Day 2…Afternoon Part 1

Kat sighed as she found another empty bottle inside a suitcase. Why would someone carry an empty bottle to Hawaii? There seemed to be any water. She brushed her curly red hair, which she hadn't brushed since the morning before, out of her face and peered closer at the bottle.

"Uh, scuse me?"

Kat turned and saw the blonde standing there. She didn't feel much like conversing with her, after all the trouble she'd caused. First, she insulted her, and then she went and almost got herself drowned. Obviously, she wasn't going to be any worth speaking to on this island, or anywhere for that matter.

"What do you want?" she grunted angrily, throwing the bottle aside. "You gonna whine about something else?" She didn't see the hurt look on the blonde's face. Not caring what she was about to say, Kat turned and walked over to another suitcase. Her throat was itching with dryness, and the simmering sun was making it even worse.

"Hey, Kat?"

She felt like she was being surrounded. Why was everyone asking her questions and acting like she was their leader? There was Marissa, standing there with a worried look on her face. "What?"

"We need more water. Hailey, that little girl over there, doesn't have any left," she said with a sick look on her face.

"Looks like you got yourself a dilemma," said a voice behind her. Startled, Kat whirled around to see the tall dark guy that had saved the blonde's life before. His face looked so murky that she didn't respond.

Kat paused for a moment before saying loudly so that everyone could hear, "Well, if you want water, you should stop sitting on your butts and get some!" She stalked off and sat below a pine tree, closing her eyes for a moment of rest. She lifted her head and looked up at the sky. But the branches of the palm tree were blocking her way.

She blinked, thinking carefully before standing up and starting to climb the trunk. She could see a few coconuts attached to the top of the tree. If she could only reach it, they would have something to drink. She felt the bark scratching against her bare legs as she tucked her hair behind her ear before continuing up the trunk.

"What are you doing?" asked the African American boy. Kat didn't bother answering; all questions would be answered when she finished picking those coconuts. She reached up and touched the rough shell, shaking it until it came loose. The coconut dropped easily to the ground, and Kat reached for another one. The other took a bit more shaking to get it to come off, but eventually all three were on the ground.

"Does anyone have anything sharp?" she asked, picking up a coconut from the ground and wondering how she would be able to split it open.

The boy wearing the hat, now backwards on his head, stepped forward and held out a screwdriver. Kat narrowed her eyes and said, "Where did you get that?" He looked a bit nervous as soon as he saw the suspicion in her eyes.

"Nowhere. Just a suitcase. I kept it in my pocket in case we might need it later. Looked handy enough," he replied nonchalantly. Kat snatched it from him and began working a hole into the tough shell of the coconut with the sharp end of the screwdriver. Eventually, the outer shell wore away and there was a small perforation in the coconut.

Kat tipped it over into her hand and felt a soft droplet on her palm. Hurriedly, she sucked it off of her hand and, though she hated the bitter taste, felt like she hadn't had water in days. She let out a sigh and collapsed on the ground.

"Can I have some?" The little boy in the baseball cap stepped forward with an outstretched hand. Kat looked up at him peculiarly, blinking as she examined his face. She handed him the coconut and stood up.

"Miss?"

She looked over again, now getting used to the fact that everyone was looking towards her to answer all of the questions. It was Owen. She rolled her eyes and said exasperatedly, "What do you want, Owen?"

"I was just wondering if you've ever dealt with dead bodies. That guy over there is starting to creep me out." To Kat, Owen never sounded as if he was serious, but she glanced over to where he was pointing. It was the dead man she had tried to save previously; he was still lying beneath the palm tree. She hadn't wondered about him since he had died, though it had been tough to realize she wasn't able to save him. But she was a girl of priorities, and to her, helping everyone else was more important than grieving over a dead man she didn't even know. She stood up and walked over to him. His eyes were still open, staring lifelessly out at the ocean. Kat gulped, seeing the blood soaked through his shirt. She shot a sideways glance to Owen before kneeling besides him.

"Maybe we should move his body," she suggested. Owen nodded and grabbed his arm, beginning to drag him over to a large chunk of metal that would keep his body from frying in the sun. No one would have to see him there and be haunted by his glazed eyes.

As his body shifted, there was a soft crunch. Owen flinched and dropped the man's hand. Kat blinked and saw a small piece of paper crinkled up into a ball by his left hand. She reached down and picked it up. Her breath caught as she unwrinkled it and smoothed it out, seeing a bright red.

It was blood.

She felt herself choking as she finally smoothed it all out, and read the message that was painted there. It was messy and written in blood that had leaked all over the thin paper, making it difficult to decipher. "What is that?" Owen stuttered nervously. Kat didn't reply. She was too busy reading what the man had written in small letters with his own blood.

It said:

The pilot was lost.

They are looking in the wrong place.

Kat blinked, letting the words sink in to her brain, deciding what they meant. It was a warning…The pilot was lost. She looked up at Owen, her heart pounding almost as fast as it had been when the back of the plane tore off.

"What is it?" he repeated urgently. Kat handed him the note and sat down, afraid she wouldn't be able to stand up on her own two feet. He looked the note up and down before saying loudly, "The pilot was lost?"

There was a gasp from somewhere over near the wreckage. The blonde girl came running over; she had obviously heard what Owen had shouted. "They're not coming for us?" she exclaimed, gaping. Kat took a deep breath and stood up as the others came racing over.

"Are they looking for us in the wrong place?" said the dark-skinned boy.

"What are we going to do?" the brunette wailed. Her eyes were wide with fear, along with the blonde's. Kat wasn't even staying calm, but she took a few deep breaths to slow her heartbeat. Panicking would only make things worse, she figured.

As the kids started shouted at each other, Kat raised her voice about theirs and shouted, "Guys!" They all looked over at her. "How do we know if this guy is right?" she asked them. "What's the use of panicking over a little note?"

Marissa had come over at this time. She was glancing around at everyone wondering what was going on. "He wrote it in his last dying moments," Owen pointed out pessimistically. "If he was going to write anything, why would it be a lie?"

Kat pondered this for a moment. She didn't want to believe Owen was right, partly because he almost never was. But his words were making sense in her mind. Gradually the worried murmurs developed into yells and whines as she thought.

"Hey!" she finally screamed. "If it is true, crying about it isn't going to do any good!" Everyone was silenced by her harsh words. They didn't want to be told not to panic; they probably weren't good for anything else, but Kat had to control them before things got worse. She looked at each of them in turn and crunched the note in her palm, dropping it on the ground. "The planes aren't looking for us," she said matter-of-factly. She heard the blonde let out a whimper. "At least not in the right place. They're still out there, but they probably won't find us as quickly as we thought they would. That means we can't just sit around here and wait for a rescue. We have to do something. Otherwise, we're all going to starve here…"

Everyone was mesmerized by her small speech. It had shut them all up at least, she supposed. Finally, after a minute of silence, someone else spoke: "So what do we do now, Chief?" It was Marissa, and surprisingly she was smiling. Kat learned at that moment that her assumption of Marissa from the beginning on the plane had been correct. She was the sort of peppy optimistic annoying little twerp that Kat would most likely usually ignore. But now it seemed that Marissa was the only one being realistic.

"I say we should figure out who will be leader," Owen offered. Kat pursed her lips and sighed.

"A leader for what?" the blonde asked.

"A leader for the group," Owen explained. "We can't make it through this without a leader." The kids began, one at a time, to slowly nod their heads in agreement.

"I vote Kat!" Marissa announced.

"Woh, woh, woh, voting?" asked the gothic guy, whose face wasn't quite as dark without his makeup on. Kat blinked, thinking on what the two of them had said.

"That's a good idea," she said loudly. "Why don't we put it to a vote?" Everyone agreed. She paused for a moment before saying, "Okay, who wants—" Owen interrupted her.

"Who wants me as a leader?" he asked. No one raised their hand. Kat folded her arms across her chest and looked at him as if he was way out of his league.

"Who wants Kat as the leader?" Marissa suggested. Everyone raised their hands. The blonde was a bit hesitant, and so was the gothic guy. Kat figured that the blonde would become used to the way things would go around here in time. She needed to learn that she needed to grow up and take care of herself.

"I guess I'm the new leader," Kat said slowly.

"That's not fair," Owen objected.

"It's what everyone decided on," Kat countered. "Now we're going to do things right. We need to get organized." She looked at each of them, wondering what their strengths would be. She figured that the gothic guy could lift large weights and the blonde was good at rearranging things.

"You two," she pointed at both of them. They nervously glanced at each other, as if Kat had just humiliated them. "You arrange a place for us to lie down, out of the sun. Use whatever you can: towels, blankets, pieces of metal. Even sticks." She turned over to the dark-skinned boy and the African American boy and Owen. "We're going to need food. Pick some coconuts and whatever else you find." The two girls nodded, but Owen was slow to agree.

"What if I—" He stopped when the gothic guy gave him an exasperated look.

"You," Kat pointed to the little boy in the cap and to the brunette and Marissa. "Sort through the suitcases and find clothes and bottles and whatever else you want to keep." They nodded and went off together to find a suitcase to sort through. The boy didn't seem too enthusiastic about working with clothes, but he didn't complain.

"What are you going to do?" Owen asked hotly.

"Me?" she asked casually. "I'm going to look for water."

"Bu—But, you can't go out there alone!" he stuttered. Kat was a bit puzzled. She figured that Owen would want her to go and get lost in the jungle. She blinked, and the others covered their mouths with their hands for some reason she couldn't understand.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You could get hurt," Owen said quickly and nervously. Kat was wondering why he was sweating, but she figured he was right. "I'll come with you," Owen offered. Kat thought for a moment and nodded, trudging off into the woods, a small bottle of water in her hand. Owen went trailing after her and everyone went to the jobs she had assigned, heart still sinking from the message they had discovered.