Chapter 13

"Oh no."

The moment the camp was in sight, Scarlet could see the damage from the storm. Her heart sank at the sight of their makeshift shelter in pieces, their supplies strewn across the beach, no evidence of her HELP sign or the fires they'd built.

The storm had taken it all and thrown it back at them, ruined.

"Is everyone okay?" Robin called when they got close enough.

Their fellow survivors were scattered around the camp, picking through the debris, salvaging what they could. Scarlet saw Jess cradling a shivering Dana in her arms, and Krys and Darcy worked together to untangle a mess of tangled driftwood, their movements sluggish and uncoordinated.

"Scar, Robin!" Raina cried, running over to them. "Where have you been?"

"We got stranded," she explained, and told them about the fishing spot, how fast the storm came upon them, the cave they took shelter in. They'd been out there all night, and while certain parts of the evening had been just what Scarlet needed, a release and a connection with Robin that she'd been craving, they were just as cold, tired and hungry as the rest of the survivors.

"We were worried about you," Amelia said. "We're all okay here, a little worse for the wear."

Robin let out a deep sigh, then bucked up. "Well, there's nothing we can do but put the camp back together. Come on, everyone, if we all pitch in we can have a roof over our heads and a warm meal in our bellies by bedtime."

Nobody was excited about it, but everybody got doggedly to work.

Nat and Christy took charge of the supplies. They gathered a group to help them sort through the sodden mess, laying out the usable items to dry in the sun.

Raven and Kit came up with a plan to repurpose the life boats, building the shelter back sturdier and better. They dismantled what was left of the ruined boats and used the wood to make a platform with a lean-to side, then gathered leaves and sticks from the jungle to weave a roof. The two of them were the most experienced with outdoor living by far, and while neither of them was a survivalist exactly, their experience was apparent in the structure they built.

Reese and Lena cleared debris from the part of the beach where they'd had their fires, and Amelia and Simone worked on gathering the best driftwood and sticks they could find to start a few new ones.

Scarlet recruited Robin to help her recreate the HELP sign, surprised that Robin was so eager to agree. She knew Robin thought that survival was more important than rescue –especially with their camp in shambles –but Scarlet didn't want to unglue herself from Robin's side since their night in the cave, and it seemed like Robin felt the same.

It was getting late and Scarlet's back was aching when a rustling sound from the edge of the jungle caught her attention.

She stiffened, her whole body going on alert.

"Robin…"

They hadn't seen any signs of predators out in the jungle, but who knew what else this island had to throw at them?

"I hear it," Robin said, taking a protective step closer to her.

Then a disheveled and slumped-over figure stumbled onto the beach. Her designer cover-up was torn and stained, her hair matted with leaves and dirt, her skin scratched from the underbrush and swollen with mosquito bites.

"Oh my God, Zoe!"

That got everyone's attention. They all came running and Zoe, missing for an entire week, staggered into the camp.

"Hi," she said weakly. "I could really use some food. Got any?"

Scarlet exchanged a shocked glance with Robin, and they looped Zoe's arms over their shoulders, helping her to the fire that Amelia was feeding.

"Somebody, get some papaya," Scarlet said, setting Zoe down in the sand.

"Are you kidding me?" Lex asked, coming over with her hands on her hips. "Where the hell have you been?"

Zoe gave Lex a pitiful look. "I was looking for you guys…"

"Bullshit," Lex spat.

Scarlet's eyes went wide. "Hey. She needs our help, okay?"

"Oh sure, now that she's hungry," Lex said. "We spent days looking for you, calling your name. This island ain't that big, Zoe."

Reese brought her half of a papaya and Zoe took it, her eyes narrowing to hard little pinpoints as she looked at Lex. "What are you accusing me of?"

"It just seems to me that if you've been trying to find us, we've been right here the whole time," Lex said.

"We thought you were dead, Zoe," Evie said. There was more accusation in her tone than relief.

"Okay, okay," Robin said, holding a hand up. "It's been a long day and we're all exhausted and frustrated. Let's not get into this right now."

"Into what, the fact that Zoe didn't train her crew, skimped on emergency supplies, just wanted to make a buck off all of us, and then when the shit went down, she went into hiding?" Lex raised her voice. "Until she needed us. And now here she is!"

"Regardless," Scarlet cut in. "We can't let her starve."

"Why not?" Lex demanded.

Scarlet's mouth dropped. "Because this is Gillian's Island, not the freaking Lord of the Flies. We're not losing our civility out here, and Zoe is a human being who needs our help."

"Whatever." Lex stormed off, and looking around at the group that had gathered, Scarlet saw a number of other unsympathetic faces.

"Let's at least hear Zoe's side of things," Amelia said. "Can someone bring her some water? She looks dehydrated."

Thankfully after last night's rain, that was one thing they had plenty of. Krys went over to the stock pot that had filled up during the storm and dipped the empty vodka bottle into it, then brought it over. She shoved it into Zoe's hand to make clear her feelings.

Zoe chugged it down, then tore into the papaya. The group watched in silence, a mix of pity and resentment on their faces.

"Okay, you had your food, you had your water," Lex said, coming back into the circle. "Start talking."

Amelia put her hand on Lex's shoulder. "Take a breath, okay?"

"No, I want to hear where the hell she's been."

Zoe looked around the group, her expression defensive. Scarlet got the impression she was trying to pick out the friendly faces in the crowd, and she tried to be one of them. Zoe wasn't her favorite person, but she deserved a chance to tell her side of the story.

"I got separated from everyone," she said. "The life boat was sinking and there was so much rain, I couldn't see. I was scared to death and when my feet touched land, I just started running. I found a cave somewhere in there, I couldn't even tell you where it is, but it was dry and it felt safe and I just stayed there."

"Until you ran out of food," Lex said. "It"s almost like you didn"t want to be found because you knew how pissed we'd all be."

Zoe"s shoulders slumped, and she lowered her eyes to the growing fire. Her voice trembled next time she spoke. "You're right. I was a coward. I was afraid everyone would blame me, and you know what? I blame me, too."

Lex rolled her eyes, but it seemed like a few of the others were coming around to Zoe's story.

She took a shuddering breath. "So, I hid. I tried to survive on my own, but the storm last night flooded my cave and I had no choice. Please don't send me back out there. I'll die on my own."

Scarlet felt a twinge of sympathy for Zoe, and when she looked at Robin, she saw anger and frustration simmering together with compassion. Looking around at the others, she saw a lot of similar expressions.

And then there was Lex, her eyes still blazing with anger. "Why should we help her?" she demanded. "She left us to fend for ourselves, not caring if we lived or died. Maybe she should get a taste of her own medicine."

Several others murmured in agreement, their faces hardened with resentment. Scarlet"s heart sank.

"Okay, Lex, I think you've made your position clear," she said. "What does everybody else think?"

"If we turn on each other, we're never gonna survive this," Krys said, still sounding grudging about it.

Beside her, Darcy nodded. "We need to give Zoe a chance to prove herself, to make amends."

Raven scoffed, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. "Mistakes? She put us in this situation and then abandoned us, and now she's begging for help. How can we trust her?"

Kit placed a hand on Raven"s shoulder, her expression conflicted. "I don"t know if I can trust her either, but what choice do we have? We can't send her back out there alone."

"Are you serious right now?" Lex cut in again, but this time she wasn't arguing with the group. She had her eyes locked on Zoe, who looked up with a mouthful of papaya. She'd found the other half of the fruit Reese had given her, and she had a bottle of vodka at her feet too somehow –not the water Krys got her, but a new bottle from their booze stores.

"While we"ve been here arguing about whether or not to give you a second chance, you"ve been stuffing your face with our food?" Lex snatched the bottle away from her, taking a long sip before capping it and putting it with the others. "You don"t get to eat our food until you answer for what you did."

"I got separated–"

"Not that," Lex cut her off. "We found the maintenance records, Zoe. We know about all the supplies you skimped on, the safety measures you ignored."

Zoe swallowed hard, her eyes darting around the group. Scarlet could see the panic rising in her face as the survivors closed in.

"I... I didn't mean for this to happen," Zoe stammered, her hands trembling. "I was just trying to keep the cruise affordable, to make it accessible to everyone."

Evie stepped forward, her eyes narrowed. "By putting our lives at risk? By cutting corners on crew training and essential maintenance?"

Zoe"s shoulders slumped and she was on the verge of tears. "I know it was wrong. I'm just a dumb, na?ve girl like my parents always said. I thought I could handle this. I never meant to hurt anyone, I swear. I"ll do whatever it takes to make it right, to earn your trust again."

The group started to break into little bickering side conversations, and before Scarlet could come up with something to stop them from arguing, Evie stepped up and said loudly, "I think we should take a vote."

Everyone looked at her.

"We're split on how to handle this," she explained. "The most democratic way is to go with the majority opinion."

Scarlet"s brows furrowed, and she shook her head. "A vote? No. Zoe deserves a chance to survive, no matter what she's done."

But the others were already nodding, liking Evie's idea. Scarlet slumped down in the sand, feeling defeated and disgusted. She refused to participate, but everyone else was on board with this. Even Robin cast her vote along with the others. Scarlet was relieved that she'd voted to let Zoe stay at least. She understood why everyone was so mad at her, but kicking her out of camp…

It was a vote for her death.

In the end, Zoe won the right to stay by a narrow margin. Relief flooded her face, and then she scuttled into the new shelter, making herself scarce for the rest of the night. Scarlet wandered down the beach a little way, kicking small stones into the ocean as she went.

Robin came up behind her, wrapping her arms around Scarlet. "You okay?"

"I can't believe a person's life came down to a vote."

"I know," Robin said softly, "but she gets to stay. We"ll just have to keep an eye on her, and maybe keep Lex away from her."