Chapter 84: Cracking Open the Mystery

The Morning After the Signal Flare Crisis

The day following her late-night chat with Ember and Faith, Sky filled Ember in on everything that happened to her group during the sunrise. Throughout Sky’s tale, Ember patiently listened to her… and even offered her hand in support, which Sky tightly clenched with her sweaty palms as she struggled to reiterate the more brutal moments that made her a little emotional.

Toward the end, Ember remarked that Sky seemed exhausted and should try to get some more sleep. Sky nervously chuckled before explaining that despite how tired she had been the previous night, she hadn't been able to sleep much. After waking up every hour or two, Sky tells Ember that all she could think about during those brief periods were the others who hadn't returned to camp yet. Even the morning after, Sky expressed that she couldn't stop thinking about how Ember’s group was still the only one that had returned to camp after the signal flare plan had gone into action. And then, they both couldn’t stop thinking about the same question.

Could we be the only ones left?

After their morning chat, Sky went back to sleep. Being shaken awake by Ember, Sky learns that Forest and Hunter had returned just a few moments ago. Leaping out of her sleeping bag, Sky ran outside, desperate to know if they were okay. Although Sky wouldn't admit it to Ember if she had asked, her thoughts were swamped with anxiety, suppressing the urge to panic as the detail that Falcon’s name wasn’t mentioned made her stomach turn.

As Sky exited the tent, the sun's luminosity caused Sky to shield her eyes with her arm. Waiting for her vision to come into view, Sky realized it was now midday and that she had slept for a few more hours.

She then saw Forest and Hunter seated around the dormant fire pit, speaking with Faith. Their clothes were faded and mangled, with bits of dark scarlet dyed into their fabric, creating an ugly design of red and white.

"Why didn't you come back sooner?" asked Faith as Ember and Sky took their seats and joined them.

"We wanted to, but the sun had set before we could depart. We were forced to wait the night out without our torch or any light source. We left as early as possible this morning, right at dawn," replied Forest, whose dark brown beard had thickened since Sky last saw him. She also noticed his left arm and hand were wrapped up by a t-shirt cloth.

"Yeah," grimaced Hunter as he stretched his limbs out, his right hand bandaged and his clothes just as ragged as Forests'. "We would've returned earlier if we could've."

The rest of the conversation flowed in a similar format, where the girls asked the boys a string of long and tedious questions. They wanted to get the full story of what happened to Hunter and Forest’s group, and they complied, willing to not leave any details out, which the girls were relieved about. The guys started by explaining how they had found the trees, solved the encrypted markings, and opened a hidden pathway in the cave.

After unzipping his backpack, Forest handed Sky the notebook his group had taken as he and Hunter continued reciting what had all occurred. Flipping through the pages, Sky inspected the markings and letters written down. When it clicked that they might be able to use this information toward other markings they’d written down, Sky’s eyes widened as she wondered if these translations could be reversed and applied to the code she had found.

Passing the notebook to Ember, who eventually passed it on to Faith, Sky decided to remain quiet about her findings until the guys had wrapped up their story. Their full rundown of the maze was enthralling but also terrifying. How they described how big it is, the deadly traps, and what had happened to Falcon... made Sky and Faith sick to their stomachs. Knowing how close the three of them had grown, Sky’s heart wrenched as they recited Falcon's final words.

Hanging her head in sorrow, Sky knew the mood had dampened, and no other questions were asked after that point. Then, she was startled at the sudden loud clap of somebody slapping both hands on his knees, Forest now on his feet and grabbing the strap of his backpack.

"I'm going to go get washed up. Hunter, you coming with?" he asks, the calmness in his steady voice relaying to the girls that he had already accepted what happened to Falcon. There wasn't an inkling of animosity or hostility in his question directed toward Hunter, who had just owned up to the fact that Falcon had more or less died due to his poor judgment and decision-making.

"Yeah..." woefully replies Hunter, who followed suit and stood up after Forest. "Just give me a moment to grab a fresh pair of clothes and some other stuff from my tent."

Sky’s eyebrows slightly raised.

Hunter has changed. Both of them have.

Sky quietly watched as the two of them reeled each other in for a hug and then separated, going in opposite directions to their tents. Glancing at Ember, Sky mouthed if what she saw just now was real, and Ember pursued her lips and tentatively nodded.

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Springing up on the balls of her feet, Sky directed her attention toward Faith, who had the notebook resting on her lap.

"Faith, can I see that notebook in a minute?" asks Sky, drifting toward Faith’s tent.

They make eye contact, but only for a brief moment. Faith only gave Sky a slight nod in that second as the corner of her mouth twitched. In return, Sky nodded as well and then entered her tent. Focusing her attention on the closest left corner of the tent, Sky walks over and snatches the folded piece of notebook paper in the side pocket of her backpack. Exiting her tent only moments later and returning to the firepit, Ember is tossing something into the firepit before reseating herself.

"I've been meaning to ask, where's Delta?" asks Sky as Faith passes her the notebook.

"She woke up after you went back to sleep. She got her morning ration and pretty much just asked us where everybody was at," answers Ember before peeling off the rest of an orange and tossing the bits of peel into the fire. "Her tone was more confused than concerned or worried. When we told her we didn't know, she only shrugged and returned to her tent. I don't know if she's still awake or has fallen back asleep, but she hasn't left her tent since then. And honestly, after yesterday, I would rather leave her be than drag her out here. We could use a break from each other."

After finishing her statement, Ember broke her orange in half and then into smaller slices. Sitting between the two, Ember offered Faith and Sky a slice, which they gratefully accepted. After receiving two separate slices, Sky passed one on to Faith and then tossed her own into her mouth.

The juiciness within that slice left Sky’s mouth feeling replenished. After swallowing the final bit left in her mouth, Sky cleared her throat before thanking Ember. As she did so, Hunter exited his tent with whatever items he needed to grab and some fresh clothes racked along his uninjured left arm.

Walking toward Forest's tent, Hunter called, "You ready, man?"

As if he could read his mind or sense his location, Forest happened to exit his tent with his necessary items just as Hunter finished his question.

"Took you long enough,” says Hunter, and Forest rolls his eyes, making his way toward the path that leads to the stream.

"Whatever, just don't fall behind," teases Forest as he looks over his shoulder. Hunter snickers before he jogs over, wrapping his arm around Forest's neck when he catches up with him.

"Isn't that my line?"

"No…?"

The two began bickering and continued until they eventually walked out of sight. Sky was too astounded to say anything, and as she checked to her left and right, Faith and Ember seemed just as surprised by their sudden friendship as she was.

"You guys…. sure they told us everything?" asks Sky, unable to put two and two together on how this friendship came to be after such a traumatic event.

"Obviously not, but… I guess this isn't a bad thing. Is it?" replies Ember.

Faith hums a no as she shakes her head.

Ember then nudges Sky with her elbow, mumbling as she chews on an orange slice, "Let's get back on track, the notebook."

Snapping out of my dumbfounded daze, I focused on the notebook, "Oh, right. Thanks."

Carefully unfolding the fragile piece of notebook paper she had grabbed from her tent earlier, Sky carefully laid it over her knees, glad there wasn't any wind to blow it away.

Sky adjusts the notebook to lay flat across her thighs, with the left side showing the markings her group had written down from the trees and the right side displaying the translated letters from the solved code. After closer inspection, Sky realized the left-handed page was priorly ripped from the notebook's binding. Sky was confused about why, but she thought she would just ask the guys about it later, pushing the thought away.

Also, considering Ember and Faith previously flipped through the notebook and didn't say anything either… Sky assumes they either didn't notice or did notice and didn't believe it drew enough concern to ask about it. Either way, Sky thinks it doesn't matter, considering all the necessary information they needed was still there.

Looking at her own piece of paper, Sky exchanged glances between the two sets of markings.

Sky’s markings:

••••, — — —, •—••, •

—••, •, •, •— —•

•••, •— —, ••, — —

Hunter and Forest's markings:

—•—• •— •••— •

—• •• —• •

•— —• •— —•—• •

—•• — — — •— — —•

••—• — — — ••— •—•

•— —• •— —•—• •

•—•• • ••—• —

•— —• ••— ••• ••••

Hunter and Forest’s translations:

C A V E

N I N E

P A C E

D O W N

F O U R

P A C E

L E F T

P U S H

"They're definitely alike. Let's see what we can do…" says Ember as she finishes off her last slice. After extending her hand, she placed a finger on the page with the solved translations, moving it around to different spots as she spoke about her ideas.

As the three girls started interpreting the three pieces of paper, trying to work out what fitted and what didn't, Sky felt a lump developing in her throat. They came from out of nowhere, but her instincts were suddenly shouting at her that deciphering this code… could change everything.