Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own DP

Previously….

"No, I meant Tori and Simon they're safe."

"You're horrible at lying."

"Well, it's a good thing I never went to law school." I chuckled and followed him back to the fire. In a way I guess that was my goodbye to Simon, as much as I hate to think about it that way. I want to believe that they're safe and sound and looking for us, but it was impractical. They had no idea where the island was and there's also a chance of them not surviving that long on that tiny raft.

22 Weeks

"Okay, now hold it steady and try to predict where the fish is going to swim, you have to be fast!" Derek handed me the handmade spear stick and watched as I tried to process what he wanted me to do. When Derek asked me if I wanted to learn how to fish I thought for some reason something less brutal. This felt odd, the whole objective of this was to literally stab something to death.

"Chloe?"

"Yeah?" I looked up at him and all of a sudden my throat got tight, why was he teaching me how to fish? That was his job! Was he trying to tell me he was leaving? I can't survive on this island all alone, I'll go crazy for sure!

"What's wrong?"

"I—I.." I didn't know how to word what I was feeling, I was scared. What if something did happen to Derek? "Are you planning on leaving or something? Why do I have to know this stuff? This is your job and mine is to collect berries and wood—"

"I'm not planning on going anywhere, but it is possible that I could get hurt and you might need to get food. I'm teaching you now so you don't have to depend on me!" I didn't want to even think about what I would do if he got hurt or worse if he died. "Chloe, you'll be fine. Now, here," he stood behind me and placed his hands on mine, they were warm and covered mine completely. He taught me the correct way to bring down the stick for more reasons than one. He didn't want me to accidentally stab myself and he didn't want me to not stab hard enough that the fish got away. He took his hands away and let me try it by myself, I could feel him staring at me and it made me, even more, self-conscious than before. Was I holding the stick wrong? Would I actually be able to kill it?

After my third failed attempt my eyes caught something silver and long at my feet and I fell silent. The fish was swimming too close to me to actually stab it without getting hurt in the process. I backed up as slowly as I could without scaring the fish away and then pounced. When I opened my eyes I noticed that the water had a slight red tint, I wiggled my toes to make sure I didn't stab anything—of mine, good. I pulled the stick-up and saw the poor, shocked fish at the other end.

"Okay, now what?" I screeched towards Derek, showing him the fish. He took the stick from me and walked back to the fire pit. I quickly followed behind as fast as I could while avoiding the sharp rocks at the bottom.

"Now, we have to skin it and take the bones out," he placed the fish on a log and took out his shiv.

"No, no, no, I don't want to do this!" I quickly turned my back to him and covered my ears, I didn't want to hear anything. Derek stepped in front of me and gently took my hands off of my ears, I looked anywhere but at him.

"You're going to have to learn to do stuff you don't want to in order to survive," he grumbled.

"I can survive off of fruit and kale…"

"Well, I can't and I would at least feel better knowing that you at least know how to do this. Plus, there are more animals out there that we can hunt, and I'm going to teach you how." His hand grabbed onto my chin and forced me to look into his eyes, I glared back at him. He dropped his hand and shoved them into his pockets.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because out here anything can happen and you need to be prepared!" He took my arm and brought me to the log and pointed to the dead fish. "Stop acting like a spoiled brat and do your part of this!"

"I'm not— I've done my part! Stop acting like I just sit on my ass and wait for you to do everything for me!"

"Chloe, I'm teaching you how to help out more often, picking berries and wood is not going to help you in the long run!" We glared at one another for who knows how long, he just knows how to piss me off. I do help around here, just because I don't kill anything doesn't mean I'm not putting my share of work into it.

What was the use of arguing with him? In his mind he is and will always be right, he sees everything logically and ignores any kind of emotion. Emotions are invalid and temporary—according to him. I had no idea why I was being stubborn, why was I dragging my feet when he was trying to teach me? Maybe, it just made it seem like we were never going to get off this fucking island! It's been five months. Not one sign.

"Fine… but I'm not promising I'll do this crap on my own!" I huffed and sat down beside the poor dead fish. He was probably living his best life and then my greedy ass swept in and took it. Selfish humans, that's what we are.

"I'm going to just show you because you'll probably fuck up and then ruin dinner."

"Gee, thanks for the confidence!" I grumbled and placed my chin onto my hand and watched as he laid the fish out on a palm tree leaf. He swiftly cut off the head and then the tail and discarded them to the side.

"Start at the head end and run the knife along the backbone," he did as he said and I tried my best to hold back the gags. "Cut around the ribs and spirit the halves," he split the fish in half and separated the parts.

"Place with the skin side down," he flipped the fish over and then pointed his shiv at the tail. "Run the knife slowly along the fish, slowly," he stopped what he was doing and gave me a dirty look.

"Okay!"

"Just making sure… keep the blade angled slightly downward, firmly gripping the skin as you cut." When he was done, he cut the halves into smaller parts and stuck them on sticks. "Now, you just have to flip them every three minutes until they're cooked, timing will obviously be a hit and miss."

I intently watched Derek work. His usual strong facial expression was softened, his lips weren't set in a disappointed line and the way the light was hitting them, they looked so soft. His long nose stood broadly at the center of his face, and when he turned to the side he looked… hauntingly beautiful. He must have felt me staring at him because before I knew it he was staring back.

"What?" He asked.

"I-I was just admiring," I looked past him, just now noticing the sunset, I looked back at Derek and smiled. "I was admiring the sunset, you never really notice it in the city." He raised a dark brow and then looked over his shoulder. The thing with Derek was he never took the time to 'stop and smell the roses,' he had a schedule to keep.

"Sure," He grunted, turned back to the fish and placed them in separate coconut bowls. I sprinkled some crushed kale onto my fish and picked at the berries on the bottom so they wouldn't be warm. I would be fooling myself if I excepted Derek to sit and talk to me about what he thought was pretty or breathtaking… So instead we ate in silence.

The next two weeks have been hell and not just for me either, all those poor animals out there knew that we were on the prowl for more meat. Derek refused to let me take a break from hunting, he declared that I needed to learn everything he does in case anything happened to him. In my whole honest opinion, if he kept on dragging me on these hunting fiascos, I'd be the one ending up killing him!

My body was sore from climbing trees, setting up traps, and smashing yucca plants to make soap. I was tired of overthinking that every squeak in the night was a poor squirrel caught in our traps.

The most traumatic part of the hunting would have to be the skinning and gutting. The smell and the warmth that comes from inside the animals is not pleasant. The blood was also a negative for me, it got everywhere and again the smell was frankly disgusting.

I groaned as I peeled away my sweat-soaked shirt, I had been running around the goddamn forest with Derek trying to catch a rogue pig. He or she had gotten trapped in one of our makeshift nets and instead of just laying there and accepting death, it fought back. It ran through the campsite, dragging a bunch of shit along with it. My tent nearly collapsed with me still in it, and the pig just kept on squealing.

I tried to help it but when it just kept charging at me, I was ready for it to die. Those creatures are just pure evil! I gave up eventually and Derek released me from hunting duty to clean up. I have yet to retrieve some kind of food without getting injured in some kind of way, this time I scratched the shit out of my left side. I lightly grazed my fingers over the scratches and winced, it kind of felt like a rug burn—probably from those shitty nets.

I kicked off my shorts and jumped in, getting an automatic cold rush. There was a slight sting around my newly— uninvited— injuries, but I did my best to ignore it. I sunk until my butt hit the bottom of the rocks and my lungs were begging for air. I sprang back up onto the surface quickly gasping for air and stretching out like a starfish. I slowly battled around the pond, just relaxing and spacing out.

What would life be like if the plane didn't crash? Would Simon propose to Liz at the wedding or after? Would the wedding even happen? I mean, Liz did drop a huge bombshell on Derek on the way to the wedding itself! Would Derek confront Sam about the cheating? Derek didn't seem like the type of person to hold things in, if something bothered him then you would know. I want to know why the plane went down in the first place! If the weather was so bad then they should have just canceled the whole flight in general. We all would be safe… and alive.

I shook my head and snapped out of my depressing daze. I have to stop thinking like that, shit happens in life and sometimes you just have to learn to roll with the punches. Get back up on your feet and keep moving on. I was starting to waddle out of the water when I heard the familiar heart-wrenching squeal from that horrid pig. My eyes scanned the trees trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. The cold air whipped around me making me shiver as I tried to see, the squealing seemed to stop, which could be good and bad.

I slowly walked over my clothes, maybe if I was slow enough the pig wouldn't see or hear me. Hopefully… I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Every fiber in my body was screaming for me to run, but I knew it would only make it obvious that I was here.

I bent down and my fingers scarcely grasping my shirt when I heard the squeal again, but much closer. When I turned I barely had enough time to move out of the way of the charging hog towards me. My foot slipped and I fell face first in the space between the rocks, my side scraping hard on the way down. I didn't have time to wallow in pain as the hog was turning around— still charging at me! I quickly got up and ran towards the forest, so much for Derek's hunting skills.

You see what I mean? Animals hate me already why the hell would I want to try and kill them! I'm clearly going to fail at it and it'll just fuel their hatred towards me and now I'm going to die! From a fucking pig!

I tried ducking behind trees and backtracking back to the pond, but this animal was smarter than I realized. I could not lose its trail no matter what I did! When a stitch began forming on my right side I knew I was in for it, I can't even outrun a pig. How sad is that! I pushed my aching legs forward, feeling my feet slap against the hard ground desperately trying to get me to safety. Why does this shit always happen to me?

Just as I round the corner of the path I face planted into something warm and sweaty. I screamed as I felt myself falling once again, at this rate the damn pig could leisurely walk its way over to me and trample me to death. When my face didn't smash into the dirt I opened my eyes, green ones stared back at me.

It was as if everything was in slow motion, I could see Derek's lips moving but the only thing I could hear was a rushing sound—the kind you hear when you stick your head out of a moving car window. When I felt a pair of strong, warm hands grab onto my injured bicep I snapped out of whatever daze I had been in. The squealing pig, the sound of Derek's concerned voice and the waves all came rushing back.

"Chloe?" I looked down at his eyes and felt safe and warm, he would protect me. The pig couldn't hurt him, Derek was tall and strong the pig was… the pig!

"T-t-the—" I looked around the nearby woods but couldn't see the stupid jackass anywhere and come to think of it, the squeals had stopped altogether. "The pig was chasing me! I was swimming and it f-found me, I tried to get away but man, those things sure do have a pair of legs on them! I t-thought I was a goner!" I gushed and tried to catch my breath. I wrapped my arms around my body as a blast of cold air whipped by, why the hell was I so cold?

I looked down and felt as if my heart completely stopped beating. I was still naked, completely butt ass naked, on top of Derek. I wanted to hide and curl into a ball, I'd gratefully die right now than have to deal with this embarrassment. Derek thought didn't seem fazed by it, he just looked at me with great concern. Why?

"Are you hurt?"

"N-not that I know of," I stammered and tried to think of a way to get off of him without him seeing everything. Derek sniffed and then signed, when I looked back at him he was now inches from my face.

"I smell blood, you're bleeding somewhere," he looked down at me and attempted to inspect me, but I felt odd. He hands gently prodded their way around my neck and shoulders, whenever his fingertips would touch my skin a small shiver would fly throughout my body.

"Chloe! Would you stop moving! I'm just seeing if you are hurt, I'm not trying to cop a feel!"

"I'm fine, Derek! I don't need— Ow!" I gasped as his fingers grazed my left side, he pulled back his hand, now covered in blood.

"We have to wash this out now, who knows what got in there, especially if the pig got near you. For all, we know it could have rabies!" Derek said trying to get a better look at the injury, but I wasn't letting him.

"But you wanted to eat the damn thing!" I turned away from his hands and glared at him. He made no sense, why would we eat something that could have rabies?

"Eating it is completely different if you actually cook the meat the right way!"

"Okay, Mr. know-it-all, how would you know the meat is thoroughly cooked? I mean with fish and squirrels it is kind of easy. Their meat is thinner and shit, but a hog has a ton of fat and gross crap inside of it…"

"Stop stalling. I have to look at your cut whether you like it or not!"

"No, you don't! You want to look at it, it's completely different."

"Dammit, Chloe! Why do you have to fight me on every single thing! You're bleeding out and yet, you won't take the help I am trying to give you!" Derek huffed out a long breath and looked away. But not before I saw the fear in his eyes, it was quick but not quick enough.

Then it hit me. He was just as scared of losing me as I was to losing him. We both needed each other on this island to survive. He wanted me safe for his sake too, to have someone to talk to or just know that he wasn't in this shit hole alone.

"Fine," I huffed and relaxed, well I mean as much as I could with being completely naked near a guy. He gently pushed my arm away from the injury, his fingers leaving a small trail of goosebumps as he inspected. I never realized how deprived my body had become for a simple human touch until now… it was yearning for more. I didn't want to feel alone anymore.

When he took his hand away I felt cold all over, I looked up at Derek and saw something in his green eyes, something other than anger, but just like the fear it quickly vanished. I wanted to know more, I wanted him to stop being so standoffish with me!

"It's not deep, thank god, but you should still go and clean it…"

"Can you just stand guard when I clean it? In case the thing comes back." I whispered I wasn't even sure he heard it until I got a quick both walked back to the pond, in silence, him in the front so he wouldn't see anything else of me.

"I'll stay here and stand guard," I opened my mouth to protest but he put his hand up to stop me. "I'll have my back to you, don't worry." He walked to the rocks and proceeded to turn around. That wasn't what I wanted to say… I sighed and walked back into the cool water. Talk about déjà vu.

This time I walked over to the waterfall, making sure Derek was still there every five-seconds. I ducked behind the water and sunk down until my head was the only thing above water. I couldn't hear anything other than the roaring of the waterfall, so even if the little shit head did come back, I wouldn't know. I hoped to god that Derek would track it down before nightfall, I did not want to have to worry about it trampling through my tent while I was sleeping.

I gritted my teeth together as hard as I could as I scrubbed the open wound with our homemade yucca soap. It left a slight tingling sensation, not even close to the way my body reacted to Derek's touch. Even thinking about it now set my whole body on fire, in all honesty, I was confused about it. I never had this reaction before when he touched me, never felt this way ever in general!

It was confusing… what does this mean? What was happening to me? I peaked around the corner of the waterfall and silently watched Derek. His back was still to me, but his head was turned to the side.

HIs hair nearly reached his shoulders now, his strong jawline had become hidden by the growing had on his face, there were no more bald patches but it was far from even. It's not like we had the necessities to groom ourselves. Who knew what I looked like, from what I could see my leg hair was the longest I have ever let it get, as was my armpits.

I snapped out of my daze and ducked under the water, what was I thinking! Derek was obnoxious, manipulative and plain out rude! Whatever this thing had to be a phase, you know? Once we get off this island I'll look back on these moments and want to smack myself, I just used to only seeing Derek that my body… longed for him? Kinda like Stockholm syndrome… minus the kidnapping and shit. Yeah, that has to be it.

A/N: Okay, so some parts of the reading might sound like I'm anti-meat eaters, but that's not the case. I personally feel like Chloe would not enjoy any part of hunting… anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm sorry it's taking so long to update each chapter, I'm doing my best!