“Okay, listen up folks, it is getting dark and I don’t think it would be smart to look for her now. I don’t want anyone else getting lost out there, or getting hurt looking for her. Everyone head back to your camps and tomorrow morning come back here and we will start looking for her. The temperatures are mild and I’m sure she will be fine, uncomfortable, but fine. For Christ’s sake, stay together people. Remember, you are a team, so take care of each other.” She said and shook her head and looked at Christian, who was watching everyone leave, they were all grumbling.
“That went well.” Christian quipped sarcastically.
“Shut the fuck up Christian, I know they all signed waivers, but this isn’t good. We have no communications and we can’t get anywhere fast. The porters won’t be back until six days from now and it is another four days to the village. That is a long god damn time, and I’m supposed to report daily. I’m hoping when they don’t hear from us, they will send someone from the village in a few days to check on us. This is turning out to be a clusterfuck.” Marla said angrily.
She got up and went to the crate and pulled an MRE out. She hated these things, and she knew it would drive her blood pressure up. Not to mention they tasted like shit. She came back to the fire and sat down.
“Are we really not going to look for Carol?” Hudson asked, sitting down beside her, he had his own MRE and was preparing to eat.
“We can’t, it is almost dark, and if anyone gets hurt looking for that idiot, then it is on me. We’d have to wait a week, now that the phone is out, and I can’t afford for anyone to get hurt. There is no way to get them out of here. So yes, we stay put, and we don’t look. She is under some bush somewhere crying, I’m sure, but I think she will be okay until morning. Unless you want to roam around out there looking for her. No, I didn’t think so.” She said smugly and began to eat her meal, when she saw him blush and begin to dig into his own meal.
Everyone had agreed to eat while the contestants weren’t around. It wouldn’t do to eat in front of a starving competitor. It was going to be tricky anyway, but she didn’t need for them to add to their misery.
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Carol was squatting, she had diarrhea and it was bad. She’d been so thirsty, she’d found a small pond and drank from it. Now she was shitting herself to death. Her stomach hurt so badly, and it was getting dark. She heard weird noises out in the forest and her head jerked here and there. She took several leaves and cleaned her butt, it felt raw. She’d been shitting for over an hour now and it didn’t seem like it was going to stop. She went back over to the small pool of water and washed herself.
She sat down gingerly on the ground. She shivered, it wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm like it was earlier today. And where the hell is Grayson? She wondered, for the tenth time in an hour. She’d not found any food, only the water. She’d tried to catch a fish, but they were just too fast.
She saw a few frogs, but she wasn’t hungry enough to eat frogs. Ewwwww, she thought. Her stomach made a growling noise and her lower gut protested as well, and she groaned as she pulled down her pants once more and let her body expel what ever it was that was hurting her. She thought perhaps it was those stupid orange berries. Why didn’t Grayson get the food? She’d found the water. She cleaned herself up once more. She was so thirsty and knew she shouldn’t drink the water, but she had to.
She heard a scream, and jerked, looking around. It sounded like a woman or a child. She didn’t know what it was and started crying. She was getting really afraid out here. She didn’t know what kind of animals lived in these woods, especially ones that made that noise. She crawled over to a heavy bush by the pond and laid down. She held her hand over her stomach. This was all Grayson’s fault, that old bastard.
¤¤
Sarah and Aiden arrived back at their camp. They were both quiet, they’d called out Carol’s name as they went, and heard other’s calling into the coming twilight. It was now pitch black out, and she was glad they had their torch. They’d shared it with Connor, Matt, and Diana, they didn’t have fire yet and so gave them a feed off of their torch. Sarah wasn’t sure if it was against the rules, but she felt lucky they had fire. Aiden had gone into the cave to retrieve the snake.
He used the tip of his machete to slit the belly of the snake, he then pulled the skin off of it. They had left a small fire burning when they left, which were now coals. It was inside the cave which was a little rocky and sandy. Sarah added bits of wood they’d collected to the coals and then bigger pieces as it grew. Aiden skewered the snake on a long thin branch and held it over the fire. They had spent time gathering firewood and putting it into the cave. Sarah had used several vines to tie the branches together. This helped with carrying more each trip she made to their cave.
“You never know when it is going to rain, but when you want a fire most, that’s usually when it does rain.” He’d laughed, his head rocking side to side.
So, they’d spent the time as they looked for more food, picking
