CRASHED ✓

=CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT=

Aye here we go. Sorry if some of this seems rushed. This chapter is well over 3,500 words, and I had a lot of fit in. However, regardless, I hope you enjoy :)

The next few days were absolute hell. Marisa, Zeke, Jayed, Hedi and Orion hadn't been heard from since they went to the cave, and the feet of the four that were off to get water were extremely sore. They did, however, manage to find some, and used carved out rocks and shells they found as ways to hold it. 

"I thought we were leaving right when Marisa said we were," Nico complained, taking a sip of water. Now that they thought about it, they should have had less people going to get water, since they had already drank a lot of it.

"We didn't even have the right supplies, Nico," Lany responded. "Trust me, I want to leave just as bad as you do."

"But what was the point of her speech if we were just going to stay here for a whole more week? 'We need to leave now! It's what Sparna would have wanted!' Who knows what she would have wanted?"

"Can you guys hurry up?" Ty groaned from behind them. "If you haven't noticed, I'm carrying a human here." Talon kept apologizing, but Ty kept shrugging it off. They adjusting her position, grinding their teeth as they did so.

Lany downed another seashell full of water. "We're all gonna die if this is all we have out in the open."

"Why is everyone so negative?" Talon asked. 

Lany raised his eyebrow. "Because it's us against the universe, the same universe that has killed most of our friends already."

Talon sighed. "Touché."

"Whatever. Less talking, more walking. My feet are killing me," said Ty. 

Suddenly, Nico yelped. Ty quickly turned to him, Nico trying to act like nothing happened. However, Ty saw the log that he had just "passed over." 

"Real smooth," they joked.

"Shut up," Nico snapped in response. He was extra careful not to "pass over" any more logs after that.

***

"It might have been a shitty trip to get here, but I must say, it was worth it." Zeke felt the smooth bark on his hands, gripping it tightly. Marisa had led the group back to the cave she had visited a while ago, and they had found a bunch of weapons and supplies. Zeke was particularly fond of the spear that had a hand-shaped rock at the end as a point.

"I'm glad that you think that," Marisa said, voice shaking. Sure, she knew that coming back would invoke some negative feelings, but she didn't expect for be as frightening and unsettled as she did at that moment. Jayed walked up beside her, grabbing her hand.

"You'll be okay, Marisa," he said, trying his best to comfort her. "You have us. Nothing is going to happen."

"I had Sparna and Liam with me, yet they're both dead." Marisa jumped as the words left her mouth. "Oh my God." She turned to Jayed and started shaking his shoulders. "I'm the only one left! I'm going to die!"

What do you mean? Orion signed. At that point, most people understood some basic signs from him, so Zeke didn't need to translate as much.

"William! Liam! Sparna! They're all dead!"

Yeah, but why does that mean you're going to die?

"Because we were the ones that left that one time! That one time! We were the 'strongest' of the group! I'm the last one, so I'm going to die!" She started pacing back and forth, twitching and sometimes randomly screaming. Zeke tried to calm her down, but nothing really worked.