I awoke suddenly, seeing a dim fire that was running out of fuel. I scrambled to it, throwing dried leaves to spark it up again, and then another couple pieces of wood. I saw Claire's sleeping figure next to the fire, a large shirt thrown over her as she lied in the sand.

Had she accidentally fallen asleep tending the fire? And why hadn't she joined me in the den I had spent all day making?

It had to be almost day light, and I knew the sun was coming up slowly. Tomorrow we would have to find some source of food, I was starving.

And I was really thirsty.

It looked like a pretty big island, but exploring it was dangerous and a serious task. We could get hurt, and without proper medical assistance, we could die.

But we needed fresh water, and I knew this island had to have it somewhere.

I curled up in the den again, bringing my body into a fetal position to preserve warmth. Tomorrow it would be really hot, but until then I would only have the warmth of the fire.

I laid there, thinking about what everyone at home would be thinking. My parent's, the parent's of all my friends and classmates...

Mallory.

My best friend, she was most likely dead... and the pain in my heart was nearly unbearable. Why had I lived? Why was it only me and Claire that survived the crash? Why did this have to happen to us on our senior trip?

I felt my eyes lids growing heavy as I continued to lay there, knowing it wouldn't be long till I fell back asleep. I glanced at Claire's figure, she was still asleep, and I wondered what was going to come about with us being in this situation.

Because this could either make us or break us.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Alex."

I opened my eyes slowly, seeing Claire come into view, groaned, "Yes?"

"We need to find food."

I nodded, sitting up slowly, "And water."

Instantly I smelt myself, and I stunk bad. I needed to find somewhere to bathe, we had soap, even though it was only supposed to last two weeks for one person. I had packed really almost everything possible, and I was suddenly really grateful for that.

I climbed out of the den, standing and stretching my body out. I sighed, "Put your hiking shoes on."

Claire dug in the guys bag and luckily found some shoes, because my flip flops and sandals would do nothing in this vast jungle. She laced them and stood, her skin was red from the sun and I knew we would have to stay out of it for awhile to heal or we could get sick.

I was already majorly dehydrated and weak, and hopefully we could find food easily without having to put out excessive energy. We started into the jungle, walking carefully as we watched every step we took, hoping not to run into any snakes or dangerous looking bugs.

Claire stayed next to me, closer then I expected actually, as we made our way through the thick green vegetation. My stomach was cramping, and even though I was scorching hot, I wasn't even breaking a sweat.

Which was a really bad sign.

Then Claire slipped beside me, her hand gripping mine as I steadied her quickly. Her legs were buckling from weakness, and I knew we didn't have long till at least one of us passed out.

I spoke, "You ok?"

She nodded weakly, "Y-Yea... just really thirsty."

The salt water she had swallowed and threw up really took out her natural hydration, and she had nothing to restore it. I knew she was worse off then me, but that didn't mean I wasn't worried about her.

I stopped suddenly, making Claire speak, "What are you-"

"Ssh, listen," we stayed still, listening quietly for some sound of running water. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on the sound of nature.

Then I heard it.

There was a river, or a water source of some sort, but it was in the distance, and in this heat I was praying Claire would make it. I pulled her along with me, "C'mon, we're close," I gripped her hand tightly in mine, not even realizing what I was doing.

I was savage, I needed to get to that water, and if I could I would drool from the thought of drinking.

The running water grew louder, and I knew we were close, I was only praying it wasn't an hallucination. I pulled Claire next to me, and through a thick patch of green, finally revealing a pool of fresh water.

I smiled in victory, it was almost like seeing Heaven, but this was it for us. Claire was weak besides me, but I helped her over to the pool of water. I stepped in, it wasn't cold, but it wasn't hot either, and I cupped my hands and drank slowly. Claire did to, and her lips had finally returned to normal, and not the parched, dried up look she had had before.

We stayed there awhile, the pool was over hung with palm trees and vegetation which kept the water out of the sun's hot rays. It was a big pool to, which let me know that this island was bigger then we thought, which meant there might be other people here.

Or bigger animals, who would also share this water hole.

I crawled over to Claire, "You feeling better?"

She nodded, "We need to find food."

I looked up, seeing a nest of coconuts right above us, and I knew this was the quickest way to get food. All the movies I had watched revealed that coconuts weren't easy to crack and it would take a lot of energy to open.

But it was food.

I stood, forcing Claire's attention upon me as I stood and walked over to the tall tree, pointing up. "What do you think?"

She looked weary, but I knew she was hungry, and I was to. I could climb the tree, it was overhanging the water so it was at a curve, and wouldn't be a straight up climb. I wrapped my arms around it, pulling myself slowly up the tree and towards the coconuts.

Finally I reached them, placing my hand on one of them and attempting the break it free from the rest of the bunch. I hit it as hard as I could, sending two of them down to the bottom and I looked down at Claire, "Can you grab me a stick or something?"

She looked around for a long stick and eventually found one that I could use to knock the rest down, slowly sending it up to me as I grabbed it. I wrapped both my legs tightly around the tree, sitting up and swinging the branch as hard as I could, knocking the nest of coconuts down to the ground.

I smiled in victory, but I knew the hardest part had yet to come. I slowly made my way down to the ground again and picked up the dislodged nest of coconuts, "Now it's to open them."

She pointed back towards the pool, revealing a very sharp looking rock that was pointing straight up. "What about that?"

She was kind of useful, I had to admit that.

I took one of the coconuts towards it, gripping it firmly between my hands and slamming it against the sharp end of the rock. The coconut bounced out of my hand and rolled onto the green floor of the jungle, I mumbled, "Hmph," and walked back over to it, revealing a slight dent in the shell.

It would take a lot more force, or many more hits to break it.

Claire set the nest of coconuts down and picked up a rock, "Put it on the sharp end."

I complied, until I realized that she was going to slam the other rock down on the coconut, "Woah, hell no, you're not smashing my hands with that thing."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm not gonna miss the coconut, trust me."

I gave her a sarcastic look, "Trust you?"

She sighed heavily, "Please, just do it. If we don't eat something soon we're going to pass out."

I placed the coconut on the sharp end of the rock, trembling the entire time. I wasn't fond of this idea, but it was the best we had, and as I waited impatiently for her to break the shell, the more afraid I became .

She brought the rock in the air, and suddenly it came down onto the shell, and I heard the sweet sound of a loud crack. I pried the coconut apart, drinking the water out of one of the ends as I handed the other to Claire.

It was the best thing I had ever tasted.

It was an exaggeration, but it tasted so good against my hot mouth that was begging for any kind of flavor. I dug my finger nail into the meat of the coconut and popped it into my mouth, chewing uneasily. I wasn't a fan of coconut, but it was still good, I was starving.

I ate all I could out of it, knowing this bowl we had created could come in handy sometime down the road. Claire looked at me, "See, I know what I'm doing some times."

I nodded, "Sometimes."

"How many more should we crack?"

I shrugged, "Two more, in case we can't find any other source of food today."

So we mustered up the last bit of strength we had to crack two more and we finally made our way back to the camp. Luckily the water pool was only about a ten minutes walk from where the beach was so it wasn't far.

I had finally began to feel ten times better then I had before, but I was physically drained and could no longer go. I fell into the camp, feeling completely exhausted from today as Claire spoke, "Want me to make a fire?"

"That might be a good idea."

She looked at me weirdly as she began gathering things to make a fire as I handled the stick Claire had given me back at the watering hole. We couldn't eat coconuts forever, we would need some source of protein...

Maybe I could try and get us some fish.

I poked my head out of the den and spoke, "Claire, can you find me something to carve this stick with?"

She gave me a wry look, "What do I looked like, your maid?"

"Or how about someone who saved your ass, twice."

She looked at her tiny fire, and then shook her head, "Fine, I need some more wood anyway."

"I'll watch it for you."

She disappeared out of my sight as I rested my body for a bit as I tended silently to her fire. Why did she have to be so snappy with me? I mean obviously I was the one who had been busting my ass since we got stranded on this fucking island. I saved her ass, made the camp, found the water, found us food...

All I wanted was for her to go find something I could work with.

I laid my head on the clothes I had balled up into a pillow, it was actually pretty comfortable in here. I was quite the architect, I had laid leaves on top of the sand so the sand wouldn't get into the clothes we were lying on top of.

I was so smart.

I thought about what my parent's could possibly be doing right now, finding out that our plane had crashed into the South Atlantic and our bodies were not retrieved. Would they panic and pray I would come home? Or would they not even care?

It hurt thinking that they might not even miss me.

Then as I began to doze off I heard a piercing scream echo through the forest, knowing it was Claire.

And I shot out of the camp and into the forest towards her voice.

***A/N***

Hope you guys are enjoying the new story because I sure am! I look forward to writing and I'm sure you guys look forward to reading! Stay tuned for more!