Generation Jungle

Chapter Three

        Audrey Grace Batchedler

    Chirping. All I could hear was birds, a kind I had never knew before. I suddenly had sense of touch, and I could tell that my face was lying on something sticky and wet. Attempting to open my eyes was too much effort, so I just laid down, and tried to remember what had happened. Venezuela. A plane crash.

Oh my god.

I was in a plane crash.

I had a flood of memories come in just then. The turbulence. The pilot. The loud sounds in the cabin. The hole in the side of the plane.The screaming. Ron. Peter.

Holy shit! Peter!

I had been sitting right next to him, so that means he had to be close, right? Oh god, I prayed that was true, because the heaviness of my eyelids was overwhelming, and I didn't have enough strength to even open them yet.

My legs ached, as if they had been pulled right out of me, and then shoved right back into the sockets. I felt both of my arms, making sure they each worked. Although I didn't open my eyes to see them, I could feel my fingers wiggling. I moaned, feeling my head burn as something dripped down onto my nose. My stomach was turning with an undeniable nausea, and I suddenly remembered the Burger King I had scarfed down before the plane took off.

I felt the vile slide up my throat, and I knew I was going to lose everything in my stomach. Forcing open my eyes, which took great effort, I vomited straight onto a rotting pile of brown leaves in front of me. It tasted disgusting and I could still feel more contents of my stomach crawling up. I figured I had a concussion, from my vomiting and pounding headache.

When I was done puking, I pushed myself up to a sitting position, adjusting my sore eyes to the fresh light of morning. I was in a jungle, or a rainforest of some kind. There was a vine wrapped around my left leg, pretty tightly, and I felt my foot becoming numb. I looked in front of me, and I noticed, through the brush, several bodies and chairs splayed about. I cringed, daring to look to my left. I saw Ron, my nice seatmate, sitting, still trapped into his chair. Only, there was an overhead bar sticking through his chest, coming out the other side of his seat. I felt the vomit coming up again, as I looked at his face. His eyes were glassy, and it was obvious to me that he was dead.

I puked then, all over the other pile that I had created. I had never seen anybody that was actually dead, not even at a funeral. I looked at him again, watching the flies start to collect around where the pole exited his chest. It appeared that he was struck right through the heart. I hoped for his sake, that it was instantaneous and painless.

I gathered my strength, and looked painstakingly to the other side. I saw what looked like a section of overhead compartments, ripped off after about four sections. There was at least six pieces of luggage, and I noticed there was no pole attached to it. That pole had undoubtedly fallen off and impaled Ron.

I stuck my head between my knees and cried silently to myself. Despite the birds chirping, and some leaves rustling, the whole world seemed dead silent. The air smelled damp and metallicy, probably because blood was everywhere, scattering the trees and brush. I knew I was bleeding from my head too, and I could definitely feel the blood pouring down my cheeks.

"Help..." I heard suddenly, a quiet moan. The voice, feminine, came from beyond Ron. "Help.." another low whisper. I peered past the corpse and saw a girl, no older than thirteen, with a gash across her cheek. Panicking, I quickly went to untie the vine from around my ankle. Just leaning over to undo it was painful, and I felt my back ache as if I pulled more than one muscle. As I sat forward I realized that I was covered in blood, and I followed the path up my nose to the top of my forehead, cringing as I touched a huge cut along my hairline. I knew something was off. Wincing, I ripped off a piece of my shirt, which was painful to even do that, and wrapped it around my head, almost like a bandana.