Part 19.

Jaehyun helped Ten eat and then leaned against the wall, staring out upon the waves that rolled in. “Can I ask?” He started and Ten who was just resting opened his eyes, looking up at the cliff that shielded them from the sun. He didn’t reply so Jaehyun continued. “What happened to you?” He asked and Ten looked away from Jaehyun, the brown haired boy noticed the tremble of Ten’s hand. The other’s eye twitched and his lips shaped a thin line. 

  “I fell.” He said.

Jaehyun was breathless. “Why?” He asked. 

Ten closed his eyes, a tear escaped his eye and rolled down his temple and into his hair. “...I fell.”

Taeyong’s hand came closer now. Johnny frowned and he looked into Taeyong’s eyes, seeing an odd form of clarity that he hadn’t seen in Taeyong’s eyes for a long time. Determination. Johnny gasped when he swayed backwards and he tried to take a step back but he was too close to the edge.

Johnny was jerked forwards, Taeyong’s fingers dug into his upper arm, directing him away from the edge. “Be careful,” Taeyong’s voice sounded. “Or you’ll fall.” 

Johnny inhaled deeply, as if he’d been holding his breath the whole time. Taeyong eyed the edge and Johnny looked at Taeyong. The other’s eyes were still clear, the fear that had been so vivid was now gone. 

  “Let’s get up there before any rain falls.” He said and walked towards the slippery slope Ten never managed to defeat. Johnny straightened himself and eyed the edge. His assumption that somehow had appeared was wrong. He would never let himself think that again. Taeyong stopped in front of the muddy hill. Johnny eyed it.

He needed some time to collect himself before he spoke. “We won’t be able to get up that way.” 

Taeyong groaned and Johnny looked at where the cliff ended. He went over where Ten had looked too and he reached out upon the rock wall that had a straight fall down into the clearing. Taeyong walked over to hold onto Johnny. Johnny eyed him. “You’re good at climbing.” He said and Taeyong’s forehead creased. “You can climb this wall up to the platform above, and throw down liana so that we at least can have something to pull ourselves up that slope.”

Taeyong’s eyes widened. “I’ll die.” He said breathlessly and Johnny eyed the view they had. 

  “If we don’t get up there…” He said and tried to get a glimpse of where they were heading. “… we will all die.” 

Taeyong nodded, some odd look on his face. “Let’s get some liana then.” 

Johnny tied it around Taeyong’s form and himself in order to use his weight to stop Taeyong’s fall if he did slip. Taeyong stood by the edge for a long while and Johnny waited patiently for Taeyong to calm his nerves. The smaller curled his hands into fists before he grabbed onto the wall and started climbing. It went slow, one foot finding a grip on the wall, one hand reaching up to heave himself up. Johnny immediately realized that maybe Ten had tried exactly that. Climbing this wall. Johnny didn’t really think it made much sense, but maybe the view from up here wasn’t exactly correct. Johnny felt a little bit calmer, because that thought that had appeared in his head… That couldn’t be it, it definitely couldn’t be true.

  “Johnny!” Taeyong called and Johnny looked up to see Taeyong looking down at him with a relieved smile. “I’m up!” 

Johnny and Taeyong walked across a thin path along the mountain wall before they got to the right place. But when they did they both shouted in glee. There it was; the flight that had crashed. The tail where people had been seated was gone, probably down below somewhere, but the motor and front was intact. It was a small propeller plane, probably designed for about 4 people. Johnny walked forwards and pulled in the metal door of the white plane. Taeyong was gawping at it, picking up a few pieces and inspecting their worth. Johnny had to crawl into the plane from the open end and found his way into the seat. 

  “Be careful,” Taeyong said as he looked through the window. “What if it suddenly falls down?”

Johnny eyed Taeyong. “This is not a movie.” He said. “Look at the position on the cliff, if anything should fall it’s the whole cliff too.”

Taeyong rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright, smart-.” 

Johnny fiddled with something and Taeyong leaned in even more. “A radio!!” He almost screamed and Johnny covered his ear. 

  “Yes, Taeyong.” Johnny grinned. “A mother-ing radio.”

Taeyong and Johnny had to find a lot of tools for them to work with the radio, and they ended up both walking around humming to themselves as their mood had been lifted with this newfound hope. The sun rose higher and higher and Johnny was trying to figure out which cables were connected with the battery and which lines to put together after the crash had torn them apart.   “We can use the seatbelts.” Taeyong said as he was in the back, trying to find use in the rest of the plane. He reached to his waist only to realize he had forgotten his dagger back at camp. Johnny noticed and reached him his dagger. 

  “Good idea,” he said and Taeyong took Johnny’s dagger. “You can use mine, let’s just share it.” 

Taeyong fell asleep in one of the seats as Johnny worked, he hadn’t been sleeping lately, his mind had tortured him too much, but now he went out in a second. Johnny had been spending hours on the radio when suddenly he went to try and start the motor.

He looked at the slot where the keys should go in and blanked out.

  “Keys.” He said and leaned back in his seat. “Keys.” He said louder and by raising his voice he woke up Taeyong who sat up straight.

Taeyong blinked at Johnny, his eyelids still looking heavy but his eyes cleared up and he was now looking into Johnny’s eyes before he repeated the other. “Keys?” He asked and Johnny pointed at the slot. 

  “Keys.” 

Taeyong and Johnny looked at the bottom of the plane and around it, but they didn’t find any keys. Why were they removed? Johnny put a hand on his chin and mouth and stared at the jungle in front of them. Taeyong looked as lost as the other before he gave Johnny a soft punch. “I’ll check out the cave below!” He said. “You stay here and I’ll be up again.”

Taeyong was quick at getting down, he was good at jumping down high heights and landing without injuring himself. He ignored the cliff and ignored the spot where Ten had landed. He had a goal now, he had made his choice. He ran fast and swiftly and found the journal and the bag. The journal had dried, most pages weren’t readable and Taeyong put the items in a safe place in the cave before he researched everywhere the keys could’ve been placed. He couldn’t find them, he had no idea of what they would look like. Taeyong stood in the middle of the clearing, the sun had passed the mid-point and he knew it was now setting. They were running out of daylight and Taeyong knew Johnny couldn’t climb down in darkness. 

  “Johnny your mind would know where the keys would be.” Taeyong muttered to himself as he looked up at where the plane would be. “What would he say?” Taeyong imagined Johnny in front of him, walking around playing Sherlock and pointing out different observations that Taeyong probably had missed. 

  “Where would I keep the keys to the only thing that could bring me out of this hell hole?” Johnny asked himself, and Taeyong looked past Johnny to Olivia’s grave. No, she wouldn’t have it. Maybe Benjamin? He was the pilot wasn’t he? Taeyong blinked. Benjamin was at the bottom of the ocean. 

Taeyong eyed the corpse and took a step closer. Before he knew it he was nearing it and he ignored the smell that lingered in the air. It was the smell of death and it made his throat tighten up. He held his breath and eyed the clothes that blew in the wind, the revealed ribcage where the shirt dipped down, there wasn’t anything covering up the bones. His eyes ran down to the belt and then continued down when something caught his eye. The wind grabbed part of the jacket and connected to the belt was something silver. 

Taeyong’s eyes widened and he ran over to the tree Nicolas was tied to. Walking across the long branch he lied down to cut off the rope. The branch creaked warningly, and Taeyong gripped around it with his jaws clenched. It was quite a fall, but he could take it. Ten survived worse. Taeyong shouldn’t complain. 
He used Johnny’s dagger to cut the rope but then a sound that almost imitated a scream came from the tree and Taeyong gasped and pushed himself up when he realized that the branch was breaking. He held the dagger in his hand and felt the branch dip down. The ground neared him and to his horror the corpse fell with him and as he neared the ground Nicolas landed first and Taeyong looked straight into the empty sockets before he crashed.

Jaehyun and Ten both were awake as they saw the sun crossing the middle of the sky nearing east. Which meant the clock was ticking and they wondered what Johnny and Taeyong had found. Both of them felt a little anxious but Jaehyun couldn’t help but feel hopeful. What use could the plane bring them? Jaehyun hoped something great, he couldn’t help but think that the reason Taeyong and Johnny were gone was because they had found something useful and were taking advantage of it. 

Jaehyun sat beside Ten who was lying down, waiting just like Jaehyun but unable to move. Jaehyun noticed the other looking up at him. “What is it?” He asked and Ten just kept on looking, as if he was trying to look beyond Jaehyun. 

  “Do you trust him?” He asked and Jaehyun frowned.

  “Who?”

  “Taeyong?” Ten asked. Jaehyun was about to ask what the hell Ten was talking about when movement caught his eye and he saw someone walk towards him. Ten turned his torso around, ignoring the agony his spine put him through by the movement. Jaehyun’s face had paled and Ten didn’t like the way Jaehyun got up on his feet. 

Taeyong was walking towards them, dragging his feet through the sand and looking beaten. He held something shiny in one hand and his shirt was drenched in blood. Ten pushed himself up, using one knee to get up in a half standing position to get a better look. Johnny wasn’t in sight.

Jaehyun ran forward, “Taeyong!” He cried when the other fell to his knees. Ten crawled closer and Jaehyun caught Taeyong so that Jaehyun was facing Ten with Taeyong in his arms. Ten noticed the handle protruding out of Taeyong’s shoulder. Ten recognized the design of the handle which Ten had seen Johnny work so hard on when sitting by Paradise. It was Johnny’s dagger. 

Ten charged forward. “What did you do!?” He screamed and Jaehyun was knocked in the face and he couldn’t protect Taeyong who was vulnerable in his lap. Ten’s fingers locked around Taeyong’s throat and he tightened his grip immediately.

“What did you do to him!?”