Read Stranded! for Free Online

She figured he'd speak about what was on his mind when he wanted to share it with her.

When they got back to the old camp some of the metal had been covered by sand. They went about uncovering the buried scraps, and as for the large reflective arrow, they paid special attention to brushing away the sand to keep it pointing the way to their location. There were thousands of islands in the Caribbean and without some help they could be lost forever...

Marshall stopped suddenly. He shielded his eyes and stared out to sea, and then he went running into the water. Oceans turned to see what had caught Marshall's eyes and then even she went running into the water. It was a parachute! It was a colorful blue, white and yellow parachute floating out to sea. After swimming for a few minutes, Marshall reached it first. He spent a moment floating and examining his find before turning back to Oceans.

"Oceans! Don't come any closer...stay back." She stopped, curious as to why he wouldn't let her come closer. But she waited patiently. Finally, he dug out the shank that he'd gotten used to carrying and he began to cut something. It seemed to her that it took a long time for him to cut through the item. Then he began to use a side stroke as he dragged the items to shore. He looked exhausted and she helped him tow the items to shore the last few feet. Once he was free of the water, she noticed that he was carrying a backpack as well as the parachute.

Once on shore, he collapsed and she dragged the beautiful piece of cloth further up on shore, noting that the lines had been cut where it connected to the person that would have been manning the thing. Once she was sure that it wouldn't float away, she hurried back to Marshall who had sat up and was now unzipping a backpack. She knelt beside him eagerly to watch as each item emerged from the depths of the sodden pack.

"Was...that the pilot?"

He glanced at her with haunted eyes. And then he nodded in affirmation. "Sharks and fish had gotten at him..."

"Okay." And she left it at that. He pulled clothing from the pack, running shoes, a carton of sodden cigarettes, a lighter, knife, a little black notebook...and a cell phone. Oceans felt as if she would faint. Marshall looked at her very seriously. Cell phone, cell phone, cell phone...kept running through her mind.

"We'll let this dry completely Oceans. We'll take it apart and let it dry, okay?" There was a desperation to his voice that she knew showed on her own face. All she could do was to nod, feeling her eyes tear at the prospect that...

He placed all of the items back into the pack, pocketing the lighter. Then Oceans gingerly carried the cell phone while Marshall balled the parachute and carried it back to camp. As soon as they got back, he knelt in the hut and began to remove the battery as if he were doing a delicate surgery. Oceans watched with bated breath. After it was done, he looked at her with his hazel eyes seeming so hopeful, but also terrified. Sometimes having hope was worse than not having any.

The two tried to occupy their time, so while Marshall lay Geddes' wet clothing out to dry, they discussed what would be the best use for the parachute. The topic was discussed for most of the afternoon with every possibility considered. In the end, it was decided that they would make hammocks.

In this department, Oceans was more the expert. She drew out the plans for the hammocks in the sand. The parachute lines would be used to support it between two trees. They would just need the trees. They had a quick cold dinner and then the two went about the task of carefully cutting out the pattern of the hammocks. The new knife came in handy for this job. The ends were knotted around the ties so that they wouldn't cut through the thin material. It went relatively fast but the two were anxious to try them out and to sleep off the hard ground (away from the crawling night insects). The only thing is that there weren't trees on the beach. This