• • •
I MISSED FEELING SO FREE.
Inhaling the blissfully cold air, I sighed. The low fog clung to the blurred treetops, hiding the hills in the distance. Thankfully, our shelter held up, and the storm had cleared by the crack of dawn.
The woods were filled with an ominous, brittle silence. What monsters lurked beyond our vantage point? I rubbed my arms and kicked around loose rocks.
"Hey, Angelina, do you want to come to the lake with me?"
I narrowed my eyes, but she hurried on, "Xander and Zachary are working together to start a fire. We also need to get water, and I thought you might want to come with me. Either way, I shouldn't go off alone..." She fidgeted with her bracelet.
Right, we should pair up. "Alright," I relented, "Let's go."
Setting off at a brisk pace, I looked over my shoulder. Leilani took a hesitant step forward. "Should we tell the others where we're going?"
"We should be fine," I assured, "It's not that far from here."
I didn't look back as I led the way through the woods. Carrying the empty metal box, she walked next to me, occasionally glancing my way. Much to my relief, we had cleaned it out; it could be used to store water.
Sunlight burst through the scattering clouds, illuminating the ground in a soft glow. We quickened our strides as we wove through the trees and trekked down the steep slope. There was no time to admire the beauty.
My head swiveled towards every whisper of the wind and cracking branch, and I spotted harbingers wherever we explored. Xander was right — I had become more paranoid, but for a good reason.
The hike down from our campsite was shorter than I thought. Fifteen minutes later, we approached the edge of the lake. Not a word had been spoken between us, and I was fine with that.
I was unbelievably, viciously thirsty. My lips were cracked, and I feared losing my voice soon.
Nearly a day had passed since I wound up here, and I hadn't drunk a sip of water. Even worse, the adrenaline from finding the finger waned, rendering me vulnerable to the wilderness.
After all, surviving was our number one priority.
Carefully unwrapping the cloth tied around my injury, I dipped my forearm in the lake. In the movies, the hero always found an oasis with pure, sweet water to drink, but they didn't have unforeseen abductions, shaky alliances, or psychopaths.
Only Jacqueline would have loved this challenge.
The water looked a little murky, and small bugs zipped around near the edge. We couldn't drink it directly — who knew what it was contaminated with? I couldn't take any chances.
Spinning around, I locked eyes with Leilani. "We need to make a water filter."
"How are we going to do that?"
Thank god for high school. During our senior trip, we all took a crash course on wilderness survival, and a water filter was one of the first tools we learned how to make. I regretted not paying attention, but at least I remembered the basic gist of it.
I ripped off another strip from my long-sleeved shirt and laid it on the open box. Thankfully, I was wearing my windbreaker on top and a t-shirt underneath, so I didn't have to worry. "Boiling water is the best purification method, but we don't have a fire just yet. Using natural materials to build a filter is the easiest option available."
Leilani shrugged, seemingly on board with the plan. "What do you need me to do?"
"Basically, we're going to put pebbles, sand, and other finer materials onto the cloth and then pour the water into that makeshift 'filter'." I made air quotes with my finger. "You should go search for small stones of different sizes."
A few meters away was a small sandbed, a bit of a distance away from the actual lake. Scooping fistfuls of the grains, I picked up as much as I could carry and dumped it onto the cloth. When Leilani returned with the pebbles, I gestured for her to place them on top of the sand from smallest to largest.
The entire process took only a few minutes. Kneeling beside me, Leilani brushed a few strands of curly hair away from her face and inspected our handiwork. It wouldn't be able to filter out every microorganism, but we had to take the risk. Dehydration was a terrible way to die.
"Here, let's move it closer to us so that it's easier to use," Leilani suggested. Picking up the box and cloth gently, she set it right next to the edge of the lake.
We settled into a routine of scooping water up and pouring it into the filter — quite monotonous, really. The cool water was a welcome reprieve to my dry hands.
Waiting for the filter to run its course, we sat down onto the dirt, a foot away from each other. Leilani constantly glanced at the forest behind us, mirroring my behavior from earlier. I frowned; she seemed so relaxed during our first interaction.
"I have a bad feeling about all this," she blurted. Her russet eyes were muted, and her expression made her look years older than nineteen. The golden highlights in her dark hair sharply contrasted her current mood.
I sighed. "Don't we all."
"And I know it isn't because of my withdrawals—" She covered her mouth, eyes widening at her accidental slip, but the damage was already done. Now that she confirmed my suspicions, I finally understood her unpredictable behavior.
My heart sank. Alcohol withdrawal wasn't a condition to take lightly, especially with side effects like anxiety, headaches, and insomnia. From what I recall, depending on the severity, Leilani could be having hallucinations, and I hoped that wasn't happening.
"Are you okay?" My low voice broke the silence. I clasped my hands; I didn't know how to comfort her.
Leilani rubbed her forehead, her lip quirking up. "I guess the cat is out of the bag now."
"You don't need to tell me if you're not ready."
"There's no use pretending any longer." She pressed her lips together. "It's time to face the music. Even with this short-term memory loss, I do know that I used to drink heavily. It was my way of coping with the shit in my life."
Ice dripped from her voice, tinged with faint sadness. "My, ah, familial relationships weren't the best either, specifically with my parents."
I listened quietly as she continued. "Well, anyway, there might be a bright side to this horrible situation. I can't touch alcohol for who knows how long, so I might be able to put myself back together again."
"You're not a bad person, Leilani. One choice doesn't define who you are." I didn't ask about the issues with her parents — some lines were never meant to be crossed, especially not now.
Cracking her knuckles, she shook her head again. "But I'm not used to all this responsibility. I feel like I'm a dead weight to the four of us. You're
"Don't rush yourself. It's okay to hurt sometimes, you know?"
She smiled at me gratefully. "Thanks, Angelina. It's not often I can trust a friend like this."
For the first time in a while, a genuine smile flickered onto my face. "Call me Ange."
•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•
When the water was finally filtered, we tried to limit ourselves to a few sips, but we couldn't stop. I drank and drank until my stomach was swollen — until I nearly staggered over.
Although the sun was still cooking my face, the water cleared the fog in my mind. The aftermath from the storm already disappeared, replaced by the scorching heat. By the time we left the lake, I had stripped off my windbreaker and tied it around my waist.
We spent a large chunk of the day exploring the area. I couldn't pinpoint where we were, but the lake we woke up by must have been a major landmark. Even after climbing up a small hill, all Leilani and I saw were trees, trees, and more trees stretching into the distance. There was no sign of civilization nearby — at least not for a few hundred miles — which killed the possibility of us hiking out of here.
Our only hope was a rescue mission or an aircraft miraculously spotting us, but we didn't know how long we would have to wait.
If it would happen at all.
In a few hours, Leilani and I took note of potentially useful locations. Unfortunately, my night contacts were back at my dorm, but Leilani made up for my poor eyesight. She caught little detail in every nook and cranny — observations I wouldn't have spotted.
The late afternoon sun cast rays of light onto my face as we trekked down the third hill we climbed. I wasn't oblivious to the fact that our energy was waning. We weren't thirsty anymore, but we thought fluids might ease some of our hunger.
It didn't. Somehow, the cold lake water sharpened the terrible sensation.
Leilani stopped in her tracks. Pausing too, I turned around, tucking the box underneath my arm. What did she find?
"Ange, look," She could barely contain the glee in her voice as she pointed towards some shrubbery. "Aren't those birds eating from berry bushes?"
And they were. Clusters of dark black and bright red berries weighed down the small limbs as if they were beckoning us forward. I couldn't believe our luck; like they read our minds, the birds had led us right to food. A strange twinge gnawed at my stomach.
Our pace picked up, and we were there in moments — scattering birds, stirring up leaves, ready to satisfy our cravings.
Right before Leilani reached for the bushes, my rational side took the helm. What if the berries were poisonous? "Wait, Leilani. We need to check if these are edible."
"What do you mean, edible? Of course they are. They're berries."
"No, if they're poisonous or too acidic, we can't eat them."
She tossed her hands in the air. "Just great. How can we tell?"
I tuned her grumbles out and inspected them closely. They weren't green, yellow, nor white, which was a positive sign. To my knowledge, those color berries had a higher chance of being dangerous while red and black colored ones were generally safer.
"Wait, I recognize them," Leilani hiked up her jacket. "These are raspberries."
"You sure?" Not that I doubted her — we had to take the gamble.
"Yeah," she responded, "I think so." Before I could react she tore a fistful off the bush and popped one into her mouth. There was no going back now.
Her face split into a wide grin. "Come on, they taste so good."
All I could focus on was my empty stomach. Reaching into the shrubbery, I plucked a few and chewed on the sweet pits. True to her word, it was a raspberry.
My caution forgotten, I feasted with Leilani. The tangy juice rushed to my head, making me stumble, but I paid it no heed. We stood there for a few minutes just enjoying the savory fruit.
By the time we finished, we hadn't even harvested a quarter of the berries there. My strength was coming back, and my headaches from earlier were alleviated. Although we four couldn't survive on berries alone, this would be a reliable source of food.
"We should pick as many berries as we can and bring them back to our campsite," I mused, forming a plan, "We can always return, but it's better to have a storage in our shelter for emergencies."
As if she was following my train of thoughts, Leilani nodded. "Zachary and Xander probably want some as well." Well, that too. "We don't know if they've found food yet. After all, we've been separated for nearly the entire day."
Shit, she's right. The sun was about to set — we had been gone for hours. "We should get a move on."
Careful to not aggravate my injured arm, I collected raspberries with my right hand and placed them in my pockets. Leilani did the same, and a few minutes later, we couldn't fit any more inside.
"Let's go, Leilani." Looking down the hill, I could see the lake, which was a short hike away, and I took note of this location. We had ended up close to where we started from.
Quickening our strides, we set off, hoping to return before the daylight faded.
A/N: This chapter was more focused on wilderness survival, an important part of the story, but just wait! The action will come very soon ...