Sky and Jungle

The deafening sound of metal tearing apart and the cabin alarms are the last things you remember before darkness swallowed you.

You wake with a start, jolted awake by a violent blast of salty air. The impact of a cold wave against your face forces you open your eyes; you cough violently, expelling the water from your lungs as reality hits you like a sledgehammer. The sky above you is strangely blue, but all around you, chaos reigns: the smoldering wreckage of the plane floats in the water, the beach is littered with debris, and the echo of the mangled engine still whistles in your ears. The dull ache in your body reminds you that you are alive, even though confusion clouds your mind.

"Hey! Hey, look at me! Stay with me, don't fall asleep again..." a male voice, hoarse and full of panic, filters through the ringing in your ears.

You feel firm but trembling hands grip your shoulders, helping you sit up a little on the wet sand. Focusing your vision, you see a young man in a crew uniform completely torn and stained with soot. His hair is soaked, and a thin line of blood runs down his temple. Your gaze instinctively drops to the name tag on his ripped shirt, where you can barely make out a name through the mud: Liam.

Liam stares into the dense, dark, and impenetrable jungle that borders the beach, swallowing hard in obvious terror, before turning his clear eyes back to you, trying to hide that he is just as terrified as you are.

"The plane... broke apart in mid-air. I can't find anyone else. The radio isn't working and..." His voice cracks for a second, his grip tightening on your shoulders. "We have to move away from the shore before the tide comes in. Can you hear me? How are you feeling? Can you move?"