Victorious FF 5 – "Islanders"
"Chapter 11: The Search"
"Arrrright, people! Time to wake yer asses up! We got work to do!" Conner's distinct voice bellows out from outside. The bright morning sun pours into the hut from between the gaps in the door. Robbie wakes up first, given that he is the lighter sleeper. Strands of Jade's raven locks are stretched across the ground, shooting out in every direction. He continues to lie next to her, watching her face as she sleeps. It's a thousand times gentler than when she is awake; it's nice. Robbie inhales deeply as he pushes himself off of the ground. He lifts his arms to stretch out the soreness from sleeping on the hard, cold dirt.
Robbie makes sure to back away from Jade as he tries to wake her up. He calls out her name softly; it doesn't work. He calls again, slightly louder – Still no luck. Before he can try again, Conner sticks his head in and shouts in faux surprise.
"What are y'all doin'! This is a family show!" He bursts out laughing from his bad attempt at a joke. Robbie gives him a deadpan look before turning his attention to a now very awake and very angry Jade who darts up into a sitting position. It's as if she were rising from the dead. The way her hair sat on her face emulated the girl from 'The Ring'. Robbie took this as a queue to get the hell out of the hut before she emulated the actions of the girl from 'The Ring.'
Robbie rushes over to the fire-pit to join the rest of the group, Conner following close behind him. Conner has a good 8 inches in height, and 40 pounds in muscle on the young girl, but she still scares him to death.
"That girl'a yers is pretty scary. Yer playin' with fire." He warns Robbie, who is already well aware of that fact. Robbie sits on one of the logs surrounding the fire pit while Conner, still spooked from before, stands beside him. Robbie has been around Jade a lot longer than everyone else and seemed to know how to calm her down. If she were to go berserk, he'd like to stay behind the only person who could take her down.
A few moments later Jade emerges from the hut, a devious grin painting her face.
"Good morning, Conner." She says as she approaches the group. The grin sharpened as the words come out of her mouth. This causes Conner to breathe an audible panicky sound as he walks in the opposite direction around the fire to his usual spot that he stands when giving his speeches. Jade drops to the seat next to Robbie feeling accomplished. She's still got it.
The group stays quiet as they all wait for the person who is always late to the morning meetings. Conner rests his head on top of his walking stick and taps his foot. He lets out a vehement sigh of impatience – jokingly of course. He was used to her tardiness by now. It's actually become a fun pastime of his to think of new, obnoxious ways to wake her up. However, because of the events that had previously happened that morning he felt it would be easier to wake her up normally.
She had a tendency to sleep with a scant amount of clothing, especially since Robbie arrived, so he called out from outside the hut first. He waited a minute with no reply and called Robbie over to go inside and wake her up. Robbie hesitated before agreeing to the request; Jade didn't look to happy of his compliance.
"Hey Christie. It's Robbie, I'm coming inside." Probably not his best choice of words he quickly realized. This induced a chuckle from Conner who was still standing beside him. Robbie's face shot bright red. He swiftly ran inside to escape Conner's ridicule. Conner was at a full-blown laugh at this point, causing everyone sitting around the fire-pit to look over in confusion.
Robbie reemerged from the hut a few seconds later, holding the scrap of clothing Christie had left behind.
"She's not in there." He said, bewildered. He holds up the cloth; Conner takes it and looks inside the hut himself. He looks back at Robbie with a puzzled look. Robbie shrugs, not sure of what happened. They walk back over to the fire pit; everyone looks up at Conner who is holding the scrap of cloth in the air.
He points to Brooks and questions him.
"You know where she went?" he asks. Brooks shakes his head no.
"Well 'ats just great. What's the point 'n having a guard at night if he ain't payin' no attention." Conner sounds genuinely annoyed. "Looks like we're goin' on another search…."
"We ain't need everyone this time 'round. Supplies are runnin' low so I need you guys workin' as hard as possible today. Robbie you'll go with me to look for 'er. Lucky you're on guard duty; keep an eye out for her if she comes back 'round this way. Everyone else, you should already have yer projects fer the day. Get to it." He claps his hands once signifying that his speech is over. He picks up his walking stick and calls outs for Robbie to follow him.
Robbie grabs the emergency kit, just in-case she's injured, and quickly catches up to Conner. He takes a quick look back at Jade who returns his gaze before making his way into the dense woods.
All the while, Christie looks down from her vantage point overlooking the camp. She smiles – everything is going exactly as planned.
The remaining members of the group break off into pairs to complete their daily tasks. One of the most important rules Conner established is for no one to leave the camp without having someone with them. Luckily for Christie, Jade's partner just happened to be the clumsy, air-head Summer. Separating those two should be simple enough, she thought.
Jade leads Summer to her favorite spot for collecting food. It was a few miles south of the camp; close to where Robbie and Jade's old shelter on the beach was. It was a little bit of a trek, but well worth it. Jade isn't too pleased with her assigned partner. She is more of a liability than she is an asset. She trips at least every half-mile. How she is going to carry two full baskets of fruit without dropping them everywhere, Jade was curious to know.
Christie had climbed down from her hiding spot to keep a close eye on the duo as they made their way through the woods. She is careful to stay far enough behind to not be noticed.
A few hours pass and the girls finally make it to Jade's secret location. It would have taken them a lot less time if Summer didn't have to rest every fifteen minutes. But they made it, and that's all that matters. The branches were low enough to easily get the fruit down from the tree; It doesn't take them long at all to fill up both of their baskets. Summer is both surprised and pleased at how easy Jade's method of gathering is. When it was just her and Christie gathering it took them all day, and they didn't even fill up an entire basket.
Christie grits her teeth as Summer explains this to Jade. She wasn't planning on doing anything to Summer, but she didn't take too well to her little confession. Also, it would be easier just to knock the both of them out, she thought. Christie chuckles under her breath before moving ahead of the two girls.
As they walk through the forest, Jade groans in annoyance as Summer continues to babble on about pointless, uninteresting things.
"Oof!" Summer shouts, followed by a thud. It had been the sixth time she had fallen since they left the camp – Jade was counting. Jade doesn't even stop to turn around this time; she waits a second for the irritating girl to get up, giggle, and quickly catch up to her. Summer reminded her of Cat in a way, now that she thought about it. She was an odd mix between Cat's bubbly personality and Jade's looks.
There was no giggle this time.
"Jade! Look out!" Summer shouts. Jade starts to turn around to see what Summer is yelling about before a forceful strike to the head launches her to the ground. Jade, barely lucid, looks up to see a figure walking towards Summer, who is slowly crawling backwards. The figure is holding what seems to be a rock above their head. Everything is too blurry for Jade to tell what's going on. A deafening shriek can be heard…then nothing. Whatever vision Jade has is now fading away. Everything turns black.
Minutes, hours, days pass before Jade opens her eyes. The bright sun is staring her directly in the face. A silhouette is standing in front of her. The shadowy figure approaches closer and closer before getting right in Jade's face.
"Good morning, Jade." Says a smiling Christie. Jade tries to hurl her arms forward to grab at the girl but is stopped by a series of vines tying her down. The vines wrap around her mid-section, her arms, her legs, and her mouth. Summer, who is still unconscious next to Jade is tied the same way. Jade's eyebrows dig into the bridge of her nose; her anger has surpassed any anger she has ever felt before. If this were a cartoon, there would be dancing flames inside of her eyes.
Christie laughs in pure amusement at the powerless Jade sitting before her.
"You've been out for quite a while. A little over 36 hours, I'd say. But who's counting? I didn't know you were so weak. It was only a rock that I hit you with. How the mighty has fallen." She laughs again. Jade continues to stare into the eyes of her captor and shake her head in rage. In the corner of her eye she noticed a familiar looking structure. It was Robbie's and her old shelter. They were on the beach that Robbie and her first arrived on. Christie follows Jade's view.
"Oh, that's your old shelter right? The one you and Robbie used to sleep in. I had a nice little nap in there a few hours ago. You were just taking soooo long to wake up." Christie pokes Jade's forehead multiple times. This causes Jade to squirm around furiously without any effect.
"Well, at least you're not as weak as this one." Christie walks over to Summer who is still lying down in the sand, unconscious. Christie inches closer and kicks lightly at her cheek.
"Useless." She simply says before turning her attention back to Jade.
"I don't see what Robbie sees in you. You're ill-tempered, have anger issues, and you're an ugly freak of nature." Christie is now pacing back and forth slowly, kicking sand with each step. The sand flies through the air hitting both Jade and Summer in the face. Jade can do nothing but watch as this crazy whack-job does her crazy whack-job spiel.
It's not long before Summer begins to open her eyes. With the help of Christie's kicks earlier, the vine around her mouth is loose. Quickly noticing what's going on, she blares the loudest scream she could possibly make. Christie doesn't take too kindly to this; she runs over and kicks Summer in the face once more. This time the kick actually has force behind it, which causes Summer in fall over in pain.
"Shit, shit, shit!" she panics. Christie readjusts the mouth vine before running off behind the shelter.
"Did you hear that?" Robbie taps Conner on the shoulder.
"Yeah, sounds like it came from over there." He replies, pointing in the direction he heard the scream. They both book it through the trees. They maneuver around the roots and rocks on the ground and run as fast as they can. As they get closer and closer Robbie recognizes where they are. Robbie runs ahead allowing Conner to follow him as he makes his way to the beach. As they approach, Robbie suddenly stops, which causes Conner to slam into the back of him.
"Gah, ya gotta stop doin' that, kid." Conner says as he picks himself up from the ground. Robbie holds his finger up to his mouth, signaling for Conner to be quiet. He points to the beach where he notices Jade and Summer tied up. Cautiously, but quickly they continue towards the beach. Robbie holds his hand up to his mouth, dropping the emergency kit, in awe at the sight before him. Jade and Summer both have bruised and bloody faces. Robbie runs up to Jade, Conner to Summer. Robbie kneels down and looks into Jade's eyes. He doesn't know what to say. Her eyes return a terrified look.
"This ISN'T the way this was supposed to happen!" A shout is heard from behind Robbie. He turns around to see Christie, a furious look on her face. She's holding the flare gun from the emergency kit Robbie had dropped and is aiming it directly at him. She slowly moves closer, step by step.
Robbie holds his hands in the air; his mouth opens in shock. Christie gestures the gun downward, making Robbie drop to his knees. Conner does the same.
"You weren't supposed to be here, Robbie!" She shouts. He tries to make a response, but nothing escapes his mouth.
"You're supposed to be mine!" Her voice crackles.
"You. Are. Mine!" She laughs…and laughs…and laughs as she makes her way closer. She continues to aim at Robbie, before shifting her attention to Jade when she reaches them.
"And you will stay mine. As long as…she…isn't around." Christie grits her teeth when mentioning Jade. The gun is pointed right at Jade's chest. She doesn't plan on the impact to hurt Jade; Christie wants Jade to burn.
"Don't!" Robbie cries out. "Don't do it!"
"Why wouldn't I do it?! As long as I'm stuck on this island, she HAS to go!" Christie spits out. Her arm is shaking violently as she continues to aim at Jade. Jade's eyes are shut tight, sweat and blood pouring down her face. Conner is holding on to Summer as she does the same.
"We're not going to be here for long! They're going to rescue us!" he shouts back, tears forming in his eyes. She laughs again.
"Of course we are!" she continues to laugh. "They're never going to find us. We're going to be stuck here FOREVER!" her laughter becomes hysterical. Her head flies up, giving just the smallest opportunity to catch her off-guard. Robbie pushes himself off the ground and tackles her in one swift movement. They crash on the ground; the flare gun goes off, shooting a bright red rocket into the morning sky.
Robbie presses his bodyweight down as she struggles to get out of his grip. Conner rushes over to pin her down as well. While Conner holds her down, Robbie rushes over to the girls to untie them. He uses the same vine to tie Christie in place.
"Are you okay?" Robbie asks Jade, holding on to her shoulders and looking into her eyes. She nods, but says nothing. She leans in and presses herself against Robbie, wrapping her arms around his back. Robbie mirrors her movements and does the same. What he saw next he truly couldn't believe.
Looking over Jade's shoulder, he sees something just over the horizon.
"Guys…Guys!" He broke away from the hug – which is something he wouldn't have done in any other situation. He points to the sky.
All of their jaws drop in awe. Simultaneously they fall to their knees and cheer.
Approaching the island…The first sign of outside life in over a month…
Rescue.
Wow, just one more chapter to go. (For now, anyways.) I know I say it every chapter, but thank you for reading and reviewing. It's fun to write this story, so I'm glad others enjoy reading it. If you have been reading from the start, almost 2 years ago, thanks for sticking with the story while I went on my many breaks from writing. 2 years is too long, but at least now we're going to get some closure.
Again, thanks for reading. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter - it's the longest chapter so far!
Until next time,
-V