First Love..again

Chapter Nine: Surviving The Waters

While Madison rested, Ben searched his backpack for something to use to as an oar for the tiny boat. They had landed out in the middle of nowhere where with no land to be seen. They needed something to get them towards some hope of finding land.

Unfortunately, his supplies in the bag weren't proving to be sufficient for the task at hand.

Ben sighed heavily with frustration. He stared at Madison and felt like it was his job to protect her.

With all his survival gear, he never thought he'd need an oar device! They had never considered such a thing when packing their bags. Their only hope now, he realized, was a piece of wreckage floating about in the water from the crash.

After about 10 or 15 minutes of floating around aimlessly, the waves still shook up some, but were altogether much calmer than previously.

The still water now brought something in the distance. A treat!

Ben stared heavily only to see a piece of wood not far away.

It must have come from their boat, he knew.

Paddling with his hands... carefully watching for sharks, Ben managed to make his way toward the long piece of wood. This took a great toll on him physically, however he knew that it was emperitive for their survival.

The sun was hot. Madison was still out.

He dug into his bag and pulled out sunscreen and a hat. He put the hat on himself and gently applied sunscreen to Madison.

His gentle touch caused her to stir a little, but only in a dream like state of mind.

"Avery," she mumbled. "Is that you?"

Ben had to admit, the sound of another man's name coming out of her mouth was not the most pleasant thing to hear. It stung. At one time she would only have let his name fall from her lips and he the same with hers.

However, he understood that she was another man's wife now! She wasn’t his wife. She wasn’t his girlfriend. She wasn’t even his best friend anymore. Those days were long gone.

This caused him to think of his own wife at home. She must be going crazy right now, especially if she heard about the storm and the accident on the news. He wished that he could call Heather and at least let her know that he was alright. He would return home to her. He was adamant in that.

Off in the distance, all around them, you could now see in sight a pop up of tiny little Islands, Ben noticed. None of them appeared to be inhabited, though. Some of them are so small that you couldn't even put a house on them. Ben knew that he needed to get Madison to one of those islands and out of this sun before it took a huge toll on her, if they at all had a chance. They couldn’t survive in the water long term. This was a life or death situation. He knew he needed to be strong and do what he did best, take charge of a situation.

So, he paddled. He paddled, and paddled, and paddled, until he couldn't paddle any longer, slowly inching closer and closer to his desired destination.

Finally, after several hours of paddling, Ben had managed to get them to one of the small Islands that had been the closest of the cluster. This one wasn't however, as small as some of the others nearby. You could definitely fit several large houses on it, but it was not populated at all, that was obvious. Besides several species of birds, Ben couldn't even see any animal life on the new land.

We’ve made it. Thank god, he stared at Madison, who was still out cold.

He jumped ashore, dragged the boat up to the beach area, and finally towards the shaded trees.

This should work. It has to work. He stared up at the blaring sun beating down upon them and wiped is brow.

Ben climbed inside the boat very carefully. He didn’t want to wake her. She was still out cold and she needed all the rest that she could get. Ben curled up beside Madison. He needed rest, too. He was exhausted. He had rowed them to safety. They made it to safety, or something there of. Safety from the waters, at least. There, he was finally able to rest, and rest, he would.

.............

Still in the water Victoria sat atop her life preserver ring. She had taken off her life jacket and placed it inside the life preserver, so her bottom wouldn't be exposed to the open water. She then wrapped her legs up Indian style. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but she had seen a few sharks from time to time and wasn't taking the chance of one biting her in the ass! She had spent a lot of money on a BBL to allow that.

The sun beat down on her head now, which still also pounded from the crash. Victoria knew she wouldn't be able to survive much longer the way that she was going in the water.

Why me? What did I do to deserve this? I’m not a bad person. I may live on the wild side, but I’m not bad, Victoria began to ponder her life now with nothing more to do to pass the time.

In between her self pity party sessions , Victoria also managed to keep an eye open for debris around her. At one point she became excited when she spotted something bright orange.

What is that? That doesn’t belong. Am I seeing things?

Then she had remembered that the only things on the boat that color were their life vests.

Maybe it’s someone else. Maybe I won’t be alone anymore. I don’t want to be alone anymore!

However, when she had finally gotten closer to the orange object, she found that it was only the torn apart remnants of a life vest! It wasn’t someone to accompany her. It was..a victim. A victim of the oceans and all its mysteries. For floating not far away was Nelson's pack.

“Nelson!”

It was too late. He was dead she hadn’t seen his body, but she knew it from the remnants. Nelson had been ripped to shreds by a shark, she realized in that moment. This sent chills down her spine!

I need to get out of here. I won’t survive out here, Victoria began to panic.

Carefully, Victoria grabbed his pack from the water and clipped it to her life preserver. Because it was a duffle style pack, she was finally able to spread her legs out on top of it! This was a much needed relief for her sore, cramped body, but it was only a bandaid to the problem.

With nothing more to do than float aimlessly in the water, Victoria began to investigate her new treasures, hoping for something, anything! Between her legs, Victoria unzipped the pack and poked through the contents. Inside, Nelson had a hat, which Victoria happily put on to block the strong sun.

It’s not my style but I’ve never been so happy for a hat, she hugged it before placing it upon her head.

What else do we have here?

There were a few distilled water bottles.

Thank god! This is a game changer.

Humans can’t survive too many days without water, she knew, so she planned to ration her share even though she desperately fought off the notion of gulping a whole bottle right then. She decided to not be her typical risk taking self and she sparingly sipped from the bottle, not knowing how long she'd be without water.

Victoria dug in the pack further. She could feel a cold bottle rattle between her fingers.

It was his Tylenol bottle.

Thank you lord!

Victoria quickly sprung the child proof cap open and took two for her splitting headache!

Yes, she was much better than before. Nelson’s pack turned out to be a huge relief. Except now she had the fear of sharks lurking below.

Victoria knew that she had to figure out a way to get to land. All around her , she could see were teeny tiny islands, only about a half mile out. She knew that she just had to patiently await to drift to one because she had nothing to paddle with. She for darn sure wasn't going to swim in shark infested water and end up like Nelson, that she was certain.

The water didn’t seem to move very fast. Victoria stared off into the distance, but nothing that she had wanted to reached seemed to get any closer. She would be in the water a while.

Some time later, after Victoria had fallen asleep sitting up in her floatie, she felt a push against her body. She had now washed up towards the shore of one of the tiny islands and was stuck in some rocks off from what looked likely, a sandy beach.

She rubbed her eyes now in disbelief. Her prayers had been answered. She felt it was safe now to walk through the foot or so of water that blocked her from touching real land.

Victoria carefully picked up her floatie, life preserver, and Nelson's pack, and made her way to the island. Much to her surprise, this island was super small. Even smaller than she had realized initially. You could maybe fit a house on it., if you were lucky, and not a big house. However it did have trees, which she was grateful for. It also had coconuts, which she knew she'd have to figure out how to reach if she wanted to eat.

If nothing else, she walked over some shells and snails on her way inland. She may just have to rely on them for nourishment, she thought...even though seafood totally grossed her out! However, here there were no other options at the moment.

After walking the island several times, Victoria finally decided to set up camp under a palm tree. Digging through Nelson's bag again, she sifted through some of his clothing items to keep her warm that evening. She never thought she would be so happy as to see another man's pants and jacket. They may have been out of style for her liking, but they were functional and practical.

Practical, she chuckled.

Never did she feel like she was appreciative of any practical belongings. However, Victoria now was now more appreciative than ever. She was appreciative of every comfort from home and the tiny island that kept her from sharks.

............

At this point in time, some 4 or 5 hours after the accident, Charlotte and Tommy Todd ended up drifting toward one of the many deserted islands, in a similar facet to Victoria. They didn't care though that they had found themselves out in the middle of nowhere, as the whole ordeal had taken a toll of their stamina...they were just happy to be out of the water! Tommy himself was a bit of a survivalist by trade. He even had one of his Tommy Todd blankets in his pack. His bag was filled with enough supplies, similar to Ben's survival kits, that he and Charlotte would be able to live comfortably for quite some time on an island, as long as they were able to get food and water. He didn't foresee a problem with that either, as he was quite skillful at building fishing gear and catching rainwater. The two of them had camped their whole lives in the wilderness, and this was just another adventure for them!

Neither of them really worried about rescue much, either. They knew that someone would eventually find them. Both Tommy Todd and Charlotte Stiles had more money than they knew what to do with, and an endless amount of resources back at home, so they had no doubt that their staff and family wouldn't give up searching for them until they found them.

Until then, they deemed to make the best of their situation at hand. They were safe and they had each other, which were the most important things.

..........

After several hours of sleeping, Madison awoke from her state of exhaustion. She found herself in the blow-up boat, and lying next to her was none other than, Ben. She had no idea how she had gotten to land. The last thing she remembered was seeing the shark and then Ben telling her to rest.

Rest she did. While she was out, she dreamed of Avery, and her kids, but she also dreamed of Ben, and how their worlds were overlapping now. How odd a situation it was.

Ben must have rescued them from the water, she concluded! Madison knew that she owed her life to Ben.

Carefully she slipped out of the boat, trying not to disturb him, as he must have been exhausted. Ben was so exhausted that he was snoring loudly, so it wasn't too difficult to not wake him. She wanted him to rest and she also wanted to see where she was now.

Madison's decided to explore the new land that she found herself upon. Looking around and up and down, It was so beautiful! It only took her about fifteen minutes, and she had walked the whole island. It was clear that there wasn't much there except palm trees and a lot of birds. She did happen to find some coconuts in the trees, which looked promising. She even found two decent ones on the ground that had fallen from high above. So she picked them up, feeling a little bit of hunger pains and hauled them back to the boat.

Deciding to let him sleep, Madison carefully went through Ben's bag that was not far from the boat lying nearly against a palm tree. Being that he supplied the survival kits for the mission, she knew that he was sure to have the essentials needed to make their lives easier.

Sure enough, she was right. Ben had a Swiss army knife, a multi utility tool, a canteen of water, a cup, a bowl, a spork, a small pot, a rope, a bungee cord, a tarp, a small fishing kit, and even a flint. She couldn't believe everything he had with him! They were set!

Madison decided to take a coconut away from camp to open it. She knew that she would have to smash it with a large rock, since she didn't have a machete. For about 15 long, excrutiating minutes, Madison put her blood, sweat, and tears into that coconut. She desperately wanted to be able to contribute to camp life. Finally, she was able to crack it open. Inside was delicious coconut milk. She took a big swig, and then brought the rest back to the boat for Ben. He would need it when he woke. He was still very much snoring away.

Next, she gathered firewood to make a fire. Even though it was tropical weather she knew that it would be chilly at night. After gathering a few arm fulls, she made a spot off to the side of the beach, for a fire. She knew that fire would most likely be their best source of rescue for them , and it needed to be visible.

Madison arranged the logs and placed the tree bark below as fire starter. Then she used the flint. This was even more of a process than the coconut, she realized. However after about two hours of manual labor, she finally got a flame.

Now she just needed to wait..to wait for Ben to wake up...to wait for rescue...to wait for time to change... waiting was all she had to look forward to!

Madison decided that now that the fire was in good health, she would wash her sweat off from her body in the ocean, from the manual labor that she had put in earlier. The fire would be sufficient until she returned.

Alone now on the beach, with Ben still asleep, she stripped off her clothes, down to nothing, and hopped in the ocean. It was beginning to become time for sundown, and the view was beautiful. Madison's didn't want to venture off too far out in the water because of sharks, so she stayed closer to shore. The cool sea air was so exhilarating. She felt lucky to be alive.

Just then, Madison felt a sharp pain in her foot, and she couldn't help but let out a scream. She suddenly realized that she had been stung by a Jellyfish. “f**k!” Her foot ached and stung, worse than she could imagine. However her problems were just beginning for her.. Her scream woke Ben from his sleep.

Hearing her scream, Ben instantly went into protective mode and rushed to the sound in the water. He then saw Madison not far from shore, her back was to him. Ben noted to himself that her wounds didn't appear to be life threatening, by the shear fact that she wasn't trying to rush out of the water. But something made her scream!

"What is it Maddy? Are you alright," he asked curiously?