S U R V I V O R
Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.
A/N: Please go here if you reviewed my previous chapter: www . livejournal . com /users /drakulya /1590 . html (you don't have to, but you should if you asked a question in your review last time).
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Chapter Three
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The next morning, Draco woke to bright sunlight glaring into his face. He blinked and moved his free arm to shield his eyes as he struggled to move over, unsuccessfully. He was annoyed at the dead weight on his arm, and was about to shove whatever was lying there off when he suddenly remembered the events of last night. Hermione, with her wet clothes. Him offering for her to sleep in his tent so she wouldn't catch hypothermia.
Oh.
He glanced down and stared for a moment at the young woman lying in his arms. Chuckling quietly to himself, he thought about their 'relationship' back in high school. No one would have guessed that they'd ever be in a situation like this one, no matter how much money they were offered. Draco and Hermione were the famous school rivals (and bitter enemies), and though Draco was better looking boy-wise than she was girl-wise, Hermione's brains excelled his by a long margin. That wasn't to say he was stupid, but it was the sad truth.
Draco hadn't initially wanted to do an island TV show like this, with other contestants apart from himself. Before, it was always him against the elements, and he loved it that way. Now there were three more squabbling people to cater for - well, two, since Hermione wasn't nearly as easy to piss off as the others. Which was a good thing, he supposed; if all three shouted and screamed at each other, he'd probably dive headfirst off the nearest cliff.
It was Julia who had thought up the idea of this show. Draco would have rejected it, but to tell the truth he was a little afraid of the woman. Although she wasn't in a position high enough to fire him directly, Julia still had the power, and the cunning, to make the rest of his career miserable. Working with her was a kind of torture; working against her he didn't even want to think about.
But he had to admit, he was starting to find this quite interesting. When put in a life-threatening situation, it was always fascinating to see what people will do just to survive. Who'll crack under the strain, who'll betray, and who'll surprise? While they were with him it was unlikely they'd starve to death anytime soon, so the million-dollar prize was introduced to provoke the contestants' natural sense of greed, which would ultimately result in backstabbing and betrayal.
Hermione stirred slightly, and Draco snapped back to reality from his thoughts. The sun was in his eyes again and when he moved his head around, he saw Kenny kneeling in the shelter entrance, silently filming them. He chuckled. "Give us a minute to get up, will you?"
When he started to sit up, Hermione opened her eyes blearily and looked around. She laughed helplessly at the camera and turned back to Draco, looking embarrassed.
The next minute, she ran out of the hut, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Did you see that? It's gigantic!" she exclaimed to cameraman, who nodded, looking amused. "It's not funny, Kenny! I nearly had a heart attack!"
Draco glanced around, a small part of his mind wondering if anything of his 'down there' caused her reaction. If it had, it was pretty tactless of her to make such a big deal out of it... but his fears were extinguished when he spotted a small python slithering away from their sleeping spot, its tongue darting in and out. Involuntarily, he sighed in relief and headed outside into the bright sunlight. "It's OK, it's gone now," he announced. Hermione stared suspiciously at him from a few metres away. "It wasn't that big anyway. Just a little jungle snake, looking for warmth and companionship - looks like it found it with us. Harmless, really."
"Yeah well, don't forget to invite me to your wedding with it, then. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Now that the coast was clear, Hermione felt a little embarrassed at her screaming over such a small thing. Why had she made such a big deal? Maybe it was the fact that she'd woken up with her former worst enemy on a tropical island. That does tend to make people jittery.
He rolled his eyes. "OK, OK. Let's just pretend nothing happened and go make breakfast." Hermione nodded and Kenny moved the camera around slowly to follow the two as they walked slowly across the sand.
Just then, Draco spotted Laurie and Alex emerging from their own shelters, looking confused. Of course, that shriek would still take some explaining to the others.
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"For the last time, I was not trying to molest Hermione, so will you please stop saying I was." Draco glared up at the other two, and pointed at the trees. "We're on camera, you know."
The expression on Laurie's face showed that she wasn't at all convinced. She folded her arms across her chest and said, "Well, I'm just implying that it was an awfully ear-splitting shriek to be caused by a little snake."
Alex chuckled, and Hermione gave him a dirty look that sent him scurrying off to 'collect more dry grass'. "It wasn't little, it was huge. It was mutant, even. You'd have been scared too."
Laurie waved a hand airily. "I'm not really scared of those things."
"I have a phobia of-" Alex spoke up, before stopping mid-sentence. There was silence, broken only by the occasional hiss of the water pot.
Draco looked at him understandingly. "You think I'd use it against you, right?" When Alex nodded miserably, he smiled. "Don't worry about it, Alex. I'm not saying I won't ever think of using your phobia against you, but I'm not going to force it out of you either." The bespectacled man looked a bit happier at his words.
"I have a phobia of pizza, please don't make me eat pizza or I'll freak out," Laurie said, glancing at Draco hopefully.
He gave her a disappointed look. "Only the second day, and you're already wanting pizza?"
Hermione cleared her throat. "I, too, find it unthinkable for the thrill of eating sweet potatoes to ever wear off, having had them for dinner and breakfast already."
Draco raised his hands in surrender. "OK, OK. I promise we'll be eating other food soon. I saw some banana trees and papaya bushes inland. It should be the right season for them to be bearing fruit. Plus we'll be fishing, and catching other seafood like shells or crabs. And better yet, I saw some hoofprints that looked suspiciously like..."
"Horses," Laurie provided helpfully.
"There's no horses on deserted islands, idiot," Alex said in response. The blond woman sent a glare at him, which he returned, and soon they were bickering again.
Hermione shook her head and looked at Draco. "What were the hoofprints?"
"Wild pigs," he announced, smiling gratefully at her for listening. At his words, Alex and Laurie shut up and looked surprised. "Yes, that means we can have pork for dinner - if we can catch them. They shouldn't be too hard to kill, since they haven't seen humans before and should be relatively tame."
"Yeah, you can catch them," Laurie said, wrinkling her nose. "I personally don't find chasing wild pigs around the island too appealing."
Alex turned to Draco eagerly. "Ooh, can I? Can I? It'll be really fun!"
Draco looked amused at Alex's childlike enthusiasm. "Sure." He was surprised by, but liked, the fact that despite the fact that the wild pigs could easily bowl him over and shred him, Alex was still eager to catch them.
Just then, Hermione glanced down at her lap as something in the sand pricked her leg, and realized she was still wearing the shirt Draco had lended her last night. Facing the sun, she took it off and handed it to him with a dutiful smile. "It's getting really warm. Do you think we could go swimming later?" she fanned her face for effect, and sorted through her evening bag to produce a thin tube of sunscreen. "Taadaa!" Hermione applied some to her face, arms and legs, and offered some to the others.
Draco declined. "It's OK. I'm used to the outdoors."
"I'm old friends with the tan-bed, so I'm alright too." Laurie winked. "No tan lines."
Alex took a while to look up and notice Hermione's invitation. When he finally did, she was looking irritated, but kept it half-hidden behind a forced smile. He apologized quickly and took the sunscreen after a slight hesitation, as if wondering whether to look cool and refuse, or be practical and protect himself from sunburn.
A second later, the sound of an engine became audible, and the four glanced up to see Julia waving at them from the top of a motorboat. As soon as the hull touched dry sand the producer leapt off with a ballerina-like grace. Hermione looked on, amazed, at her high-heels and wondered what kind of ballet training Julia'd received as a child. "Hiya, people! Look, the first responses from the test audience are here! We got them off the website."
Hermione had nearly forgotten that they were being taped and 'broadcasted' to a mock audience, and glanced at the sheets of paper in Julia's hands. Laurie and Alex seemed just as surprised but pleased that they were getting comments already.
"OK, let's start with Hermione. Guess what? You're a hit with the test viewers! They all thought you were really chatty-" Hermione grimaced when she recalled her babbling to the confession cam - "- and nice in the confession hut. Plus they love your fiestiness. And Draco, you even got some stick for rescuing her when she obviously didn't need it!" Julia giggled. "Great job!"
Draco looked nonplussed. "What? It wasn't my fault I thought she was drowning. You'd have thought it too if you saw her."
"Thanks for the compliment," Hermione said sarcastically. "Gee, maybe I should pursue an acting career after all."
Julia continued, seemingly unaware that they had spoken. "I know, I can't believe it either. Isn't it adorable? She's like some kind of heroine of the people. They love her fresh spirit and cheeky talk-back attitude." Hermione glanced at her, surprised, but the woman continued talking. "It's going even better than I thought. This show'll be a hit for sure!" She let a dreamy look slide over her face, then turned her eyes to the brunette. "Hermione, because of your popularity, I'll let you get away with smuggling those stuff into the bag. Naughty girl!"
Behind her, Laurie made a little impatient coughing noise. Julie shifted her lazer gaze to the blonde. "Getting impatient with me isn't going to earn you any brownie points, Laurie." She scanned her paper, and smiled. "But we've been hearing some very positive things about your looks. Generally speaking, the test audience all think you're quite a beauty."
Laurie lowered her lashes modestly, but Draco noticed that she didn't exactly blush.
Alex tried to get Julia's attention. "How about me? What do they think?"
"Er, they like you too," was her dismissive response. Then, she brightened. "Well, Draco. What do you have in store for our contestants? I'm sure the viewers would love to see something dramatic and dangerous."
"We're going to go fishing," Draco explained, pointing to the coils of fishing line that he held in one hand. "To see what they can do."
Julia smiled pleasantly at him. "Of course, fishing. Why don't you just shoot me right here and now? Fishing is the most boring thing I can think of for you to do. You're on an island, so why not make the most of the exciting things you can do here?" She thought for a moment. "Hang on, I'll go ask the boatmen if they can somehow get some electric eels or jellyfish into these waters. That would make for much better television than plain old fishing."
Draco quickly told the others what to do as Julia wandered around. "I'm going to give you each a length of fishing line. The rest you can do yourselves. Remember, this kind of counts as a life and death situation, since if we don't get fish to eat we'll starve. The first one who comes back here with a fish wins this challenge. You guys ready?" He glanced around at the others.
"Oh yeah, I'm ready," Alex said excitedly. "This is gonna be great!"
"Hermione?" Draco questioned.
She smiled lukewarmly at him. "I'm fine. Don't worry, I've seen you do it before on TV - I watch it every week!" She trudged off determinedly, fishing line dangling in her right hand.
Draco watched her go, surprised that she'd actually watch his show after bearing a grudge against him for so long. He shrugged at turned to Laurie. "Well, that leaves you. I'd better help you get started." He placed a hand on her arm and lead her towards the shore.
It was safer than staying with Julia and her eels and jellyfish, definitely.
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"'Don't worry, I've seen you do it before on TV - I watch it every week!'" Hermione sneered, before cringing in embarassment again. She hadn't meant to let that slip. Anyway, it was her friends Ginny and Lavender who watched it religiously week after week, not her. Well, maybe Draco would just interpret it as a sign to tell him that she was alright, and didn't need his help... or he might think she was another fangirl of his. Oh, no.
She sat at the edge of the rocks, the seawater lapping at her calves. It was fairly shallow and if she stood, it would come up to her waist most probably. She had found a long, strong stick from underneath a large tree and had fastened the fishing line to it. The bait took a bit of work; she had to dig up several worms before she stopped squealing in disgust and flinging them around everytime she had to squish one onto the hook. But now all she had to do was sit there. There was no sign of fish anywhere, and Hermione doubted there would be for a long time.
Waggling her toes, she glanced over at the beach, where Draco was helping Laurie out. The latter was knee-deep in water and had taken off everything except her underwear, which, as expected, was lacy and very sexy. Hermione scowled involuntarily as Laurie pressed a hand on Draco's arm, laughing at something he'd said. What was so funny about fishing? She forced herself to look away and was startled when she spotted a shadow flickering in the water.
"Here, fishy fishy," she murmured, lowering the bait a little, hoping to lure the fish onto it. Seagulls screeched above her and occasionally dived into the water to emerge with a wriggling fish. She looked on jealously at them and fought the urge to hook one of them around the head and steal its prize.
Her heart sped up as something tugged at her line and she slowly wound it up. Hopefully it wasn't going to be something worthless like an old boot. Holding her breath, she grinned hopefully as the tail of a fish - definitely not an imitation or a trick of the light - flapped out of the surface. When she managed to catch the fish after it was lifted high enough, she whooped in triumph, causing Draco to stop and glance at her. "Look, guys!" she cheered. "Draco! I caught one! Does that mean I win the challenge?"
Draco and Laurie waved back, but eventually his became more frantic and panicky. "Hermione, look out behind you!"
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"God, is everything here crazy?" Hermione grumbled, rubbing her wounds. "First a snake seeks comfort with us, then a flock of seagulls attack me."
Draco laughed. "I guess they just like you. At least we don't have the three things that make life really miserable: rats, mosquitos and cockroaches. It'd be even worse if any of those seeked companionship or attacked you." He added a stock cube to the crabs that they were boiling. The shell of the crab slowly turned redder and redder.
Hermione glanced apprehensively at the twitching crabs next to her. "Wow, these are huge. I bet they could take off a fin- OUCH!" She had hardly finished her sentence before one grabbed onto her little finger with its claws, trying desperately to hang on as she shook it violently to get it off. "Owwww! Let go, you stupid crab, or I'll smash you onto the rocks! I mean it, I really do," she threatened as she tried to pull it off.
"Here," Draco said as he pressed down on the base of the crab's claws to force it open. He threw it into the pot, despite it being already full. "Better not risk having that one running around. Are you OK, Hermione?" Draco took her hand and examined her finger, making sure it wasn't too deep. "I'll get you a bandage." When Hermione shook her head vehemently, saying it was fine and didn't need it, he squeezed her finger hard until she yelped in pain. "Told ya so," he said, smirking.
She glared at him and snatched her finger away, her hand tingling at his touch. Stop it, she told herself firmly, resisting the urge to slap herself. He's just being a bully. It's not like he was trying to hold your hand or something.
At that moment, Laurie emerged from the forest, her ten minutes at the confession hut done. "Mmmmm, something smells really nice," she commented as she sat down next to Alex, who poked the fire uninterestedly. "Did I get burned today?" Laurie slid the shoulder of her shirt off and turned her back to the others. "My skin feels a bit hot."
Alex's face turned pink and he poked at the embers more vigorously until sparks flew everywhere. "Eek!" Hermione yelped as a piece of ember darted towards her foot. Draco quickly pulled her aside. "Thanks... Alex, be careful."
Laurie smirked at the reaction she'd caused and glanced at Draco. Hermione noticed that he looked the same as always. There was no red on his cheeks, nor did he seem dreamy or anything else. Strangely, she felt slightly triumphant. "You guys, I'm going to help Hermione build her shelter. I'm not sure she'd want to spend another night in mine," Draco said, smiling slightly. "So I'll let the crab simmer for a while. Alex, Laurie, don't let it get overcooked, OK?"
They nodded as Hermione stood up to follow him. She smiled, telling herself that the spark of joy in her mind was because she could finally get some privacy, not because of the sour look on Laurie's face as they had left.
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Hermione knew that when Draco touched her it was purely platonic and she should be repulsed. But she couldn't help enjoying it. Like now, as he put his hands gently on her waist and shifted her over so that he could weave a couple of new branches into her shelter. It was coming along well, she was pleased to note, despite the strange mixture of emotions concerning the blonde man next to her.
"Well, looks like we're done," he announced after a while, grinning. "This has got to be one of the best huts I've helped to make yet."
She smiled back at him, another thought jumping into her brain. The wind blew at her legs and she, again, hated Julia for making her wear this skimpy outfit. But because she was wearing this, she thought it might have triggered at least some kind of reaction from Draco. Hermione had tested it out on Alex for a while before and it seemed to work perfectly on him. Whenever something called for her to bend down, her eyes had darted towards him as she bent as low as it was acceptable, and Alex couldn't seem to resist sneaking peeks every now and then.
And yet, no matter how suddenly she turned or bent down, she hadn't once caught Draco staring at her back or front views. Which just proved her theory that Draco, who worked in an industry that required looks, had seen too many beautiful women to be swayed by someone half-flashing at him.
Hermione still couldn't figure out why she was doing all this just to get his attention. After all, weren't they supposed to be childhood enemies? But it was hard to resist that sexy smirk, no matter how much her brain told her she hated him. After, she was a woman.
"Hey, thanks for making me an elevated 'bed'," she said. "As much as I enjoy the company of reptiles I think I'll pass on the chance to sleep with them again."
Draco laughed. "You're welcome. I'm hoping the extra banana leaves we put on the roof will hold in case of rain. Otherwise your shelter'll be soaked!"
She smiled at him. "I appreciate that." Their eyes met and she felt a burst of warmth low in her stomach.
"C'mon, let's go back. I think we deserve the delicious crab dinner." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her through a hole in the foliage and onto a path. "Be careful, there're a lot of thorny plants around here."
Oh, stop imagining things, she scolded herself, blushing slightly as they started back to where Laurie and Alex were.
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"I still can't believe I caught so many fish! And I hardly even tried - just stood there," Alex announced for the twentieth time as they settled down to eat. He nibbled on the meat of a fish and sighed. "Ahhh, finally. Something non-vegetable. Laurie, how does it taste?"
Laurie glared at him. "I said, it's brilliant, the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. Now will you stop rubbing it on my face that I didn't manage to catch even one fish, while you caught three?"
Hermione smiled at the heavy sarcasm that nobody could possibly have missed.
"You shouldn't feel too bad," Alex said comfortingly. "After all, I have a slight advantage over you, because I'm a man."
There was a moment where no one spoke. Then Hermione pulled up the arm of her dress and flexed her biceps, showing some very toned muscles. "I'll be happy to take you on in an arm wrestle, if you like," she said pleasantly, looking as innocent as a lamb.
Draco laughed, and whistled. "You're in so much trouble, Alex. She's gonna beat the crap out of you for being so sexist."
Great, now he thinks I'm an ox, Hermione thought. Not exactly a good way to impress him.
"Two hours in the gym every day," Laurie spoke up. "I bet I could waste you as well."
Alex gave Draco a nervous, pleading look that clearly asked for help. The latter shrugged, grinning. "You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out of it. I'm not sure I could go against any of them actually, by the looks of things." Hermione and Laurie laughed at Alex's hopeless and defeated expression.
"OK, OK," he said apologetically. "I'm sorry. I don't train in the gym and I have the muscles of a ten year-old girl."
Hermione cleared her throat.
"Ten year-old boy!" Alex corrected himself quickly before any of the women did anymore than raise their eyebrows. "You can arm wrestle each other if you like, I wouldn't stand a chance against any of you." He looked a bit ashamed.
Laurie finished off her fish and wiped her hands on some leaves. "The good thing about being a female is that you don't have to compete to prove yourselves."
Hermione smiled, but inside she felt horribly deceitful. Laurie was so fun and carefree - she was definitely in competition with her.
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Draco found a long stick and drew a map on the wet sand. "There's a lagoon here on the island, about here. Our shelters are over there, so it's a few minutes walk. It's elevated but there's vines and everything, so you should be able to get there easily enough. There's also another beach diagonally across from the lagoon, and a couple of shallow caves around there somewhere."
Hermione felt his gaze on her and she colored a little, and quickly glanced at the diagram. "I've been meaning to ask you. Do you know exactly where the Island Eyes are?"
He shook his head, amused. "Don't worry about them too much," he said. "You've already heard what Julia said. Don't act paranoid, because they won't be anywhere private. If you stress about them you won't have as much fun here as you might."
"Easy for you to say, you're not trying to look good so you can win a million dollars," grumbled Laurie. "Can't you tell us anything about the locations of the secret cameras?"
"That's why they're secret," Draco smiled. "So you're just here for the money? And here I was, thinking you might actually want to learn something from this experience."
Laurie flapped her hands. "I do! I mean, I really wanted to have some experience about living in peace and harmony with nature, but the money is appealing too." She sighed. "Well, really, I'm in it for the publicity. You can't imagine how hard it is these days to get a break in the acting business."
"I'm like Laurie, I'll take the money if I get it," Alex piped up. "But that's not my main goal. It's really my last chance before I..." he trailed off sheepishly.
"Oh my God! You're going to die, aren't you?" Laurie said in horror. "That's why this is your last chance... before you die!"
Hermione smacked the woman on the arm gently. "Have some tact, Laurie," she hissed. "I mean, he is going to die. No point making him feel any worse."
Alex looked lost. "Wha-? Who said I'm going to die?"
All three stared at him. "You mean you're not?" Hermione managed to say.
"No! I'm just saying it's my last chance before me and my girlfriend get married, and after that I'll be a family man. It's my final opportunity to be a... a hero." He flushed in embarrassment and looked away.
"Aww, how... heroic," Hermione said, and smiles crept onto their faces.
Draco turned to her. "So, why are you here? Don't tell me you're an aspiring actress or secretly expecting twins?"
Hermione grinned. "Nah. I'm here for the money. I mean, a million bucks, who wouldn't want to win that? I could do all sorts of things with that money. I wouldn't have to work ever again if I used it right."
"So what do you do?" Laurie enquired.
"I'm a librarian."
The other woman put a hand to her mouth, looking shocked. "Oh! A librarian? Hermione, I so shouldn't have teased you about having sex with Draco last night. I'm really sorry."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I said I'm a librarian, not a virgin."
There was a long silence.
She put her face into her hands, blushing crimson. "I really wish I hadn't said that."
Laurie gave a frustrated sigh. "That's what I should have said I was. A virgin with only a month to live. God, why did I speak up first?"
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Phew! That was enormous. I don't recall ever writing a chapter this long. This took me ages! So you'd better enjoy it! XD
