"We passed this tree earlier." Amy stated as she and Russell made their way through the forest. It had been at least a couple of hours since they had last been on the beach with everyone. Despite having made a map, configuring their way through the dense forests that seemed to lie thickly over the island had them turned around in almost no time.
Russell looked back at the tree she was indicating, rolled his eyes and muttered a curse under his breath. "Great, we've been walking in circles."
Amy pulled the map out again and tried to see if she find where they were again. "According to this, we should try heading west if we want to go back to the beach, and east if we want to continue looking."
"We've been following that stupid map of yours for hours and still seemed to be lost. I vote we shuck the map and head this way." Russell sighed and nodded his head forward.
Amy placed her hands on her hips. "Stupid map of mine?"
"Yes, stupid map of yours. Face it, the map sucks and we're lost now. I vote we head in this direction and just head back to shore, I'm sure the guys are already back by now."
"First off, my map is not stupid. Second, you've barely even looked at the map. You've spent the entire time we've been walking around here leading us in the direction you thought was right, despite what I suggested, and I suggest we walk in this direction back to shore."
"I'm not going in that direction, I'm sure it's this way, the sun is setting over in that direction, which means we should go the opposite way," he pointed in the direction he had a moment ago, "and go this way."
"Well I'm not going that way because we're going to end up right back here where we started, and it's going to get dark soon."
Russell let out a frustrated groan and rubbed his neck. "God you are so stubborn!"
Amy threw her hands up. "Must mean I've been around you too long."
She walked forward and grabbed one of the swords Russell had tucked away, and pulled it out. She then turned promptly on her heel and started walking in the direction she had indicated.
"Where do you think you're going with my sword?" He shouted towards her back.
"I'm heading to the beach, and I'm taking this sword for protection. Don't like it? Tough. I'll see you whenever you finally come crawling back to the beach."
"Fine!"
"Fine!" She shouted back over her shoulder.
She knew how stubborn he was when he had his mind set, so she stomped angrily forward. It didn't seem like he followed after her, as the sound of his voice shouting after her eventually died down. At that point she didn't really care, he was a grown man, let him make his own stupid mistakes. If he didn't want to listen to her, and stay lost in the forest that was his own problem.
After stomping for quite some time, she pulled her map back out and navigated where she was. It couldn't be far now, and if she was correct, which she was almost certain she was, the beach would be right through the thicket of bushes in front of her. She couldn't help but grin when she could hear the sound of the waves splashing up against the shore in front of her. Squeezing her way through the bushes, trying not to scratch herself, she finally stepped out onto the sand. Placing a hand on her hip, she stuck her tongue out in the direction of the forest, and walked down towards the shoreline.
No one was back yet, and the ship was still anchored down, so she assumed everyone was either still exploring, or they were heading back to the shore. She tossed the sword lightly into the sand, and sat down next to it, lying back against the warm sand.
She'd just wait there until everyone got back, no point in going back and getting lost again. Russell would find his way eventually, and she couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he finally did make it back and she was here waiting for him. Stupid map indeed. She felt a slight twinge of guilt for having left him behind, but it wasn't exactly as if he had come running after her either.
Squishing her toes into the sand, she tucked the map back into her pocket as she closed her eyes. The sun was peeking out from behind some of the dark clouds, and it warmed the sand around her. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the waves pounding against the sand.
She laid there in the sand for a while, and when the sun disappeared back into the clouds, she slowly sat back up. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, she stretched her back languidly and looked around. Still no one to be seen.
She looked down at Russell's sword lying next to her, and picked it up to wipe some of the sand and dirt that had gotten on it. Russell would likely kill her if anything happened to one of his precious sword, and even with her being cross with him at the moment, she didn't want to take the chance of getting into another argument with him about his stupid sword. She was brushing the last bit of dirt on it when she heard the sound of voices in the distance. Knowing it was probably some of the guys coming back, she continued on with cleaning the sword, using her shirt sleeve to help.
As the voices neared her, she realized that she didn't recognize any of the voices. Come to think of it, she couldn't even recognize the language in which the voices were speaking. She instantly turned around to see a large group of men coming towards her. They reminded her of some of the natives she had seen when the Sirius had visited another island out west, as they were all fairly tanned and wore very minimal clothing. She stood to her feet and held the sword in her hand. Captain had said that the natives had abandoned this island a while back, who were these people?
She stood her ground as they neared; she thought that they might be there to help her, seeing as she was technically sitting on the beach alone. Their facial expressions were stern, but they didn't appear to be threatening. One of the men shouted something at her, but she couldn't understand what he was saying.
When one of the men in the middle of the group pulled out a bow and arrow though, she realized that they weren't there to help, and began running back towards the forest. She ducked her head and shouted as she heard an arrow hit one of the trees not too far away from her head. Even with a sword to protect her, she knew she was greatly outnumbered. And while Russell had taught her how to fight, she was still learning and was fairly certain a group of that size would easily overpower her.
She shoved her way through the forest as she heard the group of men chasing after her. Bringing the sword up as she ran, she cut a mass of branches hanging from a tree in front of her, and heard as they crashed down on a few of the men behind her. Reaching for the map, she discovered to her horror that it was no longer there. It had probably come out of her pocket as she had been lying on the beach. She cursed to herself as she dodged trees, the sounds of footsteps and angry shouts echoing behind her. The sound of another arrow hitting a tree near her caused her to shout again, trying her best to duck and dodge. Running blind, she let her feet carry her as made her way deeper into the forest.
She came across a steep hill, and stumbled clumsily as she ran. The sounds of the men behind her had begun to fade slowly as she ran, but she didn't dare stop. As she turned her head back to see where all of the men were, her feet tangled with one another, causing her to trip. She fell to the ground, and rolled and tumbled down to the bottom of the hill. Slamming down into the hard ground, she looked around for the sword, as she had dropped it when she tripped. She scanned around to see that it had landed several feet away, and she scrambled to her feet to retrieve it.
As she gathered it in her hands, one of the men finally caught up with her, and went to use a spear against her. She lifted the sword up and swung it against the spear, slicing it in half. As he stumbled back, Amy quickly turned about and started running again. It didn't take long for the man to recover, as he tackled her from behind, causing the both of them to fall to the ground, and the sword to fly out of her hands.
She struggled against the man as the two shuffled around on the ground, one trying to pin the other. He was significantly stronger than she was, and she knew that despite her best efforts, it wouldn't take him very long to pin her to the ground. She yanked her arm out of his hand and sent a punch in the face. He reeled, grabbing his nose as she crawled away from him as she tried to get up and run back towards her sword, but the man recovered faster than she had planned, and had already jumped up.
He kicked her hard in the stomach as she crawled, sending her flying in the other direction. She gasped for air, and grabbed her stomach in pain as she heard him pick her sword up and walk back towards her. She choked for air as he stood over her. Using her other hand, she attempted to crawl away from him, but found the pain in her abdomen too great, and collapsed. She closed her eyes as she heard him lift the sword up above his head.