Stranded Chapter 3 – What are the odds
Disclaimer: For this chapter I was inspired by the book Lord of the Flies. It's a great classical book and I encourage everyone to read it. The events are slightly similar to what I wrote but are not the same as the book. With that said have fun reading!
Recap: "Right, like we'll ever need to rely on Maxwell's 'foolproof' plan." Wufei stated. As it turns out, we were supposed to fly over to the Sanc Kingdom this week end for Relena's reunion. My initial thought was: why do I feel uneasy about this entire thing?
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As it turns out I had good reason to feel ill at ease. Oh, the rest of the week went by ok. My sister came to see us off at the airport and everything. Yeah, I was starting to hate myself for feeling so paranoid. I mean Relena was supplying the private plane AND pilot to fly us over. Why was I so nervous? We were probably only on the plane for half an hour before the trouble started. You know the cliché 'we're experiencing technical difficulties' line? Well, that's exactly what the pilot said. Geez, is it that hard for them to find a new tagline? I'm a pilot too, but you don't hear me saying stupid one liners like that.
Apparently, the engines (two out of the three that we had) stopped working. We were out of our seats in a minute. With us all crammed in the cockpit, it was hard to do anything. While we tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with the plane's engines, the little nerd squeezed through us, stole a parachute, and jumped from the plane. Just wait until I see the little beep again.
"We're gonna crash!!!" Duo shouted. "Take cover!"
Me and the boys grabbed the remaining parachutes and made a jump for it. By the looks of the mountain ahead, if we stayed, we'd be mushier than a bunch of bananas. I remember seeing the plane slam into the mountain, fireworks emanating from the wreckage as I flew through the air. I resurfaced from the water, thanking the lord for supplying that much for us, and looked around. The others were scattered in the water all around me. Shouts of 'are you okay' went around as we looked at our surroundings.
"Well, at least there's land nearby." Quatre pointed east towards a tropical looking island. Great! Dry land. No wait a minute. This isn't right.
"What the hell are the odds of that?" Wufei voiced what I was thinking. Wasn't it just this week that we scoffed at the idea of being stranded on a deserted island? We swam over to the welcoming beach. Exhausted by the sudden turn of events, I lay there trying to catch my breath. Then the light bulb switched on. "Hey! Duo! Your tickets can get us out of here right?"
"Oh yeah! See, I told you guys it would come in handy."
"You jinxed us Maxwell." Wufei stared at the clear blue sky. He didn't seem particularly mad at the moment though.
"Speaking of said tickets, where are they Duo?" Quatre looked over to see Duo's facial expression change from being excited to looking mortified. "Duo? Where are they?!?" Now Quatre looked panicked. I feel a chain reaction coming on…..
Duo gulped as he slowly pointed to the mountain where the plane crashed landed.
"Oh, HELL NO!" Heero shouted as he quickly stood up. "The tickets are NOT burning on that plane Duo. Tell me you DID NOT leave them in your suitcase." Duo could only nod his affirmation to Heero's outburst. I stood up to hold Heero back.
"Hey what's the matter Heero; you were the one who said going to Relena's reunion would be a waste of time." I grunted with the effort of holding him back. For a scrawny little boy, he sure is strong.
"I wasn't going to the reunion to see her! I had a match to settle with that brother of hers. Zechs beat me at table tennis last time and this time I promised to dish out a world of pain on him -" Heero fell face first into the sand when I let go of him. Honestly, some guys never learn when to give up.
I shook my head, "So now what?" I asked.
"Well, considering the fact that we're stranded on a deserted island with nothing to do, I suggest that we make ourselves at home, do a little exploring…" Quatre ticked off the options.
"…find some food..." Duo added.
Boring, boring, boring….. "Hey guys, if it's not too much trouble, I'm going to check out the wreckage, see if anything can be salvaged, I'll be back in…Oh wait, my watch stopped…whatever, I'll be back whenever. Hey Heero, want to come along? I may need your help bringing things back. You kids play nice while I'm gone" I added mockingly. Knowing Wufei and Duo, they'll be at each others throats with Quatre in between trying to stop them.
"You know this would never have happened if you didn't click on that stupid link Duo?" Quatre accused.
"Are you saying this is MY entire fault Quatre?" Duo countered.
"Yes Duo, yes I am. You even went as far as getting those pointless 'tickets' and everything. Look how useful those are. They'll really get us far, burned to smithereens!!!" Quatre was yelling now. Keep in mind I didn't know any of this happened until I got back some odd three hours later. Wufei told me everything, considering the fact that he sat there watching the show without lifting so much as a finger to stop the two of them from going at it. In a way, I don't blame him. It's a rare occasion indeed when Quatre actually gets mad at Duo. Usually, he's trying to save the Braided Wonder.
"Oh yeah? Well, I don't see you trying to keep us out of trouble with all the money you've got, Mister Rich & Snobby!" Duo shouted.
"I didn't want it to go this far, but if this is how you want to fight, then so be it! You're so poor, when someone stepped on a cigarette, you said, 'Oh damn, there goes my furnace.'" Quatre finished with a smirk. The astonished look on Duo's face showed how shocked he was that the normally nice blond could even come up with something like that.
Duo put his mind in high gear; Quatre was apparently skilled in the art of 'Disses'and Duo didn't like the idea of being showed up by some rich boy. "Well, you're so ugly you look like you fell out of the UGLY Tree, hitting every branch on the way down!"
Wufei snorted. This was getting good. Duo touched a nerve that time.
Quatre glared at Wufei, and then turned back towards Duo. "Oh I know you didn't just say my family has ugly people. Tell me you didn't just say I come from an ugly family. Because if you did…" Quatre made a violent gesture in the air.
Duo smirked. He may not have had adequate training in the art of 'disses' but he grew up on the streets, fighting was second nature to him. Well besides eating anyway. "You want to fight pretty boy? Bring – it – ON!"
Duo charged at Quatre who ducked, spun, and then landed a kick to Duo's lower back, sending the boy in black into the soft, sandy ground. Duo jumped up and shook the sand off. Wufei was thoroughly enjoying this. As he told me later, this beat watching WWE any day.
Duo tried charging at Quatre again. This time Quatre stood his ground, putting up his hands in a "would be" attempt to punch Duo. But at last minute, Quatre dropped to the ground and tripped Duo instead, sending the other boy hurling into the sand for the second time in a row.
"Is that all you've got? I thought you were the 'Great Shinigami?'" Quatre had to know he'd pay for that one. Duo popped up and sucker punched Quatre straight in the face. Quatre in turn gave Duo a nasty upper cut after recovering from Duo's punch.
According to Wufei, this kind of thing went on for quite a while, until both boys fell to the sand, completely exhausted and bleeding freely. Throughout the entire thing all Wufei did was watch them! The least he could've done was try to stop them.
"Hey Quatre," Duo began, "how much glue have you been sniffing?"
"Not glue, steroids." Quatre answered with a small smile.
"No seriously man, where did you learn how to fight and exhaust your opponents like that?" Duo said while massaging his sore muscles.
"Well, when you're a 'rich, snobby brat' you need to know how to defend yourself in case of a kidnapping or something." Quatre replied, laying his head on the warm sand. He looked up at the sky. The setting sun was sending a gorgeous display of colour to every corner it could reach.
Meanwhile, Heero and I were searching through the wreck that was our plane. Nothing could be found, nothing could be saved. I managed to find Duo suitcase…I think. But it's no use to us without the tickets inside.
"Hey! What the hell was that?!?" Heero's outburst nearly gave me a heart attack, the sudden noise made me jump a foot in the air.
"What? What was what?" I asked, whirling around to get a better view of whatever startled him. He pointed somewhere above my head and to the right. I turned. "I don't see anything Heero. Are you sure you're oka - aaaaaahhhhhhh!"
"You know, I'm sorry I said all those mean things to you. You didn't deserve it." Quatre looked over to Duo who was playing in the sand.
"Same here. I guess I went a little overboard. Hey, haven't Heero and Trowa been gone a while? Shouldn't they be back by now?" Duo asked, turning to look towards the mountain. There was thick foliage at the base of the mountain, even if you used binoculars, you couldn't see through it. That was where Heero and I came running out of screaming our heads off. Wufei aka Mr. Overly Observant But I'll Never Step In To Help said we looked like little babies running away from Santa Claus. My only counter (and Heero's too, now that I think of it) is that if I had had my Gundam, I'd have blown that thing to hell with all I had.
"What happened to you guys?" Quatre asked.
"What happened to you guys?" was Heero's reply after he glanced at the bloody boys.
"Not important. You go first." Duo agreed with Quatre.
"There's something weird living in there. By the way, we couldn't save anything from the wreckage, we'll have to improvise." He sounded back to normal.
It didn't take us long to divide the chores amongst ourselves. Within an hour, we had a toasty fire going and something of a shelter halfway built. Heero and I told them of the 'thing' we saw, or didn't see considering how fast it disappeared. My only hope is that we get off this island before we find out what that "thing" actually is.