Part 35 : The Other Crew

On one side of the beach were Tony and his group of friends. In the middle was Natasha, Bernard and Cecil, all huddled together in the part of the plane that landed on the beach. Past them was a small group of young survivors who have banded together. Seth Butler carried the four coconuts to the small group he had joined. He leisurely walked past the middle section, while Natasha gave him a strange look. He just smiled and continued walking.

Seth’s group was comprised of three other people. Shanna McCoy was from New York City visiting her grandma in Australia at the time. Mia Ray was part white, part Lakota Indian. She claimed she had gone to Australia as a spiritual journey. She heard about the “walkabouts” done by the Aborigine culture. She unfortunately missed her chance and had to come home. Then there was Brendon Battle. Seth didn’t know much about him. All he told him was that he was in Australia and had been living there for seven years. He was part Asian, part Caucasian. Mostly he would sit on the beach, in a mediating posture. Seth was unaware if it was cool or not. “Hey, guys, “he said, waking them up, “I brought coconuts.”

Brendon opened his eyes and then took the coconut. Mia and Shanna slowly woke up as well. Mia twisted her neck, making a cracking sound. Shanna massaged her face, as she got out of the sleeping bag she found. Seth never had the chance to ask her if it was really hers or she found it. “Thank you,” she said, accepting the fruit.

“It’s nice that Mr. McKay makes these for everybody.” Mia sipped on her coconut milk.

“I suppose we should probably start getting our own.” Seth mentioned.

“There is no reason to,” Brendon replied, “McKay has the machete. If anything, we should collect them and give them to him. But there is not logical reason that we should collect them and keep them.”

“Dude, you are so weird.” Seth pointed.

“What makes you say that?” the young man was curious.

“You talk like a freaking samurai. You sit on the beach and mediate most of the time. I mean, Who are you??”

“I am Brendon Battle. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Is Battle your real last name?” smiled Shanna.

“ Is there some reason to suggest otherwise?” he smirked.

“It’s just an unusual last name, is all.”

“I suppose so. But my father didn’t think so.” Brendon began to much on his coconut.

No one else seemed to press the matter. Brendon did seem like a strange young man but no one felt a bad vibe from him. They felt a little weirder over that Cecil character, or Sawyer, or whatever his name is. Mia brushed back her jet black hair, sipping on her coconut again. Then she looked to the others. “What do you think about all the stuff that has happened?” she whispered.

“What do you mean?” asked Shanna.

“We’ve only been here six days. Already three people are dead, all by strange means.”

“Bad coincidence is all.” Seth said, munching on his coconut.

“Coincidence? Seth, you can’t expect me to believe you are that dense.” Mia shot back.

“What?” he said, partially offended.

“That large guy Poteet gets killed by an unseen monster. Calhoon gets killed by a polar bear and Underwood just dies! Does this strike anybody as weird?”

“It strikes me as creepy as hell.” Shanna shivered.

“So what are you suggesting?” asked Brendon, “You believe the island is cursed?”

“What if it is?” Mia said, scared.

“OH, C’MON!” Seth said, throwing away his coconut shell, “What are you saying is gonna happen next? Some freaking voodoo guy is gonna come out of the jungle, kill us and put our heads on a pike?”

“Seth-“ Mia grunted.

“I mean, geez, Mia, they don’t even make Scooby Doo episodes this bad.”

“Then how do you explain a monster we couldn’t see?” she retorted.

“It wasn’t within our visual range. It was within the jungle and besides it wasn’t a monster anyway?”

“Then what was it?” asked Shanna.

“The polar bear, duh.” Seth grunted.

“Dr. Largo said that he thought it was too big to be a polar bear.” Mia replied right back.

“Mia, I got bad news for you but he’s blind! He was probably mistaken. There is no such thing as monsters or the Poppycock that that kid is calling it.”

“Polliwog,” Brendon corrected him.

“WHATEVER!” Seth screamed, as he stood up and walked away.

Shanna immediately got up to follow and calm him down. Mia sighed, slightly sad she was unable to convince Seth that the island had some strange things about it. Brendon was only barely convinced but Mia trusted him. The young Native American girl looked down the beach at the other people gathered in groups. Taylor had just kissed McKay and they seemed to be bonding very well. “Why do you think we’ve banded together in groups?” she asked.

“It’s a comfort feeling.” Brendon answered, “We’re in a very bizarre and stressful situation. It’s natural for people to flock together.”

Mia smiled. She liked Brendon. Nearly everything he said made sense in some way or another. Perhaps Seth was right in his own stupid way. Maybe Brendon was some sort of modern samurai, at one with himself and the universe. Mia twirled her hair in her fingers. Brendon immediately took notice of this, seeing as she did that sort of thing before. “Something else on your mind?” he asked.

Mia slowly looked at him. “I can’t stop having these weird dreams.”

“What sort of dreams?”

“I’m feeling trapped. In some sort of cold metal place. There is this . . bald guy who is also there and he’s feeling trapped but he said, . . something about faith.”

“McKay?” asked Brendon, noticing he’s the only bald man on the beach.

“No, not him. An older man. He has a scar . . .down his right eye. I’ve seen him someplace before but I can’t remember.”

“There is no other bald men on the beach. Perhaps you saw him back in Australia.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Mia rubbed her eyes, and giggled, “Back home, my father would have said I was having visions, being a Lakota.”

Brendon squinted his eyes, “Are you?”

Mia looked at him. It was a legitimate question and at the present state of things, she really didn’t have a good enough answer.