1
Jack and Owen were securing the raft in the trees at the top of the beach, a sheltered area with rocks behind them and the promise of safety from the storm's little sister that might follow any time soon.
Ianto was walking. He had calmly left the camp and started to walk the beachline, determined to see how far this beach went, how large this island was and most importantly… were there signs of people coming here sometimes.
Toshiko had left the men to their camp building and ran after Ianto, falling into step to walk with him in companionable silence. He knew she wanted comfort as well as to comfort him. Somewhere a thank you was brewing as well but they were not out of the woods just yet… just out of the sea. This thought amused him, and he started to snigger softly.
"What?"
"I was just thinking, we are not out of the woods just yet, just out of the water. Then remembered Jack tethering our raft to a tree… so we are out of the water and in the woods?" Ianto giggled softly "God. Wait. What is that?"
Ianto had stopped walking and was staring at something, then running towards it and she thought for a moment that it was a good something, then knew it was not. Oh god. It was not. Ken. A very dead, waterlogged Ken playing in the waves as Barbie tried vainly to pull him out.
Ianto waded in to help, and they got the body onto the shore, her ragged sobbing the only noise above the waves. Ianto turned him over and sighed, rising to look around at the other debris washing up.
"Look, one of the slide rafts has made it. If we roll him in it and burry him under those trees. Mark it…when we are rescued, they can get him and you can take him home for a proper burial, OK?" Ianto said softly, one hand on her shoulder as he pointed to the trees and the darkness below their canopy "Cool. He will be good there, right?"
"Bitch… bitch pushed us" she sobbed. Rising to turn to Ianto and accept his arms in an awkward hug.
"Hey!" Owen was running toward them, no doubt having finally missed his missus and he balked at the body, lowering himself to check him over "Bugger."
"Come on, let's get him squared away safely before the storm swings back in" Ianot said as he made for the slide raft which was sort of floating and deflated but still a large piece of plastic. The other one was still attached by a rope, and they soon had both of them.
"If we use one for him, we can take the other one back to use as part of our shelter" Owen said, puling at the ropes before remembering that he had a pocketknife in his pocket from the raft's supply box.
"Come on love, let's choose a spot and I will start digging" Ianto led her to the trees and picked up what looked like a turtle shell. He then knelt where she motioned and began scooping out the sandy dirt to create a temporary grave. It was cool, sheltered and easy to find again.
Once they had him in there, everyone having come to help, Toshiko gave Barbie some wildflowers she had picked, letting her have a moment before they filled in the hole.
"She pushed us in" she whispered into the flowers "Bitch killed us."
"Hey… this is not an episode of Lost ya know. We are not all dead, my throbbing headache is testament to that" Ianto scolded gently.
"Headache?" Owen turned to grab him "Dehydrated? You need to sit… come on. When did you last eat something?"
"Yes mother" Ianto rolled his eyes, the mood lightening slightly as they wandered back to camp.
Ianto settled to find an almost ripe banana being thrust at him and he blinked slowly, then looked at Owen who grinned "Oh yeah… we found bananas. And pineapples… hey… did you know they grow in the ground? Not in a tree?"
"What?" Ianto gaped.
"And signs of pig" Jack said with equal glee. "Walnut trees… apple trees… I think plums, pigs … there are wild pigs."
"Shit… so this IS an island man visits sometimes. Think about it, you are talking about introduced things. Someone comes here to fish, or at least to hunt if they released pigs." Ianto rose, feeling much better "Wild meat. Oh god… be still my beating heart."
"We are going to be OK. We will be fine" Jack assured them all, Barbie wiping her face as she tired to understand. Jack then said "Look… we call you Barbie but…"
"No. that IS my name. Barbara. Barb. My husband was Kevin but we used to joke that it was Ken so when you started calling up that we were both tickled pink, honestly. Call me Barbie… it will make me think of all the times we laughed".
"Sorted… now… I need to take a dump. Do we have a loo sorted?" Jack clapped his hands tougher.
"Behind those rocks… there is a shell to dig and then cover ya mess. I put those other shells in a pile so each time you do it, place a shell over ya business so we don't accidentally dig up someone's leavings again. Ewwww" Owen waved a hand and Ianto made an equally gross face.
"Right… we need shelter. What we have created here is good but will not last. We are tired, hungry and spent. Let's just… settle. Then tomorrow we can sort out some sort of fire and stuff. We are warm, sheltered and I think we need to process." Jack said as he settled back.
Ianot however rose once more, "I will feel better once I have checked for that other raft. I will take a stroll along the beach further along, hopefully I will find something. I hope they were washed ashore in a cove around the bend or something. Who knows. We will at least have some of the place ticked off as checked."
"I will come with." Jack went to rise.
"No. No, you sit, no need for us both to go. No man-eating crabs out there. I will be fine, and I can't really get lost, just need to follow the beach back." Ianto smiled softly. "And… no offence anyone… I sort of need a moment alone to process."
Jack reluctantly let him go, watching him wander sedately along the shoreline with a long piece of driftwood. He poked at things with it and swing it, then used it like a staff sometimes.
Like a Hobbit off on a quest.