Stranded With a Stranger - Chapter Three

Chapter Three
When Chastity again opened her eyes, the sky was dark and someone- some angel of mercy- was pouring water into her mouth. She tried to focus and realized that she was sitting propped up against a leg, with a strong hand holding her head. In front of her, a fire crackled. “There you are.” A deep male voice rumbled above her. “We seem to have landed on our feet, actually. There’s a spring in the jungle, which I figure makes sense since not much grows on just salt water and there’s plenty of vegetation around here. Plenty of edible vegetation, so that’s two worries down. I had my pack strapped to me… emergency supplies, standard regulation in my line of work. So we’ve got matches, a poncho, two bungee cords, a knife, a gun, some twine, nail clippers, batteries, a flashlight, some gum, salt, aspirin, bandages, and antibiotic ointment.”
“What, no flares? No signal light? What kind of emergency kit doesn’t have flares?” Chastity protested.
“People like me… well, in a bad situation, the last thing we want is to be found.”
“That’s awfully cryptic. Who are you, anyway?” She sat up, pulling away to search his face.
“My name’s Richard… Richard Ashton. I work for the government, trying to stop people like Stanley Carlston from doing what they do. I’m not very good at it, apparently.” He laughed shortly, staring down at his hands.
“I think you did just fine… it was a difficult situation.” Chastity said, but she knew she didn’t sound very convincing. Richard shook his head. “I’ve never blown an assignment this badly before. I’m sure to get fired when we get back to the states.”
“If we get back. Without any means of communication, everyone will think we’re dead like-“
“Like every other person on that plane.” Richard interrupted, his voice scathing. “People I was supposed to protect.”
At a loss for what to say, Chastity glanced around to see that he had finished her shelter and gathered a pile of coconuts, mangos, and some fruits she didn’t recognize. There was a pile of wood beside the fire. A coconut lay shattered on a wide palm frond with a swiss army knife stuck in its white meat. Some kind of gourd sat on the sand beside Richard, and she guessed that he must have used it to bring her water. “You certainly know a few survival tricks.” She observed.
“Part of basic training.” He shrugged, still staring off into the shadows.
“I’m Chastity, by the way.” She said awkwardly. Richard finally looked at her. After a moment he laughed. “I bet.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She bristled.
“Nice name.”
“My mother was religious… she named my sister and I after the two most important goals of a woman- Chastity and Prosperity.”
“The two most important goals, huh? Wealthy and virginal?” Richard snorted.
“Well, in her opinion. I’m not exactly either of those things.” Chastity laughed dryly. Her name had long ago lost any kind of meaning for her. It hadn’t been an easy life, and she’d done what was necessary to survive. It was her experience that a girl could either be rich or easy, and she’d never been rich.
“How old are you, Chastity? Eighteen, twenty?” Richard guessed, summing her up.
“Twenty three.” She sighed. “But apparently I look young for my age.”
Richard studied the young woman in the firelight, the shadows flickering across her soft face. Deep shadows gathered around her eyes, under her full mouth, under her chin. She didn’t look more than sixteen in this light. I’d bet anything she’s lying.
Chastity might have been lying. She didn’t know. She’d never known how old she was. So one day she’d picked an age and just stuck with it. When she really thought about it, she had a feeling she was probably younger than she said- maybe nineteen, twenty. In years. Counting by misfortune and experience, I’m in my late 30s.
“Where were you flying to, anyway?” Richard asked, getting up to add wood to the fire.
“My sister’s getting married. She lives in California. How about you?”
“Well, mostly it was this mission. But I have some vacation time… I was gonna drive to the Grand Canyon. Do some camping.” He smiled crookedly, one side of his mouth coming up high to dimple his cheek while the other stayed tucked self-derisively against his teeth. “I guess this is just as good.”
“I’ve never been a fan of camping.” Chastity admitted. “I like being surrounded by lights and noise. Out here in the dark… I feel like I might disappear.” She shook herself, unable to believe she’d said something so weird, so personal. Richard looked at her for a long moment, causing her to squirm and think desperately of how to retract her thought. “I know exactly what you mean.” He shocked her by saying. “I think, though, the disappearing’s what I want.”
Chastity opened her mouth to reply, but the air was suddenly filled with a horrible howling. A primal, animal scream, the cry of something desperately hungry and alone, something angry and wild… it was like nothing she’d ever heard before. She gasped and instinctively drew closer to Richard. He touched her arm comfortingly, his eyes bright. “It’s alright. Just something hunting.”
“Yes, but hunting what? That sounds like it might like a nice raw haunch-of-Chastity.” She joked shakily. The howl came again, louder, closer, more blood-curdling, and Chastity grabbed Richard’s arm foolishly. “Hey. Come on. It’s fine. We’ve got the fire, which will scare any wild animals off. I’ve got a gun. We’ll be fine.” Richard tried to soothe her, but Chastity had had a long day and would not be calmed. She stared out of the shelter with wide eyes, shaking. Sighing, Richard wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Instantly, she snaked her arms around him, burrowing her face into his chest.
If Chastity at 10 AM had seen Chastity at 10 PM, she would have been shocked at her own reaction to the man she’d previously been so annoyed at. Objectively, she would have sat back and analyzed all the reasons such a reaction was sexist, degrading, and illogical. But in the dark, in the cold jungle, all she knew was that she was scared. Terrified. Helpless. And this man seemed to radiate the exact kind of competence and capability she lacked.
Richard was as surprised by Chastity’s sudden friendliness as she was. His first instinct was to push her away, gently but firmly, and maintain professional distance. That’s what he was trained to do- assist the civilians from a distance and move on. But he hadn’t been at a distance today. He hadn’t been in an office reading a report about a plane crash- he’d been in the crash, surrounded by the death toll. Numbers had names and faces now. He should be dead, too. He deserved to die in that crash.
But he hadn’t.
He’d lived, and by impossible chance, he’d floated quickly to the same strip of land that a girl who happened to know CPR was on. She’d saved him- which was the opposite of what was supposed to happen today. The least he could do was give the girl some comfort, even if their hope was slimmer than he’d made out. There were enough resources on the island to sustain them for a while, true. A few weeks, perhaps. But he doubted that the jungle could support them indefinitely. Most likely their presence would kill off much of the vegetation, prevent it from spreading. The jungle wasn’t thick, maybe half a mile at the widest, with nothing but sand on the other side of the island. Then, when the plants had stopped spreading and died off, they, too, would die.
“You should get some sleep.” Richard advised. “I’ll keep watch.”
“I’m not tired.” Chastity mumbled. “How can I sleep when I feel like any minute I may be attacked and eaten?”
“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. Not that I have a particularly good record of protecting people…” he trailed off, feeling dark and empty inside. The guilt of today’s events was only starting to settle in.
Chastity looked up at him and saw something she recognized, a need so deep he’d never be able to actually identify it. So she said the words she’d never imagined saying to any man, especially not one as macho and threatening as this one: “I trust you.” She even managed a small smile while she said it, feeling distant. Then, quieting her panic and tamping down her anxiety, she forced herself to pull away and lay down beside him, closing her eyes to all the things that might be creeping up on her.
Richard stared at the girl’s still form, swallowing against a sudden lump in his throat. He felt himself resolving to protect this girl, no matter what. As a penance, he supposed, for those he’d let down today. His eyes scanned over her gently curling, slightly damp golden brown hair, her delicate, long fingered hands, her sweet womanly form. You WILL protect her. He admonished himself gravely. From EVERY predator on the island.