After their run-in with Gary Barkovitch, everyone had returned to silence. Olson in particular looked irritated, muttering a bit under his breath here and there, but Baker still seemed mellow and McVries as weird as ever.
Garraty wasn't sure how he himself felt; a bit confused, a bit scared, but mostly he had no idea what was going on in his head. His emotions were all jumbled up. Had the other plane, the one with the girls, turned out okay? Was Jan okay? What about his parents? What was going on with the war? They didn't know anything, all because they were stuck on this goddam island. How the hell had they managed to get stuck here, anyway? Garraty didn't know. He had an idea that nobody else had an idea, either. They'd departed from Washington, D.C. – there had to be some symbolism in leaving from the nation's capital – and the next thing he knew, they were on this island.
"Well, Ray," McVries said, breaking the silence. "You look like you're having some deep thoughts. Willing to share?"
"It's nothing," Garraty said. "Just wondering what's going on…"
"In civilization?" McVries finished his sentence, sending him a quick smile. "I think everyone's been thinking about that, to some extent."
"And the girls' plane. Too bad they didn't crash here, too," Olson said, butting into their conversation. Baker laughed, and Olson looked back at him. "What? A guy has needs."
McVries rolled his eyes, and they lapsed back into silence. Eventually, they ended up at the other side of the island. "Well," McVries said. "I think it's safe to say we've successfully crossed the island. What do you say we head back and see what profanity-filled lesson Parker has for us now?"
"Who is this Parker guy, anyway?" Garraty asked, curious. McVries sighed, but it was Olson who answered.
"Tall. Blond. Badass as fuck," he said, shrugging. "Dunno how he managed to get himself put in charge, but his stupid ginger friend probably helped."
"Abraham's very charismatic," Baker said. "Everyone likes him but Olson."
"He's just a fucking prick," Olson sighed. "Almost as annoying as that Barkobitch weirdo or whatever his name was."
"I think it was a 'v'," McVries said.
"It would really suck if your last name was actually Barkobitch," Baker said, grinning. "Worst last name of all time, really."
"But let's not worry about those assholes," Olson said, slinging an arm around Baker's shoulders and managing to snag McVries with the other arm. "Let's stick together on this goddam island."
"Musketeers 'till the end?" Baker said, smiling a little.
"The three Musketeers – ah, hell, Garraty, get over here, we'll make it four," McVries said, reaching out and grabbing Garraty's wrist. "There we go. The four Musketeers."
…
By the time they got back what Garraty supposed was the camp night had fallen. A blond boy wearing a polo glanced up from the campfire he was poking with a stick. "Oh, McVries. Took you fucking forever," he said.
"It's an island," McVries said. Garraty glanced around. Everyone seemed to have just collapsed wherever they felt like; perhaps they would be building shelters later. Or something like that. It wasn't that cold, but if it happened to storm, they might want shelters. They'd have to make them sturdy, though… oh, there was the boy he'd sat next to on the plane! Thank God, he was still alive. "Just sleep wherever, then?"
"Yeah, unless you wanna help me watch this thing. It's a bitch to light, and we don't wanna waste all the goddam lighter fluid that actually works. How the hell're we gonna light it once that's gone? That stupid fucking book lied, you can't use glasses to light a goddam fire," he said. He looked at Garraty. "Oh. Haven't seen you before. I'm Collie Parker."
"Ray Garraty."
"Yeah, okay, just get out of here or do something productive," Parker snapped. Before Garraty followed McVries to a sheltered area, he heard Parker mutter "Jeezus, can't these guys do anything?" under his breath.
Well, they certainly had a good leader.
McVries, Garraty, Olson, and Baker decided to sleep a little further inland than most of them – under the trees and on the grass. It was nice, comfortable, and a comfortable temperature. They all started out a respectable distance away from each other.
Of course, in the morning, Garraty found himself pressed into McVries, McVries's arms around him clutching him in a strangling sort of hug. Garraty managed to wriggle and wake McVries up – good thing, too, or he may have been forced to hit him.
"Oh," McVries said, yawning. "Sorry 'bout that."
"Good, you're up," some random ginger with the voice of Satan said, and Garraty nodded. "Didn't catch your name last night…?"
"Garraty."
"Cool," Ginger looked like he didn't really care all that much, but he was making an effort, so Garraty figured he must not be that bad. "I'm Abraham. Garraty, why don't you go work with Davidson's group? They're planning on going to find some food; you can probably catch up with them if you go fast. McVries, Parker wants to see you."
He walked over to Baker and Olson and nudged Baker with his foot.
"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty," he said. It was Olson who woke up first. "Ew. Not you."
"Shut up, idiot," Olson said, glaring. McVries grabbed Garraty's arm.
"Well, time to get going!" he said cheerfully. "Let's leave them to their fights. If you want to bet on who's going to hit the other first, I think Harold Quince is taking bets. I've got mine on Olson."
"Uh," was all Garraty could manage, and McVries dragged him away.
"Davidson should be… oh, there he is. He's with Larson and Pearson. You'll have fun." And with that, he let go of Garraty and went off to find Parker. Garraty blinked. McVries was weird.
He managed to catch up with Davidson and his friends. Davidson was a handsome boy with dark blond hair and a way of making everything he did seductive. His only flaw were the pimples that dotted his forehead, but those would probably get covered up once his hair started to grow out – hold on. They weren't going to be on this island for very long, and even then, why the hell was he thinking about how attractive Davidson was?
Pearson and Larson were average-enough looking guys – Pearson wore glasses and too-big jeans, and Larson just looked kind of stupid – but with Davidson around, pulling them out of their shells, they seemed better than they probably actually were.
"So, you're Garraty, right?" Davidson asked. "Abe said you'd be joining us. I'm Davidson."
"Yeah," Garraty said, for lack of something better to say. Davidson just laughed and they continued along the beach until they came to the beginning of the forest. "You think there's anything but shitty bananas?"
"I saw a tree with some sort of fruit," Pearson said, cleaning off his glasses with his shirt. "Didn't get close enough to see what it was, though."
Davidson nodded, and they entered the area below the trees. Davidson discarded his shirt, throwing it into a tree. He was impressively muscled; not as much as Parker but he wasn't soft like some of the other boys looked (such as Larson) or overly scrawny (such as Pearson).
There was something purple in one of the other trees. "Hold on," Garraty said, and Davidson paused. Garraty pointed at the purple thing he'd seen, and Davidson walked for it carefully.
"Anyone there?" he called. "It's someone's legs- woah!"
Just as he'd gotten close, someone flipped upside-down, hanging from his legs. His blond hair hung away from his head in sweaty clumps, and Davidson apparently thought the best way to deal with this situation was to kiss the kid full on the lips.
The kid fell out of the tree.
"Sorry," Davidson said. "Reflex."
"Your reflex is to kiss people when they get close to you suddenly?" Garraty asked. Davidson looked back at him and nodded.
"Yeah. If they're cool, they stick around. If they're not, they get really freaked out and leave."
wow it's been a while since i updated this