Survivor

28| What Lies Below

The next 4 days ran smoothly again with no sign of any other wild animals, rain, or trouble. We were all getting pretty restless again, although there were times where I actually found myself enjoying our time out here. I recognized the fact that our situation was pretty dire, but having a place to stay that kept us safe and being surrounded with truly amazing people made me feel like everything was going to be fine. The guys were kind, and caring, and funny, and I often found myself forgetting we were in any kind of trouble at all.

Today it was decided that Jake, Nathan, Adam, and I would go check our traps and try and kill another deer. We decided to head in a different direction to try our luck. We were getting kind of far from camp, but we were marking trees so that we could easily find our way back. I had been walking in the middle of the group but when we got to a hill, Jake insisted on carrying me. My ankle was getting stronger, but Derek still demanded I don't try and walk on uneven ground quite yet. We were almost to the top of the hill when something caught my eye.

"Hey Jake, what's that? Is that a well?" I asked, pointing over his shoulder.

"Hm yeah, looks like one," he panted, "Let's go check it out."

Nathan and Adam agreed, and before I knew it, we were standing by a large well. The base was built up of stone and cement, and most of it was covered in moss of many shades of green. Above it, was a rickety wooden roof, but there was no bar across the top for a bucket to be held.

The ground was pretty even here, so I slid down off of Jake's back to give him a rest. I walked carefully over to the edge of the well and leaned over the edge to peak inside. I was curious what was down there; it seemed strange there would be a random well here to begin with, and if I was being honest, it was a little creepy.

"Holy shit. It's deep," I said. I had my tummy laying across the fat wall with my feet hanging down, but not touching the ground; I was too short. I was looking right to the bottom of the well, but I couldn't see anything. It was too dark, and I couldn't tell where it ended.

I was deep in my own thought when Nathan ran up behind me, squeezing my hips and shouting something in my ears. I screamed and launched myself backwards off of the wall, but Nathan caught me around the waist before I could fall. He was laughing as he held me steady.

"Nathan what the hell! Not funny!" I whined, holding a hand on my heart that was beating too fast. I looked to Jake who was smiling, but he shrugged at me as if he didn't know Nathan was going to do that.

"Sorry Cass. I didn't like you on the edge like that anyway. It made me nervous," Nathan explained as he slipped his hands away from my waist.

I huffed, "Okay, well does anyone have a flashlight? I can't see the bottom."

"Yeah... I think there's a flashlight in here," Adam replied as he swung his backpack off his shoulder. He placed the backpack on the edge of the well as he fumbled with the zippers.

"I wouldn't set it there. You're gonna drop it,"Nathan warned.

"I'm not gonna drop it. It's a thick wall, I would have to push it for it to fall off." He removed the flashlight from the backpack and turned it on. He tapped it against his hands a few times to get it to work. "Damn thing. Losing power already."

"Be quick then," Jake said.

Adam shined the flashlight into the well, leaning over the backpack.