Chapter 11:
For the first few days after Quinn went blind, Rachel and her stayed by the beach bivouac so that she could get used to walking around.
Frankie was there some days and the seal pup seemed content with hanging around Quinn's feet, playing with her, it was like the pup realised that Quinn was blind and couldn't see anymore, though that may have also been the fact that the first day Frankie came to see them Quinn had stepped on the pup's flippers by accident.
The result, Frankie was crying and attempting to bite Quinn's heel and Rachel was pulling the pup back and Quinn was looking around bewildered and wondering what had happened.
Over time, Frankie had a routine set up for the days for when the girls would be at the beach bivouac, the pup would wake the girls up in the morning by going up to Quinn and seal barking in her ear making her get up and to Rachel, the pup would slobber on her face, making Rachel say "Ew, FRANKIE!"
That would be followed by the two having breakfast, and if there was fish, Frankie would get one too, it was like the girls always had one around, just in case.
When that was over, Rachel would go fishing as Quinn sat mindlessly on the beach, at first it took a bit of getting used to, but Frankie would grab a stick, go up to Quinn's hand, make her grab it, and whenever Quinn threw the stick away, the seal pup ran after it and came back with it.
Quinn eventually figured out what the pup wanted and the game of fetch was created between the two.
On the days when Quinn was trying to make rope, the pup would happily lay about her feet and snuggle on top of them or go swimming in the ocean.
If Quinn wasn't in a very interactive mood, the pup would follow Rachel to wherever she would go fishing, the latest spot was where Quinn had shown Rachel where she dragged herself up on to land after the shark incident.
The flat rocks provided good grounding and at that spot the waves weren't high or strong, and the fishes in the water were evident and a good size.
Sometimes Quinn would join them and sit not too far from Rachel, Frankie deciding to keep her company as the girls chatted away, and having Quinn stroke the pup's fur.
Quinn for the most part still felt useless though, and she hated it. It frustrated her when Rachel, who had healed completely by then with regards to her shoulder, had to go and do all the hunting and all the work, she couldn't seem to do anything.
Rachel wanting to be there for her just let her vent and be angry, and Quinn would always feel bad after she had screamed or yelled.
"I'm sorry, I'm just so frustrated and angry," Quinn said as she and Rachel were eating some dried deer meat.
They had caught the deer the day before Quinn went blind, it was a hilarious afternoon, this time it was Rachel who looked like a bumbling fool making Quinn laugh uncontrollably.
When Rachel said she wanted to catch the deer like a cave man, she actually meant it. Quinn was ready to pounce on the deer but seeing Rachel scream and run around and acting like a gorilla and then flailing her arms erratically was just too hilarious a sight that she fell over in laughter.
"Quinn, you didn't catch the deer," Rachel grumbled.
"Oh my god Rachel, you looked too funny, you looked like you were trying to be a gorilla," Quinn laughed.
"I told you, I scare the deer to you and you get it,"
"You seriously acted like a cave man, oh my god,"
"Quinn stop laughing, we have to get food,"
"Sure thing my lovely cave woman,"
In the end they had caught the deer, got the meat and fur they wanted and threw whatever was left over to the sharks, literally.
"I know you're hurting and angry Quinn, it's okay," Rachel said as she cuddled up to the blonde.
"It's not okay, me yelling at you is not going to make this better," Quinn said as she reached out and put her arm around Rachel's shoulder.
"But it helps,"
"I want to be able to help you,"
"And you do,"
"How?"
"Believe it or not, you are actually really good at making rope, I just have to get you the materials,"
"How do I know you're not humouring me,"
"Because I don't want to lie to you,"
"I just, I hate being still and doing nothing,"
"You keep me sane,"
Quinn smiled as she tried to find Rachel's face with her fingers, turned the brunette's head towards her and kissed what she thought were her lips.
"That was my eye," Rachel laughed as she leaned her head up a bit and kissed Quinn's lips.
Quinn just grumbled.
Eventually Quinn came up with the idea of having a rope system, there was enough that she made while bored and Rachel was out hunting, and she decided that perhaps they make a safe trail between the three camps.
Rachel loved the idea so much that she began helping to make rope too.
Over the next few days, Quinn eventually got used to going between the three camps without Rachel's help.
"That's a victory right there," Rachel had said to the grinning blonde.
As for hunting, Rachel eventually noticed something interesting every time Quinn went near the water with her spear clutched in her hands. She wondered why she never noticed this before.
While she was casting a line, because she didn't like using the spear as much, Quinn would be standing close to her with the spear in her hands.
Frankie would suddenly just jump into the water and start corralling what fish the pup could towards where Quinn was.
"Quinn," Rachel started.
"Yeah," Quinn answered.
"I think Frankie's trying to help you fish,"
"He is?"
(The girls had decided that Frankie was a boy, "Would explain his incessant whining when not fed," Quinn said with a laugh that day).
"Yeah," Rachel said, "He's corralling the fishes towards you, perhaps you should move a bit closer to the ledge, I'll tell you when to stop,"
Quinn started moving to the ledge, but before Rachel could say anything, Frankie barked loudly at her to make her stop.
"Huh, go back," Rachel said and Quinn did so, "Now move forward,"
Quinn did so again and when she got close to the edge, Frankie barked at her again.
"He's telling you where to stop, clever pup," Rachel commented and Quinn agreed.
Quinn then raised her spear and stabbed the water, but got nothing.
Annoyed she raised her arm again, Frankie corralled more fish close to her, then surfaced and slapped the water with his tail, almost as if signalling Quinn to spear the fish.
"Spear the fish Quinn," Rachel said, "I think Frankie's telling you when to do things,"
Quinn smiled at this, "Not bad for a pup that used to always steal my fish,"
"That was one time Quinn and we don't even know if it was him," Rachel laughed.
"It was him, I know it," Quinn said back.
After a few days, Quinn got the hang of fishing with Frankie, the little sea lion had grown a bit since the day he stole Quinn's fish; and would walk in front of Quinn, a rope harness was now around his body so he could lead Quinn where she needed to fish at the flat rocked area, helped her fish, and when it was time to call it quits, he would lead her back to the beach bivouac unless Quinn said "Find Rachel," to which the little sea lion would take her towards Rachel would most likely be.
Rachel was back to finding fruit to eat and of course kindling and wood for the fires they needed, and on the odd occasion hunting rabbit.
It was an easy routine to remember.
Frankie was so much part of their lives now that the sea lion would follow them to their ledged cave and waterfall spot.
Wake up calls were the same at the waterfall spot, but at the ledged cave, all Frankie could do to wake them up was bark as loudly as possible so that his voice would echo off the walls.
"I swear to god I'm going to make a muzzle out of rope for that pup," Quinn grumbled one morning as Rachel groaned next to her and tried to bury her head under the blonde's arm, "Oh no you don't, if I'm up, you're up, we're going to the waterfall today,"
"Why?" Rachel mumbled.
"Because it's fun day today,"
"It's always fun day,"
"Fine, today is super fun day, c'mon, I wanna go jump off the waterfall like always, and go down the rock slide,"
"Good god, you love giving me a heart attack,"
(The first time the girls went back to the waterfall spot and Quinn was comfortable being on her own while climbing a waterfall - with Frankie as her personal edge alarm - she had gone to the top, called out to Rachel and did a backflip into the water, Rachel had screamed and when Quinn resurfaced, she got a fifteen minute speech of the dangers of jumping while blind, not that it actually stopped her from doing it again and again).
"Rachel, c'mon, stop being a baby," Quinn whined.
"Fine, fine, I'm up," Rachel grumbled.
Quinn grinned as she untangled herself from Rachel, grabbed a fish and threw it in Frankie's direction, she knew the pup had caught the fish because she heard happy grunts.
As they walked up towards the waterfall, Rachel watched as Quinn paused.
"What is it Quinn?" she asked.
"Shh, listen," she said.
Rachel went silent and even Frankie stayed quiet, and then she heard what Quinn heard, a propeller engine.
"It's a plane, oh god, Rachel, how will we signal it?" Quinn asked in worry.
"I'll do it," Rachel said as she picked up a flare gun.
'Doing this for Quinn,' she thought to herself as she made her way up.
She ran up the hillside in record time.
See, one of the perks of being stuck so long on the island was that while the two were a lot slimmer than they used to be, and to most they would probably look too skinny and a bit unhealthy, the constant exercise meant that they were stronger and faster, their bodies had adapted to living on an island as they needed it to be; and they were fortunate enough to be on an island that had a good supply of food if and when they needed it.
The hill that used to take them over twenty minutes to climb was now a matter of minutes for Rachel.
When she got to the top, she saw the plane flying in the distance, but it was still close enough for her to shoot a flare.
It was the first one in ever, since Quinn and her had been stuck here, and she wondered why it was there in the first place.
She waited until she got a good line of sight and where she was sure the plane would spot the flare as she shot it into the air.
The plane kept flying giving no indication it saw her, so she shot another on and started waving her arms about.
The plane turned and flew over head of her before it flew away.
Unsure of whether she was spotted or not, Rachel climbed back down.
Quinn heard her return, "Any luck?" she asked.
"I don't know, for your sake I hope so, I shot two flares, and then they flew over top of me, so I'm sure they did, I'm just not sure how long until they rescue us or send for rescue," Rachel answered as she put the flare gun down, "We can just hope and pray I guess,"
"Yeah," Quinn said quietly, "C'mon, let's go, I'm sure Frankie would love chasing you through the water again and joining us down the rock slide,"
Rachel couldn't help but laugh at this moment.