Allen spun around at the sound of Taylor's voice. "Oh! Hi!" He said quickly, relieved to see another living person besides Zane. Being trapped on a deserted island with no one but Zane for company was a nightmare come true. "That's us." He said, answering her question. He stared at her, trying to remember her name. He had seen her by the pool on the day he'd tried to get Zane to swim. Another one of his attempts to get Zane to act normal and like all the rest, it had ended in complete failure.

"Taylor Sommers," Zane said, remembering her name first. He gave her a rather charming smile. "Correct me if I'm wrong."  

"No. Your right." She said and pointed to her left. "And this is Maksi-" She looked over. He wasn't there. She peered behind her. "Maksis?" She asked and he came running up, trying to hide the terror on his face. Taylor could see it, but knew the others wouldn't recognize it. "Yeah, I'm Maksis." He said. "Taylor's brother."

--

Taylor looked up at Zane. "Are we the only...?" She broke off, not wanting to say the rest.

Allen gave Maksis a small hello, before looking back up at Zane, silently warning his brother that he was dealing with someone who wasn't used to the way he acted. Allen didn't want to scare away any survivors.

Zane ignored his brother's looks and went ahead and answered in his usual manner.  

"Don't know. Chances are that most of them are dead, but it seems unlikely that only we would survive. If anything the survivors are likely out at sea. However, if they don't was up somewhere their as good as dead." Zane took a breath and continued. "Although I didn't see anyone alive there are a few bodies a little ways down the beach. You might want to check them out in case you can I.D.--oof!"

Allen had heard enough and decided to punch Zane in the ribs to shut him up.

"I'm sure we're not," Allen said quickly, ignoring the look Zane gave him as he rubbed his side.

Taylor put a hand to her lips to cover her smile as she watched Allen punch Zane's ribs. She looked down at the beach and spotted the figures, but could not walk over there in case they were dead. She met Zane's eyes and she found her courage. "Well, we can't just stand around all day. Let's see if we can find food and a place to have shelter." She said and looked at Maksis when he tugged on her sleeve. "What?" She asked him.

--

Maksis looked at Taylor with a look of pure terror. "We can't go in the forest." He said to the whole group. We don't know what's out there." He said and pointed to the canopy of trees. Taylor smiled. "Since when are you a scaredy-cat." She teased him. Maksis shot her a look. "I'm not scared, I'm being rational." He said, clearly irritated.

--

Shadow looked up from his meal as Sasori padded toward him. She dipped her head respectfully and waited for Shadow's permission to speak. Shadow flicked his tail and dipped his head back into the elk, ripping a chunk of meat from the hide.

--

Sasori approached Shadow, exchanged the formal gesture and when he gave the okay, she began her report. "I patrolled along the eastern border." She said and Shadow nodded. "No sign of the enemy, but...I found something rather interesting." She said to him and Shadow looked up. "Humans." She said simply and Shadow leaped to his feet.

--

At the news, Shadow stood and faced Sasori. "We must watch these humans. Make sure the enemies don't get to them first." He said and left the elk. "Come Sasori." He said and she followed him.

Khaos padded up to Sasori and Shadow, "am I the only one who smells humans?" he asked, stretching his wings and swiveling his ears in the direction of the beach.

__

Ame crouched out of sight, watching a human that intrigued her. It was a small blonde female, who walked with a much larger male with the same hair color. her two tail swished back and forth, and her striped glowed, as they always did, but was impossible to tell in the sunlight, only in darkness. If the humans looked her way, they would probably see her glowing blue eyes.

__

((in order for the animal and human to become a pair, teh human has to touch their hand to the animals muzzle ^_^))

Luke and Deomi walked side by side down the beach, "do you think mom and dad are still alive?" Deomi whispered. Her brother shook his head. Silent tears streaked his face and Deomi could feel her eyes growing moist. Luke wiped his cheek and blinked to stop the tears. He tightened his jaw and walked forward, forcing his sister to follow.

"Being rational is the way you die." Zane said. It was the first unintelligent sounding thing he had said all day but it actually was true.

Allen gave him a look and he realized he needed to explain. "If we stayed on the beach we would starve or become dehydrated, unless anyone takes a fancy to dead human flesh. If we go into the forest we could be eaten or increase our chances of surviving. I personally think being eaten is the best of the worst-case-scenarios."

Allen groaned, debating on weather to punch his brother again. Zane's brain must be lacking the filter that most humans call consideration and sensitivity.  

Shadow shook his head. "No. Sasori spotted them down by the beach. Come with us. We must make sure the _____* don't get to them first." He said and Sasori yawned, her black tail swishing in anticipation though. She turned back around and began to lead the way to the beach. When they reached the fringe of the trees, they spotted Ame. Sasori dipped her head respecfully, as did Shadow. He peered out from under the leaves and watched the humans. "Only six." He said and sighed. "The others must have gotten lost for I am sure there were parents with them." He said.

--

Taylor nodded, ignoring the weirdness and superiority in which Zane spoke. "Zane's right." She said and elbowed Maksis. He sighed. "Well, I can't let you guys go in alone." He said and Taylor elbowed him harder. "Okay, I'll come, but if one of us gets eaten, don't blame me. Taylor sighed and looked into the forest. Then she saw two kids her age walking toward them. One, a guy with short blonde hair and emerald green eyes. The girl was almost exactly the same, but with longer hair and sharper features, while the male was more muscular and broad.

((need a name for the mutants. more sophisticated and a new one for the Spirit Animals...unless you wanna call them Spirits.))

Ame silently watched the blonde girl, "I want that one." she said, pointing with one of her tails.

Khaos nodded, "we better hurry then. Humans arent good at hiding for very long." he growled.

Vic and Yuri watched the humans interact with curiosity. Vic, a large cobra with black almost purple scales and weird red markings on his head and chest, was hanging upside-down from a tree branch, swaying slightly. His tongue would flick out every time the human called Zane would speak.

"I want that one," he hissed, amused, He turned to Yuri.

"Alright, then I get his brother," Yuri said. Yuri was a slim average sized cheetah with white fur instead of yellow and his spots were violet and upon looking closer, one would notice that his spots were really ancient looking symbols.

------------

Zane smiled again. Pleased that someone was agreeing with him instead of criticizing him for once.

Allen sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. The last thing he wanted Zane to think was that it was acceptable for him to act like himself. Still, he pushed that idea out of his mind and looked to where Taylor was looking. He sighed in relief. More survivors.

Zane walked over to stand behind Taylor, his arms crossed over his chest. Allen followed him.

"We will," Allen said quickly, before Zane could say anything disturbing. "You guys will be right behind us, right?" He hated to admit it, but he was scared.  

"I'll go." Taylor offered and looked into the forest. The dark canopy of trees seemed more peaceful than menacing. More tropical. She took a step toward the forest and only felt a small wave that was a shiver up her spine as the direction of her life changed forever.

She stepped from the soft sand, onto rough dirt overlapped with growing ferns. She examined the plants and found that most were almost alien-like. She tried not to touch most of them, for she did not know which was poisonous and which ones were not. She flinched every time she accidentally brushed a leaf, but nothing happened.

--

Shadow stepped back into the shadows as the female approached. "She is mine." He decided. Sasori looked up at their leader in surprise. She had not thought he would take one of them. She shook her head. "Then I get her brother." She said.

--

Taylor whipped her head around, the sound of voices filling her senses. "Who's there?" She asked, trying to pinpoint where the noise was coming from, but it was silent. She looked around one last time.

Luke walked through the trees behind Taylow, Dreomi just behind him, "this is actually pretty cool." he said, holdin a leaf of a large fern between his forefingers.

Deomi watched the leaf curiously, it had a blueish hue to it. Luke pulled it back, and Deomi gasped at what she saw. Two large, blue, glowing eyes. They were hidden momntatily by the leaf when Luke let it go. Deomi pulled it again, to find that the eyes were gone, "I think I'm lsing my mind!" she said with a nervous laugh.

_

Amy opened her eyes again when she was sure The human girl wasnt looking, "that was close." she breathed. Khaos nodded in agreement.

"At least thaey cant hear us talk. Yet anyways." the russet-colored wolf pointed out.

Zane and Allen quickly followed, neither wanting Taylor to get too far without them. Allen decided he owed Taylor one for not making him go first. They were both thankful that they were wearing jackets and long pants, as they had the same suspicion of the strange plants.

Zane heard Taylor talking and walked past his brother. He reached Taylor and put a hand on her shoulder. "Just us. Although I'm sure you were expecting something else to answer." He gave her a reas-suring smile. "Do not worry, nothing else is here."