Rachel woke to the sound of distant thunder. The air was thick and heavy, the kind of oppressive heat that signaled an approaching storm. She sat up in their small shelter, glancing over at Finn, who was still sprawled on the sand, snoring softly.
"Finn," she whispered, nudging his arm. "Wake up."
He groaned, turning onto his side. "What time is it?"
"Time to get moving," Rachel said, standing and brushing sand off her clothes. "I think there's a storm coming."
Finn opened one eye, squinting at the sky. Dark clouds were rolling in from the horizon, their ominous edges illuminated by flashes of lightning. He sat up quickly, all traces of sleep disappearing.
"Crap," he muttered, scrambling to his feet. "We need to secure everything."
The two of them worked quickly, gathering their supplies and reinforcing their shelter with more driftwood and vines. The wind was already picking up, tugging at Rachel's hair and sending waves crashing higher onto the beach.
"We should move everything farther inland," Finn said, his voice raised over the rising wind. "The tide's gonna come up fast."
Rachel nodded, helping him carry their meager belongings toward the treeline. The weight of the water bottle and scavenged supplies dug into her arms, but adrenaline kept her moving.
By the time the rain started, they had relocated their shelter to a small clearing just inside the jungle. The first drops were warm, quickly turning into a torrential downpour that soaked them to the skin.
"This is ridiculous," Rachel shouted, wiping water from her face as she ducked under the shelter. "How are we supposed to survive in this?"
Finn crouched beside her, his hair plastered to his forehead. "We're surviving right now, aren't we?"
She glared at him but didn't respond. The storm was relentless, the wind howling through the trees and rain pounding against their fragile shelter. Every crack of thunder made Rachel flinch, and she wrapped her arms tightly around her knees.
Finn noticed and leaned closer. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. We just have to wait it out."
She looked at him, her eyes wide with fear. "What if we can't? What if the shelter collapses? Or the tide reaches us?"
"Then we figure something out," Finn said firmly. "We've already made it this far. We're not giving up now."
Hours passed, the storm showing no signs of letting up. The rain had turned the ground to mud, and the shelter groaned under the weight of the wind. Rachel huddled closer to Finn, her shivering less from the cold and more from exhaustion and fear.
"I used to hate thunderstorms," she admitted quietly. "When I was a kid, I'd hide under my bed until they were over."
Finn glanced at her, surprised by the vulnerability in her voice. "Yeah? I used to love 'em. My mom and I would sit on the porch and watch the lightning. She'd make hot chocolate, and we'd count how many seconds passed between the flash and the boom."
Rachel smiled faintly. "That sounds… nice."
"It was," Finn said. "I guess storms don't seem so scary when you've got someone with you."
Rachel looked at him, his face illuminated briefly by a flash of lightning. Despite the chaos around them, he seemed steady, unshaken. It was comforting in a way she hadn't expected.
"Well," she said softly, "at least I have someone with me now."
Finn's expression softened. "Yeah, you do."
When the storm finally began to die down, the shelter was still standing, though barely. The sky was a lighter shade of gray, and the rain had slowed to a gentle drizzle. Rachel let out a long breath, her body relaxing for the first time in hours.
"We made it," Finn said, leaning back against the shelter's frame.
Rachel nodded, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. "I can't believe it."
Finn grinned. "Told you we would."
As the first rays of sunlight broke through the clouds, Rachel felt a strange sense of pride. They'd faced their first major challenge and come out on the other side. She glanced at Finn, who was already closing his eyes to catch a few minutes of rest.
Maybe, she thought, they really could survive this—together.