Chapter twenty five

The search

Jessie walked to Kyle's tent, trying to control the spring in her step, but she couldn't do that or wipe the silly grin off her face. It had been days since she last felt the least bit happy. Now, she felt lighter than air. Jimmy was right, it will be hard to break the chains around her, but she wanted to be happy.

Her stomach did a somersault as she remembered the previous evening. He'd almost kissed her. Twice! And when he came to tell her about Kyle's idea, Jimmy acted as though everything was normal. But she sensed the change in his tone, the tender note.

She stopped at the entrance of the tent and took a couple of breaths to pull herself together.

"Well, that's odd," she heard Jimmy saying from inside.

"Odd? That's such an inappropriate word," Kyle replied, his voice strangely panicky.  "I have to find her."

"Look, you don't know for sure. You were in and out of trances all night. She could be around. Maybe Jessie knows."

Taking it as her cue to join the conversation, Jessie stepped inside. Jimmy was standing near the entrance while Kyle paced the length of the tent.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Kay may have not turned up last night." Jimmy said hurriedly. "Have you seen her?"

Jessie took a second to take in the sound of his voice and search for the different note. It was still there. "No, I haven't. But Jimmy's right, Kyle. She could be around. Let's just go and maybe she'll be back by the time we return."

Kyle pressed his lips together, obviously not convinced, but shrugged. "Just tell Jerry to keep her here."

The three had a quick breakfast, grabbed their survival kits and headed for the hut. In her desperate run towards camp, Jessie hadn't noticed how bothersome the vegetation was. It had seemed like a straight, smooth run. Now, nothing looked familiar and she had to check the compass every few minutes to make sure they wouldn't stray. Jimmy didn't know the way and Kyle seemed to have no idea where he was going. He just followed them blindly.

Two hours into the journey, Jessie was really getting frustrated. It was hot, she was wet stiff, mosquitoes buzzed around her head, and she had the feeling they were completely lost. She shook the compass, but it still showed they were on the right path. She was sure it hadn't taken this long the last time she'd made the distance.

"Are we lost?" Jimmy asked.

Jessie refused to answer and took a couple of steps, jumping over a log and a large rock. She heard Jimmy asking Kyle the same thing, but didn't get Kyle's answer. A stinging smell reached her. Smoke. It was very faint, but they were getting closer.

"This way!" she called and pushed forward through some vines. It took a couple more strides to reach the small clearing that preceded the plunge to the valley. This place was painfully familiar.

With trembling legs, she walked to the edge of the hill and looked towards the hut. There was no sign left suggesting it was ever there.

Jimmy stopped by her side. "This is it?"

Jessie swallowed the lump in her throat. She hadn't expected it to be so hard to return here. "Yeah. Let's go see what's around." She marched down the hill, needing to be alone for a few moments. She'd never actually considered Sam, Tom and Billy dead. The idea to look for them was great, but only now did she realize they might find corpses. She wasn't sure she could take that.

Burnt scattered logs loomed nearer, the only hint there had once been anything there. Tears stung Jessie's eyes, but she breathed deeply and kept them at bay. She turned her head and took in the surroundings. The grass was charred as well as the nearby trees, but there was no trace of bodies in the vicinity of the building. She exhaled, relieved, and dared scout the area more carefully.

"Found anything?" Jimmy asked as he and Kyle reached her.

"Fortunately, no."

"Here's what I say we do. We should circle the cabin and extend the radius as much as possible," Kyle said, taking his backpack off and getting a machete out of it.

Jimmy nodded. "That's a good idea."

The three circled the cabin once, searching the ground attentively. Jessie felt as if her heart was in a vice, and the wider their circle became, the more it loosened. After the third circle, Kyle and Jimmy started cutting up the vegetation to get a better look at the ground while Jessie wondered off in advance.

She was almost sure they had escaped the explosion. They hadn't been inside the hut, of that much she was sure. They couldn't have been much closer to the thing than Alice, and she'd come out unscratched. Jessie suspected they had changed direction instead of running up the hill, which would have been harder. The challenge was to find that direction.

"Kyle, Jessie, over here," Jimmy called.

Jessie rushed to him, her heart beating wildly. She stopped and stared at the ground, where Jimmy was pointing. Kyle came next to them. He crouched, and touched the marks on the ground.

"These tracks look just as if..." Jessie swallowed, not daring to continue. What she was seeing filled her with too much hope.

"As if someone skidded through here." Kyle finished and scurried forward, following the tracks. "There's three of them."

"And one ends in that rock," Jimmy said, pointing forward.

Jessie rushed to it and examined it thoroughly. There was a brown spot on it, one that could have once been dark red. "Blood," she whispered. She climbed on the rock and looked around it, but there was nothing there. "They're alive. They ran this way, got thrust forward by the force of the explosion..." She noticed the two trails on the sides of the rock. "One of them bumped into this rock." She looked towards the sky, imagining the trajectory. "And since there are no bodies around here, it must mean that they got up and moved on." She was more likely explaining all this to convince herself.

"That's a decent theory," Jimmy said appreciatively.

Jessie turned to Kyle, wanting to hear his thoughts, but he only stared at her with wide eyes. A few seconds later, he rushed past her and through some thick bushes. Jessie jumped off her rock and she and Jimmy followed.

They found Kyle some fifty feet away, facing the river.

"This is weird." Jimmy checked the compass.

Jessie instead scrutinized the area quickly, to make sure there were no bodies around. "They made it. They must have. But where are they?"

"My guess is that way." Kyle pointed in the direction that took them further away from the hut and camp. "Or they would've found camp by now."

"Shall we, then?" Jimmy asked.

The three walked along the river for a couple of hours. They didn't talk much and Jessie supposed it was because Kyle and Jimmy were as scared to get too hopeful as she was. It wasn't easy to survive in the jungle for three whole days without proper equipment.

As the time passed, she realized Kyle's mind was probably in camp, searching for Kay. The more they walked, the more worried he looked. Finally, Jessie decided to call it quits. It was well past noon and they only had a few of hours of light left, hours they should use to get back.

"I think we can call it a day." She had a seat on a tree stump. "We'll come back tomorrow and continue the search. Maybe we'll get luckier."

"We're leaving already?" Jimmy looked forward longingly. "We could still..." He stopped once he noticed Jessie nodding towards Kyle. "But you're right. We should go."

"Look, if you guys want to stay—" Kyle started.

"We're not leaving you on your own," Jessie snapped. "We're a team! The awesome threesome."

Kyle squinted at her, a small smile lighting his features. "You would look even better as a twosome. But thanks."

"Like we'd let him collapse on his way back," Jimmy mumbled under his breath. "We should leave a marker, to know how far we've traveled."

Jessie looked around, but found nothing specific. All the trees and vines looked the same. If only they had a flag of some sort to leave here. Something in her brain clicked.

"I have an idea. Go cut a branch." She took out her combat knife and cut her jeans ten inches above the knee.

Jimmy stared at her for a few seconds then rushed to find a stick. Jessie cut around her thigh and pulled down the leg of her jeans. She looked down at herself and giggled.

"I hope these weren't the expensive ones," Jimmy said, coming to her with a sturdy branch.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Her leg's exposed and that's all you can come up with? Sad."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jimmy snapped, digging a pot hole in which he then steadied the branch.

Kyle gave a low, appreciative whistle. "Or: Nice, Jessie. You look weird though. How about a view of the other leg?"

Jessie giggled and waved her hand in Kyle's direction. "Stop flirting with me."

"Yeah, you should stop," Jimmy said, no trace of amusement in his voice.

Kyle looked at Jimmy through narrowed eyes and smirked. "Make that flag so we can go."

Jessie cut up the piece of material and tied it to the branch. She only hoped it would hold until the next day. "I should cut the other leg. I look weird like this."

She did it quickly then the three of them headed back. The trip was much faster, but also a lot more uncomfortable. Wearing shorts meant branches and bushes brushing Jessie's legs and she soon appeared to have barely survived and animal attack. Kyle had offered to carry Jimmy's backpack so that he could give her a piggyback ride, but she refused. She almost regretted this act of integrity once she reached camp with her legs really sore.

"No trouble. I'll just use some disinfectant and not wear shorts anymore," she said between her teeth, trying not to wince.

"Sorry, but you deserve this for being stubborn," Jimmy said, taking her backpack. "I'm starving."

"You guys are back. Great!" Jerry rushed towards them, carrying a blue backpack "Look what I found." He threw the backpack to Jimmy who caught it in midair.

Jessie frowned. "Isn't this Billy's food backpack?"

Jerry waved his arm impatiently. "Search inside."

Jimmy stuffed his hand inside the backpack and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He frowned and handed them to Jessie. "Hold this." He took out a flashlight, some food, batteries, some rope... "This is a survival kit."

"Yes," Jerry cried. "Billy's survival kit. I didn't know he'd switched backpacks, so I gave him the other one, the one which was probably full of food. I've been bursting to say this all day. If they survived, they have food!"

"That's great seeing as they probably survived," Jessie said. Her heart went haywire again, only this time it was with joy. "We didn't find any bodies. Just trials to indicate they ran away from the hut before it exploded."

Jerry looked as if Christmas had come early. He pursed his lips then suddenly cheered and skipped to his tent.

"Was that really Jerry? Or was it me?" Jimmy asked, his eyes wide with shock.

AN: awesome alternative cover in the heading by @resserell