The Silent Forest
Summary: A field trip becomes a nightmare when the gang is separated from the rest of the group in the middle of a vast forest. Things go from bad to worse when they discover that they are not alone.
Pairings: Chaylor, Troyella and some mild Zekepay. Ryan will also feature but with no pairing.
Disclaimer: Yep, I own it. *Keeps dreaming*
Warnings: Possible character death(s). Rated T for some language and quite a bit of violence/blood. Probable spelling and grammar mistakes due to my lack of beta.
11. Good Morning
Ryan rolled over to turn off his wailing alarm clock; its harsh, high-pitched screeching grating at his ears. It was way too early in the morning. He was tired. He was cold. He couldn't find his duvet. And he didn't want to go to school. It took him a while of groggy fumbling, but he finally located the source of the noise. And it was no clock.
Sharpay. Screaming. First thing in the morning. Why?
He almost smiled when he remembered where they were. Now, it made sense.
He sat up with a start, noticing that the others were also being woken by Sharpay's shrieks. She was still beside him, as she had been last night when they'd fallen asleep, but sat upright with her back to them.
"What's happening?" Gabriella mumbled, struggling to wake up and looking around her with confusion.
They were all in the same obscured state of being half-asleep; not certain what was real and what wasn't. By now, Sharpay's wails had subsided to repeated gasps and whimpers. Ryan put a hand on her shoulder and she jumped and clambered backwards on her hands. When she turned to look at him, her face was damp with tears.
Before, she had been blocking their view, but now that she had crawled out of their line of sight, the others could see what had caused her such alarm.
Zeke.
At first glance, he just seemed to be sleeping, undisturbed by Sharpay's noise. Upon further inspection, it was clear that he was not.
"Oh my god…" Taylor whispered, swallowing down the sick that had risen in her throat. She turned away to bury herself in Chad's arms but found, to her surprise, he wasn't there. She recalled what at the time she'd thought was a dream but now, she realised, was real. Chad had woken her as he got up to 'take a leak' earlier on. It hadn't been as long ago as she'd thought as he had yet to return. When he did come back, he'd be in for a huge, distressing surprise.
Troy moved hurriedly to Zeke's side and began to shake the unnaturally pale and motionless boy. "Zeke!" He yelled. "Zeke!"
Gabriella stood up and backed off. She couldn't look at him. It couldn't be real. He couldn't be…. "No." She muttered, holding her head in her hands. She bent over and ran her fingers through her hair. "Please… no!"
"Come on, buddy." Troy continued to shake Zeke, becoming more and more forceful as Zeke showed no response.
"Tell me he's okay." Sharpay begged while weeping. "Please, just tell me… tell me he's not-…." Her body shook and her face crumpled as she broke down and bawled like a baby.
Troy fell backwards onto his bottom with defeat. Zeke wasn't waking up. "Shit, man…." He blubbered, sniffing. He wiped his arm over his face before burying his fingers and his gaze deep into the soil beneath him.
Taylor couldn't think. If Zeke was dead then this was real. Their dreams of getting home safe and sound were crushed. If one of them had died, what was to stop the rest of them from dying too; if not from starvation then from the various traps that had been laid out seemingly everywhere? If Zeke was dead…. This forest was deadly. They needed to get out of there.
"Shit!" Troy said again loudly, slamming his muddy fist into the ground. He got to his feet and walked a few paces away. It was unbearable. This whole thing. Zeke was gone. Despite their efforts, they hadn't saved him. His life had been in their hands. And now he was dead.
"Why is this happening?" Gabriella thought aloud, retuning to the panicked state she'd been in the morning before; when they'd woken to find their belongings gone. Everything was wrong. Zeke shouldn't have died. Even though she'd known it would happen from the moment she saw his injury, she never really knew it would be like this.
They were dying off. The prospect of being found had disappeared. It was only a matter of time before another one of them became victim to one of the dangerous traps. Only a matter of time before another one of them lost their life. One down…
"We have to get out of here." Ryan sniffed. This was it. They couldn't hang around. They were starving. They were tired. One of them had died. It seemed to him that if they didn't get out of that forest today then they had no chance of surviving to the end of the week.
Sharpay shook her head. "No." She wiped away her tears, straightened her back and held her head up high. She had to be strong. She'd had her fair share of weak moments in the last few days. She had to be strong now. That's how Zeke would have wanted it. He loved it when she was fierce. "We can't leave him." Zeke had only just died and Ryan was already trying to move on; forget it, like he wasn't one of them.
"It's not safe for us out here." Ryan insisted. He wouldn't have anyone else die. Not his friends. And definitely not his sister. They didn't need to die. If they could just find a way home….
Sharpay was about to protest again but Gabriella spoke first.
"It's not safe anywhere." She said quietly, exactly what Sharpay had planned to say. It was just a whisper, almost inaudible, but the grief and despair in her voice was clear and evident.
Taylor understood her friends point but she wasn't prepared to sit around any longer; waiting for death. "At least we'll have a better chance of getting out of here if we move." She said.
Troy nodded. "She's right."
Both Gabriella and Sharpay strongly disagreed. "No," Sharpay said. "She's not right. If we move we're more likely to be caught in…" She paused to glance at Zeke. "Traps." The image of the bear trap flashed in her mind.
"So you'd rather wait to starve to death?" Ryan asked his sister with shock. This was not Sharpay. Sharpay was a fighter. She never gave up. She never cowered away. She never chickened-out.
"I'd rather survive!" She bit back, suddenly quite irritated. She'd seen Zeke die. She'd seen him get caught in a trap out there. And now some of the others were seriously considering continuing their quest. As if they hadn't seen the dangers. It was stupid.
"We're going, Sharpay." Troy told her with certain finality. They didn't have time for this. And, as far as he saw it, there was no argument. Moving on was the only sensible option.
But Gabriella was having none of it. "You can't tell us what to do." She said defiantly. "I'm not going anywhere. We're safer here than out there." She pointed in no particular direction. All their journeys into the forest had ended badly. Troy seemed to have forgotten that, just the day before, they had almost died while following a rope deeper into the woods. A rope. Thinking back, it had probably been set out there just to lead them into that trap. They'd been stupid enough to follow.
"Gabriella," Taylor said harshly. She thought her friend was smarter than this. Less naïve. Clearly, she'd been wrong. "Don't be so ignorant." Gabriella frowned at Taylor. That was unnecessary. "We're safer at home." Taylor continued, putting emphasis on the final word. "The only way we can get there is if we move."
"Don't call me ignorant." Gabriella retaliated defensively, not even listening to Taylor's argument. They were supposed to be best friends. Best friends don't insult each other.
Taylor faltered. "Sorry," She muttered. "I was just saying-."
"You were just saying," Sharpay interrupted. "That you think we're stupid." Taylor tried to deny it but Sharpay was still going. "Well, we'll see who's stupid when you go out there and end up dead."
Taylor reeled back as if Sharpay's words had physically hit her.
"There was no need for that, Sharpay." Troy defended Taylor, seeing how the words had affected her.
Taylor was ready to fight back. "So you're just gonna sit by his body, huh?" She asked Sharpay rhetorically. She looked at Gabriella for an answer. "Huh? Watch him rot?"
Ryan gasped at her crude wording. "Taylor!"
She ignored him. This sugar-coating had gone on too long. She was sick of walking on eggshells. The gloves were off. And Sharpay was ready to fight back. She got to her feet and approached Taylor.
"You're sick." She hissed.
Taylor was unfazed. "And you're stupid," She replied. "If you think that any good will come of staying here. I'm trying to help you." She meant it. She knew that maybe she'd been a bit rude. Very rude. And inappropriate. But she didn't want to see her friends starve to death. She didn't want to go down without a fight.
Sharpay shook her head. "Uh-uh." She said. "No. You're trying to be a smart-ass. As usual. You always have to have the answer, don't you?" Sharpay could feel herself getting carried away. She hated the words that were coming out of her mouth but she couldn't stop them. Even as she saw the sadness in Taylor's eyes. "But you're wrong, Taylor. Deal with it."
"You know what," Taylor said as she threw her hands in the air with defeat. "Fuck it." She said simply, a small sarcastic smile twisting her lips. "You wanna stay? Stay. 'Cos I'm done with you. I'm getting out of here with or without you." She shook her head. "You're not even worth it."
Sharpay took a step closer to Taylor so their noses were almost touching. They stared each other down, neither of them faltering. "Good luck with that." Sharpay said bitterly. "Remember to stay away from rivers though, yeah?"
Ryan put a hand on his sister's shoulder and began to pull her back. Things were now getting a little too heated between the girls and he knew what she could be like when she got vicious. He even thought that, if nothing was done to stop the two girls, things might even get physical. Sharpay allowed herself to be pulled away but didn't take her eyes of Taylor's for even a second. Taylor raised an eyebrow in an almost smug manner. She was trying to act like she didn't care but, in all honesty, both girls knew that things had gone too far.
It was just crazy. Cracks were definitely starting to show. And you couldn't really blame them. They'd barely eaten or slept. They were living each day in fear. They'd seen one of their best friends die. It wasn't surprising that they'd had a bit of a snap at each other, even if it had got a bit out of hand.
Taking the moment of silence as an opportunity to speak, Troy cleared his throat and asked a question that had been bothering him since soon after discovering Zeke's demise. "Where's Chad?" He'd noticed his friend's absence almost instantly, but in all the commotion he hadn't yet had a chance to ask.
Taylor finally tore her gaze from Sharpay. She turned to Troy. "He went to pee." She told him, traces of anger still evident in her voice.
He nodded but didn't seem at all satisfied with the answer. "When?"
Taylor shrugged. It was an odd question. "I don't know." She answered. "Earlier this morning?" Now, she was starting to realise why Troy had asked. Chad still wasn't back. And now that she thought about it, he couldn't have been gone a lot longer than she'd initially supposed. "Could have been last night… It was definitely dark." She raised a hand to her mouth as it finally dawned on her.
Chad was missing.
A/N: Sorry for the wait. Things have been a bit crazy. That was a depressing chapter, sorry. I'm sorry for the death and the conflict (But you know you love it really.) And I'm sorry Zeke. I love him, I do. Stay tuned for the next chapter because... gosh, it's mental! I won't give anything away but, in my opinion, it's pretty freaky. And LONG! I had to cut it in half because it's so darn long. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one. Please review!
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