Chapter 2: The Dead
1074 Words
Lisa hesitated for a long time, but eventually pulled the white shirt over her face, awkwardly adjusting it to fit over the T-shirt underneath.
Hearing the rustling sound of clothes being put on behind her, Jackson asked, "Ms. Harper, are you ready?"
"Yes, thank you for the shirt!"
With a stiff thank you, Lisa looked down and frowned, feeling that wearing it this way was really strange!
"Uh... are you thirsty?"
Realizing her rudeness, Lisa quickly changed the topic to ease the embarrassment of being caught.
"A little!"
Jackson licked his chapped lips. He had just observed the surroundings; there wasn't much artificial waste, only some carcasses of marine creatures!
This indicated that it was a deserted island, rarely visited by people!
All the famous tourist spots around the world have a lot of artificial waste, but there are people to clean it up. Here, there were hardly any signs of human activity!
"Where are you going?"
Seeing Jackson leave, Lisa panicked and quickly followed, afraid he would abandon her, yet couldn't bring herself to ask!
"Hey, you lousy security guard, why aren't you talking? Hey?"
Jackson didn't have the energy to talk; saving his words meant he could endure the thirst a bit longer.
By the rocks ahead, Jackson noticed animal crawling tracks, his eyes narrowing.
"Don't talk!"
Jackson sternly scolded the still-chattering Lisa, who was suddenly yelled at and angrily shouted back.
"Who do you think you are? Why are you telling me to shut up? You're just a security guard! Do you really think I can't fire you?"
Jackson ignored Lisa, squatted by the tracks, grabbed a handful of sand, sniffed it, and measured it with his fingers, sifting through the sand to find a small scale!
It's a crocodile, and a big one!
The tracks lead straight into the jungle, could it be laying eggs?
"What did you find?"
Seeing Jackson's serious expression, Lisa felt uneasy.
Jackson shook his head, giving her a reassuring look, "Nothing!" He didn't reveal the danger he discovered, worried Lisa wouldn't be able to handle it and panic!
The crocodile wouldn't return to the sea for now, so more precautions were necessary!
Jackson looked up at the sky; the plane crash on land would definitely send out a distress signal, and if nothing unexpected happened, rescue would come soon!
To ensure the rescue team could find us here, some measures needed to be taken!
Jackson focused on a few palm trees; their leaves could be useful. Nearby, on the dry poplar sand, there were some dry planks and two branches!
On a deserted island, having no fire was the most difficult thing!
Jackson placed the inner bark, extracted from the dry branches with fine fuzz, on a wooden board. Without tools, he could only carefully select suitable dry planks, rubbing one against a sharper spot on the rocks to make it smooth!
Jackson half-kneeled on the ground, vigorously rubbing a wooden stick, its sharp end against the hole in the wooden board, creating small sparks!
An hour passed, and Jackson was drenched in sweat, careful not to let it drip on the stick. Seeing the fine wood shavings turn black, Jackson quickly placed the prepared material under the small hole to catch the shavings!
After another half-hour of turning the stick to make fire, smoke finally swirled up, and Jackson was overjoyed, skillfully blowing on the fuzz in his palm!
"Boom!"
The woodpile ignited, and Jackson, exhausted, sat on the sand to rest for a moment, only to find Lisa missing. After a careful search, he found her by the sea, crawling on the ground with her rear end high up!
Is she really going to?
Jackson shouted in alarm, quickly got up, and ran over to stop her!
"What are you doing?"
"I... I'm thirsty, drinking water!"
Lisa was about to drink the seawater in her palm, "You've been messing around by yourself for ages, and I have no idea what you're doing! You're acting like a lunatic!"
"You can't drink seawater!"
Jackson stopped her in time, and Lisa looked up at him in confusion.
"The concentration of substances in seawater is very high. Drinking it can cause certain elements to enter your body, affecting its normal functions, and could even lead to poisoning!"
After Jackson's explanation, Lisa sat on the ground in despair, feeling dejected!
"Are we just going to die of thirst?"
"What's that over there?"
Suddenly, Jackson caught sight of something floating and bloated about a hundred meters away by the rocks, sending a chilling sensation down his spine.
"Let's go check it out and see!"
Lisa brushed off the excess sand from her hands and jogged over, only to trip over a branch and take a nosedive!
When she was just a few meters away, it became clear that it was a woman in a blue dress, with a bloated body, lying face down on the beach. Seeing this, Jackson understood the source of that eerie feeling earlier!
“Ah! A dead body! There's a dead body!”
The woman's body was bloated, baking in the hot sun, and emitting a faint strange odor.
Jackson came to Lisa's side, and she clung to him for support, screaming loudly in fear.
With a beauty in his arms, Jackson felt his heart race, gently patting her back and soothing her softly.
“Don't be afraid, it's just a dead body. I'm here!”
Feeling the strength of his muscles, Lisa felt a bit more at ease.
“How can there be a dead body here?”
Lisa didn't dare to look at the person on the ground, closing her eyes as a chill wind made her shiver and cling even tighter!
The woman had a captivating fragrance. To avoid appearing insensitive to Lisa, he forced himself to examine the corpse.
“I think I've seen her before! I remember her from the finance department; she was the company's Accountant Cooper!”
“Accountant Cooper?”
Lisa suddenly looked up, tears welling in her eyes, overwhelmed by a mix of guilt and emotions.
“Ms. Harper, it's getting a bit cold. Let me help you over to the fire.”
Lisa was in a bad mood and couldn't be left here.
“Don't let the fire go out!”
After saying this, Jackson returned to the corpse and turned it over. It was indeed Accountant Cooper, and her face had started to decay.
- Writer
