Stranded and Alone (IC)

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The silence between the trees and Rae was eerie. It felt like something was judging her every move, watching to see what she did. The tension built, and on the peak, a large black and brown dog ran out of the underbrush, stopping feet from her, joyfully panting and wagging its tail. The animal cocked its head to the die, tongue out, watching what she would do next. The dog was beautiful, coming up to the hip on all fours. Its brown eyes had a friendly under tone, beckoning her closer.
 
When the animal leaped from the shrubbery, Sun made a gesture like she nearly had a heart attack, though perhaps naively she immediately dropped her 'weapon', "Gosh puppy you scared me!" Dropping her guard as if she hadn't just been ready to defend her life, she knelt down - albeit wobbly - inching ever so close to the dog and holding out her hand. Her expression was temporarily lighter, face settling into a soft friendliness like what was portrayed from the creature, she looked like her child self for a moment, and even managed a giggle in all the tension. This was her comfort zone - you'd have thought the dog was her mother here to sweep her away from all the madness. She wished. "Come'ere," She beckoned, stretching her delicate fingers towards the animal, more trusting than advisable. "Where'd you come from?" Maybe there's a facility on the island, she thought briefly, but wasn't hopeful. "You're so pretty."
 
As Sonny offered her hand, the dog retracted, growling in a low tone and watching her every movement. After a few moments passed, the dog inched closer, sniffing her palm thoroughly. As if the dog had multiple personalities, its face lightened and began to frantically lick her hand, sitting in the sand in front of her and gleefully looking at her.

"Bark! Bark!"

The dog gave off two happy barks while watching her again, putting its head down slightly, waiting to be rewarded with a pat on the head.
 
Though she'd retracted her hand for the briefest moment, she extended it again as the dog caught her scent, and seemed to pick up on her well intentions. She offered a little smile and pressed her hand on it's hand, ruffling the fur a little and letting her shoulders drop as the moment remained oddly calm despite circumstances. Feeling the throb in her leg intensify, she exhaled and brought herself down on the sand completely, extending her legs as far as they'd go before the pain struck and proceeding to stroke the dogs jawline, "You're good company, big guy. I wonder where you're from." She could practically hear her mother scolding her for getting so close to what she'd perceive as a wild animal, which made her stomach twist in knots, she was not embracing just how dire things were still, but her suppressed feelings taunted her with hopelessness.
 
Archaeo nodded softly at the instruction to bandage the new woman's head wound and kneeled down beside her. He carefully set to work. His hands were steady and gentle as he wrapped the bandages over the cut. With his work done, he backed off as the more professional medical people have at it. He needed to breathe again. He stood up and stepped away from the crowd.

He was in dire need of a cigarette. He was in dire need of some rescue boats. Hell, might as well throw in a yacht to the list too. He was getting past his initial shock now. Maybe. He had no clue. All he knew was that he was hurt and there wasn't any help coming. His adrenaline was wearing through the Remeron, and his arm was actually starting to become a concern. He took a deep breath and tried his damnedest to not panic.

He took off his jacket in hopes of seeing how bad he was hurt. He didnt exactly enjoy the answer. Blood had stained his dress shirt sleeve down to about his elbow. Twisting slightly to get a better look, he saw a moderately deep gash running about four inches down the side of his arm. Ok, Archie, you've dealt with worse before. This is nothing. It's just the situation that has you so out of it. He took another deep breath and blew out a sigh. He tied his jacket around his waist and decided on his next course of action.

They needed a fire. He figured that building it would take his mind off of all this. He set to work gathering up the dried coconut fronds that littered the ground of the jungle. He took whatever would make good tinder and brought it back down to the beach. On his next trip he gathered up smaller sticks and such, and brought those back. There weren't many larger logs around that were easy enough for him, hurt arm and all, to move back out to the beach. As he looked around for more sticks, he heard a dog bark nearby.

Curiosity got the better of him as he warily approached the source of the noise. "Hey, are you okay over here?" He asked when he came upon the woman sitting down with the dog. Had it been on the plane with them? Or was there someone else on the island after all?
 
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Bernadette blinked at the man who offered to help her. He was trained as an EMT too, and she almost wanted to laugh and give him a kiss. If he could focus on the woman's collarbone, she could put all of her time and worry into that dreaded piece of shrapnel and hopefully do a better job than if she had been pulled in twenty different ways. "Yes, thank you so much, sir," she said, giving him a quick smile before he began helping the woman and she turned to the man with the hurt shoulder, only to find him missing. Odd, I didn't think things could get weirder... she thought standing up and resting her hands on her hips, searching along the shore. He couldn't have gone very far, not with that thing in his arm. She looked at the others, who, besides the woman and the man helping her, had begun to scavenge elsewhere, perhaps to help with the fire or shelter for tonight. Bernadette exhaled heavily in thought and began walking along the shoreline, when she saw a small drop of blood in the sand. Curious, she bent down to examine it, only to find a similar-looking drop a few feet away. It was a blood trail, and as Bernadette began to follow it toward the jungle, she grew more and more excited, feeling just like a Sherlock Holmes.
 
Alex fell to the ground, his back laying against a tree. He was losing a lot of blood, he thought shock was supposed to wear off by now. Yet here he was, and his shoulder did not hurt. He sat there, out of breath, exhausted, he had managed to get a decent way into the jungle. At least, for someone as injured as him. This is it then, he thought, a shame, I never found out what it meant.

There was a shuffling in the bushes, next to him. Two black eyes appeared from the shrubbery, soon followed by the long body of a rodent with different colored rings of fur along lining it.

"A... Ferret? What are you doing here, little guy?"
The ferret scurried closer to Alex, as if that was the natural thing to do. There was another rustling, this time from where Alex came from. The ferret,suddenly frightened, ran off into the bushes again. From the path Alex had come from emerged the EMT lady.
"You... Scared the ferret... Away." He said with a weak voice.
 
Bernadette followed the trail of red until she found herself in a clearing. The man with the shrapnel still lodged in his shoulder was slumped against a tree, blood pouring down his paling skin. She reckoned he was not far from unconsciousness and she would have to act fast before he lost too much blood. I hope they're getting the fire and instruments ready, she thought as she began to walk toward the wounded man.

"You... Scared the ferret... Away."

This confused the young woman. Glancing over the jungle floor she did not see a ferret, and she would bet a dime that ferrets did not inhabit island jungles. "I'm sorry, I didn't see it." She was worried he was hallucinating, and began walking toward him. "Maybe we can look for it a little later, but I'd like it if we headed back to the beach for a little bit. You can tell me all about it on the way there, as well as a little about yourself. I didn't catch your name, either--I'm Bernadette." She smiled gently, offering him a hand.
 
Alex looked at the woman's smile. It was like most smiles, it meant well enough, and it was nice to see. Alex was not opposed to smiles and so, for the first time since the crash, Alex smiled back. Bernadette helped him to his feet and they began walking back, he also promptly began talking her ear off.

"My name is Alex, Alex queen." He said as she helped him walk. "I've written some books that some people said were nice. That's not what's important, what's important, is the ferret! You see, Ferrets, are not indeginous to islands, and neither are many animals that I think I heard, dogs, owls, a select set of snakes. Anyway, I quite like ferrets, they're..." He trailed off from his rambling as he stopped to breathe. "...Theyre a symbol of keen observation and analyses, you know? As well as stealth, and shyness if they're wild. This is because they are, like most wild animals, adverse to human contact. But Ferrets are not indeginous to islands, and they are supposed to be quite shy, yet there one was, as I sat dying, and it just walked right up to me! Just right up as if it were...." He trailed off again, this time seeming to forget where he was. "I... I like ferrets." He said meekly as he saw the beach. "Do you...? Like ferrets that is?" Without letting her answer he continued to talk. "I like... Many... Animals." His consciousness began to fade.
 
Roxy spent the next few minutes storming around. She avoided the others. She was not the best person to help others. Not because she didnt have the knowledge. She might not have been professionally trained but she tended enough wounds that she could have hrlped. But the two trained professionals seemed to have it under control.

She didn't like being stuck with all these people. She was sure they weren't bad people. But the were still people she was going to have to deal with. As independent as she was she knew that she wouldn't last long alone. She knew jack about surviving the wilderness. She was a city girl not a girl scout. First thing they needed was shelter. It would be dark soon. TheRe wasn't enough time to build something to protect eceryone. So the next best thing was to find a cave.

That decided she swallowed her distasteam of getting involved aside and headed deeper in land. A cave too close to the beach would be just as dangerous as nothing. They needed some place away from the elements.
 
Bernadette listened politely to the man's ramblings, silently glad he was still talking. If he was talking he was still alive, and she didn't have to speak or answer uncomfortable questions. He was very keen on ferrets, this Alex Queen, and as he continued to speak she wondered if he really was hallucinating. It wasn't until he asked her a question that she glanced at him and noticed his eyelids drooping. Suddenly she felt his entire body weight leaning against her and she let out a concerned cry, helping to guide him to the ground. "Oh! Oh, someone, please help!" she called toward the beach. They weren't too far, maybe 200 yards, but as she looked at the dying man she knew she couldn't carry him alone.
 
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As the EMT felt along her collarbone, Astor held her breath with a bitten tongue, dreading the moment he'd come across the discolored bump protruding from her skin. When he did, she fought the urge to jerk away, instead settling to let a curse slip from her lips and wince.

"However, this IS a collarbone issue. I hate to say it, but it is broken. Unfortunately, there isn't too much you can do about collarbone injuries, so let's get the sling started and start that healing process. That's all we can do right now. I'll keep an eye on you though."

She let go of her breath. Well, shit. After a moment spent internally groaning over her predicament, she gave a nod. "Alright," she responded, then managed a small lopsided smile. "Thanks."

It was long after that a dark-haired man began to wrap a bandage around her head, wordless. Not the talky type, maybe? I suppose it'd be hard for someone to make conversation after a plane crash. Astor twiddled her thumbs as he finished bandaging her wound, and when he did, she was quick to speak. "Thank you."

With a question popping into mind, Astor turned to the male EMT and opened her mouth to ask if he knew if help was coming soon, only to have the words die in her throat as the sounds of distant yelling rang out from the expanse of thick foliage.

"Oh! Oh, someone, please help!"

Astor scurried to her feet, perhaps a bit too quickly with the state of her collarbone, and turned on her heels to face the jungle. "Did you hear that?" she asked him, voice hurried as she scanned the jungle for any signs of the source.
 
"Oh! Oh, someone, please help!"

"Did you hear that?"
David and his temporary patient both heard the cry for help at the same time. His face dulled into a serious panic, looking off into the lush endlessness.
"Unfortunately, I did. Are you ok to come with?" David said, itching to run out and find the disturbance.


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As soon as Sonny's hand touched the soft fur on the top of the dogs head, her world began to blur and fall out from under her. One moment, the lush, green trees were surrounding her, offering some solitude and comfort. The next moment, black. Total darkness. All Archaeo came in time to see was the woman hunching over in pain, before going cold on the ground. The dog looked in his direction, raising its ears before sprinting deeper into the forest.

The darkness began to let up, revealing a condo on a city street coated in rain droplets. Sonny was standing just outside the building, feeling rain falling onto her head and dripping down her cheek. The condo seemed to beckon her inside, in a dark and malicious way. She felt a pain in her chest and desperate longing for something inside...or was it someone...





 
Despite her best efforts, Chloe-Jane did end up passing out. It kept creeping up on her and she counteracted it as best she could. She tried to hold her wound closed with a bit of her clothing, pressing her arm against it, and whenever she felt the dizzies coming on she'd stop and crouch down, putting her head between her knees in an effort to get sufficient bloodflow back to her brain. She took deep breaths an counted to 30 before even thinking of trying again. This, however, proved not to be enough.

She woke up on the beach. After a second or two, she rememered trying to stagger out to the water and take a dunk in the cold to shock herself awake. She hadn't made it. Still, she had woken up, which was good. While she couldn't gauge how long she'd been out, she knew she hadn't found anyone else. Were those people on the beach the only ones left off of a flight that must have had 100 or more people? They were just a handfull... Pushing herself onto her hands, she sat up, resting her elbows on her knees to dust off her palms and staring out into the ocean. Ever since she woke up the first time, she'd been busy doing this or that, but now things were starting to sink in. Glancing at the sky she noted the distinct lack of other airplanes. Shouldn't one have come for them by now if it knew where they were? The wreckeage would have made an optimal signal fire. Out in the ocean was nothing but blue until it switched shades and became the sky. This island showed no signs of development. They'd be lucky if it was owned by someone rich who stopped by once a year with the way it seemed.

Chloe-Jane hung her head. Trying not to let it get to her. She tried not to think of how she wanted to be back in her apartment and say hi to her roomate and her rommate's boyfriend. Tried not to remember how she promised Dell's kids they'd be her first stop when she got back and she'd have wonderful souveniers for them. Tried not to think of how long it'd been since she'd seen her parents. It left precious little for her mind to think about at that point, so now it was time to switch gears and focus on her body and the world around her. Not right now- she couldn't be going internal now, this was absolutely not the time.

Being careful of the delicate scab that had been successfully been able to form once Chloe-Jane had been forced to stop for a while, she stood and oriented herself. Directing herself first with the sun and then with the smoke in the sky, she oriented herself back towards the other and headed back to, basically, the only other people in her world right now.
 
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"Oh! Oh, someone, please help!"

"Did you hear that?"
David and his temporary patient both heard the cry for help at the same time. His face dulled into a serious panic, looking off into the lush endlessness.
"Unfortunately, I did. Are you ok to come with?" David said, itching to run out and find the disturbance.


_______________________________________________________________________________________________________



As soon as Sonny's hand touched the soft fur on the top of the dogs head, her world began to blur and fall out from under her. One moment, the lush, green trees were surrounding her, offering some solitude and comfort. The next moment, black. Total darkness. All Archaeo came in time to see was the woman hunching over in pain, before going cold on the ground. The dog looked in his direction, raising its ears before sprinting deeper into the forest.

The darkness began to let up, revealing a condo on a city street coated in rain droplets. Sonny was standing just outside the building, feeling rain falling onto her head and dripping down her cheek. The condo seemed to beckon her inside, in a dark and malicious way. She felt a pain in her chest and desperate longing for something inside...or was it someone...
The internal ache that strangled the chest her heart sank within emanated a melancholy she had adopted many years ago, though this longing for something was different, as it was missing someone, instead of heavy with a lack of someone to miss. Palm pressed to her ivory cheek bone, she smeared the tear streak, noting there was a lugubrious chill, though not an actual coldness. Beckoning her from the black top was a towering structure, one with a looming presence, as if the iron rods holding her hope captive. Did I die already? She wondered cynically, dragging her boot around the pavement contemplative like. Against her better judgement, due to an urge to understand (and to escape the rainfall) she followed a yearning to explore the interior, walking up to the entrance of which slid open to greet her.
 
Immediately as Sonny stepped through the double doors, she was met with splashes of crimson liquid along the walls of the lobby. The security officer lay on the floor, gun drawn, with bullet holes riddling his chest. The linoleum was forever stained a dark red. Coming out of the pools of blood were large footsteps leading to the elevator. Somehow, Sonny knew where to go. What floor...and even...what room. 12th floor, room 1214. Something horrible had happened here, but it didn't seem to matter as much to her...as getting into the elevator did.
 
Curiosity piqued, Sunny seemed oddly undisturbed by the grotesque scene before her. Her caramel eyes roamed over the blood pools, following the manifestation of foot steps that led to the elevator. An intangible force urged her in that direction, but her steps were slow, as her mind wandered around the room. Her heart pounded - she was in danger, she acknowledged, making a noise out loud could be detrimental. "But why is the room empty? Why was no one outside?" In the back of her mind, she questioned the foot steps as well, but out of nervousness refused to acknowledge them should that awareness cause her to be truly alone here. She bent down and pressed her fingers amateurishly to the dead man's body, he was some what cold. Pushing off from the flooring, she started towards the elevator, momentarily taking note in this moment, her leg was entirely healed - what was that about?

Jabbing the buttons with a bit of haste, she stepped inside and seemed to already be on her way somewhere. Inadvertently knowing where to go, she placed a hand pensively on her chin, so am I dead? Am I having an out of body experience? I've never been to this building before, have I? I've certainly never seen a dead person... in person. Where'd the puppy go?

She stepped out and into a carpeted corridor, that's where she became hesitant. Dead man downstairs, no more sand, legs better, she acknowledged, her pulse now beating a little harder within her throat. I should be terrified and yet I'm following an impulse. With less caution than her logic would encourage, she took light and subtle steps down the corridor, there were glass offices - but they seemed foggy, hinting at life beyond her situation but nothing that she could see. There was a hyper focus on the present, though the feeling of melancholy gave the hint this had happened already. Coming to the door that might as well be adorned with a neon sign indicating this one! she observed it was ajar. Hesitantly her fingers pressed against the exterior, and she gave it a subtle push, a sinking feeling in her gut for invading a situation that already proved it could be threatening.
 
Before Sonny had even touched the doorknob, her feelings began to change. Instead of there being one thing in the room that she had felt attached to outside...there were two? It didn't quite make sense to her, so she pressed on anyway. Upon walking into the room, she started to recognize things around the room. Things like a police duffle bag and a shiny, silver badge that read 'Detective.' Something felt wrong. More wrong than anything she had felt previously. The bloody foot prints lead to another door in the massive condo, but other than that, the room was clean and looked friendly. Hell, there was even a baby's crib and toys in the far left corner. What could be wrong in such a cozy place? It was then that something caught her eye. On the door sat a note, with blood smeared across the bottom. Her heart dropped as she saw the white and red parchment, not sure why
 
"Maybe I should just - " She turned to put her hand on the knob, expression falling as her exit had merged into the wall, a door no longer provided. I'm here for a reason, thoughts came logically still despite her beating heart, though she found it odd to be more unnerved at the sight of sentimental decor than a murder scene, it felt more personal than naturally disturbing here, like something holding her together was being threatened. "Hello?" She started meekly, but fearfully hushed herself.

She listened to the silence, her ears tuned to her own heart beat as she walked about, first examining the polished badge that read detective, though it lacked any other information. She appraised it for a long moment, stubborn in her pursuit of enlightenment, before sighing, tossing it across the room and then getting down on her knees to pilfer through the duffel bag. Three sharp tugs got her no where, "The zippers jammed, of course." Sun wasn't strong enough to mess with that.

Next was the window, though there was no way to open it, nor was there a revealed setting on the other side, more like just a glossy square her own mind conjured up due to pure OCD tendencies. The crib offered little, though there was a warmth she'd never felt towards children coating her stomach, followed by that longing, that sense of loss. Pressing a hand to the strain in her chest she pushed away from it, knowing full well in the back of her mind all the expectedly pointless observing was just her way of avoiding the note. "And we're keepin' it, keep it all goin', this delicate balance, vulnerable all knowing," She sang to herself quietly as the anticipation rose, continuing the lyrics whilst approaching and securing the stained note, as if the paper itself were a flame she was trying to coddle. "Sang like you think no one's listening... You would kill for this, just a little bit, just a little bit..."
 
As Sonny approached the door, the words on the page, colored a deep red, seemed to jump at her. The room got fuzzier and fuzzier the closer the stepped. A pitched whine rung in her ear, and her head throbbed, making her body shake. Everything seemed to get unbearable the closer she stepped...until she was finally close enough to grab the letter and read it.

The letter said:

Dear Detective Green,

Here we are again! This is fun, isn't it? One chase after another! It's like we are kids running around on a playground! Do you ever tire of missing me? By the smallest amounts of time? Well, I'm sorry to say that you just missed me, AGAIN. Damn! I don't understand why you can't just leave me be! I've tried everything, but you seem to always come back; like a puppy chasing its own tail. I've asked you nicely. I've made threats on your life. I've even given you that scar on your left eye. But, like a bad STD you keep coming back. I'm at my wits end! You force me to get creative. It took me 3 years to come up with this plan, and I think you're REALLY gonna like it! Maybe this will finally persuade you to "lose" my trail. By the way, tell the little one happy birthday for me.

~ Signed,
Shadow
 
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