While others seek survival, I engage in flirtation Chapter 43: The Corpse

Aimee was sitting on the ground by the fence, looking pale as she pointed ahead.

I knew something was up, so I jumped down from the cave and rushed over to her.

There was a corpse lying in the direction she was pointing.

By the time I got to her, she was too freaked out to talk. When she saw me, she instinctively clung to me.

"A body," she said, her voice shaking, her hands gripping my back tightly.

"Don't worry, I'm here," I said, holding her and looking at the body.

I gotta admit, the first time I saw a dead body, my stomach did a flip.

But with the girls around, I had to keep it together.

The other girls weren't as tough; as soon as they saw the corpse, they ran off to puke.

All the fish we ate earlier ended up on the ground.

After a bit, the corpse didn't seem as gross, and I got brave enough to get closer.

I took a few steps and realized something shocking—it was someone we knew!

"Landon? No way!" I used a short knife to flip his shoulder, and there was his familiar face.

His eyes were bulging, bloodshot, and his expression was twisted. Looked like he went through something terrifying before he died.

His body was swollen, with spots all over it. From what I remembered from books, he'd been dead for about a day.

Seeing his face, the girls started puking again.

I was really glad I had thought to preserve the fish by salting them; otherwise, they would've gone bad.

After seeing the corpse, we probably wouldn't want to eat meat for a few days.

Even though we were all scared, someone had to get him off the fence and bury him.

After calming Aimee down, I got up and moved Landon's body away from the camp. The smell was awful.

Holding my breath, I laid Landon's body on the ground and used a short knife to dig a shallow pit, just enough to bury him.

While digging, I had a feeling there might be more bodies in the forest. So after comforting Aimee, I sent the other girls back to camp and walked a bit into the woods myself.

Sure enough, my gut was right. About 1000 feet from camp, I found another body.

He was one of the guys who had been with Matt, which made me think Matt might be dead too.

Honestly, before this, I thought his death wouldn't bother me at all, maybe even be a good thing for me.

But now I hoped Matt had survived, so I could find out what really happened.

Even though I knew people might die on this island, seeing the body still hit me hard.

I found a flat spot nearby, dug a pit just big enough to bury the body and laid him to rest.

Burying these two bodies took quite a bit of time.

By now, it was pitch dark, and staying outside any longer was risky.

Especially in a place where we just found dead bodies.

Thank goodness for the flashlight we salvaged from the shipwreck. It charges slowly with solar power, but it was just enough to get by.

I held the flashlight and headed back to camp, where the girls were huddled together on a blanket.

"What's going on out there?"

"Are you okay?"

"Did you run into any trouble?"

As soon as they saw me, the girls bombarded me with questions.

I knew they were worried, and I didn't plan to hide anything. I told them about finding another corpse not far from camp.

They huddled even closer together.

"So, you're okay? You didn't run into any danger?" Margaret always worried the most, but the other girls looked just as concerned.

"I'm fine," I said, shaking my head and showing them my hands.

I was telling the truth; I rarely got hurt.

Even if I accidentally cut my hand on a stone while digging the grave, it healed quickly.

So when I got back, I was just a bit dirty but not injured.

"What about Matt? Did you find him?" Nora was always the sharp one, thinking the same as I did.

"No, I looked around the camp and near the body but didn't find any trace of him," I explained to Nora.

We both came to the same conclusion: Matt was still alive.

But no one knew where he had gone.

That night, none of us slept well. The girls were scared because of the corpses, and I was more worried about what might be behind Matt's disappearance.

The next morning, I planned to check the cave again. But before I even left, I ran into a familiar face.

"Dennis? What are you doing here?" I was surprised to see him at our camp.

I hadn't told anyone where our camp was, so I didn't expect him to find it on his own.

Guess professional skills come in handy.

"I know you didn't set that fire, and I trust you," he said, getting straight to the point. "I think you guys are reliable teammates... even though some people in my camp don't like you."

I shrugged, showing I didn't care. But I was curious why he came here. Abbott's camp had everything they needed.

"I told you, I just think you guys are good teammates, and I might need your help someday." His honesty was refreshing on this deserted island.

He added, "Of course, maybe you'll need my help too!"

I liked his straightforwardness. We briefly talked about the situation in both camps, and I asked him about the cave.

But he was in too much of a hurry to check out the cave thoroughly.

Finally, we agreed that whoever found a way off the island first would let the other know.

"We're already working on building a raft. If we succeed, I'll bring you the blueprints," Dennis said. He was laid-back but reliable when it mattered.

After Dennis left, I said to the girls, "We need to check out that cave again." The twisted, grotesque faces of the two corpses flashed in my mind.