Part 4.

Johnny was startled awake. Ten’s scream filled the night. The moon was high upon the sky and lit up their dark world. The fire had died and to their horror they saw eyes glinting in the light of the moon. Ten slid away from Johnny and the latter tried to catch Ten’s wrist but he missed it. Eyelids still heavy he watched Ten being dragged away and then a monkey launched at Ten. Johnny yelled Ten’s name but watched Ten throw a punch at the monkey and he was attacked once again. These creatures were bigger than the ones that had raided their cooler. Johnny didn’t know what to do, it was dark to the baboons’ advantage and Jaehyun was currently fighting off one baboon with the spear. Johnny grabbed his daggers and watched Ten protect his neck when one monkey tried to pierce it with its teeth. Johnny threw the dagger.

  “TEN TAKE THE DAGGER!” He cried and then turned to the fire. There was still life and he grabbed his shirt and ripped it and wrapped it around a stick he had saved for a new spear. He put it into the looming embers and blew on them while hearing the baboons’ scream when Jaehyun had impaled one with his spear. Ten was lashing out after them with the daggers, but then Johnny rose up, face lit up by a new fire and he stabbed out after the monkeys with the torch. 

  “LEAVE!” He yelled and watched them flinch. Jaehyun joined the other and roared at the monkeys while Ten screamed and hunted them down. The three boys’ eyes were wild and the moon watched them with pity.

When morning came Ten had colored the sand crimson and Jaehyun and Johnny panicked frantically as they tried to mend to Ten’s wounds and bruises. 
When the day came and the sun was high they could say that Ten would survive, but Johnny looked at the other’s sun-kissed face and couldn’t find any snide remarks. His blood-stained hand held onto Ten’s and Jaehyun gave the other water. Ten’s brown eyes looked at Johnny and once again that moment of honesty occurred and Johnny couldn’t blame Ten for anything. Johnny looked up at Jaehyun who was watching Ten with fear in his eyes and he leaned over and pulled the other into a one-armed hug but Jaehyun embraced it. Ten rested and the other two felt thankful to the day that they managed to save a friend. 

  “How do you feel?” Johnny asked Ten whose head was resting on Johnny’s thigh. Johnny was watching Jaehyun practice with the spear swinging it around like “he had seen in the movies” but failing time after time. 

  “Like most of my skin has been torn apart.” Ten said in a groggy voice and Johnny huffed and Ten chuckled. He looked up at Johnny who seemed to find something really interesting on the ground. Ten smiled. “Thank you, mastermind, for saving my life, once again.”

Johnny looked flattered. “It’s nothing.” He said and his eyes fleetingly met Ten’s.

The other boy kept their gazes locked. “No, really it is something.” Ten said with a serious look upon his face. “You even sacrificed a part of your shirt.” He added and Johnny looked down to see part of his stomach revealed because he had ripped off the end of his shirt.

Johnny looked over at Jaehyun again. The sun’s rays lit up the sweat upon his torso. “We’ll adapt.” He said with a confident nod. “The island won’t beat us.”

Ten smiled. “We’ll make it.” He agreed and turned to watch Jaehyun as well. 
 

 7 days.

The sails were close, yet they just didn’t seem to get closer. Ten looked such a dark bronze because of the sun, Johnny had never seen him this dark. Jaehyun got burnt by the sun and therefore settled to hunting in the jungle instead of being on the open beach. Johnny had gathered stuff they made into paint and they started painting each other. 

  “I noticed that the frogs have patterns that make them look wide awake or scary. We should do that too.” Johnny said as he was mixing blue. Ten hummed.

  “Like extra eyes on the back.” He suggested and Johnny nodded. 

  “Exactly.” 

Jaehyun was getting much better with the spear, one time the baboons made a return and Jaehyun was quick while Johnny fought with a torch. Ten fled to stand in the water hoping the monkeys wouldn’t go for him there. 

  “I can swim, find stuff at the bottom of the ocean.” Ten suggested and Johnny shook his head. 

  “If I have to bury your body-” He began but he couldn’t finish. Jaehyun eyed them as they ate lunch together. Johnny was picking at his shoes and the corners of Ten’s lips went up in a smile.

  “Ay, I mean something to you.” He teased. Jaehyun smiled and Johnny pushed Ten’s poking finger off of him.

  “Of course you do.” He snapped and then got up. He looked out where the sail would be. 

 “Let’s get the sails.” 

Johnny waded into the water, all of them had to go no matter who was the strongest swimmer or not. The sails would probably still be attached to the mast that broke and they’d have to cut them off; without getting attacked by sharks or stepping on poisonous fish. The odds weren’t that great.

So they shared looks that could be their last before diving in and swimming out into the sea. Jaehyun got there first and he called out to the others before he started cutting. Johnny swam around to get to the small stretch of wood that were attached to the mast. Ten was by the other end of the other mast. 

  “Start cutting.” Johnny instructed them. “Try to have as much rope as possible, we can definitely use it.”

Ten crawled on top of the mast and managed to balance himself on top of it, it gave him height to look out for anything suspicious as well. Johnny pushed his hair out of his face as he only had three places where the sail was attached so he was almost done. Jaehyun was struggling he had one arm slung up on the mast while cutting with the other. Johnny watched Ten work, just for a moment he watched the boy pushed out his black hair and raised his gaze up fleetingly and then focus on his work. Johnny was about to keep working when he noticed Ten’s gaze snap up again, a frown finding its way onto his face. Johnny knew what that meant and he found his way up or at least swinging his feet up on the mast. Ten was yelling for Jaehyun to get up too and with their hearts in their throats they found themselves stranded on a mast that wasn’t safe. Cutting off the sails made the mast tip down and so they only had the main mast to hold onto and it kept trying to throw them off. Johnny looked around trying to find any sign of the shark. 

  “I saw the ing fin I swear.” Ten cursed as he reached out to grab the sail. Jaehyun did the same while Johnny leaned to the other side to keep the mast from rolling. 

  “We could just swim.” Jaehyun suggested. 

  “And get killed!” Ten snapped but Johnny was quietly watching the water. 

  “It should know.” He muttered and Ten almost fell off because he threw his head around to face Johnny. 

  “What?” He asked or more rather hissed. Johnny eyed their clothes.

  “I read something about shark attacks, they usually only attack during dawn and dusk.” Johnny frowned as he tried to remember and keep his feet up on the same time. “Usually it isn’t fatal because they stop biting as soon as they realize it’s not a common prey.” 

Johnny looked at Ten and the cuts the monkeys had done. “Ten you shouldn’t have come.”

  “Why?”

  “Recent cuts.” He said and then looked down himself. “Open cuts are the worst though.” 

  “We have the daggers.” Jaehyun said.

  “Go for the eyes or nose.” Johnny then continued before taking the sail. “I don’t even care anymore, let’s just get this and go.”

And then he slipped down into water, cut the last robe and started swimming. Ten and Jaehyun were quick to follow, both diving in. The sail was heavy but the waves rolled in and helped them drag it along. 

Johnny kept hearing Ten and Jaehyun’s screams or felt pain in his legs but before they knew it they were walking and they ran the rest of the way, dropping the sail at the edge of the water and throwing themselves on land. 

Jaehyun was crying and Ten crawled towards Johnny, before Johnny knew it he had Ten clinging onto him and he looked out upon the water, his feet tingling as he realized that they had survived. They got the sail.

 

  “What exactly could you use it for though?” Ten asked as they laid out the sail to dry. 

  “Blankets.” Johnny suggested. Then he looked around. “It could shield us from rain. The slight curve of the cliff does but not enough. “I suspect we’ll have a lot of rain soon.”

  “Could also help us collect rain for drinkable water… right?” Jaehyun said as he dropped down some coconuts and Johnny nodded with an impressed curve of his lips. 

  “You’re right, Jaehyun.” He said and Ten shook his head.

  “I still gotta get used to you admitting other people are right.” Ten said with a small smile and Johnny huffed. 

  “Me too.” He chuckled and then they started creating a set-up that would collect rainwater in the cooler for now. 

  “We should start hunting.” Jaehyun then said. “We need protein.”

  “I’ll go to paradise and watch the animals to learn from them.” Johnny said. “It sounds stupid.” He added after getting up but Ten shook his head. 

  “Sounds reasonable, I’ll stay here and watch over the camp.”

So they split up, Ten made sure to add damp wood to their bond fire so that it produced a lot of smoke and Jaehyun started searching the very beginning of the jungle while Johnny took seat on the cliff and watched the crocodiles in the water below. Just where the wide crowns didn’t reach he could see the top of a mountain of the island. In that moment he was sure, they couldn’t be just alone on this island. Something or someone else must be there too. They should not try to find them, but stick to their part of the island. It’s dangerous to wander too far.

A/N: What do you guys think so far? <3