The Island

Part 4 - 5

Five:

Four brave souls lined up in front of the front door. The same people who had attended the meeting still stood in the foyer to bid them farewell. Sara was closest to the door. She still assumed leadership in the cabin - since Jeanette couldn't lead and she was head investigator, she assumed herself ruler of the cabin and the occupants. "While I'm gone, I don't want you guys to do anything stupid. Please stay calm and interact with one another - despite this tragedy, tonight we will get closure. Then tomorrow we can think about getting assistance." Sara said to her friends. "And please get Brock and Taylor to come out." Michael said specifically to Randy. He nodded. "I'll try. I'm not sure how far they'll be able to tread out of our room." He replied. It was obvious to Sara that the majority thought that Brock and Taylor had done this; even though she thought the same thing, she still wasn't sure. "It could be anyone." Sara thought to herself. Sara paused for a minute and looked toward the kitchen. Out came Carmen a few seconds later with four brown paper sacks. "Oh good." She said, carrying the bags to the adventurers. "I thought you might have left already." She handed the lunches individually to the four - the first to JT, the second to Michael, the third to Sara, and the fourth to Andie. "Be safe, you guys." She said to all of them. "We will." Sara replied. Sara peeked around Carmen, expecting Jeanette. She was not there. Sara shook her head slightly and focused back to Carmen. "While we're gone, can you look after Jeanette and the others?" Sara asked. "Of course." Carmen replied. "Of course." "Thank you." Sara said. She swung her bag to her side and shoved her sack lunch inside. "Wish us luck." "Yeah." Carmen nodded. "Bye." "Bye guys!" Sara waved to her friends. She opened the door and let the late morning air enter the foyer. One by one, the explorers left, each waving to the crowd on their way out. After JT exited last, Carmen shut the door behind them. She turned away from the door and headed for the kitchen again. Outside, the four stopped at the lawn and waited for Andie to pull out the map. "Alright, let's head west. We'll comb the woods behind the cabin on our way back." He said. "Okay." Sara agreed. "Let's go." JT said. Without Michael's reply, they went through the lawn. On the west side of the lawn there was nothing very important, except one thing. On all their left's, on the shore stood a boathouse. It was brown and tall - it's pointed roof made it stand out from the blue water and grey docks. A dock was conveniently next to it, providing a second dock for the island's shore. The grass ended and gravel began as the four reached the outer limits of the lawn. Nothing separated the lawn from the forest except for rocks and dark gravel. The gravel went uphill into a tree-line Sara, Andie, Michael and his friends saw every morning. They all climbed the small hill that lead into the trees. Sara led the way with Andie behind her, with eyes fixed to his map. Sara stopped momentarily to look at the forest ahead of her. She saw a small beaten path someone had obviously made - the trail looked aged, not four days old like she expected one to be. It winded through the mossy trees and undergrowth to a dip Sara could not see. "Are we going this way?" Sara asked. Andie looked up. "Yes." He said. Sara continued down the path with her pack against her back. In the rear of the group, JT took in the scenery - to his left, the trees extended and masked the shoreline. To his right, more forest expressed itself with shades of green and black. From where he walked, he couldn't see the northern shoreline. No one had seen the northern shore of the island yet. "Well, maybe." He thought to himself. He continued on, following the three ahead of him. The island was a lot bigger than he had anticipated; even after 10 minutes of walking, they still hadn't even seen a shore in sight. There was a change in his surroundings however - he noticed the trail was now going downhill. The descent was subtle at first, but it became clear when he saw a large dip in the trees. Sara, still in front, stopped. "Guys, hold up." She held her hand up to block anyone to go tumbling off the edge of the cliff ahead. At Sara's feet, the path turned into rotting wood stairs. She looked around and saw the puddles and ponds at the bottom of the trench. Based on her perceptive, the small valley went below water-level of the lake. Sara ignored the thought and began to descend down the stairs and into the trench. As she went down, the trees disappeared and the stairs creaked. Andie waited a few moments before following Sara down the stairs. He was careful not to fall - there was no railing or any visible supports for the stairs. And in the way Andie went, Michael and JT followed down the old stairs. At the bottom, Sara felt a squishing under her feet. She stepped a few times to feel the squishing. The environment around her felt like a swamp. She continued on and stopped in the middle of the valley. "Let's stop and search here, guys." She said to her followers. All looked up at her words, each nodding. Sara turned away and began to venture off the beaten path. She stepped in even squishier mud and muck, looking to her left and right for signs of Adin. Andie, Michael, and JT also did too; Michael took to the right of the trail with JT while Andie and Sara stayed on the left. Sara lifted up fallen leaves and muck to look for anything she could find. Her hands became remarkably dirty; she figured she'll wash her pants later, so she wiped her hands on her pants. They ventured off very far from the path; this valley seemed to extend about the entire length of the island. Michael stepped up his search and waded in some ponds. All he found were innocent frogs, croaking at his failure in finding anything Adin-related. After about an hour of tireless search, Sara called everyone to the main path and left the valley trench. The hill at the other end of the valley wasn't as steep as the one before. This gave Andie the impression that they were reaching the western shore. He had slipped the map into his pack, so he couldn't estimate how much further it was. The other hill had the same rotted stairs as the first; and also like the first, each adventurer politely let the person in front of them have a few moments to begin the staircase before they did. They all reached the top of the valley again and pushed along the same trail again. They hiked for only a few more minutes before the shoreline was in the sight; the shore had creeped up on Sara a bit. Before she knew it, her feet were touching gravel and sand of a beach. Natural grass grew close to the water's edge. Since it had been about two hours since they left, she felt like now was a good time for lunch. "We should stop and eat lunch here. Then we can comb this edge of the island and make our way back around the northern edge of the island." Said Sara, looking behind her at her companions. "I'm good with that." JT agreed. "Me too." Andie said. "Okay." Michael forcefully agreed. They sat on the grass and pulled out their sack lunches. Carmen had packed all of them peanut butter sandwiches and a granola bar each, except JT. JT found a small package of Gobstoppers in his lunch. "That's strange." He regarded them, holding them up. "I guess Carmen is taking a liking to you." Michael gestured to JT. "Well, I'm into Emma." He said, opening the package. "Oh really?" Andie said to JT with his mouth half-full. "Mmhmm." JT hummed to Andie while sucking on his candy. "It's surprising the book-worm and the Linebacker are suddenly attracted to each other." Sara said, putting a wrapper in her bag. "I know." JT replied, crunching on the Gobstopper in his mouth. The search-team finished their lunches after that in almost silence. Once Michael had taken the last bite of his sandwich, he looked up to Sara. "Alright, you were right, Michael. This'll take about another hour and a half, but let's comb the beach areas and head back to the cabin from around back. The area east of the cabin will be easy to explore, and I can do that in an hour. Let's get our packs together and go." She said. And so they packed their things and headed out. The search along the beach was unfruitful; besides lots of sand and the occasional boulder, nothing surprised them. Andie directed the gang back to where the cabin was from the beach way north of it. They went through the forest, blazing their own trail back. Sara wandered through undergrowth and peaked under tree roots. Of course, she found nothing. Andie looked up from his map after about five minutes of hiking and saw the cabin.