Lost Adventure

Chapter 16

"Guys, wake up. Come on. We need to do something." C said, shaking everyone awake. Teague woke up next, then Lb, Maverick, Lilly, and Haley. "Uhg, my head hurts." Lilly moaned. "My legs hurt." Lb argued. "Look. Everything is ruined. We're back at the beginning." C said frustrated. "Come on guys. Let's just go um...that way and see where we end up. We can go back to doing our night shifts, then tomorrow, and the day after we can just get everything situated." Maverick said calmly. They followed Maverick around the fallen trees and all the debris as they talked about the hectic day before. They walked for hours, ignoring their sore muscles and picking up anything that might be useful. They discovered that the prairie seemed to slowly die and everything seemed to become a desert. The trees were becoming scattered and the grass turned brown and crinkly. There were bushes and tiny barrel cactuses along with sand dunes in the distance. "We have four large sticks, half of a dead rabbit, my new backpack, and 6 of us. How in the world are we going to go through that desert and live!?" Lilly asked. "I don't know. We could just turn around." Maverick said, softly as he scanned the large, flat, dry desert-looking area. "Nope, that is a terrible idea, Maverick." Haley said immediately. The four friends stood in a line holding the sticks, the dead rabbit half, and Lilly's backpack, feeling defeated and sadly looking out into the lonely abandoned distance. Nighttime came quickly and they camped out. Lilly had to be careful when making a fire and they had to ration out the rabbit. They all sat around the campfire and stared at its burning embers. "We could travel back and take some time to hunt and get situated. Then we could just, I dunno, explore the desert?" Lb suggested, breaking the silence. "Yeah! We could go in groups. Four of us could go and hunt for food, then the other two could find a stream and wash things out, make new bags, mend the clothes and make weapons. "It'll be kinda like starting a new year." Haley said excitedly. "Well, who would go with who?" Maverick asked. "You, me, Lilly, and Teague could go. If it's okay that Haley and Lb stay here." C responded. "I'm down." Haley quickly blurted. "I guess that's..ok" Lb said softly."Alright, it's settled. The four of us will leave tomorrow. We'll be gone for 5 or 6 days. That's what you should expect at least. If we're gone longer than that, come look for us." C said, putting a chuck of rabbit in her mouth. "Ok. Lb what should we do? Do you wanna build a fort?" Haley asked. "No." Lb said, looking down. "We could play in the creek?" Haley suggested. "Ehh...ok." Lb said, still staring at the ground. The six could now rest with ease since they had a plan, and in a few days, hopefully, they would have new bags full of food and be wearing clean, patched-up clothes. Early the next morning C shook everyone awake. The sun wasn't up yet, and it was very chilly. "Hey Lilly, Maverick, Teague. We need to get an early start." C said softly. "It's too cold!" Lilly whined. "That's when the animals come out though. They won't want to be in the scorching sunlight during the day." C said, tugging at Lilly's shirt. Maverick crawled over to Lilly and tickled her until she got up. Once everyone was up, C cooked the rest of the rabbit and helped Lilly, Maverick, and Teague get ready for the little hunting trip. "C are you sure you...have to go?" Lb asked, looking up at C with watering eyes. "Yes Lb. You'll be fine, if I didn't trust Haley you would be coming with us-" C started. "You don't trust me!?" Haley shouted, dropping the fire wood she was holding. "No, I trust you Haley, that's why you and Lb get to have some...bonding time." C said, giggling. "Bonding time? I dunno what rock hit you in the head. Haley doesn't like bonding. It took me 3 years to even get her to talk to me" Lilly said. "Ok, so I don't talk to anyone because when I was little all of my friends moved away or turned on me. So now I just don't make friends." Haley said quickly. "And yet somehow you have 5 amazing friends right here." Maverick said with a 'matter of fact' tone. "Whatever." Haley said, turning away. "Lb, Haley, promise me you won't get eachother killed. Um... here are some dried berries. There are fish in the stream if you back track a mile or so. I think that's it." C said, handing Haley a small brown bag with lots of dried fruit inside. "You're acting like mère." Lb said, his voice slightly shaking. C bent down next to Lb and whispered "Je t'aime beaucoup petit copain, prends soin de toi et de Haley." "Je t'aime beaucoup aussi." Lb responded, burying his face into C. After all the goodbyes were said and Lilly, Maverick, and C had disappeared from Lb and Haley's sight.