pieces of vine from the same.  She knelt to one knee and after some careful craftsmanship, had created a rather rudimentary version of a flip flop.  The vines laid across the bark for padding and stretched into a thong to wrap around his feet. 

“They may not be the most comfortable, nor as stylish as you are used too, but they should keep the sharp rocks and such from causing you any additional pain.”  Erin moved closer and handed him the wooden sandals.  “Just remember though, not everyone who wears shoe-bark sandals, can walk on water.  So I would do my best to keep these dry.  If the wood gets wet, your feet will ache and the vines will contract like dried leather.”

Jacob nodded that he understood and put the shoes on his feet.  They were actually quite near his size and although they looked uncomfortable, they truly were not that bad. 

“Where did you learn this stuff?  I have seen many survival shows and watched the guys who drink their own urine and eat bug larvae for meals, but never have I seen one carve a pair of shoes from tree bark in less than 15 minutes time.”

Erin continued to walk back onto the beach, and at first Jacob thought she had ignored her question, but she spoke over her shoulder as she walked on. 

“I was born into a family with 3 brothers.  One of which was a survivalist who to this day spends his time living in a home with no electricity.  I spent some time with him when I graduated high school.  I had planned on backpacking across Europe when I saved up enough money to buy the plane ticket and thought that having some basic survival knowledge would be helpful.  Then I met Mark, and he offered to take me on his boat and travel along the coast line and I took the opportunity to get out of the country quicker than I had planned.”

Jacob noted the stiffness in her voice when she spoke of Mark.  He assumed she had seen something terrible happen to him or feared that he was indeed dead, but he would let her tell him on her own time that part of the story.  For now, he would simply let it go. 

“Well, if nothing else, I am glad I saw your fire yesterday.”

Erin stopped in front of him, turning about to look questioningly at him. 

“My fire?” she said with an obvious curiosity to her tone. 

“Yes.  I noticed your fire by seeing the smoke over the trees.  That is when I came upon your campsite last night.  Had I not found it, I probably wouldn’t have survived the night.  For that, I am glad I saw your fire.”

“I only found you this morning.  I was not the one who started the fire.  In fact, I was hoping it was you as I have no way of starting one myself.  I had tried rubbing sticks, using my cell phone screen as a sun-reflector and even attempted to use a charred tree branch as kindling but came up with nothing.”

“It was not me.  I just found the coals left over.” 

“Then we may not be as alone as we think we are.  I find it strange that someone would have abandoned a campfire and tree cover in the middle of an oncoming storm, though; and left it to smolder out.”

Jacob’s vision was once more drawn to the tree line and a familiar face stared at him through pale eyes.  This time, however; he was not alone.  Standing next to the boy was a woman, unlike any he had ever seen before.  Her body was swollen and bloated like the boys, and her eyes shown in the sunlight with a red tint.  Her gaze drew Jacob’s mouth into a fearful gape. 

Her voice prodded into his head and he dropped to his knees. 

“You will not make it off this island.  You will suffer as we have suffered.  When the sunlight drops over the waves, the darkness will come.” 

As she spoke, a maggot crawled from her rotted lips and swam across her face and entered her left nostril.  Jacob felt his stomach churn and nearly lose control.  Her face was covered in boils and pustules that oozed a green liquid.  Her white dress was covered in sea weed and her whole body glowed with a faint blue hue.  At once she and the boy vanished. 

Jacob couldn’t stand and simply stood with his hands holding his head that throbbed and pounded like never before.

Erin stood, staring at him with a look of confusion and concern.  Just as she reached for him, he collapsed into her arms.  

As he lost consciousness and his vision faded once more, he could see a clear image in the distance.  On top of a outcropping of rocks stood a familiar, nude form of the woman in his dreams, wrapped in a white silk sheet, with a smile bent in an angle of pleasure.