I couldn't believe I was volunteering to go into that jungle, especially after what I thought I had seen. Or hadn't seen. Either way it creeped me out. But of course, my logical side got in the way.
"I'm the only one who's gotten a good idea of the layout of the island. I've done a bit of hiking, nothing hard-core, but I'm in fairly good shape. At the very least, if we get lost, I know I can get up and down another tree to figure out our way back," I justified my choice even though I probably didn't need to. Another bad habit. "What about you?"
"I was thinking about joining one of the groups scouting along the beach," Leah pondered, rubbing the back of her neck. "But I think I might actually have to stay here. Someone has to keep everyone working together so there'll be shelter and food when the other groups get back, and no one else has really stepped up."
I nodded in agreement, then stared into the dark forest. There were all sorts of weird noises, but whether that was just the sounds of nature or something more ominous, I couldn't tell. Hell, I spent 99.9% of my life in suburbia. This roughing-it nonsense was really not for me. That being said, I exhaled, then gritted my teeth.
"Look," I drew Leah's attention and lowered my voice, figuring since she was responsible enough to handle our living arrangements, she probably wouldn't panic if I gave her a few more details regarding my tree-climbing escapade. "I don't want to freak anyone out, but there might be decent-sized animals on this island. I saw some movement in the jungle from the tree, but I couldn't make out any details. I figure it wouldn't hurt to have a few people keeping lookout even during the day, if you get my drift."
Leah looked a little startled at my revelation, then gave the tree shadows a suspicious glare as I had been doing. Finally, she turned to me and gave an understanding nod. Good, at least someone knew what I saw in case things went pear-shaped tomorrow. Not that it would do me any good.
After a rather uneventful night, we broke up into teams to start investigating our new digs. Like we had discussed, Leah stayed with the group building shelters, and I joined the group hiking to the hill. Chris was also trekking inland with me, as well as a few others. While the pilot and Frances the flight attendant were with those salvaging anything possible from the plane, the co-pilot was going to lead one of the beach groups. Surprisingly, Devin was leading the other. He didn't really seem like the responsible type, so I assumed he just didn't trust my assertion that there was no civilization in sight, or at least didn't want to believe it. The drunk seemed to have sobered up enough to be hungover, but he didn't seem much inclined to do anything useful.
"Hey," I spoke up in realization, looking at the group heading for the hill. "Does anyone know if that businesswoman that was hassling the pilots yesterday came back? I saw her head into the woods, but..." I swept my eyes over the other groups in the distance that were just starting their jobs. "..I never saw her come out."
The others looked about, then also shook their heads. Great, someone got themselves lost on their own already.
"Should we try to follow her tracks first?" Chris, ever the responsible one, asked. Something about Chris made me think he had gotten a decent amount of training somewhere that stressed discipline.
"Well," I hesitated. "I think we should..."