While others seek survival, I engage in flirtation Chapter 13: The Women at the Camp

"I can leave right now," I said, still holding my hands up in a peace gesture, trying to calm them down. "I just need a bit of antiseptic and some gauze for wounds."

As soon as I said that, the guy in charge grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"You're not hurt, so why do you need wound medicine?" He got even more suspicious when he saw I wasn't injured.

"My friend is really hurt, she needs this stuff," I explained. "I'll be out of here as soon as I get the medicine."

The guy was about to say something when a middle-aged woman next to him stopped him.

"Did you get here two days ago too?" She frowned at me. "Why are you dressed like that?"

"Yeah, I got knocked out by the waves two days ago, and when I woke up, I was on the island." I gave them a quick rundown of what happened to me.

The woman thought for a moment, then went over to the medical kit and pulled out some wound medicine.

"We can't just ignore you," she said, patting my shoulder and sighing. "But we don't have any extra supplies to give you."

I nodded, showing my thanks as I took the medicine and gauze.

As I left their camp, one question kept bugging me. If they wanted to be found, why were they so hostile and quick to drive me away?

Did something happen in their camp?

I couldn't figure it out, so I decided to stop thinking about it. At least I got the medicine and some gauze.

I had picked up some tin cans earlier, which could be used to boil seawater. That way, we'd have some salt for a while.

I thought for a moment, then headed back to our camp while there was still daylight.

The girls at the camp were waiting for me. They had made some bowl-shaped things out of dry grass in the cave. They were crude, but they could be used to catch birds and hares.

"I found the medicine!" I couldn't hide my excitement when I saw Margaret and immediately took out the medicine and gauze.

"Where did you find them? Are there really other survivors?" Aimee looked thrilled too. She grabbed the medicine and gauze from me to tend to Margaret's wounds, but she wasn't very good at it and struggled for a few minutes without unwrapping the gauze.

I took the gauze from her and sat down by Margaret's foot to help with the wound.

Even though I had treated her wounds with herbs, her recovery was slow. Since we didn't have any sterilization facilities, I boiled some fresh water, let it cool, then cleaned her wounds thoroughly, applied the medicine, and dressed them.

It must have hurt when I applied the medicine because she flinched a bit.

"This should be good now," I said, gently wiping her ankle several times with cool water, finally stopping the persistent bleeding.

But she still shouldn't stand up and walk around. The other two girls and I took on the rest of the work.

Aimee knew a lot about food and would gather some mushrooms from the surrounding area every day. Our supplies were gradually increasing, and the cave was starting to feel a bit crowded.

We had most of the supplies we needed, and it was time to expand the camp.

Originally, I thought we'd stay in this cave for a few days, expecting a rescue team to show up. But as days passed, not only did the rescue team not appear, but even the other survivors were unwilling to help us out.

At that point, we had no choice but to rely entirely on ourselves; there was no one else we could count on. Plus, given the situation, we had to prepare for the possibility of living here for a long time.

"We might need to get ready for the long haul," I told the girls as night fell.

"Still no news of a rescue?" Ivy immediately caught on and frowned at me.

I gave them a rundown of what happened today, and the mood in the cave got a bit gloomy.

"So, it wasn't just us. Other ships have gone missing too, but there's still no sign of a rescue ship, right?" Margaret broke the silence.

She was right, and I couldn't argue with her. I just nodded, and Aimee and Ivy's faces got even more serious.

But Margaret didn't seem too bothered. For some reason, she seemed a bit happy to hear this news.

"I've already scouted the area. We need to find a place to expand our living space quickly," I said, looking at the neatly arranged supplies separated by dry grass in the cave.

If the new spot was far from here, how would we move all these supplies?

"I went up that mountain again today and noted down the approximate locations." Ivy seemed to have accepted the situation, sighing heavily, "I didn't expect we'd need it so soon."

We roughly figured out the location and surroundings, and it seemed the best place to build a long-term residence was still here.

The location was good, not too far from the stream or the beach. The area outside the cave was big enough to accommodate a few people.

Most importantly, we wouldn't have to move all the supplies we had already gathered.

We got to work right away. I drew a few circles on the ground outside the cave, planning out several areas. We needed a place to dry seawater and food to make food reserves and salt, and we also needed a smooth stone slab for food prep.

Besides these, I left a large area for raising animals.

This island seemed to have a complete food chain. We had seen wolves and bears, as well as hares and wild birds. So, it was likely there were herbivorous animals like cattle, sheep, or deer.

If we could raise a few, we might ensure a meat supply and even have dairy products. On such a deserted island, dairy products like milk and cheese would be very nutritious.

Besides that... we needed a way to deal with the aggressive wild animals.

The area had a good view and was relatively high, so a simple fence wouldn't work.

I planned to place a circle of wooden stakes around the camp and wrap thorny vines around the outside.

This way, the stakes wouldn't be easily knocked down, and the thorns would injure any wild animals trying to attack the camp.

But for now, this plan couldn't be realized because we didn't have any tools to cut down trees.

I shared my idea with the girls, and they all agreed, even suggesting some improvements.

"But there's one problem," I said helplessly. "We don't have an axe or any tools right now."