We're on our own

Faraji took two for herself as well. She went to find another suitcase to put more things in. Losing everything wouldn't be good for them like Maverick had said before. When she managed to find on to transferred some of the things from the first suitcase to the second. "Nice job." She smiled at Maverick when she showed them the sodas. When she was done transporting their findings Faraji looked up at Ava from her position on the ground. She frowned worriedly and stood up, following after them. "Ava...?" She couldn't ask if she was okay. Obviously none of them were okay. So Faraji just walked beside her. Her long legs made it easy to catch up with her.
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"Nice going man! I manged to find some books, we can start a fire with the papers. And some beef jerky and dried fruit." Isaiah held up the containers. "Some of the fruit fell out but there's still a decent amount inside. The jerky still looks good though." He walked over to them. He watched Ava and Faraji walk off with a frown of his face. He wondered what had happened...well other than the obvious.
 
Ava looked up when she heard long steps coming up beside her.
"Hey" she said quietly, feeling slightly better now that she knew she wasn't completely alone. The two bags felt heavy in her hands, more so than before somehow and she sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted. She walked planlessly straight forward as her thoughts raced. The air around them was chilly as the sun was slowly lowering on the sky. They probably only had a few hours to prepare for the night before it would be too could for them to work. Ava still wanted to get far away from the plane, now for more than one reason. After a minute she looked up, finding the big tops of the mountains reaching up for the orange sky above them. She sighed and stopped, just breathing in for a moment, silent. It had been a rough day to say the least.

"I think we should-" she began as she turned around to look at Faraji, but found that heir voice hitched in her throat when she tried to speak.
"That we should-" she tried again, but the sentence trailing of into a hoarse sort of sob.
"Ah fuck" she managed, turning her head up to try and stop the tears from running again, failing slightly in that regard. She quickly turned her head to the side to angrily wipe the stray tears away and took a deep breath to try and calm herself down.
 
Faraji said nothing as she walked beside them. She wanted Ava to talk to her first before saying anything. When they finally stopped Faraji looked at them softly. She never could stand when someone was trying, or sobbing in Ava case. "If this is not okay then you can tell me." She said before gathering the short person in her arms. Faraji hugged her tight. "It is okay to cry. You have survived a traumatizing situation..." She said in what she hoped was a soothing tone. Faraji looked at the the beautiful view in front of them. It was sort of funny how she had dreamed of seeing such a beautiful thing, and the only reason why she was seeing it now because of her plane crashing. "The first thing that I had done when I made it out of the plane was cry. I cried because I had made it, and because so many people had lost their lives in return. And I cried because I don't know if I will make it out here or not..."
 
Ava made a small surprised hiccup noise when she suddenly felt arms around her and the tall persons warmth surround her. She hadn't realized she had been freezing until then, standing in just a t-shirt and her thin cardigan in what was probably around 50 degrees, so she really appreciated the warm embrace as she felt her body start to shiver. Listening to Farajis' soothing voice she let herself cry for a moment, enveloped in the safe arms of this friendly stranger and sobbed against her shoulder. It was comforting to hear that she wasn't alone in crying and that she wasn't weak because of it.

When the sobs finally subdued and Ava wasn't shaking anymore she stepped back, wiping her wet face and looking a bit worriedly at the wet patch of Farajis' shoulder. She smiled a bit embarrassed.
"Sorry" she said, her voice a bit hoarse after crying.
"And thank you" she added, smiling again. Coughing a bit she picked up the bags that she had dropped and bit her lip as she let her gaze look around the landscape. In the northwest were the big peaks of the mountains and the big forest spread out all around them and down to the east.
"Where should we set up camp?" she asked, now back on track after letting herself get some of the stress and sadness out. Her eyes were still red and her cheeks a bit damp, but she felt better and ready to start working.
 
Chojin ran back inside the plane to see if his back pack was still there "yes" he said while picking up his back pack and placing it on his back. "See yeah people" Chojin called out before running out of the place and sat down on a Boulder "hello people.
 
"It is okay and you are welcome." Faraji smiled down at Ava. She was happy that she had been able to help her calm down a little. She stepped away and looked around. "To be honest I have no idea. Maybe we can find some sort of cave?" She suggested. Faraji looked back to Ava. "Or we can build a shelter ourselves." Faraji sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She suddenly wished that she had joined the Girl Scouts as a little girl. Surely they learned about stuff like this all the time. "I saw some examples while scrolling on Pinterest....but I don't remember how they built it exactly..." She sighed once again. Faraji wrapped her arms around herself.
 
Maverick grinned at them as they told him good job. He didn't know whether the were older than him or not (most likely they were) but it didn't seem that age mattered for him when given compliments. He then stood up and stretched once more, the popping sounds relaxing him from the tension both physically and mentally. He slapped himself lightly twice and then began to pack anything that looked like it was still in good condition. His backpack was getting a bit too heavy so he knew he would have to transfer some of these supplies onto another bag. He looked back at the entrance to the cabin. That means he'd have to actually search that cabin full of lifeless people. But what has to be done must be done, just don't focus on the bodies.

Then someone else entered. Looked like a she from his perspective but he might be wrong. Androgynous maybe? The name certainly sounded female so he'll stick with female. Though, upon seeing her face, obviously just came back from a particularly teary and challenging event. Ava only took one box before leaving, excusing herself from the group. Worry flooded the male. He might not know any of them personally but he did know that they were all alive and stuck here together for who knows how long so having someone shaken up like that certainly affected him. Faraji was the one who walked away to console her and he trusted the white haired girl to be better than him in consoling.

He looked back at Isaiah who had a frown on his face. "I'm sure they'll be fine. You gotta admit, it's more like we're odd ones in comparison. Our reaction to dead bodies doesn't seem all that extreme." He pointed out, the grin he held earlier now completely gone from his face and a neutral expression took its place. He took a deep breath and let out a sigh. He looked out the window and saw the setting sun. "We should probably make a camp for the night. Sleeping here would... unsettle us." Sleeping with corpses isn't exactly something he ever wanted to try. "Once we get a fire going and some shelter, we can talk more about what we should do."
 
Chojin walk past the group and pull out a small pocket knife and proceeded to walk into the woods route turning back until probably what felt like a tower he came across a small cave that he took shelter in. "well at least I found some shelter and some firewood I need to make a fire okay okay let's see" Chojin said before he walk back outside and gather more supplies and a few hours later made a small fire before he play some more what causes smoke to go up into the air for other people to see where he was.
 
Maz took a bottle of water and a few slices of fruit. She didn't trust herself to eat anything more, unsure of her body's ability to process it, but she was thirsty and had to keep her blood sugar up.

She watched as Ava pad off, Faraji not far behind. She turned away to give them some privacy, then took inventory of the items they'd found so far. A first-aid kit, food, clothing, kindling, and even some cola. Her own carry-on had a blanket. Not bad, she conceded.

She looked between Isaiah and Maverick as she sipped from the plastic bottle and finished off her fruit, then turned to her right as the other two returned. "With all these mountains, I wouldn't worry about building a structure, but finding an unoccupied den in the rocks," she assured Faraji. "Big enough to accommodate all of us and then some."
 
"Maybe it just hasn't set in yet..." Isaiah replied. He was sure that when he was alone he could cry. He wasn't ashamed of it and he wouldn't deny it. Something like this was bound to make the toughest people weep as well. Isaiah looked to Maz and smiled at her. "That's true. A cave would be best. Hopefully we don't run into bears." He joked, again he was trying to lighten the mood. "On a serious note I'll make the fire. I'm pretty good at it." He said.
 
Ava nodded at both Faraji and Maz, shifting her weight a bit as the bags were getting a bit heavy on her shoulders. As one of them started sliding down her left shoulder, the hurt arm made itself remembered and she hissed in pain, quickly letting go of the backpack. She looked down at he arm, taking of half of her cardigan to get a better view of the damage.
"Ow" she muttered, viewing the blue and purple covering most of her upper arm and the big scratches down her lower half that she got from uncarefully ripping it out from between the seats. She gently let a finger poke at the tender flesh and had to bite down hard not to make any noise as it ached with pain. That would probably hurt in the morning.

"Right, let's get looking then?" she said, nodding her head in the direction of the mountains and starting to cover up the arm again. It looked really bad, but she didn't think she needed any immediate medical attention. It seemed more important to try and get a warm shelter for the night at the moment anyway.
 
"Yeah... I suppose so." Maverick replied to Isaiah. Mav was pretty sure he wasn't going to sleep tonight without having a single nightmare and those make him stay up the whole night. He needed to at least have some semblance of sleep so he'll just have to try... He then looked up at Maz as she returned from the cockpit and then to the two who returned. He gave Ava a small reassuring smile. They were all in this together now. He looked back at Isaiah as he joked about the bears. "Yeah, running into them would be terrible."

He then nodded. "We should probably get going." He said, agreeing with Ava. He noticed how she winced when her backpack slid down. She promptly turned around and seemed to have checked it before covering it up again. Was she injured? She probably didn't want to tell anyone. He rubbed the back of his head and then decided. He walked over to Ava and took the backpack from her. "I feel bad making someone else carry two bags when I only have one." He gave her another smile and then slung it over the other shoulder. He looked at the others. "Let's go shall we?"
 
Maz hadn't heard a thing Ava had said, but she made up for it by being more attentive; glancing at the wound as it was uncovered. Looking around at the rest of the group, she added, "I can collect firewood and I'll take a look at everyone's injuries when we get settled in. Check for concussions, routine colonoscopies..." she cleared her throat, "we should all try to maintain visual contact with each other, and stay within shouting distance."

A hospital would be better than just one standard-issue first-aid kit, she thought, or even the inept staff from any medical TV drama. She prayed that there was at least some kind of surgical thread in the box, just in case she had to do a figure 8 or a fuck-just-make-it-stop-bleeding stitch. But she could treat minor scrapes, apply ice, and a number of other little things with the adhesive.

She tilted her head upwards. The sun was beginning to set. They would have to hurry. Finding shelter shouldn't be too hard, but it'll take a while to get a fir started. They couldn't wander around in the dark.

"Sure, let's." Maz started eastward, towards the foot of the mountain and the gully it overshadowed. There should be plenty of caverns to choose from, but she was wary of snakes and bats that could have set up housekeeping. The last thing she needed was rabies.
 
"We have to choose or cave seriously. There will probably be things like snakes and other creatures trying to escape the cold." Faraji wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed herself. She was regretting wearing her cute but not very warm outfit today. The young woman sighed and looked at the other. "I can gather some berries...I have a fair knowledge of ones to eat and not to eat." She said. Faraji wondered what her family was doing right now. She wondered if news of the crash as reached civilization yet. She missed them so much already. Faraji wished that she could let them know that she was alright.
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Isaiah grinned at Maverick and looked to Maz. "Thanks doc." He said playfully. "As soon as we have enough firewood I can get started on the fire. Did you guys grab any paper? It would help with the fire." He said. Isaiah was happy that his outdoor knowledge would be useful. He knew that going on camping trips and learning about the outdoors would come in handy someday.
 
Ava made another surprised noise as one of her bags were taken from her shoulder out of nowhere. Turning around she found one of the new guys having it hanging from his shoulder, smiling at her.
"I feel bad making someone else carry two bags when I only have one."
"Oh, thanks" she chuckled, actually feeling a bit relieved to loose the extra weight on her arm. Nodding at what the others said Ava took the initiative and started walking north, following the sides of the mountain. She was clad to be leaving the wreck of the plane behind, even though she felt a pang of guilt at the thought of all the people they left behind. They couldn't give them all a proper burial even if they wanted, she reasoned. The ground was cold and hard, they were way to many, they needed to survive themselves... As her thoughts trailed of the group made their way through the forest and cliffs, looking for a suitable cave or some kind of shelter.

As the sun set behind the trees it became harder and harder to make out if the shadows of the cliffs actually were caves or just, well, shadows. The few holes they had actually found were either too small or inhabited by other things, and so they kept walking. Just as the cold was almost becoming unbearable and darkness to blinding, they stumbled upon the opening to a cave.
"Hey guys! Look, I think I found something!" Ava called over her shoulder as she separated some hanging plants and bushes to get a better look at the opening. It was dark, so it was hard to tell, but it seemed like it was bigger than the other caves they had found. Cautiously she sniffed the air, but felt nothing other than dirt and grass fill her nose.
"Hello?" Her voice echoed onto the cave walls and without waiting for the others she carefully slid down the small one foot slope into the cave. The ground underneath her was dry and seemed to be tightly packed dirt. She sniffed the air again, hoping that nothing else was in the cave with her. Reaching out to her side she felt her hand knock into a stone wall. She followed the curved wall around, feeling small nooks and crannies, but otherwise pretty smooth stone. When she had felt out the entire area she guessed that it was about 10 meters in diameter, maybe a bit more. Standing up, she couldn't reach to ceiling, but her guess was that it wasn't much more than two meters in height, judging by the entrance.
 
Once they all decided to set off, they did. Maverick kept himself near the back of the group. He didn't seem to think that his physical abilities would be of much use right then and there. It would also seem that the others were much more knowledgeable about survival than him which was perfectly fine. He just needed to know what he should do and he'll do it. Before the plane was out of sight, Mav decided to look back once more. It was a saddening sight, and something someone will find eventually. While he did feel relieved to be out of that mass metal graveyard, he felt saddened by the fact that they could do nothing to save them. But he should save the guilt for later when he was alone. If he were to stop and muse about it now, it would only slow the group down.

He looked back and followed them quickly, knowing that if he were to become lost, there would be a high chance that he wouldn't find them again unless he knew where they were exactly. As the sun began to set and darkness began to reign, Maverick knew that they were running out of time. They had run into a lot of caves, but none of them were suitable for their needs - the ones that are suitable have already been occupied by other creatures. Their walk took hours but they tirelessly moved forward to seek shelter. It was getting colder by the second. He would have offered his sweater to another but he knew that he needed to keep it to keep himself warm.

When Ava shouted that she found something, it was music to Mav's ears. It was obvious that he had become energetic as he practically added a bounce to his every step as he headed towards the cave entrance. He saw Ava plunge into the gaping darkness and then come back, circling the cave. "Well, looks like it's safe yeah?" He asked as he stepped inside.
 
Faraji was getting tired of walking. When she was just about to stop and take a break Ava shouted that she had found a cave. Faraji smiled and quickly follows them. She walked into the cave and looked around. "This is pretty nice." She said. The fact that it wasn't occupied by other creatures was nice. Faraji contiued to look around the cave.

Isaiah quickly followed the others to the cave. He looked around when he entered. "Nice job Ava!" He walked over and clapped her on the back gently. "The Fire can go right here in the center." He pointed at the center of the cave. "After some time we'll have to try hunting. Bigger animals are definitely out but maybe we'll be able to catch some fish."
 
"Well, looks like it's safe yeah?" said Mav as he joined them in the cave.
"Yeah, looks like it as far as I can tell" they answered with a smile, glad they had finally found somewhere to stay the night. They let go of their bag that had become heavy over the long walk and wiped their slightly dirty hands on their jeans before turning around to the other who were entering the cave. As they complimented the cave and them their smile grew bigger.
"Thanks!" they answered Isaiah and nodded at his suggestion about the hunting, humming thoughtfully.
"I hope it wont have to go that far though and that they have sent people to search for us..." Ava said with a hint of worry in their voice.
"I think we have a few days rations with the food from the airplane too with some luck" they thought out loud, trying to figure out how much they had actually brought and how much everyone would be able to eat. The next problem would be to find drinkable water probably, but that would have to wait until tomorrow. For now, set up camp.

"Right sooo..." they began, licking their lips in thought.
"We should probably go and get some wood for the fire, but not all of us. Maybe the rest can start making some 'beds'? I think I read somewhere that it's important to keep of the ground, because that's the easiest way to get cold"
 
Maz set her carry-on down as she examined the cave, overall satisfied with the choice.

She didn't think of herself as the most rugged, kill-it, skin-it wilderness survival woman, but she wasn't a thin-wristed city girl who sat around buffing her nails all day, either. She could spend the night on the dirt floor of the cavern in the wilderness with strangers. She could help with a fire and cook over it if she had to, not noticing the difference between squirrel and filet mignon if she was hungry enough.

Her job required her to be tough as nails and had very little room for distractions like bodily fluids or exposed viscera. Her mind had learned to function like Occam's razor--comb the details of her patient and cross-reference to the textbook knowledge stored in her brain, for the most logical and efficient course of action, then implement it before the chance of a Code Blue. Over the years, she had learned to trust her best judgement.

She could sleep on a dirt floor.

"You're right about the beds, Ava--I have a blanket, big enough for two people to lay on. It's in my bag for whoever wants it. I'm going to collect wood, anyone can join me, but we need a lot. More than you think," she paused to think, "um, I'll look out for anything edible or can be used as bedding. I know some plants."
 
Maverick grinned and then set down both backpack down, leaning it against the cave wall. He then stretched his arms once more. It looked nice and cozy and there were enough clothing in his bag so it could be a comfortable pillow. He was kind of used to doing that since he tended to sleep inside classrooms when on breaks, lying down on the cold, marble floor and laying his head on his pillow. He didn't know it would help him so much.

"Hunting huh? Well, spear fishing sounds like something that runs in my blood." Maverick joked. He remembered his father doing it before and assumed that it was because of where his father had grown up. Maybe he would be able to do it. Just maybe. He then looked over to Ava and nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I hope they find us quick. It'll be bad if we stay out here for too long." There were things he didn't want to happen, and one of them was falling down some forty something drop and that usually happened in these kinds of situations, according to movies at least.

He looked over to Maz who volunteered to go out and get some wood. "Dry twigs right? I could come with. Fetching stuff is my area of expertise." He grinned once more. Yet another joke slipped out of his mouth. But seriously, a good run outside should at least calm his nerves. He knew that he was just distracting himself by interacting with the others. Maybe being alone and running (and collecting twigs) should make him think straight. He turned to Maz. "Just tell me anything you need me to do."
 
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