"I figure I can get a quick lay of the land by climbing a tree," I explained. "I'm not the best climber, but it'll do for the moment."
"You sure it's safe?" Chris looked at me a bit doubtfully. "Maybe one of the others..."
"It's risky for any of us," I shrugged. "I'm not too heavy and relatively in shape. I can probably get to a decent height without breaking anything. Just make sure everything you pull off the plane is above the high tide line." Chris didn't seem too convinced, but he rubbed his trimmed hair and sighed, then indicated to the flight attendant, who had a name tag which read "Frances," they should continue to the plane.
"Who knew all those times climbing the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse at Disney would come in handy?" I muttered under my breath as I looked up at what appeared to be a fairly sturdy and tall tree with thick branches a little ways off the beach. I could still see the ocean through the foliage, so I didn't feel like I was too much in danger if something went wrong. I had scared up a pair of gloves and was wearing my jacket despite the heat in order to protect against jagged bark or sharp branches. It was now or never.
By the time I got 15 feet off the ground I was cursing myself for a fool and dripping with sweat. Still, thankfully, the tree branches all held without protest, and I gritted my teeth and kept going. Although there didn't seem to be that much of a sea-breeze on the beach, I was unpleasantly surprised by just how much the tree swayed as I climbed further into the air. Finally, the surrounding trees cleared from my field of vision and I could see the beach with the plane, much to my relief. Although the sun was beating down, the wind helped to ease the oppressive heat.
I saw the line of passengers unloading luggage, and couldn't help but feel a little less anxious since people were actually chipping in and getting things done. Of course, not everyone. I caught a glimpse of the obnoxious drunk off to the side pissing on a palm tree. One or two of the parents appeared to have spotted him, but attempted to distract the kids rather than draw their attention to it. Yeah, a latrine probably should be one of the first items after food and water. Three hundred people produce a lot of sewage, and to paraphrase, it would be best not to crap where we were going to eat. The pilots were not in sight, and had probably also boarded the plane to help out. The lady they argued with didn't seem to have returned to the beach, however.
It appeared the pilots were correct; there was only beach and ocean as far as I could see around the plane. No other islands, no indications of civilization, nothing. I turned gingerly and looked away from the ocean. The tree canopy seemed fairly dense and untouched. I did notice a bit of a rise in land a good ways inland; too small to be a mountain, but a decent-sized hill. If we could reach it, it could give us a better notion of the type of island we were on. I sighed. It was going to be a long stay here if we couldn't get any electronics up and working.
As I turned back towards the beach, the wind blew my hair into my eyes. I squinted and brushed the few strands back with my hand. However, just at that moment, I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye; something unusual. I'm not sure why it drew my attention, but when I turned to focus on it, it was gone. I frowned, and questioned myself as to whether I was just imagining things. Still, it looked like...