9 Months

[leonic-0922.livejournal.com]

Title: 9 Months
Rating: PG
Genre: Fantasy
Author: Me, Leonic
Summary: When the plane crashes on an empty island, Ryan, Colin, Greg and Brad are left to survive until help can arrive. However they soon discover a deadly secret about the island, and if they stay there longer than 9 months, they will be forced to remain on the island forever

One – The Island

 

Ryan feebly stirred as he opened his eyes. At once bright sunlight hit his face, temporarily blinding him, and the numerous birdsongs filled his ears. He was slowly regaining his senses. While he lay there, uncertain what was happening, he thought back to his last memory.

 

Brad, Colin and Greg had been with him … they were on a private plane … they were flying back to America to film for Who’s Line … the plane had began to descend, Colin was screaming somewhere nearby … Ryan remembered looking out of the window and seeing the blue sky flashing fast before his eyes …

 

It suddenly occurred to Ryan they must have crashed and knocked into unconsciousness. As he unbuckled his seatbelt with some difficulty (his fingers felt slightly numb) he realised they had hit an island. All around the ruins of the plane was trees, plants and overgrown grass. He slowly got up and, feeling sweat, wiped his forehead. He looked at his fingers and saw wet scarlet blood. He felt his forehead more careful and found a cut. He carefully stepped in between the plane ruins.

 

“Hello?” he shouted. “Is there anyone there?”

 

“Ryan …” someone moaned weakly. Ryan instantly recognised who it was.

 

“Brad!” shouted Ryan. “Where are you?” He saw Brad flap a hand. Ryan half-hoped half-ran over to him and saw Brad lying on his side. He had acquired a black eye, his mouth was bleeding, and his arms had angry-looking bruises on them. Ryan helped Brad up. The moment Brad stood up, he spat out a globule of blood.

 

“I must have bit my tongue,” he explained. He winced as he looked down at the bruises on his arms. “Those are going to take ages to heal, they don’t look very friendly. Where are we?”

 

“I don’t know,” answered Ryan. “Greg! Colin! Where are you? Greg? Colin?”

 

“You don’t think they’re dead, do you?” asked Brad fearfully. Ryan didn’t answer him; he didn’t want to think of them as dead. It was already bad enough they had crashed. If either of them were dead, he doubted he could handle the news…

 

“Colin! Greg!” cried Ryan again. Brad joined in, and their cries echoed around the clearing.

 

“Ryan … Brad … I’m here …” moaned a voice Ryan could always recognise.

 

“Colin!” he cried loudly. “Colin! Colin, can you hear me?”

 

“Yes …”

 

“Ryan, he’s over here,” shouted Brad a distance away from Ryan. Ryan ran over and helped him with Colin. Colin was looking in an awful state. He seemed to have lost even more hair; two of his fingers were swollen; there was a gash across his shoulder, and there were cuts across his head and legs.

 

“Colin, how are you?” asked Ryan.

 

“A bit woozy,” Colin mumbled. He tried to stand up on his own but fell backwards. At once Ryan and Brad caught him.

 

“Easy,” said Brad. “You can’t go anywhere on your own just yet.”

 

“Where’s Greg?” asked Colin.

 

“We haven’t found him yet,” answered Ryan. All colour drained from Colin’s face as he heard this. “Brad, you stay with Colin, I’ll go and look for Greg.” As he said this, fear was rushing through his mind. Was Greg dead?

 

“OK, but be careful,” said Brad as Ryan let go of Colin. Ryan ran to the back of the plane, where he was sure Greg had been sitting. He kept calling for Greg but received no reply. It was only when Ryan tripped over a body did he find Greg. One of Greg’s legs was trapped. He was breathing unevenly, his eyes shut beneath a pair of broken glasses (one of the lenses bore a long crack, the other had shattered). There was blood down his face from the broken lenses. Ryan freed Greg’s trapped leg, then lifted him into a fireman’s carry. Ryan returned to the group.

 

“Don’t worry, he’s just unconscious,” said Ryan quickly, seeing the others’ faces. “Colin how’re you doing?” he added, seeing how Colin was still supporting onto Brad.

 

“I still can’t stand on my own,” Colin answered. “It’s almost like I’ve lost the use of standing up.”

 

“Let’s go somewhere else,” suggested Ryan. “It’s no use staying here, if we’re going to be stranded here for a long time …”

 

“Where do you think we are?” asked Colin. “Hawaii?”

 

“Doesn’t look like it,” said Brad as they began to walk. They were forced to walk slowly because of Colin. “We seem to be the only people here.”

 

“I think we are the only people here,” said Ryan. “I hope there’s a suitable place to camp soon, Greg’s getting heavier by the minute.”

 

As they went deeper into the forest, soon discovered there was no place suitable for camping, nor were there any smooth, clear paths. Ryan had to go ahead first and clear any obstacles so Colin would have an easier time.

 

“Col, I found these!” shouted Ryan from nearby. He was holding two long, firm branchless branches. “If you can walk with these, you’ll take your weight off Brad and we can go a little faster.” He handed them to Colin. Brad took his arm off Colin. This time with the help of the sticks he didn’t fall back. Slowly he walked, using the sticks as support.

 

“I can walk!” he yelled happily. “Thanks Ryan.”

 

“No problem,” grinned Ryan. “Is it just me or can I hear the sound of waves?” There was silence. Although the bird song was louder, they could faintly hear the sound of crashing waves.

 

“I think we’re heading for it,” whispered Brad.

 

“What’re we waiting for? Let’s go!” said Ryan. They continued walking. Their pace had quickened slightly now that Colin was no longer depending on Brad. They continued walking for ages and Greg still didn’t wake. Ryan’s legs had turned to jelly, Greg felt like a very heavy boulder, and he was about to ask to stop and rest when finally their feet left overgrown grass and touched soft yielding sand.

 

“We’re here!” cried Brad. Ryan carefully put Greg down then looked up at the sky. It was still bright blue with wisps of clouds lazily floating across.

 

“What time were we supposed to get back?” asked Ryan.

 

“About half one,” answered Colin. “We left at ten and I think it was nearly twelve when we crashed.” Ryan’s heart sank at Colin’s reply. His wife and kids would be waiting for him to come back … he couldn’t bear to see their faces when he wouldn’t turn up …

 

The coughing and spluttering of Greg awoke Ryan from his thought. He and Brad ran over to him as Greg opened his eyes. He sat up and took off his glasses, staring at them in disbelief. Then he looked up at Brad and Ryan.

 

“Where are we?” he asked.

 

“I don’t know, we’re somewhere,” answered Ryan. “You had us really worried. How are you feeling?”

 

“Awful,” moaned Greg. “I’ve lost all feeling in my left leg.”

 

“That’s the one that got trapped,” said Ryan as Brad rolled up Greg’s trouser leg. It turned out Greg’s leg had swollen up, and gone rather purple.

 

“We’ll need two more sticks for Greg,” said Brad. Ryan got up and was about to go back into the forest when Colin walked forwards and handed Greg one of the sticks.

 

“I’ll be fine on one stick,” he explained to general surprise. “Right now Greg needs it more than I do.” Brad helped Greg up. For a moment Greg wobbled slightly. With the help of Brad as an extra large crutch, Greg managed to hop along. Slowly the group walked along the beach, keeping in time with each other. They walked for what felt like ages, their stomachs rumbling from hunger. The sky rarely changed colour; it stayed blue all the way, but as they walked the sky’s colour dimmed and the number of clouds decreased.

 

“Is that an island over there?” Brad suddenly asked, pointing towards the horizon. Colin squinted slightly, but not as much as Greg, who had far more difficulties seeing without his glasses.

 

“Yes … it is …” muttered Colin. “We can’t swim across, it’s too far away.” They continued walking for what felt like another several hours before they found a small, unnatural section of flat rock. It was so big they could lie down and still leave a lot of space.

 

“We can camp here,” said Ryan. “It’s big enough for all of us, and it seems like the only place we can stay.” He looked up at the orangey-pink sky and saw the sun was already setting spectacularly.

 

“What’re we going to do for beds, clothes, food, and drink?” asked Colin. “We can’t survive here – our luggage was probably destroyed in the crash.” He sat down, his legs feeling worn out. The sheer effort of the journey was straining him.

 

“I’ll go and look for water,” Ryan offered as Brad put Greg down.

 

“I’ll come with you,” said Brad quickly.

 

“No, you need to look after Greg and Colin,” said Ryan firmly. “If something happens, neither of them will be able to escape fast enough.” Brad knew there was no point protesting; Ryan had made a clear point. Instead he decided to try and find some nearby fallen branches to start a fire.

 

Ryan meanderingly went deeper into the forest to find a source of water. He could hear the sound of running water, but he had no idea where it was coming from. After wandering for ages, and still not finding anything, he was about to give up and go back, feeling he had wasted his time, when he finally found it.

 

“Wow,” he said in a half whisper, amazed at what he was seeing. He was now facing a long curving stream of flair and beauty. The water was almost crystal-like. Its clarity was startling; Ryan could see straight through the water. In the orangey-red sunset, the lake was given a beautiful tinge of gold and pale orange.

 

Ryan cupped his hands into the stream and scooped out a small amount of water. He could see his own reflection, and for the first time saw the gash on his forehead. It was almost touching his eyebrow, and the blood around it was a dark scarlet colour. Ryan slowly drank the water, quenching his thirst. His mind was now racing. Their water problem was solved, but what about everything else? Food and clothes and bedding … Colin was right, how could they possibly survive?

 

He made a rough path to the stream by trampling on the grass so it lay flat, and removing any twigs and branches that was in the way. The moment he returned to camp, things were looking much more different. In the middle was a pile of wood. Place around the wood, in a square-like shape, were palm tree leaves which, judging by their arrangement, were their beds.

 

“Did you find any water?” asked Brad the moment he saw Ryan.

 

“Yes, I cleared a path for it,” replied Ryan, indicating the roughly made path. “Where did you get those leaves from?”

 

“Over there,” said Brad, pointing at a nearby single palm tree. It now had a considerably number of leaves less. Two coconuts lay propped against the base in halves.

 

“What’s a palm tree doing alone?” muttered Ryan, frowning. Compared with the forest, the palm tree stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

“I don’t know,” replied Brad as he went to get the coconuts. “Can you help get the fire started? The flints are on your bed.” Ryan didn’t need to ask which bed was his; the longest bed had two stones placed on it. Sleeping to Ryan’s left was Greg, who had a palm leaf wrapped around his leg. To Ryan’s right was Colin, who had smaller palm leaves wrapped around his swollen fingers.

 

Starting a fire proved a challenge; they had never used flints before, they had been too dependent on matches. For a long time Ryan and Brad tried to get a fire going. By the time the sun had set completely, they still hadn’t been able to start a fire.

 

“Let me have a go,” said Greg. Brad passed the flints to him. In one swipe sparks flew onto the wood and a fire started.

 

“How did you do that?” asked Ryan incredulously. Greg shrugged.

 

“Got lucky I suppose,” he said.

 

That night all they had to eat was half a coconut each. It wasn’t much and Ryan felt hungrier than before he had eaten. As he lay on his hard, uncomfortable bed with no pillow, he looked up at the sky. It was now pitch black, the dying fire, moon and silver stars being the only illuminating source left in the sky. Ryan looked at the others. Greg and Brad were sleeping soundlessly, and Colin was muttering something and twisting about. It was a very long time before Ryan finally managed to drift off to sleep.

*

He took a long sniff of fresh air. After years of endless sleep, he was alive … alive at last. He looked down at himself and examined his features … his powerful claws, his strong hind legs, the swishing lion tail with the flame-like tip, the hard coal-like scales protecting his back. And not to mention the pointed ears, those laser vision eyes, the unnatural stout, the wide jaw and the sharpened teeth.

 

He prowled through the forest, his hunger unbearable for his size. He needed to eat … but what could he eat? All he found were petite animals, animals too small for his liking. As he prowled a little deeper in, he found a lone animal. Was it a wolf? It didn’t look like one … its fur was crimson with white patches. From its mouth was a pair of silvery knife-like fangs.

 

He knew the wolf would be enough to satisfy his appetite. He ran forwards on all four, his immense strength channelling through him, particularly his hind legs. The wolf saw him, it began to flee but it was no match for him. Within seconds the wolf had been strangled and killed. He took his time eating; there was no rush. By the time he had finished, it was already dawn …

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