Episode 2 (Serena Season 1)

The first thing I can make sense of is a bunch of different voices.

When my eyes finally flutter open,

I realize I'm on the ground with everyone leaning over me.

(My head feels like it's full of marbles.)

Clyde: "You alright there, sheila?"

MC: "What happened?"

Serena: "Considering your condition, I'd wager dehydration and shock."

Serena: "That fall must have taken a harder toll on you than it looked."

Logan: "Not to mention we've been hiking through jungle all day."

MC: "And I passed out?"

Serena: "Yes."

I try to get up, uncomfortable with so many people looming overhead,

but as soon as I push up from my feet, a dizzy spell brings me back down,

and Serena's hand finds a tight grip on my shoulder.

Serena: "Sit down."

Serena: "Don't exert yourself."

(Yes, ma'am.)

(Jeez.)

TK: "Better listen to the doc, 

TK: "You look rough."

MC: "Thanks, TK."

TK: "I just don't want to get stuck carting you around the temple."

(So much for a vote of confidence.)

Serena: "Don't be concerned about that, TK."

Serena: "If she needed to be carried, I'd ask someone with the proper experience to do it."

TK: "Like who, Clyde?"

Serena: "He would be at the top of the list."

Serena: "I'm sure you can guess who's at the bottom."

TK huffs under his breath and I catch Logan hiding a snicker,

but Clyde's brow is furrowed in concern.

Arthur looks pensive but his eyes are off in the distance, not focused on me at all.

Logan: "So what's next, then? We need some kind of plan."

Clyde: "It's not raining cats and dogs anymore, but we're still shy on food, water, and shelter."

TK: "The temple's out."

TK: "I'm not falling asleep on a floor full of holes."

Arthur: "Its stability is certainly in question."

Arthur: "Fascinating that there were people here once, though."

(He's right.)

(Someone had to build all that.)

(But clearly no one's been around for repairs in a long, long time.)

Serena: "I wouldn't hold your breath on finding somewhere to sleep comfortably."

Serena: "But three days without water will kill anyone."

MC: "Seriously?"

Serena: "Technically, you could last up to a week, but by that point you wouldn't want to."

(...I shouldn't have encouraged her to elaborate.)

Logan: "I don't have what I'd need here to get the salt out of seawater."

Logan: "So we need some kind of fresh source."

TK: "What about food? We can't be totally out of options here."

(We're all going to die here.)

(In the middle of the jungle on an island no one knows about, surrounded by saltwater.)

Logan: "Well, when I was looking for the vine, I found a huge tomato patch."

Logan: "For a second I thought my eyes were tricking me."

Logan: "But they looked nice and red."

Logan: "Might be good enough to eat."

(Why didn't he say that earlier!?)

TK: "You didn't bring any back?"

Logan: "That vine weighed a ton."

Logan: "I was kind of in a rush."

TK: "Tomatoes, though."

TK: "Not what I'd expect to see in a place like this."

MC: "Does it matter?"

TK: "...No."

Arthur: "It's certainly better than nothing."

Clyde: "Beggars can't be choosers, lad."

Clyde: "Who wants to come with Logan and I to collect from the patch?"

I start to raise my hand, only for it to be tugged back down.

Serena raises an eyebrow, radiating disapproval.

Serena: "What did I just say about exertion?"

MC: "But I'm starving."

Serena: "They'll bring plenty back."

Clyde: "Serena?"

Serena: "I'll pass."

Serena: "Gotta make sure this one doesn't pass out again."

She nods in my direction.

(Once was enough for one day, thank you.)

Clyde: "Probably for the best."

Clyde: "Come on, boys."

Clyde: "We're going to pick all we can carry."

They all fall in line behind Clyde--

--with TK trailing in the back,

leaving Serena and I alone when the men disappear past the line of trees.

I feel well enough to sit up, but this is still nothing short of miserable.

MC: "Thanks for taking care of me, Serena."

MC: "It seems like everywhere I turn, I'm knocking into something."

Serena: "Just doing my job."

(Then I'm glad she's here.)

Serena and I fall into a somewhat awkward silence,

but I'm not really sure what to talk about.

(I don't know anything about her except for the doctor part.)

(She's pretty and looks older than me.)

(And she and Clyde seem to get along, I guess.)

A. Break the ice.

B. She's too intimidating!

---

B. She's too intimidating!

I'm afraid of being the first to talk, and end up avoiding eye contact just to make sure I don't get caught staring at her.

---

Serena: "Let me see your wound."

Serena: "This island is probably teeming with infecious agents."

MC: "Nature was a lot more appealing before I started finding out all the ways it could kill me."

Serena: "Never go to medical school, then."

Serena: "You'll find out that everything can kill you."

If I hadn't been looking Serena right in the eye,

I would have missed the twinkle of amusement there,

a subtle tug on the edge of her mouth.

(Wait, she's joking.)

(That was a joke.)

A giggle escapes me, a little louder than I meant it to be.

After everything that's happened today, I really needed to laugh at something.

MC: "That's inspiring."

Serena: "I thought so."

Serena: "Now stretch your leg out."

She hikes up my skirt again without hesitation and warmth rushes up the back of my neck.

There's nothing unprofessional about Serena's touch,

but it's not every day a beautiful woman gets a full view of my legs.

Serena: "Hmm."

MC: "That doesn't sound like a good 'hmm.'"

Serena: "There's a lot of irritaiton and some swelling."

Serena: "Without disinfectant and a proper bandage, that's inevitable."

MC: "Is there anything I can do?"

Serena: "That depends."

Serena: "Can you stand up?"

MC: "I can try."

A twingle of pain goes through my leg as I carefully get to my feet,

but the wave of dizziness that knocked me down earlier seems to be giving me a break.

Serena: "Good."

Serena: "Then we're going back to the beach."

Serena: "Saltwater might be useless to drink, but it's not terrible for disinfecting wounds."

The walk back to the beach isn't quite as bad as I remember on the way in,

but I have to walk a little slower, and by the time Serena and I reach the water,

the sun is falling below the horizon.

MC: "Should I soak the bandage in it or--"

Serena: "Take off your skirt."

MC: "Wait, what?"

Serena: "It's one of the only things you have covering you right now."

Serena: "Do you want to get drenched and sleep in wet clothes?"

A. It won't take that long to dry.

B. I'm going to freeze in the water.

C. Should have brought my bikini.

---

C. Should have brought my bikini.

MC: "Clearly I should have worn a bikini under my clothes."

MC: "That's the hip thing to do on a cruise, right?"

Serena: "I wouldn't know."

---

Serena: "Honestly, ."

Serena: "It's nothing I haven't seen before."

(I guess that's true.)

That doesn't stop me from fumbling a bit as I pull my skirt down,

gathering it up in my hands so it doesn't get covered in sand.

Serena's eyes avert for a moment,

but when they meet mine again, I can feel my face go red.

Serena: "Just walk into the water until your injury is completely submerged."

Serena: "It's not a sterile wash by any means, but it's what we have."

I manage a nod, biting my tongue as I wade slowly into the water.

It's not as cold as I feared,

but I wonder if the prickle in the back of my neck is from Serena looking at me.

(Do I want her to be looking at me?)

(I'm not exactly cutting a covergirl figure with my leg all cut up, but--)

(...Serena's just doing her job.)

(She probably thinks if she looks away for five seconds, I'll drown.)

With that embarrassing thought in mind, I keep my skirt huddled against my chest,

waiting for the water to do its work.

(I should focus more on how we're going to get off this island than whether or not she thinks I'm cute.)

Serena and I manage to find our way back to the ruins before darkness falls across the jungle,

but it's not until a little while later that all the guys come back.

My eyes go wide at the sight of dozens of tomatoes,

and Clyde has a hefty stack of loose branches tucked under one arm.

(I'm so hungry!)

MC: "Those look delicious."

TK: "Yeah, they're not bad."

TK: "Want one?"

MC: "Yes, please."

TK holds one out and I immediately reach for it,

only for him to snatch the tomato away a second before my fingers brush over it.

His smirk is infuriating, and if his arms weren't full, I'd step on his foot.

MC: "Don't be a jerk."

MC: "I haven't eaten all day."

TK: "Alright, alright."

TK: "Don't gnaw my fingers off."

I bite into the tomato just like an apple, not caring that the juice spills all over my fingers.

I've never had anything taste so good in my whole life.

Clyde: "Logan, you want to help me get this fire together?"

Logan: "I'll stack the wood if you get the sparks going."

MC: "Oh, I can help with that."

MC: "I used to make campfires back in--"

Serena: ", eat."

MC: "I... okay."

(I am super hungry.)

The little patch of tinder Clyde gets ablaze slowly builds up into a proper fire,

and all of us settle around it in a circle.

Arthur is on its farthest slope, staring off into the distance and smiling to himself.

(I wonder what he's so happy about.)

TK: "Now that we've got food and a fire, can we talk about how we're getting out of here?"

TK: "The ship washed up, right? Can't we fix it?"

Clyde: "I don't see much chance of that, lad."

Clyde: "She was completely run aground."

Clyde: "But that doesn't mean there's not supplies to be recovered."

Serena: "Including a first aid kit."

Serena: "We've already had enough injuries for one day."

I pause in eating the last of the tomato, embarrassed when everyone looks my way.

(It's not like I meant to get hurt!)

Clyde: "Be nice to her, Serena."

Clyde: "'s had the hardest run of it so far."

Serena: "I am being nice."

Serena: "You should know well enough when I'm mean."

MC: "Wait, how do you two know each other, exactly?"

Clyde: "We met at a bar in Melbourne."

Clyde: "Serena was on holiday."

Serena: "Is it a holiday if I had already quit my job?"

Clyde: "Course it is."

Clyde: "You picked up roots and went to a new place to have fun."

Clyde: "The two of us ended up talking over a couple cold ones."

Serena: "She told me about her girlfriend--"

Serena: "Ex-girlfriend."

Clyde: "Ex-girlfriend."

Clyde: "And then I told her about my ex-wife, so we had plenty to drink about."

(Oh.)

(So she's--)

(Nice to know I'm not alone there.)

Clyde: "Arthur had made me the offer to be captain by then,"

Clyde: "so I asked if she wanted to come along and be the ship's doctor."

Clyde: "Every boat needs a medic, in my book."

Serena: "And look where it got us."

Clyde: "I did promise you adventure, didn't I?"

Serena: "...Fair point."

Logan: "So we're not all strangers to each other."

Logan: "You and TK must be close, right, ?"

MC: "Are you kidding me?"

Logan: "You do work with the guy."

TK: "I'm from the Australian branch."

TK: "If the company actually had a good photographer in her office,"

TK: "we wouldn't have gotten stuck together."

MC: "Didn't you volunteer for this?"

TK: "I dind't volunteer to get stuck with you."

I resist the urge to stick my tongue out at him,

picking up another tomato and biting into that instead.

Arthur: "Better that we get to know each other now and bond, I think."

Serena: "Ah yes, bonding."

Serena: "That's exactly what I took this secluded job for."

(I wonder who she was trying to get away from.)

(Or where, I guess.)

She's quiet for the rest of the evening,

but everyone else is happy to chat back and forth to fill the silence.

As the fire starts dying down, exhaustion washes over me,

and Arthur brings out little circle to a close by promising things will be better in the morning.

(I hope so.)

Clyde: "Just pick anywhere to sleep for now."

Clyde: "We can try and hunt down somewhere a bit more habitable tomorrow."

TK: "But there's so many choices here already."

TK: "My pillow options are rocks AND dirt."

Logan: "If you're real brave, you could try the moss."

TK grimaces and I do the same, trying to find the flattest part of the ground I can to curl up on.

It might not make a ton of difference, but at least I'm not sticking my head on a stone.

When I turn to lay on my other side,

I'm surprised to see Serena right next to me,

looking somewhat annoyed but stretched out to sleep.

A. Tired?

B. Do you need more space?

<p style="text-align:center;">C. I feel a lot better.

<p style="text-align:center;">---

C. I feel a lot better.

MC: "I feel a lot better after eating."

Serena: "Good."

Serena: "You'll need the energy to recover."

<p style="text-align:center;">---

Serena: "Now go to sleep."

Serena: "Wake me if you experience any other symptoms."

(Oh. Well, that's nice of her.)

(For being so cold, Serena hasn't hesitated once to help me when I'm hurt.)

Serena: "...and for my sake, please don't snore."

MC: "...I'll try not to."