So this was kind of like a small, welcome to the rainforest, good luck surviving, piece of a chapter. Hope you like it! And, yeah, sorry about the wait.
Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue. I do not own, you do not sue.
"What in the hell was that?" Mike whispers shakily, waking me from my restless slumber.
I sit up from my place on the ground, underneath one of the many trees in the small clearing of the rainforest. The plants here are impossibly tall, growing so close together that we couldn't even get a glimpse at what lay past our temporary little safe-haven. Tomorrow morning, Jayden and I are going scavenging for water and other supplies, while Kevin stays here with Mike and Mia, who are too weak to make such a trek. I don't know how we'll make it through such thick brush with nothing but two mere pocket knives. I don't know how we'll protect ourselves out here with nothing but two pocket knives. The thought makes my skin crawl. And then I realize that Mike, who is on watch, is sitting up rigidly, staring intently into the overgrowth that we can't see past, and I remember suddenly what awoke me. Something must be out there.
Suddenly rather panicked, I listen about me intently, but I hear nothing out of place. The night is silent, disturbed only by my shaky breaths and the remains of the small fire crackling up into the canopy of leaves overhead. We found a single box of matches, and decided to ration them, only using one per night. Unfortunately, even Kevin couldn't manage to coax a flame from the wood that we found here, so when those matches run out, we're as good as dead. But, if Jayden and I don't find water tomorrow, we really are dead. If we make it through the night to find out.
"What's wrong?" I ask, my voice sounding loud against the quiet of the night.
"Shh!" Mike hisses back at me, clearly afraid but trying not to show it.
At this, Jayden stirs and is on his feet almost immediately. He rotates around a full 360, looking for the threat, and when he deems everything safe, looks back to us questioningly. Before either of us can answer him, a loud crunching noise coming from the woods does it for us. Jayden swears quietly and then steps into his leader position.
"Stand up, both of you."
I jump up and hurry over to help Mike off the ground. He has, at least, a sprained ankle and a very sore back. But, obviously, we can't tell just how bad his injuries are, so we don't want him to exert himself. Mia, on the other hand, has a badly broken arm. Kevin came out basically unscathed. Jayden seemed to only have some bumps and bruises, but he wouldn't say if he were badly hurt. I was bruised and sore, but okay. We all had various burns and cuts where the shrapnel had hit us, which we took care of last night. Thank heavens for those first aid kits.
"We need to make as much noise as possible." Jayden says, rather confidently. Mike and I look at him like he's grown a second head.
"Have you lost your wits?" I whisper emphatically, still staring at him with wide eyes. He pretends not to have heard me, so I repeat myself louder this time. If he wants noise...
"What is your damage? I think the crash turned your brain to mush."
Mia and Kevin both look up from their make-shift palates and simultaneously ask what's up.
"There's something out there." I say, slightly quieter now, pointing to the general direction of the noise. Almost as if commanded, the noise comes again, louder and closer this time. I begin to run through a mental list of what could possibly be out there: a jaguar, some kind of giant monkey, a serial killer (out here? eh, ya never know.), bigfoot, giraffe, bear, lion. The list is only making me more nervous so I stop. Obviously, I haven't read up on what animals live here.
The noise continues to grow, and not wasting any time, we all stand up and try to make ourselves appear as big and loud as possible. If it had been under different circumstances, we might've looked rather silly, but I guess when your life is on the line that doesn't really matter. After a moment we all stop, having used just about all of the little strength we had left. Suddenly, the noise appears again, crashing through the brush but sounding lighter than it had before. And something else is different about the noise this time: it is going away from us. We listen as it retreats back into the forest until it disappears completely.
But once it's gone, we still listen. Even while we sleep, we listen for the noise.
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