Just a little side story from Rainbow Veins. Wanted to get this out of my head. :P Enjoy.
Warning: Gore, very mild swearing. Angst. Character Death.
Fire, screaming, choking, coughing, and worst of all the smell of burning skin. A plane was rocketing down towards the ocean at hundreds of miles per hour. Everyone on board was screaming in fright. The plane's left wing engine had exploded which in turn caused the rest of the plane to catch on fire. The section of the plane with the cockpit was immediately detached from the passenger section. Mothers were holding onto their children for dear life and wives and husbands were trying to help each other.
A young man with messy dark, brown hair was clinging to his seat and terror was crossing his face as the plane grew closer to what everyone thought was the icy ocean water below. His caffeinated coffee had spilt all over the aircraft's floor. The cream and sugar he had been about to add was all over the floor as well. He looked at the man next to him who in turn turned to the young women next to him. The man had a very angular face and was as pale as a ghost, but his hair was as black as the night sky. The women whimpered and clung ever tighter to her seat and the black haired man's arm. Her dark tanned skin, shiny with sweat. Her curly, black hair flying around her as gravity pulled them all closer to the Earth.
"We're going to die!" She screamed and shut her eyes tightly right as the plane crashed. Then everything went black for the passengers.
Hours later the brown haired man woke up with a start. He slowly moved into a sitting position from his lying down one. He looked around and rubbed the side of his head. He squinted when he looked up and saw smoke.
"Crap, what's happened?" He muttered to himself softly. He slowly and carefully stood up wanting to make sure he didn't break anything. Lucky for him he hadn't. He slowly made his way through the thick, dense overgrowth around him towards the smoke.
"Josh!? Aidan!?" The women cried out. She looked around with pure terror in her eyes. She had no idea where she was or where anyone was. What if I never find anyone!? What happens if they're all dead!? She thought. She moved around the small space she woke up in. "Help!" She screamed on the top of her lungs. She held her injured wrist in her hand.
Suddenly there was a snap behind her. She spun around and was met with the sight of the black haired man.
"Aidan!" She ran towards him. "I thought you were dead!" She hugged his neck as tightly as she could as if he would disappear at any second.
"Are you ok?" The man known as Aidan asked her. She held up her wrist pathetically and looked at the ground. Aidan slowly took her wrist in his hand and bent it this way and that. "It's not fractured," he explained with a sigh of relief. "It's just sprained." The young women nodded. "Have you seen Josh? He couldn't be too far from here, Sally." He said with a gentle yet strong voice.
"I-I think I see s-something." Sally stuttered. She was looking in the direction of the smoke rising higher and higher in the sky. "If Josh is smart, and we know he i-is, he would go towards that smoke." She explained softly. Aidan nodded and led the way towards the smoke. As they got closer they could hear voices talking, crying, and whimpering. They walked through some trees into a clearing with plane parts all around. People Sally and Aidan recognized from the seats next to them were lying down. Some you couldn't tell if they were dead or alive or somewhere close to either.
"Josh!" Sally yelled around. She turned her head this way and that trying to see his big doe-eyes looking at them but she found nothing. There were a few people coming out of the thick forest. Aidan looked carefully and smiled when he say his friend.
"Over there." Aidan started walking towards him. He chuckled as Sally rushed past him to tackle the unsuspecting brunette. He watched as the younger man's doe-eyes widened when he saw a figure running straight at him.
"Ah!" Josh yelped as he was forced to the ground by Sally. "S-Sally, I think y-you broke my back…" he groaned softly out from under her. Said person gasped and made a long string of apologizes while she helped Josh up.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt!? Did I hurt you!? What the hell happened to your head!?" Josh blushed softly and turned away from the watching eyes of the other passengers that had made it onto the island alive. Josh raised his eyebrow as he reached up to his head, he felt around. What he felt was a long, thin, open wound and it was wet so that meant that it still bleed. He drew his hand back quickly when a sharp sting erupted from the wound area. Aidan walked over to the two and grabbed Josh's face to turn it. He looked up and down the wound.
"It's not too bad, but we should try and look for some bandages to clot it and stop the bleeding. Head wounds tend to bleed a lot and you know that Josh." Aidan said with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, yeah, Mr. I-Know-Everything-'Cause-I'm-A-Nurse." Josh rolled his eyes and slapped Aidan's hand away from his face. He slowly started walking towards a small group of people that had formed as they had been talking. "Excuse me?" He asked politely. Josh never had been one of those people who were able to just barge into a conversation. He always had to ask permission first. The group looked over and a large man with a broad face and blond hair spoke first.
"What can I help you with?" His deep voice seemed to shake the earth around Josh. He had, what Josh, Aidan and Sally could describe as a, German accent.
"I-I was wondering if y-you have any bandages?" Josh stuttered not exactly liking how the other people in the group where giving him death glances.
"Why the hell should we give you something!?"
"Yeah! There are other people here that need the bandages a lot more than you do so I would beat it if I were you!" Josh was about to do exactly that when the blonde turned around and scowled at all of them.
"Shut up all of you. He has a small wound so we shall give him a small bandage. It's not that hard." The blonde's voice grew cold and dangerous and his accent becoming even heavier than before. He turned back to Josh and his whole expression changed from that of fury to niceness if you could call it that. "Follow me and I shall get you one. Please excuse the others. They are not happy that they are here." He explained as he led the trio towards a small tent.
Well we now know who's going to hit the bucket first. Aidan thought bitterly. He glanced back at the group. Their eyes were still on them and truth be told Aidan didn't have a good feeling about them. Josh noticed a small girl playing behind them towards the water's edge. Her hair was a platinum blonde and she looked what Josh could describe as, happy. He shook his head to clear the thought out of his head and went back to the German man.
Josh kept touching the bandage. He didn't like stuff on his face and all he wanted to do was rip it off no matter the cost he would have to go through.
"Josh really. Quit it, the wound is never going to heal if you don't let it be." Aidan, being the over protective nurse he was, slapped Josh's hand away. The smaller male's bottom lip curled out into a pout. Sally laughed softly and hugged Josh.
"Aidan's right. You have to relax…or as much as you can since we're stranded on an island in the middle of the…" She went off trying to think of the ocean.
"Atlantic." Josh whispered gently. Sally smiled.
"Just making sure you know your maps." Josh and Aidan both rolled their eyes. Then Josh got an idea.
"That's it!" He jumped up with excitement. Eyes all over the "base", as people had started calling the area, looked over at him. Josh quickly sat back down overcome with shyness..
"What's it?" Aidan and Sally asked at the same time.
"W-we…" he began, "We should explore the island." Josh looked up with his big brown eyes at his two roommates, his bangs getting in the way slightly.
The other's looked at each other. Aidan nodded his head a few times. His eyes trained on the ground by his shoes. Sally moved some of her hair out of her face and looked from Josh to Aidan.
"I think it's a really good idea." She smiled widely at Josh trying to get his hopes up. Aidan clasped his hands together, the sound startling Josh.
"For a bouncer, Josh, you really are skittish." Aidan chuckled and got up. "I agree with you, we have to explore this place. We don't know what's on it." Josh nodded as Aidan talked and Sally watched her friend's face.
"Just 'cause I'm a bouncer doesn't mean I'm a very good one," Josh grumbled to himself. Sally patted his head and got up. "Where are you going?" He asked her as she walked away from their small triangle.
"I'm going to go talk to Macho-Man over there and see if he would help us. Is that ok?" Sally turned to face them. Josh's face contorted slightly and Aidan glared past the young women at the German.
"F-fine," Josh finally said. "But if he so much as looks at any of us wrong I'll set Aidan on him." Josh smiled softly and looked over at said person. Aidan shook his head.
"Woof," He chuckled and got up to follow after Sally. Josh shrugged his shoulders and watched his two roommates walk away.
"I guess I'll just stay here…" he called. All he got back was a wave from Sally and a laugh from Aidan.
Josh looked around and twiddled his thumbs. He smiled at a group of kids that were watching him. As if to realize they had been spotted they slowly made their way towards him.
"Hey mister," a boy with blonde hair and green eyes said.
"Hi. How are you?" Josh asked gently. Two of the small boys circled him as he talked to what he thought was the leader.
"Good I guess. Why are you just sitting here?" the same boy asked again.
"Mommy said that people should be helping. It don't matter that people are dead. As long as we are alive, we have to stay alive." Josh raised his eyebrow; he looked behind him at a smaller boy who had just spoken. He had dark red hair and his eyes were hazel. "Shut up Connie. Your mama don't know nothing!"said the largest of the three boys. Connie immediately had tears in his eyes. Josh scowled at the larger boy.
"You shouldn't say stuff like that. You don't know if it's true or not," Josh did his best not to stutter. He never had been good with kids, or anyone for that matter, he was socially awkward. He reached his hand and patted Connie on the head slowly. "Shhh, it's ok." Josh said softly.
"Danny's j-just a c-crap head." Connie stuttered out. Josh scowled.
"Don't say crap, it's a bad word." Josh said boldly. Connie looked up at him with a puppy dog look on his face.
"You just said it though." He raised his eyebrow at the larger male. Josh groaned mentally.
"Yes, well, I'm a grown up and you should…" He was interrupted by a giggle. He looked over to see Sally, Aidan and the German man watching him. He blushed a deep red and scowled at the little boy more.
"You know, fighting with kids isn't a good look for you Josh." Aidan chuckled. Josh groaned and tried to argue but he was immediately silenced by the German man.
"I heard that you want to explore this island. I would like to come with you." He stated blankly. His hard, blue eyes looking at the kids which made them scram quickly. Josh crossed his arms over his chest, his blunt nails digging into his forearm slightly.
"Yes, but I'm not sure that's such a…"
"Please! Have you seen her! She was just with me! We were getting fruit from the forest edge, I turned my back and when I turned to face her she was gone!" The small group all turned around to see a middle-aged women screaming. The skin around her tired eyes red from crying, and her cheeks were still shiny from the tears that left her eyes. "Please!" Her voice cried over the loud ruckus of people talking.
"What's going…?" Sally started but was interrupted when the woman came running over to them.
"Please! Please! Have you seen my daughter? She has blond hair and green eyes! Her face is that of an angel and she's such a sweet girl! Tell me have you seen her!?" Josh looked at Aidan and a look of sadness washed over his face. The woman must have been talking about the small girl he had seen after he had asked the group of grumpy butts for the bandage that was still on his cheek.
"What is her name?" Aidan asked gently. Josh looked at the forest behind them and noticed something move.
"What was that?" he whispered to himself. He slowly made his way towards the edge and looked through the overgrowth as best he could.
"Her name is Alyssia! Please tell me you have seen her!" The woman broke down into tears more. She dropped to the ground with her head in her hands. Sally quickly kneeled next to her and hugged her.
"Shh, it's okay, we'll find her." Aidan noticed how Sally didn't say "dead or alive", but he figured that's not the best thing to say to a mother.
"That is it then. We will begin the exploration of the island and the search for..." he looked at the mother, "Alyssia."
"Josh you have to…" Aidan looked around not realizing Josh had moved out of their little circle. He raised his eyebrow when he saw Josh looking into the forest. "Josh? What are you doing?" Aidan walked over to Josh and looked in the same direction as he did.
"Just thought I saw something moving in here," Josh muttered softly. Aidan shook his head.
"I don't see anything." Josh nodded his head and straightened up.
"So, when are we going?" Josh looked up at Aidan. Said man shrugged.
"Ask Baron, he seems to have taken charge of this whole thing." Aidan scoffed and turned around to see the man talking with a group of young men.
"Baron?" Josh asked in confusion. "Who's that?"
"Our new German friend over there," Aidan pointed to Baron and Josh groaned softly. "Well at least people would listen to him, they'd just flip you off if ya asked if they wanted to go "Exploring"," Aidan said with a big smile on his face. The only thing he received was a punch in the arm. "Ouch! That didn't hurt!" He laughed when Josh growled and stomped over to where Sally and the mother of Alyssia were talking.
"Oh, this is my friend Josh. Josh this is the mother of Alyssia, her name's Aiyana." Sally said softly. Josh smiled carefully at Aiyana.
"We will find you're daughter. Don't worry." Josh said it as gently as his smile.
"I really hope so…" Aiyana trailed off.
Josh, Aidan and Sally sat around a small fire. People whispered around them about what was to happen tomorrow. What need to be done order to survive and how to make things. Josh mostly drowned everything out, his own thoughts invading their voices. Aidan and Sally were the same way. Their eyes were all trained on the dancing, yellow, red, and orange alien in front of them.
"Josh! Why can't I come?" Sally yelled on the top of her lungs. Josh groaned and looked back at his friend.
"Because you're so good with everyone here and we need someone like you to comfort them while we are gone. Please just agree with this and don't make such a big deal about it," Josh pleaded.
"Big deal!? Big deal my ass! I want to explore the island with you! I hate how all you stupid men gang up on the women and always make them stay! This is exactly like those stupid Sci Fi movies where everyone gets stranded on the island. The guys go and explore while the women are left to defend for themselves and do they survive!? No! They all get eaten by stupid forest animals that reside in the forest!" She screamed and turned around, her dark hair whipping Josh in the face. Her foot steps soft even though she tried to make them as loud as possible.
"Damn Doe-Eyes, what did you do now?" Aidan chuckled and patted Josh on the shoulder. "Relax; she'll enjoy it here a lot better than in the forest. Now c'mon, we're leaving." Aidan pulled Josh along behind Baron. It had turned out three men hadn't made it through the night, their wounds from the crash had been too severe and one had committed suicide. His body was found floating in the ocean a few yards away from shore.
Baron led the way through the thick overgrowth. Aidan and Josh followed behind. On every little rustle of leaves or a twig snapping Josh would jump or flinch. Aidan rolled his eyes a few times at Josh and kept following afterwards.
"There's a clearing up ahead. We shall rest there for a few minutes then we shall keep going." Baron said, Aidan and Josh merely nodded, not wanting to fight with the large German.
They did exactly what Baron had said. Once they were one the move again Josh seemed to have calmed down drastically. Now it was every other noise that occurred in which he jumped. It was an improvement but to Baron he just saw Josh as a week little puppy in a great big forest.
Suddenly something dropped in front of Baron. He looked down and gasped, he back peddled quickly and walked straight into Aidan who in turn walked into Josh. Josh fell backwards onto the ground.
"The hell?" Aidan growled. Baron pointed at what had fallen and Aidan sucked in a shallow breathe. "N-no…" His eyes growing sad and he kneeled. Josh finally picked himself up and saw what was on the forest floor in front of them.
There was the upper half of the small girl. Her torso seemed to have been ripped apart by something not human. Her eyes were wide open and though they were dead, Josh could see the pure terror in them. He crawled towards the severed torso and looked deep into her eyes. He was told that if someone had been murdered and their eyes were still open, that he would be able to see what or who had killed them, in their eyes. However all he saw was the dead light and the sight of the tops of the trees above them.
"What…what did that?" Baron asked slowly and carefully. Aidan kneeled next to Josh. He carefully looked at the tear marks of the open torso.
"It wasn't human, it appears to be some sort of animal. What kind I am not sure of. But you can see that she struggled." Aidan pointed to the bruise marks around the torso. Josh nodded but something caught his interest.
"What's this on her neck?" Aidan took a look and there were bruises on her neck and the top of her shoulders. He moved his hand so it barely hit the outline of the bruises.
"She was strangled…" Aidan, Josh and Baron were totally confused now.
There was a snap behind them. They all spun around to see what looked like a deformed human being. Its ribcage was outwards a lot more than it should have been; the eyes of the creature were sunken back into the skull so they seemed small. The whole face structure was more that of an ape's then a human's. It raised a claw like hand and clicked the long nails together. It screamed and lunged at them, its teeth showing to be nothing but razor sharp fangs.
Josh cried out and jumped away from it. A shot rang through the forest. Josh held his head in his arms and whimpered softly.
"The hell was that!?" Aidan yelled. Josh looked up to see Baron holding a Browning 9 millimeter high powered pistol. The creature lying by his feet with blood coming out of its head.
"We need to move." Baron pocketed the pistol and started heading in the direction they had come from. Josh looked at the Alyssia's body and saw a necklace; he snatched it and apologized to the poor girl. He ran to catch up with Aidan and Baron who were hurrying towards the camp at the beach. He jumped over the body of the creature but hadn't noticed how it twitched.
As they jogged through the clearing they were struck with a gruesome sight. Josh was frozen in his place. Everywhere there were bodies of women and children. The trio had seen the women and children that were lying dead on the sand, surrounded by that crimson liquid, walking and playing around the camp.
"No, this can't have happened." Josh shook his head and took a step back but when he stepped on something, he looked around. When he looked down he cried out and fell back. Tears immediately flowed down his face. "Oh god! Oh god no!" He sobbed. Aidan looked down and he fell to his knees. There, was Sally, her dark skin a reddish color now. Her chest had been ripped into and her ribs and heart had been taken out. Aidan held his head in his hands like the little girl's mother had done when she had talked to them. Tears streamed down his face.
"Up! Now!" Baron yelled. Josh and Aidan looked up and saw a whole group of those creatures running towards them. Their teeth and claws had flesh hanging off of them. The two young men jumped to their feet and looking around for something to protect themselves with. Baron growled and ran to a bag he saw lying on the sand next to the body of the mother. She had gotten the same treatment as Sally had. However her face was gently as if she knew she was going to see her daughter then.
He grabbed the bag and ran back; he opened it up quickly to reveal guns and ammunition. He handed a gun to Josh and Aidan. They took the guns shakily and pointed them at the creatures that were coming closer. The gun shots rang throughout the whole island. Birds flew as bodies dropped.
They looked around once they had shot every creature, but what happened next shocked them. The creatures slowly twitched and got back up, they looked confused at first but once they saw the trio they immediately started rushing forwards again. The small group of men had to take steps back to reshoot the creatures, but they just got back up.
"They won't die!" Josh cried out. Baron narrowed his eyes and looked for a weak spot in the skin of the creatures.
"Stomachs, left corner, right above the hip bone!" Baron ordered out. They all began to shoot there, though Baron was the one with the most accurate shot. Bodies started dropping again but now they didn't get back up.
"Is that where their hearts are or something?" Josh whispered, too scared in case his voice reawakened the creatures from hell.
"Four hours! That's how long we were gone!" Josh yelled and kicked the sand.
He heard a ripping sound from next to him and he jumped away from Aidan. Blood coated his lips as he coughed it out. There was a clawed hand coming out from his chest. Josh stared, too shocked and scared to move. Baron looked behind Aidan and shot the creature behind the dark haired man's body. Aidan's body fell onto the ground. Josh cried out and tried to catch him but Baron tackled him to the ground. Another creature had tried to decapitate Josh. Baron received a long gash running from his temple to his collarbone. Josh grabbed his gun and shot the creature right in the stomach. It fell to the ground beside the other. Baron cursed under his breathe and tried to open his eye but it was screwed shut.
"Look out!" Josh screamed and tried to push Baron out of the way but he was too slow. Baron's body fell to the ground just like Aidan's had, blood poring from the open wound on his throat.
Josh looked at the creature in pure terror, he backed up quickly as it came at him, but it stopped suddenly. There was a sound in the wind. Josh and the creatures looked up into the sky looking for the thing causing the noise.
A helicopter rushed over the mountainside of the island towards them. Josh smiled widely and dodged an incoming blow from the creature from before. Josh raised his hands and shouted at the helicopter and the creatures. The sound of a machine gun started and sand flew up all around Josh, he whimpered and held his head in his hands trying to protect his head.
They stopped however, and the helicopter lowered itself. A man threw out a rope and Josh grabbed onto it just as more creatures made their appearance known from the forest. The helicopter flew upwards quickly to get Josh out of range of the creatures. Josh looked back once at the bodies of the two people he loved and to the "friend" he had made. They were all looking up towards him.
An older man made his way towards the café he visited daily, his cane shaking with his hand as he walked. His once brown colored hair which was now white blew in the wind, and his doe-like eyes looking around every once in a while. He carefully opened the door and smiled gently at the waitress who served him. He sat down and took out his wallet. He opened it to reveal pictures of two friends who he had lost years ago. A single tear fell down his face as he remembered what had happened in those few short days forty-eight years ago.
"Sir? Are you okay?" The young waitress asked gently. The old man nodded slowly and put his wallet away.
"Yes, forgive me, I still get teary-eyed." His voice was soft as he spoke. The waitress nodded.
"What would you like today? Or will it be the usual?" She asked with a gentle smile on her face. The old man smiled back.
"I think I'll just have some coffee, please, caffeinated and no sugar or cream, I would like to add it myself that if it's ok." He grabbed a magazine from the table and opened it up to read what was inside. The waitress nodded and left. The old man's fingers ran over the necklace he carried around his neck all the time. The small engraving on it a bit worn from the years that had past. His thoughts went straight to what had happened in those few short days. He had lost everything: his friends, his family and his main reason to live. But as he had been rescued to could almost feel that if he were to take his life to be with his friends they wouldn't like him anymore. They had wanted him to live and to have the life they would never. Once more, his fingers went over the engraving, Alyssia Cantwar.
Well thats it, tell me how you liked it! If you didn't like it. All that fun stuff. Don't be too mean though. R&R