Page 55 of Stranded

“Let’s give her an hour, then we’ll go check on her,” West says as we all sit back down and watch the ocean before us. My eyes catch on some dark clouds in the distance, and a sense of unease grows within me.

“Where is she?” West asks as we scan the pond and the surrounding area for signs of Zee.

A few more rain drops hit my head as I try to stop myself from panicking.

“I don’t know. But remember, Zee has survived plenty of rain and thunderstorms out here on her own before we arrived, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” I say the words, hoping to reassure myself, as well as them.

“Yeah, but she had the hut then,” Bower says, pulling at his hair. “Maybe she’s there now? Let’s go check.”

With lack of a better solution, we jog back to camp, hoping to find her waiting for us in the dry hut. The rain starts to pick up speed and when I push open the door and find it empty, I swear in frustration. “Fuck.”

“She’s not here?” Bower asks, stepping into the room last. I try to think about where she might be and I can only think about the place she spends every night, high in the tree above us somewhere.

“You guys wait here where it's dry, I’m going to climb up and find where she’s been sleeping, she’s probably there. Knowing her, she has a secret hut up there, just as dry as this one.”

“No, I’ll go,” West says, grabbing my shoulder to stop me from leaving.

“No offence, but I’m smaller than you, it’ll be easier for me to climb up there.” He narrows his eyes at me but he must agree as he squeezes my shoulder then lets go.

“Be careful, King.” It sounds more like a command than a request, so I give him a mock solute before leaving the hut and moving around to the tree trunk behind it, the one we see Zee climbing into each night.

She made it look way easier than it is. It takes a lot of effort just to get up to the first branch. Luckily, after that it becomes a little easier and I slowly climb as the rain makes its way through the branches to reach me.

After a few minutes, I glimpse something above me that doesn’t belong, and I make my way up to it. When I finally find a branch I can sit on beside her stuff, my eyes widen as I take it all in.

“She’s been sleeping in a freaking hammock seventy feet from the ground?” I grind my teeth in anger at how dangerous this is. If she fell out while asleep, she’d break her neck.

There’s not much up here besides the hammock. I see one of her small bags and take a peek inside. I find the toothbrush I gave her, my ACDC t-shirt and a razor that looks awfully familiar. Did she take this from me when we first arrived? That explains her lack of hair on her legs and armpits.

I pull the shirt to my nose to smell it. It smells like pine and fire with a floral undertone, just like her. I haven’t seen her wear this in weeks. Was she sleeping in it at night? I’m not sure why that thought makes my cock twitch, but I quickly shove it back in the bag and throw it over my shoulder, deciding it will be best to keep it dry in the hut.

I came up here to look for her and it’s clear she’s not here, so carefully, I make my way down, noticing how the rainfall is picking up.

When I make it back to the hut, the other two look at me hopefully, so I shake my head and drop her bag on the table. I want to tell them what I saw up there, but that will only fuel their fire right now. That can wait.

“Where the hell is she?” West asks, as he tries to pace the tiny hut.

“Okay, let’s think. Where could she go to hide out from the rain?” Bower asks from his spot seated in the chair.

I take a moment and try to think if I’ve seen any caves or overhangs, but nothing comes to mind. “I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head as I frown in thought.

“Wait—” West turns sharply to face me, his finger pointed at my chest. “Did you guys stay in here the first night you arrived? It was raining that night, right?”

My eyes go wide in realization. “The raft!” Turning, I run through the door, getting drenched instantly. The wind howls and the sound of the rain beats down on the jungle floor, drowning out my grunts as I climb down the ladder, almost slipping twice.

I don’t wait for the others as I take off in a run towards the beach. Is she seriously hiding under the raft? She wouldn’t choose that over being with us in the hut, would she? I thought we’d grown close over the past few weeks. But her incessant need to sleep on her own was the one routine we couldn’t seem to break her from.

As I step out onto the beach, the ocean roars angrily, and the rain hits me ten times harder out here.

“Zee!” I try to call out to her as I shield my eyes and turn towards the raft, but my voice is drowned out by the storm.

As soon as I reach it, I can see it’s been tethered down, the same way Bower and I had done it on our first night, but we had unhooked it since then. Which means she’s definitely under there. I search for an opening but can’t find one. I try to pull up a side, but it won’t move.

Damn, she really knows how to secure this from the storm.

I give up looking for an opening and sink down to my knees and start digging. The sand is wet and heavy and it’s no easy task.

I jump when West and Bower drop down on either side of me and silently start to help me dig. It takes us a few minutes, and when it looks big enough to fit through, the guys try to lift the raft a bit to give me an extra inch to slide in. Since I’m the thinnest of the three of us, it makes sense for me to go through first.

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