I Among Dogs

Chapter 34: Sadistic Secrets

November was nearing it's end.

At least I thought it was, it was strangely getting warmer than it should be and the leaves were still fresh and green and on the branches as if it was still Summer.

Said trees whizzed by us outside of the jeep me, Digger and Hachi were occupied in, with Danielle from the CPIA at the wheel. According to her, Digger, being an army brat, had somehow convinced her to take us to the sight of the plane crash to try and further investigate the cause of said crash.

Most of us had already accepted the likely cause being an unpreventable malfunction like one of the propellers exploding, but Digger wasn't satisfied with that answer and was persistent.

So here we were, on our way back to the forest near Lake Eacham, right to the spot where I landed in Canistralia, good thing I was able to let Bandit and Chilli know of this before Digger practically dragged me to Danielle's jeep so they wouldn't worry about me.

"Just so you know, kid. I'm only doing this for the human ambassador's sake, and even he agrees that you're likely overthinking this whole thing." Danielle said sternly to Rusty's older brother.

"I just know something's off, this has been in my mind for so long, I just can't accept it being an accident."

Hachi just rolled his eyes. Digger must've sounded completely paranoid to him at this point.

It wasn't much longer until we arrived at a parking spot just outside the camp grounds where I had first met the Heelers as we all stepped out of the jeep, with Danielle staying at the driver's seat. She did however temporarily stop me for a moment.

"If anything goes wrong, don't hesitate to call me. Be careful." Danielle said to me as she handed me a two-way radio. I nodded before I and the others made our way to the start of the huge woods, the woods where I had spent my first day in Canistralia.

I think personally, the hike to the crash site was the hardest part so far, because I had little to no memory left of how I had made it from the wreckage to the forest opening. Thankfully, we did come across the very lake the spot was known for and I was able to spot my makeshift shelter and campfire where I had cooked that fish I caught, though they were nothing more than just piles of leaves and sticks now, likely having collapsed from wind.

At long last, we made it. The huge mess of charred metal and debris, warped from the extreme heat of the explosion and scratches from the friction against the ground where it had landed, still recognisable even with the foliage that had sprouted on it, coating most of it in a blanket of green. Looking at it now, it was honestly a miracle I had somehow managed to make it out of there unscathed.

"Oh... my god..." Digger was the first to utter out, both in wonder and a tinge of fear at the obliterated marvel.

"You... were in there... And you made it out alive...?" Hachi then asked, even he found it almost impossible to believe.

Before I could even answer, both of them recoiled in disgust, as if they had just been hit with an awful smell. I assumed it was the burnt metal until I managed to pick it up nearly a minute later, the smell not only made me tense up in disgust and horror from how repugnant it was, but because I knew very well what it was.

Have you ever caught a wild animal and cooked it over a fire? The lingering smell of cooked meat is usually pleasant, but when it's coming from a plane crash site, you know immediately what is causing it.