The Blast

Chapter Three: The Discovery and More Questions

He woke up to the sound of the crackle of the campfire. Cruze unzipped the tent and saw Avery, Wyatt and Riley sitting beside the campfire eating eggs, that Riley had cooked up. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and walked over to the group, where Riley greeted him with a plate of fresh, hot eggs. They were discussing last night's adventures while Cruze was silently eating his eggs.
"We should get going soon. We need to put as much distance as we can between Arlington and us." Cruze said as he finished the last bite of his eggs.
"Well, we need to pack up camp and get ready for the day. So I say we meet at the campfire in 10. Is that good?" Avery suggested.
"Fine with me" Wyatt replied.
So the group cleaned their plates and packed up the tent and other supplies. They changed their clothes and brushed their teeth. Cruze's mind was still on how he lost his shotgun yesterday, how could he be so stupid, he thought. The one thing you forget and it's something that could be the difference between life and death. Luckily Avery had her bow, but what if next time she wasn't there to save him. What would happen? He waved away the thought and went back to the task of packing up his sleeping bag and backpack.

Everyone except for Wyatt met up at the campfire after they were done, with their backpacks on their shoulders. Everyone turned their heads to Wyatt, who was for some reason wearing a weird necklace with seashells on it. But as he got closer, they realized his necklace wasn't made out of seashells but teeth and claws.
"Dude, what are you wearing?" Riley asked.
"They're teeth and the claws from the bear Avery killed"
Wyatt replied, beaming.
"Seriously dude? You had to take its teeth!" Avery asked, clearly annoyed.
" it's a memento from when we killed the bear" Wyatt replied.
" You mean we as in Avery who did all the work right." Cruze joked
"Yea, she did save our asses, but let's just get going," Wyatt said, wanting the conversation to be dropped.
So they covered up the fire they had made and once again started the long boring trip of walking through the forest. They had decided not to use the bear for anything especially for eating. If you've ever tried eating bear, you would know it tasted like crap. So they left it as a gift for the other animals. After walking for a while they came across a river that separated them and the other side of the forest.
"We're going to have to cross the river if we want to keep going," Wyatt said.
"We could walk beside the river and see if there's a crossing" Avery suggested.
"I think the best decision is to cross it, who knows how long it would take to find a crossing" Cruze declared.
"I agree, but you better come see what I found" Riley replied, pointing to a pile of leaves.
They gathered in a circle around the leaves and Riley crouched down to reveal what was covered. It was an old red canoe, with the entire bow missing. They were all surprised by the discovery they had just made, but the fact was that if there was a canoe, it means that at some time someone had been here. Rig he where they were standing, it also gave them a hint that they were probably going the right way. Riley turned the canoe over and on the wooden seat were two letters carved into it. It said J.A presumably initials for the owner of the canoe. They each examined their new discovery and even though it was broken Wyatt had an idea forming in his head.
"The river doesn't look that deep, it might come up to our waists but we might be able to use this canoe to put our bags and the cooler in. We're too heavy to go in it, especially because half of the canoe is missing, we definitely sink it" Wyatt explained.
"Good idea" Avery agreed.
So they put all their packs and the cooler in the scratched up half-canoe and slowly descended it into the bone chattering water. They waded through the ice-cold river while each of them held one side of the canoe, carefully making sure no water got to their gear.  It took painstakingly long for them to cross, readjusting their grip on the canoe and making sure they didn't lose their footing on the rocks below in the murky water.  They emerged out of the water, the lower half of them soaked in freezing water. With their teeth chattering and hugging their bodies to contain the little heat, they had left they dragged up the canoe to a dry spot. Where they all huddled up together to generate all the heat they had lost. According to Cruze, they had roughly two hours to sunset, so they walked a little farther where they decided to set up camp. They rushed to make a fire so that they could dry out their clothes and e dinner they so desperately needed.

The fire was crackling and they had all taken off their shirts, pants, socks and shoes to dry near the fire. They had all changed into a fresh pair of clothes that were nice and dry. They all cuddled up near the fire, sharing the blanket Avery had found in the Jeep. Avery soon fell asleep, leaning on Wyatt's shoulder for comfort. With the help of Cruze, Riley made dinner rapidly. They ate potatoes, corn on the cob and little pieces of chicken. Wyatt woke up Avery with a soft nudge of his shoulder so that she wouldn't miss out on dinner. She woke up grateful she hadn't missed out on her favourite time of the day. Dinner! They talked about the day's events and the mysterious discovery of the canoe. They debated how long the canoe had been there, Avery's theory was that there was someone who had escaped like them and was only a day walking distance ahead of them. Each of them had their own theories. After they were done dinner, Wyatt got up and tossed out some fruit to each of them to eat as a sort of dessert. As they were finishing the last bites of their fruit the last ray of sunlight disappeared and they all went to the tent except for one.
"Bro, you coming?" Wyatt asked.
"I'll be there in a couple of minutes" Cruze replied without looking back.
"Okay," Wyatt said and disappeared into the tent.
With that Cruze was left with his own thoughts and the faint light of the full moon. He had so many thoughts going through his brain. Like why there was nothing on the maps? Or Who's canoe did the canoe belong to? How long had it been there? Finally was there someone out there, escaping like him? He definitely had questions but to his avail, he had no answers. Soon he thought, soon there will be answers to my questions. At least he hoped there would be. Doubting his positive thoughts. He took one last bite out of his pear, threw into the nearby bushes and trudged into the tent. He squeezed into his sleeping bag beside Wyatt and Riley. "You up?" Cruze whispered.
"Yea, I'm so tired I can't fall asleep. You alright?" Wyatt quietly answered.
"I guess, I just can't stop thinking about all the questions I have," Cruze explained.
"Me too, but soon enough we'll find somewhere to live. Then we'll have answers, plus it can't all be forest, we're not the only humans on the entire planet" Wyatt joked.
"I know but why isn't there anything on the maps, it's like someone doesn't want us to know something." Cruze guessed.
"You may be right, I don't know anyone that's left the town or knows anything about what's out there," Wyatt said.
"We'll find out soon enough when we find some sort of civilization," Cruze replied.
"Yeah, we better get some sleep though. I have a feeling something bigs going to happen tomorrow." Wyatt advised.
" true. 'night Wyatt" Cruze answered.
" 'night" Wyatt sighed.
The two of them rolled over, closed their eyes and fell asleep.
But their night wouldn't end there, for they had no clue how their night would end...

Hope you liked it!! Follow me to find out what happens in the next chapter!! Please comment and vote!