One Way Ticket

It was early in the morning when Rachel woke up. She found herself laying awkwardly in the sand where she had spent the night. She wasn't the only one; the beach was scattered with people lying around among the luggage that had been saved from the fire.

Standing up, she brushed off the sand off her shirt and capris before looking around for Paige. Unsure of what to do, Rachel wandered down the beach a bit, glancing curiously into the jungle. The further she went down the beach, the less footprints she saw in the sand.

Rachel wandered further down the beach as it began to bend around the island until she wasn't able to see the wreckage from the crash. She paused there as she looked further along the beach. There wasn't anything there except more sand and jungle. She began to make her way back to the wreckage slowly, pausing occasionally to try to shake sand out of her shoes.

When she returned, she found almost everyone was up and seemed to be all listening to a few people talking. Returning to the crowd she spotted Paige standing with a few older men who were talking.

"We haven't seen any signs of rescue, so we were thinking a few of us could hike into the jungle and see what there is. If we can get up to the cliffs we could build a fire there so it's easier for rescue to find us," one of the men, looking to be in his early forties was saying. "If you want to volunteer to come, just let us know and get ready to leave."

Rachel bit her lip as she glanced around the crowds. She would feel better about having something to do rather than sitting around and waiting for something to happen. Besides, it looked like Paige was going with them.

"We'll leave in about half an hour," the man called as the people in the crowd began wandering off, muttering to themselves. Rachel walked over to Paige.

"Hey, I'll come," she offered.

"Okay, good. We just need to find some water to take with us," Paige explained.

"How's your arm?" Rachel asked, aware that Paige had been injured in the crash. Knowing her friend, Paige would put other people first.

"It still hurts; I think my wrist might be sprained," Paige held up her left arm, shrugging as if it was unimportant. "I don't think it's broken."

"So erm...who are they?" Rachel muttered to Paige, nodding off to the men Paige had been standing with.

"That's Turner, he's the one that came up with the idea," she nodded towards the man who had been speaking earlier. "I think-" Paige was cut off as a middle aged woman came over.

"Excuse me, do you know where the first aid kit is?" she asked, holding up her hand to show a small cut in her finger. Rachel stepped back and turned away to start looking for some extra water, shaking her head slightly to herself.

About half an hour later Rachel found herself at the edge of the jungle doing up the straps on one of the backpacks. A family had claimed to have been backpacking in Australia and had some backpacks for them to take along with extra hiking supplies. Unfortunately, there was a limited amount of water bottles. They had divided the water between the five people hiking up to the cliffs and the rest of the survivors on the beach.

Rachel fixed the strap on the backpack before observing the rest of the group. Paige was also going, along with Turner. The young man Rachel had briefly spoken to, Cian, was also going along with a girl who looked like she was about fourteen who had introduced herself as Taylor.

It didn't take long for them to set off into the jungle. Rachel wasn't sure where they were going, or how they knew where they were going so she simply followed Turner. She still had a faint headache, but no longer felt sick to the stomach.

The first half hour of stumbling over roots of trees and through underbrush and vines was spent in silence. There had been a few attempts at conversation, but the group fell silent as they concentrated on keeping their footing. They only stopped a couple of times for a water break and for Turner to check his compass. About an hour into the hike Rachel was starting to feel exhausted. Turner was leading them at a blinding pace, seemingly unawares that although he was in good shape the others were having difficulty keeping up.

"We...need..a..break..." Paige gasped as she stumbled over a large root protruding out of the ground, hidden by grass. Sweat was pouring down her face as she stopped and collapsed onto a log.

"We're almost there," Turner called before glancing back and realizing they had stopped.

Rachel sat down beside Paige, taking out a water bottle and taking a long drink. She lost count of how long they had been hiking for, but she was starting to feel sick. The few granola bars from the packs hadn't been enough to eat.

"So how are we supposed to get up there?" Cian asked, motioning up through the trees where they could see the bases of some of the cliffs. Most if it was flat and it wouldn't be possible to climb.

"We're probably going to have to circle around a bit, find a way up," Turner explained. "We may end up setting camp in the jungle though and tackle the climb tomorrow."

"What are we doing for food?" Rachel asked as her stomach growled. She only had a few granola bars left but wasn't sure if anyone else had packed much food or not.

Turner didn't reply as he turned away but Rachel knew the answer. They had a very limited supply of food and water. They had left most of the food back at the beach with the rest of the survivors.

"We should be able to find something around here, right?" Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow as she tied her dirty blond hair back in a messy pony tail. "We should be able to find some wild fruit or something."

"We can look, but we don't want to try eating anything if we don't know what it is," Turner warned. "Let's go, we should reach the cliffs and find out where to go from there."

With a groan Paige stood up and followed. It was much cooler in the jungle as they could escape the direct sunlight, but it wasn't easy keeping up to Turner's pace.