You, Me, And The Jungle

Day One- Part One

Liam's P.O.V.

"This is all your fault!"

That was the sound of Ethan's annoying voice, complaining as usual. He glares at me, squinting his eyes. I return the look, and roll my eyes. 

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't run off," I reply, hugging my knees.

I can't believe I was stuck with the one person that I hated the most in the world. The last person I'd want to be in an emergency, life or death, situation like this. Ethan and I, we got lost in the jungle, all because he ran off when some lions had approached the tour vehicle we were in. That happened nearly three hours ago. Six hours ago before that, we were with the other thirteen high school students, acting like fools and being obnoxiously loud. It was supposed to be somewhat of a carefree trip, but it just turned out disastrous.

Here we both were, hunched over a small fire that we managed to start with the one match that Ethan had. Other than the match, we had very to no little resources. My cellphone was nearly dead, and there was no ideal signal to help us call, or contact, anyone. 

"If I had known this would've happened, I wouldn't have attended this damn trip." I heard Ethan grumble. I nod my head. "Me neither." We both stared down at the small flame. The sound of the crackling fire filled the air, as the red embers rose to the murky starlit sky. I hold out my hands, facing them towards the mini blaze. "What are we going to do now?" I ask, my voice was nearly a whisper. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Ethan shake his head. "I... I don't know. We're probably too far in the jungle for a search team to find us." I sigh a bit.

The sound of a lighter goes off. I glance up to see Ethan trying to light up one of his cigarettes. "You know that cigarettes are toxic, right?" I tell him, tilting my head a bit. It's always been a habit of mine to inform and aware people about what's right and what's wrong. I just can't help it. Ethan, like most people, only shrugs me off and continues on with their actions. I watched, out of pure boredom, Ethan strive to light the cigarette. Attempt one, attempt two, attempt three, and soon, he was on attempt four. It didn't take long for me to notice what the problem was. He couldn't light the cigarette was because of the howling wind that would pass by every now and then. It would blow out the small fire, sending him back to square one. Out of nowhere, the sky lit up.

Crack!

The sound of thunder roared just a few seconds after that. It sent Ethan and I jumping out of our skins. Rain started to pour down. My hands immediately shot up over my head. A couple of rain drops attacked the small fire we had and within seconds, poof, it was gone. I get up, with both of my arms still trying to shield my head from the storm, and run under a broad-leaved tree. At least I wasn't getting as wet as I was before. My friend on the other hand, stood in the rain. This time, he faced a new problem, his lighter wouldn't work.

"Ethan!" I shout, squinting my eyes a bit. "What the heck are you doing? You're going to get sick!" I continue. He doesn't mind me one bit. He's addicted to that stupid cigarette. 'Cancer on a stick' is what my mother calls it, and I can't blame her for giving it that name.

Another roar of thunder sounded again, this time even louder. "We should seek shelter!" I exclaim, and dart over to Ethan. His dark brown hair was drenched already. "No duh," He responded, while proceeding to putting away his lighter into his pocket. "C'mon." He started to walk in the opposite direction. "Uh, wait! Where do you think you're going?" My voice quaked while my eyebrows rise to the sky.

"I'm going to find shelter," He replied.

"Shelter!?" I shout, scanning the area. "Where exactly?"

"I dunno, but I'm going. Are you comin' or not?"

"And walk into a bat infested cave with you?" I snap.

"Yeah."

"No way!"

"Well then... Move it or lose it."

The conversation ended just like that. He can't be serious. He doesn't know this place like the back of his hand, it's a jungle for crying out loud! My thoughts ran with disbelief as I saw Ethan casually stroll away. I had no choice. I have to go with him, he's the only other person out here, plus it'd be easier to look for two people together, than two that are separated.

"Wait up!" I call after him. He was just like my other classmates. Deluded and stupid. He thinks that he can't die out here, and that he can just walk off without planning ahead, and that's what makes him a complete dolt!

We were walking until all of a sudden, he stopped. I nearly bump into him, since I was behind him. I look past him to see a pool of mud in front of us. It looked thick enough to be mistaken for chocolate icing. "Mud..." I say, scrunching up my face in disgust as the words came out from my lips. "What about it? All we have to do is go through it, and bada bing bada boom, we get to the other side," Ethan commented. I shake his head. Ethan doesn't wait for me. He puts one foot into the mud. "See? It ain't that hard. I don't get why you wanna stay all sparkly clean when this is a test of survival." His mouth curves into a smug smile. "It's not about staying clean Ethan! That mud is on a hill, which means it can create a mud slide at any given second!" I protest, clenching my fists a bit. Here he goes again, completely going through something without considering the results of his actions. "For pete's sake, Forget about the damn hill Liam!" He yells to me. I could see his left foot, which was in the mud, was starting to sink a bit.

"We could get stuck in that mud!" I counter. "Let's just go find another way." At this point, I was imploring him to get out of the mud. The rain was coming down a bit harder at this time. I could tell just by the look on his face, Ethan has had enough of my lack of 'taking chances' and' playing it safe'. Without warning, he pulls me in. Mud splatters all over my clothes. I would've had a heart attack if I wasn't so composed.

"What the heck Ethan!" I scowl, scooping up mud and throwing it straight at his face. He puts his other foot into the mud and trudges through it. The mud pool was up to Ethan's waist, but the mud was at my shoulders. I am a lot shorter than Ethan, and this pond of mud was reminding me every second of the way.

"Let's get a move on Liam. It's nearly dusk!" Ethan enunciated. I take a quick peek at the sky. He was right, it was nearly dusk. Even though the rain clouds were in the way, the bright bronzed looking sky indicated the sun was setting. I could hear him, but I couldn't see him. Well, I could, but barely because of all of the rain. The further I went on, the more the height of the mud rose. It was only a few seconds before the height of the mire was touching the tip of my chin. I wasn't going to make it. It was only until we got to the middle before I could barely keep my head up. I have to turn around, I thought, but it was too late for that!

"Ethan!" I holler, trying to turn around. He didn't stop. He mustn't have heard me.

Well, you made it to fourteen years of age. You almost made it to fifteen, and were a sophomore. Too bad you're going to die, you had a good run. That was my mind racing. I was panicking already. I couldn't go back, the mud was too thick for me to completely turn around. I couldn't go forward either, I'd just die quicker.

As I was sinking, all I could think about was my friend Abby. She was a part of this trip. Actually, she was reason why Ethan and I had gone on this trip. The thought of her in this situation came across my mind. She would've met her demise a lot quicker than me, which wouldn't be fair. Slowly sinking to my death with uncertainty of my existence was torture. She's only four feet tall, so if she had been in this, she would've had a quick death. She would've been sucked in and never seen again.

I'm going to suffocate if I stay here....

I'm going to suffocate if I stay here....

I'm going to die

"Ethan, help!"

I was practically screaming out his name. I saw him stop for a second, than look back. The last thing I saw his eyes widen and 'holy crap!' written on face when he realized. He started to race to me.

I sunk under, my arms flailed in the air.

*sigh* Why did I go on this stupid trip?