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As she said the words aloud, beeping from the cockpit sounded and he could hear the pilots arguing amongst themselves.
He buckled her in and then himself, glancing out to see the ocean below. They seemed far too close to the ground, but Carter assured himself that he'd made many, many trips in a private jet and had never had any problems.
Instinctively, he knew this time was different. This plane was going down; he could feel it in his bones.
The world blinked out and only flashes filtered through his consciousness.
The flight attendant sitting down and buckling up with shaking hands.
The pilots continuing to argue amongst themselves.
Kaitlyn clinging to his arm.
His own fear and anger that he'd put her in danger, even unknowingly.
When Carter came to again, his first thought was Kaitlyn. Staring at the twisted wreckage of the plane laid out before him, he glanced to his side. Kaitlyn wasn’t in her seat and his section of seats sat with the sides and top of the plane ripped away. Sand and rubble mangled together as the remains of trees showed him where they’d hit the ground.
“Kaitlyn?” Carter called her name as he unbuckled and dropped to the ground four feet below. The sand deadened his impact, and he looked around, searching for her before catching sight of footprints leading off into the bushes. He wondered why she wouldn't have stayed, but knew that the fear and impact of trauma might have caused her to be unable to think clearly and act rashly. Worse, she might be injured and wandering in confusion.
Carter followed the tracks, walking through a literal paradise and the worst moment of his life. He wasn't sure if he'd find her alive, injured, hurt, dead... He had no idea what shape she’d be in.
As the fog in his brain began to lift, he noticed small details. There didn't seem to be any blood in the sand around her footprints. She didn't seem to be walking heavier on either side. He didn't notice any indication of injuries, not that he felt any more at ease knowing those things. Until he saw her and knew for sure that she wasn't hurt, his internal fear continued to mount, along with the realization of what had happened and what might still come.
They’d been in a plane crash.
He had no idea where they were or if there were any people on this island they'd crashed on.
He wasn't sure if Kaitlyn was alive, injured or even dead.
But the first thing he planned on doing was finding her. Everything else could come after that. They could make a plan, figure things out and survive whatever came at them as long as he had her by his side.
He followed the footprints pushing through thick plants, past palm trees, feeling the warmth of the sun beating down and the softness of sand and soil under his feet. The acrid scent of smoke and destruction still clung in his nose, but the salty ocean seemed to be clearing his head as the minutes trickled by.
He continued to follow her footsteps, though he could see they were more erratic, as if she'd been running.
He couldn't help but wonder what she had been running from... or toward. Had he scanned the surroundings? He couldn't see anything other than trees, more sand plants and eventually the ocean shimmering through the vegetation.
So much for a nice vacation.
Chapter17
Kaitlyn
She satby the edge of the water, staring out over the ocean and wondering how her life had come to this.
Kaitlyn had learned to listen to her gut. Here, she hadn’t, and now she was a plane crash survivor on a tropical island with no escape. She’d seen enough TV shows and movies to know how this would end - badly.
Kaitlyn's heart ached as she heard Carter come up behind her. She'd been so sure he was dead she'd run from him, from the plane, from the wreckage of her life.
How horrible of a person was she?
Because she felt awful, even though she was relieved he’d made it after all. But for how long? The waves on the white sands calmed her soul, even as despair continued to drip in.
She turned around and saw the relief in Carter’s face at seeing her alive. "Kaitlyn, are you okay? You scared the shit out of me," he said, rushing to her side and dropping to his knees in the sand beside her.
Kaitlyn shook her head. "No, I'm not okay. We're trapped on an island and we're going to die." In an attempt to make herself feel better, Kaitlyn reached down and ran her hands over the warm sand beneath her feet. It wasn't real--none of this seemed real. How had they survived a plane crash?
"We're not going to die." His serious and optimistic tone left her hopeful, but she refused to let that feeling consume her. After all, he'd been so sure they would make it to their destination when they'd taken off hours ago - but now they'd crash landed on a deserted tropical island in the middle of nowhere.
