CHAPTER 4

As Miguel walked away and out of sight of Tory, his temper finally began to subside and immediately, he felt horrible. Who the HELL was he to make comments about Tory's family like that?! The gravity of the insane situation he was in had overwhelmed him and, much as he severely disliked Tory so didn't want to admit this, he had unfairly lashed out at her. That being said, he still absolutely despised her, so he continued to walk at a brisk pace, trying to put as much distance from the girl as he could. However, eventually he was forced to stop walking as he began to get tired, so he sat down on the sandy beach shore and looked out at the horizon. The sun was continuing to set; it looked as if God graffitied rainbow-flame upon the evening sky. It was, by far and without a doubt, the most beautiful sunset he had ever seen in his life, but it was a shame Miguel couldn't enjoy it. His whole body was screaming in pain from the aftermath of the wreck, and his head was pounding like a bass drum. He hadn't eaten or drank anything since before they had even gotten on the pain, so he could feel his mouth bone dry, his stomach growling, and his headache amplified even more. Water. That's my first priority right now, Miguel thought to himself.

But he couldn't do that yet. All of the thoughts in his head vanished in comparison to the one that was weighing on him more than anything. As he closed his eyes, he saw Johnny. He saw Hawk. He saw Sam. Demetri, Mitch, Bert, Nate, Chris, Mr. Larusso. Were they alive? As much as he wanted to believe so, he knew deep down the answer… no. No, they weren't. No chance they had survived the plane crash, been granted the same miracle he had been given. They were gone. Their families not given the chance to say goodbye. All of their loved ones and friends, forever going to be living in uncertainty as to what happened. He couldn't imagine what it must be like, the police officer going to Amanda, to Hawk's mom, to Demetri's mom, telling them the heartbreaking news. That they would never see their child again. That they, in less than a month, would be burying an empty casket but living with the grief for the rest of their lives.

The emotions overcame him, and before he knew it, tears began to roll down his cheeks. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fucking fair. Why had God chosen for it to be him to survive, when every single Miyagi-Do member deserved the second chance at life more than he did?! Why had God put him here, on this island, to live out his few remaining days in misery before he inevitably died?! It was such a cruel way to bring his short life to an end but honestly, after some of the things he had done in the past year, he deserved it. Dumping Sam, pushing his friends and family away pretty roughly, his vengeful feelings about Cobra Kai, all of the verbal assaults he had batted their way… yeah, he definitely deserved it.

Miguel quietly sobbed for the lives of all of his friends that had been lost, punching the ground in fury, letting the soft tide roll over his legs and then pull away. He stayed like this for a long while, before eventually falling asleep, right there on the sea shore…

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The next morning, Miguel's eyes opened, only to be blinded by the sunlight that was mercilessly beating down on him. He groaned, his whole body feeling even more sore now than it had the night before. He could barely see straight due to the ruthless headache that was ripping through his head, feeling like it was about to split his head in half. He hadn't drank water in nearly 24 hours and it was having a massive effect on him. His movements were extremely sluggish, his body extremely reluctantly responding to his brain's commands. He knew he wasn't going to, he couldn't, survive much longer without water, so immediately, he told himself that he needed to find water. Shelter too, because there was no way he'd be able to cope with the sun's beating rays much longer either. Water. Shelter. Food. In that order. That's what Miguel decided.

Making the list helped motivate him to get to his feet and begin his first part of his quest: finding water. Miguel knew that walking down the beach shore, though there was plenty of water all around him, was only full of saltwater. He needed freshwater, water from a lake or a river, as it, although extremely unsanitary and leaving him prone to disease, would be the only thing keeping him from dying of thirst. So he decided to venture into the jungle for the first time…

As Miguel walked down the beach, his loud footsteps caught the attention of the other person on the island. Tory, whose night had been just as rough as Miguel's, spun around as she walked Miguel begin to march towards the jungle. Her night had been a LOT more productive than Miguel's as unlike him, she hadn't cried herself to sleep like a bitch. No, she had spent hours and hours exploring every inch of the beach, finding something Miguel hadn't… safe shelter. As Tory saw him, her blood immediately boiled, but then calmer thinking prevailed. Chances were, if Miguel was feeling anything like she was, he was going looking for food or, more likely, water. She had absolutely no idea how to find any herself, but maybe, if she followed Miguel, she could stalk him until he found some and then took advantage of it for herself.

Survivor. It was Miguel's favourite show. From when Miguel was a kid, him, his mom and his yaya would ALWAYS sit down together and watch an episode of Survival on a Friday afternoon. He didn't really have friends his entire childhood, so this was his family's way of cheering him up on days when everyone else would be out with their friends. Because of this, Miguel had a vague idea of what he was doing. He remembered one episode when the people needed to find water, and he remembered exactly what had been done to find it. Follow the trail. Those were the words echoed throughout the episode. Of course, there wasn't a literal trail. That would be too easy. No, he needed to create a metaphorical trail based on his surroundings.

His first clue… the vegetation around him. As Miguel ventured further and further into the jungle, the vegetation seemed to get thicker and thicker, more lush and green too. This was a great sign. Because for the vegetation to grow, it required water and that meant that there was definitely water somewhere nearby. The air was buzzing with activity. He could hear the distinct sound of wildlife and bugs around him, but due to the vast amount of foliage, he couldn't see anything for his life. Definitely not safe, but not like he had any other choice. If he backed out in fear of something attacking him, he'd die anyways, so it was kind of a lose-lose anyway. Little did he know that a short distance back, Tory continued to follow him. She followed him as he made it to his next clue… mud.

Miguel smiled as his feet began to squelch through a damp, thick muddy substance beneath him. This was amazing news. He was pretty far from the beach right now so any mud that had formed, had done so because of a nearby water source. Miguel could feel it in the air. The humidity and dampness was increasing with every meter he walked. He was getting close! Sure enough, soon, after nearly half an hour of walking, Miguel finally found his reward. As he shoved the low hanging branches hanging over his head aside, Miguel came to a clearing. He pulled back the leaves and immediately, a massive smile spreading across his face. He had done it! Before him was none other than a vast, crystal clear lake. It was absolutely gorgeous, made more so by his ravenous thirst.

Without wasting a second, Miguel dived towards the water, relishing as he felt the icy cool liquid run all over his skin, lapping it all up like a dog left too long out in the sun. He eagerly swallowed down and gulped what felt like was the entire lake, but thankfully was only a minute amount of it. It was a pretty massive lake actually, close to the size of the one they had back home that they often did Miyagi-Do training on, however this one looked smaller due to all the foliage that was keeping it hidden.

At that moment, Tory also came into the clearing, breathing a huge sigh of relief as she did. Oh, Miguel… you absolute idiot. He had led her right to water! That being said, she was still extremely grateful to him and began to slowly walk down to the water, watching him on the other side of the lake as she did. He hadn't spotted her yet, but she saw him swimming around jubilantly in the water. Despite all her hatred towards him that was undoubtedly still there, she couldn't help but laugh quietly at his goofy, giddy reaction. She also watched as another object entered the otherwise uninhabited lake. It seemed to be a log of some kind behind Miguel. But… why would a log be moving? HOLY SHIT!

At that moment, Tory completely forgot about hating Miguel. She knew that he had a mere couple of seconds before he was attacked by the beast that was bound to overpower him. She forced her shock deep down and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"MIGUEL!" she screamed, her face pale and her eyes wide in alarm as she realised what was behind Miguel. Hearing her voice, Miguel spun around and found himself face to face with by far the most terrifying sight of his entire life…

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Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Holy Fuck! Miguel nearly crapped himself in panic when he found himself facing none other than a colossal crocodile. Had Miguel not trained to survive ambushes from Cobra Kai throughout the entire year, he would be a dead man for sure. However, his reflexes kicked in just as the crocodile opened its mouth and snapped its mighty jaws shut. Miguel dived out of the way, rolling sideways and thrashing around in the water, terrified. This was it. This was how he was going to die. It was cruelly ironic. He nearly died trying to find water, only to die in the water he risked so much to find. The crocodile, though he had dodged its first strike, wasn't done with him yet. As it prepared to open its jaws once again, Miguel was on top of it, wrenching the teeth shut and hugging it with all his might to prevent them from opening again. At this point, the crocodile began to become as panicked as Miguel. With its teeth firmly sealed shut, it thrashed around in the water, its immense weight pushing Miguel under the water, beginning to drown him.

As Tory watched this, her shock quickly wore off so she quickly sprung into action. She sprinted over to a nearby tree and snapped off one of the branches. She brandished it in the air, nodding to herself as she saw that it had an extremely sharp tip, before diving into the water herself and swimming frantically towards her ex-boyfriend…

Miguel's strength began to wane as he felt air beginning to seep out of his lungs. Though he had eliminated the threat of the gator's teeth, his new imminent threat was now being drowned to death by the sheer weight of the massive beast. And the worst part, there was nothing he could do as he knew that the second he let go of the animal's teeth, it would snap him up like he was nothing. So Miguel was forced to simply lie there as he felt the gator roughly shove the rest of its body up against him. It even managed to use one of its claws to slash at Miguel's stomach, causing a wound to open up in his abdomen. Miguel hissed in pain.

As he was about to let go and just let himself be eaten, his strength finally completely gone, he felt another disturbance in the water. Oh great, another crocodile. He was completely fucked now. However, he was mistaken. For as Tory grabbed her tree branch and began to stab at the animal, her weapon pierced its skin and caused it to grunt rapidly in pain. As she continued to stab it, for a brief moment, the animal was distracted. And that was all Tory needed. As it loosened its grip on Miguel, she grabbed him herself and yanked him back up to the surface of the water, pulling him to safety as the crocodile thrashed around in the water.

"Come on, let's go!" She shouted, preparing to sprint away from the lake. But Miguel was in no shape to run, as his extreme weakness after the encounter with the crocodile, combined with the open wound on his stomach, was too much for him. Tory wasn't about to leave him to die though. She draped one of his arms around her shoulders and practically carried him away from the scene as fast as she could. They made it back to the beach in record time and practically collapsed on the sand, side by side. While normally they would only be in this proximity of each other if they were fighting, now they didn't care. They were safe. They had survived…