Chapter Text
Riley woke up to a face full of sand and what faintly felt like a cozy fire off to their left.
Were they in Hawaii already? Why would they just be tossed in the sand and not woken up?
Orange would’ve definitely disturbed Riley’s sleep if they made it, right?
Something seemed off.
Despite their body protesting against them, Riley tried to force themselves upward. However, they were stopped dead in their tracks by a sudden sharp pain in their right forearm.
They immediately cringed at the pain and tried to identify the source. Their eyes landed on a massive cut that pierced through their coat. The area surrounding the cut had been soaked in blood. The sand where they once rested was stained in a similar fashion.
No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t recall what actually happened leading up to the injury.
Maybe they got a little too crazy and blacked out and just didn’t remember it?
No… they wouldn’t ever do such a thing. They knew better than to do that, especially around children.
What happened, then?
They rolled themselves over despite the pain and couldn’t believe what they saw.
It almost looked like something you’d only see in a movie.
The plane was split nearly perfectly down the middle into two pieces and had several charred marks across its body. A lot of the luggage had been sprawled out across the shore. All of the windows had been destroyed. Ironically, the wings were the last remaining pieces of the plane that were structurally sound.
That would explain the cut on their forearm, then.
A panicked voice suddenly came from behind Riley. “—iley??? R-Riley!!!”
Orange.
Orange suddenly popped into Riley’s view. Their face was stained with a mix of wet sand and tears and they were desperately trying to tell Riley something, but all that came out was a flurry of gibberish. Their entire body was erratically shaking and they seemed pretty scratched up. Their injuries weren’t major, but would need to be addressed eventually.
Riley spotted a first aid kit in Orange’s hands. Was Orange trying to find something to help them this whole time? Poor kid.
Orange suddenly grabbed Riley’s forearm unannounced to examine it. Riley nearly yanked their arm away out of impulse, but they managed to keep their composure.
It was just Orange trying to help. There was no need to overreact.
For a brief moment, Orange struggled to roll up Riley’s sleeve. Riley had considered offering assistance, but before they had a chance to, Orange managed to roll it up on their own.
The look on Orange’s face was indescribable. Whatever they saw must have looked nasty. The cut didn’t feel bad. Did it really look that bad?
Riley tried to speak, but they couldn’t. Their throat was too dry. Instead, they offered a look of both confusion and concern towards Orange.
“Y-Your forearm… it-it’s… bleeding. A lot. I’m… I’m g-gonna help you… okay?”
Riley simply nodded.
Orange grabbed the first aid kit that they had tossed to the side and pulled out some gauze and a bandage roll. They also grabbed the nearest water bottle and set it aside with the other supplies.
Riley looked at the bottle in confusion.
It seemed like Orange understood the gesture and explained. “J-Just using this to c-clean your arm before I cover it up… c-can’t let it get infected!”
Riley didn’t protest against what they said. They made sense, after all.
But… how much potable water did they really have?
“H-Hey, uh, Riley? I’m gonna s-start fixing you up, o-okay? L-Let me know if… if I h-hurt you at all…”
Riley hummed in acknowledgment. That hurt their throat, just a little bit.
Orange cracked open the bottle and allowed the contents to flow onto Riley’s cut.
After a moment, they picked up some gauze and waved it in front of Riley. “S-So, this one, I’m g-gonna use to dry it up.”
Orange dabbed the area with the gauze. Riley didn’t quite see the entire thing, but from a quick glance, they saw that it was soaked in bloody water.
Huh. So maybe it was that bad.
Next, Orange pulled out another handful of gauze.
They paused. “...Uh, I… c-can you… are you able to h-hold this gauze in place w-when I say to?”
Riley gave them a thumbs up, partially as confirmation to Orange’s question and that their other arm actually worked.
Orange placed a wad of gauze over the cut before giving Riley a nervous gaze.
That must’ve been their cue.
Riley moved their left hand to hold the gauze in place as Orange wrapped it with a bandage.
“O-Okay, uh… I’m done! B-But, you’re thirsty, r-right? Wait here!”
Orange ran off without waiting for a response.
Riley took a look at their right arm now that Orange wasn’t hovering over them.
It was neatly wrapped in the bandage, covering whatever horrific cut lied beneath.
Orange was really good at first aid. Maybe Riley could find out more later, maybe even learn some new things.
Orange returned with a coconut and split it into two halves. They tried their best to split the contents in each half evenly. They put one half up to Riley’s mouth to help them drink the contents. Once Orange pulled the coconut away, they put the other half up to their own mouth to drink.
Their throat still felt like sandpaper, but the coconut did wonders. It wouldn’t hold them over forever, but it would be enough for the time being. Riley cleared their throat. Orange only waited patiently for their next move.
“Thank you, Orange. Could you tell me what happened? I… don’t really know myself.”
“T-The, uh, p-plane. It… it c-crashed. I-I don’t know where the other two are b-but w-when I saw you, I… I left to l-look for s-something to help you and I…” Orange was really trembling. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know this would happen I hope I’m not hurting you Ijustwan—”
“Breathe, Orange. I appreciate your help.” Riley forced a small smile. “I think I’ll be okay now.”
“U-Uh, are you s-sure? I, uh, I d-don’t really know how bad your cut is. I… I hope i-it’s not gonna be i-infected…”
Orange was still shaking. Riley needed to do something to calm them down. They gave Orange a reassuring pat on their arm. “I’m okay. I promise. If it was infected, I think we’d know by now. Thanks for the help. You’re really good at this stuff.”
Orange seemed to light up at the gratitude. “W-Well, uh, n-never abandon a f-friend in need, right?”
Wow, they actually paid attention to their guidebook? Not many scouts could say the same.
“Right. You know a lot for being a new scout.”
Orange rubbed the back of their neck. “U-Um, thank you… I s-studied really hard for t-this! Uh, b-being a scout, I-I mean. Not… a plane crash.” They let out an awkward chuckle.
Orange cleared their throat. “A-Anyways… i-if you feel like moving, we n-need to look f-for the others. But, uh, I already tried l-looking for t-the pilot, they’re… gone.”
“Gone?” Riley was completely dumbfounded.
“Y-Yeah. Like… like they were n-never here.”
That was… interesting, to say the least. Unfortunately, that mystery would remain unsolved for now, though. Orange made a valid point. They needed to get moving to find Jade and Jamie. Who knew where they ended up, or if they were even alive? They could’ve left to look for help, or…
No. There was no time to ruminate on those kind of thoughts. Jade and Jamie were still alive. They had to be.
Without another word, Orange began to move more inland. They only made it a few feet before they stopped and looked back at Riley. That appeared to be their cue. Riley slowly rose up from where they were laying before walking up to Orange’s side.
Orange looked up at Riley. “I’ll j-just, uh, f-follow you.”
Riley subconsciously grabbed Orange’s hand. “Right. Let’s go, then.” Orange lightly squeezed Riley’s hand in response.
The two of them cautiously walked inland and looked all around for any traces of Jade and Jamie.
They were instead greeted by palm trees and bushes. Some of the palm trees had coconuts dangling from them and some of the bushes had berries ripe for the picking. Riley spotted some luggage which would likely contain some supplies, but they decided against opening them. There were a few urchins and jellyfish along the mountainside, likely dangerous, so Riley made a mental note to avoid those. Beyond all of that was a mountain that they would likely have to climb. They couldn’t actually see the peak, but they assumed there was going to be a long climb ahead of them.
Riley was interested in exploring more of this island with their ragtag troop, but they needed to focus on actually finding the other half of it first.
The silence gnawed at Riley. Usually, they reveled in silence. It meant that people left them alone so they could focus on the task at hand. Now? It only allowed negative thoughts more space to manifest, and that was the last thing they needed right now.
Their curiosity about Orange gnawed at them, too. There were still a lot of questions left unanswered about them.
Riley stopped and knelt down to Orange’s eye level. “Hey, Orange. You doing okay, buddy?”
If their body language was anything to go off of, then the answer was already apparent.
“N-Not really… I’m… I’m s-scared, Riley… I wanna go home…”
“...yeah. Me too. Where’s ‘home’ for you?”
No response.
“Orange?”
“I don’t… I don’t actually h-have a home.”
Oh.
On top of everything else, they were homeless too?
If—no, when—everyone got off of this island alive, Riley was going to find and strangle Orange’s scoutmaster, and give Orange a place to stay. A home.
They deserved to have a better life. Not whatever this was.
“I’m sorry.”
“I-It’s o—”
“It really isn’t okay. None of this is okay. Your troop took advantage of you and tried to kill you. This isn’t okay, Orange!”
Orange recoiled from the sudden outburst and fell silent.
“Wait, Orange, I… I’m sorry for getting loud.”
Orange only continued to stare at the ground.
Riley felt horrible for that outburst. They didn’t mean to scare Orange, and yet they did anyways.
“...Orange?”
“L-Let’s go...”
Riley stood up and tried to reach for Orange’s hand again, but Orange had already tucked their hands into their pockets.
They didn’t really have time to mull over it, since some noise from behind startled them from their thoughts.
It sounded like… footsteps and muffled voices?
Riley and Orange warily looked at each other before climbing over a nearby mound to get a better view.
And what they saw were…
Two faces they never thought they’d see again.