Sara+H

Sara H BEYOND CIVILIZATION Chapter One - Crash and Burn As Ginger glanced out the window of the airplane, she watched the starry night sky transform into a monstrous display of ear shattering thunder and psychedelic lightning. As the plane started to convulsively shake, Ginger became overpowered by a feeling of terror and let out a blood-curdling scream. Suddenly, outside the window Ginger saw a gigantic flash of lightning strike the plane’s engine causing it to burst into flames. Everyone went into a frenzy of panic as they realized their plane was going to crash.

Ginger instinctively reached out to the person seated beside her and screamed, “We’re going to die!” Henry grabbed her hand tightly and told her to calm down and grab the oxygen mask above her as it was getting difficult to breath as the smoke swarmed into the plane. It wouldn’t be long now before the whole plane burst into flames so Ginger and Henry, shaking with fear, grabbed their emergency life jackets and made sure they were tightly fastened. The windows shattered into jagged shards as the flames came tumbling in making their attack.

The next thing they knew, the plane plummeted into the ocean with a horrific crash. Water came pouring in through the windows, and they struggled out of their seatbelts to squeeze through the broken window before it was too late. They escaped the plane using all of their willpower and were now frantically trying to reach the surface of the ocean before they could no longer hold their breath. At last, they reached the surface, exhausted, gasping for air and hopelessly searching for something to grab onto.

The fierce wind swirled around them shooting pellets of hail into their faces, making it impossible to see. Ginger was chilled to the bone from the ice cold water that surrounded them. The intense force of the vicious waves came crashing down on them like a wrecking ball would on a pile of scrap metal. Ginger’s whole body was dragged under with the wave as it took control of her and smashed her elbow right into a sharp dagger-like coral reef causing a huge jolt of pain through her arm. The last thing Ginger remembered seeing before she blacked out was Henry swimming towards her with a log through the mountainous dark waves.

Ginger lay sprawled across the soft sand, painfully opening her sore eyes, trying to comprehend what was happening and where on earth she was. Brightness shone down on her like a spotlight, confusing her as to what time it was because the last thing she remembered was the darkness of the night and being tossed around in the water. Ginger began to sit up and take in her surroundings, which triggered the memory of the dreaded plane crash she had obviously survived. Out of the corner of her eye she saw what looked like two human figures standing at the edge of a bowl-shaped jungle. Could it be the guy whom she remembered escaping from the plane with, she thought to herself. She felt relief fill her body knowing that she wasn’t alone and jumped up, rushing towards the figures waving her hands, anxiously trying to get their attention.

Ginger cried out, “Thank God I’m not the only one on this island! I’m Ginger.”

“Hi, I’m Henry. We escaped from the plane together, and this is Sam,” Henry replied.

“Nice to meet you both. I can’t believe this is happening. I am supposed to be in Sydney, Australia visiting my Grandma, but instead we are on some abandoned island in the middle of nowhere.” Ginger exclaimed.

“You aren’t the only one who was planning on getting to Sydney. There is no point in thinking negatively. I suggest we go explore the island and try to find any signs of other humans,” Henry proclaimed stiffly.

Ginger and Sam agreed with Henry, and they cautiously entered into the unknown jungle after looking back at the comforting sandy beach glistening in the sunlight. Flat, insect-filled soil covered the earth’s floor along with clumps of long ferns and intertwining weeds, which caused every step they took to be a tripping hazard. The loud screeches of birds and crunching sounds of wildlife creeping through the tree covered jungle made them shiver at the thought of not knowing what was surrounding them.

Ginger liked to be the leader, so the two men followed behind her like lost puppies. As they were exploring, the sound of a woman crying out for help echoed through the air like a speaker. All three of them glanced at each other for a clue as to what direction the voice was coming from. Henry used his strong sense of logic to point them in the direction he seemed to believe would lead them straight to the voice. After wandering for a few more minutes, the echoing “hello” became much clearer and seemed very close. Sam saw a woman striding towards them purposefully as if she was on a mission. Then Ginger and Henry also directed their eyes at the woman with concerned but slightly hopeful looks on their faces in hopes they had found yet another survivor. As the woman approached them they could sense the fear in her voice as she told them that there was no way off the island and no one would find them. After Amber introduced herself, Henry suggested to everyone that they needed to calm down and continue to search for other survivors.

After searching for a couple more hours and gathering bits of fruit and dry wood, the four of them decided to build a fire so they could discuss a survival plan until they were rescued.
 * Quote**: " Ginger began to sit up and take in her surroundings, which triggered the memory of the dreaded crash she had obviously survived."

Chapter Two - Hurricane

Three months had passed now and Ginger was still having vicious nightmares about the terrible night of the plane crash. Since then the four survivors hadn’t found any other people who survived the crash but they had found a couple of washed up bodies along the shore of the ocean that had put them at unease.

Ginger was starting to question whether she should be thankful she was still alive or if being stranded on this god forsaken island was worth staying alive for on the tiny chance they could be rescued. As she pondered this thought, the intense burning rays of the sun fried her fair skin like chicken on a barbeque. She licked her sore cracked lips as she fantasized about a nice cold drink of fresh water and a heaping plate of all the junk food she could ever imagine. Her thoughts were the only thing that kept her happy and made her feel safe among all the unknown creatures lurking about day and night.

Ginger the chef, Henry the astronomer, Sam the engineer, and Amber the lawyer were all very successful people who had careers that they thoroughly enjoyed. Now all of their hard work had been for nothing, and all they had left to do was work as a team and put their brains together to try and find a way to be rescued. Time wasn’t something that passed very quickly, but they made sure to keep track of the days that went by so they felt somewhat part of the world outside of their own new one. Sam was an expert at making fires, so every night he would make one and they would all huddle together keeping each other company and reassuring each other that the next day would be the day they are rescued. But really they all had a convincing voice inside their heads whispering to them that they would never be found and to give up.

Tonight was different than any other night. The sounds of slithering snakes and the crunching of unknown creatures crawling around right outside the unsteady shelter they had pitched in on making with the tarp they had found, was much louder than usual. Huge gusts of wind were swirling around the shelter and the booming sound of crashing palm trees around them caused them all to awake with a sudden realization of the disaster that was about to strike the island.

Henry, being an astronomer, was very logical and knew exactly what was causing these forceful winds and the pelting rain that was starting to rush down on the island quickly flooding the ground - it was a hurricane. Just the terrified look on Henry’s face made the others clue in on what they were up against on this noisy sleepless night. It brought back awful memories to each and every one of them of that dreaded night when the plane crashed and of being tossed around by the dark ocean waves until they could barely breathe. Ginger started to have a panic attack and the tears were rolling down her face as she rocked back and forth hysterically hollering for her husband. Amber comforted her and told her they were all in this together and they wouldn’t let anything happen to each other.

Suddenly a huge gust of wind ripped the tarp right off the roof of their shelter giving them no protection at all and buckets of rain poured in drenching all four of them completely. Sam yelled out to them that they had to find a safe place to stay for the night before the hurricane got even worse since their shelter was already being demolished.

After wandering around desperately in search of some kind of cover, Sam eventually spotted a cave just inside the peak of the jungle and hurried everyone over to it. He cautiously stepped into the cave relieved from the sharp cold pangs of the hail pellets against his body.

The other three quickly followed, shivering and desperate to escape the horrid hurricane that was spreading throughout the whole island smashing down everything in its line of sight, as if it was an unstoppable monster. They didn’t care that they couldn’t see anything but darkness in the cave because at least they felt somewhat safe from all the madness that was occurring around them. They just had to wait it out until the morning and try to get some rest even though the brutal sounds of the island boomingly echoed inside the cave as if there were speakers on all sides of them. Exhaustion overpowered their fear and caused them all to drift into a deep sleep blocking out all reality. Amber was the first to awake to the bright spotlight of the sun seeping in through the opening of the cave. She smiled to herself pleased to know that yet again they had survived another ginormous storm, but fearing the fact that there was no point in being alive if she would never be able to see her husband again or be rescued from this prison of an island. Amber looked around at the others still sleeping wondering if they missed their old life as much as she did. Hunger pain struck Amber’s stomach pleading for any food it could get. She decided she would go scavenge for some mouth-watering fruit for breakfast while the others were still sleeping.

Amber scanned across the beach for a papaya tree that they hadn’t already grabbed all the fruit from. She spotted one over by the coral reef that looked very promising, so she jogged over to it hoping she would be able to reach the ripe papayas. Since Amber wasn’t very tall, she had to stand on her tippy toes right on the edge of the sharp looking reef in order to stretch her arm out for the fruit. As she was trying to detach the tight grip of the papaya, she suddenly lost her balance and sliced her knee on a blade-like piece of coral. She screamed out in pain causing all the squawking seagulls around her to scatter away. Then came the sound of the others rushing over to her with concerned expressions on their faces. Before they reached Amber she completely blacked out and lay sprawled across the sand as her knee continued to bleed out vibrant red blood.


 * Quote:** " Henry knew exactly what was causing these forceful winds... It was a hurricane."

Chapter Three - Hopeless

Amber slowly opened her eyes and found herself laying under the shade of a palm tree with the others circling around her, relieved to see her back in consciousness. She began to remember what had happened and looked down at her knee expecting to see a repulsive wound, but instead she found it to be all wrapped up and concealed.

“I covered your knee up and sanitized it with the supplies from the first aid kit we had found,” Henry announced proudly.

“I greatly appreciate that Henry, all I was trying to do was get everyone some fruit for breakfast,” Amber exclaimed.

They all understood and fantasized about how delightful a nice, big, fat, piece of juicy fruit would taste on this steaming hot morning filled with nothing but the silence of the waves washing in and out repetitively.

Almost six months had gone by now and the hope that they would be rescued someday was quickly disintegrating into the air along with the dull smoke of the fire. Their hair was a matted mess filled with pieces of earth and insects. Dirt was crammed under their fingernails and the parts of their skin that weren’t covered by filth were burnt to a crisp. They were as scrawny as sticks from the lack of protein they were getting because they hadn’t been so lucky with their fishing lately because they were exhausted. They had learned to be extra cautious about where they stepped when in the jungle because of the poisonous snakes they had discovered that were always looking for a victim to suck the life out of.

Ginger - being a chef - used the one unsharpened knife they had to chop up a tasty fish soup to entice their energy level so they could actually accomplish something today. Every day was becoming a routine, and Ginger was getting fed up with it. If they didn’t get off this island soon, she would go insane. Sitting around doing nothing but trying to find food to survive wasn’t enough to keep a person satisfied. Silence filled the air while they all sat eating their soup, until Ginger spoke up.

“You are all in agreement that we have to find a way off this island, even if it means risking our lives right?” Ginger questioned.

They all nodded in agreement knowing Ginger was right but also fearing for their own lives.

Once they were done their soup, they worked on trying to build a raft that they could sail out far enough into the ocean, so a ship might see them. Sam and Henry ventured out into the treacherous jungle to fetch some thick wood firm enough to make a raft out of. Meanwhile, Ginger and Amber planned out how they could put the raft together using the few materials they had. Thankfully, they had previously found some rope they would need in order for the raft to stay together so they got it out while waiting for Henry and Sam to come back.

Suddenly, a loud cry came from out of the deep jungle sending a shiver down Ginger’s spine. Amber, frightened, turned to Ginger knowing that the cry had to have come from one of the guys and motioned that they should go check on them immediately.

Ginger nodded nervously, and they entered into the uninviting jungle as the sun began to set, dimming the comforting brightness. They loudly called out both the guy’s names over and over again straining to hear an answer back. Finally they heard one of them say, “Over here, come quick”. They rushed over in the direction of the voice and found Sam kneeled down next to Henry who had a log crushing down on his leg. Pain was displayed all over his face and he hollered out in agony for them to get it off his leg. They all quickly grabbed a side of the log and used all the muscle they had left to lift it off of Henry. Henry felt nothing in his leg, it had gone completely numb. There was no way he would be able to walk so everyone pitched in and assisted Henry out of the jungle.

Sam guiltily explained how they had been carrying the heavy log down a hill and he had tripped over a root, falling and letting go causing Henry to lose balance and be crushed by the log. Henry, trying to keep calm while Amber examined how bad his leg was, assured Sam that it wasn’t his fault and to not feel bad. Amber cleaned up the open cut on his shin, bandaged it up and came to the conclusion that his leg was badly fractured, if not broken.

All four of the worn out survivors told themselves their plan of building a raft was crushed with only three functional people, no wood, and barely any strength left. Ginger couldn’t help but let her emotions come exploding out of her like a volcano. Anxiety spread through her body telling her that she would never get off this island. Rolled up in a ball on the moonlit, empty beach, Ginger wanted to give up on life. The other three tried to hold onto their emotions but as they watched Ginger fall apart they too felt helpless like there was no way out.

The next morning as the sun began to rise, Ginger awoke to a loud voice shouting out and someone jumping up and down excitedly along the shore. She wiped her sore, dry eyes so she could see who was making all the commotion. It was Sam. What could possibly be making him act so crazy she thought to herself. Then she heard him holler out again - this time she heard him loud and clear. “Guys come quickly, I think I can see something out in the water!” Sam screamed out in joy. Ginger, in complete shock, jumped up and sprinted down the beach to where Sam stood. Henry limped down alongside Amber as they too awoke to Sam’s chaos. All four of them stood along the shore peering straight out into the distance at what they thought was a steamship.


 * Quote:** " All four of them stood along the shore peering straight into the distance at what they thought was a steam ship."