Survival of the Fittest

Chapter Four

I hadn’t been inside the kitchen yet so it was a shock to me to find that it was fully stocked with food. There were shelves everywhere with fruit and vegetables neatly stacked up on them. My mouth started to water at the sight, I hadn’t eaten for a whole day now and I was famished. I looked over to see Niall already raiding the huge fridge that was located in the corner of the room. “What does everybody want to eat?” He asked. “Well by the way you’re eating I don’t think there will be any food left for us!” Rachel said in a sarcastic tone while giving Niall a wink. This made him blush as he closed the fridge door and started to cook some bacon on the stove top.  Harry walked over to him and grabbed the eggs off the counter beginning to crack them into a bowl.

Rachel glanced over at me still standing in the doorway, I was the only one not seated yet. She motioned for me to come and sit next to her and I didn’t hesitate. The kitchen chairs were ones you would find in a retro restaurant, they were red and cemented to the ground. You could easily spin around on them which I saw Kate doing from across the table. Zayn was smiling at her child like behaviour as he began to spin on his chair as well. I turned to look at Rachel and we both laughed in amusement. “This is all so surreal isn’t it?” I whispered to her. “I know, I can’t believe that in this fucked up place, I met Niall, Zayn and Harry!” She whispered back to me with excitement and fear in her voice.  I leaned my elbow on the table in front of us and rested my head on my hand as I began to speak. “Despite the fact that we have been put in this crazy place, I’m happy that we all have each other to get through it with, I mean even if things don’t go our way, at least we’ll be together.” Rachel weakly smiled at me and I knew that the thought of not getting out of this place was causing her to stress. This is why she needs a guy like Niall I thought to myself, he is able to take away her nerves and ultimately keep her happy. I was truly glad he chose to partner with her.

“I think we should get to know each other a little better, since we didn’t get a chance to really talk last night.” Kate said as she stopped spinning in her chair and gave us her full attention. “I agree” I conquered as Rachel smiled and now looked towards Kate. “Well for starters, my name is Kate and I’m from Boston, I don’t know why I was put in this mess either but I’m glad I found caring people like you to go through it with.” She smiled. Rachel kept smiling and I assumed she had already had this conversation before I got here, so I happily began talking to Kate. “My name is Joanna and I’m from Montreal, Canada, I’m very glad that we found you guys too!” Harry turned around from cooking and smiled at me, I felt the butterflies fluttering in my stomach as he did this and really hoped I wasn’t blushing. “We all just have to stick together and I know we’ll pull through” Rachel added as she waved her fist in the air to add emphasis to her point.

Breakfast was finally served! Harry and Niall had made a lovely dish of food, or maybe that’s just my hunger talking, it included scrambled eggs, lots of bacon, buttered toast and loads of fruits on the side. The minute our plates hit the table everyone gobbled down and we were finished quite fast. Niall was the first one done, followed by Rachel. “I beat’cha” Niall said sending a wink over to her as she took her last bite of bread. She laughed and nudged his arm. He returned the nudge with a flick which resulted in a cat fight. They were both uncontrollably laughing which caused everybody else to laugh along.  “All right I guess I’ll start clearing the table” Niall said picking up his and Rachel’s plates. “I’ll help!” Rachel laughed. They walked over to the sink hand in hand and began to wash the dishes, playfully spraying water at each other every now and again. Harry was watching them and then turned to me offering a open spot to sit on his lap. I playfully smirked at him but didn’t budge. He gave me a defeated frown and stood up, he grabbed me off my chair and seated me in his lap. “Well Hello there” I said as I wrapped my arm around the back of his chair. “Hello Love” He returned while tightening his grip on my waist. Zayn interrupted our banter by asking when we should head out. “I’m not sure, but the sooner the better” Harry replied flicking his hair to the side. “I think we should grab some of this fruit and put it in a bag to take along” Kate added, “We don’t know when our next meal will be.”

Niall and Rachel finally joined us in the dining room after they claimed to be packing food in plastic bags they had found in the kitchen. I had a hard time believing that all they were doing was packing food and I could tell by the shy smiles Rachel was giving that her and Niall had kissed. “Well I guess we should head out then!” Niall exclaimed handing out a bag of food to everyone. It was going to be a pain lugging around the bags of food, but it was our only source of nutrition as far as we knew so nobody complained. Zayn unlocked the door and led the way making sure that Kate was locked tightly under his arm. Niall and Rachel followed behind them intertwined with each other; they were both glowing and clearly very happy. Harry turned to me and looked straight into my eyes, it was hard to look away. “I don’t know how much danger awaits us out there, but I intend to keep you safe Joanna.” He said while pulling me in for a hug. I didn’t know how to respond so I just smiled and hugged him tighter. The others were already far ahead so Harry and I had to run to catch up. Rachel and Kate both turned to me and grinned, they could probably tell how happy I was to be in Harry’s arms.

We walked for hours and my feet were beginning to hurt, I felt blisters building up on my heels and I could tell everybody else was in pain as well. We were making no progress and the sun was already setting. “Where are we headed?” Niall sighed to Zayn. “Well there are some footprints leading over to that forest, so I guess people have been through here already” Zayn said while pointing over to the trees. “Either that, or the footprints were put there to lead us into danger” I said with unease while clenching Harry’s hand in mine. I looked around to try and find another route, but all I saw was grass. There was nothing out here, just fields and fields of grass that seemed to lead nowhere. The forest was our only real option and I felt safer going into the woods than staying out in the open all night. “Well it’s our only option right now, so I suggest we take it” Zayn said as he motioned for Kate to jump onto his back. She sighed in gratitude clearly relieved she didn’t have to walk and climbed onto his hunched over back. Niall gently kissed the top of Rachel’s head and locked hands with her following behind Zayn and Kate. Harry and I were right behind them, his arm now firmly wrapped around my waist.

As we entered the forest the setting sun was hidden behind the trees and everything began to get dark. I didn’t like that I couldn’t see very well and my legs were beginning to give in from walking for so long. I leaned on Harry for support as we continued into the darkness. “GOD DAMMIT” I heard Niall mutter ahead of us. “What happened Nialler? You okay?” Harry asked concerned. “Yeah man, I’m fine, I just tripped over somethin” He said while Rachel helped him to his feet. I watched in concern as I saw Kate bend down to get a better look at what had caused Niall to fall. “YOU GUYS!” She yelled, “This is a hiking backpack! There are supplies and everything in here!” She looked a little further behind the bag and found two more along with a tent and water bottles. “Wait,” Harry said blocking me from moving towards the supplies. “What if this is a trick?” he questioned. Kate stood up and backed away from the equipment as if something was going to explode. Zayn pulled her into his arms for protection. Niall pulled Rachel closer and she snuggled her face into his chest, he comforted her by holding her tight and gently stroking her hair.

Harry inched forward approaching the pile as I stood back and bit my lip. “Please don’t get hurt” I whispered to myself as my fists clenched in fear. “There’s a note here” Harry said pointing to a rock that was pressed up against one of the bags. He reached over and ripped the piece of paper up from the ground.”Well?” Niall asked waiting for Harry to read it out loud. We all waited in silence for Harry to begin, he cleared his voice and began.

“Dear survivors,

                      I am proud of you for making it this far, not many people usually do. As you can see before you, there are some supplies to take with you on your journey. Take as much as you wish, but there is a catch...You must grab as much as you can before everything disappears. Good luck.”

“What does he mean by that?” Kate asked angrily stomping her foot. Just then, everything began to shake and what once was solid ground beneath us had turned to quicksand.