STRANDED!

by Pepper Pace

  He watched with interest. "You wouldn't happen to have a steak dinner, salad and a slice of pie al-a-mode in there would you?" He joked.

  Her belly tumbled at those words. "No...sorry."

  "We're going to need fresh water and food, and soon."

  Oceans and Marshall each grabbed a man-made shank. He worried because he had no shoes and he left the one lone nylon sock back at the camp. He was grim as he thought about the place they'd slept as 'the camp.' He was so thirsty and hungry as he walked through the dense foliage; he had no idea what he was looking for or what leaves and plants were edible.

  Oceans was an island girl at heart even if the majority of her life had been spent in the states. When Marshall saw bananas in a tree he was so excited, until she warned him that they would be completely inedible unless they were ripe enough to fall to the ground—the same with most of the fruit--so between searching for water, they searched for fallen fruit. Before long they found mangos, plenty for each of them! The sticky sweet fruit helped to slay their thirst for awhile, but now they were bait for insects!

  Oceans knew that water could be found in all kinds of plant life. She wished for a machete just to get through the dense foliage. But this was all a good sign. She looked at Marshall who was slapping at gnats and scratching away ants that had dropped onto him. The flies were miserable for the both of them, but at least she was able to ignore them for the most part—not true for poor Marshall.

  "Fresh water is in abundance on this island. Look at all of this green!"

  "Well where the hell is it?" The soft curl of his lip let her know that he wasn't completely exasperated.

  "This is a pretty big island and I heard animals, so there has to be fresh water that's accessible to us..."

  "I guess we could always follow the sound of the animals." He said with a worried raise of his brow. He was a city boy after-all. And he really didn't want to run into any animals in order to find water.

  "Birds!" And they both looked into the air at the same time. Birds would take them to fresh water!

  With that settled, the two made their best attempts to follow the birds...not as easy as it sounds. It was midday before they finally began to hear the welcomed gurgling sound that let them know that they were nearing a large body of water. Practically running, they finally came upon a small lagoon surrounded by large black rock and a waterfall to one side.

  Marshall had never been so relieved in all of his life! One day without water had been torture. The salt from the sea and the heat of the Caribbean sun had taken its toll on him. But Oceans appeared so graceful. Besides the cracking of her lips, she showed no signs of having the same desperate need for water that he did.

  They both kneeled on the banks and took a tentative taste of the cool water, expecting the worse. It was the sweetest thing that Marshall had ever tasted! After drinking their fill, Marshall went around to the waterfall.

  "Careful..." Oceans called worriedly. She didn't want to be on this island alone or having to care for a person with a broken leg.

  "I will." He called back. The waterfall wasn't so strong or high that he had fear of being washed away, so he stepped under the flow shivering in delight. "Oceans! This is amazing!" The attacking insects instantly disappeared, along with the stickiness from his fruity meal. Now it seemed that the cool water also washed away much of the stress from the last day. He let it beat the last residue of blood from his head and closed his eyes to enjoy the natural massage to his sore muscles. He took off his button down shirt and tossed it onto the bank, leaving only his wife beater and slacks.

  The look of joy on Marshall's face was convincing enough and Oceans hurried to join him. Tentatively, she stepped from the bank to the large rocks beneath the falls. Instantly the cold water lowered her body temperature and she felt invigorated. Oceans began laughing as she swept back her water slick hair.

  For one brief moment, Marshall and Oceans forgot that they were stranded on a deserted island in the Caribbean as they enjoyed the feel of the cool water splashing down on their exhausted bodies.

  There was plenty of fruit around the lagoon: mangoes, bananas, coconuts and other things that Oceans pointed out as edible. They stuffed themselves and then lay contented on the bank as they thought about their next move. Reality suddenly returned to them in a frightening rush.

  Marshal gnawed his lip and thought of a way to bring up the unpleasant topic of being stranded. He sat up slowly and met Oceans' eyes. But hers were dark and bright, confirming that the same thought was already there. "Someone should be looking for us."

  Oceans watched him hopefully. "Do you have people that will search for you?" Because she sure didn't. The only person she had was now buried these last two weeks...

  "Yeah. My boss sent me down here for business. He knows exactly where I'm supposed to be! And Geddes had to make a flight plan...so..."

  But they both knew that Geddes had special clientele that didn't always want their destination to be documented. It's why Oceans had been able to get a flight out with him so cheaply. He was known for flying a paying customer almost anywhere they wanted and without the big ticket price of an airline. She wondered why Marshall would be flying with someone like that.

  "So," she continued. "If someone is coming for us, our best bet is to stay on the beach."

  "Right...only the fresh water is miles from the beach."

  "Well this is only one source. There's got to be plenty more."

  Marshall was nodding. "So we go out searching until we find a more convenient water source."

  "Or until we're rescued."

  "Right," he responded quickly. "If we had something large enough then we could carry water back..."

  "On LOST they had water bottles." Oceans said distantly.

  "Yeah. Lots of water bottles." A fucking endless supply of them. "And a hatch filled with food."

  Oceans looked at him seriously. "Let’s not talk about LOST." That show and present topic gave her a serious case of the creeps.

  He smiled. "Agreed." Again she was struck by how good-looking he was out of all the rich-boy pampering.

  Not able to think of any successful way to carry water back, they just headed back to the beach. It was a long and arduous trek but they kept it interesting by talking about general things. Marshall explained that he was an accountant in New York and was down in the Caribbean on business. He had no wife or children, but did have a dog being watched by an ex.

  Oceans explained about her father's illness and how it had caused her extended stay in the Caribbean. But actually, she was a Midwest girl having been raised in Ohio. Her mother had passed away when she was just 16 and after she'd gone off to college her dad announced his plans to move back 'home'. She was very close to her Dad but did not want to relocate to the Islands so she had stayed in the States; away from her security blanket and not always making the best choices in her life or in her relationships. The latter of information she left out of her story and kept to herself.

  Marshall sensed the sadness on the young woman. "I'm sorry about your father, Oceans." She smiled at him and they each continued in thoughtful silence.

  ***

  It was Marshall's idea to take a different route to the beach in hopes of finding another water source, and it paid off. After about three hours of walking, they heard the gurgling of water and stumbled upon a small stream. Its source was the rocky hills that towered above. The stream was so narrow that they couldn't follow it with their eyes as it became lost in the denseness of the foliage.

  "Shall we follow it?" Marshall asked. Oceans was really tired but there were plenty of hours of sunlight.

  "I think so. Um...I have to..." She gestured to the foliage and looked a bit embarrassed,

  but the sound of the water was really making her have to relieve herself.

  He followed her pointing finger. "Oh. Okay. Be careful." He looked a bit worried but stayed put while she walked a ways into the greenery. When she was out of sight,

&
nbsp; Marshall became worried.

  "You still there Oceans?"

  "Yeah. Nothings grabbed me yet." She was thinking about the black floating fog from LOST...

  While she was gone, he found that he had to pee as well. He turned his back and unzipped himself, peeing long and with much satisfaction.

  Afterwards, they both drank from the stream finding it just as delicious as the water from the lagoon. They followed it for a few miles since it led back into the direction that they were going but soon it began to veer deeper into the forest and away from the beach, so they made the decision to make a sharp turn and just head directly to the beach and try to find landmarks that would allow them to find the stream easily.

  It was a good plan. They broke from the dense forest after only 15 or 20 minutes and though they weren't on the same part of the beach that they'd washed up on, it had great rock formations that would serve as an easy marker to find the stream again and all they had to do was to walk along the beach until they reached 'camp.'

  This walk was much harder in that the sun beat down on them relentlessly away from the cover of trees. Water would be good. That was almost laughable, but they each carried several coconuts and mangoes which they planned to eat later in the evening.

  Luckily their camp was only another hours walk away from where they had exited the forest. Marshall and Oceans both had the same thought that they'd move their camp further up the beach and closer to where they had broken through from the forest. Then water would then only be 15 minutes away!

  When they reached the little lean-to, Marshall spread his jacket out as Oceans had done the night before but Oceans had something better. She hurried over to her belongings that were sunning on rocks and fetched a small afghan that looked like it was handmade. After spreading it out over a bed of banana leaves that Oceans had used to shield them from the sand, they both collapsed in exhaustion. Neither found it strange that they were half asleep only inches from each other. But it seemed right.

  ***

  Marshall's had not intended to sleep so deeply but his body needed the rest and when he woke the sun was low in the sky and darkness was beginning its slow approach. He craned his neck searching because Oceans wasn't there beside him. Marshall stood and his body almost rejected his attempts at movement. He almost went lurching to the sand before his muscles finally unclenched and allowed him to stand.

  Ignoring the need to stretch, he looked around trying to catch any movement. Where was she? "Oceans?" He called. Maybe she needed to pee again. He sure did. Marshall frowned, what if some animal got a hold of her while she was off. She shouldn't just leave without telling him. Maybe he'd bring that up. Now he was very worried.

  Marshall saw the many tracks in the sand and decided that one set seemed to lead in a direction that he hadn't remembered heading before. "Oceans?" He called louder while following the tracks. He hadn't forgotten to pick up his shank, just in case. He couldn't follow the tracks very far because they soon led into the forest. "Oceans!" He yelled.

  "Marshall?" He heard faintly. Her voice held a funny quality and a jolt of fear shot through him, sending his heart beat spiking. Shit! She'd fallen or something, maybe broken her leg on one of the rocks!

  "Oceans!" He began running into the forest.

  "I'm okay." She called, still with that strange sound to her voice. "The fruit..."

  "Where are you?!" He followed the sound of her voice and heard gagging and then what sounded like vomiting. "Oceans!" He almost ran over top of her. Oceans’ was crouched and kneeling over a pile of acrid smelling vomit. She was trying to gag up more, only bringing up a thin watery stream of bile.

  He dropped down next to her and helped to hold her while she struggled to bring up the contents of her stomach. After several more reflexive gags, she gulped down air and began panting. She was drenched in sweat.

  "My god..." He stroked the slick sweat from her brow. "What happened?" One arm cradled her while the other continued to stroke her brow.

  She looked at him sickly. "Montezuma's revenge."

  He looked confused. "What?...oh." She suddenly clutched at her stomach and Marshall finally noted that her panties were lowered around her ankles and she was squatting in the unisex position for evacuating ones bowels...

  "Please..." She moaned. "I need some privacy." Understanding, but not wanting to leave her, Marshall moved a few steps into woods giving her the privacy she'd requested but still a stones throw away.

  "Oceans what can I do to help?" He felt so useless.

  "I don't know." She moaned. She stayed there in that squatted position for another few minutes before she weakly approached Marshall. The sun was little more than an orange glow and darkness would be upon them very soon. "I need to wash." She said weakly.

  He made to help her walk and she held up her hand. "No no. I can do it." She didn't want him too close. She was still vain enough not to want her bad odors assaulting him. He didn't care about that at all. He was thinking about the approaching night and whatever dwelled in the forest. He was thinking that they needed light a fire. He was thinking that he was very worried about her getting sick.

  Ignoring her protests, he took her arm and led her through the forest and then down the beach until she was at the water's edge. She walked slowly and bent over as if by straightening she'd bring on another onslaught of vomiting and diarrhea. She shook him loose then and walked into the water fully dressed all by herself.

  Though he probably should have left her to bathe alone, he was afraid that she'd cramp up and drown. The sun was gone and the beautiful moonlight reflected on the beach. He watched as she stripped off her dress, gripping it tightly. Then off came her panties and last her bra. Her back was to him mostly and she was waist high in the water but her image was just a faint dark outline; he thought she was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.

  After washing herself and her clothing, Oceans slipped the sundress over her nudity, still clutching her underwear. Marshall offered a steadying arm and he led her back to the lean-to where she found a dry clean dress to wear. While she dressed he hung her wet clothes on the rocks, placing other rocks on them to prevent them from blowing away. There was a pleasant breeze; it would probably be even chilly as the night moved on.

  When he returned, Oceans was laying in a fetal position on top of the afghan. She was shivering. He sat down beside her. "Is it worse or better?"

  "I don't know." She groaned.

  He was scared. "Okay." He placed his shirt over her shoulders and she stopped shivering. She was wet still and sick. He dug through her clothes until he found another sun dress, which he tucked around her legs. He watched her until she fell asleep.

  She needed things, more water and food; real food and not just fruit. He scratched his stubbly cheek and then he picked up a shank and stood up.

  ***

  Oceans stretched and then lurched to full wakefulness. For just a split second she had thought she was back at her home and in her familiar bed. What had awakened her was the fact that her bed had never been this hard. Oceans had a few moments of desperation as her plight came back to life. Then with the same resolve that she'd bore over the past day, Oceans pressed the feeling to the far corner of her mind.

  Something smelled delicious and she suddenly felt as if she was half dying from hunger and thirst. She heard the crackling of a fire even over the loud beating of the ocean's waves. Fire?

  She sat up weakly and saw the fire surrounded by a neat circling of rocks. Marshall was hunched over in great concentration and thus was the source of the good smells. There were stones on the fire and things cooking on them. Fish? Oceans limped to him and he looked up, startled.

  "Oceans, I didn't want you to have to get up." He came to his feet and helped her to sit on one of two large boulders that he had rolled down from the nearby embankment. She stared at the valley in the sand that the two boulders had left. She couldn't believe that he'd done that alone! Twice!

  "That smells so good
..." She was staring at the cooking fish as they sizzled on the hot rocks. Marshall reached over and handed her a large banana leaf wrapped package. She unwrapped it curiously and it was a plate of food, wrapped to keep it free of flies.

  She just stared at him confused. "How did you make the fire?"

  He held up his hands. His face held a wry grin. His poor fingers were cut, blistered and bleeding!

  "I won't tell you how long it took me to rub sticks together in order to make fire...but let's just say that it's damn difficult." So difficult in fact that he swore not to let the thing go out. Ever. As long as he kept the coals hot then the fire should be easy to restart.