by Alan Tucker
Jenni found her phone and turned it on as they followed the edge of the lake. It chirped through its startup and then flashed a “No Signal” message. No one else had anything either.
“Too far up in the mountains,” Sara said as she put away her phone. “We never get anything when we go camping in the summer either.”
“Does the other side of the valley seem farther away than before?” Tori asked, looking across the lake.
It did. Jenni shivered slightly when she gazed across the water. The mountains in the distance looked bigger, menacing in her imagination. Something very strange was going on, and she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
The class moved rapidly around the lake, except for Mrs. Minch, who twisted her ankle and nearly fell when the heel of her shoe got caught between some rocks. She refused to walk barefoot, so Mr. Kain had to take her arm and help her along.
They stopped short at the stream.
What had been a small, babbling brook, no more than six feet across, was now more accurately called a river. It was at least forty feet to the other side, though it didn’t look very deep. Because of some rocks and a couple of large tree branches stuck in the middle, it looked passable, but not without some work.
Ms. Pap, still helping Deena, was the last to join them and stare at the transformed waterway. Her mouth fell open in amazement.
Mrs. Minch babbled something about being lost in the wilderness and plopped down on a small boulder by the edge of the river. Carrie sighed and went over to quiet her.
Mr. Kain walked back to where Ms. Pap stood and said, “I don’t understand. There was no other outlet from the lake. This wasn’t here this morning!”
“I know,” Ms. Pap said, worried, “but whatever’s going on, we need to get Deena to a doctor.” She looked around at the class. “Take Brandon and one of the other boys with you, cross the river and find the trail to the campground. The bus driver should be able to reach someone on his radio and call for help. If not, maybe there’s something in the bus we can use as a litter to carry Deena back down there.”
Jenni looked at Deena, whose brow was wet with sweat and she shivered now and then. She certainly didn’t appear up to crossing the river without help.
Mr. Kain nodded and turned to the group. “Brandon, you and Todd are coming with me down to the bus.”
“What about the rest of us?” Mrs. Minch piped up. “What are we supposed to do?”
“Just wait here until we get back. The three of us can go quicker than the whole group and Deena needs attention as soon as possible.” Mr. Kain stepped into the river, testing rocks as he went. Brandon and Todd secured their packs and followed him.
Mrs. Minch took a breath for a retort but Carrie cut her short. “Mom! Would you relax? You’re not helping.” Mrs. Osorio moved over to calm Mrs. Minch and they talked quietly.
Jenni guided Sara a couple steps away from the others and said, “This is crazy. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but Deena doesn’t look too good. My dad said there aren’t any poisonous snakes up here; what do you think bit her?”
“Maybe there’s worse things out here than snakes … or carnivorous flowers.”
Mr. Kain, Brandon and Todd reached the far side of the river, each dripping to various degrees, but safe. They then headed into the trees.
Ms. Pap helped Deena sit down and pulled a water bottle out of her pack. Deena sipped gratefully and then rested on the sand at the river’s edge. The rest of the group found places to sit and collect their thoughts. Mr. Kain returned to the far side of the river a couple of minutes later and called across.
“The trail is gone!”
Ms. Pap digested this information before replying. “Follow the river down the hillside! You shouldn’t be able to miss the campground!”
Mr. Kain gave her a thumbs up and jogged back to where Brandon and Todd were waiting in the trees. Once again, the three disappeared from view.
Jenni looked back at her friends. Sara had pulled out her MP3 player and was listening to music with her eyes closed. Tori had her back to the group and stared out at the lake. Jenni got up and stepped to where Ms. Pap sat with Deena’s head cradled in her lap.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Jenni asked, crouching near her teacher.
Ms. Pap exhaled and said, “Deena’s resting quietly for now. Why don’t you go around and take an inventory of what we have available from everyone? Food, water, tools — anything else you think useful. I don’t know what’s going on here but we’d best be prepared.”
“We found some fruit earlier — from a bush,” Jenni offered.
Ms. Pap’s eyes widened. “Did you eat any of it?”
“No.”
“Good. Make sure you don’t. Some wild fruits and berries can be poisonous.”
Jenni nodded. “Got it. I’ll go work on a list of supplies,” she said and went back to where her bag lay. She found her notebook and a pen. Turning to a blank page, she drew three columns, and labeled them: Food, Water, and Other. After digging through her bag, she wrote down two cereal bars, one bag of red licorice, one banana and half a bottle of water on her list. Jenni got up and worked her way through the class while they waited for Mr. Kain and the others to return.
They had a decent amount of food and water, Jenni thought, at least enough to last until tomorrow, but she didn’t come up with many other useful items. Matt Durston had a small GPS device that was supposed to work anywhere in the world, but it wasn’t displaying any information. That hadn’t helped Jenni’s anxiety in the least. Charles, Will, Zoe, and several others had portable communication devices of one type or another: mini laptops, video games, cell phones — all of which worked, but had no signals from an outside source. The twins, Nate and Ethan, each had pocket utility knives, which Jenni added to her list. Mrs. Osorio had packed a small camping cookware kit. It folded out into a miniature pot and frying pan, and had a single set of silverware.
Her last stop brought her to Alisha, Maggie, and Lori. They had set themselves up on a fallen tree that had been stripped of its bark, making it a comfortable bench compared to the rocks and other logs that were available. The three girls sat with their heads together, whispering and giggling occasionally.
Jenni steeled herself and stepped up to them. “Alisha, I’m making a list of our food and water and stuff. What do you guys have?”
Alisha glanced up briefly. “Buzz off, Kershaw.” Maggie and Lori tittered.
Jenni suppressed a growl. “Alisha, Ms. Pap asked me to take an inventory of our —”
“I don’t care if she crowned you Queen of the Geeks,” Alisha snapped. “What’s mine is mine. Not yours or anyone else’s. Go away.” Alisha turned away and put her over-priced MP3 player’s buds in her ears.
Jenni didn’t bother asking Maggie or Lori — Alisha had just stated their opinion for them and they were too shallow to form their own. Jenni spun on a heel and walked back to Ms. Pap.
Deena was still sleeping, her head in Ms. Pap’s lap. Jenni sat down quietly next to them. “Okay, I’ve got a list,” she said. “Alisha and her pals wouldn’t tell me what they had though.”
Ms. Pap briefly looked over the items and nodded. “Thank you, Jenni. I’ll have a talk with Alisha later, but this will do for now.” She glanced at her watch. “The boys should be back soon I would think.”
“Okay, but I still don’t understand why the GPSes and stuff don’t work. It doesn’t make sense. I mean, this is what they’re for, right?”
“Yes. My understanding is they should work, even out here. We’re not that far from —”
They noticed movement across the river. Mr. Kain and the boys ran to the bank and picked their way back across to the group. Todd slipped on a mossy rock about halfway and fell into the cold water. Brandon and Mr. Kain grabbed his arms and helped him up. Any other time, Jenni would have laughed at his misfortune — he was soaked head to toe and shivering — but she was too anxious about t
heir predicament.
The three made it across and sat down near Ms. Pap and Deena. Mr. Kain and the boys were breathing hard and had a few cuts and scrapes on their arms and faces.
“It’s gone,” Mr. Kain said, trying to catch his breath. “We followed the river for a few hundred yards. It ends in a waterfall with a drop of at least a couple hundred feet down into a gorge … with another river at the bottom.” He paused and Ms. Pap stared in shock. “We scouted west along the edge of the gorge for at least a quarter-mile and it just keeps going. The bus, the campground, the road — everything’s gone.”
3
Stunned silence reigned. Ms. Pap spoke first with a slight tremble in her voice. “All right. It looks like we might be here for a while, wherever ‘here’ is. We need to take care of the basics: water, food and shelter,” she said, ticking them off with her fingers, “until we can figure out what’s going on. I don’t want to move Deena any more than we have to, so we’ll set up a camp here.” She addressed Mr. Kain. “Roger, have some of the kids group up and bring back some firewood. Others can collect rocks and dig out a small fire pit here near the shoreline. No one goes anywhere alone.”
He nodded and went to assign students to the tasks at hand.
Ms. Pap turned to her left. “Mrs. Osorio?”
“Teresa, please,” she answered.
Ms. Pap smiled briefly. “Teresa, we’re going to need that little cooking kit of yours. We should have enough water to last through tomorrow, but we’ll need to start boiling more right away to keep up with our needs. Would you please take charge of consolidating the water we have and use the empty bottles to collect more to boil?”
“Of course,” Mrs. Osorio said and took Marco to help her round up bottles.
“Why do we need to boil water?” Jenni asked.
“The water from the lake and river may be drinkable or it may not, but we have no way to test it, so we have to assume it’s not safe. That means we have to boil it first.”
“Oh, okay.”
“That reminds me. Jenni, you said you and your friends found some fruit earlier. Would you bring it to me, please? Oh, and something Deena can use for a pillow too, if you can.”
“Sure.” Jenni jumped up and jogged to where Sara was eating the last of a banana and packing up her backpack.
“What’s going on? Are we leaving?” Sara asked.
“No,” Jenni replied, “Mr. Kain said everything’s gone. There’s like a big gorge or something where the campground used to be.” Sara’s eyes grew huge and she stopped chewing her last bite. “Ms. Pap wants to see the fruit we found.”
Sara stared at her blankly. “Oh!” She dug in her pack and handed the sample they had cut to Jenni.
“Thanks.” Jenni took it, along with her own bag, and ran back to Ms. Pap with Sara following close behind.
“I know it’s not a pleasant task,” Ms. Pap was saying to Mrs. Minch, “but it needs to be done.”
“Not a pleasant task, hmph! Come on, Carrie.” Mrs. Minch huffed and turned away, dragging Carrie with her.
“What’s not pleasant?” Sara asked. Mrs. Minch continued to mutter and complain as she stomped off into the trees with Carrie trudging after her.
“We need a place to, um, do our business,” Ms. Pap answered. “Not too far away, but far enough to afford some privacy. And contained, so we don’t risk contaminating our water supply.”
“Oh. So, will boys and girls be like, separate?”
Ms. Pap chuckled. “No, Sara, we’ll be sharing. In the army, they call it a latrine.”
Sara shuddered, and Jenni handed the plum-like berries to Ms. Pap. Jenni then pulled out her extra jacket, and they maneuvered Deena’s head onto it so Ms. Pap could get up and stretch.
They backed away from Deena, and Ms. Pap took the fruit out of the plastic bag for a closer look. The swirled colors were bright and rich in the sunlight. She felt the texture of the leaves. “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before. Go ahead and keep it with the rest for now, but don’t eat any.”
Sara took the fruit and sample bag and replaced them in her pack.
Jenni looked around their makeshift camp. Everyone was busy with the projects Ms. Pap had assigned. Except Tori. She was still sitting by the shoreline, staring out at the lake. Jenni frowned, concerned for her.
“What else do we need to do, Ms. Pap?” Sara asked.
Ms. Pap considered. “Well, we still need to address the food situation. From the looks of it, we only have enough to last until tomorrow. If we’re stuck here longer than that, we’ll need something to eat.” She caught the direction of Jenni’s attention. “Why don’t you gather up Tori, and the four of us will scout around and see what we can find?”
Jenni and Sara nodded, and walked to where Tori sat. They approached on both sides and crouched beside her. Tori had her knees tucked under her chin with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. Tears flowed freely from her blue eyes and droplets had darkened her pants. She continued to stare at the water while Jenni and Sara struggled to find something to say.
Tori, surprisingly, was the first to speak. “I’ve thought a lot of times about running away from home.” Jenni and Sara exchanged a look of astonishment. Tori sniffed and blinked more tears away. “But I never had the guts to actually do it.” She paused, looking at Sara and Jenni. “Now all I can think of is how bad I want to go home.”
Jenni reached out and hugged her as she cried quietly. “We’ll figure it out,” Jenni whispered. “Somehow, we’ll figure it out.”
Sara joined in the hug.
Hugs are good, Jenni thought. People really should hug more.
Tori sniffed again and wiped her eyes. “Thanks, you guys. You’re the only friends I have in school.”
Surprised by this admission and Tori’s earlier words — she couldn’t remember Tori saying so much at once all year long — Jenni simply said, “Hey, that’s what friends are for,” and gave her another good squeeze.
“How are we doing over here?” Ms. Pap stood behind them, smiling.
“I think we’re gonna be okay,” Jenni replied and the girls helped each other up.
“Good. I’ve got Charles watching over Deena for now, so let’s see if we can find anything to eat in this place.”
“Sounds good,” Sara said. “I’m starving!”
Jenni laughed. “You just had a banana.”
“So?” Sara said, adjusting her glasses with a smile. “I’m a growing girl.”
* * * *
The four of them spent the better part of an hour hiking around the area within a few hundred yards of the east side of the river. They found a few more bushes with the plum-berries and some trees that bore nuts, but they were too high for any of them to reach. They also saw signs of small animal activity, but nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing to indicate what might have bitten Deena.
Ms. Pap told them the wound hadn’t looked anything like a snake bite — snakes leave punctures in the skin. Whatever it was had taken a two-inch wide, ragged chunk out of Deena’s arm. The bleeding had been hard to control. Deena told her, right before she’d fallen asleep, it looked like a little man with very large ears, but Ms. Pap dismissed it to her being fevered and a bit delirious.
Jenni, Sara, and Tori listened intently, with more than a little fear, to Ms. Pap’s account, but they didn’t see any big-eared little men during their search.
The sun had crossed most of the valley and was nearing the peaks on the west side when the four of them returned to camp. The fire pit was completed and working. Mrs. Osorio’s small pot and frying pan were filled with water and hung over a lively fire from a tripod of blackened tree branches. A hefty pile of deadwood sat off to the side of the pit. Most everyone was seated and resting. Mr. Kain saw them approach and came to meet them.
“Find anything?” he asked, dark eyes flashing with a hopeful smile on his tanned face.
“Maybe,” Ms. Pap answered. “There are some trees with nuts we
couldn’t reach. We can try to get some of those tomorrow if we need to. And these fruits the girls found earlier, but I have no idea if they are safe to eat.”
Mr. Kain frowned. “Hmm. Well, everything is set up here. We’re boiling water and Denny and I have been trying to rig up something we can fish with.”
“Excellent. How’s Deena?”
“The same. Mrs. Osorio and Marco have been watching her since they finished with the water.”
“All right, thank you,” Ms. Pap said. “I should probably check the dressing on her wound. How are you holding up, Roger?”
“Me? I’m fine. Just frustrated. This is crazy. I’m supposed to be learning how to teach science, not auditioning for the next season of Survivor,” he said, chuckling nervously.
Ms. Pap smiled. “I think you’d do quite well.” She turned to Jenni and her friends. “Why don’t you girls get some rest and maybe something to eat?”
“Thanks Ms. Pap,” they said in chorus, plopping down where they had earlier.
* * * *
The sun sank behind the western ridge and the temperature dropped noticeably with its absence. By twos and threes, the class crowded around the fire pit. Water boiled. Sweatshirts and jackets were donned, and friends sat a little closer to each other. Some tried to nap when they could get comfortable. Others listened to music or halfheartedly played video games. They moved Deena close to the fire, and she whimpered occasionally in her sleep. Ms. Pap changed the bandage on her arm, but the wound looked worse.
Twilight gave way to darkness and stars filled the sky. Unfamiliar stars. Jenni had received a small telescope one Christmas when she was younger and had spent many evenings in her back yard with it pointed at the sky. She had learned the names of some of the stars and several constellations — the Big Dipper, Orion’s belt, the distinct “W” shape of Cassiopeia — all had been replaced by a much brighter assortment of strange twinkling lights.
“Well, that tears it,” Mr. Kain said, also looking at the stars. “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”
