Jackson sat on the destroyed wing of the plane, staring out over the ocean. In his hands were the soldier's dog tags and letter.
Melissa came up and sat next to him. She looked at his face, solid, unreadable, they still needed that. The solid, not so much the unreadable. But his eyes were different, there was something that made them mysterious almost frightening. Like they were seeing more that was actually in front of them.
"What's the matter?" She asked. He didn't say anything.
"Is it about the way the vote went?" She asked. "Come on it can't be that bad."
"Trevor Gates." He muttered still staring out over the water.
"What, who's he?" Melissa asked.
"The soldier," He muttered.
She was quiet, waiting for him to go on.
"There was always someone to lean on." Jackson read off the letter. "We're a lot like the soldier's Mel. But we've got to deal with something they didn't."
"What?"
"Relationships."
"Come on what could happen?" She asked, he was sure being a stick in the mud about that.
"If there's a vote I'll bet anything Nathan and Daley will back each other up. If not they'll fight, then we'll be separated. It'll be like the election, they'll try and recruit people and then the whole group might divide." He looked right into he eyes. "And if that happens, we might die, like the soldier, like Trevor."
Melissa was quiet, letting Jackson's words sink in. As much as she didn't want to believe them, deep down she knew they were the truth.
"We won't die here." She said trying to sound positive. "Someone will find us. Besides we're sixteen, that guy was probably like fifty when he died."
"Nineteen, he was nineteen." Jackson whispered.
Once again Melissa was quiet.
"That's too young to die. He had a family, and they never knew what happened."
"Hey guy's what's up?" Nathan asked walking over hand in hand with Daley.
"Just talkin' about the soldier."
"He has a name Mel." Jackson said slightly angry. "Trevor Gates."
"What's your problem?" Nathan asked.
Jackson hopped off the plane wing looked Nathan square in the eye and said "He was my great uncle." Grabbing the dog tags and letter he walked down the beach.
Nathan and Daley looked at each other, eyebrows raised.
Melissa got up and started to follow him.
"Wait Mel, let him go." Nathan said.
Reluctantly Melissa nodded.
"Hey," Eric yelled. "Lex isn't gonna let us eat until you come up."
"Yeah hurry up I'm hungry!" Taylor complained.
The three headed up to get dinner.
"Where's Jackson?" Lex asked.
"He was down the beach," Nathan said.
"Do we have to wait for him?" Taylor asked. "I'm dying of hunger over here."
"Fine let's eat." Daley said.
Later that night
The sun was setting and Jackson still wasn't back.
"I'm getting worried." Mel said. "If he doesn't come back soon we should go look for him."
"He'll be back," Daley said. "It's probably harder for him now…"
"What," Eric interrupted her. "Hard that is dumb rule got the old ka-boot?"
"What got hit with a boot?" Taylor asked.
"Nothing," Daley said.
"So what's so hard to deal with?" Eric asked.
"You know that box we found?" Nathan asked.
"The soldier's box?" Lex asked.
"Yeah, will it turn's out that stuff belonged to his great uncle or something." Daley said.
"Seriously?" Lex asked, looking both excited and scared.
"What's the big deal," Taylor said. "I mean he never met the guy did he?" She looked at Eric "He'd be like a hundred or something."
Lex rolled his eyes "World War 2 happened in the 1930's-1940's not a hundred years ago."
"Ok skip the history lesson." Taylor said. "But he still never met the guy."
"No," Jackson said, he was standing just outside the glow of the fire. "But he was my granddad's brother. I remember grandpa telling me stories of how they went threw basic training together. They never thought they'd go to war, then Pearl Harbor. Grandpa was set to Spain. Uncle Trevor was sent to Japan, on the way his plane was shot down. This is where they crashed, this is where he died. Now that might happen to us, small world isn't it."