Chapter 3
1590 Words
When Ernie reached the shore, he saw Myra crouching by the sea, vomiting.
"Ernie... there are dead bodies!" She pointed to a chaotic pile of rocks on the shore.
Ernie looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a woman lying face down on a pile of rocks not far away. Her hair was floating in the seawater.
"Don't be afraid. She might be from our ship," Ernie patted Myra's shoulder and then quickly walked towards the victim.
The was a plump dead woman. When Ernie dragged her out of the water, her face was swollen from being soaked, and she was already lifeless.
Since she was from the same ship, Ernie didn't want her body to remain at sea. He dragged her to the shore and decided to leave her for the rescue team to handle.
The deceased wasn't wearing a life jacket but had a large backpack around her neck.
"Perhaps she couldn't wear a life jacket because she was too heavy, and she hoped the backpack's buoyancy would keep her afloat," Ernie murmured with some sympathy.
After handling the body, Ernie carried the damp backpack back to Myra.
"Ernie, are we going to die too?" Myra asked with vacant eyes, looking dazed.
"Don't say that, Myra. With me around, you won't die!" Ernie said, pulling Myra into his arms and holding her close.
In truth, he was also feeling sad.
From the deceased earlier, he seemed to see the fate of the other people on the ship; not everyone was as fortunate as he was.
When the ship capsized, Lily and Finnley were still in the cabin, making escape even more difficult.
Finnley deserved to die, but Lily...
Although Lily had cruelly betrayed him, Ernie couldn't let go of her. The memories of their marriage in the past three years flashed before his eyes, filling him with sorrow and even guilt.
If he hadn't rushed to bring her along or wanted to give her a romantic experience by inviting her to see the whales, maybe all of this wouldn't have happened.
"Ernie, I don't want to stay here. I'm scared," Myra said as she slowly lifted her head from his embrace and nervously glanced toward the direction of the corpse.
"We need to build a shelter on the island first. If a rescue team arrives and sees the body, they'll come looking for us," Ernie said.
He had earlier used stones to make an "SOS" distress signal next to the woman's body, indicating that there were other survivors on the island.
After that, he took off the woman's tourist shoes and held them in his hand.
"Put the shoes on!" Ernie threw the shoes in front of Myra, as her high heels had already fallen into the sea.
"I don't want to wear them. I'm scared!" Myra screamed and refused since they were the dead woman's shoes.
"Put them on; that's an order." Ernie gave Myra a stern look.
"Ernie, can you not yell at me?" Myra had never seen Ernie so harsh and pouted in grievance.
"Myra, walking barefoot can injure your feet with broken shells and stones. It will not only slow us down, but without medical care on this deserted island, tetanus and infection could take your life," Ernie's voice softened as he spoke.
"Oh," Myra nodded, still somewhat confused.
Ernie then pulled a thick denim jacket from the backpack and handed it to Myra to protect her from scratches by branches.
This time, Myra complied without hesitation.
The dead were gone forever, yet those who remained had to be strong and survive.
Half an hour later, Ernie and Myra had climbed to a high slope on the island. From here, they could see most of it.
Ernie examined the terrain. The island was large, shaped like a big dolphin. They were at the "dolphin's" head, while the tail was several kilometers away. Due to the dense mist on the island, many details were unclear.
"Ernie, this place is so big. Why isn't anyone living here?" Myra asked curiously.
Ernie's calm and professional demeanor made the young girl admire him even more.
"An island without a freshwater source isn't suitable for human habitation," Ernie said, licking his slightly cracked lips.
He had just searched through the large backpack. Besides a few changes of clothes and some female toiletries, there were two phones and a pair of binoculars. The phones were water-damaged and unusable.
The woman was large, and so was her backpack.
Ernie found two bags of bread, a large hamburger, a bag of sealed German sausages, several bags of pickles, and a large amount of high-calorie snacks in another compartment, along with a two-liter bottle of water and a stainless steel cup.
The whale-watching boat didn't provide meals, so tourists had to bring their own food and water. Fortunately, this woman had packed a lot, which benefitted Ernie and Myra.
One bag of bread had gotten soggy, but there was still more than half a bottle of water.
Ernie and Myra each drank a few sips of water and shared the hamburger.
When Ernie handed Myra a packet of nuts to ensure she was full, Myra refused.
"Ernie, let's save some food. We don't know when the rescue team will find us," Myra said, putting the nuts back into the backpack and hugging it tightly.
Her behavior moved Ernie. He recalled that when Myra helped out at the company, she had done the same to save money. When his company was struggling and she hadn't been paid for two months, she didn't leave but continued to believe the company would recover.
It was already noon. The sun's heat made them feel a bit dizzy.
"We must find a source of drinking water before dark!" This was the task Ernie set for himself.
It wasn't a difficult task for him.
Just as Ernie was about to lead Myra down the hill, Myra suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Ernie, it looks like there's someone starting a fire over there!"
Ernie looked carefully and indeed saw a wisp of blue smoke rising from the trees on the other side of the island.
"We're saved!" Myra yelled excitedly when Ernie confirmed there was a fire.
But Ernie didn't allow himself to get too hopeful because he noticed that the smoke was coming from a place not near the sea. There were no signs of human habitation, so who would start a fire in the jungle?
***
On the other side of the island, Smith, a coarse-looking man with messy hair, and another sailor, skinny as a stick, were rowing a lifeboat toward a bay.
On the lifeboat were Finnley, Lily, Finnley's two henchmen, and several stranded tourists, making a total of eleven people.
"Where is this place? It's desolate and without any signs of human life. Hurry up and make a distress call. I can't stay here another moment," Finnley shouted as soon as he got off the boat.
"No, sir, we need this island. It's in an area jointly managed by multiple countries, so none of them will care about us. Once we deal with those troubles, we'll appear in another country as survivors. Of course, you need to pay me the promised reward first!" Smith said dismissively as he leered at the female tourists they had rescued.
During the period of evading responsibility, these women would become their playthings and would inevitably be tortured to death. No one would ever know the truth about the whale-watching boat disaster.
"I don't care. I want to call my dad directly and have him send a plane to pick me up," Finnley roared.
He wanted to show his capability in front of Lily, and moreover, securing Ernie's company was the key.
"Boss, the satellite phone is water-damaged. It's not working!" Joe Burke, a bodyguard in black, said glumly as he took the satellite phone out of the bag.
"You can't even handle a phone properly. What the f**k good are you? You're fired when we get back!" Finnley kicked the bodyguard in the stomach.
Lily was transporting supplies to the island with several other women. She furrowed her brow deeply at Finnley's showy demeanor, growing increasingly annoyed.
"Young master, there's smoke over there; there might be people on the island!" At this moment, a middle-aged man with a shifty look leaned in and whispered into Finnley's ear.
His name was Zain Harper. He used to be Finnley's father's chauffeur and now owned a nightclub in the Netherlands under the Powell Group. Once a small-time thug, he was involved in gang brawls that injured many but was saved by Finnley's father, which led him to become a loyal servant of the Powell family.
With Finnley traveling abroad on business, the Powell family had him disguised as a tourist to secretly ensure Finnley's safety. Therefore, Zain was aware of and involved in the details of Finnley's scheme against Ernie.
"Hmm?" Finnley was momentarily stunned, as if realizing something. After the sightseeing boat accident, he had instructed the Chief Mate to search the disaster area extensively but had not found Ernie's body. He was already inclined towards violence, but this discouragement made him restless and uneasy.
"Go check over there. If it's that Ernie, kill him!" Seeing that Smith and other survivors were busy setting up shelters on the shore, Finnley called over his bodyguard Joe and handed him a shark-proof knife.
"Yes, Young Master!" Joe hesitated for a moment but then quickly ran towards the direction of the rising smoke.
- Writer
