Page 45 of Totally Wrecked
“How far away do you think that island is?” asks Gray.
It’s so hard to tell from this perspective. “Maybe a mile from this island to that one?” I stare out to sea. There are no ships or other islands in sight. Looking back to the neighboring island, I squint my eyes. “Is that smoke? At the far end?”
There is a warm haze in the air, so maybe it’s just that.
“Don’t know, but it does show me one thing: if we want someone to see our fire, we need to make it big and smoky,” Gray answers.
“Yeah. A signal fire, not just a campfire. That is, if we can get a fire, emphasis on theif. Also, we can lay branches out on the beach as well, for search planes to see.”
“Save our souls?”
“Exactly.”
The corner of Gray’s mouth lifts. “How much do you wanna bet by the time we find the others, Leander and Brooke are boning?”
That makes me grin and shake my head. “I’m not taking that fucking bet.”
Even when Gray and I were at our most broken, Leander was still drinking tequila then hitting a club, always bringing home one, maybe two (and on one occasion three) girls. He’d stumble in, eyes crossed, a chick on each arm. “Come and join the fun, Rex…Gray?”
It had occasionally been tempting. But then I’d close my eyes and imagine my crew. My crew who would never again have the pleasure of fucking a pretty girl or guy. That’s why I’d gotten a vasectomy after it all happened—if they couldn’t have kids, then neither could I.
“Rex?”
I’d drifted off for a minute.
“Head back now?”
Gray is on his feet and stretching. I rub my face, and try to summon some energy. “Yeah, let's do it.”
As we move slowly back down the rocks, I feel exhausted and depressed. I’d really been hoping for a sign of the others. But I remind myself we’ve only been here twenty-four hours. They’ll be concentrating on finding water, maybe food. Signaling will come next.
Fuck, if they are still floating out at sea...my mind can’t handle it. A wave of heaviness takes over my body. When we are back on terra firma Gray frowns at me. “You’re dragging, Captain. You doing OK?” The journey and climb have taken it out of us both, but me especially. We need to hydrate and eat something, then tomorrow we’ll look for Keyara properly.
“Let’s go.”
I turn and start the trek back to our camp, hoping to fuck Killian and Harvey have done something miraculous about our food situation.
KILLIAN
Iwatch Rex and Gray disappear into the junglescape, then turn to look at Harvey mother-fecking Bannister. He’s lying on his back, in the shade, using the life jacket as a pillow. Doesn’t look like he’ll be moving anytime soon.
Well, he can stay there if he wants, but I’m going to figure out some shite.
Rex is wearing my shoes, so I can’t leave the beach area, but I can still get to work. As I start exploring the area for anything useful, I ask myself that age old question—how the feck did I get here? One week ago I was quite happily wallowing in self pity in my Queens apartment. A couple of days ago I had the best sex of my life, and felt like I’d perhaps met my soul-mate. Now I’m trapped on a deserted island with TV personality Harvey Bannister and two complete strangers.
The one person I would like to be trapped with is nowhere to be found.
Daisy.
My heart cracks when I think of her.
“There was a star that lit my life, it hath set to rise no more,” I quote Jane Wilde aloud.
“I need that star to still light my life,” I tell the ocean. “We just met, don’t take her away from me so soon.”
Daisy had made warmth creep into my cold, disappointed heart. She drew me in, being loving and sincere. Loving her felt like coming home—and now she may be gone forever. I can’t handle this. I can’t handle any of this.
Because I’m thinking of Daisy and not concentrating on my surroundings, I stand on a sharp piece of coral.
