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Rain fell during the night.
Charlie was thankful for the canopy, and that she’d not stuck to her guns and slept out in the open. The parachute silk wasn’t waterproof, but Tyler had layered it with palm fronds, and it kept off the worst of the water. She drifted in and out of sleep, aware of the pattering of raindrops on their makeshift roof, and the constant whine of insects that never seemed to leave them alone. Tyler had gotten up several times during the night to add extra wood to the fire and make sure it stayed dry, but she’d found herself too exhausted to move ...
The itching woke her. An intense itching all over her body, but especially on her arms, hands, feet and face. She blinked open her eyes to bright morning sunlight, only to find her vision narrowed.
What the hell?
She realized her lips also felt swollen, together with the delicate skin around her eyes. Pushing herself to sitting, she brought her hands to her face. With her touch, the itching intensified, and she had to restraint herself from clawing her nails across her skin to try to relieve it.
“Tyler?” she said, her voice small. She peered around through her narrowed vision, and saw him rise to standing beside the fire.
He turned to face her and winced. “Ah, shit. You’ve been bitten. Looks like the rain brought out the sand flies.”
She saw he’d been bitten too, red dots marring his usually flawless skin, but he’d not had the same reaction to the bites.
Charlie remembered she had a tiny mirror on the inside of the first aid kit she’d brought, and scrambled off the bed toward her pack. She located the kit and opened it up. The mirror was fogged with condensation, but she wiped it off and lifted the glass to her face.
She gasped at her reflection. “Oh, God.” She appeared to have been badly beaten during the night. Both eyes were swollen and red, her lips also puffy. She clamped a hand over her mouth and suppressed a sob. “I look awful.” She wanted to curl in on herself and vanish. Her looks was the one thing she could normally rely on, and right now her appearance was absolutely hideous. She covered her face with her hands, not wanting Tyler to see her.
“What have you got in that first aid kit of yours?” Tyler asked. “Any antihistamine?”
Her mouth turned down at the corners, and she shook her head. “I doubt it. I only brought the basics.”
But she removed one hand from her face long enough to hand over the box, and he rifled through the contents. “Hmm, just a few antiseptic wipes and some Band-Aids, a bandage or two.” He picked out the wipes. “We’ll use these to wipe down your skin. The itch is caused by a substance in the insects’ saliva, so cleaning the bites will help.” He glanced over at her backpack. “You mind if I use some of the toothpaste as well?” Of course, she’d packed her basic toiletries in her bag.
She shook her head. “Sure.” Though she wondered why he needed to brush his teeth right at that moment.
“Good. We’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
She gave a wry smile. Somehow, she doubted that.
He crouched in front of her and gently pulled her hands away from her face. He smiled into her eyes as he gently wiped around her eyes and mouth, and then dabbed on the toothpaste.
“The toothpaste will help to ease the itch and reduce the swelling,” he explained.
Charlie pressed her lips together trying not to cry. She scratched at the skin on her opposite hands, and her legs and feet itched so badly she rubbed them against the wood and plastic Tyler had gathered to create the base of the bed. It was stupid to get upset about such a trivial thing, but everything had compounded itself, and so to sit here looking like someone with a third world disease made her feel even worse about herself. Her lower lip trembled as he gently wiped down her skin and dabbed toothpaste on her bites, and tears spilled from her eyes.
“Charlie,” he said, gently. “Stop crying.”
“I’m sorry. I’m an idiot. I’m just so tired and I can’t stop scratching and my whole face is swollen.”
“I know. I got bitten, too, Charlie. It sucks.”
“But your face hasn’t swollen up the same way mine has.” Shaking her head, she covered her face with her hands again. Now she was swollen, bitten, and covered in blobs of toothpaste. It was a good thing there were no photographers here. The magazines would have a field day with pictures of her in this condition.
Gently, Tyler tugged at her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face. She blinked at him with tear-filled eyes.
“You still look beautiful, Charlie. Even with a face full of bites.”
She wanted to be happy that he’d told her she was beautiful, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe him. Instead, she sniffed and ducked her head, unable to look at him. “I must look like fucking Quasimodo!”
He gave a small shrug. “Okay, maybe a little Quasimodo-ish. But not fully. More like a half-sister, or something.”
She reached out and smacked his hard shoulder, but a smile tugged at her lips.
“Give the antiseptic and the toothpaste some time to work, and the swelling will go down, I promise.”
She took a shaky breath and gave him a smile. “Thanks, Tyler.”
“No problem. Now go and drink some water and lie back down while I try and find us something for breakfast.”
Impulsively, she leaned forward, wrapped her hands around his neck and hugged him hard. He froze for a fraction of a second, but then his big body relaxed. His hands crept around her and he hugged her back.
She released him first.
“Thanks,” she said again, suddenly embarrassed.
“Get some rest,” he told her, rising to his feet. “I’ll go fishing. We’ll feel better when we get some food inside us.”
Charlie drank some of the water he’d boiled, trying not to grimace at the warm, gritty taste, and then lay back down on the bed. At least they had these few comforts. Tyler had done a great job of creating the camp for them.
With the thought of their camp, dread settled on her shoulders. This wasn’t a game, she reminded herself. They were the survivors of a plane crash in which people had died. Only Tyler’s presence was making this whole thing bearable. What would have become of her if she’d not had him around?
A plane or boat would surely arrive today. They’d been missing for more than forty-eight hours now. That was plenty of time for the production team to realize something had gone horribly wrong and send out a search crew. They couldn’t have been washed too far off course. It would only be a matter of time before someone showed up.
Clinging to the positive, she pushed herself to sitting, shoved the hair out of her eyes, and looked across the beach down to the water. Where was Tyler? She’d expected to see him splashing around in the shallows but everything was quiet. The only sounds she heard were the waves on shore and the breeze moving the palm leaves above her head. She couldn’t see or hear him.
Her heart picked up its pace. What if he’d slipped while he was fishing and drowned? Or tried to climb the rocks at the farthest edge of the cove and fallen and cracked open his head? The idea of trying to survive here without him terrified her. Despite all her bravado the previous night about being independent, she didn’t think she’d still be alive without him.
To her relief, Tyler appeared from the opposite end of the beach carrying a huge fish of some kind, his fingers locked in the inside of the creature’s mouth so it hung from one arm like it was biting him.
She smiled as he approached, feeling self-conscious. “Hey. There you are. I was starting to get worried.”
He lifted the fish higher. “I caught this bad boy and took it around to the next cove to gut and clean it. I figured we didn’t want fish guts washing up on our part of the shore and stinking the place up. Plus,” he frowned, “it might attract predators.”
“Oh, right. Well, the fish looks awesome.”
“Thanks. A bit better than last time.”
“You didn’t have too much to improve upon,” she teased.
He grinned back and her heart fluttered. “No, I guess I didn’t.”
“I’ll get the fire stoked back up. I’m starving.”
“How’s the face feeling?” he asked her.
She lifted her fingers to lightly touch her skin. “Better, thank you. You worked some magic.”
He nodded. “You look better, and you’ll feel even better after we’ve eaten. And anyway, I figured we’d need a good meal if we’re both going to see where that cliff ridge leads to this morning.”
Her soul lightened. He was going to let her come! She’d been so sure they’d end up having another fight about it. She looked at the ground with a secret smile. “A good meal sounds great.”
Before long, they had the fire burning high and the fish skewered and turning on a makeshift spit above the flames. Though she was normally more of a fruit and cereal kind of girl for breakfast, the fat dripping from the fish and hissing in the fire, smoke filling the air, made her salivate.
They ate the fish directly off the spit, burning their fingers but too eager to get the juicy flesh into their mouths. Other than a few shellfish, a bit of crab, and some coconut, this was the first decent meal Charlie had eaten in two days. She was already slim and didn’t have too many fat resources to live off, so her body was literally craving protein. She found herself tearing into the fish, filling her mouth, not caring what she looked like, despite Tyler sitting a mere yard from her. Her body took over, and she’d never tasted anything so fine.
When the fish was stripped bare, they walked down to the breakers to wash the fishy remnants from their fingers. Charlie also took the opportunity to wash the remaining toothpaste from her face. Tyler had been right. Her face and the itching had already gotten better.
Back at the camp, Tyler packed a small amount of coconut away in her pack, together with a couple of bottles of the boiled water. “I’m hoping we’re going to come across some different stuff to eat, but just in case we don’t, it’s good to have backup.”
She wasn’t sure she could stand the thought of eating any more coconut right now, especially as she was still full from the fish, but she guessed her opinion would change once she got hungry again. Tyler also packed the small first aid kit—just in case—and the knife.
Ready to go, they started up the now familiar trail back to the pool. Even though she was weak from lack of food and her ordeal, she couldn’t help but feel like her fitness had improved. She seemed to walk the trail with more ease than she had the first day they’d washed up on shore. Though she’d probably dropped a couple of pounds, was badly bitten, and exhausted and dehydrated, she’d gotten used to the cloying heat. Her feet had learned the track, so she knew how to walk without tripping over fallen branches, or staggering down unseen holes. She took swigs of water from the bottle Tyler had packed for her as she walked, and realized she’d even grown used to the taste.
By the time they reached the pool, Charlie and Tyler had already almost finished the bottles of water they’d brought with them, so they stopped at the pool to refill them from the small flow of water from the rock.
They sat together on the edge of the pool to rest, their feet dangling in the water. The coolness soothed her sun-tightened skin, and helped to ease the itchiness of the bites.
Charlie turned her face to Tyler, squinting in the dappled sunlight. She was filled with the sudden urge to kiss him, wanted to feel his mouth on hers, the heat from his skin reminding her they were both still alive, and, for the time being, safe. But she didn’t have the guts. He’d not mentioned their fight the previous night, or their shared kiss in the pool, and she didn’t want to be the first to bring it up. He was probably thinking it was a one-off, a spur of the moment thing. She didn’t want to go all girly on him by insisting on discussing what was between them and their future.
As though he’d sensed the tension inside her, Tyler got to his feet. “You okay to keep going?”
She nodded. “Sure.”
“We’d better make a move or we’re going to run out of light. We don’t want that to happen if we’re in the middle of the forest.”
She got to her feet. “No, of course not.”
They put their shoes back on, picked up their bags, and headed off again. They headed deeper into the island, Tyler leading the way. The farther they got, the thicker the foliage became. Tyler tore and shoved at the vines and bushes, using the knife to try to clear a path for them to walk through.
The ground rose on an incline, growing steeper the farther into the island they hiked. The sandy soil gradually gave way to rockier ground, the density of the bushes, vines, and trees thinning as the plants weren’t so well supported by the craggy rocks.
Charlie’s thighs ached, but Tyler showed no sign of tiring. Though she made sporadic trips to the gym—and in truth they were done more in concern for her figure than her level of fitness—they clearly weren’t enough to match his kind of fitness. The air seemed to grow thinner, though it was also less muggy up here, so she didn’t know if she was breathing easier or harder. At least there were fewer bugs. It seemed they preferred the damper forest, and she was relieved not to have mosquitoes constantly whining around her head.
“Make sure you keep drinking,” Tyler called to her over his shoulder. “It’s important to stay hydrated. You’ll be losing more fluid than you’re aware of.”
“Yes, sir,” she called back, only a hint of teasing in her voice.
They stopped for the occasional rest, but otherwise kept up a good pace. They were heading into the afternoon now, and the sun beat down on them, the sparser vegetation meaning there was less shade from the heat.
Tyler came to an abrupt halt. Charlie, who had been walking with her head down, concentrating only on the track right ahead of her, almost collided with his broad back. He turned to her with a grin. “Look what’s over there.”
She followed his line of sight to yet another palm tree, and was about to turn back to him to ask him what he was talking about when she caught sight of the clusters at the top of the tree, beneath the branches.
“Bananas!” she cried.
The fruits were still green, but she didn’t care. Hours had passed since their succulent meal of fish and she was so hungry, she’d have eaten them even if she had to crunch them between her teeth.
Tyler whipped off his t-shirt. Charlie did her best not to stare at his body as he headed toward the trunk of the banana palm. The last couple of days of minimal food had left his torso lean, so his skin seemed to cling to every muscle. The days in the sun had given him a deep tan, which only helped to highlight every line of his back, shoulders, and abs.
He wrapped the t-shirt around the tree trunk and, holding the ends of the material in each hand, braced himself. He started to climb, digging his heels into the trunk and leaning back, moving up in a series of jumps. Once at the top, he wrapped one arm around the trunk, and used the small knife to cut the bananas down. Charlie stood back, not wanting to be injured by falling fruit, but the moment they hit the ground, she ran forward, scooted down beside them, and started to pull them from the bunch.
Tyler jumped back down. “Don’t overdo it,” he warned. “Too much and you’ll give yourself hell of a stomach ache.”
The carbohydrate crunched beneath her teeth, leaving a weird coating on her teeth and gums, but she didn’t care. Her body responded to the hit of sugar, and she absurdly felt as though she was going to cry.
“We’ll take them back with us,” he said, stuffing a couple into her pack, and some into his own. “They’ll taste a lot better if we put them on the fire.”
“It’s worth coming just for these,” she said, between mouthfuls.
He grinned. “Yeah, this was exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for. I still want to see what’s over that crag though. I hate the idea something useful might be waiting for us and we don’t even know it’s there.”
“Okay, let’s keep going.”
They didn’t have far to go now. Breaking out of the thinning foliage, they discovered themselves at the top of the cliff. Over the top, Charlie could see the blue of the ocean stretched out in front of them. A hill of trees broke up their view, the ocean curving around it before the island appeared once again.
Tyler frowned and walked right up onto the edge. He pointed toward the new set of hills and greenery. “I can’t be certain, but I’m not sure that’s our island.”
“What?”
“See where the hill is and the sea cuts in?” Charlie nodded. “There’s a possibility the sea keeps going. What we’re seeing might be a whole different island.”
She frowned. “Really? You think there might be another island so close by?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“But what good does that do us?”
“This island isn’t inhabited, but that doesn’t mean other islands nearby aren’t. Or perhaps they might have been once, but have since been deserted. We might find an old cabin or even a boat.”
“But wouldn’t we need a boat to get there.”
He put a hand out to her. “Just wait here.”
Tyler walked farther along the precipice, and onto an overhanging rock. The cliff fell away beneath him, an expanse of green treetops far below.
The sight of him in such a precarious position made her head spin. “Jesus Christ, Tyler. Be careful!” Her heart pounded in her throat, and she felt dizzy with anxiety. What if he fell? He would be killed without a doubt, and she’d be left here alone.
“It’s fine, Charlie. Stop worrying.”
He clung to the overhang and braced himself against the rock. He leaned out to try to see further, to get a glimpse around the hilltops and discover how far the next island was, or if it was, as he suspected, another island altogether.
His feet slipped a little, and he scrabbled for purchase.
Charlie cried out, her hand at her mouth. “Tyler!”
He regained his footing. “It’s okay. Not a problem.” He pulled himself back onto the main part of the cliff and shot her a grin. “I know what I’m doing.”
She stormed over to him and slapped his bare, brown shoulder. “Don’t you ever do that to me again,” she said, furious. “Do you hear me? I thought you were going to die!”
“I know what I’m doing, Charlie. Seriously, it was fine.”
“No, it was not. You could have fallen. From now on, be sensible.”
He looked at her, his lips pressed together, compressing his smile of amusement, nostrils flared, his eyebrows slightly lifted. “Yes, ma’am.”