Chapter Three: Don't Panic

"You never help out with anything!"

"Don't tell me that I can't take care of my son!"

"You don't deserve to call him your son!"

"He's my son, he has my last name!"

"Mom?"

"You spend more time working for that stupid corporation then with your own son!"

"Mom, wake up…"

"My work is the only thing keeping this family from falling apart!"

"No, he's the only thing keeping this family-."

"Mom wake up, we're gonna be late!"

***

The group trekked through the deep jungle. The tall trees cast emerald shadows across the floor, and kept the group from cooking in the mid-afternoon sun. The Earth crinkled under their feet, and occasionally a root would attempt to pull them down to it. The air sweltered with heat and the scent of flowers blowing in the light breeze. Floretes flourished amongst the vines and leaves covering the tall trees, and there was an abundance of red dragons covering the lower brush. A bird twittered from far away, a leaf fell. The group trekked on.

Cassie was sweating profusely now, frequently taking a hand to her wet brow line. She had never been too cut out for hiking, but that didn't slow her. She had one thing on her mind, and that kept her going.

Sam had informed them upon their entrance into the jungle that he had seen where the front section had crashed, or at least where it had fallen to. There was a mountain system in the distance, a large system that blocked out the view of whatever was beyond it. Sam recalled that he saw the front section disappear over the top of this mountain, and predicted that it had landed on the other side.

"And how do you know if it's still even intact?" Clark had questioned.

"Well all we can do is hope that it is, and it's better than going out there blindfolded."

And so they hiked, for nearly an hour. And after an hour they had made it nearly half way to the towering mountain, giving them hope that they'd be there sooner than they thought.

The group came upon a small stream that ran from the west to the east, according to the compass. The sun broke through the canopy here, lighting up the stream with a warm yellow glow.

"We'll rest here," Sam said and hoisted his backpack off of him. He withdrew a granola bar from the confines of the bag, and tore into it. They were lucky that a group of backpackers had been traveling on the plane. It was a shame that every one of them had died in the crash, but Sam was thankful for the backpacks.

Cassie sat next to Sam and drank some of her water. The cool refreshment woke her body up, giving her a sudden boost of energy. Elijah went to the stream and filled his bottle back up; he had already used up all of his water about twenty minutes into the hike. Clark and Samantha observed their surroundings and Samantha pulled out a little note pad. She also withdrew a pen from her ponytail, and began to jot down notes, which were accompanied by little scribbles she called "drawings". No one talked; they just basked in the warmth around them. Elijah took some of the water he had just collected and poured the cool liquid over his messy blonde hair. He shook his head like a dog, and smiled at the sun.

"Could it get any hotter?" his teeth gritted.

"Well we are in the Gulf of Mexico," Samantha was still scribbling down notes.

"Well supposedly, we are," Clark said still observing.

"What?" Sam asked staring at him confusedly.

"Ha, nothing. I was just thinking about worm holes and shit like that," he was smiling. Sam stared at him with a blank expression, his mouth hung open a little bit.

"Just ignore him," Samantha said shaking her head, "He's got too much on his mind."

"And you've got too little," Clark said smiling. Samantha forced a fake smile towards his direction and looked back down to her work.

"How exactly, may I ask," Elijah said abruptly, "do you two know each other?"

"We met about eleven years ago, I a young lad-."

"Shut up, Clark," Samantha stopped his rambling, "We're old friends, we just wanted to visit Belize before going back to our lives."

"Belize?" Sam's attention was caught, "Eric and I were traveling there too."

"We were all traveling there, smart one," Clark chuckled. Sam threw him an angry glare, but Clark adverted it by turning away. There was a silence for a moment, until Elijah began to whistle the tune to What a Wonderful World. Sam then rose, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and ordered, "Alright, let's get going."

"Aye aye, Captain," Elijah said jokingly and the group moved on. They crossed the stream and entered a small clearing, the grass grew tall and past their knees. Sam looked up to the blue sky, still without a cloud in the sky, and had a sudden flashback to the crash. He remembered little bits and pieces of it, but one image that stood out amongst the rest was that of the blonde haired girl. He didn't really think, No it couldn't possibly be…

There was movement from the right corner of the clearing. Amongst the foliage dipping down, a fern moved here, a leaf dropped there. Whatever was causing the ruckus was moving just behind the tree line, and just out of the sight of the group. They stopped midway into the clearing and stared at this spot. The hair on the back of nearly everyone's necks stood straight up, and Samantha whispered, "What in the hell is that?"

"Maybe an animal," Sam whispered.

"Or maybe," Cassie stepped forward, "Something else." Sam grabbed her arm just before she could run into the unknown, and shook his head.

"Best not separate," he whispered, "We have no idea what's-." His voice stopped, and his body froze. His gaze focused on a little space between two ferns, just barely visible to the naked eye. A flash of brown, and then, green. Eyes that lit up in the sun, the eyes of a woman.

Sam reacted on impulse, his body urging him to pursue. It took the group about two seconds to realize he had left, and once they did Cassie yelled out, "Sam!"

Sam kept running.

"Sam!"

He broke the tree line.

"SAM!"

***

"Are we there yet?" the voice of ten year old Robert Power sounded from the backseat of the vehicle. He clutched in his hands a pamphlet advertising a local show, which he had grabbed on the way out of their hotel. Cassandra Power smiled from the front seat of the vehicle, "We're almost there sweetie."

"Alright," he mumbled and flipped over the pamphlet. The car stopped at a stoplight, and in the back seat Robert looked out the rain covered window. He saw, to the left of them, a blue Camaro with a beautiful woman driving. Robert waved to the woman, but the woman didn't seem to notice him.

"Don't wave to strangers, sweetie," Cassie was still plastering that fake smile across her face. She knew that now was not the time to be carefree. Now wasn't the time to be smiling for your son. But, sadly, that's the only thing she could do. He had to believe that everything was alright, and that they'd be back to their normal lives in no time. He had to believe that his father hadn't returned six years after he left them just to tell her that she needed to go to Belize. That they'd be "safe" in Belize.

"Safe from what, Arnold?"

"Safe from me, and safe from the people I work for."

"Oh so now you're working with the mafia?"

"Listen Cassandra, this is serious. If you don't go to Belize, you and Robert might be in danger."

"What do you mean, danger? Arnold what have you done?"

"Please just listen to me; the last thing I'd want is for you two to get hurt. Now I'm begging you get to Miami International and get on Flight 513, here's your tickets. You'll be safe once you've reached Belize. Please, Cassandra, do it for me. Do it for our son."

The rain smacked against the windshield.

***

Eric and Kelsey returned to their camp with smiles on their faces, and one sandwich each. They had earned them, with all the work they put into handing out food and water. Luckily they had help from, of all people, Greg.

"Probably wanted to make himself look not as much like a totally ass," Eric said laughing.

"Eric!" Kelsey laughed and punched the boy in his arm. The laughing stopped once they both noticed that the camp was missing something.

"Where's Sam?" Eric asked, looking around.

"This was the last place I saw him," Kelsey looked as well. They made a complete three-sixty scope of the beachside camp, but no Sam was found. Suddenly something caught Eric's eye and he bent down to examine it. He smiled and chuckled a bit, causing Kelsey to ask, "What is it?"

"Read it for yourself," Eric said standing up. Kelsey came next to him and bent down. And there, made out from twigs and rocks, was a tiny note stating: "Gone on an adventure, don't panic. –Sam"

***

Limbs smacked against nearly every part of his body. Several left small lacerations on his face, and one tore a gash in his shirt. His hands were work down and bleeding from pushing all the foliage out of his path, and his shoes were covered in a fine layer of mud. Yet he kept running, still chasing that invisible path that, he thought, would somehow lead him to Rosaline. He thought that a lot of questions would be answered once he found her, especially why she had left the camp in the first place. And maybe, just maybe, if he could convince her to come back with him, Chris would leave him alone about this whole ordeal.

A large barbed root caught his leg and brought him down like a sack of rocks, tearing at his jeans and sending several thorns into his shin. He grunted, which turned into a moan, and then a scream as he attempted to move his leg. It wasn't broken, far from it, but the thorns had him pinned to the Earth. Every inch he attempted to move away, that's another inch the thorns dug deeper. Blood seeped through the holes filled with thorns, and ran trickling down his mangled leg. He began to panic, which he knew wasn't the best thing to do. Trying to calm himself down, he let his eyes wonder away from the pain and examine his surroundings. He was in another clearing, except this one had a large cliff face running through the middle of it. Vines covered most of the face, and several large boulders lay in front of it. Many flowers bloomed here, more than he had seen in any other part of the jungle. Bright flowers of red, orange, magenta, blue. It was as if someone had come all the way out here just to paint a mosaic for Nature herself. The trees grew overhead, their branches intertwined in ways that left holes in the canopy, allowing little rays of light to bleed through to the ground. The wind picked up a bit and rustled the tree tops, causing the light beams to move like spotlights across a stage. One of these beams hit something near Sam, outlining its black silhouette. The dark body moved closer to Sam, but cautiously. Sam struggled a bit upon seeing this body, but relaxed once he could make out the tan face of Rosaline. She had no expression, just those staring green eyes. They looked from Sam's face, to his torso, and finally to his trapped leg. She got close enough to him for Sam to whisper, "Please, help me please." She took a step back, as if his words had frightened her, but came back down to his side. She laid two hands upon his leg and worked the thorny root off of it.

Sam winced in pain as the pressure eased and the pain swelled back into his leg. He began to struggle a bit, but Rosaline held him down.

"No," she said shaking her head, "That's not going to make it stop." Sam's eyes were as those of an injured fawn, unknowing and scared shitless. Her voice had no emotion, just one monotone noise. This struck Sam hard in the gut, and he froze immediately. She reached back down towards his leg and said calmly, "Now this is the most important part, don't panic." She plucked the first thorn from his leg. He gritted his teeth, tensed, and then relaxed. Blood made its way to the open wound, came gushing out and was wiped away by a piece of cloth Rosaline had torn from her own outfit. And after about six more plucks, all the thorns were removed. She made one last swipe of her soaked cloth and tossed the now blood red piece away. She then told Sam to tear off a long piece of his own clothing. He did so, and handed the cloth over to her. She then tried her best to wrap the cloth around every hole in his leg, and managed to cover most of them.

"Now stand up," she commanded.

"I don't think I-."

"No, don't think, do," she grabbed him by the shoulder and hoisted him up to his feet. He let out a groan accompanied by a slew of curses, but managed to balance himself out on the injured leg.

"Why'd you leave?" he huffed after the pain subsided, "Why the hell did you leave?"

"Because I had to," she said walking him forward. He winced in pain at each step, but finally got used to the pain.

"That's not good enough," he grunted as she sat him down on one of the boulders, "Why did you leave? How've you been able to survive out here? Where have you-."

"Shh," she put a finger to her lips, "I'll tell you everything you need to know soon, but right now you have to rest. Let the wounds heal over, then go look for the rest of the survivors."

"You mean Cassie's son?" Rosaline didn't answer, but looked up towards the tree line. She seemed to be staring into the heart of the jungle, her eyes squinted, her face focused. Then Sam could hear the movement, the rustle of branches, and the bearing of feet.

"Listen to me," Rosaline looked Sam straight in the face, "You can't let people worry. Give them hope, and here." She withdrew something from behind her and handed it to Sam. Sam held it in his hand, the wooden handle felt cold in his hand, the sheer edge of the survival knife glistening in the sun.

"Why do I need this?" Sam asked still examining the blade.

"I'm sorry," Rosaline said and placed a hand on his shoulder, "But you'll find out soon enough." Sam looked up into her emerald eyes and saw a sense of worry. She began to open her mouth to say something else, but the rustling grew louder. Sam's head spun in the direction of the commotion, and he asked, "What's that?" When no answer was heard, he looked back to where Rosaline had been and found nothing. She had fled the scene, leaving him with more questions than answers.

The rustling was closer now. Almost to the tree line. Sam tensed his grip around the survival knife and attempted to stand on his leg. The pain, however, caused him to sit back down. He smashed his teeth together and scowled his eyes. He readied the knife in front of him, holding the blade outwards towards the unknown entity. The foliage began to shake and…

Out ran Clark. He stumbled a bit and regained his balance, puffing and huffing great breaths of air out of his mouth. He too had many cuts and tears on his body, but not as nearly as bad as Sam did. He placed his hands on his legs and bent over.

"What the fuck, man…" he huffed, "Why the fuck did you go?"

Sam was speechless. He still had the survival knife held outwards, pointing directly at Clark's body. Clark looked up to find Sam still in this stance, and asked, "Where'd you get that?"

***

Elijah, Cassie and Samantha had made a camp right in the middle of the clearing. After Clark had run off after Sam, they had decided that this would be the best time for them to rest. They still had a long hike ahead of them, and it was already nearing the evening.

That was two hours ago. Now the sun had nearly dipped all the way behind the tree line, blanketing the clearing with an eerie half-darkness. They had all gathered some firewood already, and now attempted to light a fire. After several attempts of rubbing two sticks together, and other failed methods, Elijah remembered that, "Oh, sodding me. I've had a lighter in my pants the whole time!" Cassie and Samantha laughed at this, and Elijah happily lit the fire with the tiny lighter. Soon they had a fire, not a roaring bonfire, but one that would keep them warm tonight.

They all sat around the fire and stared deep into its flames. If there ever was a psychiatrist on the island, it had to be the fire. Every survivor who had ever sat by one had told their deepest secrets, fears, hopes and dreams to the fire. And the fire never was optimistic; it never told them that they were crazy. It just kept burning and burning, burning their secrets, burning their fears, burning their hopes. And burning their dreams.

Samantha sighed and looked off towards the jungle. The sun was completely gone now, and darkness reigned over to island. She was about to suggest that they go look for the two lost ones when the tall image of Clark came into view. Cassie gasped and the group turned towards the man. Across his shoulder was the arm of Sam, who limped slowly next to him, his leg beginning to bleed again. Elijah grabbed a piece of burning wood and the two groups converged.

"What happened?" Cassie asked anxiously.

"I found him a little ways away from here, his legs hurt pretty bad," Clark answered. They had reached the comfort of the flames now and Sam sat his aching body down on the ground. He grunted in pain, and Cassie asked him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Sam said rubbing his leg, "Well, actually, no. But I'm better."

"What happened," the question appeared again, this time from Elijah. And so Sam recalled the events that had taken place within the jungle, about how he got trapped, and about how he met Rosaline.

"And she just gave you the knife?" Elijah said, holding the weapon in his hand.

"Yeah, she said I'd need it," Sam warmed his hands against the heat.

"Need it for what?" Samantha asked. And then it happened. A noise, no, a roar sounded from far off across the island. A roar of all roars. The whole group, including Sam, rose to their feet and looked off in the direction that the roar had sounded. And the location was, to their discomfort, right beyond the mountain.

"What the hell was that?" Cassie whispered.

***

"Please have you seen my boy?" Cassie asked to anyone. They had entered the airport together, gone up the escalator, which he was dreadfully fearful of, and now right before their gate he disappears. Cassie turned in a complete three-sixty several times, causing her head to spin a bit. She wondered why no one seemed to want to help her, maybe they thought she was just some crazed woman and didn't wish to go near her.

"My boy, has anyone seen my boy?" She caught sight of two approaching young men, but turned thinking that they would just ignore her.

"Hey," one of them said, "do you need help?"

"Yes!" she spun around to meet them, "My son, he's missing. P-please can you help me find him?" One of the boys looked at his watch and muttered something. Then the one with the brownish-blonde hair turned to her and said, "Sure we will, where should we look?"

"Oh thank you!" she said nearly with tears in her eyes, "If you could check the restrooms, that'd be great."

"Alright," the other young man said, "We'll go look for him." And they left her there. She stood in awe for a moment, and then called out, "His name's Robert!"

***

Back on the beach, Kelsey and Eric sat tending their fire. The fires along the beach had grown larger, now that groups were beginning to form with larger numbers of people in them. David and Diana had chosen to stay with the medical care area, now there were just two laying down on the tarp. Greg had moved inward to join a larger group, but still kept to himself. Cortez and his friend still were separate from the groups, and speculation had gone around that they were actually homosexual. Eric denied this as silly and that they shouldn't judge two men by their friendship. And lastly Tim and Chris had decided to keep to their own fires, isolating themselves from the rest of the survivors.

And then there were Eric and Kelsey. They had agreed to wait for Sam to return before they had thoughts on moving inwards. They had beside them each a bottle of water, which they regularly took drinks from. And so they sat there, staring out into the dark abyss they called an ocean.

"So I've got a question," Eric broke the silence.

"Yes?" Kelsey looked over his way.

"Why'd you break up with him?"

"Who?" Kelsey looked back out at the ocean. She knew well who he meant.

"Sam," Eric said, "He was obsessed with you, literally for like a year. And you two were the best couple, I mean really. Heather and I had nothing on you two. So what happened?"

"Well…" Kelsey said, but couldn't finish. There was never really a good reason on why she broke up with him. She just wanted something new, and a year of her life had been devoted to him. She had to admit those times were good, some of the best she ever had.

"That was over two years ago," she changed the subject, "Why are you asking me this now?"

"No reason," Eric said, now looking out at the same ocean, "just wondering." So they sat there in silence once again. And as time went by, Kelsey began to remember. And when she couldn't remember anymore, she laid her head on the sand and closed her eyes.

***

The search party took turns watching the fire. After the mysterious roar, they had concluded that they weren't the only ones on the island. And that whatever had made that roar was either very large or extremely angry. So Sam took the first shift and Elijah the second. And now, as everyone slept soundly around her, Cassie took the third. She gazed deep within the red and orange, looking up occasionally to check on the others, and to observe her surroundings. Crickets chirped, and the wind began to pick up. The foliage around them rustled quietly in the breeze, mixing with the chirping to create a rhythmic nocturne. Cassie let this nocturne in, letting it grace her ears and then her head nodded in sync with the chirps. She felt a wave of calm come over her and, very slowly, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep...

***

She waited and waited, for what seemed like an eternity. She had moved from a seat at the gate, to a bench, to just pacing around the lounge. She had sent those two boys off ten minutes ago, and still no Robert. She sighed, bit her fingers, and was about to go to the airport security when she saw three figures coming towards her. Two men, the ones she had sent off, and her Robert walking and smiling like nothing had happened.

"Robbie!" Cassie ran forward and embraced her child.

"Mom," Robert struggled, "Stop it, you're embarrassing me."

"Don't ever do that again, EVER. Do you understand?"

"I'm sorry mom," Robert said staring into her eyes. She began to tear up, smiled and hugged her son once more.

"Thank you," she told the two men, who stood there with proud looks upon their faces, "Thank you so much."

"All boarding for flight 513 to San Juana, Puerto Rico."