The Stars

Ch 16: The Trudge

We each silently ate as many guavas as we could. As we ate, we noticed the wind began to pick up a bit. We needed to look for shelter before it got too cold. It would eventually get dark too... We finished eating and Jaycob put the rest of the guavas in his pockets for us to eat later. Then, we began walking along the beach to find more food sources and a spot to set up for the upcoming evening. There were a few chickens, but they all seemed thin... These didn't seem like the chickens you'd find on a farm. I decided to check my phone for service as we walked. Still no bars... My phone's battery was at 48%. Wait a second... Something's not right...

Me: "Hey... uhh... can you guys check your phones?"

They both pulled them out to see what was up. Jaycob's battery was at 62%, and Uly's was at 54%. Neither of them had service either.

Ulysses: "What's the problem? I doubt there'll be service here if that's what you mean."

Me: "What time is it...?"

Jaycob: "7:06 AM."

He said it nonchalantly at first as if there wasn't something wrong about that, but then he did a double take.

Jaycob: "7:06 AM?? It was like 3:15 when we got to the mall though. It should only be like 4 PM."

Ulysses: "How'd the time offset that much? Where are we?"

Me: "Look, the date is different too. Saturday, August 17th. It should be Friday. We're 15 hours ahead of Pacific Time..."

Jaycob: "Fuck... We're in a completely different country... but where?"

Ulysses: "Oh my god... We need to find a way out of here..."

Me: "We will... but that comes last. Food and shelter come first."

I was unsure if we'd ever make it out of here... I only said that so we could stay a little more focused. We continued our journey down the seemingly endless beach. I would periodically check my phone for service as we went just in case I could get just a blip. No luck... I didn't realize it yet, but we've already been walking for hours. So far all we've found were more guava trees, durian trees, a few more chickens, and more... beach... I think we were approaching the base of a cliff, but we were still way too far to see anything interesting.

Ulysses: "Can we take a break? My feet hurt and there's sand in my shoes. It's starting to irritate me..."

Jaycob: "See that cliff? We're almost there. We can all rest when we get there."

Me: "The cliff still looks pretty far, man..."

Jaycob stopped walking and looked at Uly and I. All three of us were sweaty and out of breath. Uly seemed weak in the knees... He cringed at the feeling of sand in his socks and shoes. Jaycob let out a short sigh.

Jaycob: "Alright, Anakin... We can take a break."

We all collapsed into the sand. To my surprise, the sand was surprisingly cool. Uly took off his socks and shoes to dump the sand out. Jaycob paced around a bit and continued to look for cell service, but eventually he gave up and sat next to Uly. I laid my back down on the sand and stared up at the clouds. Shutting my eyes, I tried to get comfortable. Peace and quiet on a mysterious beach... There was something itching on the nape of my neck, so I put my hand back there to feel what it was. It felt like... cardboard. Confused, I pulled it out of the sand beneath me and pulled out a withered piece of cardboard. Huh... so there's trash on this beach. I flipped it over and noticed something. It was a white sticker with some faded words on it. It looked like a shipping address, but it was too blurry to make out. Below that was a faded brand name in some other language. I looked closer at the white sticker, and I finally got a clear idea of where we might be.