Survival Island (reality show)

12. Crocodiles and bodies

There is no perfect spot to make a campfire. Swamp on one side and grass on the other. No sign of the river they need to find, just more trees. Magnus digs up a clearing in the grass to create a fire pit. They need to find a dry forest for more firewood soon, they are down to the last of their supply. Maybe the trees on the other side of the grassy expanse can provide it? The swamp sure can’t.

Sebastian skins the crocodile and makes nice little cubes of meat to stick on twigs. He is hungry enough to eat it half raw. The two crocs they encountered were more on the smaller side, not even a meter in length. Juveniles with tender meat. It will be done fast. Which is good, because they have a small fire and nothing to feed it with. Fresh grass would only create smoke and it stinks when burned.

“I missed meat. I have to remind myself to eat slowly.” Magnus moans.

“It’s good to get some real food. The bugs were protein, but just not the quantity we need.” Sebastian nods and grimaces over the memory of the bugs and worms they had yesterday. “Besides, it tastes better.”

“Yeah,” Magnus chuckles. “Seasonings or potatoes would be nice. I wouldn’t oppose a salad, either.”

“What do you want to do in the morning? Follow the swamp up to the waterfall or try the other side?” He asks. They make the decisions together, he doesn’t like to boss Magnus around. He never asked for the man’s rank, but he’s got a feeling Magnus wasn’t an ordinary marine.

“To tell you the truth. This grassland bugs me. I don’t trust it. I bet it’s part swamp.” Magnus says after considering the question. “I think it’s best to stick to dry land. Roast some meat for breakfast and wrap it up in banana leaves. I know we’re gonna run out of firewood.”

“You have banana leaves?” He asks, perplexed that he even thought of bringing some.

“In my pockets.” Magnus chuckles. The man is full of surprises, Sebastian thinks. It will come in handy to keep the dirt and bugs away from their meat, so he cuts a few more cubes to roast and save for tomorrow.

“What’s your rank?” Sebastian decides to ask.

“Why is that suddenly relevant?” The guy looks up and Sebastian can swear his demeanor changed. Gone is the playful camaraderie they established over the past few days. There is a hardness to the man’s expression that wasn’t there before.

“I just thought of it. I have the feeling that I’m bossing you around and it doesn’t sit well with me.” He admits, but he would like to know.

“Well. I’ve seen your dog tags, Lieutenant.” Magnus smiles. “Since we’re both retired from active service and we’re from different branches, I don’t see why it matters.”

“Fine. Don’t tell me.” Sebastian nods. “God knows, I have things I’m not telling you.”

“So? If I outrank you, can I order you to tell me?” Magnus inquires and the playful nature is back in the man’s smile.

“You know it doesn’t work like that.” Sebastian smiles. They are roasting the meat and putting it on the palm leaves, but they can’t fit all of it there. The crocodile was small, but there was enough meat to feed five people. “Are you gonna eat some of this?”

“Sure. Let me enjoy and savour the meat. It won’t be as good when it’s cold.” Magnus nods.  

They eat in silence for a while and the starry night sky is a nice change to the jungle canopy they were looking at for the past few days. He is thinking about what Magnus said, but he can’t decide if the grassland is a part of the swamp or not. It’s possible. It wouldn’t be weird at all. He learned that nothing is a surprise on this island. All is possible here.

He smiles as he hears faint snoring coming from Magnus. All the climbing they have done today was exhausting. He can feel how tired he is, but someone has to take the first watch. The swamp is too close for his well being. Who knows how bold the crocs really are? Would they attack when the fire goes out? And they still have the remains of the one he killed. Maybe he should throw that into the water? The smell of fresh meat will surely lure the other crocs.

Sebastian gets up slowly and grabs the crocodile carcass. He aims for the far tree in the swamp and throws it there. Hopefully it’s far enough away that the crocs won’t be interested in them. He cringes at the splash, but it’s fine. No additional splashing sounds can be heard. Maybe the crocodiles are asleep? He longs for some sleep himself, but he’ll give Magnus a few more hours.

Early morning sun wakes him up as it shines directly on his face. He doesn’t even remember falling asleep, but it was around midnight when Magnus took his watch. He sits up to glance around and he spots Magnus a few meters away poking at the ground .

“What are you doing?” He asks, intrigued about the weird behaviour.

“Trying to figure out if this is swamp or dry land.” Magnus answers.

“What did you find?” Sebastian inquires and grabs some of their breakfast on the way over to the guy.

“Swamp. Be careful where you walk. I almost lost my boot to a sinkhole.” Magnus smirks and takes a piece of meat for himself. “I still think it’s safest to follow the swamp line to the waterfall. Hopefully we can find a nice spot to cross over.”

“Yeah. The grassland seems to narrow quite fast. I just hope those trees are a normal jungle and not another part of the swamp.” Sebastian nods.

“Come on, Lieutenant. Let’s get the camp together and move out.” Magnus says. 

“Is that an order, sir?” Sebastian snickers and follows the guy to their bags and fire remnants.

“Will you stop with the snarky remarks, if I tell you? Just don’t insist on proper etiquette and rank calling. It doesn’t matter out here.” Magnus turns on him with his hand raised, which Sebastian catches easily and frowns.

“I promise I won’t mention the rank thing again and I won’t act on it. Friends?” He smiles and lets go of the guy's hand.

“Friends.” Magnus nods. The smile is back and there doesn't seem to be any hard feelings, because he tells him what rank he is. “I’m a Major.”

“Thank you.” Sebastian is court with his answer. He packs up his things, checks to see if the fire is really dead and double checks that they haven’t forgotten anything. It will be a long trek to the waterfall, but they have to make it. Their water supply is dangerously low.

“What are you thinking? You won’t be all weird now?” Magnus wants to know.

“No. We’re low on water and it’s a long way to the waterfall. This second river splits a few times, but I’m not sure there will be any drinkable water. What if all of it is swamp territory?” Sebastian explains his thoughts.

“Good thinking. Let’s hope for some water on the way. A steady pace to conserve energy and walk in the shade. That’s all the answer I’ve got.” Magnus sighs.

Walking slow and steady, he adopts the Major’s careful way of tapping the ground with a stick. He doesn’t want to sink knee deep into the mud, so avoiding that is a priority. He promised to not address the ranks and he will keep to it, out loud at least. He might want to form his ideas into questions, but he’ll see about it as they go on. Friendship trumps rank and they established and agreed upon being friends.

“Oh, damn it!” Magnus exclaims a while later.

“What?” Sebastian walks a bit faster to catch up to him.

“That looks like a crocodile attack.” Magnus points ahead to a body lying on the path. The legs are heavily bitten and there are chunks of tissue missing and, if he sees right, one arm. Sebastian swallows hard and walks over to the body. The guy is face down, so he turns him around to see who it was. That was not a wise choice! The corpse is missing large parts of its midsection and the guts are spilled all over the ground. The face is unrecognizable with the nose and cheeks missing.

He takes shallow breaths and steps back from the body. The clothes are so muddy and bloodied, he can’t say who he saw wearing that. He can hear Magnus swearing and some of it is innovative. Well, at least he never heard it before.

“Em? Bollocks? Were you stationed in England at some point?” Sebastian asks.

“No. I had a few friends from there at some point.” Magnus answers.

“Alright. I won’t even go into the rest.” Sebastian nods. “One thing I’m sure of, this was not done by a crocodile. They don’t go for your face and guts. The legs and missing arm? That’s probably a hungry croc that came along.”

“What do you think caused it? There are no large predators on the island. Or did they let a bear loose and forgot to tell us?” Magnus inquires.

“There are no tracks to indicate a bear. I see human footprints, but those could as well be his and ours.” Sebastian shakes his head.

Damn it. That’s casualty number four. That they know of. Is someone killing off the competition? The first one was an accident, they saw it happen. He can say that the second one was a misfortunate thing, finding a trap instead of the mushrooms. How that third guy died in the swamp will stay a mystery. The crocs didn’t hoist him up by the vines, but someone did. Was it a trap or murder? They are careful to avoid the others, but they will run out of the island at some point. Maybe this is part of the experiment? Did they put a killer on the island to see who can avoid him? It doesn’t sound fair in any way. The island is a challenge in itself. They don’t need a killer on the loose.

“You thought of something. I don’t like that look on your face.” Magnus looks at him sideways. “Let's get out of the open.”

“There are no animal tracks, except that straight line of a crocodile back to the water.” Sebastian explains. “I think we have a killer on the island.”

“A Bowie knife could do that much damage in the hands of a skilled user.” Magnus agrees. “But we were close. We would have heard the screams. A human doesn’t die that fast.”

“The throat wasn’t cut. Maybe he was knocked unconscious first?” Sebastian speculates.

“Could be.” Magnus replies. “So we have traps, swamps, crocodiles and a crazy killer on the loose. A Sunday stroll in the park.”

“I like your attitude.” Sebastian chuckles and keeps on walking. He estimates another two hours to the waterfall, barring any surprises he didn’t sign for. He listens to the birds chirping somewhere in the distance and he hopes that is close to the running water. He’s sick and tired of this swamp land. He’s starting to regret coming here. No money can justify this many dead people. And something tells him, it’s not over yet.