The Forest [septiplier]

2 - Introduction

"You're so fuckin' stupid," Jack grumbled, glancing up at Mark. Mark gave a weak smile, adding a little shrug for emphasis. Never did Jack think that he'd find himself in this situation- stuck in an airplane bathroom with his husband of less than a month, fighting against a jammed door on a flight to Venice.

"You're the one who wanted to follow me in here. 'Don't get the door stuck,' you said. 'I'll make sure you get out okay' you said. And yet here we are," Mark said. Jack grumbled from his position on the floor. He was currently trying to finagle the door from underneath to get it back open.

"I read an article back home about this. There was something about a man getting his hand stuck in the bin, couldn't open the door. He tried getting it from down here... Just hold on a tick," Jack said, prying at the door. Mark looked him up and down. He looked ridiculous.

"Jack, baby. Just relax, someone will notice the bathroom's been occupied for like, and hour, and try to get us out. It'll be alright," Mark coaxed. Jack sighed, standing up. Mark smiled.

"The door only opens from the inside," Jack said.

"I'm sure they have a key," Mark replied.

"What if they lost the key?"

"They probably have a spare."

"What if they lost the spare?"

"They'll break down the door."

"What if the plane goes down and we all die in here?" Jack said, a bite to his voice. Mark's smile dropped. "Na- Mark, you know I didn't mean that," Jack said. "Come on. We're perfectly safe in here."

Mark didn't panic about a lot of things, but there was one thing that Jack learned did particularly freak him out- water. The idea of crashing over the ocean- say, from LA to Venice- was a very real threat to him. Mark's eyes widened at Jack's question, and Jack knew nothing he could say now would calm Mark down. Jack tugged at the door one more time. Nope. Still jammed. No way of getting out of this one.

"Safe? We're not safe? No. Shit no we're not. Holy shit. Like, if the plane crashes, we don't have any seat belts," Mark said. He began rummaging through the bathroom, looking for anything to keep them safe. "And if we go down, we'll be the first to die. Do you know how many planes crash a year? Tons. You see them on the news all the time, especially from LAX and JFK and- holy shit, Jack, we're coming from LAX," Mark said. His voice was heightened.

"I know, I know. But, consider this. You're with me. And I'm safe, right?" Jack said.

"Right," Mark said. He stopped, standing still.

"And you trust me, right?"

"Right."

"Good," Jack said, "Because I'd do anythin' to protect you." Mark nodded slowly, a smile slipping back onto his face. As bad as things may get, at least he'll have Jack. "Besides! We're in the very back of a plane. Fronts are usually where everyone dies anyway." Mark felt his stomach drop again.

"Attention passengers! This is your pilot speaking. I just wanted to let you know that the flashing seatbelt signal is on, and you should please latch your restraints now. We're hitting a bit of a jet stream, nothing serious," a voice echoed over the loudspeaker.

"Fuck," Mark said. His eyes screwed shut. "I told you. We're going to go down and die and no one will find our bodies. We'll be the next Amelia Earhart. Our subscribers will cry." Jack shushed Mark, still listening to the man over the loudspeaker.

"Again, nothing to worry about," the pilot said. "There's just been a- whoa!" At the pilot's words the ship veered sharply to the left, sending items from the bathroom tumbling towards Jack. Jack grabbed Mark by the forearm, holding his breath. The plane slowly stabled and Mark reopened his eyes. "Sorry about that, sorry about that. It seems a little stronger than our radar is showing, ladies and gentlemen. We just need to stay calm, nothing to worry about. If everyone would please revisit their oxygen mask manual in the pockets in front of you, that would be fantastic," the pilot said.

"Oh my god. Oh my god we don't have oxygen masks in here. If the plane goes down we won't be able to breathe, and then we'll die and- oh my god I knew this honeymoon was a bad idea," Mark ranted.

"You're the one that booked the damn thing," Jack said, exasperated. "Besides Mark, it'll be okay. We're not over ocean yet anyways, we're over some woods or something, I checked my phone earlier. If we just stay calm it'll be alright. Besides, the pilots know what they're doing. When they're up there, what could possibly go wrong?" The second the words left his tongue Mark knew exactly what was going to happen. Fuck. They were fucked. They were so fucked.

Mark's stomach fell as the plane turned dramatically to their left. Mark felt his feet slipping along with the gravity as he landed along the wall, somewhat near Jack. They were all but freefalling, displaced air sending them flying through the bathroom. Jack managed to latch onto Mark, pulling him closer. Warning bells filled the air as the plane spun out of control. They clung together. The last thing Mark remembered was hitting his head against the bathroom wall, knocking him out clean and cold. Jack dug his face into Mark's shoulder, determined not to let him go.

Wind whirred through the air as the plane broke through the air, through the clouds, and soon enough, through the ground.

A blinding yellow cracked through his eyelids as he slowly drifted back to consciousness. Jack blinked open his eyes. The sky was a stark yellow, the sun barely risen. Jack took a second to register his surroundings. Trees were littered around him, bits and pieces of debris scattered the ground. The realization struck him. Plane crash- Bathroom- Oxygen- Mark!

Mark was lying not twenty feet from Jack, blood on his face and hands. Jack didn't stop to look if he himself was injured, but instead jumped up, making a dash towards Mark. "Mark!" Jack cried kneeling over Mark's form. He nervously placed a finger to his wrist, waiting for a heartbeat. A steady rhythm washed over him. Jack sank back into a sitting position. "Thank fuck," he muttered, looking up to the yellowing sky.

About half an hour passed as Jack waited for Mark to wake up. Under normal circumstances he'd immediately begin to search, but he couldn't bear the idea of Mark waking up alone, thinking his husband was gone and dead. Jack ran a hand through Mark's hair, smiling. The idea of other survivors hadn't even occurred to him yet. It was just him and Mark. As long as they were both okay, that's all that really mattered.

Mark woke up to the sound of crickets. He shifted uncomfortably, trying to figure out where he was. My bed isn't this damned bumpy, he thought. Maybe we reached the hotel or something... He opened his eyes. Daylight streamed through the sky, a bright blue. "What the hell," Mark murmured. He sat up slowly, finding Jack sitting just to his left, looking worse for wear. "What the hell happened?"

"You're awake!" Jack said, a grin breaking over his face.

"Whoa, did you get hurt?" Mark asked, looking Jack up and down. Jack's arm was hanging at a strange angle, swollen.

"Me? Oh, I mean, a little, I guess. I wasn't really- wow. Okay that looks a little worse than I wanted to admit," Jack said. The adrenaline running through his veins numbed the pain without him even noticing. Purple bruises lined mostly his right arm, which looked rather crooked. Jack made a face. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," Mark said. Jack shot him a look, one of disbelief. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine," Mark reassured. "Just... a little uneasy. I mean, we could be dead right now, and we're not. So that's one win. But who knows what else is out there? There could be other survivors. Angry survivors. Oh my god cannibal survivors. There could be angry cannibal survivors and we're just sitting ducks," Mark said, worry finding its way back into his voice. Jack sighed, standing up.

"Come on, that's nonsense. I'm gonna search the suitcases up here, get what we can to survive as long as we need. There's no point dwelling on what's happened, we just need to move on," Jack said.

"Yeah," Mark said, standing up next to Jack. "You're right. Move on, stand up." He took a deep breath, looking around. "We can do this. I mean, come on, someone will come looking for us soon. And," Mark said, looking into the depths of the trees, the darkening woods staring back at him. He didn't know what eyes loomed overhead. "Come on. It's just a forest."