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They had been walking for close to six hours when they stopped for a break. They had woken up at the crack of dawn and after they had cleared their campsite and packed, Jayden had quickly scaled the trunk of a towering oak to try to figure out their position.
It was to no avail however and after some deliberations, they had decided that based on their vague knowledge of the geography of the area, it would be best if they walked in a southerly direction.
After that had been decided, the problem then arose as to which way was south. It took some arguing and a few head scratches before Jayden rolled his eyes and pointed out that the sun rises from the east. Therefore, as the sun was rising directly in their right, the south would be directly behind them.
That decided, they proceeded to trudge through the forest with a tiny seed of hope blossoming in their chest. That hope immediately wilted when Cam raised the issue of water a few moments later.
They all glanced gravely at one another and Jayden mentally slapped himself when he realized that they had missed a perfectly good opportunity to collect water when it had rained the night before.
They continued walking after Noel had suggested that changing their course to a south-western one might increase their chances of hitting a stream. After all, the Silver Lake on the school grounds was fed by many streams and rivers, flowing from the forest.
Therefore, it was with this faint sense of hopelessness that they trudged through the forest until they finally came to rest as the sun was reaching its zenith in the azure sky.
‘I can’t go any longer,’ Leo gasped as he fell against the trunk of a tree.
‘Neither can I,’ Noel stated as he crashed down beside Leo.
Samuel and Cam sat down opposite them and Paul began handing out berries he had picked earlier.
Charles continued to remain standing. ‘We’ve been walking forever and we haven’t come anywhere close to any stream, river, spring, or even a puddle!’
Jayden was staring up, studying the sun’s position. He looked down and glared at Charles. ‘So what do you suggest we do, bonehead?’
Charles ignored the insult. ‘Shh, I’m thinking.’
Jayden looked incredulous. ‘With what? To do that you need a brain which is something you sorely lack.’
‘Ouch,’ Leo muttered, quickly stuffing his face with berries to hide his smile when Charles shot a dirty glare his way.
Charles continued to glare at him before he went on. ‘I suggest we split up. We’ll cover more ground quickly and if one group finds help, they’ll lead it to the rest.’
‘That’s a bad idea,’ Samuel said quietly.
‘It is,’ Paul reiterated firmly. ‘Don’t be stupid.’
Jayden scoffed. ‘That’s like telling the sky not to be blue. He can’t help it, it’s his nature.’
‘Look,’ Noel stepped in quickly, noticing the clench in Charles’s fist. ‘We don’t know what’s out there and where we are. I think it’s best if we stick together for now so if anything happens at least we have one another.’
Charles gritted his teeth and said nothing. He moved to sit against the trunk of a willow and glared sullenly at the rest of them.
Jayden looked up once more at the sky. ‘We’ll rest here for a while and continue once the sun begins its descent.
They sat under the cool shade of the trees, munching on berries and talking amongst themselves. They had been walking nonstop for many hours and their exhaustion, coupled with the noonday heat soon forced their eyes close in a tired nap.
They were so exhausted that the sun was well on its way to setting when they finally woke up. They stretched lazily and set off once more on their journey as dusk begun to fall.
They walked until darkness had completely fallen before stopping to set up camp. As they had done in the beginning, Cam and Leo set up the parachute-made-tents with Noel’s help. Charles and Paul set out to look for edible roots, berries, and fruits whiles Jayden and Samuel got the firewood.
Jayden and Samuel were out gathering pieces of wood in silence when Jayden noticed the strange thing about it. They were working in silence. Samuel never did anything in silence if he could help it. He seemed allergic to any type of quietness whatsoever, always preferring to fill the space with needless chatter.
Jayden was of course, enjoying this nice change so he didn’t mention it, intending to prevent anything from ruining it. That didn’t stop him from casting a worried glance at him however as they walked back to the clearing where they had set up their campsite.
They soon gathered around the campfire, roasting mushrooms that Paul had deemed safe to consume.
‘Man, I can’t wait for some proper dinner.’ Charles sighed as the fire crackled beneath his mushroom stick. ‘Grilled chicken, lasagna, roasted turkey, sizzling fries, steaming noodles, blood-red steak, bacon-‘
‘That’s enough,’ Cam cut in with a groan. He clutched his stomach and glared at the pitiful mushroom sizzling on the end of his stick. ‘You’re making me hungry.’
Leo sighed. ‘I agree with Charles. I could use some of those right about now, except the bacon. I don’t like bacon. Lmao, I haven’t even seen a pig.’
‘Look in the mirror, you’ll find one,’ Cam stated with a snicker.
Leo shoved him and tackled him to the ground, tickling him mercilessly until he gasped for mercy.
‘Knock it off,’ Paul said, kicking them with the tip of his shoe though he was smiling at their antics.
‘Leave them be,’ Jayden spoke up in a bored voice. ‘Let’s try to figure out what we’re going to do about the water.’
‘We can survive from the water in the fruits and berries I collect,’ Paul said. ‘Though it would barely be enough.’
‘Also next time it rains we would be ready and collect as much as we can,’ Noel piped up.
Jayden nodded. ‘Until then, we can drink the dew from leaves every morning.’
‘Yeah we can also, squeeze water from tree roots,’ Charles added snarkily.
Jayden gave him a straight look. ‘Common sense doesn’t exist in your vocabulary, does it?’
‘I was being sarcastic, idiot.’ Charles responded with an eyeroll.
‘Whatever, let’s just stick to the plan.’
‘Don’t you remember my plan?’ Charles asked.
‘I’m trying hard to forget.’
‘Hold on, don’t let it go just yet.’ Charles went on excitedly. ‘I’ve made some improvements. To increase our chances of surviving, we should split up. Hold on, listen. If we split up say into groups of two, we can spread out and search for water and help. This would increase our chances for surviving exponentially.’
‘Or decrease it drastically,’ Cam muttered.
‘That’s a chance we should take because together we’re just squabbling ducks. We need to divide ourselves in order to be more efficient. It’s basic economics.’
‘Or basic stupidity,’ Jayden added with a bored look.
Charles ignored him. ‘Any questions?’ he asked the group.
Jayden gave him a long stare. ‘Oh, I have several. First, this can’t possibly be the sperm that won? I’m almost sure you swam backwards down your mom’s tube.’ He shook his head and turned away. ‘Not a ringing endorsement for your father’s capabilities now are you?’
Charles’s eyes blazed. ‘You are an argument in favour for why we should split up?’
‘And you are an argument in favour of abortions,’ Jayden calmly replied.
‘Let’s put it to a vote then,’ he swung around to face the others. ‘All those in favour of splitting up raise hands.’
No one raised their hand.
‘Fine,’ Charles spat. ‘I’ll just go by myself.’
He swung around and began marching off into the forest. Noel stood up quickly but it was Samuel who blocked his path.
‘Sit down.’
Charles glared at him and stepped off to the side, intending to walk past him. Samuel just blocked him again.
‘Don’t be stupid. You’re going off into the forest in the night by yourself. Do you have a death wish?’
‘It’s better than being stuck with those two weirdos,’ he spat, pointing at Cam and Leo.
‘Hey,’ Leo protested loudly.
‘A snobbish prince,’ he pointed to Paul who just frowned back.
‘A penniless brat,’ he gestured to Noel, causing a look of hurt to flash across his face.
‘And a spoilt teenager who thinks he knows it all,’ he jabbed at Jayden.
‘I don’t know it all, just more than you.’ Jayden bit back smugly.
Charles threw his hands up and stormed off. Samuel shook his head and went after him, dragging him back and shoving him on the ground.
‘Sit.’
‘Let him go, we don’t need him.’ Leo argued.
‘Yeah,’ Paul agreed. ‘If he wants to kill himself, why stop him?’
‘I second that,’ Cam contributed.
‘Shut up, all of you!’ Samuel snapped suddenly in a loud voice.
Everyone kept quiet and stared at him in shock. No one had seen the always smiling, happy-go-lucky Samuel angry before and it was frightening.
Samuel’s voice was terse as he shouted. ‘This is not the time to be hurling our differences at each other. If we can’t work together and get on at least civilly if not nicely then what’s the point! We should abandon all hope and just give up. Why bother trying if we can’t get along to save ourselves. We might as well lay down and wait for death because there would be no FUCKING DIFFERENCE!’
No one spoke. They were too ashamed and honestly more than a little frightened to speak. It was scary to see Samuel this way and even Jayden’s face couldn’t hide the surprise he felt.
Samuel closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. ‘We’re going to sort out our differences right here and then we’re all going to hug and make up.’
‘But,’ Leo spoke up tentatively but Samuel shot him down with a glare.
‘No buts, if you insist like acting like children I’m going to treat you like one.’
He turned to Charles and Jayden. ‘The two of you, what’s your deal with each other?’
They stubbornly turned their face away in sullen silence, neither refusing to speak. Samuel’s glare increased dangerously until Charles gulped before speaking.
‘Well, he always treat me as if I’m stupid and it really irks me. I’m not stupid, I’m actually very smart, I am in Aquila after all.’
Samuel nodded and turned to Jayden. ‘Why do you treat him like he is stupid?’
Jayden shrugged. ‘I don’t know maybe I wouldn’t if he didn’t bully and look down on my friend, making him feel less of a human because of his class.’
‘That brings us to the next problem,’ Samuel went on and turned to Charles. ‘Why do you bully and treat Noel as less of a person? Just because he doesn’t have a lot of money doesn’t mean you’re better than him.’
Charles bit his lip and sighed. ‘I know but that’s what I’ve been taught all my life.’
Samuel frowned. ‘The fact that you know it and still do it suggests that there is another deeper reason.’
Charles looked down and said nothing.
Samuel studied him and nodded. ‘That’s fine. It’s your personal problems so you don’t have to tell us but DON’T let it affect anyone especially Noel. Is that clear?’
Charles hesitated before nodding slowly.
‘Now say something nice to him, something you like about him.’
Charles hesitated before speaking. ‘You’re extremely brilliant and I admire the way you’ve survived my bullying though it irks me.’
Noel’s eyes widened before looking down quickly in embarrassment.
‘Now say something nice to Jayden.’
Charles glared at Jayden before muttering, ‘You are very resourceful and I admire how nothing ever escapes your notice.’
Samuel turned to Jayden. ‘Your turn.’
Jayden frowned and crossed his arms but a glare from Samuel had him uncrossing them with an eyeroll. ‘Fine. You are very… brave. I admire how you are able to walk around in those clothes with no shame whatsoever.’
Samuel sighed, knowing that was the best he was going to get from him. ‘Alright, all of you gather around.’
He waited until they had gathered around him before continuing. ‘I know it’s frightening and I know we’re all scared. None of us know whether we’ll be able to survive and go home. We can and the only way we can is if we put aside our differences and work together.’
He stuck his fist out. ‘Are you willing to do that?’
Paul stuck his fist out to meet his. ‘I am.’
Cam and Leo followed. ‘I am,’ they each said.
Noel smiled and stuck his out. ‘So am I.’
Charles and Jayden glanced at each other and nodded before adding their fist to the rest.
Samuel smiled at them. ‘Then let’s do this.’
Later that night, when everyone had dispersed to their tents and the fire had died down to glowing embers, Jayden strode across to sit by Samuel who was staring up at the stars through the canopy of trees.
They sat in silence with the only sounds coming from the chirping of crickets. They sat like this for a while until Jayden finally sighed, making up his mind. Apparently, he didn’t want to be happy in this life.
‘I guess I should apologize for shooting you in the face.’
Samuel blinked and turned to him in surprise. ‘What?’
Jayden sighed again. ‘I’m sorry for shooting you in the face.’
Samuel stared at him in shock before his face broke out in a beaming smile. ‘I didn’t expect you to apologize. I thought you didn’t care.’
‘Trust me so did I,’ Jayden muttered under his breath.
Samuel didn’t hear him. He continued to beam at him before turning back stare up at the sky.
‘I forgive you.’
They continued to sit in what was now a comfortable silence. A wolf howled in the far distance.
‘Jayden?’
‘Mhh?’
‘Do you think we’ll get home?’
Jayden sighed. ‘I don’t know. I really don’t know,’ he said honestly as the nightlife of the forest stirred slowly awake around them.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Sorry this chapter took a while I wasn’t comfortable with the previous chapter so I had to fix it first.
Anyway enjoy🤗.
Do you think they would manage to leave the forest in one piece? Is Jayden thawing toward Samuel?
Lemme know what you think in the comments and please don’t forget to light up the star if you enjoyed the chapter.
Always.
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