Chapter 2: Survival

Lance found it difficult to open his eyes, owing to the pounding of a massive headache in his brain. His own breathing caused enough motion to intensify the pain, and even the otherwise relaxing sound of the surf seemed to enhance it as well. When he finally dragged himself back to consciousness, he found himself lying on a beach, staring up at a starless night sky. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but the storm had passed, though the sun had not yet risen and clouds still lingered overhead, blocking out any light from the moon or stars.

He was alive.

That was the first thought that went through his head, the most important realization after the events of the night. After the despair of the sinking yacht, the knowledge that somehow he had survived gave him enough hope and willpower to pull himself back from the darkness of oblivion.

The rough waters had torn all of his clothes from him, leaving him with just his lifejacket, the straps cutting badly into his skin. Even in his weakened state, his mind continued to think through the logistics of his situation. In the tropics, being without clothes meant weeks of painful sunburns before his skin acclimated to the exposure. He didn't relish that thought.

He turned his head and spotted a dark shape next to him on the beach. It was Autumn.

She lay on her side with her eyes closed. Clothing-wise, she was in just as bad a state as he was; worse, because she had also lost her lifejacket. On any other day he might have admired her nude body, but right now that was the furthest thing from his mind. He forced himself to rise to his hands and knees before unsnapping and struggling off the lifejacket. Tossing it aside, he then weakly crawled over to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her.

Her eyes opened, and she stared at him for a second. Tears began to fill in at the corners of her eyes. "Lance..." she croaked. "I..."

"It's okay. It's over now. We're safe," he soothed. Then he glanced around. "Where... ?" he began.

Autumn began to sob. "I looked everywhere for her!" she blurted out. "You were unconscious, so I ... I couldn't find her! I'm so sorry!"

Lance stared at the girl for a second, hearing the words but not comprehending them. It wasn't that he didn't know what they meant, just that they were so shocking that he couldn't possibly be expected to accept them. Cammy had been so brave through the cancer treatment. She had made it through alive and as healthy as ever. Lance had really thought a higher power must be at work, to spare her from death like that. But now...

He felt the tears in his own eyes. No! It couldn't be! Right now he wished he could trade her places. Let him die, and her live. The thought that she was gone forever was too much for him, and he broke down into tears. He grabbed Autumn and held her tightly to him, and the two of them sobbed in each other's arms until the blessed veil of unconsciousness enveloped them once more.

Nightmares plagued his sleep that night, nightmares born of fear and despair. Most of them centered on the loss of his little sister. Countless times, she died in those dreams, either dragged down into the inky blackness of the sea, or eaten by sharks, or battered against the rocks. Sometimes those dreams were horrifying enough to wake him momentarily, which made it all the worse because he knew they were true. Only the presence of the girl in his arms kept him from going mad. The warmth and softness of her body had a soothing effect on him, pulling him back from the brink of insanity. He couldn't escape the reality of what happened, but having someone to share the burden with made it possible to bear.

He awoke in the morning with the sun shining down in his face. Clouds still lingered on the horizon, but the sky was now mostly blue. He watched for a few minutes as those clouds slowly twisted into new shapes, white actors on a blue stage. Despite the nightmares, he had slept long enough to chase away the fatigue, and he managed to sit up.

Autumn still lay next to him, slumbering soundly. He watched her for a few seconds, watched for the telltale sign of her breast rising and falling that indicated that she was still alive. He wondered if the same nightmares that haunted his dreams haunted hers, or if she had forgotten all of her fears in the peaceful world of sleep.

She really was a beautiful girl, and now that he had the chance to really look at her body, he found it very appealing. She was a tiny girl, with a slender frame and developing breasts. She lay on her back, with one knee thrown over the other and one of her hands lying next to her pretty little face. Lance reached out and brushed away a strand of her long, dark hair from out of her eyes, forgetting himself for a moment and just admiring her beauty. Not that he would ever do anything with her, of course. She was only fourteen after all.

He decided to let her rest a while longer. No need to wake her, to bring her back to the horror of the real world. It would happen soon enough on its own. Let her linger in the tranquillity of slumber and dreams. Lance had more important things to worry about, like searching for Cammy.

Cammy. Was it possible that she was alive? She had taken the liferaft, which meant that she had initially been better off than Lance and Autumn. Or had she? Had a wave swept her away like them? Had she never even had time to reach the raft?

Even if she had, she might never have reached the island. The visibility last night was almost nonexistent, so she wouldn't have known which way to row. Left at the mercy of the storm, she might have been blown in the wrong direction, which could put her fifty miles away by now. Maybe she was doomed to slowly die of thirst out there on the unforgiving sea.

Despair threatened to overtake him as he thought of the thousands of things that could have gone wrong, that could have taken his little sister away from him. He couldn't afford to let himself dwell on it, or he would go mad. He pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on what Autumn and he would need to do to survive. They needed water first, then food, then shelter.

He glanced around to get his bearings. The beach ran as far as he could see in both directions, a white strip of sand separating the blue ocean from what appeared to be a tropical jungle. Most of the trees were palms, including a good portion with immature or ripe coconuts. A damp haze lingered in the shade of the jungle, an early morning fog lurking in the cool shadows but not daring to wander out into the sunlight. He noted the position of the sun, and assuming that this was morning, it appeared that they were on the east side of the island. In the west he saw a hill peeking over the line of trees, possibly a mile or two away. That gave him a minimum estimate of the size of the land mass. About half a mile to the north, the beach ran out, and the jungle extended right to the sea. There was no sign of the yacht, but white breakers about half a mile out to sea indicated the presence of a submerged reef that might have been what the yacht struck. No doubt it had vanished completely into the depths of the ocean.

Immediately his eyes fell upon something just offshore about a hundred yards down the beach, something bright orange. Resting against a large rock poking out of the water was the liferaft! Barely daring to hope, Lance rose to his feet and lumbered down the beach toward the raft. Could it be possible? His pulse quickened in fear and anticipation as he approached it.

As he reached it, his strength gave out and he fell to his knees and wept. Cammy lay in the bottom of the raft, asleep but alive.

There was about an inch of water in the bottom, and she lay in the puddle, her clothes and hair soaked. She at least had managed to retain her night shirt that she had been wearing when the accident occurred although it was torn and frayed around the lifejacket straps. As he watched, she shivered from the cold. Lance managed to rise to his feet, then splashed into the water up to his knees, where he could grab the mooring line and drag the raft to the shore. He then knelt down, removed the constricting lifejacket and lifted Cammy into his arms. She stirred, then opened her eyes. As soon as she saw him, she managed a weak smile.

"Lance!" she exclaimed. "I thought..."

"We're all right," he said. "All three of us. I'm taking you to Autumn."

"So she's alive too?" asked Cammy in relief.

"Yes."

"Hold on a minute, Lance," she said. "You don't have to carry me; I can walk. You look exhausted."

"Thanks," he breathed, setting her on her feet. In truth, he was still tired after the ordeal last night. Cammy took his hand, and together they headed back up the beach to where they had left Autumn.

"So what happened to you two last night?" asked Cammy as they walked. "I tried to wait for you, but as soon as I had the liferaft inflated a wave caught me off guard and swept the raft and me off the yacht. I tried to row back to you, but the current was too strong. Fortunately it pulled me in to shore."

"Pretty much the same thing happened to us, minus the raft," Lance explained.

As soon as Autumn saw Cammy alive and well, she burst into tears and ran to meet them. Lance couldn't fault her for crying; he had done exactly the same thing. They all hugged each other, despite the fact that Autumn and Lance still wore not a stitch.

Now that the shock had been replaced by relief at finding each other alive, their state of undress suddenly seemed much more important. Autumn's eyes suddenly fastened onto his crotch, and she stared at him, growing red but unable to tear her gaze away. Considering how shy she was, it was likely that she had never seen a man nude before.

Cammy was the one to break the spell. She suddenly broke down laughing, not maliciously but just out of pure amusement at their predicament. Lance couldn't suppress a grin, and soon he began to laugh as well. Autumn stared at the two of them for a minute still red from embarrassment, but their laughter was contagious, and eventually she joined in. After the ordeal of the storm and not knowing who was still alive, it was the perfect way to begin their new adventure. At least they were in good spirits.

"Okay, this is a very interesting situation we have here," Cammy commented after about five minutes. "Between the three of us, we have one night shirt, one bra, and one pair of panties."

"So what are we going to do about it?" asked Autumn, glancing over at Lance again.

"I know what I'm going to do," Cammy replied, then began to unbutton her shirt.