Chapter Text
“So what do you think it is Alex?”
“I read about flowers, not small creatures.”
They had been stranded on the island for what felt like months now but if the scribbled tally marks that were in the far corner of their camp meant anything they had been living there for just a week. The first day after the crash had been interesting to say the least. Carlos had found Hannah and Alex a few miles from the plane as he walked without purpose, not knowing what to do. From there the three tried to find a way to move Alex from his now crushed leg braces. Once that had been settled Carlos and Hannah had found some logs before using one of their phones battery’s to start a fire after an hour of watching Hannah rub two sticks together. It had been a few days before they had started walking through the woods and encountered Luis, the red head had been stuck in a tree and trying to use a pocket knife to cut his way down the ten foot drop. All in all when Victoria had found them running towards the oversized shack she had made in the side of a rocky hill they had been an odd bunch. Soon introductions had been made, food had been shared, and rules had been established. And no, absolutely no one had asked whether Victoria had wanted companionship at all. And she hadn’t, not at all. She supposed it could be worse though Carlos had easily fixed her loose and unhelpful knots on the shacks door, Hannah was able to find a use for the plastic bags lying around the tent from when they had found abandoned luggage by collecting water from branches. They now had an assortment of hunting spears and edible food thanks to Alex’s skills with a knife and expansive knowledge of wild plants. Victoria thought that Luis was somewhat of a balancing act. Jumping between jobs and keeping the optimism up. Today Victoria had been paired with Alex to go collect wood for the fire. And on their way back her companion had spotted something from his spot on the makeshift sled. Leading to the latest of the teams arguments.
“No way, were not taking it with us. We don’t even know what it is!” Victoria crouched next to the small bundle of quills among the falling leaves and placed it gently onto the sled.
“Get it off, get it off, get it off!” okay so maybe she didn’t put it exactly on the sled.
“Calm down it’s just a tiny helpless, sleeping mammal. We’ve seen worse.”
That shut him up. To be honest she really didn’t get why all of her new companions had such an issue with the fact that they had crashed on an island and were now alone while their loved ones rotted somewhere in the ocean, maybe it’s just her but overall it just felt like a way to start over. Dragging the sled towards the unlit fire Alex began passing her dry logs to place on the ashes. As he held the bundle in his hands, questioning how on earth things led to this, Luis ran towards them, shirt soaking wet.
“Hey guys would you mind if I started the fire up this time? Hannah pushed me into a stream again and, wait is that a hedgehog?” looking up from his spot next to the remaining logs Alex replied, confusion lacing his voice.
“Well I guess it kind of looks like one but are their teeth supposed to be this sharp? I thought they were herbivores.”
“I wouldn’t know. Oh dude it could be our mascot!”
“Our mascot?” Victoria asked, pulling the sled and its occupants towards the shack.
“Yeah we could name it and feed it and make it a cute bed. I’m going to go tell Hannah!” he replied and quickly ran towards the makeshift farm to the far right of the fireplace, just out of view besides a few drying fish skins.
It had been a week since William the hedgehog had been added to the mix and Carlos had more than a few issues with the little beast.
“Victoria make your pet stop screeching, it’s keeping everyone awake.” Victoria reached up to Williams’s bed by the wooden table and began to pet him while glaring at Carlos’s back.
“You’re the only one up and the suns already rising.”
Carlos glared at the duo by the table and went to put on his shoes. As he stormed outside the shacks only other conscious occupant heard him whisper to himself.
“Still don’t get why we didn’t just eat him.”
Luis jumped awake as the door to the shack slammed shut next to his head. Looking around him he gestured towards the door at Victoria before following after Carlos, safety in numbers and all that. Victoria looked down at Henry as he squirmed in her hands. That wasn’t a very nice thing to say about her little spiky pal. As the weather had gotten colder it seemed that the self-imposed leaders temper had gotten shorter and shorter until even the ever peaceful Hannah started to voice her discomfort. “Were almost out of edible apples and he’s sitting there throwing his spear in an empty river and complaining.” she had said as they tried to get some of the remaining water from the bags. All in all the feeling had gone from bittersweet to sour among the group after Carlos had thrown a fit and complained about how they should really just dump the useless disabled kid to get more resources for themselves. Victoria was broken from her thoughts by a growling from the corner of the room. While she had been busy thinking Henry had managed to scamper his way over to Alex and began to nibble on his fingers.
“What happened? William? Ouch!” Alex screamed as William bit down.
“William no we don’t eat friends! That’s rude apologize to Alex.” The hedgehog (Were they even sure he’s a hedgehog?) Began chewing on the remains of Alex’s finger that he had stuffed into his mouth. Alex began screaming waking Hannah who began to rush to get a clean cloth, a towel, anything to stop the bleeding as she tried to calm him down.
“Shh Alex it’s going to be alright. Just breathe.”
“Stop. Come back!” William was scrambling for the door in an effort to escape all of the louder than usual humans. As he ran into the foliage Victoria ran after him despite Hannah’s cries to come back. It wasn’t fair. Her one friend was gone all because Alex couldn’t shut his mouth and let her quietly bandage his finger. All because Luis distracted her from watching William. All because Carlos had anger issues that he didn’t know how to hide. She saw him run into a particularly dark cave and blocked it off with a rock, at least then she knew he’d never leave. As she became more and more lost within the woods Victoria snatched some berries and stuffed them in her pocket. She recalled Hannah telling her that they were quite delicious, she had spoken to her as if Victoria was a mere child. Incapable of realizing when things were clearly too bright to be safe. To inviting to actually be good for you. Victoria stopped as she saw a fire burning. She had come full circle, before she could make her presence known Carlos made himself heard. “Then it’s decided. Tomorrow I and Hannah will go looking for Victoria and the beast.” Hannah looked across the small fire, Alex leaning on her shoulder succumbing to sleep again. “She isn’t even sick. I checked the trail mix a million times and it’s still full, she hasn’t taken a single bite.”
“Why am I the one to stay with Alex?” Luis squeaked from his spot leaning against the rocky wall. The new found traitor looked towards him with a look of hidden disgust. “Because you can’t hunt and Alex can’t walk.” Victoria backed away into the bushes once more. It wasn’t fair, why couldn’t they just leave her alone? If they caught William well… food had been depleting rapidly with the fish swimming upstream and William’s appetite she knew that if Carlos’s intentions were as she thought it wouldn’t be long before they killed her. Then her friend would be trapped forever, scared with no sun, water, or food. Victoria looked down at her pocket and walked towards the small supply of fruits that were securely in the trees, away from animals. She was lucky Luis was an idiot.
It hadn’t taken all that long for the effects of their fruit salad breakfast to kick in. Victoria had to hand it to Alex. He had been less of an idiot than first anticipated. While Carlos and Hannah walked towards the beach Luis had gobbled up his food without even sparing its contents a second glance. His companion however had only eaten the strawberries from what Victoria could see from her place in the trees. It hadn’t made all that much of a difference in the end though, as she trudged towards the cave, the sled towing a sleeping Luis and a gagged and struggling Alex behind her. She still wasn’t sure that she wanted her buddy near Luis though, he might hurt his teeth on the optimist’s thick skull. Moving the fallen trees from there place in front of the cave she saw William sleeping in the far side of his home for the time being. “Hi there buddy I brought you some food. Now just stay there and I’ll be right back.”
As she lay the wastes of space onto the cave floor William waddled over to Luis and began to naw on his cheek, blood dribbling down onto the floor as Luis lay unmoving. Alex had become deadweight, exhaustion from struggling finally creeping up on him. “I’m almost sad to see you go. You weren’t that bad of a conversationalist. If only you would have spoken your mind.” Crouching in front of Alex’s tired eyes Victoria whispered the last words she would ever say to him. “Now then if you could do me a favor and scream really, really loud. After all it’ll be so much easier if they come here.” Removing the scarf from his mouth Victoria placed William’s quill covered body onto Alex’s stomach and left him to his meal.
“Did you hear that?”
“It’s coming from over there.” Hannah was fed up with this game, how hard could it be to find such a loud and obnoxious person on such a small island, well, besides the one running next to her. Carlos had dragged her out into the woods as the sun was just rising and the effects of being out for so long without breakfast were beginning to show. It didn’t help that he had tripped over a root and hurt his knee, the girl was stopped dead in her tracks as Carlos dragged her towards the source of the screaming. It was dark, so dark that as Hannah tripped over something, hitting the floor and dragging Carlos down with her. “What the heck!”
“Hannah oh my god!” Carlos looked like he was about to be sick. Hannah turned to look at the source of his fear, and almost threw up. Luis was dead. There was no doubt about it because if he was still alive then god help him. The right side of his face was missing chunks muscle peeking out next to red stained bone, his right eye was missing and based on the teeth marks going down his neck she had a clear idea of where it had gone. Hannah scrambled backwards until she hit stone, she couldn’t see Carlos anymore, and he was still by the entrance. “Carlos? Are you okay?” carefully crawling towards where she thought he would be, looking up in time to see his split-tip spear split a hole in his neck. She wanted to scream but felt her throat choke the words down in favor of trying to stand as Victoria walked closer. She walked slowly, with the air of someone who had better things to do then deal with the pest crawling towards Williams empty nest. Apparently she had spoken aloud as Hannah looked down in time to stop her hand from going straight into Alex’s small intestine, his torso was gone. Bitten and nibbled away and oh god how long must they have been in here without her or Carlos knowing. “If you’re wondering where William is I think you’ll be pleased to know that he’s no longer here. I brought him back to the shack and gave him some straw berries. It’s quite cute really, though I doubt you care.” Victoria looked down at the wide eyed girl before running towards the exit. With Hannah trying to follow she pushed the rocks down until the last boulder fell in front of the caves bark covering. “I know it’s hard to get but think about it this way, with just me and William it will be less people to feed. And if you get hungry there’s always some berries in there for you.” Walking through the silent woods towards camp she spoke again to no one in particular. “Besides, it’s not like I could have trusted you anyway.”