The Wilderness

Chapter Four

As midday approached, the ten survivors had traveled some distance away from the mountain they had crashed on. The rough journey through trees, rocks, and streams had reminded the kids that it had been nearly two days since they last ate. Now they were starving.

​"Chandler had showed me a couple bags of pretzels, but he had them with him when the avalanche came," Jason told the others as they stopped for a much needed break.

​"Well isn't that just great," Jackson said dejectedly. "We haven't eaten in two days, and the last food we have is buried underneath snow." Trevell and Andy looked at him slightly offended, thinking he was blaming Chandler for the lost.

​"It isn't Chandler's fault," Andy said firmly.

​"I know," Jackson sighed. Jason looked at his best friend with concern. Before the crash Jackson had been Jason's buddy, and the two were often seen joking around and teasing each other. Now, though, Jackson was always gloomy and depressed, and he barely ever smiled. The food problem wasn't helping to lift his spirits. Suddenly, Jason had an idea.

​"Guys, why don't we make a trap? Like to catch rabbits in?" Jason asked, a gleam in his eyes.

​"How?" Alex asked. The kids leaned in closely to hear Jason's answer.

​"I saw it on a TV show before. You just get a long, thin piece of wire and loosely tie one end into a large loop, to catch the rabbit's head in. The other end you tie to a branch," Jason explained.

​"It's a good idea, we may have to replace the wire with string though," Stephan said.

​"Shoestring!" Trevell exclaimed. Jason nodded eagerly.

​"I'll make the snare! Just give me some shoestring to use," Jason told the group, "Maybe we can make several, we'll have a better chance at catching a rabbit that way."

​Even as Jason was speaking several of the kids started pulling out their shoestrings. Trevell, Joe, and Stephan contributed their shoestrings, and Jason quickly made two rabbit snares.

​"Wow Jason, I can't believe you didn't tell us about this earlier," Andy said. Jason smiled and started to walk away, but Stephan stopped him before he got far.

​"Where you going?" Stephan asked, like an overprotective parent.

​"To the mall," Jason said sarcastically, "Where do you think I'm going? To put up these snares so that we can catch some bunnies." Stephan stopped short and went back to the group.

​"Don't go too far," Stephan called to Jason.

​"Sure thing Dad," Jason called back.

​"Stephan, I'm hungry," Lola whimpered.

​"Stephy, I'm hungwy," Andy said mockingly. Trevell and Chris laughed.

​"I know, Jason's going to set up traps to catch rabbits. Just wait a little longer," Stephan said comfortingly, ignoring Andy.

​Fifteen minutes went by before Jason returned.

​"Okay, in a few hours we can go back and see if we've caught anything," Jason told the group. Chris grumbled.

​"A few hours? We need to get moving," Chris protested. "What about an hour?"

​"That won't be enough!" Jason replied.

​"Than maybe you can put it up at night," Sky suggested. Ally nodded in agreement.

​"Yeah, we should do that Jason," Chris agreed. Jason crossed his arms.

​"Fine, in an hour we'll go and check them. If there's nothing, we can put it up at night when we go to bed," Jason said in agreement.

​"Oh yeah, about that," Stephan started. The group looked at him. "I've been thinking about it, and I think someone should be awake at all times during the night. We can take turns. And we need to look for a better shelter; too many of us have died because we get too cold at night."