"The rolling sound of waves crashing against the beach was the first sounds I heard. I moaned and rolled over, breathing in warm sand in the process. My eyes flew open. "What the?" I gasped. It took several seconds to get my eyes to adjust to the sunlight. I didn't dare stand. Maybe I had suffered some sort of head trauma?
Palm trees swayed in the breeze and a bird waddled past me. I leaned forward, using my hand to support my weight. It was about the size of a turkey. The wings were almost hilariously tiny for its chubby body. I stared at it. "Why do you look so familiar?" I asked the bird. Ridiculous, I know, to be talking to a bird. Deep in my heart, though, I knew this bird. I've seen this bird in books.

The chubby bird continued to waddle past me, completely ignorant that grown woman was sitting in the sand. The sand was very warm; the heat burned the skin on my thighs. Wait…my thighs?! I looked down at my body. I was virtually naked, the only things that covered my body was a bra and panties that appeared to be made out of the hide of animals. "What is this?" I yelped.

Then I noticed something in my left forearm, near my wrist. It itched slightly. I scratched at it. "It's hard," I mumbled to myself. It was shaped like a diamond and had a texture similar to a gemstone. It appeared to be made out of sapphire. Or at least the color was sapphire. I had no idea what this strange diamond shaped gem was made of.

"Ugh, my head…" I jumped at the sound of a new voice. Female. I turned slightly and noticed a slight slope to my right. I had to be cautious. This place…this beach…wherever the hell I was…was new. I had no idea what to expect. I crawled on my belly through the sand, reaching the slope. I peered down.

There was a woman, who was sitting on a rock. She looked just as confused as I was. Like me, she wore the same bra and panties, Unlike me, her hair was blonde with tints of red. My hair is chestnut brown. I couldn't see her eye color from where I was perched. I did notice that she had a diamond gem on her left arm as well—although hers was purple. Perhaps made of amethyst

I watched for several minutes, debating. She appeared harmless. I'd guess that she was in her early 20s. I bit my lip and glanced at a nearby rock on the ground. I made my decision. From my perch, I could see her body. She was tall, perhaps taller than me. But she was thin. Not much muscle in her arms. I quickly examined my arm. I was bigger than she was. My arm muscles twitched as I reached for the rock.

Slowly, I slid down the slope. The woman seemed to be observing something in the water. It looked vaguely like a horseshoe crab, only somewhat bigger. I crept closer. I was so focused on the feeling of the rock in my hand that I failed to notice the stick.

SNAP!

The woman jerked in my direction, hands raised in a defensive posture. In my shock, I released the rock. It fell into the sand with a dull thud. "Who are you?" The woman asked shakily.

I noticed that she was scared. No threat. At least for now. "My name is Jean. Who are you?" I asked.

"Yuki," she replied nervously. Her grey eyes darted around as she scanned her surroundings. "Where are we?"

"I was hoping you had some answers to that question," I answered.

She shook her head and sighed, "I'm glad that I'm not the only person here on this beach." The odd chubby bird that I had seen earlier waddled by and Yuki backed away from it. "I don't trust that thing," she said warily.

"I recognize that bird," I mumbled. The name of the bird was on the tip of my tongue. "It's…a dodo?" The word slipped out of my mouth. Every fiber of my being knew that that was ridiculous. The dodo was extinct.

"A dodo?" Yuki echoed my statement. She looked puzzled. "How?"

How should I know?" I asked, sounding slightly more annoyed that I had intended. I looked at the sky. It was a bright sunny day. It was a bit warm though. "Hey, you said your name was Yuki, right?"

She nodded, "Yes."

I suggest we try to find shelter or something. Night will come before we know it and I have no idea if there is a city nearby or what."

Yuki's eyes widened and she nodded. "If we follow water, we might find a town. Most towns were built near sources of water."

I shrugged, "We can give it a try." Then a thought occurred to me. "Yuki? What if we're the only humans here? What if there is no one else?"

Yuki shuddered, "Don't talk like that. Look, Jean, let's look for a town. I'd rather not dress myself in leaves. I'm betting that we'll find a town."

I hesitated for a minute. Maybe she was right. A town had to be nearby. We couldn't be the only people here. "I agree. Maybe we'll find some help," I agreed. She and I began to walk down the beach. The water lapped at my toes. The beach felt endless. To the right of us were palm trees, shrubs, and rocks. To the right of us, water. "I wonder if this ocean is salt water," I muttered.

Yuki knelt down and looked into the clear water. "I'm scared to try it," she whispered. She sniffed the air uncertainly. "It doesn't smell like the ocean."

I leaned down and dipped my hand into the water. It felt cool and refreshing. I sipped it and felt relief. "It's fine. Freshwater," I said to Yuki.

Yuki looked uncertain as she also took a sip. "How can the oceans be made of freshwater?" Her voice wavered nervously.

"Maybe this isn't an ocean? Perhaps we're next to a lake. One of the Great Lakes, perhaps," I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. Off in the distance, I heard something bellow in pain. Yuki shot a look at me. "Maybe that was the sound of a car?" I offered hopefully. I knew it wasn't but I had to try to keep my new friend calm. Yuki looked terrified and, to be honest, I wasn't doing much better. But I had to stay calm. Had to. If I lost my mind, it would stay lost. "Let's go. We need to find a town," I said in my best leader voice.

Yuki and I continued walking down the beach. Occasionally I saw dorsal fins rising from the water. I did not show them to Yuki. She did not need to be more worried than she was. Instead, we focused our path forward. I saw sea birds flying over the water. I breathed a sigh of relief. Yuki saw the birds too. "Seagulls?" She asked.

I paused and examined the outline of the birds as they flew. "Looks more like a group of albatross. Look at the wings. See how they are narrow? Like an albatross." Then one of the birds flew overhead and landed nearby. That's when I realized that I was staring at no albatross.

Yuki glanced at me and asked, "Are they normally that big?"

I shook my head, "No." The bird I was looking at was huge. It could easily carry me on its back. It had pure white feathers and a long jagged beak. It waddled slowly toward the water. Once it reached the edge, the bird became like a swan, elegant and swift as it used its webbed feet to propel it across the surface of the water. "That's not an albatross. That's something very different."

She and I watched the bird for several seconds. "Um, Jean? What's that?" Yuki pointed at a large dark shape in the water.

I examined it. It appeared to be swimming toward the surface. The tail fin swished side to side, like a fish. It was making a beeline toward the location of the massive seabird. An ominous feeling was in my stomach. The bird seemed to sense that there was danger nearby as well. With a loud screech, it spread its wings to perform a water takeoff. It flapped its wings a few times, trying to get aloft.

"Oh my—" Yuki gasped as the fish swam closer and closer. "Is that a shark?" She asked.

I couldn't understand what I was seeing. Yes, it had the body of a shark but it was massive. I couldn't comprehend this creature. When it was swimming toward the surface, I thought it was big. Now that it was almost on top of us, it was enormous.

The bird noticed the shark too. It shrieked and flapped again—this time with urgency. A breeze caught the wings of the bird and allowed it to get aloft. But it was too low to the water's surface.

The shark leaped out of the water and grabbed the bird from the air. The bird never knew what hit it. Yuki and I watched as the shark swam away with its victim, blood trailing from its massive jaws.

"What the hell was that?!" Yuki cried. She was visibly shaken.

I was shaken up too. I had once seen a movie that had a giant great white shark in it. This beast that killed the bird was easily three to four times bigger than the movie shark.

So we stood, Yuki and I, side by side. Under normal circumstances, she and I would have never met—but here we were, staring in horror. We had seen a creature that we thought only existed in movies. A realization slowly built up in me. If this massive shark existed, then what other horrors could we run into? I glanced at Yuki. Her grey eyes were wide with fear. She glanced in my direction and we both came to a silent agreement.

From this point forward, she and I were united under a common goal—survive.