"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Christine asked her cousin.
"Don't know." Anna said bored, repeating the same phrase she had said only moments ago. Christine eyed the boy's shirt she was wearing and concealed the last of her hair in a boys hat. The two had been booked onto an all boy's evacuation flight and had been told by their mothers that they'd have to dress this way. They'd borrowed clothes from their brothers meaning nothing fitted quite right. Their shirts, jackets and trousers were too big and baggy and the shoes had to be filled with paper to fit correctly. This conversation had been repeated and repeated while sitting in their seats, they were aware of the curious boys behind them, trying to listen in and figure out what exactly they were talking about. Christine sighed and slouched down into her seat as the plane started moving.
Half an hour later, Anna had started shaking Christine by the shoulder trying to wake her.
"Chris! Chris! Something's wrong." Anna watched her cousins eyes drag open.
"'Sup?" Her voice was deep with sleep.
"Look! It's on fire!" Christine looked out the tiny window at the blackness outside and spotted a small orange flickering object. She squinted.
"I think it's just a light." Anna shook her head.
"It's not. I'm sure. We should let someone know." Christine looked at her cousin grumpily and after a glaring competition, she sighed and called a flight assistant over.
"My cousin thinks there is something wrong with the wing." The female flight assistant nodded quickly.
"There is but don't worry, it's easily resolved. Take your seat please and do up your seatbelt." Christines eyes went wide as she turned to Anna who had suddenly gone pale under her light tan. They both shook as they did their seatbelts.
"Anna? I…I'm scared." The boys around them were all asleep, unable to hear Anna's real name as Christine whispered it.
"Me too. But we'll be fine, won't we?" Christine nodded and took Anna's hand more for her own comfort than Anna's if she were honest. They had just begun to relax when a loud, metallic screech filled the plane, loud enough to deafen. The girls couldn't help themselves, they screamed as the plane went down. Every boy on the plane was awake now, screaming at the top of their lungs as the front of the plane was torn off, giving everyone a good view of the island they were hurtling at. Anna's nails pierced Christine's skin and four streams of blood dripped down their hands. They were jerked forward violently as the plane finally hit the ground, Anna hit her head on the chair in front of her and blacked out. Everything was silent. Christine's eyes turned to her little cousins face, eyes closed, mouth open, leaning forward. She shook her shoulder. No answer but she stirred a little. A sigh of relief later and Christine undid her own seatbelt and stood on shaky legs. Then she undid Anna's seatbelt and carried her from the plane, trying her best to ignore the bloody bodies in the rows in front of where she had been sitting. When she had gotten out, she turned and examined the plane. It was only a tiny part of the tube where the passingers sat, only seven or eight rows long. So there may be other survivors? Scattered around whatever this place was? She jerked her cousin up in her arms a little as she walked, trying to keep her away from the thorny plants that were currently scratching at her own legs, never quite able to tear the trousers she was wearing, just lifting them and tearing at the flesh below. After a few moments of walking and not actually getting anywhere, not really knowing where she was going, she paused and looked at the girl in her arms to see two open blue eyes and a smirk.
"You've been awake all this time, haven't you?" Of course…
"I woke up while you were walking through those pointy bushes." Naturally. Christine glared at her cousin before setting her on her feet. Just at that moment, a loud trumpet like sound pierced the air, giving them both a fright.
"Maybe it's that man with the trumpet!" Anna shouted, Christine nodded, pulled down her hat and set off towards the sound, pulling Anna along too. They soon managed to follow the sound to a beach where a huge crowd of boys were standing gathered around two boys, one with a conch shell and blonde hair and another with flaming red hair who was currently removing a black cloak. Christine leaned down to whisper in Anna's ear.
"Remember, your called Andrew and I'm called Chris."
"We're keeping up the whole boy act?"
"Wanna be the only girls of the group?" Anna shook her head and the two walked towards the crowd. The blonde boy turned to them and a short fat boy with glasses began talking.
"Oh, hello, we're just taking names. That's Ralph, those two there, they're twins. Sam'n'Eric they're called. He's-" He'd gestured towards the red haired boy only to be interrupted by him.
"Shut up Piggy! I can introduce myself! I'm Jack but call me Merridew. This is my choir. And just who are you two?" He spoke with a sort of authority that no-one dared to question.
"I'm Chris and this is my little cousin Andrew." Christine used their fake names, trying to lower her voice to make it seem more masculine. Jack looked at her strangely then turned his attention to Ralph.
"Well, you missed the election but I was voted chief and Jack and his Choir are the hunters." The cousins nodded. "And me, Jack and Simon are going to climb that mountain there to find out whether this is an island or not." He pointed up at the only mountain on the island. The three boys started off as everyone else sat in the sand. Christine and Anna sat a few meters away from the rest together.
"do you think we can manage this?" Christine asked Anna.
"I think we can. We should wait until they're all asleep then go and find our bags in the airplane. I am not spending the next few days in this one outfit." Christine giggled then bit her lip when Anna looked at her. Anna looked small, as did their entire family, but behind those big blue eyes, she was pretty good at throwing a punch or two and Christine had the bruises to prove it. They were close enough that it was an everyday routine, Christine would bug her, Anna would punch her in the arm, Christine would stop for a few minutes then irritate her again and the cycle would repeat. The two had been like sisters since the beginning.
"Do you think we'll be here for very long?" Anna asked.
"If it is an island, who knows how long we could be here?"
"And if it isn't?"
"Then we might get rescued tonight." They fell into silence for a few moments before a small boy came over to them with a curious look on his face.
"Why do you two speak so strangely?" Anna was the first to speak.
"We're Scottish." The boy nodded, satisfied with his answer and went back to sit with the other little'uns.
The girls disguised as boys exchanged little comment for what must have been roughly half an hour until The three boys got back. Ralph spoke.
"Alright, this is an island but it's a good island. There's clean water and fruit and pigs. So things aren't very bad. We can build shelters and be comfortable too." Murmurs of fear and enthusiasm were exchanged. Ralph looked up at the sky as the sun had just begun to rise. "We'll rest for now and start figuring out what we're going to do tomorrow." The younger boys curled up in the sand right where they were and the older ones scattered themselves over a patch of sand. Christine and Anna lay on the sand side by side, awake, and waiting. They left a while later, taking careful steps between a maze of limbs. They then took cautious steps through the trees, keeping notes of landmarks to help them get back.
When they were near the plane, Christine turned to Anna.
"Stay here."
"Why?" Christine briefly considered telling her about the bodies of the children who hadn't been as lucky as they had been.
"Just trust me. Stay here and don't you dare peek." Anna nodded as Christine went towards the plane, gagging at the scent of blood and shivering as she went inside the plane to retrieve their hand luggage. She took the bags to Anna then went back to find their suitcases among a mass of similar ones. She eventually found them and went towards the spot Anna was standing whining about being alone. Christine took the two suitcases as Anna took the hand luggage bags.
"Jeez! What did you put in here?!" Christine gasped under the weight.
"Everything I could fit in!" Anna giggled back. Christine's face lit up at the innocent sound.
When they arrived at the beach, They set their bags in a horseshoe shape and sat against their suitcases like headboards. Anna's involuntary yawn signalled it was time to sleep. They piled sand up at the suitcases and used it as a sort of pillow and before they could do anything else, they were asleep.