Wilderness Count

"Are you excited for this trip, Warren?" Will questioned. I shifted my gaze from the window to Will, who was sitting right next to me. "Well, not really," Warren answered. Will, looking disappointed for some reason, questioned, "Why not?"

That is a good question, Warren thought. Why is it that I'm not excited? Will was still looking at Warren for an answer. Unable to come up with a solid explanation, Warren said, "I just have a bad feeling..."

"Bad feeling? What do you mean?" Will questioned again. That was another question that Warren did not have a solid answer to, so he stated another simplistic answer, "Who knows maybe something bad might happen."

Though the chances were slim-to-none, it was still possible. There was always a chance in which something might go wrong, and that chance cannot get overlooked. Warren, knowing this all too well, continued, "Who knows. Maybe this bus may hit something and swerve. We are pretty high up, so if that were to happen then that would be really bad."

"Yeah, there is that possibility," Will agreed, "well, we're not that high as of now, so I think we will be fine." Will's words put Warren's anxious mind at ease just a little. On top of that, he was right too. Since Warren and Will were seating up at the front of the bus, they could clearly see the bus descending downhill, which made the forest up ahead more visible. They were about to enter a stranded road, which was supposed to be a shortcut according to the teachers. 

After a couple of minutes, the driver took a turn to the left and then turned right which now put them on the shortcut route. Warren, who was peering out the window, turned his gaze toward the road to notice that it wasn't a normal, modern road. Instead, the road - more like a pathway - was layered with soil, and tiny, grey pebbles. Surprisingly, the bus was able to move stably through this route. 

"Oh, the Olk Wilderness," Will exclaimed. "It's been a while since I've been here." 

Looking surprised, Warren turned back over to Will, who was staring out the window. "You've known of this place?" Warren asked. 

"Yeah, I have been here once, or twice with my parents," Will answered. 

"Oh, I see," Warren stated, "so if anything happens then you can save us."

Will, who was smiling before, directed his eyes toward Warren and complained, "You're still on that? I think we will be fine, but if something goes down then yeah. I got you."

Warren felt more secure now and started to wonder how he got such a reliable friend. As Warren was trying to recollect his past with Will, the worst-case scenario occurred. The bus started to shake and tumble. Warren, now back from his thoughts, peered out the window to find out why the bus was moving in this way. There was nothing to be seen though. There was no obstacle, nor damage. However, when he looked upon the driver's seat, it became all clear. His head was resting on the center of the steering wheel, and his arms were dangling to the side of him. He had collapsed. The bus hit a hump on the road and bounced. The unconscious driver's head started to slip toward the right, which in turn, also turned the wheel to the right. The bus once again swerved, and now a huge, brown tree was in vision. The bus crashed into the tree, and the force of the impact forced it to fling into the air and pummel down. This quick, dangerous incident rendered most of the passengers unconscious, including Warren and Will. 

A couple of hours passed since the accident. Warren and Will were able to regain consciousness, as well as the other passengers. "What happens?" Will whispered, half-conscious, "Wa-Warren, you there?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine. Jesus, I told you something like this would happen," I cried, "darn, well it's too late now."

Warren looked around him. The windows were all broken and all the passengers were gone. Some of the seats close to the windows had been destroyed, as well. The driver wasn't there either. Warren then looked out the window to notice the passengers waiting outside. Some of them were standing and some of them were laying on the ground with bandages covering their arms, legs, and forehead. In total, there were six people, four injured and two standing. "Ok, it seems like everyone is alright," Will said, "we should group up with them." 

Will unhooked his seatbelt, which was still intact, and started to head toward the exit. Warren, following the same procedures, unhooked his seatbelt and followed Will. When they left thought the exit, the four people paused and looked right at us. 

"Thank god you made it," a woman exclaimed. The other people seemed glad to know that we were still breathing as well. "There were some people who didn't make it in good shape, but don't worry, they are not dead. They are just unconscious," the woman reassured. 

"Ok, that's good," Warren said, relieved. He looked around to analyze the situation that they were in. To the right of him, there was a destroyed, yellow bus, and to his left, was a dark forest. 

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" Will asked the others.

A man in a black shirt stepped forward and pulled out his phone. "Thankfully, my phone wasn't trashed during the accident, and surprisingly, there is a weak signal here. I was able to call the police to our location and they said they would be here one of these days."

"'One of these days'. What does that suppose to mean, " the woman said, signaling that this was the first time she had heard of this. 

"Well, I'm not sure. The signal was bad, so they kept cutting out. They mentioned they would send a rescue helicopter to pick us up, but there was this other thing they said...Let's see."

He paused for a second to recollect his thoughts, and continued, "Right. They mentioned a specific time in which they were going to pick us up. They said they were going to pick us up in two days at 2:00 P.M."

"That's odd. Why would they set a specific time for a rescue operation?" Warren asked. 

"I'm not sure, but this is our only way out it seems like. We could retrace our steps back, but we took a lot of turns and went up a lot of hills, so if we tried we would probably get lost, " the man stated. 

He is right, Warren thought. Then, Will suggested, "Well we need to hurry up and find somewhere to go. I've been here a couple of times and I remember seeing a cave-like entrance somewhere in this forest. The problem is: I have no idea what part of the forest we are."

As that knowledge sunk in, there was a moment of complete silence. After moments, the woman said, "Yes, let's venture into the forest to find some shelter. We can't just stay out here."

"Yes, you are right. Let's get going," the man agreed.

The man pulled out his phone and turned on the built-in flashlight, and aimed it toward the dark forest. The women went into the bus and scouted for supplies they could use on this venture. The other two people, who haven't talked one bit, helped the injured up. The woman left the bus, carrying two big boxes in each hand. 

"I think I found emergency supplies," she said, excited. 

"Great!" Warren said with a smile. 

Soon after that, everyone went into the forest. They all followed the man holding the phone. They passed bushes and trees and climbed tiny hills until they reached a wide-open area. Everyone paused for a moment to look around and swiftly continued on. For around five minutes, they kept walking forward until they came across a big, dark opening engraved into a side of a large, stone mountain. It was the cave that Will was talking about earlier. 

"This is the cave! We can use this as a temporary shelter," Will suggested happily. 

"Good idea," the woman and man said almost synchronized. 

They walked in, still following the man with the phone until they reached the dead-end of the cave. Then, they laid the injured down and dropped all their belongings. There was light shining in through the cave, so there was no point in having the flashlight on. So, the man with the phone turned off his phone and turned it off and turned it back on. Then he looked at us and said, "As of right now, it is 9:00 P.M, and my battery is almost gone. They did say they would pick us up in two days at exactly 2:00 P.M., so I suggest we tally the time passed just in case my phone was to die."

"That's not a bad idea, but what are we going to use to carve?" Warren asked. 

The woman opened up one of the boxes she carried over, reached in, and pulled out a medium-sized, sharp-tipped knife. 

"Will this do?" she stated as she held out the knife. 

"Perfect," the man replied, "as of right now, let's mark the time in the form of day, so we should have two marks for two days, then we will get down to hours."

"Ok, sound like a plan," Will said. 

The man turned off his phone and shoved it into his pocket. He grabbed the knife from the woman and carved a line on the cave wall closest to him. 

It was starting to get dark, so everyone tried their best to get comfortable and sleep through the night. The boxes had enough blankets in them for everyone to use. 

A day passed leaving only one day left for their rescue. The two injured people were able to get back on their feet now. The people devised plans to conserve food and water. They all agreed to split it evenly for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With the supplies they had now, they had more than enough to last for more than two days. Warren and Will decided to explore the surroundings to figure out the landscape around them. The others stayed in the cave, minding their own business. 

"I'm all itchy," complained Warren. 

"Well, that's to be expected. We are in a forest and there are bugs all around us," Will replied. 

"I guess you are right."

Warren and Will explored the surrounding for quite some time and started to head back. As they were heading back, they noticed the man in the black shirt, along with the woman, hiding behind a bush close to the cave's entrance. The others were hiding in a bush behind them. 

"What are they doing?" Will whispered. 

Warren noticed them staring right at the cave's entrance. He turned he gave over to the cave and a bolt of fear rushed through his body. He grabbed Will's shoulder and forced him down to the ground. 

"He-Hey, what are you doing?" he yelled.

"Shut up..." Warren whispered, angrily, "look over there."

Will turned his eyes to where I was pointing. His eyes started to widen with fear.

"A bear!" he stated. 

A brown bear exited the cave's entrance with something in its mouth. 

"The food's smell might have attracted the bear," Warren analyzed. 

The bear looked around for a moment and started to walk toward the bushes closest to it. Everyone hiding behind bushes, waited a minute or so and regrouped at the cave's entrance. 

"What happen?" Will asked the others.

"We ventured out to find extra food just in case something bad were to happen, and by the time we got back, we saw a bear taking apart the camp," explained the woman. 

"It's gone now, so we shouldn't worry about it too much. We should check how much food remains," the man said. 

Everyone walked back inside to where the boxes were located. They were right. The boxes were destroyed, but what was worse, was that most of the food they agreed to split was gone. However, the bear did not seal any of the water. The mark on the wall was replaced with a huge scratch mark from the bear, but that wasn't much of a problem because everyone knew only a day had passed. The man pulled out his phone and said, "It's 5:30 right now, and my phone is about to di-"

His phone blacked out.

"It died," he said, disappointed. 

"Wait, this is a problem," Will yelled, "how are we going to keep track of the time?"

Everyone went silent. Then, Warren suggested, "We might have to go with tallying minutes. I feel like it's safe to say that around a minute passed since that, so we should tally the minutes from 5:31."

The others started to complain at first and decided to mark every five minutes instead, which meant that they had to count to 300 seconds before marking. Then the counting began. They marked all the five-minute intervals as marks. 

Then nighttime started to draw in. The man suggested that they should take turns sleeping to keep track of the time. Throughout the night, they took turns sleeping. By now, there were over sixty marks on the wall. 

The nighttime ended and the sun came out, signaling that it was the day they were going to get rescued. Warren was in charge of splitting the food evenly among the others, while Will was in charge of keeping track of the time. The others were out to collect supplies or scouting out the area for any trouble. 

This routine went on for around a couple of hours, until Will yelled, "299, 300. If I am right then it should be 1:30 right now. We should head toward the road!"

Everyone turned to Will and cheered. They started to pack up everything. Since the two injured were able to walk now, carrying the supplies was not as hard. After that, they started to retrace their steps back toward the road where the accident happen. This took them around fifteen minutes, but that was why they left early. 

They reached the location of the destroyed bus and waited for the helicopter to come and get them out of there. 

After some time, the loud sound of the vehicle started to approach. It was coming from the sky, which meant that it was their ride out of the forest. The helicopter was now in their sight now. It seemed like it spotted them because it started to descent slowly. When it finally reached the ground, the officer jumped out and rushed over to where Will, Warren, and the others were. They told them to hop in and that they were sorry or taking so long. Everyone loaded themselves into the helicopter, strapped their seatbelts, and took off. It sored through the air, revealing the whole forest as if it were a painting. 

Warren, who was sitting next to Will, said, "Told you something bad was going to happen."