Exile Island

Corpse On The Beach

The night grew darker. After gathering a few coconuts and some branches from the forest, Dan, struggling to find food, could only sit and light a fire using a rock and his trusty pocket knife.

"I can't believe a perv guy like you can start a fire this way," Gale Hansen laughed, though he was actually impressed by Dan's skills.

Gale Hansen was an actor who rarely appeared as the lead on TV, but since being stranded on the island, he constantly boasted about being the most successful among them, never missing a chance to brag about his expensive properties.

After his mocking praise, Gale grabbed a large stick, bringing it close to the fire Dan had just lit, gently blowing to make the flames grow. Once the stick caught fire, Gale, acting all high and mighty, took it to the pile of wood he had made with his four friends, leaving Dan, Andrew, and Sophia, who was now wearing Dan's hoodie.

Of course, Dan couldn't let Sophia freeze in just her bra in the chilly night wind. He had been wearing layers since he had been drunk the night before. Plus, they have a fire now, which helps them avoid freezing in the unpredictable wild weather, without walls to block the wind or a roof for shelter. But he needed shelter for his safety.

"We're lucky you had that pocket knife in your pants, Dan," Andrew praised. "But how did you know how to start a fire?"

"Well, there are plenty of chert stones on the beach, commonly from the silica deposits of marine organisms like diatoms and radiolaria."

"W—wow, I didn't know you knew so much. Did you learn this from one of the games you play all the time?"

"No, I haven't played games for the past month. My job's been driving me crazy, no time for fun," he said, annoyed. If he had known this would happen, he would've played games to his heart's content.

"So, what’s your job?"

"I'm just a programmer at a private company," he replied. Hearing this, Sophia, warming her hands by the fire, shot a sharp look at Dan.

"It's surprising. You work all day in front of a computer at your desk, but you can start a fire with a rock and knife. That's impressive."

"Someone must've taught you. Who was it? Did you take a camping course?" Sophia looked curious.

"My brother. He's obsessed with the wild. He knows everything about surviving in the forest and mountains. But I'm the one who got the 'chance' to be a prehistoric human being," Dan explained with a gloomy face. This made Andrew laugh at the last sentence, and even Sophia smiled.

"Huh, that's a funny joke," she mocked.

"Oh, sure, thanks. Yeah…thank you so much, that’s so heartless." he replied with a grin.

"Okay guys, but what do we do now? Do we have a chance to go home?" Andrew's question sounded desperate.

Dan and Sophia's expressions changed instantly. The laughter between them vanished, replaced by the grim possibility that they might not be found. They could only pray that the search team would find them, even though the chances were slim, with no clues about their whereabouts.

"I hope it's soon," Sophia said, trying to smile and speak with hope, even though she knew the chances were thin.

“Yeah, she's right. We might just be able to wait until the rescue team comes, but right now, what we need is food, water, and a place to shelter. We can't be on the beach like this all the time, it's quite dangerous, especially if the weather gets bad one day.” Dan explains.

Andrew and Sophia also agreed, and they would start the search tomorrow. But now, they spent their first night by the fire to keep warm, eating a few coconuts Dan and Andrew had picked. Tomorrow, Dan might try fishing as his brother had taught him.

While Dan sharpened a stick with his knife, the others around a different fire had already fallen asleep, as if this was a fun vacation for them.

"I’m sure those idiots will be a burden soon," he thought, continuing to sharpen the stick.

He was tired, hungry, and lost in the middle of the ocean. Missing home, Dan fell asleep, dreaming of his cozy room with his complete gaming setup. It was an adventure game he had downloaded two days ago and had only played halfway through.

"Aaaah~ this is heaven," he said happily, stroking his $500 mechanical keyboard he had bought the previous month.

"I should be here, never going anywhere, no going to work or that f*****g cruise, let's start making millions as a game streamer like I've always dreamed of my whole life."

The comfy chair that had been his true companion during work felt a thousand times more comfortable. Even the footrest, which had felt awkward before, was now perfect. His feet felt so relaxed, and he didn't mind if he died tomorrow, as long as he stayed in his cozy room with all his treasures.

Internet, games, snacks, cold soda, a comfy chair, complete software, a warm bed, and blankets. Dan didn't want to leave all that comfort, even if he had to die there.

But his dream was shattered when he heard a woman scream loudly, waking him up and making him almost run in panic. Unfortunately, his foot got caught in the sand, causing him to fall and crash into Sophia, who was also trying to stand up nearby.

"Oh, s**t! What the hell are you doing?!" Sophia cursed as she realized Dan's hand had landed on her chest.

"Whoa?! I—I'm sorry!" Dan yelled in panic, trying to get up, but in his haste, he lost balance again, and this time his face landed right between her breasts, making her even angrier.

"Argh! Get away from me, you perv! And move your hand!" Sophia kneed Dan in the groin, making him roll to the side, groaning in pain.

"Y—you, urgh! My future, ouch..."

"You're a f*****g perv insane!" Sophia cursed, running towards the source of the scream, ignoring Dan's painful groans.

Dan was still in pain, holding his groin where Sophia had kneed him. But since everyone, including Andrew, had gone to check the source of the scream, Dan forced himself to walk and see what had happened.

"A—what's going on?" Dan asked Andrew after arriving at the beach.

"A corpse, looks like he’s one of the people from the same cruise," Andrew replied, glancing at Dan, who was groaning in pain, sweat dripping down his face, and both hands clutching his groin. "Dude, are you okay?"

"N—no! I almost lost my future, but it's fine. Yeah, I’m okay." Dan gave a thumbs-up with a broad grin, despite the pain.

Andrew, not understanding Dan's antics that morning, could only furrow his brows.

"Hey, what do we do? This corpse will rot if we leave it here," said a man, looking panicked, as the body they found was already in bad shape, with parts swollen from decomposition.

Sophia, disagreeing, immediately protested. "What do you mean leave it? Of course, we will bury him."

"What?! Are you crazy? Who wants to touch a rotting corpse like that?! It’s disgusting."

"No one's asking for your help, you just—" her sentence was cut off when she saw Dan approaching with a limp, then rummaging through the pockets of the dead man's clothes.

"Hey! What are you doing, perv?!"

Sophia flared up again, trying to stop Dan from disrespecting the dead man. Not only did he rummage through the pockets of his clothes and pants, but Dan also took off the watch the man was wearing.

"No! Wait, why are you taking things that aren't yours?" Sophia tried to stop Dan, who was acting like a thief.

"Is he going to use it in the grave later?" Dan showed the items he found in the dead man's pockets. It was a pen, some chocolate bars, and a phone that had died from water damage. But unlike the phone, the watch was still working, showing it was already eleven in the morning.

"But you can't just take it like that!"

"So, should I ask him for permission to use this? How can I talk to a corpse? No!" Dan said with a slightly annoyed tone. It baffled him that Sophia still cared about such rights when they might die tomorrow.

"Didn't you want to bury him?" Dan asked after pocketing his findings.

"Y—yeah, of course. We can't just leave the body here, right?"

"If so, let's take the body into the forest. The soil is denser there compared to burying it in the beach sand. Decomposition will happen quickly, and the stench will attract wild animals that might be around. So burying him now is better than waiting for nightfall," Dan explained.

Andrew, agreeing with Dan, chose to help. After all, he didn't want them to be disturbed by wild animals while sleeping because of the stench from the corpse. Besides Andrew and Sophia, a man named Francis also helped, while the rest chose to ignore it and continued fishing for small fish on the beach.

"How do we dig the ground to bury this body?" Andrew found difficulty, as they couldn't dig the ground with their bare hands.

"We can use pieces from the cruise ship door we used yesterday in the sea. I hope that helps," Sophia suggested. Andrew agreed and quickly ran to get the item to be useful for them.

After almost half a day of taking turns digging the ground to bury the body, they finally finished. Unlike Dan, who was exhausted, Sophia chose to explore the forest area to find a water source that might be useful for them. Andrew agreed to help find edible fruits around the forest.

"Ugh, damn! I'm so tired, but I also need to eat to stay alive," Dan muttered, forcing himself to stand.

He grabbed the spear he made last night and walked to the sea to find fish he could eat for dinner, a few coconuts for their water, and started gathering firewood for the night.

But when night fell and Dan was preparing to cook the fish and some sea urchins he found around the beach, Sophia suddenly divided the beach between them with a line in the sand in the middle of the campfire.

"Hey, what is she doing?" Dan asked Andrew, who was poking a hole in a coconut to get its water.

"O—oh, it's because she thinks you'll do something pervy to her again, so she did that," Andrew said, looking at Sophia, who was drinking the coconut water he had given her earlier.

Dan felt terrible. He couldn't believe that his accidental actions had made him an enemy in such an unknown place. Why did he keep making such stupid mistakes that made Sophia think he was a perv?

"Hey, dude!"

Gale, the actor, suddenly interrupted Dan's thoughts, then squatted right next to him, putting an arm around his shoulder as if they were close friends.

"We're having trouble getting food today, and we're all starving. How about you sharing some of your catch with us?" Gale said with a broad grin.

It has to be admitted that Dan's catch that day was quite a lot, about ten fish that he planned to share evenly and make breakfast for the next morning. But seeing Gale acting as if he wanted it all for himself, Dan became reluctant to share.

"I—"

"How about we make a trade!" Sophia suddenly interrupted.

"What do you mean, lady?" Gale was offended by Sophia's words, even glaring to intimidate her.

But it seemed Sophia wasn't scared at all. She even challenged Gale. "Don't ask for something you didn't work for. Even though I'm also hungry because I didn't get any food, like you. So how about we trade to make it fair for everyone?"