Delirious and sure I’m dying, I bob up and down against the surface as massive waves carry me in an unknown direction. It seems I’ll give my life for this journey. It seems I’ll never live my dream of meeting Meng. It seems that the forbidding waters of Wilds’s shores will claim more souls.

The thought of Meng pops into my mind. I open my eyes to the salty water and look up. I can see perfectly clear as if there were sunlight on the surface. Meng stands above me, impossibly steady on the water. Though I don’t even know what he looks like, I can see him looking down on me, his face washed with disappointment. As I bubble out my breath under the swirling water, I find sudden strength.

I burst onto the surface and suck in all the air my lungs can handle, hearing Iris screaming somewhere even through the roar of the surf. “Swim,” I say to myself. “Swim!” Ignoring the screaming pain of my muscles, I push toward the direction the waves are breaking.

The waters wash over me, cascading me in all directions. I try fighting the current to stay steady and nearly drown in the attempt. A wave crashes on my head and pushes me downward. When I finally resurface, I decide on a different strategy as a wave rears its body behind me. I flatten onto my stomach and start paddling, kicking at the water’s surface as I ride up and into the wave. When it crashes, I feel the force of the ocean pushing me toward the shore as I torpedo through the bubbling water.

Exhaustion nearly overtakes me as I ride wave after wave to the shore. With one last horrifyingly strong wave I crash into the beach, the jagged rocks cutting my shoulder and knocking the wind from my lungs.

On my knees at the rocks, I can’t stop, fearful of the water pulling me off the shore, and inch away from the white waters. With my final bit of strength, I collapse onto the rocky sand and kiss the shore of Wilds, letting darkness overcome my exhausted body.

The warm sun burns into my eyes and wakes me from my sleep. For a moment I think I’m resting in my tent back home, the warm soil and grass like the greatest of pillows. But I’m not on grass and dirt. That warm sensation is not the comfort of home. I straighten up on the rocky beach of Wilds and feel the sting of salt water as the sun singes my fresh sores and cuts.

I groan and nearly lay back down, wanting to sleep more despite the jagged pain of lying in this rocky sand. The sight of splintered timber wallowing in the shallows jerks me out of my weariness and I shoot to my feet.

“Iris?” I say, forgetting the cracking dryness of my throat as I cough out the words. I put my fist to my chest and try my best to clear my lungs of whatever filth blocks my airways. “Iris! William! Bay! Is anyone there?” I wait in silence, blocking the rising sun from my eyes as I scan the beach.

The shallow shores lead almost immediately to a cluster of rocks. I can’t imagine any ship capable of navigating that meat grinder of a harbor, and it’s a miracle I survived it. Spread throughout the narrow beach, going from the shallows to the thick line of trees where the forests begin, drift the pieces of our ship. I take a few steps out into the water, a strong wave washing over my leather-soled shoes as I scan for survivors and call for the other members of my team.

“Burin, Burin is that you?” I hear a muffled voice ask. A dozen or so yards away, lying next to what used to be the door to my ship quarters, I hear the voice and run over, stopping as I stand over the survivor. “Burin!”

“Mally,” I say, giving a shallow smile. “Are you alright?”

“I’m thirsty.” Mally coughs, sliding the door off her so she can sit up. I quickly examine her for any injuries. Aside from torn clothes and a large bruise on her knee, she looks fine. Mally groans as she stands and wipes the chunky sand off her soaked clothing. “Where’s everyone else?”

“You’re the first I’ve found. Was Onis with you?”

Mally wipes sand away from her mouth and shakes her head. “We went into the water right before the ship crashed. I saw a plank splash near him but couldn’t find him in the dark.” She bites her lip, not wanting either of us to say what we both already know.

It was a risk we all knew, and one we’d all agreed to take.

“Come on,” I say. “Let’s see if there’s anyone else.”

There isn’t much beach to search. The rocky, shelly sand goes on maybe a mile or two down the jagged coast. Then the shores of Wilds turn into massive cliffs and eroded rock formations. I see out in the distance what must be the same, pyramid-shaped rock in the water our ship hit. As I plod through the sand, I come across the long plank with golden lettering etched into the wood. It used to be the part of the stern that designated our name.

“Maybe Henderin was an unlucky name to pick,” I suggest as Mally and I stop over the floating plank. An unnatural splashing further out to sea catches our attention and Mally and I turn, spotting a woman helping an injured man to the shore. I recognize them both. “Iris!” Smiling and nearly tripping over the rocks to run to the two, I let out a laugh filled with joy and relief.

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“Burin!” Iris says with a grunt, smiling back at me as she says something I can’t hear to the man I now recognize as Bay. “Can you give me a hand here?”

“What happened to you?”

“I’m assuming the same thing that happened to you. Bay’s leg’s broken.”

Bay tries to look up at me but can only grimace, sucking back pain. “Got all the way to the shallows,” Bay grunts. “Then the current pulled me back, smashed me into a rock.”

“I found him floating out there a few minutes ago, clutching a boulder.”

I help Iris carry Bay, seeing the cuts and blood on Bay’s hands signifying his struggle against the boulder. “Did you see anyone else?” I ask.

Iris points her chin further up the shore. “I found Minnle floating on the rudder. He’s back looking for others. Haley washed onto the beach but…” Iris shakes her head, looking down at the rocks as we reach the edge of the water.

“Onis is gone too.”

“So is William,” Mally says.

“Hold on,” I say as we gently lay Bay on the cragged sand. He doesn’t make a sound, despite the obvious pain. “We don’t know William is gone.”

“He fell in before any of us, Burin. That deep out, he had nothing to hold onto but the rigging.”

I shake my head, not willing to admit any of our group is gone till I see the bodies themselves. “He made it into this group of Mengs, he’s strong enough to swim from that far out.”

“But through those breakers?”

I sigh, not wanting to answer, and look down at Bay. “We’ll get you a splint as soon as we’re done looking for the others.”

Bay nods, clearing his throat as he leans against a small stone.

“Mally, you stay with Bay. Shout if you see anything,” I say, and indicate for Iris to follow me. She does without hesitation. I actually have to push myself to keep up with her as she nearly runs down the twisting beach.

At the far edge of the beach, nearly a half-hour’s walk from Bay and Mally, we see a large cluster of timber. A swirling current must have washed most of the debris this way. “Horal!” Iris shouts when she spots someone lying next to a cluster of rigging and the ship’s steering arm. Iris runs over to Horal and I jog behind, unable to keep up.

Iris stops over Horal and bends to check that he’s breathing. “He’s okay! He’s okay!” Iris shouts as I stop near her. “Horal, are you hurt anywhere?”

Horal blinks and groans, Iris having woken him from the same exhausted sleep I’d experienced not an hour ago. “I can’t see,” Horal complains, blinking and straining his eyes through the sun. He sits up and brings his hands to his eyes, wiping away the sand and salt that had blocked his vision. “Burin? Iris?” Horal collapses back to the sand, sighing with relief. “I thought only I’d made it.”

“What, you think I’d let a few rocks and water take me?” Iris laughs.

Horal and I offer awkward laughs in response.

“Is anyone else with you?” Horal asks.

“Bay and Mally are about a mile up the beach. We found Minnle alive but Haley and Onis must have drowned,” I explain.

“Have you seen William or Dorn?”

“No.”

“Well then…” Horal gets to his feet, pushing Iris and me away so he can make it on his own. “Let’s go find them.”

A short while later we find Dorn, his bloated body caught in a gap between the jagged rocks. It’s too dangerous to retrieve him. Standing at the water’s edge, watching the breakers repeatedly pound his body into the rocks, we all feel impossibly weak.

Heading back to where we left Mally and Bay, we notice that Minnle has rejoined them. He limps a little and clutches his side, complaining from a possibly cracked rib, as we sit and think on what to do.

“So,” I say with a sigh as we all gather, “where do we go from here?”

“What do you mean where do we go?” Iris asks, grabbing a wide-leafed palm from the forest’s edge. She begins stripping it down to use as a bandage for Minnle while Bay fiddles with his newly made splint. “We came here to find Meng. What else are we gonna do, go back?”

“So everyone’s still okay with that?”

“If someone wants to cut me down a stick so I can make a crutch I’d feel a lot better about that plan,” Bay says. “I don’t want you guys to have to carry me everywhere.”

“I’ll get it,” I say, reaching into my buttoned pocket to retrieve my collapsible knife. One side has a serrated edge, the other side thin and sharp enough to clean a fish. Folding out the blade, I approach the forest and look around for a suitable branch to make into a crutch.

Thick ferns line where the beach ends. Lush and fertile green trees become thicker and thicker only a short distance from the rocky sand. The vines and wide leaves of the shoreline trees don’t offer anything suitable for a crutch. A few yards in, surrounded by bushes and what I can only imagine is a massive anthill, stands a tree with angled branches that might work.

I take a few steps into the forest, careful to avoid the ants, and start sawing away at a suitable branch. The crashing of waves and constant winds fade into a muffled whisper past the trees, and I find myself in the eerie quiet of Wilds. With a snap, I pull off the branch.

“Got it,” I say, and hear a rustle of leaves. Quickly turning toward the forest, I see a few brambles shaking. I blink and hold the stick ready, taking light steps back out of the forest and keeping my eye pinned on the spot where I swear I saw movement. Doing my best to stay calm, I hear only the crunch of fallen twigs as I back away out of the forest. When I get to the beach, I quickly walk away from the edge of the trees and make Bay his crutch.

“So,” I say when Bay adjusts his finished crutch and stands, ready to move again, “where are we headed?”

Half the group shrugs.

“I would assume that Meng has his homestead somewhere in the forest,” Iris suggests. “Should we head that way?”

“Maybe we should scout out a path or something,” Horal suggests.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not expecting visitors. I doubt there’s a direction sign or anything.”

“Still, this is a big island. I don’t want to wander all over the forest and never find Meng. You could get lost real easily in that.”

“We have to look somewhere,” I say. Thinking back to my survival training, the years of study and practice I’d put into preparing for this journey, I try and come up with some sort of method for tracking down the reclusive Meng. “We’ll stick to the beach. Meng sailed to and from this island at least once. I’m sure he found a better harbor than we did.”

The group offers a light chuckle.

“Once we find that, we’ll head into the forest,” I conclude.