The Wilderness

Second Disruption

"Jared, are you crying?" Elly suddenly asks. I look over at my grandson and I'm shock to see that he actually is crying. That's a first.

​"No!" Jared automatically replies. "I-I just yawned."

​"Sure," Elly says, rolling her eyes.

​"I did! Grandpa, why didn't you guys go back for Joe? And why did Trevell and Andy die?"

​"Well, later I found out that Trevell and Andy had eaten a poisonous type of berry, so that's why they didn't make it," I answer, "And we didn't go back for Joe because we didn't really know where he was. We lost our way after running after the helicopter, so we weren't really sure where he was. And remember, he was alone for a whole night by the time we noticed he was missing."

​"How did you not notice he was missing when you ran after the plane?" Jared asks, unbelieving.

​"We were too upset about missing the helicopter, and when Trevell and Andy ate those berries we were too worried about them to notice. So the next day when we did realize Joe wasn't with us, we knew it was too late. He was already so weak, we knew he wouldn't have been able to survive a night by himself," I answer. Jared shakes his head and gets up.

​"Can I have some ice cream?" He asks. I nod and he goes into the kitchen.

​"Grandpa, do you ever talk to the others that were with you? Like, after you guys were rescued, did you keep in touch?" Elly asks me after a while.

​"Elly, only me and one other person were rescued," I answer her.

​"What?! What about the others? There were...eight of you! What happened to the others?"

​"They died," I reply.

​"Who died?" Jared asks as he comes back into the room with a large bowl of ice cream, covered in chocolate syrup.

​"Only Grandpa and one other person got rescued! All the others died!" Elly exclaims. Jared's eyes widen and he almost drops his bowl.

​"What?! Who else lived? Who's the other person?" Jared asks me, sitting down on the couch beside Elly.

​"I can't tell you," I say, "That would ruin the ending." Jared is about to protest, but Elly stops him. "You want me to continue?" I ask them. They nod. I continue.