Survival by Gordon Korman

Author:Gordon Korman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2013-06-04T21:00:00+00:00

Luke shone the beam of the flashlight at the survival pack.

Just that simple act seemed like a miracle. Only yesterday, the setting of the sun had signified the end of all activity on the island. Darkness was final, total. Now they had artificial light, courtesy of the inflatable raft.

While J.J. and Ian had searched for Will, Luke and the girls had moved the covered lifeboat from the small cove where it was beached to a spot just inside the trees at the castaways’ camp. It wasn’t easy to maneuver such a bulky object through heavy jungle — it had to be rolled, carried, squeezed, and sometimes tossed. But it was all worth it when Luke took the cover off the survival pack.

“We’re rich,” he breathed.

No, this was much better than money.

Conveniences.

Small aluminum pots, pans, plates. Plastic cups and cutlery. Compass. Knife. Lighter and waterproof matches. First aid kit. Fishing line and hooks …

There it was. Macaroni and cheese. A hole opened up in his stomach. Fruit could keep them from starving, but this was real food. Big too. The label read: SERVES TEN.

He had an insane desire to bite into the package — straight through the shrink-wrap. Ha! The others would kill him, and they’d be right. He set it back in the survival kit. This was their last meal, their safety net. They had to preserve it for when they were really desperate.

He hefted the raft’s water keg. It was almost empty, but it would still come in handy. In the coconut shells, the rainwater was always mostly evaporated by the time they got around to drinking it. Now they had a reservoir they could close. That was a big help.

To keep us alive so we can die here, he thought suddenly. Or be murdered.

That was an ongoing battle — Luke’s brain versus his morale. He got through the days by setting realistic goals for himself: Find food. Find water. Keep looking for Will.

Two shipmates you’d written off as dead showed up today, he reminded himself. If that won’t keep your spirits up, nothing will.

He sighed. These days, survival included winning these arguments with himself.

With the keg under his arm, he ducked out of the raft’s sun canopy that loosely covered the lifeboat like a tent. The other four sat around the fire. The dancing light of the flames played across their faces. It felt unreal, like a movie scene. Luke guessed that he had interrupted a conversation.

He picked up a coconut shell, careful not to spill a drop. “From now on, let’s use this keg to store our water.”

“Good idea,” said Lyssa. “Hey, Luke, what do you think happened to Radford?”

Luke clenched the shell harder. Out of six crew members who hadn’t been too fond of the Phoenix’s mate, Luke had the strongest feelings. “Personally, I don’t think about him at all,” he replied sourly. “But now that you mention it, I hope the biggest shark in the ocean swam up and bit his ugly head off.”

Radford had proved to be much more than just a seagoing bully.

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