¶. Meredith assigned us all different roles, I hoisted the sail, while she steered at the helm. I don't remember what the others did, I only remember pulling a rope and burning my hands. The sky was warm and the clouds far and few between. By all accounts the day was nice, and the silence was peaceful. The sun stood tall and bright to the east. Meredith had made the decision to follow the setting sun because it was the only solid direction we could follow. Eventually, when the sun had set, Meredith explained it was far too dangerous to continue sailing in the darkness, so we lifted the sail and took our chances drifting. We had no choice but to take turns watching the night.
¶. I volunteered to take the first shift mainly so I could have an uninterrupted sleep. Everyone was exhausted, so no one complained. I started my shift by blowing a breath of hot air into my hands and sitting against a wall. The crashing of the waves against the hull was weirdly melodic, the stars shined softly, and the cold was manageable. I quickly felt my eyes grow heavy, so I slapped my face a few times to remain awake. I considered further searching the ship, but there was no real point searching in darkness.
¶. I paced around the ship until I eventually settled for leaning against the railing. I could see a half moon reflecting over the water, I lost myself staring at the waves. I don't remember what I was thinking about or if I was thinking at all, but it was peaceful. I yawned and felt my eyes grow even heavier. This time, I wasn't able to fight off my dreariness. Slowly, my eyes shut and with it, the world faded into darkness.
¶. Lucas shoved me awake, he shouted, "WHAT HAPPENED YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE KEEPING WATCH"! I was a bit dazed, but I took a look at the scene around us. Instead of an infinite ocean, we somehow ended up on the shore of an abandoned and desolate city. The concrete skyscrapers we're falling apart at the seems, vines ran up along the walls, more noticeably, a giant tree stood against city skyline, it painted a clear image, nature once again conquered what little mankind had to offer. I stammered, "i-i don't know, I didn't even realize I fell asleep". Lucas pushed me back against the railing and Meredith ran to help me back onto my feet.
¶. "What if one of us had gotten killed? Your inability to complete a simple task could have gotten us killed"! Evan interjected, "lay off him, were safe okay. You don't need to chew him out over a small mistake, and arguably, were in a better position". Lucas continued, "better position, were in some destroyed city with little food, no idea what to do or where to go, and still don't even know if any of this is even real". Evan and Lucas argued for another 10 minutes, occasionally, I noticed Jack take out his broken pocket watch then lean back against the railing.
¶. When they finished, Jack walked over to where Meredith and I were standing and asked, "so what's the plan"? He first looked at me then to Lucas and Evan. No one said a word. I broke the silence by pointing out the giant tree. "Maybe we need to go there". Lucas rolled his eyes, and he sighed, "it beats sitting here and doing nothing I guess". Evan didn't bother arguing. So that was the plan, we'd be find our way over to the tree and investigate.
¶. Beneath the hull, we found a small hoard of fruits and a sack that could fit them all. With what little we found, we went on our way.
¶. The boat was perched deep into the sand dunes and aside from a measley rope hanging off the side, there wasn't an easy way down. I was in the process of thinking of a way down, when Lucas walked past us and jumped to the sand below. One by one everyone jumped into the sand below us. When it was finally my turn, I looked down at all my friends and the soft sand and felt queasy. I shut my eyes and tried to jump but my arms wouldn't let go of the railing. Meredith shouted, "whats wrong"? While Jack laughed loudly, "how are you still afraid of heights"? I shouted back at him, "because unlike you I don't fall"! They laughed a bit to themself.
¶. For some reason, shutting my eyes only amplified my fears, so with my eyes wide open, I jumped from the ledge. I landed with my knees buried in the sand. It took us maybe 10 minutes to walk out of the sand dunes and instantly we saw a road with destroyed cars all over the street. The road led three ways, but luckily we could see the tree directly in front of us. It was perched on top of a giant library. The library was maybe three stories tall meanwhile, the trunk of the tree reached up four times that and was as wide as the whole building.
¶. For the most part, we walked in silence. The journey was a lot more quiet than I expected. Aside from birds chirping, and the occasional squirrel watching us, there was nothing but the foliage and empty buildings. I don't know why they didn't say a word, maybe they were just tired, or maybe they blamed me for this change of scenery, regardless we kept walking.
¶. It took us maybe three hours to reach the tree. We would've been there faster, but we had to climb over rubble, go through the back alleys, and Jack kept getting distracted by random trinkets he saw through the broken front windows of various stores. Despite his inspecting of the random trinkets, he never took a single thing. After the fourth time he did it, Lucas and Jack continued on without us. They would slow down a bit, so we could always catch up with them after a brief run.
¶. We ended up at the base of the stairs, the five of us stood side by side as we looked up and marveled at the stunning scene.
¶. Jack hit my back and shouted, "race ya"! Without thinking, I raced after him. He had a bit of a head start, but he quickly made the gap far wider and left me wheezing half way up the steps.
¶. After I gathered my breath, I chased after Jack but he was already doing his victory dance on the top. I sat on the step and watched as Lucas looked annoyed and Evan laughed. When the three of them finally made it up the steps, Meredith gave me a pity clap, "you did a good job". Evan laughed silently to himself while I felt my cheeks and ears burn red. Lucas instantly asked, "I think we should split up and search this place". I looked back at him a bit bewildered. Meanwhile, Evan let out a deep sigh, "I hate to say it, but I agree". Jack clapped his hands together, "then it's settled. Let's all split up, except Reeling and Meredith, i think they should probably go together". Evan interjected, "maybe I should go with her instead". Lucas laughed slyly to himself, "just let the love birds go together". My face felt hotter than lava, and Meredith was the same. Despite my embarrassment, I agreed, "it's no issue, Meredith and I will go together". She gave me a startled look, but didn't say no.