Chapter 34
Buss- [buhs] Kiss.
Jacob's lips began to pull back when he realized that Bella was merely lying there frozen. Before rejection had a chance to wash over him, he felt a slight pressure against his lips, indicating that Bella had in fact, begun to respond. Relief washed over him like the wave that crushed their boat so long ago. He felt Bella cling to his shirt and push against him as if she were trying to mold their bodies into one.
They kissed, then pulled back with a light smack. Both breathless, it took a moment for their actions to be brought to words. It was Bella who spoke, very softly, yet her words rang clear in Jacob's love-hazed brain. "I love you too," she paused and chuckled lightly. "Albeit, I didn't understand what I was feeling towards you until now. You put a word to my feelings." She smiled in the dark, even though she knew he couldn't see it. He could hear it though, it carried in her voice.
"Really?" Jacob asked astounded, and a bit loud. Felix stirred, and someone's snore was interrupted. Jacob paused to see if he'd woken anyone up, but Bella had captured his attention when he felt a gentle peck against his lips. He still had one of his hands gracing her cheek, and she had mirrored him.
"Really." She replied. "You should've told me sooner that you love me."
Jacob merely shrugged and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "I didn't think you'd reciprocate the feelings." He admitted. "But these last few days had me thinking more and more about it." Jacob paused in his stroking and sighed, his warm breath ghosting over her cheeks since she was still in close proximity to him. "Every time you got lost, or I was away from you," Bella flinched at the emotion in his voice. "It worried me so much." He shuddered and pulled her even closer, if that was possible. "I worries needlessly and that time you were gone for days killed me. Then you returned and everything seemed perfect again. Bella," Jacob took a shaky breath. "If you had remained lost, and we were to be rescued in that time, I wouldn't have been able to leave without you."
The weight of Jacob's words had a stunning effect on Bella. She felt wholly conflicted by his words. There were numerous times throughout their time on the island where she would not have come back alive. To think that Jacob would've continued looking for her, and not have gone with the people who could've saved him, it tore at her heart. What if she had in fact been buried by the hole that she, Alice and Mike had been trapped inside? Jacob would've never found her and wandered the island looking for her aimlessly. The thought of him dying because he was persistent in finding her, broke her heart. She couldn't—wouldn't let that happen to him. They would stick together throughout the rest of their time on the island and keep each other safe.
"But you are safe." Jacob spoke after the lengthy silence. "And you're here, in my arms." Jacob gave her a quick squeeze as if to reassure his words that she was in his arms. "Don't leave me again Bella." He whispered sleepily.
Bella heard him began to snore and she smiled. "I won't Jacob." She told his resting body, before settling in for the night and succumbing to slumber herself.
Unbeknownst to the pair, their talking had roused one of their peers from his sleep. Edward lay awake that night, absorbing the information that he'd lost the girl he'd been pining after, to another. A permanent scowl seemed to be engraved on his face.
The next morning, Leah was the first to awaken. She sat up and looked around at the others who were still dozing. The sun hadn't even breached the horizon, but its pink hues danced across the blue skies, indicating it's soon arrival. She yawned briefly, before crawling away from her spot between Eric and Quil. Once she was far enough away from everyone, she stood up and let her eyes roam over her peers. Everyone looked in various states of disarray and dishevelment. When she found who she was looking for, she walked over to where he lay and shook him awake, none too gently.
Embry awoke after a few shakes and opened his eyes lazily. When he saw Leah hovering above him, he smiled before masking it with a frown and looking around quickly at the others who were still asleep. "You can smile. No one else is awake." She spoke quietly. Her words drew forth another smile from Embry. He sat up and Leah helped him to his feet. It still surprised her how tall he'd gotten in the last couple of years. She was so used to the boy being shorter than her, as she was nearly six feet tall. But Embry had skyrocketed and was a few inches taller than her, causing Leah to have tilt her head up when she wanted to look at him.
Embry leaned forward towards Leah, but she narrowed her eyes and gestured with her eyes to the others around them. "Okay." Embry sighed, then followed Leah as she began to walk to the edge of the hill. They skirted around the small thicket of trees that blocked the edge, then climbed down the vine ladder. "Where would you like to go?" Embry asked her curiously.
"Nowhere far." She replied, looking down at the ground beneath her shoeless feet. It looked darker than the rest of the ground. Her brow furrowed and she began walking towards the beach, and away from the weirdly colored ground. It almost reminded her of blood. Embry fell into step beside her and once they reached the shore, Leah sat down on the dry sand, but stretched out her legs so that when the waves crashed against the shore, it would dampen her feet. Embry sat beside her and took her hand in his own.
"Now can I kiss you?" he asked boldly of the temperamental female.
Leah smirked but nodded nonetheless and allowed the boy to eagerly kiss her puckered lips. The force from the kiss knocked Leah backwards and she pulled away from Embry to laugh. "Settle down you dog." She teased kissing him again quickly before pushing his face away from her. Embry pouted cutely before lying down next to her.
"Why do we have to keep our relationship a secret?" he asked suddenly.
Leah had been holding Embry's hand, released it after his question. "Your friends don't even like me." Leah grumbled. "If it weren't for us being on this stupid island, we wouldn't be together."
Embry sighed and moved so that he was in Leah's line of sight. "You don't know that." He muttered.
"We barely even spoke to each other when we went to school. You only came over to my house to hang with my brother, Seth."
"But if I had known how you felt—
Leah silenced him with a glare. "I was content with keeping my feelings to myself. Didn't you like that weirdo chick in our school? Cathy?"
Laughter wafted through the air as Embry reacted to Leah's words. "You must be talking about Claire." His laughter trailed to an end at the indignant look upon Leah's face. "I liked her over a year ago. It ended when she rejected me though." Embry released a quick sigh. "But that was months ago." Embry leaned down as if to kiss Leah, but instead rested his head on her stomach instead. "Now, I'll admit that I never thought I would grow to like you like this, but I have." He smiled, even though Leah couldn't see him. "Maybe getting stuck on this island was a blessing in disguise. It brought us together." He sought out her hand and held it gently in his own. "I don't want to hide our relationship." Embry told her seriously.
"You're friends," Leah griped. "I don't think they'll approve of you being with me." she grunted.
Embry laughed again, this time longer, until he felt Leah hit the back of his head. "Lee-lee," he used her nickname to make light of the situation. "I think they'll be happy I found someone I like. Jacob and Quil aren't exactly the most judgmental of people."
"I'm not ready to tell them yet." Leah spoke quietly.
Embry sat his head up and turned towards her. "Are you…embarrassed of me?" he asked suddenly, as realization dawned on him.
Leah's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
"You are!" Embry jumped to his feet and looked down at Leah with hurt replacing the happiness in his eyes. "Fine Leah. We don't have to tell anyone about this secret relationship." He stormed away and Leah watched him go. She was baffled at how the situation had gotten away from her. Embry's assumption was as far from correct as one could be. She wasn't embarrassed of Embry, she truly didn't think his friends would accept her, a hothead, to date him.
A sigh wafted through her parted lips. "What did I just do wrong?" she asked herself aloud.
~S.O.S~
Bella woke with the knowledge of last night fresh on her mind. She looked up at Jacob who was snoozing beside her. Her whole body was curled into the boy and she felt very warm. Not uncomfortably so, but pleasantly. Her heart fluttered as she remembered their first kiss, and she blushed from the memories. He loved her, and she loved him. It was all so overwhelming. She'd never felt this way about anyone before. It was new and exciting and had her feeling all giddy inside. The giddiness bubbled out of her, and a giggle tore out of her suddenly. She clamped her hand over her mouth at the sound, but it had already awoken Jacob. He blinked at her sleepily and the corners of his lips turned up in a smile.
"Good morning Bella." He greeted with a yawn before closing his eyes and falling back asleep.
Bella stifled the giggles at Jacob's weary behavior. It was early morning, the sun had graced the sky and if she had to guess, she'd say it was maybe nine o'clock. Time sure did move differently when no one knew the time for sure. She didn't even know how long they'd been on the island. Thinking back on it, it felt like they'd been stuck here for months. But when she recounted the number of times she'd slept on the island, it seemed more like a couple weeks. Weeks. Had they really been marooned on the island for weeks? And still not rescued? It sure did make her wonder if anyone was even looking for them anymore. If anyone had even started looking for them…
A shuffling of leaves had drawn Bella's attention to the small cluster of trees and bushes that blocked the edge of the cliff. Embry came storming through looking a flurry of emotions. Angry, sad, hurt, confused and annoyed. "You alright?" Bella asked him concernedly as he walked by her.
"Just peachy." He snapped before walking past her and near the small waterfall where he opened his mouth to get a drink.
Embry's retort caused a few others to awaken. Felix's snoring ceased as he woke. Since Angela had been lying on his arm, she woke too at his movement.
"Good morning Felix." Angela watched the boy wipe sleep from his eyes before returning the morning greet.
"How are your legs?" he asked before looking down at her long legs sprawled next to his.
Angela looked down at them as well and her brow furrowed in contemplation. Suddenly, her big toe twitched. Her face broke out in a smile and she turned to look at Felix with tears in her eyes. "Did you see, did you see?" she asked excitedly.
Felix nodded in elation and hugged her close to his body. "You're going to be alright." He smashed his lips against hers fiercely and a deep blush sprang to her face. "There's hope for you yet." He said as he pulled back to look at her fondly.
Angela's heartbeat faster with happiness. A small part of her had wondered if she were going to end up a paraplegic. But the twitch she'd been able to get her toe to do, had given her infinite hope.
Bella had watched the whole encounter, and she too was happy that her friend seemed to be improving. It seemed like miracles were still able to happen and it brought her some joy. Something she didn't feel much of after being stuck on the island for so long.
"Oh good. Everyone seems to be up." Rosalie grinned when she noticed that most of her peers were talking amongst each other. "We need to go forging for some food." She stood then, and Emmett, who was also awake, rose with her. "Leah gave me a great idea that I can't believe I didn't think up. We should try fishing." She looked to the others to see how they felt about this idea.
Jacob and Felix exchanged glances before turning back to Rosalie. "We've done that before. But it's hard." Jacob told her.
Rosalie nodded like she'd already assumed this. "I would think so since we aren't properly equipped. But I have a few ideas that may help."
~S.O.S~
Leah had remained on the beach for a long time, hoping against hope that Embry would return and they could go back to normal. Even perked up when she heard footsteps approaching her. Unfortunately though, when she looked up, it wasn't Embry. It wasn't even a single person, but four people instead: Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Felix. "Oh there you are Leah. I wondered where you went." Rosalie spoke as she passed by Leah and headed into the ocean. "Come on guys, let's see if we can gather up some grub!"
The others cheered briefly before following after Rosalie. Leah watched them with her eyes and quirked a brow at what they were carrying. Felix and Alice each held a long wooden stick that's tip had been whittled down into a spear, while Rosalie held onto a large piece of fabric. "What are you about to do?" Leah asked confused.
"Fish!" Rosalie cheered. "Maybe we'll get lucky and feast tonight!"
Felix rolled his eyes. "I doubt it. But it'd be nice to go to bed tonight not hungry." He relented.
"Come help us." Rosalie gestured for Leah to join them in the ocean and Leah cocked a brow. "I don't want to." She grunted, lying back down on the sand.
"You lazy girl! Everyone is doing their part today." Rosalie gripped. "Just in case we can't fish, there's another group scouting for the lands' fruit. You can't be the only one sitting about doing nothing."
Leah plugged her ears at Rosalie's words. They were annoying her. She was still upset over Embry and Rosalie wasn't helping. "Fine, I'll go help the other group." She grumbled, sitting up and looking over at Rosalie who was glaring at her.
"Whatever. Jacob, Bella and Embry shouldn't have left yet. So go find them around the bunker." Rosalie turned away from Leah and therefore missed the flicker of sadness that crossed her features at Embry's name.
"Nevermind. It's too far away." Leah stood and walked over to the others who were standing in the ocean. It came up to her knees and she stood beside Rosalie. "I'll help. What do you need me to do?" she groused.
~S.O.S~
"Okay, we'll try not to go far and get lost. But we will be gone for a while. Walking around this island sure does take up some time." Jacob spoke to the others around him. "I think we should take one of the suitcases with us so that we'll have an easier time carrying the fruit we find."
"Well aren't you the eternal optimist." Edward snarled, sitting next to Eric, while checking over his wounds.
"Excuse me?" Jacob directed his attention to Edward who ignored him. "What problem do you have with me?" it confused Jacob to no end, the animosity that Edward seemed to direct at him.
Edward's eyes briefly flickered to Bella, who was standing next to Jacob looked doe-eyed at the pair. "Nothing." He grunted before turning back to examining Eric's leg. Said boy was asleep.
"Whatever." Jacob turned back to the others. Embry was flanking his left and Bella his right. "I think we'll be fine today. But we must stick together."
"Of course." Bella agreed, taking his hand in hers.
Embry saw the action and looked up at Jacob surprised. "So you two are finally together?" he asked his friend.
Jacob held up their hands. "We are. I couldn't be happier."
"Congrats man." Embry clapped his friend on the back. "I wish we all could have relationships like that." He mumbled, waving away the questioning look Jacob directed at him.
"Hey Jasper," Jacob looked over at the boy who was lying down in between Eric and Quil. "You sure you don't want to come with us?"
Jasper shook his head. "Nah, I want the doc here to look over my wound and see if I'm okay. Then I may join Alice down by the sea."
Jacob nodded his understanding. "Well alright."
"Hey! What about me?" Quil asked with a frown. "Aren't you going to ask me if I want to come along too?"
Jacob shook his head and laughed at the annoyed look Quil shot him. "I already know you can't come with us. Your foot is barely healed. You'd slow us down."
"Hmph!" Quil crossed his arms while Angela laughed lightly beside him.
"I'm not going either." She told him. "We'll keep each other company."
Jacob looked over at the only two people staying behind because of their mental state. Lauren and Alec. Both had woken up and quietly kept to themselves on the outskirts of the bunker. Lauren had her back against one of the rocky walls that prevented them from falling off, knees tucked up and her chin resting on top of them. She was as quiet as she had been the previous day. While Alec had curled his body away from everyone, and was crying soundlessly over his sister again. Jacob decided not to bother them since they both seemed very emotional.
"Alright, let's roll out." Jacob passed Embry the suitcase before leading the way to the vine ladder. They each made it down the vine ladder without incident and set about to find some fruit. The first place they stopped by was the mango tree that Alice and Jasper had told them about. The tree had copious amounts of mangoes, so they pilfered a few, filling half the suitcase, before moving on to find other fruits.
The trio walked for a while, Embry and Jacob taking turns carrying the suitcase.
"Let's play the hypothetical game." Embry suddenly suggested as they wove their way around the island, in search of some food.
"Okay…?" Jacob glanced at his friend. "Start it off since I'm confused."
"Alright." Embry looked up at the sky. "Hypothetically speaking, how would you feel if we never got off this island?"
Jacob shrugged. "I would be upset. But I think we'd survive. Who knows, maybe we'd start a tribe here on the island." Both boys grinned at the thought.
"Hypothetically speaking, how would you feel if you won a million dollars?" Embry asked Bella this time.
The girl in question stroked her imaginary beard, causing the two boys to chuckle. "Well, I don't know what I would do on this island with a million dollars. Maybe use it as firewood." She joked.
Embry shoved her playfully before turning back to Jacob. "Hypothetically speaking, how would you feel if I were to date Leah?"
This question halted Jacob and Bella. Jacob looked at his friend in bemusement. "Leah? That's so random Embry." Jacob began to walk again, Bella following along beside him since she was still holding his hand. Embry fell into step beside Jacob, making sure not to drop the suitcase. "What, do you like her or something?"
Embry shrugged nonchalantly while his earlier conversation with Leah ran through his head. "We're playing the hypothetical game remember?"
"Right…" Jacob replied disbelievingly. "Well, hypothetically, if you dated Leah, I'd think you'd gone insane."
Embry visibly deflated and looked at Jacob sadly. "Really?"
"Yeah. Leah's crazy. She gets angry over random stuff and is basically a tyrant." Jacob shuddered at the thought of dating her. "But if she made you happy, then I'd wish you all the best." Jacob finished honestly, before ruffling Embry's unkempt hair.
Embry ducked away from having his hair messed up more than it was, then smiled at Jacob's words. "I knew it."
"Come again?" Jacob inquired.
"Nothing." Embry replied with a casual smile. "Is that a banana tree?"
~S.O.S~
"I can't believe this worked." Leah looked at the pale brown fish that was flopping on the sand by their feet. "We caught this and just with a piece of cloth. Unbelievable."
For the past two hours, they had fished. Rosalie had come up with the brilliant idea to use a large piece of cloth to try to capture the fish. They cloth, a small blanket found in the recesses of the suitcases from before, was halfway folded and acted as net. It was hard to keep the blanket folded when they fished, and it really only worked because they had three people. Emmett and Leah held the sides of the blanket together so that when they did capture a fish, it didn't slip through the sides. While Rosalie opened the blanket so that fish could accidentally swim inside where their fate was sealed. It took them awhile to perfect their routine but once they got into the groove, they managed to catch their first fish. A nice sized trout. Emmett had guessed it weighted about five pounds and it was a great start. It gave them hope that they wouldn't be starving tonight.
Felix and Alice weren't so lucky at first. But after the first hour, Alice was able to spear her own fish which was just slightly smaller than the fish Rosalie, Emmett and Leah had caught. Unlike the trio's fish though, Alice had killed hers so it was not flopping around uselessly.
They continued to fish and eventually had caught six. Most of which were caught by the trio, whereas Alice and Felix had only each caught one. "I think we did good." Rosalie stated when all six of the fish were wrapped in the blanket. "Not we have to find clean them. Anyone of you good at gutting fish?"
Felix and Alice both indicated they could take care of the fish with their spears. "But we'll need something to put the fish meat on." Alice told Rosalie.
"Leaves should be fine. But we should find some big leaves so it's easier to carry." Rosalie thought aloud. "Come on Em and Leah. Let's go look for some perfect leaves in the forest. And while we're there, we should probably gather some firewood too. We're eating good tonight!"
"Okay, while you do that, we'll get this fish up the hill. I don't think it'd be safe to handle the fish here because of all the animals."
Rosalie nodded in agreement, thinking of the jaguar. "Alright. Luckily there's the waterfall up there so you shouldn't make too much of a mess." She teased. "Alright let's get to work. I'm starving." Rosalie bid Felix and Alice farewell, before conferring with the other two briefly before walking towards the woods.
Alice looked at Felix and smiled cheekily. "Since you're the strongest, I think you should be the one to carry these up the vine ladder." Alice knew it would be tricky to climb the vine ladder with one hand while the other carried the fish. Which is why she nominated Felix to do it.
Felix rolled his eyes but picked up the blanket that had all of the fish. It was weighty, but not more than he could handle. "Whatever. But you're climbing behind me and if I drop one of the fish, you have to carry it up."
"Sounds fair." Alice had to admit, but she hoped Felix wouldn't drop one of the fish. It would be such a hassle.
~S.O.S~
"So should we get them or not?" Embry asked in exasperation.
Jacob shrugged. "It's not like they're bananas. You can't eat these raw. We'd have to cook them."
"Technically you can eat them raw. But they don't taste very good that way." Bella commented. "I think we should get them. Although I doubt Felix will be very happy about it."
"What makes you say this?" Jacob asked.
"Well he doesn't like bananas, and plantains are like their brothers."
Jacob laughed at Bella's words. "He'll be fine. Let's get some plantains." Jacob and Embry knocked down a dozen plantains and stuffed them on the now full suitcase. "Alright let's head back. I think we're pretty good. Tonight, we feast!"
They turned to leave when a shrill noise pierced the air, freezing them to their spot. Nearby birds flew from the trees at the sound and took off into the blue and cloud-free sky. A few land bound animals even pattered against the ground to escape the noise. The three teens exchanged glances.
"What was that?" Bella asked nervously.
Jacob shook his head. "I don't know. But I don't want to find out either. Let's go!"
~S.O.S~
Felix finally made it to the top and set the fish down, breathing heavily. He didn't think it would take so much work to bring the fish to the top. But numerous times he almost slipped or dropped the fish. As it turned out, one fish in particular was being stubborn and even with Felix trying his utmost to keep all the fish wrapped in the blanket, it still managed to escape and fall into Alice's waiting arms. Ironically enough, it was the one fish that Alice had speared. She carried it the rest of the way and once at the top of the hill, she grabbed the blanket of fish and walked over to the small waterfall, leaving Felix to catch his breath. Once said breath was caught, Felix followed after Alice and commenced with helping her gut and clean the fish. It was a tedious task, but made easy with the spears. Granted, they had to be careful not to break the wood on fish bone.
While they did this, Edward sighed and rewrapped Eric's legs. He'd been studying them all day. After cleaning the wounds with the water from the waterfall numerous times, he'd inspected the damage and he still didn't like the conclusion. Eric's legs were in terrible shape. Muscle and tendons had been ravaged and in certain places, bone was visible. But what concerned Edward the most was the sickly darkening color that his feet were turning. He knew what it was, but to voice it aloud would make the horror for his patient, that much more true. As long as he didn't say it, he could deny it was there.
"Whoa! What's wrong with his feet?" Quil asked suddenly after catching sight of Eric's feet which were turning a sickly black color.
"Gangrene." Edward replied before cursing under his breath. He'd said it aloud and that made everything suddenly more real. "Unless he gets medical treatment, he will die."
Quil eyed the fallen peer with pity and Angela gasped. Felix and Alice overheard Edward and paused in their ministrations. "He's going to die?" Angela asked softly.
Edward nodded grimly.
"But doc, isn't there anything you can do?" Quil inquired hopefully. "Maybe an herbal medicine? This island is full of leaves and stuff."
Edward felt the weight of the world resting on his shoulders. "Gangrene isn't like a cold. His tissue is dead and poisoning his blood. It's going to spread and eventually kill him. The only way to save him is if we could hospitalize him." Edward wanted to pull out his hair in frustration. "My dad has seen many cases of gangrene. It's a lengthy process, but it's fatal if left untreated. And his seems to be progressing rapidly."
Everyone fell silent and Quil asked the question that hung unanswered in the air. "How long does he have left to live?"
Edward studied the legs and took in account of their surroundings. "Maybe a week. Give or take a few days." He spoke solemnly. "But even if we were saved right now, they'd have to amputate his legs to save him."
This news shook everyone to their very core. Another peer was about to succumb to the horrors of the island. Death was becoming too common. It was a frightening fact, and there was nothing they could do to escape it.
Edward looked at Jasper who had been waiting all day to be examined by him. "Alright Jasper, your turn I guess."
Jasper braced himself for the possible news that his condition was similar to Eric's and lifted up his shirt for Edward to inspect him.
A/N: So many relationships blossoming. How cute right? The story was going to end in the next chapter. (I actually had to rewrite it because it had been originally leading to the end.) But I got one (albeit disturbing) more twist for this story. Sooo, the story will be extended and a few more chapters are coming y'all way c;