“I don’t understand why you can’t just make some nails and hammers and stuff, Carla,” Rachel said. “It would make building the shelter much simpler then. Not to mention safer and, err, dependable.”
“Are you insulting my construction abilities?” Isaac asked with a small smile.
“Well, see when our rescuers come, if our shelter looks too good, then they’ll question how we managed to build it. It’s not like nails grow on trees,” Carla pointed out.
“When our rescuers come? Look, this might come as a complete shock to you, but we need to survive here. That’s the most important thing. Surviving.”
“And we’ll survive just fine in Ike’s fort,” Jo drawled. “We have water, too. The other thing we need is food and we’re set. Don’t panic so, Rach.”
“Panic huh? That’s what you think I’m doing, is it?” she scowled. “Well, at least I’m not going mental like Taylor.”
The girls looked at Taylor/Gordon (Isaac was too busy concentrating to building the fort). Gordon was still trying to communicate with his ship, but to the girls it just looked like Taylor was talking nonsense to himself. Jo frowned a little as she listen to the faint words, her brain ticking away. There was something odd -
“Speaking of food, where are we gonna get some?” Carla asked.
“Can’t you just atomise something up?” Jo asked, surprised.
“I can’t do organic stuff,” she replied. “At least, not yet, if at all. I can do a lot more with this power than I could when I first used it.”
“No matter. Plenty of fish in the sea, and I’m sure there are some edible plants around this place.”
Rachel shook her head and then spotted some berries growing on a nearby bush. She went over to pick a couple to show the others and see if someone knew if they were edible. That someone, Rachel figured ironically, would probably be Jo.
*Rape! Murder! Thief!* screeched a voice in her head.
Rachel jumped.
*Who… who said that?*
*I did, you stupid, ignorant fool! Rape! Rape!*
*I… I… what are you talking about? Who are you?*
*Steal my berries, why don’t you? My beautiful, precious berries,* the voice wailed. *You’re not supposed to be here, you pirate! There’s a law against people being on Dryad Island who don’t have Plant. Begone evil creature!*
*Dryad Island? Plant? You’re… you’re… you’re the berry bush… you’re a mutant!* Rachel gasped, realising her mistake. *Oh man, I’m really sorry. We were on a cruise and ran into a storm, and we ended up here.*
*That’s no excuse! No excuse!*
“Rach?” asked Carla. “Is something wrong?”
Rachel turned to the English girl with wide eyes.
“This is… this is… this is a mutant island. It’s called Dryad Island and only Plant mutants can be here. The… the berry bush just spoke to me.”
They all looked at each other, well, except for Gordon, who couldn’t understand a word they were saying.
“Mutants…” Isaac said. “Man, those people keep popping up all over the place, don’t they?”
“Indeed,” came a new voice.
They all looked over that the source of this new voice. It was a man with a definite tree look about him. His skin had the texture of bark, his hair was straggly and leafy. His legs were stumps, his feet root like, his arms reminded them of branches and his fingers were like twigs.
“Who are you?” asked Isaac.
“Who are you?” the man retorted. “You don’t belong here.”
“Hey, no one’s disputing that! I’m Isaac, this is Carla, Rachel, Jo and Taylor,” he winced a little introducing Taylor. “We think Tay might have hit his head or something - he’s been acting a little weird since the storm hit.”
“Ahh, the insect people have spoken of you. Triggered, not mutants.”
“I thought only mutants with Plant could be here,” Rachel questioned.
“True enough, but the insect people don’t like to obey rules they didn’t create themselves. However, that gives none of you an excuse.”
“We didn’t know until a minute ago.”
“So you say.”
“It’s true,” Jo said, then paused. “Are there any others on the island?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well we were on a cruise ship. Lots of people went overboard, hopefully most of them in life boats. So I’m asking, have any ended up here?”
The tree man considered the question.
“I don’t believe any of them are mutants, or triggered,” Isaac added.
“So they’ll be human? Hmm, this does propose a problem. The reason why on Plant mutants can be here is because so many others eat plants,” he shuddered. “This is our sanctuary.”
“Oh!” Rachel gasped.
The man thought a little longer.
“You must leave. There is a mutant community in that direction. We will deal with any humans here.”
“When the rescuers come, we’ll make sure they come here to pick them up,” Isaac promised, then he glanced at the fort he had begun making. “Umm, sorry.”
The man simply nodded and then left their sight. Isaac and Carla looked at each other.
“I’ll be the boat first,” Isaac said. “You were the boat last.”
“Okay,” she nodded.
So Isaac turned into a boat, his friends and brother stepped inside, and Isaac started paddling in the direction the man had indicated.