Chapter 1
I broke through the surface of the water only to hear the shrill screaming of girls in panic and guys swearing. Not so good for my head ache and I could only survey the area to see the debris and the people who had survived.
My class had been on a trip to see some famous sites in Rome, Italy and of course, the trip had to fall apart on the way back. One of our engines blew unexpectedly for some reason that I have no idea about and caused us to crash into the water at high speed. Fortunately, the captain and co-pilot had just barely managed to send all of us out on separate lifeboats before we crashed but unfortunately for them, they were unable to leave the plane before it crashed.
And so here I am, swimming for my life to a yellow lifeboat that I had fallen out of because of the crash. A couple friends of mine helped me up and I lay there, gasping for air and clutching my head in pain.
"You in one piece?" one of my friends, Zak, asked as he searched the water for anyone else in need of a lift.
"For the most part," I answered with a small grin, "next time I'd rather not need to go in the water."
"Better that blowing into a million pieces," pointed out Sarah, my other friend, "be grateful that we're in one piece."
I nodded; too tired to argue. I just tried to get my thoughts together as everyone on my little boat started paddling in a direction in which I heard my teacher giving directions to. After what seemed to be about three hours, I pulled myself up right when the boat crashed against a sandy beach. I flipped right over and got a mouthful of sand for my efforts. Everyone laughed and I only glared as everyone else made their landing on the beach. I saw my teacher rounding everyone up and, with the help of Brittney, went over there to hear what she had to say.
"Alright everyone," Mrs. Merak said urgently, "I need to know if anyone else is missing." A few moments of silence passed as the group checked to see if anyone they knew was missing. "Everyone accounted for!" came a call.
"Good," she nodded to my fellow classmate, "now here's what we need to get straight. We have no means of communication with everyone else so we need to forge ourselves a living over here. I want anyone who's injured to stay on the beach and see if you're able to gather some twigs and leaves for a small fire, everyone else, we're going to scout out this island and see what it has to offer. Anything that doesn't look right or is alive, keep away from it. I want everyone back here before the sun goes down."
A chorus of agreement rose and people scrambled for the woods to see what there was. I stayed back and, out of habit, surveyed the area nearby for anything that looked dangerous or good vantage points. Even something to provide a good weapon. All I had was a switch blade that was my last resort as a weapon. Finally, I found a small, sturdy stick, leaned against a rock among the shadows, and began sharpening it.