The waves lapped up at Wills' legs, the salt stinging the grazes, as he moved towards debris spread across the shore. His eyes scanned the mess of the destroyed boat trying to decipher the angle of the vessel, most of which was jutting out of the sand like a chunk of glass, it's sharp edges pointing towards the endless blue ocean. The boat had been loaded with crates of supplies, Will remembered very well from being the one to lug the heavy crates in the heat on the mainland.

He reached out his hands leaning on the wreck to get closer; recoiling as the burn of the metal panels, already heated by the morning sun, stung his palms. 'Medical, medical, medical' he repeated under his breath, distinctly searching for the printed logo he could see so clearly in his memory. Will climbed up carefully into the inside, gripping the sides above him and stepping into water once again now dense with seaweed and littered with the contents of the boat.

A shout came from Collin, pulling his attention back to the shore. Water. His eyes flicked back to the inside of the boat. Pushing harder through the thick seaweed, he plunged his hands into the water to lift up a plastic wrapped container of which the corner peaked above the water, almost camouflaged reflecting its surroundings. However the back of his hand met something a lot softer. Something smooth like skin. Lifting up the container, the seaweed displaced and through the gaps, the form of a hand and shirt sleeve swayed gravely beneath the surface. Will quickly looked away and headed backwards, focussing on ripping at the sides of the container to salvage whatever supplies it held.

------

Underwater, there were no cries, no crashes of thunder and lightning, just the hollow pressure of the pacific ocean water in the ears of Dr. Rider. It was like the waves that pulled and dragged him under were insisting on his defeat, swallowing him like the monster that he knew the island was. The very fact of which he kept quiet for years and denied the dangers when fellow scientists reacted to his interest in the area in the beginning. He believed the storm was a resistance, at the hands of the island, lashing out at their boat - a warning to stay away. This would not deter him. His determination for this mission had never faltered and never would.

The darkness made it hard to distinguish between water and air, but Dr. Rider pushed hard against the brine, gasping as the air hit his face. He had put too much work into this to surrender to the elements.

On land, Dr. Rider had dragged himself to what little shore there was next to the rocks, stopping short of the edge of the dense jungle. The boat, his boat, nowhere to be seen. He remembered the force of the waves ripping him from the deck and pulling him away. He had hardly slept in the recent days, peering endlessly across the vast blue horizon for the island he so desperately needed to claim. As a scientist, he felt so hungry for this island that even the tragedy of the storm failed to diminish his relief and wonderment that he was touching the same sand of the island that guarded his most prized scientific dream, the Golden Splitwing.

Stepping his way through the outskirts of the jungle, he gripped onto his water canister that miraculously still hung securely around his neck along with his binoculars and locket, the three things that he was never seen without. He gulped some water and pulled on his rucksack that hung on for dear life, a half ripped handle sodden with water. He struggled to fathom what had happened. The storm had hit so quick. His equipment! The others on the boat.. he remembered. Moving quicker now, he pushed past vegetation, searching for an opening soon appearing from the light that now dominated the morning sky.

At the edge of the jungle, Dr. Rider stood stunned, looking out at the white beach stretching far across the island. The sight of the wreckage rattled him. However his eyes were firmly locked, squinting in the sun, on Collin, knelt above another in the distance. It was in this moment as Collin looked back that he realised the extent the damage of this accident; his responsibility for his team and the real cost of this trip.