Everfree Murders

CHAPTER 1

I wake up slowly. Everything aches and burns. My eyes slowly open. I am lying on the ground, surrounded by darkness. Pools of light in a straight row pour in from what I presume is a wall. It reminds me of an airplane. The Airplane. The last few seconds come back to me. The tail section with me in it tore off in turbulence. Oh God... all those people... my parents...

The tail door seems to have ripped off its hinges, because a gaping hole replaces where it would be. I rub my face, suck in some air, then climb out of this wreck. The tail section is buried in the ground at the front of it, with the rudder sticking above into the trees. Think, Ben, think! Is there anything like a radio or something like that in the back of a plane?

I suddenly think of the irony of the black box flight recorder, which is actually an orange cylinder. I remember it's stored in the back of a commercial jet. I hurry back inside and try to climb up, but I won't  be able to reach it. I sigh, defeated At least you're alive, Ben. At least you're alive.

Deciding to find the rest of the plane, I trek into the forest that surrounds the tail section. Eventually, it gets too dense with undergrowth for me to move through. I return to the hulk of smoking metal and try to climb on the outside to get a view above the tree canopy. After a good 30 minutes of crawling up and sliding down I balance my self on the tail's rudder and see a pillar of smoke rising above the forest a few miles away. That has to be the rest of the plane. There has to be survivors, a radio, something! I slide down and begin to trudge through the leaves, roots and ferns towards where I saw the smoke.

A seemingly endless amount of time passes. I feel exhausted, hungry, hot, sweating, thirsty. I find myself lost in the jungle, away from the only piece of civilization I can find. Now it's only a matter of survival. There's no way I'm getting to the plane now. I rise up from my rest on a dead log and put on a determined face. I will survive! I WILL SURVIVE! I begin to rush through the forest now, leaping over logs and rocks. My endorphines and adrenaline have all kicked in. There is no time to stop. I have to find water, food, shelter. Water, food, shelter. Water, food, shelter. Water, food, shelter. Water, food, shelter. I slow down to a trot now, scanning the trees and brush around me. I rest for a moment, then in the silence hear the trickle of water. There's one requirement. I once again race in the direction of the sound, and find myself standing at a small brook. Water trickles down the rocks into seemingly infinity. Letting my instincts overcome me, I drop to the ground and lap water into my mouth. It feels so refreshing, cooling, soothing. I drink more and more.

After my savage drink, I feel fatigue once more. My adrenaline and endorphines have crashed. I stumble over to the shade of a tree and fall into a deep sleep. I slowly rise at twilight. Shelter.. or I'm food for something else. I shuffle over to a seemingly scalable tree. I place a foot up and just as I am ready to climb I hear a twig snap.