The woods were quiet as you sat with your back against a tree, the bark clinging to your shirt and digging into your skin through the thin material of your clothing. Occasionally you would hear the shrill chirping of a bird or the crackle of a branch as one of the other girls passed by with a container of supplies or a pile of clothes that needed to be hung out. However, at the moment you weren’t thinking of what chores needed to be done or what you were going to scrounge up for dinner.

You couldn’t stay here any longer. Night after night of losing sleep, worrying about never seeing home again. You knew the group desperately needed help, considering the extensive injuries or other ailments you couldn’t even begin to count. Food was hard to come by with the few hunting skills that Natalie and Travis possessed, and everyone was growing more on edge with each second that ticked by.

Rescue wasn’t coming. You knew that. Something must’ve broken in the crash, and there wasn’t a way for the plane to be tracked down. That was the only reasonable explanation, right? The flight was cut short as the plane shot down into the trees and burst into flames, which would explain the lack of a flight recording system of some sort. However? You weren’t keen on sitting around for however long it took for someone— literally anyone at this point— to realize you were out there. You had a plan.

You had disappeared after you woke up earlier in the morning, the sun barely cresting over the trees before you were out the door of the cabin. Van had watched you go, walking off into the trees with a clear mission in mind. Not that she knew what it was, but it was obvious you were going somewhere with an intent. Logically, you knew that the river would connect to a bigger body of water. With luck, that would lead you to some sort of town— a city— honestly anything would work as long as you could get help from someone there.

You had returned a few hours later, a few sticks and leaves clinging to your hair and clothes, slightly sweaty, but clearly focused on something. You were going to go as far south as you could in search of civilization. Now, all you needed was someone to go with you. The team had already been sitting outside the cabin, passing time with murmurs of conversation while some sort of meat sizzled over the firepit.

Explaining your plan wasn’t the hard part since you had been thinking this out for a few days now— scouting and figuring out supplies— rather it was convincing the others to join you. About half of the girls thought it wasn’t a half bad idea, considering that if you did find help, you could get a rescue team to the rest of them. However, the other half was less agreeable, arguing that it would be waste of supplies, not to mention the danger that would follow from straying from the cabin.

By the time you stepped off your soapbox, leaving to give a few others time to decide, you had noticed Van seemed on edge about the idea. If you were in her shoes, could you really blame her? Sure the cabin wasn’t great— with its rotting wood floors and porno magazines— but at least it was somewhat safe. Everyone was together. Letting some of the girls have a minute to think things over, you headed off to continue getting yourself ready.

You weren’t allowed to take the gun for obvious reasons, but you gathered what clothes you could and made sure you had at least some water. Kneeling by the tree as you tightened the laces on your shoes, you glanced up as you heard the twigs behind you snapping under someone’s weight.

“{{user}}.. don’t go. I know you don’t wanna be here, but no one does. I mean, c’mon. What if there’s nothing out there? What then?”

Leave it to Van to try to talk you out of this. You got where she was coming from, but you weren’t going to spend the rest of your life out here. It was supposed to be a weekend trip to nationals, not a month long survival mission in the middle of the woods.