UNCLE RICKY'S POV
After retrieving three back packs full of clothing, a pair of headphones, a notebook, and a large piece of glass from the windshield Jet had broke, I gathered everyone around in a circle.
"Ok", I said, closing my eyes.
"Ok", Jasmine said. "Anything else?"
I took a deep breath. "Ok. First things first, we need to find a place we can learn to call home."
"You mean like a cave or clearing?", Brenne asked.
I nodded my head. "Something along those lines", I replied.
Camille sighed. "That should be easy enough."
I smiled slightly. "After we do that, we need to work on building a fire. Any Girl Scouts among us?", I asked hopefully.
Jet raised her hand. "My friend was. She taught me some of the basic stuff, like starting fires, pitching tents, etc."
A spark of hope ignited inside me. My smile grew wider. "That's a plus. And we'll also need a fresh water source, but if we stay close to the river, that won't be much of a problem."
"Um, what about food?", Yippers asked.
I put my hands over my eyes. "That's gonna be our biggest issue at the moment. I wasn't able to get anything edible out of the van, so were gonna have to eat off the land."
"Meaning?", Serene asked.
"Meaning", I started, "that were going to have to catch or hunt our food."
Hailey shook her head. "That's gonna be tough."
I removed my hands from my eyes. "I know. But if we aren't able to catch anything, I have already made the decision that we will eat Echo if worse comes to worse."
Everyone smiled a little, accept for Echo. She had her head buried in her knees, and she had her arms rapped around her legs.
My smile slowly disappeared from my lips. I rubbed my eyes again.
"Also", I started, "after we find shelter, we are going to split into search groups."
"Why?", Arianne asked, speaking the question that was on everyone's mind.
I looked up at everyone. "To find Peyton."
ECHO'S POV
I quickly raised my head from where it had been resting on my legs. I looked at Uncle Ricky, dumbfounded.
"Are you serious?", I asked him, surprise clear in my voice.
"Of course!", Uncle Ricky replied. "I mean, he can't be far. And also, we didn't really look for him when Jet realized he was missing in the first place, so we aren't even sure he his missing."
"I'm pretty sure he's missing", Jasmine says.
"That's the spirit Jas. Way to think positive", Jet said, patting her on the back.
"I'm just stating the obvious", she mumbled in reply.
"I know", Uncle Ricky cut in, "but right now, we don't have time for you six years olds to fight over something that doesn't matter at the moment."
"Hey, I'm fourteen!", Jasmine protested.
"And I'm twelve", Jet added.
I stood up. "Guys, I'm nine and I'm acting more mature than you. Besides, Uncle Ricky's right. We need to start setting up a camp somewhere around here. The sooner, the better."
Uncle Ricky chuckled. "You should be in charge, not me", he said gesturing towards me.
I grinned. "Your right, but if that happened, I'd have you all dressed in grass skirts made of poison ivy."
"Ok, on second thought, I'm in charge", Uncle Ricky said, standing quite uncomfortably.
"Good move", I replied.
Uncle Ricky stuck his tongue out at me. I replied with the same curtesy.
"Ok", Uncle Ricky said, putting his tongue back in his mouth, "we need to get moving. Everyone, grab a back pack. For those of you whose back pack wasn't recovered from the jacked up van in the bottom of the river, grab as many pieces of dry wood as you can find. We might not have alot at the place we finally decide to call home."
HAILEY'S POV
Me, Brenne, and Camille grabbed the three pack packs that laid in the center of our group circle and slid them over our shoulders. I put the notebook and the pair of headphones into my pocket, and I held the piece of broken glass in my hand.
Arianne, Serene, Yippers, and Jasmine went looking for firewood to the left side of our crash site, while Echo, Jet, and Uncle Ricky went searching to the right.
I sat down on a log that was resting near the river bed and grabbed a handful of rocks.
"What if Peyton's really gone?", I asked, tossing a rock into the river.
Camille and Brenne sat down beside me. "Then we do what Uncle Ricky told us to do", Brenne replied. "We learn to forget."
I tossed another rock into the river.
At that moment Arianne, Yippers, and Serene emerged from the forest, each with an armful of fairly large logs. When they made it close to us, they all dropped their load and sat down on the log, out of breath.
"Those should make a pretty good fire", Arianne said proudly, smiling.
I grinned. "Um guys, if you were out of breath from carrying them out of the woods, how are you going to carry them all around the forest floor while we're searching for shelter?"
The smile wiped clean off of Arianne's face. Yippers moaned. "Didn't think about that", Serene said.
Before long, Uncle Ricky, Jet, and Echo came walking out of the woods, each carrying a quite smaller loud then the three blood related cousins. They dropped their wood next to Serene's, Yippers', and Arianne's pile. before also sitting down on the old rotted log.
We all sat silently and stared across at the other side of the river, taking in the view of the early Autumn leaves.
"Beautiful sight, isn't it?", Uncle Ricky asked.
"Yes, it is", I replied.
After awhile of enjoying the scenery, Uncle Ricky stood up. "Ok, we've sat here long enough. We need to get a move on", he said.
Everyone else followed in his lead, standing up from the log.
Echo, Jet, and Uncle Ricky grabbed their wood. Serene, Arianne, and Yippers grabbed one log from their original wood pile, leaving the rest on the ground.
"Hm. Big load", Jet said to them. Echo giggled.
Yippers sighed. "Shut up", she mumbled, trying to hide her disappointment.
Uncle Ricky looked up at the sun. After a few seconds he pointed forward. "Let's go that way", he said.
"Oh, did you use the sun as a compass?!", Brenne asked.
Uncle Ricky shook his head. "Nope, I'm just guessing."
And with that, he made his way into the forest, everyone else following close behind him.
