Chapter 17: Aiden

We’ve been walking for over three hours, and we haven’t found a thing. Emily’s stumbled and almost fell four times. I don’t know if she’s tired, scared, or so lost in her thoughts she’s not paying attention. Either way, I don’t allow myself to get farther than an arm’s length from her, afraid if I do, she’ll end up seriously hurting herself.

“Okay,” Tom announces and stops. “Let’s take a quick break.”

“Finally,” Emily mumbles.

I drop my backpack to the ground and use it as a seat.

Emily copies me. “My feet are killing me,” she complains.

I glance down at her shoes. She’s wearing a pair of those cheap canvas sneakers that don’t have any support. “Don’t you have actual sneakers?”

She nods. “But I’ve only worn them once. I was afraid they’d be worse than these.” She sticks her foot out to show off her shoe.

I frown. “I think you should put the sneakers on.”

“Maybe you’re right.” She busies herself with getting her sneakers out of her backpack and changing her shoes.

“Here.” Tom hands me two bottles of water—one for me and one for Emily.

“Thanks.” I take them, and when Emily sits back down, I hand her one.

I twist off the top and take a long drink. It’s warm, but at least it’s wet, and it soothes my scratchy throat. I take a moment to look around. Everything looks exactly the same as it did when we left the beach. Trees. Grass. Rocks. Maybe Jason is right and we are wasting our time. Maybe we should’ve followed the shoreline around the island. At least that way we would’ve eventually found our way back to the others.

“We’ll take fifteen minutes and then keep moving,” Tom announces. “We need to find a good spot to make camp before dark.”

“Wait, you mean we’re not going back to the beach tonight?” one of the twins—Sierra—asks. The only reason I know it’s her is because she’s wearing a T-shirt with her name painted across the front.

Tom gives her an incredulous look. “What’s the point? So we can hike back out here in the morning to turn around and go back again tomorrow night?” He shakes his head. “No. We keep going until we find something.”

“And what if we don’t find anything?” asks the other twin, Sienna.

“We will,” he assures with so much confidence, it gives me pause. He’s been out here once before. Did he find something then? What? What does he know that the rest of us don’t?

Tom and the twins carry on their conversation, and I tune them out, focusing on Emily instead. Her complexion is pale, yet her cheeks are red. Sweat makes her hair stick to her forehead, and her shoulders rise and fall heavily with each breath.

“Someone needs to turn off that sun.” Emily uses her hand to shield her eyes. Her tone is snotty and tired, even a little bored.

She’s clearly struggling with the elements and this hike, so I decide to do what I can to help take her mind off things. “If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you want to be? And you can’t say home.”

She gives me an odd look. “What?”

“C’mon, just play along.” I smile.

“Okay. Hmm.” She looks off into the distance, lost in thought. After a moment, she turns back to me. “Does it count if I say right here?” A sly grin spreads across her face.

“You know what I mean.” I tilt my head, giving it a small shake. “I’m just trying to help take our minds off this awful situation.”

“Fine.” She sighs. “Since I was twelve, I’ve always wanted to go to Australia.”

“Why Australia?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I find the whole place to be beautiful.”

“Care to elaborate?” I fake a bad British accent, and she laughs.

“Well, for starters, I’ve heard that Lake Hillier has pink water, and that is something I’ve never seen before.”

“Pink water?” I smirk and try not to laugh.

She narrows her eyes. “Do you want to hear my answer or not?”

This time, I do laugh. “Okay, sorry. Go on.”

“Then there’s the Great Ocean Road, which is one of the world's most scenic coastal drives. I really want to see the Twelve Apostles rock formations, which are these limestone stacks on the road of The Great Ocean Road. I mean, I want to stand next to them and touch them, not just stare at them on my laptop screen.” She laughs. “Oh, and the Katherine Gorge in the Northern Territory. It’s this amazing national park where you can see these thirteen stunning gorges, canoe, boat, or even go in a helicopter.” Her eyes are alight with excitement, and I can’t stop from smiling.

“You’re right. It does sound beautiful.”

She puts her elbow on her knee and props her cheek in her hand. “What about you? If you could be anywhere right now, where would you want to be?”

“With you.” I wink.

Her face flushes, and she quickly turns her head. Did I go too far? I’m almost positive she’s into me like I’m into her, but maybe I’m wrong.

I gently nudge her. “Hey, sorry if I—”

“No, you didn’t.” She smiles warmly. “So, it’s your turn to answer the question.”

“I’ve always wanted to go to Israel. I feel like there is so much to learn about the culture. There are so many natural places to go there—Ein Gedi, Masada, the Kinerat, Tel Aviv, The Western Wall. If you think about it, it really is beautiful. And the religious history…” I stop before I go on too long about something I know she doesn’t really care about. “Of course, I’m just basing everything I’ve said off of what I heard and seen.” I laugh.

“Someday we’ll get to go on these vacations. Maybe together,” she says so softly I have to strain to hear her.

My heart pounds loudly in my chest, and I have to stop myself from putting my arm around her and pulling her closer. “Definitely,” I say. I can see the shift in her demeanor—the slump of her shoulders, the way her eyes dull. She’s getting bored. Or sad. And all I want to do is make her laugh again. “Tell me, Emily, what do you want to be when you grow up?” I do a horrible impression of a stuffy therapist.

She laughs loudly, which earns us dirty looks from the twins, but I don’t care. Hearing Emily’s laugh is a bright spot in this otherwise dark situation.

“I’ve always loved fashion and make-up, so I think I would've done something in that field, but honestly, I’m undecided. I really don’t know what I want to do for the rest of my life. Is that weird?”

“Not at all. Most people don’t know what they want in life until they go to college for a year or so. Me personally, I want to pursue a career in education.”

“You want to be a teacher?”

“Yeah, or a college professor. I like studying, and I like helping others. So if I could apply both, why not?” I take a sip of water, feeling like a nerd for telling her that. She’s a self-admitted party girl, and I’m sitting here talking about studying. I’m an idiot.

“When we get rescued, maybe you can help me get my grades up.”

She wants to willingly spend time with me? I smile at the thought. “Yeah, def—”

“How are you two doing?” Tom interrupts. “You both seemed to have a rough night last night. You doing okay?” He looks back and forth between us.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I say with a nod.

“About last night,” Emily says, fidgeting with the cap of her water bottle. “I haven’t had a chance to thank you, Tom, for waking me up and being there.”

Just like she’d done with me earlier, she doesn’t look Tom in the eye. Is she embarrassed about thanking him? Is it hard for her to say those words?

“It’s not a problem.” Tom rubs the back of his neck. “You remind me an awful lot of my daughter, and she used to suffer from night terrors.” He blows out a breath then turns away. “All right, break is over. Let’s gather our stuff and get moving. We need to cover as much ground as we can before night fall.” He’s already walking away, leaving us to catch up.

We walk for another few hours. No one speaks, and everyone’s steps are becoming smaller and more labored. It has to be close to lunchtime, and I hope Tom will agree to stop again soon. I keep my gaze on the ground, watching where I’m going and also hoping to find something—anything—that will help. So far, all I’ve managed to do is memorize every type of rock that is situated in this soil. Small metallic black rocks, red oval shaped rocks, white with some flakes of red rocks, and some mud balls. Other than those rocks, everything looks exactly the same—generic.

But still, we keep walking. Sweat drips out of every pore in my body. The sun is the hottest it’s been since we crashed. Fatigue and nausea are on the verge of surfacing, and I quickly swallow it back down. I can’t look weak. Not in front of the group, and definitely not in front of Emily.

I glance over at her. She still looks very tired, but there’s a new determination in her eyes. I admire her for that. While I still don’t know all the details, I know enough to understand that where she came from—the city girl, party lifestyle—she’s so out of her element here. Despite that, she’s strong. Anyone else would probably have caved to the heat and given in to defeat. Kind of like the twins. I’m trying hard to tune them out, but their incessant complaining is slowly chipping away at my resolve. More than once I’ve had to bite back the urge to scream at them to shut up. And based on the way Tom keeps distancing himself from the group, I bet he feels the same way.

“Eww!” Bob stops and covers his nose with his arm. “What is that God awful smell?”

The rest of us stop, too. I tilt my head and take a big whiff. A rancid smell assaults my senses, and I bend over, gripping my knees with my hands. I breath in and out through my mouth in an effort to rid my nose of that smell.

“It smells like…” Emily makes a disgusted face. “Poop.”

“Like animal poop?” Marjorie asks, her eyes lighting with hope. Animals means food.

Bob nods. “Yeah, but I’m not sure I want to know what kind of animal takes that kind of dump.”

“Everyone search the ground,” Tom says.

“I am not looking for piles of poop.” Sienna crosses her arms and glares at him.

Tom steps up to her, their faces inches apart. I hold my breath, unable to look away. Emily moves to stand beside me, and she takes hold of my arm. I straighten and prepare to step between them if necessary.

“Sienna, is it?” he asks with a subtle tilt of his head.

She nods.

“If you’re not going to help, then feel free to march back to the beach.” Tom spins around to face the rest of the group. “Anyone else refuse to help?”

No one says anything, but there are several head shakes to indicate there won’t be any further dissension.

“Good, then get looking,” he snaps.

“Fine.” Sienna balls her hands into fists. “Sierra and I are going back to the beach then. Y’all are crazy!” She storms away with her sister close behind.

I take a deep breath, relieved that Tom didn’t do anything stupid. I return my gaze to the ground and begin to look for piles of poop. I can’t believe this is what my life has become. Emily sticks close, and we search the same area. Tom either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. A second later, a high-pitched scream pierces the otherwise quiet jungle.

“Sienna!” Sierra screams. “Someone! Help!”