I wake up some time during the night, with Austin still wrapped around me tightly. I hear noises all around me, but I decide that they are just different insects, so I close my eyes and try to fall back to sleep. But when I do, it's not for long. The sun rises and the howls start. Austin and I sit up immediately, and look around us. I don't see anything but I hear a lot of noises.
It doesn't take long for the wolf pack to appear, and surround us. Austin stands up slowly, and I do the same. They are doing what they did to us yesterday, and I don't see a way out this time.
"I have a plan." Austin says.
I don't see what it could be, it looks like we should just stay here and be their breakfast.
"I'm going to run that way." He nods his head in the direction, "And you're going to run the way you think is the direction of camp. I'll distract them by running first, so they shouldn't be following you." He says.
I just look at him. He has to be kidding, right?
"Not going to happen." I tell him.
"Yes it is." He says firmly.
"I'm not going anywhere without you." I tell him.
"You have to." He says.
"No because what are you going to do? Run farther away from camp and get eaten by them?" I ask, tears forming in my eyes.
He turns to me slowly and rests his hands on my shoulders. He slouches and looks into my eyes, "I need you to be safe. This is the only way. Don't worry about me." He says.
I shake my head at him and tears start to fall. How can he be doing this to me?
He goes back to his previous position, and looks around, "When I start to run, you better run too." He tells me.
I don't reply. I just shake my head and start feeling sick to my stomach, "Ally, no matter what happens, just know that, I care about you more than anything." He says, and with that, he takes off.
I freeze for a moment, and the wolf pack runs after him. I watch them for a moment before remembering Austin's words. I look around and run in the direction I assume is where the plane might be. I keep running as long as I can, and take a break against a tree. I start to cry hard, thinking of what could be going on right now. I get myself together and start again.
It takes forever, but oddly enough, I went in the right direction and I see the piece of plane in the distance. I run over and stop In front of the familiar faces sitting around the -not yet started- fire.
They all stop whatever they were doing and stare at me. Frank and Thomas jump up and run over to me. I kneel down on my leg and catch my breath.
"Where's Austin?" Are the first words that escape Thomas' mouth.
"I don't know; somewhere in the woods being chased by wolves." I say.
"What?" Frank asks in a half shout.
"We got lost running from them yesterday. And today they found us and he ran the opposite way so I could get back here. And now I have no idea where he is or if he's okay." I say, and I start to cry again.
"Why would he do that?" Wanda says. Daniel and Rick take the twins off somewhere, swimming, I suppose.
"I told him not to do it. I didn't want to run. But he made me." I say.
"Well this isn't good!" Frank yells.
I shake my head, tears still streaming and I run into the plane. I sit down in my spot, but I look at the spot where Austin used to lay and I start to cry harder, and the feeling of wanting to throw up comes. I run out of the plane and sit at the fire pit alone. Everyone's somewhere else and I'm glad to be alone. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. I need Austin, like really need him.
I stare at the pit of burned wood and try to block out my thoughts. Just last night I realized how I couldn't be here without Austin, and now I'm here without him. Will he come back? Will he be able to find his way here? Is he okay? Well so much for blocking out my thoughts.
Thomas walks over to me and where he appeared from, I don't know. He sits down across from me and I can feel his eyes on me. But I don't bring them off of the fire pit. My face is red and puffy from crying just moments ago, and I don't want Thomas to see my weakness.
"He told you how much he cares about you, didn't he?" He asks. I don't know why he is bringing this up at such a terrible time. Maybe so he can understand why I'm so upset. If I didn't care for Austin, would I be this upset? Well of course. I even cried a little when Caroline died, and I didn't care for her. But it's Austin.
The only reply I can do is nod. He sighs and picks up a stick, and starts tearing off pieces of it, "I bet he's fine. He'll be back soon." He says. I just shrug at him.
"I mean, it's Austin. He's a tough guy. He can take care of himself." He says.
"Not if he gets hurt." I whisper.
"We should look for him." Thomas says.
I finally look up at him, "We should." I agree.
"When everyone comes back from swimming, we will talk to them about it." He says.
I nod at him again and get up. I go into the plane and sit down on Austin's side. I hug my legs to my chest tightly and rock back and forth. If we don't find him today, there's no way I can sleep here tonight, feeling his absence.
I stay in my position for awhile until I hear multiple voices outside. I jump up and go outside and everyone is in a circle with Thomas in the middle. He must be telling him a plan. I join them on one side, in between Wanda and Tiffany. Everyone looks at me oddly, and it must be because of how terrible I look from crying so much today. They must think there is something going on between me and Austin because of my reaction to him being gone, but right now, I don't care what they think.
"We're going to split up. Ally's going to be with me. Tiffany, Rick and Wanda you're going to be with each other. And so are Frank, Daniel and the twins. Leave something on the path you walk if you're not going to be sure how to get back. And be back before dark, got it?" Thomas says.
Everyone nods, except me. I don't want to stop search when it gets dark. I want to stop the search when we find him.
Everyone gathers a backpack and packs it with jerky and water and I stand impatiently as they do it. Thomas walks over to me with his backpack and looks me over, "Where's your stuff?" He asks.
"Don't need anything." I tell him.
"You'll need food to bring." He says, walking back towards where we keep the food.
"I'm not hungry." I yell to him.
"You will be eventually." He says. I sigh and put my hands on my hips and wait for him to get back. I just want to start already.
Finally he walks over, right past me and into the woods. I jog up to him to catch up and we start our search. I show him the direction I came from this morning, seeing how I knew from there the direction Austin had ran. I don't know where the others went, since they left before us.
It takes a while, but we get to the spot where Austin and I spent the night. I can tell because we forgot to grab the blanket. I notice it and run up to it. I pick it up and inhale the slight smell of Austin. I hold back tears, and Thomas just watches me.
"So where did he run to?" He asks.
I point in the direction that he went. Thomas nods and heads that way. I roll up the blanket and hold it as I follow Thomas.
We walk in silence for a while, looking all around us. I try to look for clues that Austin has been here. Like maybe a spot in the long grass he may have sat in, or maybe he could have found something that he could leave for a clue for us. But what we find is; nothing.