Chapter 4- Watching You
When Gabriel regained his senses, he was laying face down in the dirt in the quickly fading daylight. The musty smell of rotten leaves and decaying matter filled his nostrils, but nothing seemed so beautiful to him in that moment. It meant he was still alive. He lifted his head and blinked until the blurry image of the man he had helped came into view. He sat with his elbows on his knees, looking at him with a worried glare. "Hey, we made it." Gabriel chuckled almost amazed that his crackpot plan worked.
"Yeah, we did." Peter admitted. "But you are pretty banged up." His long bangs fell into his face and he pushed them away with some aggravation.
"So are you!" Gabriel laughed as the irony set in. "Christ man, we survived a plane crash. I am surprised we lived at all, so I will take a few cuts and scrapes. Did you think we would walk away unscathed?"
"No, but you seriously look like hell." Peter replied with an edge to his voice that gave Gabriel pause. "Look, you and I both need first aid if we are going to survive even 12 hours out here. Do you know how many horrible infections are just waiting to happen? The jungle is probably the worst place to be hurt, there are probably hundreds of types of bacteria in the soil that would love nothing more than to feast on your flesh."
Gabriel glanced down at the ground he was laying on and imagined it swarming with tiny microorganisms. He continued to look around and he noticed he was nowhere near the main section of the plane. "How did I get here?" He mumbled looking at Peter.
Peter again pushed his bangs out of his eyes and looked at the ground. "The fire was getting close." He said simply in a low voice. "I dragged you." He admitted.
Gabriel's mouth fell open for a second before he stammered, "But I thought…your legs…"
"They aren't broken." Peter said. "Probably just sprained or something. Anyway, it wasn't like I carried you. I literally drug you. You are heavier than you look! The wrist thing was a good idea, by the way." He complimented gesturing to his own.
Gabriel looked at his left wrist which was now turning a light purple and he laughed imagining the smaller man pulling with all his might to drag his limp carcass along.
"I'm Peter, by the way." He added with an intense look in his eyes, "What's your name?"
"Gabriel." He sighed resting his head on the ground. He felt so tired…just wanted to sleep for a few minutes….
"Dude! Gabriel!" Peter shouted eventually throwing a stick at him when he didn't respond, "Hey! Wake up. You can't go to sleep. We have stuff to do before it gets dark." Peter didn't lie, they had to find shelter at minimum, but really he knew that Gabriel shouldn't sleep if he had a concussion or something. He didn't know exactly why, but the thought that he might die in his sleep had crossed his mind.
"Wha?" Gabriel asked lifting his head in a daze.
"We have to find a place to sleep and we really should try to scavenge what we can like bottled water and food." Peter reminded. He was no survivalist, but even he had the basics covered.
"Ok." Gabriel grumbled slowly pushing himself away from the ground. The man was making logical sense and he couldn't argue with that. The pressing need for basic necessities brought him back around and once again his sharp mind began to focus. "The best chance for finding stuff like that will probably be where I came from. I think there was a galley at the very back. Besides, it is all laying on the side, so very little climbing." He reasoned.
The two men slowly limped toward the tail section in silent agreement. It struck them both odd that the area was so quiet. One would expect to hear birds in the canopy or even the sound of a tree falling somewhere. But the entire area was enveloped in a deadly blanket of stillness, so much so that Peter began to wonder if they were the only two living things for miles. Panic began to grip him and he turned to his companion. "Do you think anyone even knows we are here?"
Gabriel smirked and sarcastically said, "Probably. People tend to take notice when a plane containing hundreds of people goes missing. At least I would like to think so…" Peter frowned at him prompting him to add, "Seriously. Even if they think there are no survivors, the government will send people to find the wreckage so they can figure out what happened. As long as we stay close by, we will be rescued. We will probably be out of here by this time tomorrow."
Peter seemed somewhat more assured by the time they reached the landing site of the first piece of plane to break off. His olive eyes took in the whole scene as though he had not just left one of equal or greater devastation. "I will go in." He declared placing his hands on his hips. "You really shouldn't be climbing around anymore. Just stay here and I will be back."
Gabriel didn't argue. He only nodded with raised eyebrows, secretly intrigued by Peter's sense of determination. It was really no contest anyway. He had absolutely no desire to go back inside and see the still faces of everyone he began his journey with. He didn't want to see the seat he had been trapped in. He made his way to the dorsal rudder which was now horizontal with the ground and climbed up to sit on it. Inside he could hear small movements as Peter rummaged through the mess in search of food.
It was dark in the back of the tail section, but Gabriel was right about it being the location of the galley. Peter was careful when opening hatches and drawers, the contents would often rain down on him. He managed to find the compartment containing the small servings of chicken dinners, each neatly wrapped in a small tray. They looked wholly unappetizing to him and he wondered what he would have been served in first class. He continued to search until he located some packages of crackers and the storage until that contained drinks. He wrapped up 2 cans of Coke with his food in his trusty flannel shirt and crawled past the bodies of people who no longer had need of such things. He tried not to look at their faces, but it was almost a habit.
He located Gabriel and sat next to him while they ingested the small bounty he had located. Peter told him about the dinners, but he laughed and said, "Those would have been disgusting even when they served them fresh on the flight." They continued to eat in silence until Gabriel suggested, "I was thinking we could just sleep up here tonight. It is off the ground and big enough that we won't be all over each other."
Peter agreed, but was uncomfortable with the thought of sleeping so close to dead bodies. He hid a smile as he thought it must have been more frightening to Gabriel for them to accidentally touch one another as they slept. He, a living person, freaked him out worse than corpses. He didn't fully understand it, but he thought it may have had something to do with being in shock, or maybe his brain was scrambled. The two men lay on their backs, albeit almost two feet apart, staring at the stars through the hole in the canopy the wreckage had cleared on impact.
Gabriel was asleep within minutes, but Peter couldn't rest with those damn bodies so close. He quietly sat up and watched Gabriel's chest rise and fall with every breath in a slow and steady rhythm. He knew he shouldn't let him sleep, but as long as he stayed up to make sure he kept breathing, maybe everything would be ok. He just had to keep watching…