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Fire has consumed the front end of the plane; the crackling of burning metal drowning out the screams of the few that were still caught in wreckage from the small, charter plane. Among them was the pilot; forever trapped in his chair as it plunged below the freezing water. Five made it out alive.
The water was biting at their lungs of the survivors, threatening to pull them into the dark abyss below; threatening to make them join that of the plane and the four other passengers below the choppy surface of water.
Two of the five had already begun to swim towards the shoreline. They were twins, both almost identical in appearance and physical stature. Already they were ahead of the other three and seemed less shaken. At least, they would wait until they got to solid land to let their situation sink in. Behind them, two women and another man were just surfacing, trying to gain their bearings.
One of the women, the youngest of the group of survivors, started to swim towards the same destination as the twins. There were tears rolling down her face soon joining with the freezing water that had drenched her.
The last two were behind them. The man, who had surfaced first, had grabbed hold of the panicking younger girl and was pulling them both towards the island. By the time the five had reached the shore, they were all shaking and exhausted from the swim in the freezing water.
Jason, the man who had pulled the younger girl out of the water with him, collapsed onto his back in the sand. His chest was heaving as he struggled to regain his breath from the entire experience. The girl, two years his junior, has also stopped right where he had left her, hugging her knees to her chest and shaking from both the cold and the sobs that erupted from her throat.
Glancing out towards the water, the plane has nearly disappeared underneath the water; with it dragging the ones less fortunate than the five on the beach. One of the twins, the younger of the two, pushed himself up from where he lay and made his way over to his brother.
“Tyler...?” He dropped himself on the sand next to his twin, allowing himself another moment of rest. “You okay...?”
A slight nod moved the older boy’s head as he turned towards him. “Okay is relative, Sylar.” He paused, letting his gaze drift away from his brother as he looked around where they were now stuck. “If you call this okay, then yeah, I’m perfectly fine. You?”
Sitting up slowly, Sylar pushed a hand through his wet hair, keeping the strands out of his face. “I’ll let you know if I’m okay when I know...” He glanced towards his brother as he spoke, his blue eyes searching Tyler’s green ones for some hint of what he was supposed to be feeling now.
The whole situation seemed surreal to him; to all of them, really. This didn’t happen in real life; things like this were reserved for movies and books. Simply a fantasy that entertained others; there was no way that this was really happening to them now.
Turning away from Tyler, Sylar looked around at the other three. He knew each of them from the college they attended; but he couldn’t really say that he had formed a lasting relationship with any of them. The thought made him want to chuckle. If this wasn’t good enough to get a relationship, he wasn’t sure what was. Nothing like being stuck on an island to get to know someone.
His twin seemed to be reading his mind, sitting up to be even with Sylar. “We should see if they’re okay.” He stood up, finding his legs still weak from the swim. He would ask how they were if he managed to make it over there without falling over first. Glancing down at Sylar, he offered a hand to help him up, knowing that he would be just as exhausted as his twin was.
Sylar accepted Tyler’s hand, pulling himself up and standing shoulder to shoulder with the man. The only difference that seemed apparently between the two was their eyes and the length of their hair.
With a final glance at each other, they both began to walk towards the others. Silently, they were going over what they knew about each of them in their heads. Jason Homes. He was the man that always seemed to do things right; he sang, he played guitar, and he was well on his way to becoming a pastor. The thought of having to face him right now seemed intimidating. Both twins seemed to think that he would be ready to tell them everything would be okay; that it would all work out fine. False hope, would be what he offered. Telling them how God would be there; the thought made Tyler want to laugh. God wouldn’t have put them there if he cared. But no, Jason wouldn’t agree. Then there were the girls; Jesica Thompson and Faye Winfield. The two couldn’t be more different; Faye was the rich girl with daddy problems, and Jesica was the conservative, straight-laced church girl.
When thinking about it, neither one of the twins were all that enthused about joining the others; but if they were going to be here more than a few hours, it would be better to have friends instead of enemies on the island.
As the twins walked towards the other three, Faye straightened herself up, eyes closed as she tried to control her breathing and tears. Tyler was the first to reach them, crouching beside Faye a bit uncomfortably. “Are you... okay?”
Her head jerked up quickly, unaware that someone had approached her. Taking a few shaky breaths before sitting up, Faye slowly nodded. “I’m... I’m fine, thank you....” She pushed her hair away from her face and wiped at her tears.
Clearing her throat, she allowed herself another moment to compose herself before looking over at the man that had asked her the question. “You’re Tyler, right?” She looked up at him, unsure of how she should be reacting right now. Her expression was one of both concern and fear; hope and panic. The situation was not easy to sort through, and she wasn’t about to pretend that it wasn’t.
Nodding his head, Tyler forced himself to offer her a bit of a smile. She needed the comfort right now more than he did. “Don’t worry, alright?” He sat down beside her, his gaze slowly moving from her to look out towards the water. In a matter of moments, the surface seemed so calm and gentle. As if it hadn’t just doomed five other people to their death. It was merciless. “You’re not alone here.”
Faye looked towards Tyler slowly, her eyes tearing up again. “Thank you.”
Carefully, he placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded, hoping to somehow ease her fear with his touch. He hoped, at the same time, that it would ease his own. Silently he looked away, seeing that Sylar was making his way to where Jason was still laying face up on the beach.
The swim was hard on all of them, without having to pull extra weight with. He couldn’t imagine how physically exhausting it was for the other man.
Sylar glanced between Jason and Jesica, now, unsure of who he should talk too first. They were both apart from each other; with Jason resting still and Jesica a bit farther up the beach, eyes closed and chest heaving. It seemed like she was trying to control herself; trying to keep herself from losing it. He didn’t blame her, but he also didn’t know how to help someone that was like that. It wasn’t in his nature to be the nurturer. So, instead of going to her, he turned towards Jason to see if he would be alright.
“Hey, man,” He paused, looking away from Jason as he stood over the guy. “You alright...? That was, uh, quite the swim.” Rubbing at the back of his neck uncomfortable, he tried his best to lighten the mood and avoid Jason’s gaze. It surprised him, then, when the man let out a quiet laugh.
“Yeah, I was just thinking about how I could use a swim.” Jason opened his eyes, glancing up at the twin that stood beside him. “Guess the pilot heard me...” He paused, frowning a bit as he sat up slowly, eyes scanning over the horizon. Mention of the pilot served as a reminder that he was no long alive. Sylar seemed to think the same thing, dropping his head a bit and falling quiet.
Clearing his throat, he glanced from the water slowly back to Jason. “Hard to believe, isn’t it...? That that could happen.... to us,” He slowly lifted his gaze to actually make eye contact with Jason, his eyes seeming to plead for an explanation. He wanted answers. He wanted to know why. Why now; why him?
Jason’s frown lessened slightly as he moved his gaze to the sand, searching for the right answer. He knew there wasn’t one; not one that Sylar would accept, at least. “There’s no way to know the ‘why’, we can only know that it’s all a part of a perfect plan.” He looked up at Sylar, squinting slightly from the sun that struck his eyes. “I can only say that we shouldn’t be worrying right now; we should be praising God.”
Sylar furrowed his brow as Jason spoke, almost looking indignant. “Praise?” He scoffed a bit, shaking his head. “I figured you would say something like that. I can’t see how we should be praising at all right now, Homes. This isn’t exactly something I prayed to happen every night before bed.”
Tilting his head slowly, Jason stood so he could address the man more directly. “Are you saying that you would’ve rather died on the plane? Because right now, I’m praising God that I still have the ability to have this conversation with you; rather than being one of those that were stuck; that didn’t make it out.” He paused, considering for a moment that he was being too direct. He shrugged a bit, “I’m still alive, and for that, I praise God.”
Sylar’s gaze dropped again as he tried not to scoff. “Right, because being here is so much better. Now we get to starve to death rather than drown.”
Shaking his head a bit, Jason glanced away from the younger twin. “Well, I’m sorry you feel that way.” For a moment, he looked towards Sylar, considering the lives of the few that were trapped in the plane still. “Excuse me,” He paused, turning to watch Jesica. “I’m going to go see if Ms. Thompson is alright.”
With another slight scoff, Sylar nodded. “Be my guest. I’m sure she needs you more than I do, anyway.” Sylar’s voice was dripping with sarcasm as he turned away, starting to walk back towards Tyler and Faye.
Frowning, Jason looked the guy over as he started to leave. “I’d like to talk to you later, so don’t go far.” He smiled a bit and turned before he could see what Sylar would say. Steadying himself slightly, he started to head towards Jesica. His lefts still felt weak; as if he would pass-out right then and there. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he found himself smiling as he approached the girl.
“Hey,” He sat down beside her quietly, finding himself studying her for a reaction.
Jesica lifted her gaze from the water to look at Jason as she bit her lip, unsure of how to react. “Hi...” She cleared her throat, trying to make herself look slightly better off than she actually was.
“Are you okay? That was a long swim.”
Nodding quickly, Jesica managed to force a small smile onto her face and looked away. “I’ll be fine.”
“Will be?” Jason tilted his head, trying to get a better look at her. He paused, the thought that nothing was exactly ‘alright’ at the moment popping to mind. With a smile, he nodded a bit to himself and glanced out towards the water. “Stupid question.”
Looking over at him, Jesica shook her head. “It’s better panicking, I guess.” Her eyes slowly shifted to look at the three that were a few yards behind them. She found it incredibly difficult to believe that it was only a few minutes ago that they were all in the water; that the plane had just fallen. She found the swim almost impossible, as well; there were times that she considered giving up. But she would always see Jason, just a little ways ahead of her. Not only had he swam the same distance as her, but he managed to do while pulling Faye with him. That kept her going; if he could make it with two people, she could make it with only herself.
Jason smiled a bit, “That’s true, it is better than panicking.” He started to stand, glancing both at her and then to the others. “I think we need to have a meeting to figure this out. If rescue comes, they need to be able to see us.” He paused, offering her a hand. “Nice weather for a fire, don’t you think?”
Taking his hand, Jesica returned her own small smile and followed him towards the other. “I think that’s a good idea.”