Their second day had passed in the blink of an eye. They spent most of their day finding things that can still be used from the wreckage of the plane and rummaging the area to find the part of their plane where the galley was attached. Fortunately for them, it wasn't the part that exploded, and they found a few more foods to add to their stash aside from what they've got from the trolley.
Before it turned dark, and as suggested by Laura Lee, they also decided to move the dead bodies so they could bury them the next day. After they paid respect to those who died and offered some prayer, the girls started dividing rations of food and water equally.
Agami had a strong feeling that the food she has in her bag should not be known by the others yet, not because she wants to keep it to herself but because she decided that it should be their emergency food, so she wrapped them carefully and placed them on the bottom part of her bag, putting clothes on top just in case someone opens her bag.
After that, she approached Van when she remembered something that the woman said.
"Hey, Palmer," she called the woman, who was busy going through her stuff.
"Yeah?" Van asked without looking at Agami.
"You mentioned something earlier about the girl-Rachel. You said you saw her carrying a flute case once?" she clarified just in case she heard the wrong thing earlier.
"I saw her carrying some case similar to one before, why?" Van asked.
"Do you think she brought the flute?"
"Beats me."
Agami is dying from boredom. Her walkman is down to two more pairs of batteries, but nobody knows how long they are still going to be there, so she chose not to use them continuously. Playing the flute will be a huge help to distract and entertain herself.
"I think that's her stuff right there. You can check it," said the red-haired woman, pointing at the black suitcase not far from them.
"Ain't that going to be disrespectful? Checking stuff of the dead?" asked Agami.
Van smirked at her as she replied. "I'm pretty sure the other girls will check it later themselves and go through her stuff to find something useful anyway. So knock yourself out and be the first in line."
Agami sighed. She walked toward where the suitcase was, opening it slowly. Once she unzipped the bag, a beautiful 15-inch wooden flute was the first thing that she saw. That's pretty much the thing she was looking for anyway.
"What'chu got there?" asked the woman who was standing beside Agami, which actually surprised her a little.
"Oh, ahm..." said Agami as a starter. "Palmer said we should find something we could put into use from your teammate's stuff."
Lottie kneeled next to her and rummaged through the bag as if she were looking for something, but stopped eventually. Agami stared at the woman.
"Are you looking for something?" she asked. Lottie shook her head.
"No. Just trying to find anything I could use," she said, and Agami nodded slowly, believing the woman.
Agami grabbed what looked like sweatpants and gave them to Lottie. "In case you didn't bring something long enough that you could use to sleep, there are insects out here, you know," she told Lottie.
"Thanks," replied the woman.
They called the other girls after that, and they began to check the woman's suitcase. Most of them get the clothes and keep them as an extra, while the others take whatever cream they find in the bag and apply it to their skin.
Agami sat down again on one of the cushions they got from the plane's seat. She checked the flute she got from the dead woman's bag, inspected it properly, and looked for any major dents or scratches on it. Luckily, the flute is still in good condition and has been taken good care of by the owner.
"Oh, so you found what you're looking for," said Van, taking a seat beside Agami.
"Yeah, and now I can save everyone," she responded, grinning wildly.
"Awesome. How are you gonna do that? Wait, don't tell me you're a-"
"Bard. All I have to do is play something and then cast a spell to get us out of here," said Agami in a mocking tone, winking at Van, who started laughing loudly, which got the other girls' attention, including Natalie, who was sitting the closest to them.
"That's amazing, you know. I'm more of a dragonborn warlock who will make a deal with the devil to be powerful and get us all out of here," said Van, getting the references of Agami, which made the woman make an exaggerated expression.
"Nobody leaves the wilderness. But I will not deny you the right to try," said Natalie, joining the two women in their conversation. "You, warlock!" she screamed, pointing at Van.
"Telling lies to your companion will only lead you to damnation! But if you want to try and deceive yourselves and others, charisma check! Roll me a D20," added Natalie, her voice trying to sound like a man. Van pretends to throw something.
"A natural one. That sucks," Natalie said, trying to stop herself from laughing as she spoke again. "You die!"
She then shifted her gaze to Agami. "You, bard!" she yelled again, pointing at Agami and biting her lips to prevent the laughter she's holding from getting out.
"Witnessing your companion's death messes with your head and makes you lose hope. But you are given the last chance to get out of the wilderness if you manage to make the right choice. I will need you to roll me a D20, for-" Natalie paused for a moment, thinking what to say next.
"for a sanity check!" she exclaimed, Van laughing in the background. Agami pretended to roll dice and looked at Natalie after.
"Another natural one!" she said, laughing. "You died, Dick!"
The three of them laughed. Agami can't help but shake her head at the lame scenario they acted out, which is not even close to a real campaign or the right way to call checks. But for what it's worth, it was a good moment to take their minds off their hopeless situation in the wilderness, even for just a few minutes.
They all went back to their own businesses after that, with Natalie doodling something on the ground using a stick and Van just staring at nothingness. It was like half an hour later when Taissa was running back to where they were from no one knows where since they didn't even notice her leaving.
"Guys, there's a lake! There's a lake," she told everyone. "I saw it from that hill. It looks four or five miles away."
Agami knows that's kind of far and that it will take them at least more than an hour to walk their way there, but since they might be stuck on a mountain or hill, they'll be hiking for two hours or more.
"Do you think we could hike it?" asked Shauna.
"It's pretty rocky, but yeah," replied Taissa.
"Uh, we can't just leave." Jackie interfered.
Agami didn't listen after that and started to pack her things. If the girls end up not going there and decide to stay at the crash site, she'll let them. She will hike to the lake alone if she has to because the last thing she wants to face is dehydration, and it's obvious that their stock of water is already running out.
As she was busy packing, Taissa decided to put it up for a vote on whether they would hike to go to the lake or stay at the crash site. Fortunately, most people made the right call by choosing to leave the site and check out the lake. It was just common sense to find a source of water and stay somewhere as close as possible to that because that's supposed to be their priority next to shelter.
They started moving immediately after that, leaving unimportant things and only carrying necessary stuff. The path was just like what Taissa said. It was rocky, and that only made it more difficult for them to reach their destination.
She took the second turn helping other people carry the stretcher, which lasted only for about half an hour but was enough to make her right arm numb from the heavyweight after.
It turns out she made the right choice earlier to turn her suitcase into a backpack by making improvised straps while her other bag went in front, because it was what made it possible for her to help the others carry the stretcher.
After an hour of hiking, a foul smell was blown away by the short breeze.
"What's that smell?" she heard one of the girls ask.
"I don't know."
"Holy shit."
"Oh, God. I'm gonna puke."
"Woah, sick."
They stopped walking and were fixated on whatever they found on the ground, so she followed their gazes, and that's when she saw it too. A disemboweled dead body of a bear and a vulture feasting on its brain. Agami was sickened by the sight.
"What could've done that?" Shauna asked.
"A wolf, probably," Ben answered.
"They can kill a fucking bear?" Natalie asked further.
"Yeah. Wolves can kill anything if the pack is big enough," he replied.
Wolves. Just what a bunch of defenseless people who survived a plane crash and are now stuck in the wilderness need.
They hiked for another hour. Some of them were losing hope, saying they might have missed the lake or that Taissa might have been mistaken. That there's no such thing as a lake, and it was probably a mirage. Agami was about to start complaining too when she heard Van screaming and jumping excitedly.
"Oh, shit! Oh, hell yeah, bitches!"
The red-haired woman ran down the hill, and everyone did the same. Agami sighed in relief when her sight finally caught the body of water they'd been looking for for hours now. They have finally reached their destination.
Agami put her things down the moment her feet met the sandy part of the ground. It's not easy carrying a heavy suitcase on your back while you're hiking on a rocky mountain and having to help the others lift Ben's stretcher.
Everyone swam immediately on the lake, most of them excited to finally be able to clean themselves. But Agami was not yet in the mood, so she simply sat down in the sand after placing some mats and checked her things.
"Dick! Get in here! The water is great!" she heard Natalie screaming for her.
Agami shook her head and showed the woman her left arm to indicate she wasn't yet ready to take a swim.
She went back to checking her things and remembered something. Agami immediately opened her school bag and got the camera out of it, sliding the switch of the camera to turn it on and releasing it quickly, only to feel its lenses moving, which means one thing.
"Holy shit!" she yelled excitedly to herself.
"What is it?" she heard someone ask.
Agami looked at the person who just spoke and realized it was Jackie, who's lying in the sand not far from her with Mari, and both are looking at her. She showed them the camera as she replied to the girls.
"It's still working!"
She positioned herself properly in front of the two, and the girls posed happily. After taking a picture of Mari and Jackie, Agami stood up and walked near the water, where everyone was still swimming.
"Girls!" she called everyone, who immediately shifted their gaze at her and became all excited when they noticed what she was holding.
She took a few pictures of them, capturing their smiles as if they were just out there for an outing. It was great because it was the happiest she had seen everyone since the plane crashed. Agami also took a few pictures of Taissa and Akilah, who were just chilling in the sand, and even Misty with the coach, who passed out again.
What she saw next was Lottie staring somewhere and just standing a few feet away from everyone. Agami checked her surroundings, and when she realized that they were all busy having fun, she took a quick picture of Lottie, not letting the opportunity of the beautiful scenery of the lake and the woman go to waste, and captured it in one frame.
Finally, before she turned the camera off to conserve its battery, Agami took a few steps back and captured one last picture of the lake. But everybody stopped what they were doing when Lottie called everyone's attention.
"Guys! Look," she said, pointing at somewhere on the hill.
They all looked at where she was pointing. Agami only got confused about what she saw.
"What is that?"
"It looks like a reflection."
"Guys, there's something on the hill!"
"Come on! Let's go!"
She simply followed everyone who decided to move again and checked what they saw after getting dressed. Unlike their hike earlier, it only took no more than five minutes to reach it.
The girls ran excitedly upon seeing what it was. A small cabin made of wood, covered in ivies and moss, and looking simply like an abandoned shelter. She only watched the girls enter the cabin and stand outside. Her eyes then widened in realization.
"An abandoned cabin in the middle of a forest. Yeah, this can't be fucking good," she whispered to herself nervously.
When she shifted her gaze to the side, Agami realized it wasn't just her who didn't enter the house immediately. There was Lottie, standing not far from her and looking skeptical about the cabin just as she was.
Their eyes met, and Agami felt her heart beating faster than usual. It was as if she knew that she and Lottie felt the same thing.
Agami isn't a religious person or superstitious. But for her, there are also things in the world that cannot be explained by merely science or calculations. The only thing she can do at the moment is hope that whatever is going to happen to them once they enter the cabin and seek shelter, everything will remain the same.
Their stare was interrupted when Jackie stormed out of the cabin. Agami ignored the woman and went inside, Lottie walking next to her and still silent. After putting her suitcase and bag on the side, just where other girls' luggages were, Agami then began to explore the cabin.
It was all dusty, and every corner of it was covered with old cobwebs, not to mention the musty smell that completed the ambiance of an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere, looking possibly haunted. The canned goods they found were all expired, but there are other tools and stuff that could be useful for them. Hell, there was even porn.
Then night came. Most of the people were already sleeping peacefully as exhaustion from the long day took over. Since Agami couldn't shake the heavy feeling about the cabin off her system, she decided to get out, ignoring the dangers of the night in the woods.
The wind outside was warm, and the crickets were too loud for the quiet wilderness. It didn't make sense to her how it was more light to feel to stay outside and just stand there rather than lay down on a soft mattress they had found in the cabin and take a nice rest.
Agami stood there, not too distant from the shed but far enough to see the whole place. The cabin really looks like it belongs in the woods, but it will give you the feeling that nobody was supposed to live there and that it should be uninhabited. Her sight landed on the awning patio of the cabin, particularly on what's above it.
She recognized it was a glass window; they'd probably missed noticing it was there upon entering the shelter earlier. Agami stared at it carefully and tried to remember what the ceiling looked like. She ran her hand over her face, wondering how not a single person thought about it.
Agami immediately went inside, entering the cabin light-footed and trying not to disturb any of the girls. And there it is again-the heavy feeling she felt the first time she saw the cabin.
What surprised her was the fact that there was someone holding a gas lamp, standing in the pantry, and doing nothing but looking at the ceiling.
She walked silently and stood beside the woman, who shifted her gaze to her. Agami swallowed the lump forming on her throat when she saw the small opening on the ceiling and the horizontal bars waiting to be climbed up to get there, then stared at Lottie.
The woman handed her the lamp, still not saying a word, and slowly mounted it step by step. Agami watched the woman go up, then followed her immediately afterward. Once she successfully climbed and reached the attic, Agami found Lottie sitting next to the window and staring somewhere behind her with a blank expression.
She then fell to the wooden floor, which created a thump sound, and pulled herself immediately with one hand as the other one held the lamp that helped her see what Lottie was staring at. When her back reached the wall and she realized she couldn't go any further, Agami froze. Her body then started trembling at the sight.
She felt something move not far from her and felt another presence ascending to the attic, but she couldn't take her eyes off what was in front of her and Lottie.
Taissa's upper body popped into the open scuttle attic door, her eyes catching sight of Lottie first.
"Lottie?" Taissa called to the woman sitting by the window. Her attention then shifted towards Agami when she realized that Lottie was not alone in the loft and got confused as to why the other woman was pale and shaking heavily.
"What are you two doing up here?" she asked.
Lottie ignored the woman's question but still responded.
"I told you," she said, her eyes looking with intent.
Taissa turned her head around to see what Agami and Lottie were staring at, only to cover her mouth and stop herself from screaming when she saw a skeleton sitting in a chair. Once she recovered from the shock, Taissa immediately went down and woke the others to inform them about the situation.
The next thing that Agami felt was someone shaking her body.
"Agami, hey. Agami," whispered Natalie, trying to get the woman's attention. When Agami came back to reality, some of the girls were now also in the attic, helping Lottie to stand up and assist her as she went down from the loft.
"C'mon, let's get you down," said Natalie in a gentle voice.
Agami stands up, giving the skeleton one last look before leaving the attic. Travis then comes up with Taissa and Misty, probably to take care of the body, but ignores them as she's not in the right condition to take part in the situation.
She then searched for her bag, rummaged through it with her still shaking hands, and looked for her cigarettes and lighter. Agami then ran outside the cabin, stood not far from the shed, and lit her cigarette. She ignored the looks she was receiving from the others, not giving a damn care that they were now watching her smoke.
Agami took a long suck from the filter tip, inhaling the smoke and blowing it out slowly.
"Hey, you alright?" Van asked Agami.
"I just saw a whole fucking skeleton in the attic, Palmer." Agami scoffed at the woman but was not hostile, then took another puff from her still-lit cigarette.
They watched as the girls dug not far from them, preparing the hole where they would bury the skeleton.
"How's Charlotte?" Agami asked Van, who then pointed to the right side of the cabin.
"Laura Lee seems to be doing a great job talking to her. She was all silent earlier, probably just as shocked as you," replied the red-haired woman.
She once again met Lottie's eyes. The woman was giving her a serious look. Agami was the one to break their eye contact by shifting her gaze to the side.
After one last puff from the cigarette, Agami threw it to the ground and used her foot to kill its ember. She felt a little better and relaxed, unlike earlier.
"There really is something wrong in this place," Agami whispered.
"You sound like Lottie," Van replied.
Agami took a deep breath. "Why? You think finding someone's skeleton in an attic in a cabin in the middle of nowhere is right and normal?"
Van stared at Agami after hearing that.
"So what if we found a cabin somewhere in the woods? And so what if there are bones in its attic, hmm?" said the red-haired woman, her voice sounding a little hostile.
"Just be thankful we found a shelter in the woods. It was luck," said Van.
Agami didn't reply. Travis and Misty then came out of the cabin carrying the skeleton wrapped in a blanket, with Taissa walking behind them holding a rifle. They didn't waste any seconds and placed it in the hole the girls made and put the soil that they dug back in it to bury it.
Was it? Are they really lucky? Agami thought.
"Rest. Maybe you'll feel better tomorrow."
They all went inside after that, going back to their disturbed sleep. Agami lay down beside Laura Lee, her body curled up like a ball as she held tight to the blanket covering her body.
It took her a few more hours before she finally fell asleep, and the last thing she heard was Natalie talking to Lottie, assuring the woman that they'd already buried what they found in the attic, only for Lottie to reply that bad things happened in the cabin that she can agree with.