We were all just trying to survive as best as we knew how to back then. When we still believed you were coming for us... Sorry, I don't mean to blame this on you, I'm sure you weren't expecting to go out to your local mountain range and find a journal depicting the slow deterioration of a bunch of people nobody remembers...
******
The path that Aliya had just been pushed off of had a slight dip on both sides, so the fall hurt, but besides her pride, she was basically unharmed; she was furious however. How dare Doddie push her. She was trying to save her! Stupid friend from a predator.
She waited for a moment, heart racing from adrenaline; she'd make the incoming confrontation a spectacular and loud one. She was so over all of this, and she was ready to scream that and more as soon as Doddie popped her head over the side to check if she was okay.
###!'##-!##
"Doddie?"
#-!###-!#
The wind picked up speed, but the trees stood still, almost as if watching her, and she got this feeling that she couldn't place. It was as if... They weren't alone here.
A black figure came into view where Doddie should be and...
"Doddie!? Doddie!? DODDIE!?" Aliya was crying now, and her earlier plan of sitting there until she yelled at Doddie had worked against her. She couldn't make her legs move.
"What!?" Doddie shouted. She was standing where Aliya had seen the shadowy figure... or where she had thought she had seen it.
She was less breathing than panting, and her pulse could belong to a professional athletes right after finishing an intense workout, but she managed a pathetic "You didn't see. See that?"
The wind picked up again, whipping at her ponytail, but most importantly, the trees were swaying under its influence once again, meaning Aliya must have hit her head or something, and she had just imagined it all.
"What are you talking about? See what? Are you okay? Look, I'm sorry for pushing you, I didn't mean to.."
"Yes, you did." Aliya stated blandly, interrupting her, getting on her feet, dusting herself off, climbing back up to the path under Doddies cautious gaze. When she was on the path again Aliya stood straight and just looked at her, before shaking her head at the sad excuse of a human in front of her and walked away, but not before Doddie could shout.
"You judge from your pretty little tower, where you never make any mistakes, and everything is so black and white. Well, down here, where people actually live life and take risks. It's never as simple as bad or good."
Aliya didn't even look back at her.
******
"Stay away from her Angelo! She's still in high school!"
"We were just doing the job that you, should have assigned to somebody!" Angelo countered.
Mr. Sowell scoffed. "Right, and you basically straddling her in your arms was what, you two saying a prayer for the dead? Get real. I know what you two were doing, and it stops now! Do you understand!?"
"Yeah, Right, you are the boss, well, mister boss, how about we talk more about the food and water problem?" Angelo said, lifting his head in challenge.
"Don't change the subject." Mr. Sowell said, invading Angelo's space and getting in his face. Angelo was a tall, fit man and clearly had been in a fight or two before, but Sowell had been a regular at boxing gyms ever since the age of 7 with his mom and dad, so he was confident in his ability to control situations that turn out violent.
Not to Sowell's surprise, Angelo smiled at his attempt at intimidation and said. "I do not need to fight you on this. There are many that agree with me, and yes, you did a good job helping us through the beginning of this.. situation. But it's time for you to pass on the responsibility to somebody willing to see what is right in front of us."
Sowell let out a harsh laugh. "And that's you?"
"Nobody is coming to rescue us, Barnes! It has been a week, and nothing! No helicopters, no planes, not even a whisper, and sitting around like this will only get us killed. Summer is coming to an end faster than what you think, and if we don't get ahead of it, we will freeze or starve to death, that is if we don't run out of water first."
Sowell thought for a moment. He knew that Angelo was right. They needed to find better shelter and hunting grounds, and if they didn't find a large source of water soon, they would die way before any chance of rescue. "So what are you suggesting we just pack up and leave? Where would we go? Just heading in a direction could get us killed even faster."
"Either way, we die. At least this way we have a real chance." Angelo said blandly."
"That's not a plan. I will not risk the lives of these people, most of whom are just kids, without a real plan."
Angelo seemed to think about this. "Okay, so with a real plan, you'll give me the okay?"
"As long as it isn't half thought out and in your own words, as long as it offers a real chance at surviving this nightmare.. then yes."
Angelo's smiled returned. "Okay, I have an idea.
******
Why won't she just go away!?
Devon and the babe of a doctor had been in a staring contest for the past hour, all because she tried giving him the "It gets easier, but you have to be willing to try." speech, which he had responded to by calling her a string of insults that would have gotten him high praises from the guys back home, but for some reason instead of taking that as "leave me the hell alone" she saw it as an invitation to sit and stare at him, and normally he'd be thrilled to have a hotties attention all on him like this. But nothing about this was normal.
"What!" He finally snapped, breaking the silence. "What do you want from me!? You want me to break down and cry like Lucas did in the middle school talent show because nobody clapped at his stupid poem. That's not me, only chicks cry, okay!"
She smiled, and that just pissed him off more.
"What is funny, am I drooling, is there something on my face..."
She shook her head. "Besides your 80s way of thinking, like come on, it's 2025. Women can vote two, you know." She cleared her throat. "Besides that, it's so obviously clear how much you need the thing you don't want to do, so. Let's make a trade, your tears for one of my secrets?"
"No."
"Come on, I can tell you some of my wild, dirty stories, and I've got those in spades."
"Did you not just hear me say..." his brain finally caught up with the words that she said, and not even in his depressed state, could he resist the temptations of hearing a hottie like this talk dirty to him.
"So you're interested." She said, smile growing dark.
How could she read him like this.
"Yeah, I'm interested, but don't get ahead of yourself. They had better be some juicy stories."
"Of course." She smiled, and cleared her throat before speaking. "So back in medical school me and my friend Sydney..."
******
Doddie's breathing was picking up, and yet it felt like she couldn't breathe, and her heart hurt.
Why did her life have to suck so much. She had survived a plane crash without having an attack, and yet a little confrontation with a judgmental bitch was about to cripple her.
She tried reminding herself that it was only a panic attack and that she was fine. She dropped to the forest floor, cradling her legs, trying to make herself as small as possible. She squeezed her eyes shut so tight that tears formed.
"Hello?"
Great. She didn't want to be seen like this.
"Go. Away." She said weakly, reopening her eyes.
A cute boy emerged from the brush, looking at her concern written over his innocent looking face.
He was exactly her type. Slim, tall, and tatted, and she could tell that he was a little messed up like her.
Her breathing problem grew worse.
"Youre. Not. Helping."
He rushed over. "Here, try this." He said, grabbing her hands without asking for permission... He was definitely not helping.
"Close your eyes."
She wanted to tell him off because who the hell was he to touch her, but he was too close, and she couldn't think straight. She was sweating, but she couldn't decide who the culprit was. The sun that was beating down on her, or maybe it was her heart. It was beating at an alarming rate, or maybe it was being in such close proximity to her new crush. Whatever the reason, it didn't help her anxiety any.
"Hey, trust me. Just close your eyes."
She was feeling lightheaded now. If she didn't stop this soon, she'd pass out in front of him.
So she decided to listen and close her eyes.
"I want you to only focus on my voice and your breathing. Okay? Okay. Now, without thinking, tell me your name."
"What, why?" She asked, opening her eyes and searching his for some kind of trick or something.
"You don't trust easy, do you? Fine, I'll go first. My name is Casper."
"No. Last... Name?"
He shook his head. "I've only got the one, so what's yours?"
"Dod. D. It's Doddie."
"Okay Doddie, I have something to admit. I didn't just happen to be nearby, I'm actually fan."
Her heart skipped a beat. "You're. Not." She took a deep breath. "One of those crazies. Are you?"
He laughed. "No. I had saw you stumbling over this way, and I thought you might be in trouble, so two birds."
"And it was just coincidence that. We..." She took another deep breath, and realized what he was doing, and it was working. "You're distracting me."
He smiled. "It's working isn't it?"
She shook her in confirmation. "Are you really a fan."
He shrugged. "Two birds."
She blinked, and then burst out laughing, but she wasn't feeling 100 yet, and the laugh quickly turned into an uncontrollably cough.
"Hey deep breathes." He said letting go of one of her hands to pat her back lightly, as if she were the baby he were burping.
She jumped back, Landing hard enough on her butt to make her inhale sharply, but she ignored the now throbbing area, and shouted, "Get away from me weirdo!"
He stopped his advance, and the hurt in his eyes, almost crippled her all over again, so she looked away.
"I don't know you, and I didn't give you concent to touch me, so don't do it."
He stared at her, hurt and anger, raging in those dangerous blue eyes, before threw up his hands and declared, "I hope you feel better now."
With that he rose and left her sitting there with her foot in her mouth.
"What is wrong with me."
******
Sandra wasn't talking much today. She just sat there quietly, staring at nothing, and Lyle was having none of it.
"Come on, Sandra! Don't make me eat these army rations in silence, I hate listening to people chew, myself included." He said, trying to approach her.
"It's... her fault... He... me." She whispered so low that it was hardly audible.
"What? Who's fault? Are you talking about my girlfriend's friend Aliya? Who is he?" He thought that maybe if he could get her to explain herself, maybe he could find a way to get her back into population because it couldn't be healthy for her to be so isolated all the time.
Her head snapped in his direction faster than he had ever seen her move before, and his heart skipped a beat, but he didn't flinch. He was a young fit athlete who could deadlift at least six of her.
He wasn't afraid...
"It's her fault! She's why we're here!!! It's Her Fault, It's her Fault. IT'S HER FAULT!"
Llye took a step forward and cleared his throat. "I believe you."
"It's Her fault! It's her..." She stopped her chanting. "You do?"
Of course not, but he wanted to try something. "Yes, I do."
She studied him for a moment, and when she didn't speak, he supposed that she believed him, so he opened his mouth to speak, when she lunged at him, catching him by surprise biting and clawing at him.
"Fuck!" She drew blood, and it was all he could to stop himself from losing it on her.
"You lied! YOU LIE! Liar! You must be working with her! YOU BOTH HAVE TO DIE! HE TOLD ME!"
"Sandra, stop!" He was doing his best to restrain her without hurting her, but she was doing everything in her power to try and make him hurt her.
"Need some help?" Came a male voice.
He recognized the voice but couldn't put a face to it.
"Clearly!" He answered back.
"Keep your panties on, I'm coming."
A figure appeared to his left, grabbing at Sandra, trying to pull her off of him, but even with two men, she didn't surrender without a fight. She yelled and screamed, kicked, and spat, but eventually, she grew too weak and tired to keep up the fight, and they were able to get control of her.
"You've got, spirit, for an old lady." The help said in between breaths. Lyle, panting slightly, finally looked up at the the man and it came to him.
"You're the guy from the other day."
The guy met his look, and Lyle had to physically stop himself from shaking. The dude gave him the creeps.
"Sorry I only remember interesting people, and you're... just not all that interesting."
******
Why did he always have to act like that! It was so unattractive and honestly... Uck. She didn't even know!? Mckenzie thought as she maneuvered the unfamiliar terrain of the path she had chosen at random. After the arguement with Anthony she needed to clear her head, she didn't know why she let him get under her skin like this when she knew that was exactly what he wanted.
She stopped her brisk but cautious pace, in front of a gianormous tree, and took a deep breath. The forest around her was alive with the chatter of its inhabitants. Birds chirping, some taking flight above head, insects... making their disgusting noises, but thankfully no signs of the wolves they had heard the first night here.
She threw out her arms in either direction and threw back her head allowing for her long flowing blonde hair to be carried by the warm breeze, and she could feel herself begin to relax. She wished that Aliya had been here so she could've recorded the moment, but Aliya had been spending all her time looking after that clown Devon.
Mckenzie had asked her about it and Aliya said that she felt bad for him. It was the most Aliya thing she could do. The guy terrorizes her nonstop at school, and yet in Aliya fashion she finds a way to feel bad for the jerk.
But that niceness was why they were bffs, and why after she got back to camp, she'd scheme with Lyle to get the nice idiot to stop torturing herself over, Devon of all people.
******
Lyle was exhausted, mentally and physically. Sandra hadn't truly stopped her freak out or whatever it was after the douche had come and helped. It had taken another ten minutes of attempting to pin her to the ground while she was struggling for dear life, without trying to hurt her, before she finally tired herself out, and finally snapped back into reality. Thankfully, when he asked her if anything hurt, she said "no," but she also said that she had no memory of any of it. The yelling, the screaming, she didn't even know why they had her pinned down and was visibly shaken up by the fact. The douche thought she was pretending because she hadn't succeeded, so now she's trying to earn sympathy points, but why would she do that? It wouldn't make any sense. She's clearly a sick elderly woman who gets confused sometimes.
Afterward, Aliya had come up to them and told them about the mandatory meeting happening, and the douche (who never introduced himself) gave Aliya a look that Lyle didn't understand. She flipped him the bird and told him to go lay on a porcupine, and douche left without another word.
"Go lay on a porcupine! Classic! Do you have, like, a journal where you write these things down, because that was too funny to have been on the spot Ally for real."
They were walking back to camp, where even from this far out, he could hear people conversating. Whatever this meeting was about must be important.
She looked away from him, eyes searching the woods for something. "Only you would laugh at that, weirdo."
"What! No way. That. Was. Freaking. Hilarious! You always have these funny quips ready. You really should write them down. You could be like.. the funny Amy Schumer."
She looked forwards again and rolled her eyes. "First of all, Amy Schumer is a comedy genius. You just don't get her because you were probably born with a six-pack and a sign stapled on your forehead, saying I'm going to grow up to look like a Greek... I mean, like a great.. basketball player..."
He laughed again. "You see what I mean. I'm not even sure what you're talking about, but it made me want to laugh."
"Yeah, it's every girl's dream to be laughed at."
They had made it to the group, and the tension was high as always, but there was an obvious divide in the group. What was going on?
"Hey, Lyle man, do you know what's going on?" Casper asked, walking up to them. Casper was a friend he had made while on Sandra duty. Caspers watch was right after his own, and they talked about sports and motorbikes and other guy stuff sometimes before Lyle headed back.
"Not a clue man, we just got here." He said, pointing at Aliya.
"Actually, I do know what this is about. You just never asked." Aliya shot back.
"Oh. Okay, so what is it about?"
"They want to send a small party to find a body of water that we can migrate over to and make camp nearby."
"You mean we're leaving the plane!?" Lyle exclaimed his chest tightening.
She nodded. "I think so."
"But that would be insane. What happens when rescue comes, and they miss us because we're too busy in the middle of who knows where, pitching tents, and forging for fucking berries!" He bit out.
Aliya flinched.
"Hey, wow, calm down. This isn't her fault man. She's just the messenger."
Lyle took a deep breath in, and out. "You're right Casper, I'm sorry that's my bad, I didn't mean to trip like that."
She smiled at him, but it quickly faded away, replaced with a frown.
"What? Is there something on my face... Wait!? is it a spider!?" He squealed slamming the palm of his head against his forehead harder than he intended to.
"Oh my god, no Lyle!" She laughed, and even though his forehead now stung, he smiled.
"If there isn't something on my face then what is it that's got you so upset?" He asked facing the direction she'd have seen whatever it was she saw.
"No Lyle it was nothing..." She tried but he spotted the source instantly.
Devon and the hot doctor... Harp.. Harper... He didn't know her first name, but it was irrelevant. She and Devon were walking side by side laughing and talking.
"I'm sorry. I know how much you... wanted to cheer him up, but like... why? He's an asshole."
"Do I need a reason? He hurting, I'd do the same thing if it were you who'd just had both arms made useless."
"Fair point."
"That is everybody, we can start now." Said the man with the wicked accent, Angelo.
"We are clearly missing two." Argued Mr. Sowell. "Has anybody seen Tyler!? Or Mckenzie!?"
Mckenzie was missing?
"Tyler said he was going for a run earlier, he's probably still on his way back." Said the doctor.
Mr. Sowell sighed. "And Mckenzie? does anybody know where she is?"
"Who cares! She and the boy can get the cliff notes of the meeting later. We've got the majority of us all right here." Said an older guy whose name Lyle believed was Danny, but he wasn't sure. They had only had one interaction with eachother, and it had hardly lasted more than a few minutes.
"I would really prefer it if everyone one were present seeing as it effects everyone."
"No. The time for waiting is no more. This is why you are no longer fit to lead us, so for that reason is why I have called this meeting today. I want to become our official leader.