The Lost Gems

Chapter 12

March 7th 1,034
8:15 am

Aquamarine's POV

Sal and I carried the bunches of berries and wild carrots back to camp. It was odd because this food wasn't supposed to be growing during the month of March. They looked perfectly normal and didn't smell weird so we grabbed as many as we could and dug up as many carrots as possible. We had left without waking anyone up this morning and we're hoping to surprise the rest with a nice berry and carrot breakfast.

The sun was out and I was beginning to sweat carrying all the food, I took off my light leather jacket and tied it around my waist. The weather was perfect I only had on rolled jeans and now a black t shirt. Sal had in a similar outfit and so did everyone else because of the similar clothes we grabbed from the village in Granite. I was really hoping that once all this was over we could all go live in granite and start new. Maybe even grow family's or make memories that we could only imagine, but for now I didn't plan on getting my hopes up.

Sal and I had made it back to Camp. Our hands intertwined with each others and foods on our back. I felt weird at first about openly expressing my feelings with Sal because it was so early on, but things with him felt natural. Given our situation we didn't have anything to loose so we were just going to make the best of it. When we made it back everyone was up Diamond and Clay were oddly close sitting next to the fire while Tanz was... Well I really don't know what she was doing. She had taken a lot of responsibility being the oldest of us three. I hope she can see the good in what we are trying to accomplish so we can have something to look foreword to in the future.

"We brought you guys fresh food!" I yelled as everyone got up and raced over.

We hadn't had a real meal since pancakes the other morning and who knows how long it has been for Clay. There was enough to for everyone to have around 3 cups of fruit and at least 4 carrots and we still had plenty of water which we also picked up in Granite. Sal and I let everyone eat first.

We sat down on a log and Sals arm was around my shoulder forcing me close to him. He made me feel safe and every time I would get stressed or scared he would always be there for me. He leaned in a gently kissed me on the cheek.

"I'm so glad I met you." He smirked whispering into my ear.

"I'm glad I met you too." I replied while snuggling up into his neck and squeezing his hand that wasn't wrapped around my shoulder.

"It's been tough lately Sal... Leaving home and all the weird things happening. Sometimes I feel like I can't take it, the loss of my family was just too much." I sniffled.

"Everything's going to be okay Aqua. Everyone here cares and feels the same. We aren't going to give up though it's not going to be easy but imagine a life without having to hide or being able to feel safe going outside. We can make that happen. I'm never going to leave you or the rest, we started this together now we are going to finish it."

His little speech was corny but cute, it gave me hope and happiness from all the sad things happening. His number one goal was to keep us happy and safe. He always had a way to make us feel comforted or relaxed from the moment we met him.

"Thanks Sal I appreciate it. I couldn't do this without you and the girls."

We left the log we were sitting on and ate the remaining fruit and carrots. The berries were so juicy and fresh and should hold us over for a few hours. It was now 9:00 and we needed to start walking if we wanted to make progress towards the base.

I made sure to pack up everything, the blanket my machete Sals axe extra cloth bags and cans that we could use to hold water in. Tanz, Diamond, and Clay gathered up there things and Clay took the lead.

The woods was thick and the deeper we walked the humid it got, it was almost as we were walking through a jungle. I had changed the wrap on my hand several times the whole trip even though I thought it was fine but Salvatore was starting to get concerned because around the stitches my palm was turning yellow, he said it was infected but I just shook it off and said it was fine. Tanz and Diamond slowly trudged behind us with their heavy bags and thick clothing. I told Sal to go up with Clay and bond while I stayed back to be with the girls. They had been my only bit off happiness for the year after our families died, they were my only family left. I loved them so much and here I was spending most of my time with Sal.

"Hey! Sal?.... Babe?" He acknowledged me after I had called him babe for the first time I knew it was too early on but I knew it'd get his attention. "Can we take a little breather, the girls are exhausted?" He nodded and him and Clay stopped walking.

We were all sweating and needed to ditch some clothing. I had an idea, I asked for one of Diamonds knives and she dug through her bag and gave me one.

"Boys turn around!" I yelled and they instantly listened. "Ok now both you take off your shirts." They also listened without question.

I looked and saw that both of their rib cages were showing. We needed more food, we barely even have energy. They had matching long sleeved brown shirts we grabbed from granite. I found a flat rock placed the shirts on it and sliced off all the sleeves. I took to off the sleeves and sliced them down the middle long ways so they were now flat and set them aside. I grabbed another non cut sleeve and cut it into two. Sock buns so their long hair won't be in their way. I perfectly put a bun into Tanz's long brown hair and one in Diamonds long Blonde hair. Once I was finished I grabbed the two sliced long strips and tied them into head bands that would also catch sweat. Now they had their hair out of their way, a homemade sweat band, and short sleeved shirts. They each had their jackets tied around their waist like mine and had their jeans cuffed too. We all wore black leather boots we also grabbed from Granite, even Clay had a similar pair on. My shirt was already short sleeved so I didn't fix my outfit. The girls already looked much cooler and relieved than they had before and the Suns Rays were just going to get worse. We needed to find a pond or body of water. We all stunk and needed something to drink. We started walking again. Clay and Sal took the lead. Even though Sal was a year older and taller than Clay they got a long just fine, and neither of them seemed to overpower the other. It made me happy to see how normal they were around each other considering they had just met. Us girls slowly walked behind each of them and had our little gossip. Diamond confessed her little crush she had on Clay and Tanz commented that she was going to be my maid of honor for Sal and My wedding with a joking chuckle. Somethings never change between us we are practically sisters and I wouldn't want to share this adventure with anyone else. We laughed and made jokes and for a moment I had forgotten that we could possibly be going to where we could possibly die. I was scared and so were Tanz and Diamond. The only dangerous thing we had ever done was maybe climbing high trees or fighting in the mud but nothing like this. We may have been naive about this whole plan but we had nothing to lose and stayed optimistic.

It was currently 2:30 ish and we had been walking for around five and a half hours now. Our backs hurt and so did the arches of my feet. We only had a few hours of daylight left and we needed to find a place to sleep at. Clay told us that there was a pretty decent sized cave that he spotted on the way over. The thought of sleeping in a cave scared me and now that winter was over all the animals were awake and hungry but we had weapons.

After another 30 minutes of walking we had made it to the cave. It was not to big and not to small and it actually didn't look like something had lived in there. With the little energy we had left we climbed up the mini hill and threw our stuff all in a pile at the mouth of the cave. Tanz was the first to actually look into the cave and when she had she nearly fell backwards and let out a scream that would haunt my dreams for an eternity.

Comment and vote! ~Ellsa