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As the sun was high above the horizon, our seven travellers started to move inland.
Ben lead them through the tropical forest and stopped as he saw a beautiful place with a little pond in the middle. The surrounding soil was not sand, luckily, so they could get settled and build a shelter there.
As they set the remaining luggage there, Ben pulled out a huge sheet, tying it to one tree and then other three to create a shelter. Then, he found some leaves and set them on top of the sheet to keep the water from soaking through the sheet.
As he was done, they put their luggage inside, along with their sleeping bags.
Ben made space in front of the shelter and began to make another fire camp.
Charles them said: “What about the ships? They won’t see us there.”
Ben looked at him and then he looked down. He said: “The ships, they…they won’t come.”
“WHAT?!” Charles said and Ben started to scribble something into the soil, using a stick.
Charles said: “What do you mean?”
As Ben sat back, Charles realised that what he drew was a map of the world. Ben said: “We took off here, in Florida. Because we didn’t go by a regular airline, we didn’t take the main route, that would go straight to London, like this.”
He made a line from Florida to what seemed like London.
“Instead…” he continued. “We went around. Like this.”
Then, he made a similar line but it ended somewhere more in South of Europe. He said: “Because of the time of year, the storms and everything, it is not recommended to take any other routes than the main one. Due to the risk of turbulence and crashes, or the ships sinking. Therefore…”
“Nobody will come here. And if they do, it would be a coincidence.” Larry finished and Ben nodded, softly.
Charles said: “So, basically, we’re all dead.”
Ben said: “We’re not dead. I’m not saying they won’t come at all. Just…they most probably won’t come right away.”
Charles scoffed and said: “How do you know all that stuff, anyway? You knew about it, didn’t you? Are you some kind of adventurous weirdo? Do you like people relying on you or something? After all, you have everything we need in that little shitty bag of yours.”
Ben said: “That doesn’t even make any sense. Why would I plan this?”
“To become a hero.” Charles replied and Ben smiled, saying: “I’m a surgeon. I’m not a survival expert.”
“And you’d like to be one. This is why you’re doing this.” Charles said and Ben replied: “You’re being ridiculous.”
“Maybe it was all part of the plan. After all…nobody else died except the pilot. What if he was some sort of suicidal maniac and wanted to be remembered?” Charles kept going and Larry said: “Charles, stop! You’re being stupid.”
Charles looked at Larry and said: “This is all your fault!”
Larry raised his eyebrows and asked: “Me?! How is this my fault?!”
“Well if you wouldn’t NEED TO be home that day, because of your fine job, none of this would happen! We would take another plane and by this time, we would be getting home safely!” Charles said and Larry said: “Well, you like the money, don’t you?! You don’t make much money as a mechanic. Plus, you get warm dinners every day and loads of gifts! You can fuck whenever and WHEREVER you want and yet, you still choose to cheat on me!”
Charles said: “Well, if you…”
“CAN YOU PLEASE SHUT YOUR FACE FOR TEN SECOND!” Mat, the usually quiet part of the group, suddenly shouted, leaving them all in shock. He continued: “Seriously, Charles, you have problems with everything. We are all stuck here. We are all scared. None of us know, when we’re getting to our families or if we’ll ever see them again. Stop making a scene. You’re being so selfish, right now.”
Charles looked around and everyone was avoiding eye contact. Charles nodded and said: “Alright. If I’m such a problem here, I’ll leave.”
“You won’t survive.” Ben said and Charles looked at him. Then, Charles spat on him.
He grabbed his bag and walked into the forest.
Larry sat next to Ben and said: “I’m sorry. He can get a little overwhelmed, sometimes. He’ll be back.”
Ben said: “Well, he better come back soon. We don’t know what’s in these forests. If there are rabbits and the island is not overflowing with them…”
“That means, something keeps eating the rabbits.” Simon finished.