Part 45: More Supplies

John was growing tired. They had been hiking for some hours now. Mia had taken off her bandana and proceeded to use it to collect her sweat. Natasha was suckling her water bottle, constantly remaining hydrated. Cecil was coughing and wheezing to the point where his face was bright red. Martin stayed behind to make sure everything was okay but to mostly make sure the old man didn’t past out. Cecil coughed again, then stopped, grabbing a tree for support. “Sweet baby Jesus, could we take a break?” he gagged, “I feel like I am about to keel over.”

“You know,” John turned around, “I am strangely comfortable with that.”

The old man gazed at John with intense hatred. The archer didn’t back down one inch. “Hold on for another few minutes, Cecil,” he pointed up the jungle, “There is a lot of light ahead. That’s got to be a clearing. I want to check it out, then we can break.”

“Fine!” the old man yelled, “Let’s go on with it.”

The group continued their trek through the jungle. John pushed the branches aside, wondering about Cecil. For a few seconds, he thought about what happened to Poteet, Calhoon and Underwood. Was the same thing going to happen to the old man? Everybody was getting along relatively nicely but those three were disruptive. So was Cecil Walker. It was an interesting experiment, so he would just have to wait and see what happened.

Finally they emerged into the clearing. John looked up ahead to see a massive mountain range. Just exactly how big was this island? The clearing contained a large amount of knee high grass. Mia looked around, noticing the small patches of grass where none had grown. There were multiple patches of these blank spots all over the field. Natasha looked around and then screamed. Everyone quickly looked to what she saw.

There was a chunk of a chair from the plane sitting on it’s side. The reason she screamed was the flies buzzing around it.

John quickly jogged to the chair. He stopped, and turned around. Indeed it was a dead body. It looked like some white man, with glasses. His sweater was torn from the shredded metal sticking out of his chest. The Archer whispered a silent prayer that the poor man died in the break and didn’t live to see the fall. “Better him than me,” Cecil collapsed, wheezing.

No one said anything to Cecil’s rude comment. Martin then tapped John on the arm and pointed in the distance. “What is that?” he asked.

John looked. One of those patches in the field revealed a small black mass. He quickly jogged over to it and laughed. He quickly picked up the suitcase and showed the others. That meant the multiple patches in the field was more luggage simply laying on the grass. The others quickly ran over to them, to see what supplies they offered.


Later they had managed to find 9 bags and suitcases. They were going through them one at a time. Martin had found a duffle bag that contained clothing his size. Cecil looked through one suitcase and managed to find a stuff ziplock bag full of Slim Jims. He looked at all them coyly, then stuffed them into his shirt.

Natasha checked through a briefcase. The lock was broken, so she managed to get into it. It contained nothing more than business papers and a few pens. The calculator worked but she tossed it aside like trash. What was she going to use it for?

Mia found a red duffle bag and opened it up. The clothes were stuffed into it haphazardly. As she dug through it she found a tape recorder. She looked it over, amazed it had survived the fall. Pressing play, the clearing was soon filled with the tunes of Duran Duran’s Hungry Like The Wolf. John immediately smirked at the tune selection. Cecil just groaned. Mia then found a journal of some kind. It was worn and used, tied with a rubber band. As she opened it, a 5 X 7 photo came out and landed on her lap. She looked it over and saw a young blonde woman posing with . . ..”SETH?” she said aloud.

“What about him?” asked John.

“Oh, my god, “ she laughed, “It’s a picture of Seth and a blonde girl. I can’t believe I found his bag!”

“He’ll thank you for that.” Martin smiled.

“Anybody else find anything?” John asked.

“I found this long case here,” the young black man mentioned, “But it’s got a combination lock on it.”

“Damn,” John muttered.

“What’s wrong, John?” asked Natasha.

“I was hoping to find my green case. But I am beginning to believe the damn thing is probably at the bottom of the ocean.”

“What’s in the case?” Natasha and Mia said in unison.

When the two women realized they said the exact same thing at the exact same time, they gave each other cold stares. John looked at Natasha then to Mia then back to Natasha. He was started to see a weird tension between them. Yolanda already bad mouthed about the striking brunette. He didn’t want Mia to feel the same. “It’s my bow.” He quickly mentioned.

“The one you used in the Olympics?” asked Mia.

“Yeah. This one is from my friend Ramon. But I would still prefer mine.”

“You’re right, it’s probably in the drink,” Cecil chuckled.

John gazed at the old man. It seemed he enjoyed making John feel bad. The archer knew he was getting back at him for the comment he made earlier. He knew Cecil would have to be dealt with eventually. But he wasn’t in the mood for it. “Grab any bag you can carry,” John said, standing up, “If he leave now, we’ll make it back to the beach before night fall.”