The Wilds: Stage 3

2- Team Meeting

Raf

"I bet it's him."

"Who? Seth?" I questioned, very confused.

"Yeah." Kirin nodded. "The son of a bitch is probably still alive. I guarantee he's working with that Gretchen lady. Maybe he's even here watching us."

I stopped to think about what Kirin meant, but it didn't really make sense.

"No, I don't think he's an operative. Or ever was. Why would Gretchen choose him if he was clearly crazy? Especially after what happened with Josh... I mean you heard what Leah said. This is some kind of a sick extensive sociology experiment or something. Gretchen needed smart people on the inside. People who would help us survive. For the girls they had Nora. They have proof of that. But we have no definitive proof our operative was Seth. We can't just rule out the other guys without knowing for sure"

"So then what do you suggest that we do Raf? There are only 5 other guys. Do you really wanna go questioning the only people on this island we can actually trust?!"

"I'm sorry." Kirin spoke, now in a much calmer tone. "I'm just scared, ok? This is a really fucked situation."

"I know." I nodded. "It really is."

As Kirin and I approached the already massive pile of wood we had gathered on the beach, we stopped and dropped off the last round of broken branches and twigs we had brought from the edge of the woods.

"I think that should be enough."

"Yeah." Kirin agreed. "Good timing too. Looks like the others are all just on time for our first scheduled meeting."

I looked up and noticed that Kirin was right. Far in the distance we could see 4 different groups of people approaching from different directions. From the side of the bunker we could see Dot, Josh, Fatin, and Leah. From the far woods, we could see Scotty, Bo, Shelby, and Rachel. Then finally from the opposite side of the woods we could see Henry, Ivan, Martha and Toni.

It took a good 5 to 10 minutes or so for everyone to actually arrive at the meeting spot, but I was happy to see that everyone had made it there safe. Once everyone had arrived, the atmosphere quickly changed. All conversation was dropped very quickly and in no time at all, everyone was sat down on one of the several logs surrounding the pile of wood that Kirin and I were working to turn into a large bonfire.

"There we go!" Kirin cheered excitedly as he successfully lit and nurtured the flame that would light the rest of the fire.

When he had finished, we both move to sit on the only other log with space on it next to Henry and Ivan. The waves of silence that had washed over the now large group were still coming in and washing away any thought of starting the meeting we had planned to have until finally we could bear the quiet eeriness no more.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could, to both my surprise but also relief, Leah beat me to it.

"I hate Gretchen Klein. I doubt she's even a real doctor."

"I don't know." I disagreed quickly, trying to show the guys it was good to participate in whatever conversation Leah had probably planned out to get us through this meeting.

"What do you mean Raf?" Bo questioned curiously.

"Well, she's too smart to lie about being a doctor. This hell she's trapped us in...it takes a highly intelligent individual to even dream of something quite like this." I explained with a shrug.

"If she were really intelligent she wouldn't have done this to us. If anyone ever finds her it's life in prison no doubt. Especially after all of the death and suffering she's caused." Toni spoke from the end of her Martha and Shelby's log angrily.