Summary: Ten kids wake up on the beach after a plane crash with all of the adults dead around them. On an undiscovered island with seemingly no rescue, the ten of them have to go through things they never imagined. They have to learn how to survive on their own with no adults and no civilizations anywhere near them.

Italics mean that the character whose point of view it is in at the time is having a flashback.

The sun glinted in her eyes as she blinked them open. She could hear screaming, horrible, gut wrenching screaming. She felt something underneath her, as if she was laying on something. But with her one foot, which was for some reason bare, she could feel something soft. With a grunt, she lifted her head from the object beneath her and looked into a familiar face, whose gray eyes were also blinking open.

"Kat?" His voice was groggy and faint.

It was Owen, but she had no idea why she was on top of him, and why she could hear that horrible shrieking, or why her foot was bare and she could feel sand. Kat tried to remember, searching her mind desperately as she suddenly realized she felt exhausted. The first thing she thought of was the fight she and Owen were having about sitting in that one empty seat on the plane. With a sinking heart, she lifted herself up and twisted her body around so that she could see what was happening.

There was that one girl she'd sat in front of, and she was the one screaming. Her eyes were wide with terror and her mouth was dropped into a gaping screech. The screaming just went on and on, but she wasn't the only one screaming. There were other people around her. She could see so many, but she was concentrated on what was in front of the screaming girl.

It was a bloody body.

Kat slowly stood up to take a better look at what was around her. With a sinking heart, she gazed at the crashing waves, and the beachside with the soft sand. They weren't in Iowa anymore. Gazing at the horror around her, she saw blood splattered across the ground and injured people lying all across the beach.

Owen eventually stood up beside her, looking around and wondering what was going on.

Kat didn't care. She saw everyone suffering, and she hated watching it. Her mind swirling, she leapt into action, her legs tired and sore even though she hadn't been moving. She went over to the screaming girl, whom she'd recognized from the plane. She was blonde, and there was a large, deep gash across her right arm. "Hey!" Kat called.

The girl immediately stopped screaming and looked over at Kat with pretty blue eyes and a suntanned face. There were small scars all over her face, and Kat figured she wasn't much better off. Quickly, Kat took her shirt off and ripped it in half, handing it to the girl. Wearing only a camisole, she said hurriedly, "Wrap that around your arm and apply pressure. I'll be right back." The girl simply stared as Kat ran off to a tall man writhing on the ground. She held him still and examined him to see what was causing such pain.

She grimaced as she saw the huge wound on his stomach. Looking around for something to grab to pad the wound, she saw a boy wearing a hat pass by. She raced over to him and asked for his shirt. "What?" he exclaimed.

"Just give it to me," she ordered harshly. The boy took off his shirt, bringing his hat along with it, revealing white blonde hair. Kat rushed over to the man on the ground and pressed the white shirt to his wound. It didn't seem to be working, but she'd finally gotten his attention. He had been in shock from all the pain, but he was now looking up at her in surprise. "Apply pressure and make it stop bleeding."

There was another person screaming, but it was a little girl. She was looking down at a limp woman. Kat nodded at the man and looked over to the little girl. She had messy brown hair and tears were streaming down her cheeks. Kat ran over to her, looking her up and down before grabbing her by the shoulder and turning her away from the limp body.

She let out a shriek and tore away from Kat with a wrinkled nose. "Stay away from me!" she cried. Kat could tell she'd grown up in England from her British accent.

"It's alright," Kat tried to comfort her. She wasn't ready for taking care of all these people; she was after all, only fifteen. But she wasn't about to stand by and watch everyone panic. She'd taken a few courses in medical expertise from her own father because she'd been interested in it.

The little girl winced when Kat tried to touch her again and fell backwards onto the ground. She didn't say anything more, but let out a few muffled sobs. "It's going to be okay. Stay here," Kat commanded.

"She's gone, she's gone," the little girl muttered. Kat patted her on the shoulder and ran to help someone else. Her heart was pounding as she grabbed a bottle of antiseptic out of her pocket and she went to the blonde girl with blue eyes who had a gash in her arm.

"Hey, you!" Kat practically ran into her. Her arms were shaking as she squeezed out a bit of antiseptic and put it on the girl's wound. "Rub it in, and if it stings, it's working." The girl didn't even nod, but she rubbed in the antiseptic anyways and grimaced.

Kat finally looked up and saw the wreckage of the plane across the beachside. She looked over and saw Owen helping the boy with the hat with a wound on his back. She saw the man the blonde girl had been screaming about and laid down to feel his heartbeat. She gulped as she realized that his heart had stopped.

"Oh my God," she let out a sigh as the reality of the situation came crashing down on her. The plane……

"Owen, move it!" she grunted. Owen looked over at her, his brown eyes glinting with amusement. "You are so obnoxious," she groaned and looked over at him. His messy brown hair was in his eyes, as always and he was wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans.

She hadn't planned to go on the plane with him, but it had turned out that way, unfortunately. The trip had been completely accidental. Kat had to go to Hawaii as a student, and Owen, being so competitive with her, had to come to. She knew he had always wanted to do better than her at everything, especially school. It was his fault she wasn't the 9th Grade class president that year at Lincoln High School.

The seats were surprisingly comfortable, with soft cushions and plenty of space to put your feet. Kat decided to sit somewhere that Owen wouldn't. Otherwise, she wouldn't enjoy the flight at all. But the place she sat in wasn't so great anyways.

She was sitting next to an Asian girl with long black hair and a tall man that looked ahead and said nothing. Kat couldn't help glancing over at him and wondering why he wasn't speaking. The girl next to her tapped Kat on the shoulder; Kat looked over expectantly.

"Hi," she said softly. Kat raised an eyebrow expectantly before whispering, "Hi," back. She wasn't sure exactly why this girl was interested in making friends with her. "Well," the Asian girl said slowly, as if she didn't know what to say. Before she could, she was interrupted by a voice.

"Hey redhead!"

Kat knew they were talking about her. Her hair was a deep, wavy red. It wasn't the frizzy, ugly red curly hair that some people had. It was a much darker and deeper red, more brown than blonde and more wavy than curly. She'd thought it actually looked quite good, and so did other people in her school. Today, though, it was up in messy pigtails and she wasn't surprised when she sat up and saw the blonde beauty behind her.

This girl had curly blonde hair and blue eyes, a bit darker than Kat's blue eyes. Her face was perfect and beautiful, and her hair was long and down around her shoulders. She looked at the girl behind her expectantly. "I love your hair," the girl commented. The two girls beside her giggled in an annoying way. She pursed her lips innocently and said, "Did you forget to brush it this morning, or did you Mom set it on fire while trying to blowdry it?"

Kat didn't say anything. She was suddenly bitter and sat down next to the girl who had tried to talk to her before. The girl continued with a soft voice, as if she was nervous the girls would pick on her too. "I'm Marissa. You are?"

"Kat," she grunted.

"Meow!" Kat didn't even bother to glance back at the girl who had made fun of her name. She'd gotten used to that teasing from Owen plenty of times before. She sighed and looked over at Marissa.

"It's nice to meet you, Kat," Marissa said cheerily. Kat rolled her eyes, wondering how she could be so happy. Happiness didn't come to Kat easily, and she hated seeing people all smiling and joyful and enjoying life when horrible things happen all of the time. She just couldn't fathom it; maybe they didn't understand the pain of losing something.

She didn't really feel like speaking with Marissa, but the girl went on anyway. "I'm from Tennessee, but the plane made a stop in Iowa. Are you from Iowa?" Kat only nodded. She was already tired of this girl's cheery voice and happy attitude.

"Look, I'll be right back," she told Marissa as she stood up and went over to where Owen was sitting.

"Hey," he said lightly. She rolled her eyes and looked at him.

"You know that I know what's going on, right?" Kat said with a wrinkled brow.

"No. What's going on?" Owen asked. Kat hated when he acted like he was completely clueless. She knew that he was too competitive with her to pass up an opportunity like this.

"I know that—" She stopped.

Suddenly, the plane jerked slightly. She looked around in surprise. The seatbelt sign above the airplane seats blinked on, and Kat heard the blonde say from across the aisle, "What is going on?" She rolled her eyes and looked at Owen as a voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing, "The seatbelt sign has come on. Please buckle your seatbelts."

Just as the announcer was finished, the whole plane lurched. A few people let out yelps and the girls behind them shrieked. The plane continued to lurch from side to side, spilling contents from the shelves above. A few people let out terrified screams as a metal suitcase flew down and smashed a man on the head, spilling blood everywhere. Kat grimaced as a drop of blood hit her cheek. She hurriedly wiped it off and looked around for a seat. The seat beside Marissa was too far away. She held onto the arms of the seats and looked around desperately. The plane lurched again and she almost fell to the ground.

"Owen!" she screamed. Owen grabbed her arm and unbuckled his seatbelt. Without thinking, Kat sat in his lap and let him wrap the seatbelt around them.

All of the sudden, there was a huge lurch. The oxygen masks and bags popped out of the ceiling as Kat twisted her head around to see what had happened. She could see the sky, and the air was being sucked out as she widened her eyes and realized the whole back of the plane had torn off in midair. Owen's arms were wrapped around her as they both grabbed an oxygen mask and put it on. She closed her eyes tightly, and it was suddenly black.

Thinking back on it, Kat now realized why she had woken up on top of Owen. She wanted to sit down, but there were other people to help. She saw Marissa helping a boy up from the water and dragging him onto the shore. She sighed and rushed over to another man. Everything was a blur, and the screaming people around her made it even more nerve wracking.