Xandria looked behind her, then realized that Jeff was probably talking to her and Mel.

"Um, yeah, I guess so," she said, bunching her hoodie up in her hands. "It looks like your friend is hurt? Do you need help?"

When Twig's suggested that he might like to help collect stuff, Waters was slightly aghast. How could he, when he had just come through such a terrifyingly traumatic experience? After watching for a minute or so, as the rest of the party went off to search, he sighed and looked about aimlessly. There didn't seem to be anything else to do. He wandered off after the two girls.

Tentatively, he reached toward his precious bag. Could he afford to share some of his vital supplies? It was like pulling teeth, but he put his hand in, and pulled out a tube.

"Um--harrummmph!" he snorted, his tone unintentionally gruff. "I don't suppose that you want to have some sunscreen, do you?"

Twig’s became aware of Mr. Water’s following them and turned around. She studied him as he offered the sunscreen. He seemed reluctant, but she appreciated the offer. She debated whether it would be politer to accept or decline. “Thank you so much,” she replied. “I may take you up on that offer sometime, but I have some of my own in my bag. After that dunking I’d better reapply.” Twig’s opened her bag and was pleased to find that the contents were damp but not soaked. She pulled out her own tube. She looked at Grace. “Which kind of sunscreen would you like to use?

After the sunscreen had been applied, Twig’s looked around at the beach. “Grace, I want you to stay out of the ocean and the jungle. Make sure you can see me at all times. Mr. Waters, please gather some coconuts.” Twig’s spread her beach towel out to dry. Then, she headed back down the beach to collect the luggage, making sure she knew where Grace was. Twig’s got down to water and gave a cry of delight. “My trunk!” Twig’s waded into the water and dragged her trunk up to the luggage area, watching Grace gathering firewood. Twig’s truck had her warmer clothing in it in case the cruise went into colder waters. She opened it and found that the contents were damp but not soaking. The trunk must be well made. She added her long winter coat to the “blanket” area as well as some of her sweaters. The trunk also contained her winter boots which would be useful if they explored the jungle. She did not want to do that barefoot. Finally, it had her cross stitch bag which contained thread and needles, etc. Twig's hadn't thought she would work on any projects but had brought it just in case. Twig’s continued dragging suitcases up to the pile. Occasionally, she would remind Grace not to go too far. Twig’s was surprised at the number of things she found on the beach and in the shallow water. She started a pile of miscellaneous parts of the ship. She even found a slide from one of the 18 pools. She was unable to get the slide very far. There were other things that were too big for her to lift herself and she could only get them part way up the beach.

Normally Grace was a reasonably outgoing child but the experiences of the past hour or so had shaken her world. Given a choice between Mr. Waters' gruff demeanor - unintentional or not - or Twig's offer, she chose to go with Twig's. She shyly thanked her and then listened quietly as Twig's instructed her on what she should do.

"I'll stay close," she said, even as she looked down the beach in the direction her father had gone.

There was no shortage of driftwood, including a number of pieces too big for her to carry alone, and before long she had gathered a pile of smaller pieces. She was also curious about the flotsam and jetsam being washed ashore, but didn't find anything belonging to her family. She did recognize the slide Twig's found as one she'd used during those happy times swimming on the ship.

Mel trotted along with Xandria, ranging from side to side to check out the different scents, hoping to come across ones familiar from the cruise ship.

"I went to the lake when I retired," Mel explained. "I worked search and rescue in the mountains. Most of the situations I was in the water in question was more or less frozen at the time. But survival is survival, so I don't suppose we'll have too much trouble figuring out what to do."

She woofed softly. "Of course, I'm a dog, and the teams always had someone with thumbs to do things like light fires and wrap bandages."

The wind was blowing away from the search party when they sighted a couple coming up the beach toward them. They looked bedraggled and exhausted, but the greeting sounded cheerful enough. Mel wagged her tail and let Xandria take the lead in the conversation.

"My leg is busted up pretty good." Ainsley replied grimly, her jaw clenched shut in a desperate attempt to hide her discomfort.

"I always said you needed to drink more milk. Weak bones I tell yah."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I plead the fifth." Jeff turned to the duo, "that bum leg of her's is gonna need some attending too. What is Y'alls situation?"

"Actually, drinking more milk is rarely a solution to weak bones--more commonly, the problem lies within the body's ability to process the calcium, which gets a lower priority to sorting through the milk sugars that humans can't regularly process on their own, so the benefits from drinking milk are wasted due to the detriments," Xandria said, the information sort of bubbling out. "Um. We're sort of just looking for people. We, they, there's a base camp that's getting set up a ways back that way. Can we help you get there? Should I take your other side?"

"I'd appreciate that."

"Same."

"Jeff I'm going to murder you in your sleep."

"At least you still have your sense of humor."

Ignoring Jeff and hjs quip for now, Ainsley turned to Xandria.

"What's the situation at the camp? Is anyone else injured? Do we even know where we are?"

"No, no one knows where we are. Or at least they haven't said. There's not that, that much there, but they're trying to pull some of the wreckage together for something, shelter, I think, but um, they're still looking for water, and yeah, it's not that good. Everyone that's been found so far is fine, I mean, except you, of course, oh," Xandria stooped and pulled Ainsley's other arm over her shoulders. "Sorry, here, maybe this helps. Is that ok? It's like, say, a ten minute walk back to base camp."

Meanwhile, the group of three continued in the other direction, and while they found a few more pieces of stranded luggage and wreckage within the first few minutes, they had virtually disappeared. There were no signs of movement, no footprints to be discerned. In fact, the island now properly felt like a deserted island, and the scene would almost be picturesque if empty beaches weren't the exact opposite of what Faye wanted to see right now. (She did, for a brief moment, regret that she'd lost her sketchbook in the shipwreck, but reminded herself that she would likely have no time for sketching. She could buy a new book and start over when they were home.)

She made sure to call out every few minutes or so, then listen intently for a response, but she didn't even hear an echo. After about ten minutes of walking, though, she saw something off in the distance. She pointed and cried, "Look, a stream!"

Finding water was excellent news, even if it was a bit far from their current camp, and despite still being drenched, she was suddenly very thirsty. At the same time, though, a thought occurred to her. She glanced at her companions and asked, "If there's a stream here, anyone who found this stream might've followed it further into the jungle to its source. Is it worth leaving the beach to test that theory?"

"Yes, that's likely enough," Molly replied to Faye. "They might be anxious to get out of the sun. It is rather hot. Perhaps there will be some footprints, or broken branches to show if anyone's been this way at all. And perhaps we ought to build a small cairn, pointing the way towards the camp--just in case."

The foliage was quite thick; it looked like it would be tough to push through at the best of times, but down near the stream there was a bit less and it might be possible to go in.

"Aha!" cried the stewardess, "look at this!"

Dan was clearly torn between staying near the shore and following the stream back to its source.

"I'm glad we've found fresh water," he began, "in case rescue is delayed. And it makes sense anyone here might want to get out of the sun. But I know Angie well enough to know that she's more likely to either stay near here, knowing we'd eventually come looking for water, or even to walk along the shore like we are, knowing that survivors will be coming ashore there."

He glanced up at the sun. "Don't mind me. I'm just thinking out loud."

He was interrupted by Molly's exclamation. "What did you find?" he asked, walking over to where she was looking.

“Ahoy there!”

Suddenly a voice came from the opposite direction. Upon the vast, blue, expansive ocean there came a muscular figure in white trunks and a pair of shades drifting close to shore on a lime green inflatable pool float.

"It's my fellow travelers!"

Junior hopped off of the mattress into water about waist-deep, placed the float under his arm and started running to shore.

"Molly! How is my favorite stewardess? And Faye, good see you, again. Mr. Dan, I've missed our stimulating dinner discussions. Crazy day, right? I mean, there I was lounging in the Blue Pool, soaking up some rays, when suddenly I feel like I'm falling and open my eyes to find myself floating in a much bigger blue pool! No water slide can compare to that ride! Am I right? So. What's the situation here?"

For a few moments, Faye couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. Then she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did he not realize the situation they were in? "Well, finding you brings us up to nine people found so far, assuming no one else turns up. We're acting as a search party."

This could almost simplify things, she thought. Two of them could search along the stream and two of them could continue along the beach. Faye secretly hoped that Junior would end up with one of the other two - well, that he'd end up with Molly, as given Dan's circumstances, she didn't want Junior's... eccentricities to distract him from finding his wife. But before she said anything, she turned back to Molly to see what she had found.

"Look at these funny tracks!" Molly exclaimed. "They look almost like animal tracks, except for that extra smudge on the side. They lead off into the jungle. Do you suppose that...."

She stopped suddenly. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to suggest that there might be strange, perhaps hostile, creatures here on the island. After all, they hadn't found everybody yet.

"I agree with you, Faye," as if reading her unspoken thought, "why don't two of us follow this up, and then loop back to the others, depending on what we find, and two continue on along the beach. Would you rather do the beach or the jungle?" She smiled encouragingly at the others. "The jungle for me, if that's all right. I would like to get back quickly so I can check on my special charges, you see. Anyone else?"

~~

Waters surveyed the small pile of coconuts that he had gathered. It had taken quite some time to get them, and there didn't seem to be all that many. Sitting down heavily, he wiped his glistening brow. It was also hot.

This was not something he had bargained for when he agreed to go on the cruise. How could he apprehend criminals when there was no one to be seen? Coconuts! Bah! There were plenty of those miserable items up in the treetops, if he could only find some way to reach them. Too bad there wasn't a spare squirrel or two handy when one needed one.

It was a great nuisance trying to carry his bag and the coconuts, so with great misgivings he hid his stock of medications at the base of a large tree. Loading his arms, he staggered back towards the piles of luggage and driftwood.