I SURVIVE (#Wattys2017)

CHAPTER 10

*New and Improved Version*

Kate knelt beside me with green cream in her hands. She stretched my legs out gently and slathered the cream on the holes. It stung but I kept quiet in case I interrupted John and William who were motionlessly sleeping.

"Sam founded William lying unconsciously in a cave nearby," Kate spoke in a low voice. "A cut on his head from the rock he fell on I guess. John came down from a tree behind us while we were carrying William. Almost frightened me to death. I punched him and down he goes, so there were two people to carry."

She glanced at John with an annoyed look on her face. After that, she stared intensely in my eyes and said, "As for you, you nearly tumbled into a stream. It is a good thing Tatum saw you."

She got up after slathering the last cream in her hand and told me to wait until it dries up. The weather that day was calm, even William who was restless slept soundly with a tranquil look on his face right beside me. John was sleeping far from us but I could still see the bruise that Kate gave him. My writing finger demanded papers and a pen, which reminded me of my journal. I remembered that I had handed it over to William to protect it.

I looked at him and the thought of his trusty backpack came in my mind. He did say something about keeping my journal in his backpack on the helicopter. Instantly, I scanned the area and saw driftwood placed on the two rocks near where John slept. The driftwood combined with the rocks standing below made it looked like a table.

There were so many odds and ends on it even his backpack. Silently, I limped to the table and without making a sound, rummaged in his backpack. I fetched the journal and found a pen in one of the compartment. After that, I got back beside the owner of the backpack and began flipping through the pages, and stopped at a new, blank page then began to write on it.

Eleven blank pages were covered with inky black handwriting of mine as I spilled the last two days of adventure all over in my book. Somehow, the feeling of a happy little girl was in my soul once more. Reminded me when I was five, spilling water colors all over a new sheet of paper that dad gave me. I had a smock on but still was messy with smeared paint on my cheeks.

'One of the memorable halcyon days,' I told myself.

I smiled for the first time after three days of misery and hard work. Time flew by and I finally perceived that I had spent forty-five minutes on writing. William stirred now and then. John had awoke and left us.

Soon, Kate came with a map and food in her hands. The cream on my foot became firm like cement, except it had a rough surface instead of smooth. While chewing a granola bar, I examined the places on the island where we had set foot on, which John drew adroitly with a few strokes of William's.

However, the sketching of the gate attracted my attention most. Even though my curiosity nearly killed us last night, I yet had the urge to go there again.

...................

Up high, the sun was in a glorious shade of rich orange. Evening had paid us another visit before night arrived to take over. We were doing what Tatum called it 'odd jobs' and we were sweating like bullets. I planned to maybe give a talk about the previous night escapade when Levi called us for a meeting.

"We are seriously running low on tin food," Levi informed us.

"We can just stop eating tin food and start hunting!" Kate exclaimed.

Kate was the only person among us that had never killed anything in her whole life. She never had any blood to hold in her hands.

"I hope that is a question because, we are never going to do that," William said. "Don't you remember those soldiers who are looking out for you right now? It is too dangerous for all of us to hunt."

Everyone looked down to the ground, thinking of another idea until I spoke out loud.

"How about the gate? Maybe there's something there."

They stared back at me, and everyone concurred except William.

"Aren't you tired of spilling your blood?" He shot a dirty look at me.

"No!" I said in an angry way. "There's a reason why I did that, to find a way out. What, you think I am killing myself?"

"You know there's no damn hospital here, yet you go on spilling that precious life everywhere," William flared.

What's his problem?

I was about to strike another attack when Tatum interrupted us.

"Shut the hell up, both of you!"

She gazed at the view above and asked us whether we wanted to hear her adventure yesterday. Which sounded ridiculous, and after our fight it sounded more than ridiculous. William looked like he was about to say no, however Tatum cut him off by telling her adventure.

"Yesterday, I wanted to head back to our helicopter to search for food. Maybe a landslide, had caused rocks tumbling down, and had blocked the path that we regularly used to go from here to the aircraft. The only way to go to it was to explore what was behind the gate. I found a way, very far from here, but very near if we go through the gate."

"How come you know?" Sam asked. We had not heard his voice for three whole days. Tatum said that he felt queer here, and did not want to talk until he feels that he was used to the surrounding.

"Simple, I conquered a hill next to the landslide, saw the gate from there and saw a path leading to the aircraft. There was no other way here anymore," Tatum responded.

"Alright! Tonight, some of us will be going to the gate and others stay here in case anything happens. Let's help the runners prepare their stuff, for at night, they must reach their destination," Levi commanded and we eagerly set to work.

Preparations only took us an hour but as I counted the seconds for the sun to set, it might take a long period of time to grab a hold of myself. I became anxious and worried all of a sudden, my palms were getting sweaty. My instinct told me not to go, for danger had set a trap for us.

But what is it?

Will the danger cost one of our lives, or maybe two?

Why did everything felt wrong and deadly right now?

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