Suddenly I felt extremely guilty.

“ Newt?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think it's wrong for us not to have started off?”

“ I mean, we passed out, so we are getting our strength back for a day or two.”

“ Can we start tomorrow?”

“ Yeah, we can pack up, try the weird juice thing, then head out.”

“ Thanks, Newt, you're the best.”

“ Shuck right, I am!”

“ Good sleeping time.”

“ Good sleeping time Min.”

I felt something. Again. This time it was different though. Before it was just like a presence, not an actual feeling. But this time, it was more. My heart was pounding, my face felt hot, my stomach felt fluttery, and where me and Newt’s legs touched, my leg burned like fire. Maybe, it was just how late and tired I was. Yeah that was it! I was shuck tired, hungry, and recently fell on my head. In the morning, if I still felt weird, I would think about it, but for now, I had to slim it, and go to sleep.

I woke up before Newt the next day, and the feeling wasn't there anymore. Whew, that was shuck close to something, something that would affect what happened to me and Newt. And now I don't have to worry about it! Win win. Beside me, Newt stiredded, and rubbed his eyes.

“ Bloody hell, I hate mornings.”

“ Like you said before, we don't actually know what time it is.”

“ Man, our sleep schedules are gonna be messed up.”

“ Unless by some miracle, right now is morning, and we stayed on a normal schedule, which probably isn't going to happen.”

“Okay, let me outta here!”

I crawled out of the tiny box compartment. Man, I was getting sick of it! When I saw the little orange cylinders, I remembered the events of yesterday. I also distinctly remember me tackling Newt, and us rolling around. My skin felt warm, and the room started to feel too hot. Newt's voice snapped me back to reality.

“ Come on, let's see what's in these suckers!”

“ Alright, let's hope it's better than the chips.”

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“ Since you are the almighty god of opening strange things you can have a first crack at it.”

Newt started to mock bowing to me.

“ You better bow! If you want any more of those chips, you gotta ask me to open them!”

Newt stared me down. His glare had no playfulness in it. He was dead serious, and that was what made it funny.

“ If you don't show me how to open them I will bloody end you.”

“ You know it just says it on the bag.”

“ No. No it doesn't.”

“ Yeah.”

“ Are you kidding me?”

I picked up the empty bag of chips, and pointed to the top where it said pull.

“ Right here in black and white.”

“ In my defense, it's not black and white, just white.”

“ Want to regain your glory by trying to open this drink?”

“ Sure, but then you can bow to me.”

In response, I tossed him a can. I watched as he struggled for a minute.

“ Are you sure you don't need any help?”

“ Yes, I’m sure, and it's not like this one has any directions.”

He struggled for a minute more, and then pulled out another knife. How many knives did Newt have? How should I feel about this? If I had that many knives, I would be banned from the glade in ten seconds!

“ so . . .”

I tried to act casual.

“ Whatcha doing with that knife?”

“ Taking a short cut.”

I walked over to Newt, so we were both sitting there, heads hovering over the soda can, both wanting to be the first to see what was in it. Newt jammed the knife under a weird tab thing, and pried it open. At first nothing happened. Then, less than a second later, a jet of orange liquid shot out spraying us in the faces! My first reaction was to cover my face, then when it became clear that it wouldn't help, I grabbed the can from Newt who was trying to press his hand over the top, and threw it out into the hallway. We sat there covered with orange sticky liquid, soaking wet, as the can was still spraying in the hall. The liquid was sticky, and when I touched my face, it was hard for me to pull my finger away. The liquid felt like glue, and it had already started drying. I recovered first. As I wiped my face with my shirt I commented,

“ I don't know if that was a let down, or the opposite of a let down.”

“ Maybe you have to open the bloody thing away from your face.”

I grabbed another can, held it as far away from my face as possible, and opened it the correct way, by simply pulling the tab. I closed my eyes tight, and waited. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes. The can looked normal. I took a sip. At first it felt like it was dissolving my mouth, but after another sip, it tasted good! It was like orange juice that tasted off, with bubbles in it. I would have chugged the whole thing if Newt had not snatched it.

“ Hey, give it back!”

“ I get some too.”

“ Just so you know, I’m not about to fall to my knees and bow to you, especially after you stole my bottle.”

“ Here's another. We can both have one, then we will set off.”

As I drink the rest of my soda, I inventory our supplies, which does not take too shuck long, because we don't have many types of supplies. We have about a lot more bottles of juice stuff, a substantial amount of chocolate left, and about a dozen more chip bags. We also had what was in our backpacks which was provisions and water. I concluded that without gathering more food, and rationing what we had we could last about a week.

But, that was with eating and drinking a bare minimum each day.