All around us were trees, but they were no longer as menacing as they seemed. The forest looked substantially different from what it had looked like when we had first left Nicholas and the rest of the people who had chosen to stay with him. Although not every single tree bore fruit like an orchard or a plantation, it looked like there were a good number of trees that did indeed bear fruit.Why didn’t Nicholas set up camp here? I found myself wondering as the girls and I wandered further into what seemed like the Garden of Eden. Could it be that there’s treasure or something else nearby that he didn’t want us to find? Could it be that he didn’t want us to think that surviving on the island was easy so that we would have to depend on him?What if this is all an illusion or something? What if there’s actually something very dangerous about this place? After all, Adam and Eve lived a blessed existence in the Garden of Eden until the snake came aro

“Forrest!” Yvonne screamed, alerting Euphie and Elsa. She slammed her rock down on the vine, but it had little effect. This particular vine was tougher than all the others, especially those that were thinner than it. Instead of yielding beneath our blades or being squashed to death by the objects Yvonne and Elsa wielded, it only stopped for a moment before forging forward again. Our blows did indeed dent it, but it looked like our usual methods were not going to be enough to stop it from coiling itself around me.“Grab some of the firewood from the fire!” I shrieked, my voice going so high-pitched that it sounded like I had been kicked in the balls. I was facing imminent death, after all. There was no guarantee that we would get out of this alive. For the second time, I was staring death right in the face. The first time had been when the Komodo dragon had knocked me backward and had been about to maul me. This time, it was worse than before. Not only wa

We spent the rest of the night trying to stay awake, failing, lapsing into an uneasy sleep, then jerking awake again. After the horrible scare we had had with the vines, none of us felt good about going to sleep. Although we had agreed that we would take turns to stay awake and keep watch, the other three who were meant to be asleep had a hard time dropping off, too.Eventually, day broke. I had stayed awake for most of the night, sitting up and staring into the darkness that stretched on and on before me, cursing how interminable the night had seemed. When I woke up from the last nap I had managed to get, the rest of the girls were already up. Elsa and Yvonne had already gone foraging for fruit, and they had managed to pluck a large bunch of bananas and a few coconuts.Unlike the banana-like fruit that we had found earlier in different parts of the island, which were banana-shaped but larger and more tubular, these really did look just like the ones you could buy in super

Elsa had a dazed, vacant expression on her face. It was as though I had fucked the brains out of her, although part of the credit for that had to go to Yvonne, too. Her behaviour had really surprised me today. She had been charmingly shy in the beginning, but much like Elsa, she had opened up and had become much more daring. Not just in bed—the two of them no longer looked to me for each and every decision like they had done in those first few days after the plane crash. Perhaps this was what they usually were like. It certainly was the case for Elsa, at least. She was back to being her bossy self. I grinned, remembering how she had demanded that I get to it and fuck her already.Speaking of her bossy self… I looked down to find that she was still kissing Yvonne. That was a surprise, too. Since when had either of them liked girls? Still, that could have been heteronormative thinking at work. Thinking of everyone as straight was the default. I reached down instincti

Why is the monkey being so friendly with Yvonne? I wondered, unsure of whether it was just another trap we had not triggered yet. Wild animals usually don't behave this way. Every single thing we've seen on this island has behaved just like wild animals do—they ran or hid from us, or attacked us if they were bigger. This particular monkey behaves as though it were her pet!"It's really cute," Euphie commented, coming up to Yvonne. The monkey perched on her shoulder, turning its little face to gaze warily at Euphie, although it did not move. Euphie reached out tentatively, telegraphing her movements clearly. She brought her hand up to the monkey, letting it sniff her fingers for a moment before it dipped its head, allowing her to scratch the crown of its head gently. Only Elsa and I held back, cautious about the way the creature had appeared out of nowhere and adopted us. Or had we adopted it? Who knows."Are you my new friend? You can be my new friend," Yvonne cooed,