Chapter Ten

Eric and Dawson were walking along the beach, again, calling out names. They had left Luke at the cave to get a fire started.

"So do you have a girlfriend?" Eric asked him.

Dawson shook his head. "No, but I did meet an interesting girl the other day." He thought back to Jen getting out of the cab.

"Hey, what's that?" Eric suddenly asked.

Dawson looked at where Eric was pointing. There were footprints in the sand. They hurried over to them.

"There's at least six different prints here," Eric said, thinking of his wife and 5 kids.

"Let's follow them," Dawson said.

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"Maybe we should start walking again," Annie suggested after awhile.

"Mom, I think we should stay," Matt told her.

"I totally second that," Lorelai said.

"And chances are if anyone's looking for us, they'll find us if we stay where we are," Rory spoke up.

"That's true," Joey said.

"I'm all for staying," Pacey said, leaning on his elbow.

"Well, then, why don't you kids go gather some wood or something," Annie told them. "We may need it later."

"Okay," Matt said, standing up. The other 3 stood up also. They walked away from Annie and Lorelai. "Hey, I have an idea," matt told them. "We should split up and a couple of us will look for wood and the other 2 will look for food, like fruit or something."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Rory agreed.

"Okay," Joey said. "Pacey and I will look for wood."

"We'll look for food," Matt said. He and Rory turned to go into the trees. "So...do you have a boyfriend?"

"Wow, you get straight to the point don't you?" Rory said, as she walked.

"Just trying to make conversation."

Rory hesitated. "No, I don't. I never have. What about you? A girlfriend?"

He chuckled. "No."

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Joey and Pacey walked through the trees looking for wood that they could burn. They found plenty of scattered wood everywhere. As pacey picked up some wood, he looked over to see Joey leaned against a tree, about to cry.

"What's the matter?" Pacey asked her.

"I'm worried about Dawson," she replied, her voice wavering. "And I'm worried about us. What's going to happen to us?"

"Don't worry," Pacey told her. "Everything will be okay. There's probably already people out looking for us."

"You're right," she said, wiping away the tears that had started to form. "I'm sure they'll find us."

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"Do you think we should start walking again?" Mary asked Jen.

"If we stay here, they'll have a better chance of finding us," Lucy spoke up.

"But what if they don't?" Jen asked. "We need to at least find some shelter."

"Right," Mary agreed. She turned to Simon and Ruthie who were still playing in the water. "Simon! Ruthie! Come on, we're going!"

Simon and Ruthie came running out of the water.

"Where are we going?" Simon asked.

"I have no idea," Mary said, starting to walk.