The Worst Form of Torture

I'm Felix Lance, volunteer for the fourth relief of the Donner expedition. William O. Fallon is the leader of our troupe, a mountain man with no military rank. This relief was delayed by almost a month, we were supposed to leave a few days after the third relief returned. The spell of fair weather ended on March 21 and we were stuck at Sutter's Fort for almost a month. When the third relief returned to Johnson's Ranch, we caught word of how there were five people still alive when they left Hastings Cutoff. Since the weather was being unforgivable we're only hoping to gather up the most valuable items from the site. We carried minimal food provisions, because we didn't suspect there to be any survivors. We've been hiking for several days now. Breaking trail through six to seven feet deep snow drifts.

I was looking at the ice covered ground, and all of a sudden I ran into the back of one of the members in front of me. I slowly lifted my head wondering what everyone halted for. All I could process was the red painted snow, and the scattered bodies lying all over the camp. In the middle of it all I noticed a man, sitting there with an almost smile. Someone's still alive? There weren't supposed to be any survivors after the storms. We were delayed for almost a month. On closer inspection I noticed all the bodies seemed to be missing limbs, organs, or other body parts. This can't be happening. Appalled, everyone in the group took a few steps away from the slaughter. The man in the middle didn't seem to notice the troupe of people until one of the group members, Joshua Otto, let out a scream. That scream caught the attention of the man, who was balding and had a long, bushy beard. He looked up at us almost questionably as if he believed we weren't even real. His eyes seemed to dilate as he realized there were people standing in front of him. One of the members of our search party stepped up, being the courageous man he was, and tried to confront the man. "Hello. My name is Arthur Barnes, from the fourth relief for the Donner expedition. We're here to help you, and anyone else that's still," he gulped scanning his surroundings again, "alive." The man everyone's attention was on laughed like a maniac. His facial expression seemed like he was battling some kind of inner demon.

At last he spoke with a voice that sent chills down my spine, "Aw look at 'em - so young and willing to get themselves killed." That was the moment I began to question his sanity. I also began to question my expectation of reality. Even Arthur looked disturbed, quickly though he got over it and went to speak. Before he could utter a word the man in the middle vocalized his thoughts, "Help me? I don't even know who you are. Of course I know who I am, but the question is do you know?" After finishing his thoughts he stood up and started to approach Arthur, who was sadly standing only a few inches in front of me. Arthur stood his ground. Suddenly the man changed his target and turned to face me directly, a wild smile on his face. He stuck out his hand, "Keseberg, Lewis."  Is this the person we're supposed to help get back to Sutter's Fort? The man now identified as Lewis shook his hand infront of my face. I hesitantly grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Felix. Felix Lance." I commented, figuring that I should introduce myself. Our awkward handshake continued for a while until Arthur interrupted.

"Now that you know Felix," he paused motioning to me, "will you let us help you?" Lewis nodded his and then leaned in towards me.

"I only speak to you. Tell," he motioned towards the rest of the party.  

"I-I think he will only speak to me." I said while kicking the snow around with my boot. That was three days before we started the strenuous walk back to Sutter's Fort. During the three days we gave ourselves as rest Lewis kept up his vow to only talk to me, but he said some of the most insane things I had ever heard. As we left the camp everyone made sure to stay away from Lewis and I. Why? Why was I the one who got stuck with thi- My thoughts were interrupted by a ear drum shattering scream, of the word wait. It had been Keseberg. He turned around and started to run back to the carnage. Everyone had been disoriented by the scream and came to a halt faster than you could say slower than molasses. The men in the party were looking at each other like they were trying to mentally decide what to do. Luckily before anyone decided on anything Lewis returned to the group, with a bag. No one questioned it, for a while anyways. The troupe trekked on the through the path we created while walking up to the expedition sight. The lifting and falling of shoes was almost rhythmic. This grueling process continued for a few hours we had to stop, because the wind was blowing so hard it knocked over our strongest member. Luckily we had the supplies needed to form a makeshift shelter. We set up camp by Yuva river, and we're going to try to continue on our way in the morning. Lewis sits in the corner separated from everyone else. Of course I was exiled by the group, like always. Sitting there was boring so I pulled out the picture, I always kept on me, of Elizabeth, Suzanne, and Arthur. My best friends and my sister. The photo made me blush seeing as how Elizabeth always held me so close, I missed her terribly. I decided instead of sitting by myself I should talk to Keseberg, a choice I would later regret. "Keseberg?" I questioned while rubbing my hands together to warm them up. He shifted to look at me and hugged the bag, he grabbed from the camp, closer to his chest. "What do you have in the bag?" I tried prying, even though I knew I shouldn't.