x
Left Behind
"I don't understand why no one has come yet," Aubrey whispers, staring outside of the infirmary, into the dark, "They should have been here hours ago."
"Shine the flashlight down a little," Chloe instructs as she proceeds looking at the piece of metal sticking out of the guy's abdomen, "Maybe they can't get to us right now for some reason, like there's a storm or something a few miles out or the water is too choppy to send a boat. I found his ID while you were looking for a flashlight. His name is Luke."
"Where's he from?" Aubrey asks.
"London."
"I wonder why he was in Australia going to LA."
"Why were you in Australia going to LA?" Chloe asks.
"Work," Aubrey lies, "You?"
Chloe glances around before answering. "I was smuggling a dog."
Aubrey looks at her, thinking she must be joking, but judging from her expression, she's serious. "I have a lot of questions." Question she already knows she's going to regret.
"I don't think you're ready for the answers."
Well, now Aubrey needs those answers to satisfy her burning curiosity.
"Fine. My ex-boyfriend, Tom, moved to Australia and he took our dog. So I…stole him back. But he's a terrible dog owner. He never once remembered to feed him."
Now that Aubrey has her answers, she doesn't know how to respond to them, so she turns to look back out at the beach instead. The sky is clear and the water appears calm; someone should have come by now, anyone.
"What do you do?" Chloe asks.
"Engineering," Aubrey answers, "Mostly for NASA."
"And they needed you in Australia?"
"It was a convention."
"Oh. Was it fun?" Chloe asks.
Aubrey nods and conjures up a reasonable excuse to leave before Chloe can ask her anything else about it. "I'm gonna go see if I can find the pregnant woman and check on her. Do you need anything else here?"
"That's a good idea. I think I'm okay here."
The campfires are providing enough light, so Aubrey passes off the flashlight before she steps outside. She barely makes it three steps before Jesse is approaching her.
"Is there anything else I can do? I made sure there are people collecting wood for the fires - we found an emergency ax in the plane. Someone is in charge of gathering pillows and blankets for the night. Everything I can think of is being taken care of."
Aubrey mentally checks him off as somebody useful. "Have you seen the pregnant woman?"
"Stacie," Jesse says, "She is asleep and she seems fine. The guy with the leg scrape, Donald, is fine too."
"Oh. Um, have you met anyone named Beca by chance?"
"Short, scary ear spikes, brown hair, probably still cursing at a pair of broken headphones?"
"Yes," Aubrey answers without missing a beat. That is definitely her.
"Last I saw her, she had stormed off down the beach somewhere."
"But she was okay?" Aubrey asks.
"She seemed fine." Jesse smiles at her – as much as someone recovering from a plane crash can, and Aubrey offers the same smile back. "You know what, I'm gonna get you and your friend some food. You need to eat." He turns around without another word and disappears back down the beach.
Aubrey closes her eyes and breathes a sigh of relief over Beca.
"Hey," Chloe says from behind her, "I thought you were going to check on that woman."
"She's okay right now. She's sleeping."
"Are you okay?" Chloe asks.
"Yeah." Aubrey turns around. "That guy Jesse's gonna bring us some food."
"Good, I'm starving," Chloe says, "How's your stomach?"
Aubrey looks away and tries to recover from the heat of embarrassment that engulfs her entire body. "It's fine." The queasiness has worn off for the most part. She almost forgot Chloe found her vomiting. "It just…happens sometimes."
Chloe nods understandingly. "This is really stressful." She reaches her hand out towards Aubrey's back.
"Don't do it," Aubrey warns her.
"Sorry."
Jesse comes jogging back over to them carrying two small silver bags and bottles of water. "I hope you like beef stew that was freeze dried."
"Totally my favorite food," Chloe answers.
"You know, I never knew how freeze dried food works," Jesse says, handing them each a bag and a bottle, "Did you know you can just add hot water right into the bag and it looks like normal food?"
"Is this all the food?" Aubrey asks.
"It looks like there's enough to last everyone three meals a day for a couple days," Jesse says.
That makes sense. The airline was probably prepared to feed hundreds of people – and here they are with forty-eight. She imagines water is going to be a more pressing problem if they need it both to drink and for cooking.
"I have a fire over there." Jesse points. "You're welcome to join."
Aubrey looks at Chloe who nods. "Okay," she agrees.
"We should change clothes first," Chloe says and frowns at Aubrey's confusion, "Aubrey, you're covered in blood."
Aubrey looks down at her clothes. Oh. Right.
"We'll find you in a minute," Chloe tells Jesse as she tucks her water under her arm and drags Aubrey to their bags.
"Are you always like this?" Aubrey asks.
"Like what?" Clueless, Chloe lets her go to open her suitcase.
Aubrey doesn't answer. She just opens her bag and pulls out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Seconds later, a sweatshirt hits her in the side of the head. "Like that."
"Thoughtful?" Chloe guesses then tries again when she's met with more silence. "Hospitable?"
"Like an overbearing mother."
"I am nothing like an overbearing mother," Chloe replies and pulls her shirt off right there where anyone could see.
"Do you have no shame?" Aubrey gathers up her clothes, averting her eyes as Chloe removes her pants too.
"Not really, no."
"Great." Charming. No shame. "I've befriended a sociopath."
"I'm not a sociopath!" Chloe calls after her as she walks away to change privately. "Sociopaths don't care about anyone! I care about literally everyone! …except that Bumper guy!"
"I heard that!" Bumper yells from somewhere.
"You seem to have way more sociopath behaviors than I do," Chloe comments when Aubrey reappears.
"How?" Aubrey kneels down to search for somewhere in her bag to put her clothes without getting blood on anything.
"You're clearly smart," Chloe says, "You command attention as a leader, but beyond that you seem a little bit unapproachable."
"And, yet, even with forty-six other people you could be accosting with kindness, here you are," Aubrey points out.
"Here I am," Chloe agrees, "I don't believe you're a sociopath though."
Aubrey turns around to comment, but gets caught up looking at the logo on Chloe's shirt. It's an 'M' very similar to the one on the shirt Beca had been wearing.
"What?" Chloe asks.
Aubrey snaps out of it. "Nothing." She grabs her food and water from beside her bag. "Are you ready?"
"So, you consider us friends now?" Chloe asks and walks directly beside her to find Jesse. "Just a little while ago you-"
"Are you aware you talk a lot?" Aubrey asks.
"Yes."
"Hey," Aubrey alerts Jesse to their presence as they approach his fire.
"Hey." Jesse stands up to make introductions. "Aubrey, Chloe, this is Benji. I have no idea who he is; he just sort of sat down."
"I'm his boyfriend," Benji objects. He slides a rose out of his sleeve when Chloe sits down next to him and offers it her.
"Oh." Chloe gleefully accepts. "Thank you."
"No idea who he is," Jesse mutters.
Benji pulls out a watch from behind his ear.
"Is that my watch?" Jesse feels his wrist then snatches it. "Fine, we've been dating for two years."
"Plus three months," Benji adds.
"And five days," Jesse adds with a breathy laugh, "I know."
"Nice Star Wars shirt," Aubrey says.
"Thank you."
"Do not get him started on Star Wars," Jesse warns.
"Aubrey works for NASA," Chloe says.
"It's not directly for NASA," Aubrey replies, "We just supply them the most."
"NASA," Jesse says, "That's impressive. Have you ever seen an alien?"
"Why is it when I tell people I work with NASA the first thing they always ask me is if I've ever seen an alien?" Aubrey asks.
"Have you?" Chloe asks.
"No, Chloe."
"So, how do you two know each other?" Benji asks.
"We just met," Aubrey says at the same time as Chloe says, "We're best friends." She laughs at the look on Aubrey's face.
"I think I'm gonna believe Aubrey on that one," Jesse chuckles.
Aubrey peels off the plastic fork attached to her bag of freeze dried whatever it is. "You are the weirdest person I have ever met."
"You'll be asking for my number to keep in touch by the time rescue gets here," Chloe says with all the confidence in the world.
Probably.
xxxxx
Freeze dried food isn't bad. It isn't exactly Aubrey's favorite, but after a few hunting trips with her father growing up, she's no stranger to it. After awhile of poking at it, trying not to think about him, Chloe asks if she plans to devour it through osmosis and she finishes it all, along with half the bottle of water. It didn't occur to her how hungry or thirsty she was until she's not anymore, and that's when the exhaustion starts to seep in – not just for her, but for everyone. "We should take shifts to make sure the fire doesn't go out," she says, "I'll go first."
Chloe, Jesse, and Benji all share a look and Chloe is the one to shake her head no. "Mm mm."
"I'll go first," Benji offers.
"I'll go second," Chloe replies.
"Third," Jesse chimes in.
That leaves Aubrey…last. That's ridiculous; she's awake enough to take the first shift. She shakes her head, about to protest when the conversation is interrupted by someone passing out blankets and pillows. If there had been emergency blankets on the plane, they weren't in the fuselage, and that leaves them with people's personal blankets and travel pillows. There are enough travel pillows to go around, but only enough blankets for roughly every two or three people to share one.
"We're probably all about to get head lice," Aubrey complains and places the pillow given to her on the sand. It isn't until she's laying down that remembers she wanted to take first watch over the fire. "It's fine," she says as Chloe tries to share the blanket.
"It's cold." Chloe covers her up with half of it then collapses down next to her.
The blanket isn't very big. Aubrey has to roll over and draw her legs up in order to keep her feet covered and there's nothing she can do to keep from pressing her back up against Chloe's side. Chloe is right though; it is cold, and the extra body heat doesn't go completely unappreciated. She settles into it, knowing that by sunrise, they'll probably all be boarding a rescue boat to take them somewhere that will get them home to their own beds.
"Goodnight," Chloe says, and Aubrey is half-certain she mumbles it back before she's already drifting off.
xxxxx
The first time Aubrey hears the sound, she doesn't completely wake up. She jolts a little, subconsciously decides it's a nightmare, then passes back out. The second time, she's wide awake in seconds, scrambling upright along with the rest of the survivors.
"What was that?" Chloe asks.
Aubrey doesn't know what exactly she heard. She climbs to her feet and looks toward the jungle.
"Did anybody see that?" Stacie asks walking up beside her.
The only time Aubrey has ever seen trees sway back and forth quite like they are now has been in videos of hurricanes. But this is no hurricane. The sky is clear and there's no wind on the beach. "Yeah." She follows the group as they walk closer to get a better look, ignoring as Chloe calls after her. People crowd around several feet back from the tree line, and she pushes her way through them to get to the front.
Chloe appears beside her a second later and rests a hand on her arm.
There is a cracking sound as one of the trees snaps followed by a mechanical howl…and then that noise again, the first one that originally woke Aubrey up. It's almost like a clicking, and it's familiar. Aubrey has heard that noise somewhere before.
"Aubrey!"
Aubrey turns as Beca appears beside her, but her excitement is short lived. The trees began to sway on the other side of them – and whatever is shaking them like that does not seem happy.
"Dude, this is some Jurassic Park type shit," Beca whispers, "Do you believe in aliens now?"
It howls again, longer this time, moving away from them back into the jungle.
"Jurassic Park was dinosaurs."
No one on the beach moves. Fearful, hushed whispers fall over the crowd, and Aubrey quickly turns to address them before it can turn to panic.
"Everything is okay!" she calls over them, "I'm sure there is a logical explanation for whatever that was. It's gone now. We're safe."
"What can do something like that?" someone calls from the crowd.
Aubrey has absolutely no fucking idea. "Maybe it's part of the plane," she suggests, "Another part of the engine or something that has been running and finally just completely malfunctioned like that."
"You know what I think?" Bumper asks, "I think you have no idea what you're talking about and you're just pulling shit out of your ass."
Aubrey is trying to calm the group. "Look, whatever it is, it's in there, and if wanted to come out here, it would have. We just need to remain calm until morning, and then we can figure out what we can do to better protect ourselves until rescue arrives. Until then, we should all alternate between keepin' the fires going and gettin' some sleep. And if we hear it again, we come together as a group. Now go back to your camps and try to get some more rest."
Most of them disperse, walking scared back to their fires. Chloe, Beca, Jesse, and Benji remain at her side until she starts to walk away too. She snatches a palm leaf off the ground and folds it into the shape of an airplane as she sits back down next to the fire to help her think.
"Dude, I thought you were dead," Beca says, sitting down beside her, "How did you survive?"
"I don't know. I blacked out."
"And you're not even hurt?" Beca asks.
"Just minor injuries." Aubrey looks up from her origami, surprised Chloe hasn't chimed in yet. Instead, she's staring at Beca with eyes the size of silver dollars. "Chloe."
"You're friends with Beca Mitchell?" Chloe asks, dumbfounded.
"We met on the plane," Aubrey says, "Do you guys know each other?"
"Dude, are you wearing one of my shirts?" Beca asks Chloe.
"I love you," Chloe states.
"I'm lost," Aubrey admits, "So, you are famous then?"
"Or something," Beca says, still laughing at Chloe's shirt.
"You've never heard Beca's music? What kind rock do you live under?" Chloe asks.
Aubrey frowns.
"In her defense, she comes from Tennessee," Beca says.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Tell me you don't have every Dolly Parton CD sitting on a shelf," Beca replies.
"I don't," Aubrey says, "…they're in my car."
Beca starts to laugh again.
"I didn't realize who you were at first," Jesse says, "But you're really good."
"He knows because I own every CD," Benji adds, "Benjamin Applebaum - big fan."
Aubrey looks down at her hands and takes to absently examining her fingernails. It was nice to feel in the loop while it lasted.
"Hey, it's nice to find people who have never heard of me," Beca claims, "I liked our conversation; it was real. You don't know how normal I got to feel for a second after being shoved over at the airport and then being told it was my fault."
"I'm gonna to go look for the cockpit tomorrow," Aubrey decides, removing herself from the conversation completely, "See if I can find anything useful."
"After what we just heard, you're going out there?" Beca asks.
"We can't just sit around and wait for rescue to find us." Aubrey throws the origami plane into the fire. "There's gotta be a somethin'…a walkie-talkie, a GPS that can tell us where we are."
"The plane probably had a black box," Chloe says, "Shouldn't that tell them where we are?"
"Not unless it landed in the water. Black boxes are basically fancy recorders; they help tell what went wrong after the fact. But if it lands in the ocean, it'll send out a signal – which still might not help us, because there are a lot of complications findin' those."
"I saw some smoke out in the valley right after we crashed," Beca says, "If you're going looking for the cockpit, I'll go with you."
"Alright." It's difficult to tell whether the butterflies that return to her stomach are from giddiness or nerves and the potential for more embarrassment. "We leave a dawn."