Chapter two.

I awoke with a shuttering breath. “arrrrrg.” Groaned out of my lips as I opened my eyes. Daylight was shining Infront of me and I was still strapped into my seat.

‘okay, body check. Toews, leg muscles, arms, fingers. Neck, ouch. My neck and head; must have hit it.’ I went through my body feeling it for any injuries.

‘Surroundings check. Only the faint smell of smoke, planes on the ground. An opening, plane’s torn in half. Front half maybe ten feet in front. Bag still attached to legs. Exit crash.’ I thought as I surveyed the area, I was in. it was always good to just go through these things like a robot, just assess and quickly make a decision.

I got up from my seat and strapped the day pack onto my back. I walked out of the opening and onto the soft ground. The sound of ocean waves and crying greeted me.

“She’s dead…!”

“What are we going to do!”

The voices were indistinct but nearby. I rounded the plane; I was only a few hundred feet from the shore of a beach. The beach was in a sheltered bay. More a large lagoon than open ocean bay. The sand was stark white. The wings of the airplane smoldered off to either side along the shore.

The girls where all on the beach, some were sitting and other stood around something. I walked out of the jungle and made my way on to the beach.

I was only a few dozen yards away from the group but none of them seemed to be interested in coming over to me. I herd the soft crying of some of them and saw the body of the older woman from the plane on the sand.

I made eye contact with a few of the girls who were openly crying. I got hostile glares in return; so, taking the hint I left them to mourn in peace. Knowing grief and shock could do funny things to people.

I stood just in front of where the small waves came up on the shore. Luggage was scattered along the sand. ‘okay, find your bags. You were prepared for this.’ I thought as I searched the shore line.

I found them, my large backpacking backpack and the large sturdy canvas duffle bag. They were farther down the left side of the beach just passed the right wing of the plane.

“Oh god I can’t believe she’s dead!” I heard one girl wale.

I looked at them, but they all seemed to not even notice me in their collective shock. I walked down the beach and gathered up my bags. I hopped it wasn’t one of the girl’s mothers or something.

In my bags I had a plethora of survival gear. Everything from hunting arrows to wool blankets. I had been traveling the world for the last three years; searching. Searching for a portal, or something along those lines. There where so many stories of people just disappearing out of thin air. I had become obsessed with finding one of them. That’s what led me to the Bermuda triangle and to flight 387.

I strapped my backpack on and carried my duffel. The day pack clipped onto the out side of the much large back pack. ‘okay, body’s soar. But uninjured. Need to find a camp.’ I thought looking at the strange tree line.

It was not quite jungle or forest but a mix. There were palm trees, bamboo, what looked like oak and fruit trees. Ferns, bushes and vines of a wide variety made up the under growth. It was strange, these trees should not all be growing next to each other. And why are all the fruit trees full of fruit, it was spring in the northern hemisphere?

“Hey you. What do you think your doing?” A guy’s voice from the other group called out.

“Getting my bags and making camp.” I yelled back distracted by the strange yet familiar vegetation.

The guy walked closer to me still about ten yards away. The auburn-haired girl was clutching his arm and her eyes were red with tears. “Well, you can’t do that. We need to pool all the stuff together.” He said as if he expected me to comply.

“What…no… I don’t mind sharing but these are my bags and what’s in them is mine.” I said not unfriendly but giving no ground.

“What an ass. Aren’t you going to help us? Why are you not freaked the fuck out?” The girl said in a disdainful, snide tone.

“Come on man, just fall in line. This doesn’t need to be hard.” The guy said.

“Right…no… are any of you hurt?” I said drawing out the answer.

“What do you mean no? And just scrapes and bruises.”

“I mean no. I don’t know you or them, like I said, I’m willing to help and share but you’re not getting my shit.”

The guy’s eyes darkened as he said, “Fine, probably a bunch of dildoes anyway.”

“Ewe, gross, bet your right though.” The girl added, sneering.

“Hit the nail on the head with that one; just a bunch of sex toys. I got some spare butt plugs if you want. Interested?” I said making way too much eye contact with both of them.

“Humph…lets go Graham, fuck this loser.” The girl said.

“Right, ass hole.” Graham said as him and the girl turned and walked back down the beach to the others.

“Wow, just Wow.” I muttered quietly to myself. Usually, situations like this bring people together, but I guess the opposite can be true as well.

I found a spot further from the other group after that. It was still only about fifty or so yards from the others but it was a lovely spot.

It was a small clear cercal with large oak like trees creating shade from the sun. The branches started only four feet off the ground and it was right next to the beach. It had a cozy safe feeling to it. Almost like a cave but sun light still filtered down in spots.

I set my backpack and duffel bag down underneath the large oak like tree. The branches were about four feet off the ground and spaced just perfectly so I could hang my hammock tent in between them.

I went about the business of setting up my camp and assembling my gear. I set up the hammock tent in between the two branches. Then open my duffel bag and pulled out the gear I had neatly stored.

Onto a thick leather belt with a large sax knife that sat comfortably along my back. On my right side was a holder for my solid steel hatchet. On my left was a combat knife along with a leather pouch with a zipper.

I then pulled out the titanium survival bow and assembled it. I grabbed one of the two quivers of hunting arrows I had and set them next to the bow. Next, I screwed together the two halves of the titanium survival spear and checked to make sure the six-inch double blade was not damaged.

Sliding the spearhead back into the carbon fiber sheath I laid that next to the bow. Then began to search around for the right size stones to build a fire pit. After some time, I had assembled a decent size fire pit about 1 foot high.

I started scouting through the trees and jungle underbrush collecting wood and bringing it back to my fire pit. After about an hour I had thoroughly scouted the area and had quite a large neatly stacked pile of firewood.

On my exploration of the area for firewood I noticed that just about 50 yards into the island there was an entire host of fruit trees. Grabbing a mesh bag, I went into the forest and began to collect a variety of fruits. I was amazed to find apples, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits, mangos; nearly every kind of fruit I could think of. There was an entire host of edible food haphazardly growing in the jungle forest.

‘That definitely isn’t right. I could see one of two, but all of these. I’m not a botanist but even I know this should be impossible. Though we did just survive a mysterious plane crash. I think I might have succeeded in finding a portal.’ I thought.

With the mesh bag completely filled with fruit I went back to my camp and set down my fruity loot. While I was collecting fruit, I saw clustering groves of bamboo. Some of the bamboo was of the timber variety. The large green kind you see growing a hundred feet tall in Asia. While others were short and black and still more had reddish-brown hues and were about seven feet tall.

The spear that I had would be better for hunting larger animals but would make a poor spear for spearfishing. So, I decided to cut some of the seven-foot-tall bamboo and create a fishing spear.

By the time I was sitting back on my hammock binding 10-inch-long bamboo skewers to the end of the spear, the sun was already well past noon.

I heard a cheer go up from down the beach and some of the girls started laughing as their voices carried over.

“God yes I need a drink!”

“I call the tequila!”

“yeah!”

The Voices were excited and it was obvious that most of the alcohol had survived as well. It sounded like they were intending to imbibe quite a lot of the bottles they found.

Shaking my head, I smiled lightly. It was their own business how they were going to cope with the shock and trauma of crash landing. If we were still on earth, I imagine that we would be rescued probably sometime tomorrow. But if my theory was right, we were not on earth anymore.

I took my fishing spear down to the bay and waited out to about hip deep in the water. The air had the fresh smell of salt and was intensely clean. It also held an energy; I cannot quite describe it. I felt it every time I took a breath; like I was filled with new life and energy.

I stood in the water for a long time just waiting for the fish to swim by. The girls were down the beach and were swimming in the water. The sounds of laughter carried across the waves. Every so often cheering would erupt from the group as Graham would suck alcohol out of the belly buttons of one of the girls. The girls were kissing and passing alcohol between them, eliciting more cheering cries.

Looks like they went full denial mode and decided to have a party. Not completely unreasonable, it is what they were on vacation to do.

I was glad they were having a fun time; because I knew far too shortly the reality of the situation was going to set in. Then none of this was going to seem as fun.

I stood in the water for what felt like two hours. Until finally what looked like a large tuna swam by me. I quickly darted out my spear into the water and impaled the fish. The fact that this tuna like fish was swimming in the lagoon confused me.

Shaking my head, I turned back to shore holding the fish over my shoulder as I walked. I had noticed that the cheering and partying atmosphere had died down some. All the girls were looking at me. They had puzzled looks on their faces and some of them even look shocked. I offered a small wave and continued back to my campsite.

I pulled on my titanium cookware from my bag and plopped the fish down on a large cutting board. I then proceeded to gut and filet the fish. I put the head, spine, tail and entrails into a pot and walked back to the ocean and tossed everything in.

When I got back to my camp, I started the fire that I had pre built. I then squeezed lemon and lime over the two fillets of fish. It took about forty-five minutes for the fire to burn down to where I had nice cooking coals.

The fish cooked quickly and soon I was eating the delicious tender meat. The sun was setting by the time I was halfway into my meal and my fire crackled merrily.

Some of the cheering and playful attitude from earlier had resumed and the girls were continuing the festivities. When I finish eating my meal; I took the pan, cutting board and everything else down to the water to wash it off.

I realize that most of the girls were sitting still halfheartedly drunkenly cheering. The auburn-haired girl was in between the guy’s legs and her head was bobbing up and down. Another girl with lighter hazel hair was sitting behind Graham as he was getting serviced by the one girl.

Two other girls jumped up and down cheering. It was clear that they were all inebriated and enjoying the erotic show of their friend. Though I did notice that three of the girls were sitting farther away and only offering halfhearted cheers. They looked more worried than anything else.

It was encouraging to see at least some of them were beginning to realize the situation. The three girls saw me looking at them and they quickly began to converse amongst themselves. Two of the girls had long black hair and the other was a blonde.

Not really having anything else to do I took my cookware and went back up to my camp. I put everything away and added some more wood onto the fire and started to get ready for the evening. There wasn’t much to do especially now that the light was fading fast.

I sat awake for a long time, listening. The drunken festivities where still going on but besides from those drifting noises the area was quiet.

The sun had set maybe an hour or two ago when I came out from under the trees and looked at the night sky for the first time. The stars where a blaze of color that brightly painted the sky. The moons in the sky were beautiful. ‘Wait, what the fuck…moons…two…’ I thought dumbly as the sight finally registered in my mind.

That’s when I noticed the three girls who had been sitting on the beach earlier walking up to me. They were looking nervously into the tree line and I could tell that they were on edge.

“Hi.” I said.

The girls started for a second before one of the black-haired girls said, “Shit you scared the fuck out of me.”

“Sorry about that. What’s up?” I asked.

They came closer and in the glow of the two moons and fire light I could make them out quite clearly.

“I’m guessing you saw those.” The blond said and pointed up.

“Yeah, hard to miss. What did the others in your group say?” I asked.

“Nothing. I think they’re too drunk to really understand. We stopped drinking about the time we saw you come back from fishing.” The other black-haired girl said.

“Ok. I’m Ash by the way, you are?” I asked.

“Oh, sorry I’m Serena.” The black hair beauty on the right said. She was taller maybe five foot eleven. Her skin glowed in the moon light. She wore short shorts that hugged her pert tight ass and even for being tall she had a petite build. Though her chest seemed larger because of it.

“Yeah sorry, I’m Madeline.” Madeline had long straight blond hair and had a slim over all build. She wore a bikini top and sarong wrapped around her waist. She had a graceful look, with her smaller breasts and slim waist. Though her body looked toned like a dancer.

“I’m Stella.” The other black-haired girl said. She was curvy with wide hips and a large chest. She had the same well-toned mussels though and her bikini did nothing to hide her beauty.

“Nice to meet you, Serena, Madeline and Stella. Did you need something?”

“um…well…we just wanted… we saw you had a fire and wanted to see if we could get something to start our own?” Stella said nervously.

“Oh… Yeah sure.” I said.

The girls where even more beautiful in the dancing fire light as the shadows flickered across their bodies. fire light always made things look more beautiful. I opened a zipper on my backpack and puled out a Bic lighter and handed it to Serena.

“That all I can help you with?” I said as I placed the lighter in Serena’s hand. As our fingers touched, I noticed a spark go between us, like static electricity. We each looked at each other surprised but did not say anything. That’s when I saw a series of rune tattoos on her shoulder.

“Um…yeah, see you tomorrow.” Serena said smiling at me.

She turned with the others and walked back out of the fire light. I got a wonder full view of their back sides as they left. ‘Not all bad I guess’ I thought to myself. Just as the three moved out of the light Serena turned her head around and flashed me a playful knowing smile. ‘Shit, guess the cats out of the bag on that one.’ I thought.

I went back to my hammock tent and settled in for the night. I slept lightly only fading in and out of sleep. Trying to keep aware of my surroundings.