Chapter 9

"Try to stay positive," Scarlet said softly to Simone and Darcy as they emerged from the jungle, just inland from the outcropping of rocks at the right side of the beach.

They'd spent the whole afternoon walking on the beach, going into the underbrush a few times when they needed to skirt around rocks blocking their path, and Scarlet was bone-tired and hunger gnawed at her stomach. They'd made it all the way around the island without spotting a single piece of evidence that other humans inhabited it, or any visible signs of civilization on the few islands they spotted far out in the distance.

They also hadn't found Zoe, or anything else particularly useful.

Really, the only thing they had accomplished was to discover the island they were on was relatively small, and that the beach went pretty uniformly around it. And Darcy had found some pretty flowers, plucking one to bring back to Krys. Sweet and romantic, but not all that helpful.

As they approached the camp, the sight of the survivors gathered around a flickering fire brought a small measure of comfort. At least they'd accomplished something today and they wouldn't be cold tonight.

"How are we going to spin ‘lost on an uninhabited island' positively?" Darcy asked.

She had a point.

"I just don't want to create fear in the group if we can help it," Scarlet said. Everyone had been so tense when the three of them left on their scouting mission. "Look how much they've done today."

Both life boats were now on shore, turned upside down and propped against trees to create lean-to shelters. There were a few different piles of supplies laid out on the beach –as they got closer, Scarlet saw the life vests everyone had been wearing and some other survival tools from the boats, a few soggy boxes and large aluminum cans that looked like they'd come from the kitchen, and a miscellaneous heap that was probably garbage, but maybe there'd be treasure in there.

The crew member with the gash on her forearm was now sporting a clean white bandage, so somebody must have found a first aid kit.

And then there was the fire –that little symbol of civilization alone was a miracle.

"Scar!"

She heard Robin's voice and forgot her exhaustion as she jogged the last stretch back to camp and threw her arms around her. "I missed you."

"I worried the whole time you were gone."

"The good news is that the island seems safe," Scarlet told her. "We didn't see signs of any large predators, or any natural features that could be a threat to us. And there's an even bigger beach on the other side of the island that I think would be a good, highly visible place to create a HELP message on the sand."

A few of the others had gathered around, and Evie asked, "What's the bad news?"

Scarlet looked to her fellow scouts, hesitating, and Simone took up the mantle. "We walked the entire perimeter of the island in about four hours, which tells us it's pretty small. We didn"t venture too far inland, but from what we could see, there are no signs of human life. No docks, no structures, nothing."

A murmur rippled through the group, a mix of disappointment and fear. Scarlet looked at Robin and saw her own weariness and concern reflected back at her.

"What about other islands?" Kit asked. "Did you see anything nearby? Maybe we can signal to somebody."

Darcy shook her head. "There are some distant land masses, but nothing close enough to reach with anything we've currently got access to."

"Could we swim?"

"I wouldn't recommend it," Evie said. "What looks like a reasonable distance might turn out to be a hell of a lot more than you bargained for, and you won't know it until it's too late to turn back."

"And Zoe?" Lex asked.

Scarlet shook her head. "No trace of her."

One of the crew members made the sign of the cross, reflecting what they all must have been thinking –Zoe was the only casualty in the storm. It was tragic, but it could have been a whole lot worse.

"Well, we gathered up everything we've found on the beach so far," Robin said, "and the surf keeps bringing more so we'll keep looking. It's getting dark, though –why don't we call it a night and have some dinner?"

Scarlet's stomach practically screamed in agreement with that idea. The group of about four dozen women all huddled around the fire, which seemed woefully insufficient now that all of them –nearly fifty in all –were vying for its warmth. Evie and Marnie brought out the most perishable foods that they'd scavenged from the wreckage –fresh, bruised fruit and veggies and half-soggy pastries.

They all ate in silence, contemplating their situation as they stared into the flickering fire, and then Evie brought out a bottle of vodka.

"A crate of this washed up," she said. "I think we could all use it."

She opened the bottle, took a long pull, then passed it around the circle. The sun set over the water and Scarlet settled against Robin's shoulder, and the group tried to figure out their next move. It seemed they'd fallen into two camps on the subject –was it more important to do everything they could to ensure their rescue, or focus on survival for however long they were on the island?

Scarlet just listened for a long time.

"We need to signal for help," Evie argued. "Someone will be looking for us, but there are a lot of islands in this area, a lot of places we could have ended up."

But Raven shook her head. "We can"t rely on the hope of rescue alone," she countered, her tone firm. "We need to be prepared for the possibility that we may be here longer than our supplies last. We didn't pull very much useful stuff from the beach today and there are a lot of mouths to feed here. We have to start thinking about survival."

Robin spoke up next. "Ravan's right. Signaling is important, but it's not going to do us any good if we don't provide for our basic needs first."

Scarlet was surprised. Robin thought going all Bear Grylls was the most important thing? "There could be somebody out there looking for us right now and all we have to let them know where we are is this measly fire," she pointed out.

"Lena and I worked hard on this fire, thank you very much," Reese said.

"It's a good fire," Scarlet said. "But it's not good for signaling."

It was too small, and too close to the tree line. What they needed was something big and unmissable.

"How long are we going to survive on mushy Danishes and vodka?" Darcy pointed out.

"Every minute we spend focusing on long-term survival is a minute we"re not working on getting off this island," Lex said.

Robin"s eyes flashed with frustration. "Nobody's saying we should go hide in the interior. But we have to be realistic. We don"t know how long we"ll be here, and we need to be prepared for the worst."

Scarlet shook her head. This debate was getting heated, and she hated that she wasn't even on the same side of it with Robin. The group dynamic was breaking down again, and she didn't know what to do to fix it, and yet she was unwilling to concede. "But if we split our efforts, we"ll be wasting valuable time and resources. We need to put everything we have into getting rescued." Her voice cracked as she added, "I just can"t bear the thought of being stuck here for God knows how long."

Robin"s expression softened, and she reached out to take Scarlet"s hand. "I know, Scarlet. This is scary. We're all tired and nervous, we're not gonna figure this out tonight. Let's table it and think about it again in the morning."

They actually managed to talk about lighter topics for a while –the vodka probably helped, and between all of them, the bottle was drained in no time.

"Hey, who has a pen and paper?" Lex asked, holding up the empty. "I'll send a message, that'll get us out of here in no time."

A few people rolled their eyes and she got a few reluctant chuckles.

Lena and Reese kept feeding the fire from some relatively dry brush they'd collected, and Scarlet stayed wrapped up in Robin's arms in front of it. The flickering firelight cast shadows across the sand and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore providing a constant backdrop.

As the last of the daylight faded, Tasha got up from the fire and went into the brush. Scarlet figured at first that she was just relieving herself, but she came back a moment later with her acoustic-electric guitar in her hand.

"Look what I found," she said. "I stashed it so it would be a surprise."

"Oh my God, that's a miracle!" Nat said.

Tasha sat down in the sand and perched it on her thigh, strumming a few chords and tuning it as best she could. The wood body was severely waterlogged and it wasn't sounding its best, but it could have been the most screechy, out of tune nightmare and Scarlet still would have thought it sounded like heaven.

Tasha started to play. At first it was just the guitar, and then she added her deep, velvety voice. Tasha didn't often sing, but she was a multitalented artist and Scarlet made a mental note to give her more room to shine in their future albums.

After a while, Scarlet joined in, and then the other three Begonias, and then Nat.

Pretty soon the whole group was singing. They didn't all know the words, they weren't all in key, but it was the most beautiful sound in the world, and Scarlet enjoyed the way the firelight reflected in Robin's eyes as she sang right along beside her.

It was a calming and reassuring way to end the night, and when people started to break off from the group to crawl into their makeshift shelter, Tasha kept strumming and said, "I'll watch the fire, make sure it stays lit."

Scarlet felt a surge of pride in her. Tasha had always been the most reserved Begonia, content to let Scarlet take the lead while she provided steady support from the background. Scarlet sometimes worried that nobody saw any of the other Begonias, given how much larger than life she tended to be, taking up the whole stage. She especially worried about quiet little Tasha standing behind her. But now, in the face of this crisis, she was stepping up.

"Are you sure?" Scarlet asked. "It"s been a long day."

Tasha shook her head. "I"m fine, Scar. I don"t think I could sleep right now anyway. Too much on my mind."

Scarlet nodded, understanding all too well the million things that must be running through all their minds. She got up and went over to Tasha, squeezing her shoulder. "Wake me up when you want me to take the next shift."

Then she held out her hand to Robin, pulling her to her feet. The two of them crawled beneath one of the upturned life boats, finding a space where they could curl up together. Robin wrapped her arms around Scarlet, her body a comfort in a strange land.

"Good night."

"Tomorrow, it'll be better."

"How do you know?"

"I just have to believe it."