16

Avery

Erin sat near the small fire when they returned. She poked it with a stick, keeping it from burning out. Not that they needed the heat during the day—it was sweltering—but at some point they would run out of matches, so they’d decided to keep a fire going at all times.

Benny had pointed out it might help with rescue, too, if a plane happened to fly overhead. Not that anyone had seen a plane.

Sam sat near Erin, whispering quietly. He seemed to be helping her.

She didn’t look as upset as normal. She looked up as the group approached. “Did you find him?”

Avery nodded. “Rae said he would try to help us.” He also said he would try to help Erin. She hoped he followed through with that.

“No sign of Bradley?” Luca asked.

Sam shook his head but Avery wasn’t surprised. Of course, he wouldn’t be back with help.

There weren’t any villages or cities around for hundreds of miles, though no one else knew that.

She wanted to bring it to their attention, but at this point, something held her back. It was the same feeling she’d had earlier, the feeling of the jungle drawing her in. Maybe something had brought them here for a reason, even if she had no idea what the reason could be. It was almost as if she belonged. As if she were needed. The thought bugged her. “Can we eat?” she asked, ready to put those thoughts aside.

Erin nodded. “Some of the others went to get fruit and water.”

Avery sat beside Erin and sighed. The jungle always took something out of her—it took something out of them all. Water sounded like heaven.

It wasn’t long before she heard laughter coming from the trees, and a few moments later the others in their dwindling group stepped through the tree line.

David carried a bag of water bottles and the girls each carried a bundle of fruit in what looked like handmade baskets.

“How did you do that?” Avery asked. She fingered one of the delicately weaved contraptions. “That’s awesome.”

Mallory beamed. “My mom took a basket weaving class last summer.” She rolled her eyes. “I was totally annoyed when she made me come, but I guess it came in handy.”

Everyone gathered around the fire and passed out the fruit and water. They had agreed to only eat the boxed food once a day. It would last longer that way, just in case Bradley couldn’t find help. No one talked about what would happen if Bradley never came back at all, or if no one ever came to their rescue.

Avery hated to admit it, but she was beginning to realize that without some serious intervention from God, they weren’t getting out of here any time soon. She glanced at their group and considered what this meant for each of them. They had clothes, but how long would those last? A few years? A few decades? She shuddered and looked at the group. No one else seemed all doom and gloom. In fact, the others seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Luca said something that made June throw back her head and laugh.

Avery frowned. That was something she didn’t plan on watching.

The sun crept closer to the tree line and before long June and Luca started singing an upbeat song she recognized from church. How did Luca even know all these songs? He hadn’t been to church in months.

She turned away from them so she wouldn’t have to watch. If the van were here she’d close herself in, but the shelters were in plain view of everyone, and she’d still be able to hear them if she holed up inside one. For now, she was stuck listening, but she didn’t like it. Music didn’t soothe her like it used to, not like it did before Mom left and Daddy wrote her off.

The songs ended and the cool, desert air began stirring. The sun was gone now, and the desert was bathed in darkness.

Avery turned her face toward the sky. Stars stretched into infinity. It was the first time she’d looked up and noticed the stars since arriving, and the sight took her breath away. The others’ chatter faded away as she stared into the heavens. The silence of space echoed in her head and for the first time, she realized it was silent in her mind. That was encouraging, at least. She could make it a few minutes without worrying. Without wondering.

A rustling noise sounded behind her and she turned.

Nothing.

She frowned and looked back at the group. No one had heard—they were too busy having a get-together—but she’d definitely heard it.

Standing quietly, she stretched her arms and kept her eyes on the trees. The rustling sounded again and she stepped closer, but everything was silent and still. She waited another moment and let out a slow breath. She was too uptight. Turning back to the fire, she heard it again. “Snakes!” she screamed.

Chaos erupted around the fire. Everyone leaped to their feet, pushing into each other and screaming.

A dozen snakes poured from the jungle, rattling their tails like babies’ toys. They spread out like lava, but these weren’t like any snakes Avery had ever seen. Their scaly skin was a bright yellow with red and black rings circling their bodies.

Avery shivered. Running was pointless but she couldn’t help it. She wasn’t even sure where she was going. She scrambled on top of the box of food. It was the highest point she could see.

Luca lunged for his shelter and Avery frowned. Did he think that rickety shack would save him? He emerged a second later carrying the huge stick. It was the same one he’d carried in the jungle when they searched for Gabby and Katelyn.

David came from the trees a moment later, and he carried a stick, too.

They worked together at bashing the snakes.

Tasha, Mallory, and Brittany huddled together, crying. Two snakes coiled a few feet from them, hissing but not attacking.

Benny had passed out a few feet into the desert.

Avery glanced out further and gasped.

Gabby and Katelyn had made it away and bolted for the van.

The van! They needed to make it there for protection.

She waved her arms, trying to get Luca’s attention, but he was too busy beheading the snakes. It almost looked like he was enjoying it.

And then the most disturbing part of all; Erin sat on her log, same as before. She stared straight ahead, not watching the chaos around her, and no snakes bothered her.

Chills raced up Avery’s arm and made her shiver, chills that had nothing to do with the cold night air.

“Is that all of them?” Luca called out. He held his stick like some kind of ninja warrior, his eyes scanning the ground.

“I don’t see anymore,” David said.

Luca loosened up and dropped his stick. “Let’s make sure everyone is OK.”

Climbing off that box was the hardest thing Avery had ever done. She put one foot down, then the other, almost like the disturbance in the sand would alert the snakes and they’d come slithering back into camp.

Dead snakes lay scattered around the sand and she shivered again. So many all at once? That couldn’t be normal. Then again, what about this place was normal?

“Gabby and Katelyn made it to the van,” she managed to call out.

Everyone else seemed unharmed, but Benny still hadn’t woken up from his fainting spell.

She turned to scan the others and gasped.

“June!” Avery slid in the sand as she made her way over. “June, are you OK?”

June lay in the sand, as if she’d fallen off her log.

Luca raced toward them and bent down to examine June. “Was she bitten?”

Avery’s hands moved over June’s body, searching for any sign of a bite. She rolled June’s left leg and her stomach dropped. Two perfect dots of blood marked her calf.

“What do we do?” she asked. Panic erupted. “What do we do?”

Luca shook his head and gulped. “I don’t know.”

Avery glanced around like an answer would be floating in the night sky. Her gaze landed on the van and her heart soared. “The medical supplies! We have to open the box of supplies.”

Luca frowned but stood, taking June in his arms. “Let’s go.”

“June’s been bitten,” she called out. “We’re going to the van.”

The others fell in line behind them, even Erin.

Avery guessed no one wanted to sleep near a snake-infested jungle. Avery reached the van before Luca.

Gabby and Katelyn sat inside, breathing hard.

Katelyn held her inhaler to her lips, taking a deep drag.

Avery didn’t speak to them. She tore her fingernails trying to rip into the box of medical supplies. “Do you think we brought any anti-venom?” she called out. “I don’t know what that looks like.”

Benny jogged over and dug through the box. He had a knot on his head, but he seemed otherwise unharmed from his fainting spell. He pulled out a small container and handed it to her, then dug around some more until he found syringes.

She stared in shock.

Benny blushed and shrugged. “I watch a lot of TV.”

She managed a smile just as Luca arrived with a lifeless June in his arms.

“Lay her in the van,” Avery said.

Luca obeyed as Avery filled the syringe with whatever was in the vial. It was cold, and she realized it had been surrounded by ice packs. She stared at the needle and licked her lips. Needles didn’t bother her, but she’d never given someone a shot before.

“Put it in a vein,” Benny instructed. “In the bloodstream.”

Avery took a deep, steadying breath and obeyed without question, plunging the needle into her thigh. June didn’t move or even groan, but there was nothing else they could do.

Everyone piled into the van, huffing and puffing. They’d all just run a mile.

Avery’s whole body ached. “What do we do now?” she asked.

Benny leaned forward excitedly. “Now we wait. She may have an allergic reaction. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Will she wake up?”

Benny shrugged. “That’s the waiting part.”

Tasha burst into fresh tears and Avery swallowed hard. Things kept getting worse and worse, instead of better. When was Rae’s help going to kick in?

She glanced at Luca, but he only had eyes for June. His nostrils flared and he stared at her, his arms crossed across his chest.

Avery looked back to June. She was one of the nicest people Avery had ever met.

This anti venom had to work. It had to. And when June woke up Avery was going to make sure she got to know her better. She would find out why she’d come on this trip, what her hopes and dreams were, and what she liked to do for fun back home. June had been a good friend to her, and it was time to repay the favor.

Everyone slept in the van that night.

June took up an entire seat, but without Bradley and his crew, there was still enough room.

Luca slept up front with Sam, like he’d been doing all along.

Avery overheard their conversation about the impossibility that they were actually attacked by snakes.

Sam claimed he’d never seen snakes like that.

Avery sat directly behind June’s head. She propped her temple against the window so she could keep an eye on June’s breathing, but keeping herself awake was nearly impossible. Her eyes drifted closed a few different times, and finally she wasn’t able to jerk herself awake. Dreams played through her mind, one after another. She saw Mom. Rae. Snakes. Daddy. A hospital.

Everything swirled together in one chaotic dream, and when she woke up the next morning, her head ached and her muscles pinched. Taking a deep breath, she sat up and checked on June.

June slept peacefully, her breathing steady and sure.

Avery smiled in relief. Thank you, God! At least something had gone right.

The others began to stir.

A few minutes later, June woke up too. Her bright blue eyes shone in the morning light.

Everyone crowded around her as best they could in the small van.

She smiled and assured them she felt OK.

But something bothered Avery, something she was afraid to tell anyone.

June’s eyes were supposed to be green.