“Welcome to paradise.”
I shot a glance in the direction of the tired voice. It came from Johnny; well, at least I think it was Johnny. The young man was covered from head to toe in a thick layer of black oil. All of his features were blended together and he looked like some evil creature. His clothes hung from him in tattered rags. Even though I have done countless years of service, it still made me sick to see my men like this. All eight of them looked the same, marinated in a thick coat of the ship’s oil. We were all gathered on the small sandy beach, exhausted and starving, battered and bruised. My head began to gently ache.
“Okay men, lets do a head count.” When everyone from my group was accounted for, we washed off the oil and then the struggle began. We were in desperate need of food; we had gone about one and a half days without any and I could feel myself grow weaker as the seconds passed. I am a lieutenant and the highest in command in my group. I knew that it was my duty to take charge right away.
“Alright, let’s look for some food. We also need some form of a shelter because it may be a while until we get rescued. Harris and Leo, you begin to make a giant fire so we can be seen by rescue planes. Mich, Cal, and Aaron, you guys start working on a shelter. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Now me, Johnny, and Mika will look for food.”
Murmurs of ‘yes sir’s’ filled the warm, tropical air. I wiped the sweat from my brow and headed into the palm tree forest with Johnny and Mika. Once you’ve been stationed on tropical islands you can never look at them the same. The typical person would see an ideal vacation. An experienced military person knows that islands are just landmasses with no protection, little food, and blistering heat. There was no way I could enjoy this place. Marching through this tiny jungle was disheartening, I could see it on Mika and Johnny’s faces. The island was so small we could see every single coast. There were obviously no animals we could hunt, and we needed the protein if we wanted to remain strong.
“Hey Copper, maybe we’ll find some bananas.” Johnny was looking up hopefully at the trees. He was young and inexperienced but he was optimistic.
“Maybe”, I muttered as I inspected an interesting looking berry bush.
“Look up there!” Mika was pointing at another tree. “Those are coconuts! We can eat them and drink the juice. Well, if we can get them down.”
“There’s juice inside?” The puzzled look on Johnny’s face made me laugh.
“There sure is Johnny. Wanna go up there and get them?”
“Okay.”
We made our way back to the rest of the men with armfuls of coconuts. A giant fire was blazing in the middle of the beach and half of a makeshift shelter was complete.
“Good work, men.” I said as I inspected the crudely made home. It was turning out very well despite the severe lack of supplies. I looked up into the cloudless sky, shading my eyes from the harsh sunrays. I could feel the heat closing in around me, like I was being wrapped in a giant wool blanket. The sweat was pouring off me in massive rivers and my eyes began to swim in my skull. My vision clouded over and I felt a wave of nausea.
“Let’s break open these coconuts and get a drink. I got enough for two each.” Johnny was dishing out the fruit to everyone. We all gathered around, shaded by the shelter and palm trees, and began to work at the coconuts.
No rescue planes came.
After about a week, disaster struck us. Johnny discovered that we were running low on coconuts and they were our only source of fluid. I could feel myself slowly dehydrating and I knew we weren’t going to make it much longer. Planes flew over us every day but they were not rescue planes and none of them had shown any signs of seeing us.
“I can’t do this!” Mich yelled as yet another plane passed by. “I need water and I’m drinking some.” He stumbled towards the ocean.
“No!” Mika and I leaped towards him, trying to detain him. I grabbed his arm and Mika snaked his arms around the madman’s waist, but there was no use. Mich was too strong from an adrenaline rush and we couldn’t hold him. He crashed towards the water, violently scooping the salty liquid to his lips. I couldn’t watch. I turned my back and slowly walked back towards our camp. Shaking off the intense pain in my skull.
Four hours later Mich died from dehydration. I put his dog tags in my pocket.
A day later Aaron went to sleep and never woke up. I put his dog tags in my pocket.
Later that day, Cal drank seawater. He died a few hours later and his dog tags went in my pocket.
The day after that, Leo fainted and hit his head on a rock. He died instantly. I took his dog tags.
Mika then died from dehydration. I kept his dog tags.
Johnny climbed a palm tree in a desperate attempt to find coconuts. He fell from being so weak and broke both his legs and an arm. He lived. I didn’t want to move him because I didn’t know if there was any damage done to his spine. I sat with him, making a small fire so he could be kept warm when the cold island night engulfed us. I tried to make him as comfortable as possible, shading him from the violent sun, but I knew that he wouldn’t make it another day. I felt sick, the pain in my head was almost unbearable and my vision was depleting. A buzz in my head made it hard for me to hear Johnny when he spoke.
“Copper.” Johnny looked up at me, his face ashen. “Am I going to die?”
“Yes. But so am I. People die Johnny, they die every single day, but I’m not going to let you die here. I promise.” It hurt me to lie to him.
“Good, I knew you wouldn’t.” He smiled faintly.
An hour later Johnny died from his injuries. And the last of the dog tags were collected.
I just sat there next to his body, the weight of the tags heavy in my pocket. I had no clear thoughts; nothing rational could enter my mind. There was no room. The buzzing had grown to a loud roar and the pain was so relentless that I knew I must be done for. I saw that a small rescue plane had just landed on the beach but I couldn’t bring myself to walk over to it. I just sat there and watched the rescue team check the dead bodies that littered the beach for any signs of life. They then came over to where me and Johnny were. They looked at me with an incomprehensible expression.
The dog tags jingled.
My head exploded.
I did my best to smile.
It came out as a grimace. “Welcome to hell.”
I shot a glance in the direction of the tired voice. It came from Johnny; well, at least I think it was Johnny. The young man was covered from head to toe in a thick layer of black oil. All of his features were blended together and he looked like some evil creature. His clothes hung from him in tattered rags. Even though I have done countless years of service, it still made me sick to see my men like this. All eight of them looked the same, marinated in a thick coat of the ship’s oil. We were all gathered on the small sandy beach, exhausted and starving, battered and bruised. My head began to gently ache.
“Okay men, lets do a head count.” When everyone from my group was accounted for, we washed off the oil and then the struggle began. We were in desperate need of food; we had gone about one and a half days without any and I could feel myself grow weaker as the seconds passed. I am a lieutenant and the highest in command in my group. I knew that it was my duty to take charge right away.
“Alright, let’s look for some food. We also need some form of a shelter because it may be a while until we get rescued. Harris and Leo, you begin to make a giant fire so we can be seen by rescue planes. Mich, Cal, and Aaron, you guys start working on a shelter. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Now me, Johnny, and Mika will look for food.”
Murmurs of ‘yes sir’s’ filled the warm, tropical air. I wiped the sweat from my brow and headed into the palm tree forest with Johnny and Mika. Once you’ve been stationed on tropical islands you can never look at them the same. The typical person would see an ideal vacation. An experienced military person knows that islands are just landmasses with no protection, little food, and blistering heat. There was no way I could enjoy this place. Marching through this tiny jungle was disheartening, I could see it on Mika and Johnny’s faces. The island was so small we could see every single coast. There were obviously no animals we could hunt, and we needed the protein if we wanted to remain strong.
“Hey Copper, maybe we’ll find some bananas.” Johnny was looking up hopefully at the trees. He was young and inexperienced but he was optimistic.
“Maybe”, I muttered as I inspected an interesting looking berry bush.
“Look up there!” Mika was pointing at another tree. “Those are coconuts! We can eat them and drink the juice. Well, if we can get them down.”
“There’s juice inside?” The puzzled look on Johnny’s face made me laugh.
“There sure is Johnny. Wanna go up there and get them?”
“Okay.”
We made our way back to the rest of the men with armfuls of coconuts. A giant fire was blazing in the middle of the beach and half of a makeshift shelter was complete.
“Good work, men.” I said as I inspected the crudely made home. It was turning out very well despite the severe lack of supplies. I looked up into the cloudless sky, shading my eyes from the harsh sunrays. I could feel the heat closing in around me, like I was being wrapped in a giant wool blanket. The sweat was pouring off me in massive rivers and my eyes began to swim in my skull. My vision clouded over and I felt a wave of nausea.
“Let’s break open these coconuts and get a drink. I got enough for two each.” Johnny was dishing out the fruit to everyone. We all gathered around, shaded by the shelter and palm trees, and began to work at the coconuts.
No rescue planes came.
After about a week, disaster struck us. Johnny discovered that we were running low on coconuts and they were our only source of fluid. I could feel myself slowly dehydrating and I knew we weren’t going to make it much longer. Planes flew over us every day but they were not rescue planes and none of them had shown any signs of seeing us.
“I can’t do this!” Mich yelled as yet another plane passed by. “I need water and I’m drinking some.” He stumbled towards the ocean.
“No!” Mika and I leaped towards him, trying to detain him. I grabbed his arm and Mika snaked his arms around the madman’s waist, but there was no use. Mich was too strong from an adrenaline rush and we couldn’t hold him. He crashed towards the water, violently scooping the salty liquid to his lips. I couldn’t watch. I turned my back and slowly walked back towards our camp. Shaking off the intense pain in my skull.
Four hours later Mich died from dehydration. I put his dog tags in my pocket.
A day later Aaron went to sleep and never woke up. I put his dog tags in my pocket.
Later that day, Cal drank seawater. He died a few hours later and his dog tags went in my pocket.
The day after that, Leo fainted and hit his head on a rock. He died instantly. I took his dog tags.
Mika then died from dehydration. I kept his dog tags.
Johnny climbed a palm tree in a desperate attempt to find coconuts. He fell from being so weak and broke both his legs and an arm. He lived. I didn’t want to move him because I didn’t know if there was any damage done to his spine. I sat with him, making a small fire so he could be kept warm when the cold island night engulfed us. I tried to make him as comfortable as possible, shading him from the violent sun, but I knew that he wouldn’t make it another day. I felt sick, the pain in my head was almost unbearable and my vision was depleting. A buzz in my head made it hard for me to hear Johnny when he spoke.
“Copper.” Johnny looked up at me, his face ashen. “Am I going to die?”
“Yes. But so am I. People die Johnny, they die every single day, but I’m not going to let you die here. I promise.” It hurt me to lie to him.
“Good, I knew you wouldn’t.” He smiled faintly.
An hour later Johnny died from his injuries. And the last of the dog tags were collected.
I just sat there next to his body, the weight of the tags heavy in my pocket. I had no clear thoughts; nothing rational could enter my mind. There was no room. The buzzing had grown to a loud roar and the pain was so relentless that I knew I must be done for. I saw that a small rescue plane had just landed on the beach but I couldn’t bring myself to walk over to it. I just sat there and watched the rescue team check the dead bodies that littered the beach for any signs of life. They then came over to where me and Johnny were. They looked at me with an incomprehensible expression.
The dog tags jingled.
My head exploded.
I did my best to smile.
It came out as a grimace. “Welcome to hell.”
Wow this story is amazing!!! It flowed really well, and it definately captured my attention right away. I liked how you ended it the way you did because he was saved, but everyone else died adding the more emotional feel to it...Awesome story!! =)
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