Chapter 16
Maria and Jack
Shaking her head back and forth, Maria couldn’t believe she had been left with the group at base camp. She started thinking about it and shuddered at the thought. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t make words come out; it was almost like she’d become mute.
“Maria!” Sarah Beth moaned from the tent.
Maria tried to move and go over to her but to no avail. “Maria Marks!” Charlie urged, leaving Sarah Beth and stepping outside the tent. He stood face to face with her. “Stop being useless!” he yelled and grabbed her hand from her basket ball shorts. He began to pull, and almost dragged her over to Sarah Beth. “She wants water! So please go get her water!” He demanded, releasing her wrist.
“Why don’t you go?” she mumbled so quietly she didn’t think he could hear.
“She… She needs me!” He replied blushing.
Maria heard Sarah Beth scoff quietly. She looked around to see what the others were doing.
Cody was sitting in the grass in front of his tent, unmoved, and Jorgina was sitting under the tree she’d climbed earlier for protection. Everything was dead silent, except the occasional gust of wind ruffling the trees. The place looked like the set of a zombie movie, but then the mood changed when Eugene started walking towards her.
“Maria, we should go find supplies.” he said appearing from his tent, sounding less confident without his suspenders. “You should go find food and water. I’ll do what I can to find some herbs,” Eugene finished and then pushed up his glassed.
Charlie seemed to get very angry. “Ugh! I don’t care who goes for what. Just go!” He grunted, and pushed Maria away from the tent.
“Will you be okay alone?” Eugene asked.
“Okay?” Maria mumbled. “Okay? I’ve been alone for the better part of seven years, and you’re asking if I’ll be okay alone? Yes, I’ll be dandy. I’m fine alone!” Something inside snapped; the word alone rang in her ears and made her furious. It was like any and all anger or resentment she had bottled up inside had exploded.
She stomped off into the wilderness. Alone. Almost missing Eugene’s freaked out look.
“Stupid Charlie, acting all bi-polar! One minute he was all crying for his mommy and the next, he’s pushing me around like Sarah Beth!” Maria muttered.
She had been walking for no more than five minutes when Eugene came tumbling, out of the bushes, breathless. “Here! When you find food or water put them in this.” he panted, handing her two over-sized chili cans.
“Okay,” she said, her anger beginning to fade into cold-blooded fear, once Eugene left. She awkwardly ran away and finally realized, she was truly alone.
Tears began welling up in her eyes, “No tears, I’m not going to cry,” she reassured herself.
She leaned against a nearby, large oak tree and looked for anything to eat. Finding a few mushrooms hiding amongst the grass, she almost picked them until the thought of what the others would do to her if she poisoned them on top of everything else. To her left, it looked more like a thick, wooded area. To her right, she could smell water, probably a river or something nearby; but in front of her, it became rocky and then fell stumbling down about fifteen feet. Her eyes lit up when she saw a rushing river.
“Water,” she bellowed.
She walked forward twelve steps or so before she finally looked down. It wasn’t fifteen feet; probably closer to thirty… but what’s the difference?
She began descending from the safety of the treed area, down to nothing but rocks. Her right hand and both legs slid off the rocks. She fell eight feet, and hit the ground. One blink later, she was on her bottom in wet, soggy, hard mossy rocks.
“Ow… I think I broke my bottom,” she said, shakily standing up, and then she started giggling, thinking about how Eugene would correct her and how you can’t break your rear.
She looked left; nothing but rocks for miles. The right was no better, just trees and forest. But just across the stream on the left were rocks and a little patch of bushes and trees. She walked to the stream. It was crystal clear, a beautiful pristine water source.
As she was bending down to put some water in the chili can she heard, “Hiss! Rattle! Rattle!” An angry snake began shaking its tail rapidly.
“Eek!” she gasped throwing herself back.
The snake and she sat, eyes locked onto one another.
Slowly she stood up, and began to back up. She was thirty five yards at least when she urged herself to cross the stream, forgetting about the two cans which quickly floated downstream.
The large, chipped, broken, and slippery rocks made bad terrain, especially in unpadded old tennis shoes. As she tip-toed across, she could tell she was getting closer to the bushes, and there was something bright in the distance.
“It isn’t a mirage, right? Those only happen in deserts… Right?” she asked hoping for an answer. PLOP! Her shoes got caught on a sharp rock and tripped her almost immediately.
“I am so getting tired of the wilderness,” she grumbled, pulling her shoes back on. She began to get up, but in her squatting position through the brush she saw a flicker. No way, she thought.
Cautious, she got up and she stepped off the last of the rocks onto dry ground, walked a ways, and then began to crawl through an opening in the bushes to where the light was. She worried it would disappear if she stood up. She was hoping, praying that someone was there and that they had something that could help her.
She blinked and ended up getting a face full of bushes and berries. Her back and face hurt so she decided to stand up, and ignored her pain.
“Um… Wow,” she gasped.
Almost like looking through a keyhole, she saw a cabin standing tall hiding behind the brush. It was rustic but pretty well maintained she thought. Not afraid, she stepped up to the handcrafted, wooded door and beat on it. No answer.
“Maybe,” she mumbled, turning the knob to no avail. “Well in my day, this was what made me famous,” she said, pulling her long blond hair out of the messy ponytail, and taking the two bobby pins out. She sloppily braided her hair to the right side, in front of her shoulder.
Hope I remember how to do this, she thought. Jabbing the bobby pin in the key hole, she turned the bronze knob to her right. The door immediately swung open. She flew in just as fast and quietly. Quickly, she began rummaging through the house, ignoring the fact someone might be there. She went into a kitchen, and saw a sink, toaster, oven, microwave, and fridge.
“Yes! technology,” she laughed. But before she could get anything, a deep booming voice yelled across the cabin, “Who goes there? For your sake, I hope you’re not a bear!”
“I’m a camper!” she made herself reply.
“Hmm?”
“From Camp Clearwater.”
“Oh?” The man’s voice was now softer as he walked into the kitchen. “Wow what happened to you? You look terrible!” he asked shocked.
“Thanks,” she said sarcastically.
He shrugged unapologetically. “Your name?”
“Maria, may I ask who you are?”
“No, but I’ll tell you anyway. I’m Jack,” he declared taking off his hat. He was tall with brown hair, and a beard which was noticeably graying.
“Tell me what happened,” he asked looking at her unusual appearance.
She did so, not missing a single detail… about what happened to Sarah Beth and the others. She even told about Luna’s accident.
“Take me to them,” he said, putting granola bars and water bottles in his backpack. Then he disappeared and reappeared asking her to lead the way.
“Do you have the time?” she asked, as he locked the cabin door and handed back her bobby pin. She quickly put it on a falling piece of hair.
“Four maybe 4:30,” he replied.
“How can you tell?” she mumbled.
“The sun is lower in the sky, and it usually sets around 6:15.
She stared at him and studied his rugged appeara
nce and began wondering if she’d found a psycho. Fear overtook her. “I can’t go back with you. Do you have a phone?”
“Yes, most days it works, but only in certain locations. You need to go out on that rock, and you should be able to get a signal. Who do you want to call?” he asked.
“I want to call me mother and get her to call 911, so we can get help. I’ve been through so much. I just want to go home.” Maria said.
“It would be hard for a rescue squad to find this place because it’s so remote,” he said.
“Jack, can I please use your phone? I’d really like to call my mother,” she urged.
“Yes, go where I showed you and see if you are lucky enough to get a signal,” he said as he handed her his phone.
Shaking, she held the phone to her ear and listened for a dial tone. Joy jumped inside of her as she heard it. She began calling home. The phone at her home rang, but no one answered. She waited for the part of the message that said, “You may leave a number, and we will call you back.” After that part, she said frantically, “Mom, this is Maria, please come get me,” before she could say any more the phone went dead. “I need to try it again,” she said. Again, she tried but to no avail. “I don’t want to go back with you. I’m not going back to the bunkhouse and no one can make me. Will you draw me a map of how to get back to the main entrance of Camp CLearwater?” Maria asked.
“Yes, I can do that, but don’t you think the others will worry about you? It’s getting late,” he responded.
“Yes, they might worry, but I don’t care. I just want to get out of this place.
Do you have any paper? I could write them a note,” she said.
“Yes, but don’t you think it would be better for you to come back with me? How will I find the others?” Jack asked.
“Just follow my trail,” she said. I deliberately bent and broke sticks so I could find my way back. You know sort of like Hansel and Gretel. It will be easy to find them. I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about myself. I have to think about myself because this camp just hasn’t worked out for me and I can’t take another day. Besides none of them were very nice to me.”
“Ok I’ll draw you a map. Climb up to that rock and you will be able to see where you are going. You are really not that far away from the main bunkhouses.”
She did as he said. He gave her a compass. “Just go south, and you should find your way. Please go write that note we talked about before you leave. It’s not right for everyone to worry. They don’t know me, and they might think I did something to harm you,” he persuaded.
“Okay I will,” she said just counting the seconds until she could leave.
She wrote:
Guys,
I’m sorry for leaving everyone like this. I know you might not forgive me, but I couldn’t take this place anymore! I met this mountain man named Jack. He will help get back to the bunkhouse. I will be gone by the time you get there.
Sorry,
Maria
She folded up the paper and put it in Jack’s hand. “Give this to the counselor. Her name is Cindi. I don’t know if she’ll be there or not because she left for help and hadn’t returned when I left. There’s a real pretty girl there named Jorgina, and her friend Sarah Beth. There are others too: Cody, Eugene, and Charlie.”
He had her write all the names down, so he wouldn’t forget them. She thanked him for his help and headed off in the direction of the bunkhouse.
She turned around and noticed how old and worn his clothes were, the faded, stained, jean jacket, worn old denim jeans, plain brown work boots and hand-me-down work gloves.
“I hope I never see any one from Camp Clearwater ever again,” she said and turned away. Jack had a four-wheeler. He got on it and slowly made his way along the path she had made. He encountered difficulty because the wilderness was too thick for him to use his four-wheeler, so he rode it back to his cabin and then started back along the path on foot. He hadn’t gone too far, before he got up on a tall rock and looked for Maria. With his binoculars, he searched and found her heading in the right direction. “She should be there in about two hours,” he said in a low tone. Next, he started looking for a clearing and the base camp. With his compass, medical supplies, food, and water, and started heading towards it using a short cut instead of Maria’s original route.
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