“Come, on..”

He heard a familiar voice. He opened his eyes and saw Arthur, one of his crew members.

“Arthu-..” he tried saying. He voice was in pain and could barely breathe.

“Relax.. Sir.. Just listen. I saved your life.”

“How?” he interrupted.

“The USS Cleveland was torn to pieces. I jumped overboard and grabbed some debris. Then I found you, floating on some driftwood. I thought you were dead. Later I swam by you an-and noticed you breathing. From there I swam and pushed you along as you laid on the wood. Then we reached this island.” He took a second to breathe. “We’ve been here for a good five minutes.. Also now I can’t feel my legs,” he said smiling.

“I owe you my life,” McCarthy muttered.

After that McCarthy sat up on the sandy shore. He looked at himself, noticing his uniform and himself were covered in sand and wet. He pushed his hand on his head, dusting off any sand. Then he looked around. There was only the ocean in front and behind some tropical forest behind him. Arthur was kneeling next him looking the same as Douglas but tired. “What do you reckon we do?”

“I.. Don’t know.”

Then there was a minute of silence until Arthur thought of an idea. “It must be around ten now. Should we try to wave down a passing ship?”

“Yes. I’ll get the wood. You need to rest your legs.”

“Understood.”

Arthur sat in the sand and looked around for anything. McCarthy got up and started to walk towards the dense tropical forest. He walked past the voluminous plants and soon entered the forest. He started to gather some sticks and small pieces of bark from trees. He heard noises of bugs and birds chirping. This wasn’t no small island he thought. He kept walking deeper into the forest and after minutes of admiring the scenery he heard running water. McCarthy pushed larger bushes out of his way and saw the water. It was a small stream. He walked closer and noticed it must’ve been two feet wide. He looked from both sides of the stream and noticed it curved in directions that didn’t allow him to see far.

He remembered his mission and started walking back. In one hand he carried the wood needed for the fire. While walking back he picked up a sharp rock and marked an arrow into a nearby tree. The arrow was pointing the way towards the stream. He kept moving on and every now and then he marked the trees until he was back out from the thick forest. He saw Arthur still on lookout for passing ships. McCarthy placed the wood beside him saying, “I’m back.”

“Good work. I’ll start the fire.”

Soon Arthur began to do light a fire. Before he did he quickly glanced at the wood again. “I think we’ll need more if it's gonna last a day. Don’t ya think?”

“I guess. Not like I’ll be doing anything else on this damn island.”

McCarthy turned around started to walk back into the forest. Arthur yelled to him before he vanished, “Be quick this time, will ya?”

As he did vanish Douglas yelled back, “Will do!”

Soon he was back into the forest collecting even more wood. He wandered a bit deeper than he initially planned to do. Then he heard something. The ground gave a little shake that he could just feel. He stood still unsure what was happening. A volcano he thought. Two iguanas popped out from a bush dashing right beside his feet. A predator he thought next. He didn’t hesitate to find out either. He started to turn around until he felt another shake, this time lighter. Then another. A few shakes hit but they died down soon and were lighter every time. He thought it must be some panther or something at first. Now it must be an elephant. “On an island?” he questioned. He noticed a group of birds flying over his head, going the same direction as the iguanas. There was no way he was going to find out. He picked up his pace walking out of the forest picking up even more wood. Following the arrows, he made it out. He noticed the fire and the smoke rising from it. McCarthy walked towards Arthur who saw him get closer. “Put the wood close to the coconuts I gathered,” he yelled. Douglas placed down the wood and noticed the few coconuts lying on palms. “Here.”

Arthur reached out and gave McCarthy half of an opened coconut. “Drink from it and only eat the white,” he said smiling.

McCarthy did as he was told, enjoying something to eat and drink. He looked into the blue and empty ocean listening to the waves crash the beach. The sand was warm as he relaxed in it.

“It must be noon, maybe one,” said Arthur.

Before he could say anything else, Douglas interrupted, finishing his meal. “I’ve found a stream close by.”

“Great!”

“Except we are alone with animals. Especially predators. An island with a stream in it must be pretty large.”

“Well, that means we have food and drink for survival.”

“But.. There is one more thing. There was some shaking.”

“Like.. An earthquake?”

“No. You would’ve felt it. I think it was a volcano.”

“I would’ve felt it.”

“You’re right.. Sadly.. It must be some beast.. Hell I think it is an elephant.”

“On an island like this?”

“Who knows. Maybe it was transported and the ship crashed?”

“Sounds likely.”

Soon the conversation ended followed by the sound of the waves and more munching and slurping on coconuts. McCarthy continued it later saying, “I think we should explore the coast. Maybe we could find something. Heck, maybe the ship that would have transported the unconfirmed elephant.”

“Maybe. I mean, what else do we have to do for the rest of day?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Alright. We’ll cover more ground if we split up. I’ll head to the left or behind me and you go the other direction. Come back here when night falls and look for the fire. It should be going until 8-ish.”

“Got it.”

“Good luck to you.”

“With you as well.”

Soon the two departed in different directions. Minutes past by. Now hours. McCarthy was only seeing more coast and nothing good. “When will something show up!” The day was coming to a close as the sun was now setting. He knew he had little time to discover something. He kept walking and walking through the sand until he spotted some debris on the sand. He was relieved he found something and started to dash towards it.

The debris started to look metal. He got closer and closer noticing now that it must be from a ship. McCarthy moved around looking at each and every debris until he spotted something that caught his eye. ‘PORATION’ it read. The metal debris seemed to be a logo of some sorts with the words and a red ring background. He saw another piece with the same red ring and ‘DR. ELLIOT’S TR’. He made out that the debris was from some transportation ship. It must be why the elephant or something was here. McCarthy decided to report his and started to run back to the fire.

He could see the smoke still in the air as the sky was now dark. He made out the figure of Arthur, laying back in the sand with something around his leg. He ran faster and soon saw palms wrapped around his leg. “Wh-..What happened?” said Douglas trying to check his breath.

“Some small cat. Maybe an ocelot.. Bit my damn leg but I’m fine for now.”

“Find anything?”

“No. I came back way before sunset, made these palm beds or mats, whatever, and more coconuts.”

“Well, we’re sort of in luck. Found some debris from a transportation ship.”

“Guess that zoo animals are in this island..”

“Guess so. Which is so both bad and good.”

“Exactly. Look, I think both of us need some rest. Especially myself.”

“Agreed.”

Arthur laid back and closed his eyes. Before McCarthy slept, he grabbed a coconut and made sure he was nourished. Then he laid back on his palm mat and relaxed feeling the soft sand and palms. He looked up into the starry guy and soon closed his eyes.

Then something shaked the ground once more. He jumped right up and looked out at the sea, making sure it was no tsunami or something terrible. Nothing. There were more shakes that followed, but they died down just as they did before. “The hell is that. It is too strong to be some elephant. Unless it's huge,” he said under his breath. He looked over at Arthur who was sound asleep. After a few seconds of hearing and feeling nothing, he laid back down and slept once more.