Survivors (Stranded)

by Probst, Jeff

  “Say hello to our lunch.”

  Vanessa laughed nervously, Jane didn’t say a word, and Carter leaned in for a better look. There were eighteen of them in all. A few of the grubs had died on the way, but most of them were wriggling around, trying to get back on their feet.

  Buzz plopped down next to Carter, as did Jane and Vanessa.

  “What are they?” Carter asked.

  “You mean besides totally disgusting?” Jane asked. “They’re grubs. Buzz says they’re pure protein.”

  Buzz couldn’t help feeling a little proud. Maybe the grubs were the grossest possible food source, but it was better than the alternative: no food at all.

  “Who wants to go first?” he asked.

  “I think you do,” Vanessa said.

  It was hard to argue with that. “Yeah, all right,” he said. He picked one up and stared at it. The grub fidgeted back and forth between his fingers.

  This is food, he told himself. Nutrition. Protein. The stuff my body needs.

  Before he could think about it another second, he stuck the whole thing in his mouth and bit down hard. It sent a thick greenish liquid spilling over his lips and down his chin.

  “EWWWW!” all three of the others groaned at once.

  “That . . . is the grossest thing I’ve ever seen,” Jane said.

  Buzz knew he couldn’t stop now. He tilted his head back, fighting the urge to spit the whole thing out. The grub tasted like dirt and chemicals. It didn’t help that it was so chunky, either. But he kept on chewing, as fast as he could.

  Finally, with one very hard gulp, it went down. He opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to show he’d done it.

  “I can’t believe you just ate that,” Carter said.

  “It wasn’t so bad,” Buzz lied, and downed half a bottle of water to wash away the taste. He could still feel bits and pieces on his tongue, but he tried not to think about that. “Who’s next?” he asked.

  “Go ahead, Vanessa,” Carter said. “I dare you.”

  “I dare you,” Vanessa said.

  Carter picked up two of the grubs and held them out on his palm.

  “Let’s race,” he said.

  Vanessa grinned uneasily as she took one from him. “Yeah, all right.”

  “Ready?” Jane asked. “One . . . two . . . three!”

  Buzz watched as Vanessa tossed the grub onto her tongue, clapped both hands over her mouth, and started chewing.

  “Carter!” Jane said. “That’s even . . . grosser!”

  When Buzz looked over, Carter was unclenching his fist. His hand was covered in pieces of squished grub and the greenish liquid. He held it up to his mouth, scraped the mess off with his teeth, and swallowed it all in one pass.

  “Hey!” Vanessa said. “That’s not fair!”

  “Says who?” Carter asked. As if to make his point, he scooped up a second grub, squeezed it into a mush, and got it down before Vanessa had finished her first. All without a sip of water.

  It wasn’t such a bad idea, Buzz thought. At least it got rid of the need for any chewing. He picked one up for himself, closed his eyes, and squeezed. A soft, warm goo filled his hand, but he didn’t look at it. He kept his eyes closed and downed the whole thing as quickly as possible. His stomach churned as he reached for the water bottle.

  Vanessa was still struggling with her first one, but now that she’d started, she seemed determined to get through her share. She took a swig of water, picked up another grub, and kept going.

  The whole time, Jane watched them as if she were sitting in front of a horror movie. Her hands never came down from her mouth, until finally, she scooted forward and looked down at the remaining wriggling grubs on the deck.

  “What do you think, Jane?” Carter asked. His grin showed several little legs still stuck in his teeth, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, the change in him was amazing. With even just a tiny bit of food, he was more alert than he’d been all day.

  “Mom always says you should try everything once,” he added. “I’ll even mash it up for you.”

  “Don’t bother,” Jane said. She took a thin stick from the pile of kindling near the fire. Then she skewered three grubs, one by one, and held them over the glowing embers to roast. They looked like the world’s ugliest marshmallows.

  Buzz glanced at Carter and Vanessa, who looked back at him. It wasn’t the first time Jane had proven herself to be the smartest one in the group.

  Soon, everyone had a skewer going. Green liquid dripped and sizzled into the fire while the grubs roasted away. Buzz wasn’t convinced this would make them taste any better, but one thing was for sure. They couldn’t taste any worse.

  “Good idea, Janie,” Vanessa said.

  “I’m going to pretend it’s cooked fish,” Jane said grimly. “And I don’t even like fish.”

  “Oh—I almost forgot!” Carter said suddenly. He handed his skewer to Vanessa and walked toward the wheelhouse.

  “Where are you going?” Vanessa called out.

  “I have something to show you guys,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

  As soon as Carter came out of the wheelhouse carrying his invention, Jane knew what it was.

  “That’s a Hawaiian sling!” she said. She abandoned her skewer of grubs and went over for a closer look.

  “It’s just a spear,” Carter said.

  “Yeah—a fishing spear,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  Her brother shrugged. “I was pretty out of it when you got here.”

  “How does it work?” Vanessa asked.

  Carter held up the black-and-white photograph he’d found and passed it around.

  “Ohh,” Buzz said, looking at the photo. “Sling, like slingshot. I get it.”

  He fitted the lasso around his elbow and pulled the bamboo shaft back until he was holding the spear close to the tip, like the man in the picture. The rubber loop stretched tight along its length.

  Next, he moved over to the ship’s rail and took aim. “Be careful!” Vanessa said, just before the spear sprang out of his hand. The whole thing flew toward the beach and stuck in the sand several inches deep. For a piece of bamboo and rubber, the force was impressive.

  “Sweet!” Buzz said. “I think this could work.”

  “Yeah, and no more grubs,” Jane said.

  “Nice job, Carter,” Vanessa told him.

  “Really nice job,” Buzz added.

  When Jane looked over, there was something different in Buzz’s expression. It was no secret he’d always been jealous of Carter, the jock of the family. But all Jane saw on Buzz’s face now was admiration.

  And when the two boys traded a fist bump, she knew for sure that something had changed between them. It was as if they’d forgotten they didn’t like each other. Maybe that made them friends, and maybe it didn’t, but they were definitely turning into brothers out here.

  She just wished Mom and Dad were around to see it.

  CHAPTER 11

  Vanessa’s hands shook. It was still early morning, but she’d been up since first light, getting the raft ready to go once and for all. For the last hour or more, that had meant tying dozens of knots to bind the bamboo pieces together as snugly as her strength would allow.

  Maybe it was the hunger giving her the shakes. Or maybe it was excitement at the prospect of real food for the family. She’d been inspired by Carter’s fishing spear and had barely gotten any sleep thinking about it. If they could just get out on the water, she felt sure they could catch some fish.

  Now, with the morning sun shining straight back into the cove, Vanessa made a final check of her work. The raft was finished. It looked like a version of the shelter roof they’d built back at the old beach, just a dozen bamboo poles lashed side by side. It wasn’t so much to look at, but the real question was, Would it do t
he job?

  Vanessa’s tired muscles drove a little harder as she dragged the raft into the shallow water at the edge of the cove. It floated there, perfectly. That part was no surprise. The bamboo was incredibly buoyant. But it would have to hold their weight, too.

  She waded out a little farther and pushed down on the raft with both hands. The bamboo poles clacked against each other and sprang back easily each time.

  More importantly, the raft held together as she climbed on board. With a couple of homemade paddles, it was more than enough to get them out to the reef. It would be like having their own movable diving platform.

  “Is that our new raft?” Jane’s voice came from the direction of the ship.

  Vanessa turned to see her standing at the rail.

  “Sure is,” she said. “Get Buzz and come on down. We’re going out fishing!”

  Carter didn’t ask anyone’s permission to come along that morning. There was no way he’d be staying back while everyone else did all the work. Not again.

  “What about your hand?” Vanessa asked as he climbed onto the raft next to Jane.

  “What about it?” Carter said. He picked up one of the two paddles Buzz had made. It was a thick piece of bamboo split down the middle, and the curve of it fit right into the C-shape of his stiff, swollen fingers.

  “See? I can even paddle,” he said. “It’s not like my arms and legs are broken.”

  “I don’t know, Carter,” Vanessa said warily.

  “You don’t have to,” he said. “Because I’m not asking.”

  He expected more of an argument, but Vanessa simply shook her head and set the Hawaiian sling on the raft. Jane took up the second paddle. Buzz had a cloth bag made out of his own shirt, and he tied it to his belt loop with a piece of rope. With any luck, that bag would be heavy with fish by the time they got back. It was time to go.

  Carter’s head still swam with fever, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He knew exactly where he wanted to be.

  “Let’s get going,” he said. “The sooner we get out there, the sooner we eat!”

  “I hear that,” Buzz said, and they pushed off.

  The day was calm and windless. Jane and Carter paddled while Vanessa and Buzz stayed in the water, flutter-kicking off the back like a human outboard motor. It all made for easy going as they worked their way past the mouth of the cove and into the open water just off the shore of Nowhere Island.

  Looking back, Carter got a view he hadn’t had before. The island’s cliffs looked even huger from here. It was hard to believe they’d climbed down those rock walls just a few days earlier.

  It was also hard to believe that this place was uncharted, and that nobody had put it on a map by now. But the fact was, there were ten thousand miles of Pacific Ocean all around them. However big the island looked, it was a needle in a watery haystack.

  As they paddled farther out, several white blobs with long, thin tentacles passed by the raft on either side. They looked to Carter like half-inflated balloons.

  “Jellyfish!” Jane said, pointing down at them.

  “Are they edible?” Carter asked, ready to scoop one up with his paddle.

  “I don’t think so,” Jane answered. “In fact, they might be the stinging kind. We should keep moving.”

  Soon the wide coral reef came into view. The turquoise water here was like wavy glass. Carter could see the colored shapes of fish—edible fish—darting in and out of the coral. It looked like a little underwater city. A busy one, too. That was encouraging.

  “This is the spot!” Vanessa called out. “Hey, Carter, hand me the sling.”

  There was no question about who would be going down for the fish. Carter’s injured hand and fever meant he was already doing everything he could. Buzz wasn’t much of a diver. And Jane had tried to use the spear, but it was just too big for her.

  “Wish me luck,” Vanessa said.

  “Good luck,” Carter said, along with Jane and Buzz at the same time.

  Vanessa took three breaths and held the last one. Then she flashed a thumbs-up, flipped over in the water with the spear at her side, and headed down.

  CHAPTER 12

  As Vanessa made her way down to the reef, it was like escaping from one world into another. Unlike the rest of the island, this place was cool, wet, and amazingly quiet.

  A mask and fins would have been a big help, but the water was like crystal. Also, unlike the last time, when they’d dived down to the sunken Lucky Star, the reef here was just a short drop from the surface. It took only a few seconds to reach it.

  Fish scattered as Vanessa came near but quickly worked their way back in her direction. She saw blurred flashes of color everywhere. A yellow, black, and white fish swam right in front of her. Another, the same blue-green as a tropical parrot, darted between two branches of coral. A school of tiny silver ones flitted by.

  This place was like a grocery store, she thought. Time to start shopping.

  It wasn’t easy, though. It took several trips down, then back up for air, just to get an idea of where the biggest concentration of fish was.

  On her fourth dive, Vanessa started figuring out how to stop and float in one position, rather than shooing the fish away with too much movement.

  The next time, she started thinking more about the spear. She kept it ready now, held out in front of her with the sling pulled tight.

  After each trip down, her technique had improved. On the sixth, seventh, and eighth dives, she managed to get off actual shots at actual fish—but missed every time. Still, the adrenaline of the hunt was enough to keep her going.

  On the ninth try, Vanessa swam down to her favorite spot alongside the brown-green wall of coral. She leveled her body in the water, parallel to the sandy bottom, and floated there, waiting for as long as her lungs would allow.

  Out of the coral, a flat, pale-pink-and-white fish the size of her hand nosed forward. It paused to nibble something off the reef, just a few feet away.

  Vanessa knew this was the one. She could feel it in her bones before she even fired.

  Sling cocked, she released her grip on the shaft and let it fly. It zipped through the water and at nearly the same moment found its mark. The fish shimmied violently back and forth on the tip of the spear, but it had no chance of getting away.

  Vanessa let out an underwater scream. “YES!” she cried, sending a stream of bubbles toward the surface. She’d done it. She’d caught her first fish. And this wasn’t just a fish. This was the beginning of something that could help save their lives.

  Keeping a grip on the spear, she turned and kicked her way back toward the raft. She held the fish overhead so it would be the first thing Carter, Jane, and Buzz saw coming out of the water.

  But there was no need. Even before she reached the top, she could hear them up there, already screaming for joy.

  For a long time, Buzz hung out on the raft with Jane and Carter while Vanessa made one trip down after another. She was like a machine, and it wasn’t hard to see why. Every fourth or fifth dive, she managed to come up with something else on her spear. The bag hanging off Buzz’s belt loop was so heavy with fish by now, it made his mouth water.

  A week ago, they’d been living in a cave, with nothing. Now, they had a dry shelter, a constant source of water, and—finally—an endless supply of food. Was it better than being back home? Not in a million years. But it was a million times better than it had been.

  As Vanessa surfaced once more, Buzz rolled over to see a little brown and green speckled fish flicking on the sharpened point of her bamboo spear.

  “That’s five!” she said. “Let’s go for one more.”

  “Up to you,” Buzz told her. They already had enough for a meal, but then again, more was more. He lifted the slippery fish off the spear with both hands, being careful not to drop it. Jane held the bag open for
him, and he turned to put the fish inside.

  As he did, a ripple of movement off to the side caught Buzz’s eye.

  “I’m going down again,” Vanessa said behind him.

  “Hold on,” Buzz said. The bamboo dug into his knees as he came up higher for a better look.

  “What is it?” Jane asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  Buzz stared off to the right, his pulse ticking upward. The glinting sun on the water made it hard to see, but something was definitely moving toward them. Not a fish. Not a little one, anyway. It was some kind of big, dark shape.

  And then, as a triangular gray fin broke the surface, his worst fear was confirmed all at once.

  “Vanessa, get up here. Now!” he said.

  Vanessa didn’t question it. She threw the spear onto the raft and started scrambling on board.

  “Carter, wake up!” Jane said, shaking him out of his nap.

  “What’s going on?” Carter asked.

  There was no time to answer. The raft shimmied hard and tilted under Vanessa’s weight, throwing Buzz off balance. He reached for an edge, or anything to hold on to, but it was no good. As the others scrabbled toward the middle of the raft, it was already breaking apart underneath them. Jane fell in first. Buzz tried to grab her, but his legs slid between two of the bamboo poles. The gap between them yawned open, and he slipped right through into the ocean. The yell that came out of him quickly turned into a mouthful of seawater. Then a lungful, too.

  He choked and coughed under the surface. Sections of bamboo floated free over his head, creating shadows in the water that only confused him more. Twisting around, Buzz tried to spot the oncoming shark, wherever it was. His hand curled into a fist, a pathetic defense against an unbeatable predator.

  From behind him, it whizzed by. Buzz flinched hard, fully expecting the shock of a bite somewhere—his arm, his leg. But no. The thing kept right on moving. All Buzz saw was a receding blue-gray blur.

  He popped up to the surface where Jane, Vanessa, and Carter were churning the water as well, all of them struggling to get out of the way. The bag of fish still hung from his belt loop and twisted awkwardly around his legs. He realized it probably made him a floating piece of bait, but he couldn’t let the fish go—not even now.