Stranded and Alone (IC)

Status
Not open for further replies.
You force me to get creative

How did I not anticipate this?

It took me 3 years to come up with this plan

The chasing was a sham. I wasn't fast enough - wasn't smart enough.

As the anticipation and default pessimism answered the letter's meaning before she was finished reading, Sunny struggled to read the next line through blurred eyes, anxious to know, though inwardly, she already did. Tears rose and were blinked away, dripping off the tip of her nose, cascading along her jawline, plummeting from her chin onto her already damp sleeves. Unlike before these pains were not familiar, for they were greater than her theoretical masochism, this was true and inescapable. Sunny didn't deal with that which she couldn't evade in some way, but there wasn't an option to turn away. Whimpering softly, she extended her hand and pushed the door, nothing breathing, not exactly seeing through the glossy film coating her caramel orbs. Her lips pouted, the bottom rosy, puffed out and quivering - she moved with the weight of despair, finger tips ice cold on the exterior of the threshold.
 
As Sonny opened the door, with tears in her eyes, her worries came to fruition. Inside, on the blood soaked bathroom floor, was an attractive blonde woman and a one year old child. Their bodies layed lifeless on the linoleum, drawing attention from anything else. Sonny's world fell away. She felt enormous pain unlike any other pain she had ever felt. Although the two were unknown to her, she knew them at the same time. And new them well. She felt deep love for them, and at the same time, painstaking despair. Like she had lost two parts of her soul. Her retinas were scarred with something she would never forget.​
 
Sunny had long since lost the will to stand, cross legged on the floor, arms hugging her stomach. Her sobbing was silently, but consistent, occasionally her eyes dried up and simply couldn't produce anymore tears - and then she'd catch the scent of iron, consider the already fading memory of what their smiles were like, yearn for the skin on skin contact and before she knew it, her top was discolored with tears. Even with little gasps in between her hiccups and sniffling, her observant mind was unraveling a mystery filled with holes and gaps, inconsistencies but the ever reminder that those dearest to her were gone. She always hoped she'd be given the option to die in place of someone that held this intensity of a bond with her, willing to give her life instead of live a life that was missing a vital piece; a cruel irony she could not understand did not allow it, however.

I shouldn't have put this ahead of them, the risk was never worth it, the rational and self incrimination was the first wave to wash over, spite for herself, inferiority, still masks as the concept of loss wasn't entirely registering. Denial had been skipped, it was just an instantaneous, crushing understanding. Almost like she'd known, like she'd seen it coming. She crawled over to the bodies, ignoring the slush of red she waded through, the wait it seeped in, cold and thick, to her clothing, clinging to her skin like a tangible reminder of her failure. Extending a delicate hand she squeezed the chilled, limp palm of her lover, and then that of the baby's, which was so tiny, so disadvantaged, so young.

So unfair.
 
Almost as swiftly as it had begun, the flashback ended. Sonny felt a massive pain in her head. Like someone had taken a baseball bat to her nose. The world fell away, just like it had before. The walls and the limp dead bodies faded away into nothing, causing everything to go black again. When Sonny finally opened her eyes, she was lying down in the sand. The dog was gone and fragments of quarts stuck to her wet cheeks. She was back in reality. To the man standing next to her, she seemed to have passes out for only a few seconds before opening her eyes again, but to Sonny, the transition seemed like it had taken hours. The trees swayed, and wind blew, almost welcoming her back into the hell she had left.​
 
I don't want to open my eyes.

There was a long period of immobile silence on her end. Her eyelids trembled, orbs still glossed and her very skin seemingly made of brittle ice. The sun proved merciless as she peered up for the first time after having hid her eyes behind palms wet and sprinkled with sand, it glared at her, a burning reminder against her tender flesh she was still here. The breeze was not flattering, in fact it licked at her clamy ivory coat with an air of reality of which she detested. "From one hell to the other, oh God, what is going on?" She inhaled, breath quavering, before shifting to sit properly, seething as that dull throb was still lively and intensified. It wasn't until she shifted she noted someone was standing beside her - "OH GOD! WHAT? WHAT IS IT?" She held up her arms defensively, though they visibly shook with weakness. Her body wasn't made for this - her mind, would not have it. It buried the traumatic experience almost professionally, kicking all of her current worries over it, unable to decipher which present to delude itself into worrying about as the other proved too horrid.

Having failed to care enough to mince introductions with her fellow survivors (a term she would not consider right now) she peered upwards and could not name the stranger, though she recalled clearly that he was there with that medically trained woman and David. Her psyche should not have taken any relief in the recollection of merely a name, should couldn't share any of this with him, with anyone - he probably couldn't even comprehend a situation so terrible, let alone one that was... not her own experience, just some... vision. Was that it? "I'm gunna throw up," She said with a dramatic whine, but wouldn't really. "I want a cold drink, and my slippers, and my cat - oh, my cat, awe," baring a pitiful expression she reached out towards the older man, eyes beckoning for a little support so she could stand. Her leg refused to support her weight from this angle, she placed her other hand on it and pressed lightly, still battered with tears, bits of sand and a flushed exhaustive red flooding her cheeks.

Detective Green. That name held zero familiarity, yet she now empathized fully with his traumas. Perhaps it was a residual haunting she'd experienced? She wondered, the curiosity a nostalgic throb warmly welcomed compared to the other throbs - except for the fact it was exploring something she found nearly as traumatizing - if not more than - the plane she just crashed in, and her being...

Stranded.
 
Roxy calmed down as she walked. She much as she hated it. She knew she would have to apologize to the poor woman she attacked. It hadn't been the woman's fault that she had been trapped. It hadon't really been anyone's fault if she wanted to be completely honest.

She stopped at the edge of the woods. She wasn't a social person. She avoided people when she could. But she had a feeling that doing that no wasn't a good idea. She trusted her instincts. They rarely lead her astray. She sighed. She might as well start with the woman who had saved her. The woman hadn't looked good now that she took the time to think about it.

She started back the beach. She had to search for the woman. It wasn't until she saw someone sit up that she found her. Roxy grimaced as she made her way towards the woman that saved more then her life. She stopped just out of arms reach. "Look... ummm... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have attacked you the way I did."

@CasmiRari
 
Archaeo scrambled over to the woman when she seemingly fell unconcious, worry sparking in his gaze. He knelt down and took her pulse, glad to know that her heart was still beating strong. "Shit, everyone's back at the beach..." He muttered softly, looking around desperately for help. Then her panicked words hit him like a firecracker. He stumbled back, losing his balance and landing flat on his ass. "Christ, don't scare me like that. It isn't healthy." He grunted as he carefully stood up, all too aware of his heart's quickened pace. He lightly brushed himself off and offered the woman a hand up, his worried gaze flicking down to the blood stain on her leg.

"We should probably go get that checked out." He spoke calmly, gesturing to her injury. He needed to get the fire started so that they could help that guy with the shrapnel and he needed to have his own arm looked at. He bitterly supposed it was a good thing that he didn't quit smoking yet, but his inherent need for a cigarette was not helpful at all in this situation. He wasn't going to waist lighter fluid on an addiction right now. Not when everything was so fucking uncertain.
 
Wow, she must have been really out of it. Chloe-Jane didn't even here the woman approaching and when she began to speak, she jumped. That wasn't good- she had to be alert out here otherwise she was dead weight- worse than dead weight- a liability. Time go go find some place safer for sure. She turned to look over her shoulder and rubbed her neck- it was stiffer now, she hadn't noticed until the movement. Hissing quietly in an inhale, she shook her head, trying to speak while her mind set adrift with a dozen other things,

"Um," she looked at the ground as if she had started the sentence with no idea where she was going to take it, "No, it's o-... well, don't worry about it. I, uh, I've got pretty thick skin so that much wouldn't do me any harm really. Plus we're strangers... that.... that helps me, um, remove myself from things like that. But uh, thanks... yeah, thanks for the apology, I appreciate the gesture. I forgive you." She pulled out a smile, a gesture so second nature to her it almost looked completely natural if it weren't for her paled parlor, blood caked head and shirt, clothes and body injuries she had yet to even look at, and swimming, half glazed eyes.

"I'd like to... I think we should get to the others." She cleared her throat, ignoring her miscellanious centre's of pain, turning to start walking again, "I couldn't- couldn't find anyone el- anyone else who survived." She took a deep breath. She had seen more absolute carnage before she passed out than she cared to remember. Limbs without bodies, bodies without limbs, eyes outside of heads, heads smashed so that the insides weren't inside anymore, elderly people, young people, infants. People who's last look of terror would be how they appeared until they disentigrated back into the earth. Oh yeah,

"I still want to get back first, but if you want..." She cautiously made the suggestion, "I was going to start burying some of these people afterward. The bodies will start to smell and poison the land around them if we just leave them out in the air. Also, who knows what predators they'll draw. And... I'd like to think the deserve more than to go bad out in the sun. If you'd like, you can join me?" Chloe-Jane looked over her shoulder as she walked.

@KatherinWinter
 
"Unfortunately, I did. Are you ok to come with?"

Astor gave out something akin to a scoff and dry chuckle. "I'll live," she told him from over her shoulder, already dragging her worn-out boots through the sand and dashing for the jungle. Breaching the treeline, she slowed to a halt, anxiety flaring as she bit the inside of her cheek. Astor whirled on her heels to face the male EMT.

"Where's it coming from? The screaming?" The words left her tongue in a fast-paced jumble of syllables, but she still hoped the EMT could translate what sounded like gibberish into something comprehensible. Feeling her panic grow, she sucked in a deep breath. She placed a hand on her chest, feeling her erratic heartbeat, and exhaled. At the least, it relieved a sliver of her nervousness. Astor tore her gaze away from the EMT to scour their surroundings for any sign of the yelling -- footprints, blood, scraps of cloth, anything -- but she couldn't find a trace. She furrowed her brow.

"Should we shout back?" she asked the man, her voice making a return to its usual tone. Could it be a trap? She toyed with the notion a moment longer, then shook her head. No. No, that'd be unlikely. She reminded herself she, and many others, just survived a plane crash. Who am I kidding? Unlikeliness means shit.
 
AshenAngel said:
Archaeo scrambled over to the woman when she seemingly fell unconcious, worry sparking in his gaze. He knelt down and took her pulse, glad to know that her heart was still beating strong. "Shit, everyone's back at the beach..." He muttered softly, looking around desperately for help. Then her panicked words hit him like a firecracker. He stumbled back, losing his balance and landing flat on his ass. "Christ, don't scare me like that. It isn't healthy." He grunted as he carefully stood up, all too aware of his heart's quickened pace. He lightly brushed himself off and offered the woman a hand up, his worried gaze flicking down to the blood stain on her leg.

"We should probably go get that checked out." He spoke calmly, gesturing to her injury. He needed to get the fire started so that they could help that guy with the shrapnel and he needed to have his own arm looked at. He bitterly supposed it was a good thing that he didn't quit smoking yet, but his inherent need for a cigarette was not helpful at all in this situation. He wasn't going to waist lighter fluid on an addiction right now. Not when everything was so fucking uncertain.
Click to expand...
Relying on his strength, Sun managed to get to her feet, steadying herself and sighing at her own, rapid heart rate. Too much, this last hour had been too damn much. "I didn't mean to," She mumbled to him, wiping her eyes and glancing at the audience of trees lining just a ways from where they stood. Where'd that dog go? She pondered, absent minded again, perhaps to the male's disdain. Though the recollection of the blood smothered infant made her cringe and turn away quite suddenly, "I was looking for some sort of sling for that girl - oh, god, she's probably dead because I just... um..." She didn't explain to him why she was passed out, she couldn't.

"What, my leg? N-No, they have enough to worry about," Her stubbornness would kill her here, if the visions didn't first. "I have to find something, can you go with me in case I pass out again? I'll be quick," She asked him, though started towards the direction of the plane, not really expecting him to tag along.
 
  • Nice Execution!
Reactions: AshenAngel
The woman was right on two accounts. Most of the people probably deserved more then to be left our in the elements and leaving the bodies out was only going to cause problems. Unfortunately it wasn't something they could deal with right now. There were other things they had to put first. Like the lives of those who survived.

"You're right. We have to deal with the dead. Not only because they deserve better then being let to the elements but cause the bodies are likely to cause problems. But it's going to have to wait. We need to worry about the living first. We need a shelter before dark. We need to scavenge as much as we can from the plane and the body. We need to assess what we have. We need to know what everyone is capable of doing do we can divide up the work so that we give ourselves the best chance of surviving." She stated practically.

She was sure the other woman thought that she was cold. In some ways she was. But she had been survived on her own before. She knew how hard it was. Most of these people probably had no idea what to do because they had never had to worry about living to see the next day.
 
"The collar bone injury isn't fatal. You'd have seen it on one of the EMT's faces when they were checking her." Archaeo rationalized when she turned away from him. He could hear that lingering tone in her voice, there was something else. He didn't press her on it. He realized that the crash had seriously done a number on him when he did that, or didn't do that, to be precise.

He sighed inwardly and pushed his glasses back up. Without another word he followed along a pace behind the woman before she found something that would work as a sling. Once that was taken care of, he hurried back to building a fire. They'd need to cauterize that other guy's shrapnel wound, and then figure out some sort of shelter situation. Before they would know it, the sun would go down and whatever animals were on the island would investigate and he was sure that the smells of blood and death and...

He was panicking again. Ok Archie, just stop. Breathe. Keep your hands from shaking. It's just a fucking plane crash, no reason to completely shut down. No. Not at all. You are fine. Just a scratch on the arm. Could be worse. You've been in worse shape before. Taking a deep breath, he continued to work on the fire, his sharp hazel eyes masking all of the emotions that swirled around inside of him. At least he was still good at masking all the crazy shit that was going on on the inside.
 
"I'll live,"​

The brunette woman booked it into the jungle before he could do anything to stop her. Quickly catching up to her, the unlikely pairing ran through the jungle, trying to triangulate the source of the scream. With no luck, they both stopped their progression and turned to each other, the brunette getting her words out first.

"Where's it coming from? The screaming? Should we shout back?"
​
David hadn't lost much of his breath, but took a moment to catch what little he did. Glancing around, listening for any sounds at all, he took a deep breath, mustering up a hearty shout. He cupped his hands around his lips, and yelled at the top of his lungs.
​
"Hello?! Where are you?!"​
 
Bernadette was kneeling next to Alex Queen, one of his hands clasped in hers. She watched a puddle of blood slowly pool under his hurt shoulder and bit her lip. She called again, and again, until she heard a response.

"Hello?! Where are you?!"

It was close, perhaps thirty feet, directly in front of them, just through the trees.

"Over here! In the clearing just in front of you, behind the bushes and that big tree with the mold on it!"

To Alex, she leaned down toward his ear and whispered, "You'll be okay, Alex. We're going to get to the beach, I'm going to patch you up as well as everyone else who needs it. We'll build a shelter and a hospital, maybe, and you'll be good as new by the time we're rescued." Gently, she squeezed his hand and waited to be found by the voice.
 
"Mm-" was all Chloe-Jane could manage as a response at the moment. She felt absolutely drained, even more than a 48-hour no sleep, 3 inches from the computer screen all night, pump hard for class 4 times a day kind of drained. Blood loss was no joke, plus it made her more thirsty than she could ever remember being. Looking up into the sky, the grey cloud from before seemed to have begun dissapating leaving a partly cloudy overhang. Guess that meant no rain. She needed water, pure or some way to make it so, and quick, otherwise dehydration was going to set in on her and everyone else who'd been leaking more blood than a cooking injury. The headache could of course be attributed to the head injury, as could the dizziness and the waxing and waning desire to vomit, but being the outdoorsperson she was, Chloe-Jane also knew these were classic indicators of the body screaming for replenishing water. What was the last thing she drank? That Sprite on the plane... that was no good, it was mostly high frutcose cornsyrup and carbonation. Curses, and it wasn't like airlines were letting people take bottled water through carry-on.

"Shelter's good," Chloe-Jane cleared her throat trying to speak up while they walked, "But I think we've seen a lot of bloodloss and injuries, and all exerted ourselves quite a bit. If we want to do work right, we have to start off right. We're going to need to find water for drinking, cleaning wounds, and eventually cooking probably. I can still walk, so I can still go on. I'll take up that task."
 
"Over here! In the clearing just in front of you, behind the bushes and that big tree with the mold on it!"

That time around, Astor recognized the voice. The other EMT, she realized, hastening to the bushes as she tried her damnedest to ignore the pain flaring in her collarbone, a hand snapping up to clutch her shoulder. Sifting through the bushes, Astor broke into the clearing to find the woman EMT knelt beside the wounded man from the beach, laid on the ground. He didn't give so much as a twitch.

"Oh, shit," she breathed, her hand falling back down to her side. Astor sped to the duo. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she looked down at the man, his dark hair a contrast to his growing pallor. Her attention cut to the female EMT. "What can I do?" Given her freshly diagnosed broken collarbone, she wasn't sure how much help she'd be, but she couldn't turn her back on someone whose health was at stake more than hers.
 
@CasmiRari
"I agree that we need to have water but I don't know jack about finding water. If you want to gather it go right ahead but I don't think you'll get far. You should rest but I don't think it's safe to leave you alone. Let's get you on your feet. We can search through the debris. Maybe we can find you some water." Roxy suggested.

She didn't think wasting time was wise. They needed to organize. But she was just one voice. An experienced one but she was still just one person. If the others agreed on another plan then she might need to go it alone. It wasn't ideal but she could do it. She looked around wondering how close to the others the were.
 
Bernadette looked up at the woman, and almost had to smile. Here she was, her ailment still clearly unfixed and painful, asking what she could do to help. It gave Bernadette a surge of adrenaline as she began rambling in answer. "I just need help getting him back to the beach. I wish we could have some place to make a temporary hospital or shelter, but if someone's made a fire that'll be as good a place as any. Do you think you could help me move him? I'm not sure I can carry him by myself and I don't want to risk hurting him more by dragging him."
 
After she'd found enough material to create a make-shift sling, Sunny left the older man with a thank you, eyes heavy as she started back in the direction of where the others had been. She seemed to have this section of the island down already, making familiar the landmarks, like an oddly shaped tree or really knowing her direction depending on where the ocean was. Having never been quite as obsessed with the beach as her California born family, it wasn't really a paradise either way - she huffed as the sand slowed her pace, kicking up just behind her and occasionally splattering all over her sweats. The crashing waves were the closest sound to relaxing, but without the assurance she'd be leaving to head back to her bed soon, it really just seemed like a stretch of blue colored hopelessness. Her senses were heightened - the sun rays warming her skin, the breeze caressing her flustered cheeks and tousling her hair, the slight sink of her step in the blanket of sand, the growing tension in her shoulders and subtle droop of her head - her breath was a tad uneven and heavy, but it was the preferable focus as opposed to considering the vision that occurred along with that oddly well groomed dog.

"Guys?" She shouted, her voice nearly drowned out as she neared the shore. There was a fading trail of red in the sand and she sighed, not even wanting to think about what that meant. Her curiosity got the better of her, however, and she very slowly started to follow it, slightly interested, but also rather tired. "Guys? Where'd you go? I have the sling... thing!"
 
Continuing to walk, Chloe-Jane picked up the pace a little, thinking on what the other woman had said. Indeed, if she was going to go out for a look she ought to do herself a favor and try to fix what was wrong with her. Who knows if it'd be soft sand she collapsed on next time- she couldn't risk it. That said, water was a necessity, and her body's desire to have it was threatening to override her logic soon and after that, if she continued to ignore it and put it off, it was no doubt going to sucker punch her. She needed something to drink. But that was just the time when being stupid or reckless was going to cost you everything.

"I'll go see if the medical people can patch me up," Chloe-Jane relented, "Maybe take a few minutes to recoup, but then I gotta head out. If anyone else is any good at outdoor activity and tracking or if anyone's a survivalist junkie I'll take them with me to be safe, but otherwise... I'm in no position to be looking out for someone who doesn't know what they're doing. I don't want to risk their lives for mine. But we need water- really need it, all of us in fact. Once it gets dark, it'll be much harder and more dangerous to go looking and we're burning daylight as it is."

@KatherinWinter
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back