Chapter Text
The first thing Felix registers as he wakes up is cold, soggy ground and leaves underneath his hands and lower back, where his shirt had ridden up during his fitful sleep. Felix feels tired, like he hadn’t slept at all, and feels movement around and on him. Jake lifts his head from Felix’s hip – When had he even ended up there?- and looks over at Sam, who’s squeezing and eating something from a red tube.
Andy looks over at Sam at the same time as Jake, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with dirty hands first and- “What are you doing?!”
“It’s pawpaw. That’s fruit, right?” Sam asks Andy, not seeming even the tiniest bit concerned while he continues eating.
Through his disgust, Andy manages a response.
“It’s for itchy crotch!”
Sam gags, quickly throwing the tube away and wiping his mouth, a look of regret on his face.
While all this happened, Jake and Felix continued to doze, not wanting to get up yet. However, they are pulled out of their relaxation at the sound of Sam’s gagging and slowly get up as well. Once Jake is sitting upright, Felix moves his hands underneath him to lift himself up, but he freezes when he hears a strange howl, followed by the sound of birds from nearby trees rushing to get away.
“That doesn’t sound good.” He states, listening intently for more of the noise.
“We should get moving.” Jake stands up, and the rest slowly follow. “C’mon. Now.”
The other three boys slowly shuffle to their feet, following Jake away from their temporary camp. They walk a short distance, returning to a main path cleared of rubble that will hopefully lead through the forest.
“Look at that storm…” Sam comments, looking up at thick dark grey clouds gathering above them, visible through a relatively large gap in the dense trees surrounding them.
Then, suddenly, the clouds start to gather, swirling together, going faster. And faster. Forming a circle. Now creating a spiral. A spiral that is heading straight toward them. With extreme speed. A tornado harshly hits the ground in front of them, the wind that comes off it rustling the trees and bushes around them, blowing the sand off the path and into their eyes and mouths. They all stand still for a second, in shock, before Jake yells at them to
“RUN!”
They run down the path, sand and dirt crunching beneath their shoes, hearing the tornado rushing furiously behind them. Jake and Sam are in the front, Felix close behind, out of breath but keeping up. Andy, however, is quickly losing speed, lagging behind the others.
“Faster nerd! Faster!” Jake yells at Andy.
The boys keep running, tired and out of breath, barely awake.
Felix mumbles the lyrics of his new song to himself as he puts on his eyeliner with a black eye pencil. He tries to ignore the stinging on his wrists, left from the night before. He also pointedly ignores his chipped black nail polish, not having the patience to wait for it to dry.
“Water, fire, earth, and air,
Water, fire, earth, and air,
Water, fire, earth, and air,
Elements that we all share.”
As he’s using his ring finger to smudge his eyeliner underneath his eye and turns to grab his mascara from his little coffee table, his eyes land on his electric guitar standing in its stand. He debates whether to play it now or wait until he’s finished getting ready, weighing the pros and cons of having his father yell at him so early in the morning. He decides to record his song later.
He finishes putting his mascara on, sprays some hairspray into his hair until it’s styled the way he wants it to, and then picks up his guitar. He sets up his phone to record the song, so that he can show Ellen on their walk to school, then plays a few warm-up riffs. Deciding he’s ready, he puts his fingers on the right strings and cords and starts singing.
“Water, fire, earth, and air,
Water, fire, earth, and air,
Water, fire, earth, and air,
Elements that we all share.
Walk upon this earth again,
Walk upon this earth again,
Walk upon this earth again-”
Just as he’s about to say his next line, a knock comes from his window.
“Felix!” He throws his head back in annoyance, already knowing what’s coming. His father knocks on the window again, telling him to “Cut it out!”
Felix ends the recording and puts his phone and notebook in his black leather satchel. He grabs everything he’ll need for the day, then heads out of his room, a small renovated home office disconnected from the main house, to the door leading into the kitchen and living room. As he walks, he quickly finishes putting in his snakebites and earring, knowing he won’t have much time before leaving and meeting up with Ellen.
“Hey, Oscie.” He greets his little brother as he enters the house. “Want to hear my new song?”
“Sure.”
As Felix puts on the song for Oscar to listen to, his mother walks into the living room, holding a thermometer.
“Felix, get your father.” Felix ignores her in favor of turning on the song for Oscar.
“Get your father!” She yells at him as she approaches Oscar, dabbing at his face with a cold towel.
Felix scoffs in annoyance and walks away, calling for his father.
“We need to go.” His mom states, already moving Oscar’s breakfast away from him.
“I’m fine, mom, really! I want to go to school.” Oscar's protests are met with silence from his mother.
Felix looks over at the two. “He says he’s fine.” He glances at his mom, shrugging at her.
“Yeah, well, the thermometer says differently.” His mom replies, just as his dad enters the room in a rush, still buttoning up his blouse.
“Have you got the car keys?”
“Where’d you leave them?” Their mom asks, flinging her bag over her shoulder.
“I don’t know, Kathy, That’s why I’m asking you.” His dad answers, sounding frustrated.
Felix appears behind his father, holding the keys up for him to see. “Here they are.” He hands the keys over. Felix’s mom turns to him as she grabs Oscar’s wheelchair.
“Felix, make your own lunch. Pack the dishwasher, too.”
“Did you sign my permission form?” He searches for the paper in question on the cluttered table in front of him.
“What form?” His mom is already heading for the door with Oscar.
“Mom!” Felix yells in frustration. Oscar quickly compliments the song before being pushed out the door by their mother, their father following closely behind them. Felix is left alone with only deadly silence and an unsigned permission form. By the time Felix leaves the house, Ellen is already waiting for him at their meetup spot, sitting on the curb. Felix lets out a sigh of relief when he sees her, knowing she can help him.
“Can you forge my mom’s signature?”
“Or… We could just not go.” Ellen offers, annoyed.
“It’s compulsory. Come on, Ellen, forgery is your superpower.”
Ellen snatches the permission form out of Felix’s hand.
“And I should be using it for pure evil, like identity theft. Not some stupid bushwalk.” As Ellen’s speaking, she and Felix begin their trek to school.
“It’ll be fun. We’ll hang out together, make cutting and insightful observations about our fellow students… Except, it’ll be in nature.”
Ellen scoffs. “I hate nature.”
Felix laughs a little. “I arranged for us to be together…” He attempts one last argument to convince her to go and smiles slyly in victory when Ellen asks him for a pen. He thanks her as he hands her the pen and Ellen goes to work.
“Oh, hey. Wanna listen to this new song I wrote?”
Felix plays the song and Ellen compliments it as they walk to school.
“Oh…” Sarah trails off as she looks at her son, Jake, dressed for the bushwalk. He’s wearing blue jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt, nothing unlike what he usually wears, yet Sarah cannot help but dote.
“Don’t you look handsome!”
Jake scoffs, pretending the compliment doesn’t make him feel a little bit better.
“I hate this dumb bushwalk. Can’t I just stay home?” Sarah laughs, brushing Jake’s hair back from his face and holding his head between her palms. Her gaze is filled with familiarity.
“Your father was never a fan of nature, either.”
“I’m not like dad, though, am I?” Jake asks his mother, a second of fear flashing in his eyes. He tolerates his father, but would never want to be anything like him.
“Of course not, sweetie. You’re so much better than him, Jakey, so much more...” Her voice is breathy, intense. She ends her sentence with a kiss on his forehead, his nose, and his cheeks, her gaze slowly filling with more than just motherly love. Jake doesn’t dare to let himself think about it more.
“You,” his mother begins again, staring into his eyes with a certain look, “are nothing like your father. You’re so much more mature, understanding, you take good care of me.”
Jake lightly steps back, the eye contact becoming too much for him. Unease and flattery both pull at his mind. He chews on his lower lip, looking down.
“Really?”
“Really. You make me so happy. I’m so proud of you.” His mother’s eyes move from his eyes to his lips, only for a second, but Jake can feel the tension. He doesn’t know what to do. He wants to shrug off his mom’s hands but simultaneously step closer to her. Just as the tension gets too much, his face gets hotter, and his mom-
“Sarah! Open up!”
His mom breaks their contact with a gasp, pulling her hands back from his face and stepping back. With more distance between them, Jake can breathe again and steps away from his mother. Banging and knocking come from the front door followed by more yelling.
“Come on, Sarah! I know you’re in there. Come on!”
She quickly moves to duck behind the couch, pulling Jake down with her. She looks at his side profile.
“You’re going to be late for school.” She whispers to him.
Jake whispers back to her. “You’re going to be late for work.”
“You’re three weeks late with the rent, again!” The tirade outside the door continues.
“Just duck out the back door.” Sarah nods her head in the direction of the back of the house. Jake refuses.
“Not with him at the door.” He shakes his head.
“Sarah, I know you’re in there! I know you can hear me!”
Jake closes his eyes and shakes his head, standing up and moving forward, obviously mad. Sarah stops him before he reaches the door, muttering “I’ll deal with him.”
“Come on, Sarah, seriously!”
Sarah rounds the corner leading to the door, hissing angrily. “Don’t tell the whole town about my private business.” She opens the screen door. “Is that what this is about, Phil?”
“Well,” Phil, their rent collector, starts. “No, Sarah-”
Phil sputters as Sarah continues. He takes a step back, intimidated. “I am just the middle man here. Why don’t you hassle my ex for the child support he owes? If Gary paid his debts, I could pay mine, and the whole world would be a better place, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, well… You know I can’t get it from Gary.” Sarah looks at Phil, defeated. “Yeah,” she gestures at Phil with a ‘see?’ hand motion. “Welcome to my world.”
Now that the argument has reached a momentary standstill, Sarah sends Jake on his way to school.
“Jakey?”
Jake looks up from where he’d been staring down at the ground, moving forward to step through the door.
“Have a good one, huh?” Sarah whispers to Jake, kissing him two times on his cheeks.
Jake nods at his mom and steps past Phil, ignoring his high-five. Before fully walking out of earshot, Jake turns back to Phil. “My dad’s a loser, what can I say?”
While Phil is distracted by Jake, Sarah quickly closes the screen door and walks away.
“Bye, Sarah.” Phil says awkwardly, looking at Sarah’s retreating back. Phil stands around for a few more seconds, before turning tail and walking away as well.
“I’m not sick, Nai-Nai!” Andy yells from underneath the blanket his grandmother is keeping him restricted to his bed with. From a few feet away where his mother calls his teacher, Mr. Bates, Andy can follow what she says. He begins struggling harder.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Bates, we just don’t think it’s a good idea. Andy has so many allergies.”
From on top of him, his grandmother adds more reasons for him to stay home: “Bush is bad place! Many poison things sting you, you probably die!”
As a last attempt to escape, Andy points to a random spot behind his grandmother and tells her to look. Miraculously, it works, and Andy makes a wild dash for the stairs. As he runs away to his dad, the last voice of reason, his grandmother yells at him to come back.
Apparently, Viv is near the bottom of the stairs, because someone yells at her to “Catch your brother!”
Andy almost knocks into his sister's project as he runs down the stairs and around the corner. Before he continues his run to salvation, he quickly tells her to adjust her filters in her project (“Your high-impedance filter should be before your low-pass filter!”). Andy continues through the yard and into the shed, where his father works on a project.
“Mom and Nai-Nai won’t let me go on the school excursion. And if I don’t go, it could impact my future! I might not even get into medicine.”
His father smiles at him disbelievingly and asks, “Tell me, how does a bushwalk relate to your medical studies?”
“Or law!”
“Either one?”
“Team building? Team dynamics? Working in a team!” Andy rattles off the reasons, feeling defeated when his father just continues to smile at him.
“C’mon, dad! Bear Grylls’ mom would’ve let him go.”
Just as Andy’s dad seems to have come to a decision, his mom and grandmother run into the shed, both looking furious. Andy looks from his mother and grandmother to his father, who smiles at him. His father then turns his smile to his wife and mother-in-law.
“Oh man, that drive was scary!” Vince comments once the car rolls to a stop in front of the school. Sam laughs, agreeing with his brother.
“Vince, your brother’s doing very well, " their mother says, looking at Pete, who’s in the driver’s seat.
“He went through a stop sign, mom!” Sam argues. “And he nearly hit a woman with a walking frame!” Vince adds, making Sam laugh again as they high-five each other.
“I’d have gotten her, too,” Pete comments, “If she didn’t move so fast.”
Sam turns to Vince. “Hey, hey. Are we still on to capture our death-defying stunt, twelve stairs?”
“Oh, yeah man! I should get the camera.”
“Mom, are you coming? I’m dedicating it to you.” Sam finishes his sentence sweetly, hoping to convince his mom. Just as his mom is about to reply, Pete butts in and calls Sam a sap. Their mom scoffs at Pete and tells Sam she’ll be there, and that she wouldn’t miss it for the world.
“And, Sam, I’ve got a special feast planned for tonight.”
“Lamb roast?”
“With BBQ sauce, " she answers with a knowing smile as her three sons cheer with delight. Sam and Vince eventually leave the car, and Pete and Vince taunt Sam about his girlfriend, Mia.
Felix and Ellen, who were already waiting in front of the school when Sam arrived, looked on as Mia and Sam hugged and kissed each other in greeting.
“Boy band’s here…” Ellen comments with disdain.
“Oh, I’m so good-looking, everyone loves me!” Felix adds in a mocking tone aimed at Sam, making Ellen scoff. “He’s such an airhead.”
“And his girlfriend,” Ellen adds, “Is so far up herself.”
They pretend to gag and throw up as Sam and Mia walk away, heading to the bus that has arrived in the parking lot in front of the school. Other students are making their way over as well, including Andy.
As he walks toward the bus, he is greeted by a happy Mr. Bates.
“Andy, you made it! Hand me your permission slip before you head on the bus.” Andy hands the signed permission form over, followed by a soft “Thank you.” From Mr. Bates.
After checking the form, Mr. Bates turns to the dark grey clouds behind him. “Although… I don’t like the look of those clouds.”
Meanwhile, Felix gets a football kicked at his head by Jake, bouncing off of him with a loud thud. Jake, together with some friends, laughs and jeers at him.
“And he scores a goal for Bremin!” Jake exclaims as he walks forward to pick the football up. Just as he bends down to pick it up, Ellen kicks it away. “Oops,” her voice turns venomous, and she looks Jake straight in the eyes. “I thought it was your head.”
“Alright, everyone at the bus!” comes Bates’ voice from a short distance away. Everyone gathers in front of the bus doors, Jake pushing his way to the front. As the doors open, Bates pointedly ignores Jake, letting Andy go first and forcing Jake to wait.
“Mate, favoritism!” Jake complains, frowning at Bates.
“Jacob, it’s ‘Sir’ to you. Permission slip, please?”
Jake angrily hands over the permission slip, and Bates sends him a quick “Thank you.”
Everyone can get onto the bus with no further issues. Andy momentarily blocks the path, struggling to put away the weighty and bulky backpack. Felix and Ellen sit next to each other near the back while Jake bothers them (“Is that the smell of rotting flesh? When did you freaks last take a shower?”), and finally, Sam and Mia sit together near the bus's front.
Mia looks excited. “Do you know what day it is?” she asks Sam, looking curious but disappointed.
“Uhm, Friday?” Sam guesses, taking a loud bite from his apple.
“It’s our anniversary.” “Oh,” Sam sounds startled. “A year already?!” He smiles at Mia, who nods. She pulls something from her pocket. It’s a dark brown, braided leather bracelet, matching the one she’s wearing.
“It’s awesome, babe! Thank you.” Mia silently smiles at Sam, obviously expecting more.
“Hey,” Sam interrupts the awkward silence. I’m shooting a sponsorship video tomorrow, and I’m going to be skating a twelve-stair rail. Come along and cheer; you’re going to look great.”
Mia smiles at Sam, but she’s not happy. “Thanks.” She says, fake laughing.
Bates interrupts any attempt at further conversation between the two, talking about how they’ll be breaking down social barriers. He continues: “In groups of four, you will orienteer a seven-kilometre walk to a pickup point marked on your map. You will be expected to identify flora, and hopefully, fauna.”
The bus groans as Bates lets them know, at the end of his speech, that he has preselected the groups and not to expect to be with your friends.
After about a two-hour drive, the bus finally stopped. Felix was grateful to be away from Jake and his friends' constant negging about how much of a freak he and Ellen were. He carefully stood up, waiting for the majority of their classmates to have left the bus.
Felix and Ellen leave their seats together, Ellen in front, Felix behind her. As they make their way out to the front exit of the bus, Felix sees Andy struggling not to fall over with the weight on his back, which Felix realizes, after further inspection, is supposed to be a backpack.
He looked back at Ellen as he heard Andy shuffle to leave his seat, following behind them. Felix heard Andy knock into someone, followed by an angry “Hey!” and a muttered apology from Andy.
Felix watches Ellen descend the stairs of the bus and follows after her. As he gets to the bottom of the stairs, he hears Sam muttering something to Mia. He slows down so he can follow what they’re saying.
“She freaks me out…” Sam’s gaze is aimed somewhere between the trees.
“Who?” Mia asks.
In answer, Jake points into the trees. “Witch lady. Maybe she’ll turn us into zombies?”
Ellen brushes past him, making sure Jake can hear her comment. “I think she’d starve if she ate your brain.”
Felix pauses as he reaches the ground, looking where Jake had pointed. Instead of seeing a ‘witch lady’, what he sees makes his heart sink and turns his feet into stone. Time seems to slow down around him.
There’s a tall, shifting mess of static, rippling and seeming to contort and distort the world around it as if it’s not supposed to be there and is forcing the fabric of reality to make space, to bend to its will. As Felix keeps looking at it, the static slowly shifts into the shape of a human, or what’s supposed to be human. It is a gaunt, terrifyingly tall body, parts of it occasionally flickering in and out of existence like it’s falling apart but forced to keep rebuilding itself. The thing keeps -is it even real?- warping in and out of focus, giving Felix a headache.
Slowly, some body parts begin appearing. First, there are eyes, too large and hollow. Deep in its face, triangular in shape and dark. So, so, so dark. Black voids. Staring into and beyond reality. It’s looking at him. Staring into his soul with just-appeared pupils, undiluted and wrong.
Secondly, a mouth. It’s too open, missing any lips. The mouth, like the eyes, is too big. It has teeth, triangular and long.
Two small chucks of static begin to separate from the rest of the body, taking the shapes of arms and hands. The arms and fingers are both too long, seeming disproportionate to the rest of the body.
It stretches one of the arms upwards, becoming a ghostly outline before snapping into focus again. Felix’s head is killing him. It splays out its fingers, mouth widening, exposing yet more teeth, and-
“Oof!”
The next thing Felix knows is a heavy weight on his back and the cold ground before him. There’s a movement on top of him, and he scrambles upright. Looking back at the trees, he sees nothing there except a woman in a dark cape tucked between the trees looking at him intently.
“What, Ferne?” He hears from somewhere in front of him. “Creepy witch lady made you shit yourself?”
Felix faintly hears the rest of the class leaving the bus, laughing and chattering. He, however, cannot bear to talk to Ellen as they walk over to Mr. Bates.
“What the actual fuck.” Keeps running over and over in his head. His headache continues to throb.
They are now gathered before Mr. Bates, waiting to be sorted into their groups.
“Okay, year tens, form groups of four as I call out your names: Daniel, Alexis, Tammy, Mike. Mia, Trent, Dylan, and Ellen.”
Ellen snaps her head over to Felix, angrily whispering “I thought we were together?!”
“He must have changed it.”
Bates continues: “Next is Christian, Michelle, John, and Cassy.”
He looks over at where Felix and Ellen are still standing together.
“Join your group, Ellen.”
Ellen sends Felix a meaningful look. “I’m not going.”
“Then we have Jake, Sam,” Jake walks over to Sam, giving him a high five. “And they are with Andy and Felix.”
Andy approaches Sam and Jake (“Brains and brawn, excellent choice, sir.”). Just as Felix looks at Ellen, Jake decides to comment.
“Seriously?” Jake glances at Andy, then at Bates. “Sir, are you right in the head?”
“No, I’m your teacher, Jake.”
Sam greets Andy, calling him ‘Brainy Dude’ as Bates sorts the rest of the students. Felix moves away, ready to join his group, but Ellen tugs on his arm to stop him.
“C’mon, let’s hitchhike back to town.”
She’s interrupted by Bates, telling her no. Felix takes this as final, moving forward to grab a map and compass, then finally joining his group.
Bates explains where to be and when. At the end of his explanation, Jake raises his hand.
“And… How am I supposed to win with these two netballers?” He gestures to Andy and Felix.
Bates answers, obviously annoyed. “It’s a team-building exercise, Jake. It’s not a race.”
“It’s always a race.” Jake rolls his eyes at his teacher. As he finishes his sentence, Andy swings his backpack onto his shoulder, hitting Sam and Jake in the process.
“Let’s do it!”
“C’mon!” Jake’s yell from the distance makes Felix turn to Andy, who staggers slightly behind him underneath the weight of his backpack.
“Can’t you just- go a little faster?”
“I could if I wasn’t carrying twice my body weight in food.” Felix looks from Andy back to Jake and Sam, who are steadily speed-walking ahead and yells at them to wait up. As Jake and Sam return to Andy and Felix, Andy removes his backpack and harshly sets it down on the ground, sitting next to it.
“You know this is a half-day stroll, right? Not a five-day trek.” Jake comments as he approaches, looking at Andy.
“In my family, this is packing light.” Andy opens his bag and Jake and Sam immediately begin looking through it, looking for things they can leave behind.
Sam holds out a bag filled with what looks like raw meat.
“What’s this?”
“Chicken’s feet.” Andy replies easily, followed by Sam immediately dropping the bag on the ground, calling it disgusting and wiping his hands on his jeans. Andy keeps looking at him as he does this.
“Bear Grylls drinks liquid squizz from a camel’s stomach.”
Sam looks at Andy in silence for a moment.
“What is wrong with you?” He asks, genuinely perplexed.
“What’s with the hole?” Jake interrupts, holding some shapeless fabric bunched up in his hands.
“It’s a poncho, obviously… In case it gets cold.” Jake throws the poncho at Andy, hitting him in the face.
“I’ll poncho you to death if Trent beats us, got it?” An angry Jake asks Andy.
“Sure,” Andy moves his weight to his left arm to stand up and zip up his backpack. “No poncho.”
Jake begins to jog ahead again, followed once again by Sam.
“Come on, we can still win.”
“I guess we better humor him.” Felix says to Andy as he looks back at the map.
“What about recording the flora?”
“Trees, trees, and more trees.” Felix shrugs as Andy mutters the Latin names of the nature around them, attempting to both walk and write at the same time.
After only a few minutes of walking, they see a gap between the tree trunks, showing them the path ahead. A team is in front of them, winning by a mile.
“Yo, losers!” Trent yells at them, followed by cheers and greetings from the rest of the team.
“I can’t believe they beat us!” Jake gestures at the yelling group. “Our footie coach says: “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”
“Actually, that was Winston Churchill.” Andy says, sitting down heavily on the ground again.
“Well, goths say: “If you’re going through hell, stop, ‘cause you’ve arrived.” Felix comments from a few feet away, still studying the map.
Jake looks at Felix for a second, his gaze filled with judgement. “Well, Trent’s beating us, and he’s got real girls on his team.”
“I resent that.” Andy replies from below.
“If you want to win so much; there’s a shortcut.” Felix nods to the right. “This way.”
Jake follows Felix’s gaze. “Good one, Dracula. Let’s go.” He orders, already walking toward the path through the shortcut.
Andy hesitates, asking if it’s a good idea, and wanting to see the map. He reaches for the map in Felix’s hands, only for Felix to yank his hands away from Andy.
“Won't you just- concentrate on keeping up?”
Sam watches Andy and Felix bicker as they walk after Jake. As he turns to look behind himself again, wanting to make sure they left nothing important behind before going off the main path together, a small piece of static fills the corner of Sam’s eye.
As he quickly turns to face the static fully, it’s replaced by a woman, the same one they saw earlier after leaving the bus. Around her, the trees seem to warp and distort. He looks at her for a second as she stares back at him, then quickly runs after the fading footsteps of his teammates, not wanting to be left behind.
“Shortcut to where?” Jake throws his hands up, turning to a confused Felix. They’re next to a downward slope, leading to a cliff.
“Well, it looked like a shortcut.”
Andy tries to reach for the map again, and just as before, Felix moves away.
“I’m the map guy.”
Andy sighs. “We should’ve bought a GPS,” quickly followed by Sam, who’d been looking for a signal on his phone. “Nothing! Were officially nowhere.”
“Meaning: We’re lost!” Andy adds.
“Great.” Jake scoffs. “Well done, Freak.”
“We’re not lost.” Felix replies, still checking out the map. Just as he ends his sentence a sudden gust of wind pulls the map from his hands. He startles forward, partially pushed by the wind, partially wanting to go after the map, completely forgetting about the slope right next to them in the moment of panic.
Andy reaches for Felix’s jacket.
“He’s slipping!”
Quickly, the other two try to pull Felix back up, but are pulled down instead. The four tumble down the slope and the cliff as the map is taken somewhere else by the wind. The boys land harshly on the ground, all groaning in pain as they get up.
“Is everyone okay?” Andy asks, but the others ignore his question in favor of staring up at the cliff. They’re all looking up at it, in awe, then the realization of how fucked they are slowly sets in.
“Has anyone seen my backpack?”
“Or the map?” Felix adds.
“You lost the map?!” Comes from Jake as a reply.
“You’re the map guy!”
“Total fail there, dude.”
Andy looks around. “Bear Grylls would find a river.”
“Why?” Comes an exasperated response from Jake. “To get nude and eat a slug?”
“Waterways lead to civilization?” Andy responds sarcastically.
Sam interrupts Jake and Andy’s fighting. “My dad reckons that if you point the ‘12’ on your watch at the sun, north is halfway between the hour hand and twelve.” Andy holds up his wrist for Sam to see.
“But,” Sam groans, “I guess he wasn’t wearing a digital.”
Understanding that their options for locating themselves have run out, the four start walking again.
“Food break!”
Sam breaks the silence of footsteps on the soggy ground covered by leaves and twigs with his announcement, much to the other’s chagrin.
“Again?! What is wrong with your metabolism?”
“Guys.” Jake’s voice sounds serious. He’s looking at something behind them, and the others turn to follow his gaze.
Beside them, two charms are hanging from a low branch, made of feathers, bones, and bark. They flail helplessly in the wind, making a sound similar to a wind chime. They look at them for a second, confusion and anxiety causing their fight-or-flight instincts to kick in.
“C’mon.” Felix takes a few steps away, then quickly speeds up, calling for the others to follow him. “Let’s go.”
They follow Felix, looking back at the charms as they chime on in the breeze. As they walk, they continue to call out for their teacher, desperately hoping for a response. Jake calls out again, then asks Andy for the time.
“It’s 4:08.”
Sam looks from Andy to Jake. “They’ll wait for us, right?”
As Sam ends his sentence, Felix’s mouth falls open in disbelief as he stares at something in front of them. “There’s your bag, Andy.” He points to a tree, where his bag hangs from a branch, way out of reach for them to get.
“We’ve been… Walking in circles.”
“Does it have any food in it? I could eat my own arm.” Sam comments, looking up at the bag longingly.
“You know your body can’t digest its own flesh.”
“I was joking.” An agitated Sam answers, glancing moodily over at Andy.
“They’ll- they’ll send a search party.” Jake comments from behind Sam and Andy, sounding unsure. He fidgets with his hands.
“Or a helicopter?” Felix adds, not liking the heavy atmosphere around them.
Suddenly, Sam laughs, causing the others to look at him with questions in their eyes.
“We’re going to be on the news!”
Andy speaks up, having been thinking quietly. “Bear Grylls would light a fire.”
“Any idiot would light a fire. Haven’t you ever been camping?”
“My family’s from Singapore. We don’t camp, we shop.”
They continue their trek, looking for for a shelter and light a fire. While they walk, Andy calls out to Mr. Bates. No answer.
And again.
And again.
It’s night. And it’s cold. It’s dark, and uncomfortable, and the night's noises are getting to them. The four of them are huddled around a small fire they managed to light, trying to warm themselves up. The smell of the smoke comforts them slightly.
“It’s freezing.”
“Yeah,” Andy looks over at Jake, glaring. “I wouldn’t mind a poncho right about now.”
Jake glared back, then looked back at the campfire with something like guilt.
“Do you think we’ll starve to death before we get rescued?” Sam’s stomach rumbles at the thought of food.
“Like the rugby team that crash-landed in the Andes?”
“What rugby team?” Sam asks, looking at Felix.
Felix looks around to see the others staring at him, looking surprised, as if not having meant to say anything out loud.
“It- it was freezing cold, supplies were running low, and…” Felix trails off, looking intently at Sam.
“And..?” Andy urges Felix to continue.
Felix pauses for a second. “They ran out of food,” he pauses again, then rushes the rest of the sentence with a painful look on his scrunched up face. “And had to eat each other.”
“Alive?” Sam questions Felix, looking confused.
“The- the ones that died in the crash..? They were cannibals, not zombies.”
“What does human flesh taste like?”
Jake disrupts the conversation by yelling at them to shut up, looking disgusted. Immediately after, Sam asks if they cooked the meat.
“No fire, they had to eat it raw. Like- sushi.”
“Sashimi. Sushi has rice.”
Sam groans as if he’s in pain. “My mom makes the best fried rice.” As Sam ends his sentence, there’s a loud noise from somewhere far away in the forest. It’s a howl, but at the same time, it manages to sound like a scream.
“What was that?”
As the boys look around themselves, trying to locate the source of the strange howl scream, Andy asks if they’ve heard of the giant panther that lives in the bush. Sam laughs humourlessly.
“That’s totally a myth, dude.”
A downpour of rain instantly follows this statement. They move further underneath a fallen tree trunk, trying to shield themselves from the elements.
Felix pulls out his phone.
“How about some music to just… Cheer us up?”
Felix doesn’t wait for a response and presses play. The boys sit around Felix’s phone, shivering and listening.
“Water, fire, earth, and air,
Water, fire, earth, and air,
Water, fire, earth, and air,
Elements that we all share.
Water, wash our sins away,
Earth, guide us to a place,
Wind, brings with it fear,
Flames of fire, we must face.
Walk upon this earth again,
Walk upon this earth again,
Walk upon this earth again,
Walk upon this earth again,
Walk upon this earth again,
Walk upon this earth again.”
“That was supposed to be cheerful?” Is how the silence is broken by Andy.
Their fire sizzles out, caught by the rain.
“Great.”
The first thing Felix registers as he wakes up is cold, soggy ground and leaves underneath his hands and lower back, where his shirt had ridden up during his fitful sleep. Felix feels tired, like he hadn’t slept at all, and feels movement around and on him. Jake lifts his head from Felix’s hip – When had he even ended up there?- and looks over at Sam, who’s squeezing and eating something from a red tube.
Andy looks over at Sam at the same time as Jake, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with dirty hands first and- “What are you doing?!”
“It’s pawpaw. That’s fruit, right?” Sam asks Andy, not seeming even the tiniest bit concerned while he continues eating.
Through his disgust, Andy manages a response.
“It’s for itchy crotch!”
Sam gags, quickly throwing the tube away and wiping his mouth, a look of regret on his face.
While all this happened, Jake and Felix had continued to doze, not wanting to get up yet. However, they are pulled out of their relaxation at the sound of Sam’s gagging, and slowly get up as well. Once Jake is sitting upright Felix moves his hands underneath him to lift himself up, but freezes when he hears a strange howl, followed by the sound of birds from nearby trees rushing to get away.
“That doesn’t sound good.” He states, listening intently for more of the noise.
“We should get moving.” Jake stands up, the rest slowly following. “C’mon. Now.”
The other three boys slowly shuffle to their feet, following Jake away from their temporary camp. They walk a short distance, making their way back to a main path cleared of rubble that will hopefully lead through the forest.
“Look at that storm…” Sam comments, looking up at thick dark grey clouds gathering above them, visible through a relatively large gap in the dense trees that surround them.
Then, suddenly, the clouds start to gather, swirling together, going faster. And faster. Forming a circle. Now creating a spiral. A spiral that is heading straight toward them. With extreme speed. A tornado harshly hits the ground in front of them, the wind that comes off it rustling the trees and bushes around them, blowing the sand of the path and into their eyes and mouths. They all stand still for a second, in shock, before Jake yells at them to- “RUN!”
They run down the path, sand and dirt crunching beneath their shoes, hearing the tornado rushing furiously behind them. Jake and Sam are in the front, Felix close behind, out of breath but keeping up. Andy, however, is quickly losing speed, lagging behind the others.
“Faster nerd! Faster!” Jake yells at Andy.
The boys keep running, tired and out of breath, only barely awake.
Sam points to a spot on their right. “This way!”
They run up a steep path, not noticing the storm slowly disappear behind them.
They keep running, until at the end of the path-
“Woah!”
There’s a wild-looking man with a long beard, wearing old and dirty clothes, holding a wooden weapon above his head, ready to strike. Andy yells at him not to attack them.
“Hang on. You’re attacking me, aren’t you?” The strange man asks, slightly lowering his weapon.
“No, we’re lost.”
“And we’re starving.”
“And being chased… By nature.”
While the man then points out that nothing is chasing them anymore, Sam pounces for the eggs cooking on a skillet a little bit away. The man turns when he hears Sam’s footsteps, gesturing at Sam helplessly. “Oh, no, help yourself.”
“It’s like a tornado was chasing us.” The man turns to Felix, who tries to explain how they had ended up here.
“Ah, now that is unusual-” The man steps forward but is interrupted by Andy.
“This makes no sense whatsoever!” Andy groans.
“Not everything out here is easily explained…” The man points to his head, turning the weapon over as if trying to make a point.
“Hey!” Jake’s eyes move from the man over to Sam. “What about us?”
The pan of eggs is almost empty. Sam defends himself, claiming he was literally starving to death.
“Do you know what ‘literally’ means?” A dismayed Andy asks Sam.
Jake answers for him. “It means you’re a selfish guts.”
“Sorry, dudes.” Sam apologizes, looking to the side with shame.
The man tells them not to worry. “Henrietta’s had plenty more.”
Andy asks the man about the solar panels lying next to an old truck, and before they know it, the boys have scored a ride back to Bremin.
The car comes to a squeaky stop, the boys thank the man -who, during the ride, they found out was called Roland- followed by Roland telling them to be careful ‘out there’.
As the four approach the sidewalk, Felix says what’d been on his mind during the car ride.
“That thing that was chasing us. It was weird.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“Dreamtime stories are all about evil spirits in the bush.” Felic continues.
“That’s superstition, not science-”
“Science doesn’t explain everything, Andy.”
“But superstition does?”
Jake tells Felix and Andy to stop, allowing Sam to join the discussion.
“Not much of a reception.” Sam comments, looking around. “Where’s the cameras and the newspapers?” While on the topic of reception, Sam checks his phone. The others do the same, but all have the same problem; they still have no reception, even in the middle of town.
“Does our disappearance and miraculous reappearance seem like a bit of a non-event to you?” Sam asks, looking around.
“Normal for me.” Felix comments lazily.
“Weird for me!” Sam counters.
Jake adds to the discussion: “Yeah, well, my mom will be freaking out. So I’m ‘outta here. You have a good life, losers.”
“We can’t just separate! We just had a classic male bonding experience.” Andy glances between the others. “Brief man-hug?” He opens his arms hopefully, dropping them when the others react with disgust and refusal.
“See you at school, then?” He tries.
“I’m never seeing you,” Jake looks at Andy. “Or you,” he looks at Felix. “I don’t know you or you. Either of you talk to me, and I’ll crush you.”
Jake walks away without saying anything else, heading home.
After some awkward silence, Sam is the next to speak.
“Welp. I need food. See you brainiac dude, goth dude…” Sam also walks away after giving both a high five, leaving only Andy and Felix.
“I thought we bonded…”
“On the upside: At least we didn’t resort to cannibalism. See ‘ya.” Felix leaves Andy standing alone on the pavement.
“Bye, guys…” Andy stares after the retreating others, turning to head home himself.
Jake speed-walks home, heading straight for the front door. He tries to open the screen door, but- it’s locked. His mom never locks the door.
He pulls his keys from his pocket and tries the lock again, but it doesn’t budge. He knocks, but there’s no answer.
“Mom?” He calls out, a pit of anxiety settling into his stomach when there’s no reply.
Sam smiles as he sees his brothers playing FIFA on the TV, and rushes to enter the house.
“Woo!” He cheers. “The crowd goes wild as he returns from the wild!”
Instead of a happy and warm welcome like Sam had been expecting, his brothers tell him to be quiet and shush him.
“Really? Is that all you have to say? I’m back!”
“Back from where?” One of his brothers asks, not even looking back at him.
Andy rushes up the stairs of his home, and turns the corner to enter his room, but- everything is gone. His bed, desk, bookcases, books, computer, notebooks- all of it.
Instead, his sister’s stuff is occupying the space that used to be his.
Andy stops and stares in shock for a moment- he was only gone for a single day, how?- before he yells at the guilty party.
“VIV!”
“Hey, Oscie!” Felix walks up to his brother sitting in their front yard messing with some toy helicopter. Felix drops his satchel on the ground as he approaches his brother.
“How’d it go at the doctor's?”
“What doctor..?” Oscar asks, setting the toy to the side to focus on Felix.
“Uhm… Dr. Seuss?” Felix sasses, throwing up one of his hands in a ‘really?’ way. “What do you think?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mom was… Pretty sure you were sick.”
“Me?” Oscar asks, looking agitated. “What’s your problem?”
Shock fills Felix’s face as Oscar stands up from the grass he’d been sitting on. Felix gasps.
“You can stand!” Felix yells.
“Yeah… And I can walk too.” Oscar takes a few steps forward.
“One step, two steps…”
Felix is overjoyed at seeing his baby brother being able to walk again.
“Oscar, what happened-” Felix moves forward to hug his brother, but Oscar moves away.
“How do you know my name?!” Felix tries to hug Oscar again but is once again stopped.
“Who are you? Just stay away from me, alright!” Felix’s face falls as he realizes what Oscar is saying to him.
His little brother can walk. But doesn’t recognise him.