The Search Party

by Simon Lelic

  “Whoa,” said Fash, “what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to look inside her bag, that’s what,” said Abi, giving the strap another yank. “I bet she’s got our water in a secret flask or something. Not to mention my phone.”

  “A secret flask?” said Cora. “Seriously? And will you stop going on about your stupid phone! The rest of ours are missing, too!” She was still having a tug-of-war with Abi, until Fash and Luke pulled them apart.

  “Everybody calm down,” said Luke. “Let’s just . . . I don’t know. Try to work out what’s happening.”

  “It’s obvious what’s happening,” Abi said, and she jabbed a finger at Cora. “She thought it would be funny to—”

  “All right, all right!” Fash cut in. “Jesus.” He pressed the heel of his palm to his head as though he had a sudden headache or something. I watched him for a moment, curious.

  “Look,” said Luke. “There’s no point blaming one another.”

  “So who else are we supposed to blame?” said Abi. “There’s nobody else out here but us!”

  I saw Cora open her mouth, her eyes flick toward the trees. But whatever she’d been about to say, she swallowed it.

  “Why don’t we all have another look around?” said Luke. “For the phones, I mean. The water’s not the end of the world. We probably could drink the stream water if we boil it.”

  “How?” said Cora. “I mean, I don’t suppose anybody brought a kettle, did they? And a five-mile-long extension lead?”

  “We could . . . build a fire or something,” Luke answered. “Heat it up over that.”

  “What, in our hands?” said Cora. “Unless someone’s carrying around a saucepan that the rest of us don’t know about?”

  “Jesus Christ, Cora!” Luke snapped. “I don’t know, do I? I’m just trying to be positive, that’s all! You’re the one who . . .”

  “Who what?” said Cora, when Luke abruptly stopped talking. “Who stole the phones? Who tipped out the drinking water? You still think it was me!”

  “No one’s saying that,” said Fash. He wasn’t clutching his head anymore, but there was no denying he looked tired. Exhausted even, as though he hadn’t slept a wink all night. “Let’s just do what Luke suggested. OK? Have another look around. See if anything else has been messed with.”

  Cora stood fuming for a moment, as did Abi. But when me, Fash and Luke turned to get on with it, they had no choice but to start looking around, too.

  We searched for a good ten minutes, but we couldn’t find the phones. Or any secret flasks, come to that.

  “What about the bags?” said Fash. “Is anything else missing from them?” He’d made a start on laying out his belongings on the ground. Fash is the kind of person who, when he goes to the supermarket, places his stuff on the conveyor belt like he’s building a jigsaw. Me, I just upend my basket and hope none of the contents fall on the floor.

  “Not from my bag,” said Cora. “It’s empty already. See?” She held her rucksack upside down and gave it a shake. She made a point of staring at Abi.

  Abi ignored her, thank God. She was picking up the sunflower seeds, blowing on them one by one, and then dropping them back into the packet.

  “Mine’s fine, too,” said Luke, peering into his rucksack. “It’s only my phone that’s missing.”

  I almost didn’t bother checking my bag. I was watching the others, for one thing. I wanted to see their reactions. And there was nothing I’d brought with me I gave a toss about. That’s what I thought . . . until I remembered.

  “Mason?” said Fash. “What about you? Have you got everything you came with?”

  I’d turned away and dropped to my knees. I was running my hand around the inside of my rucksack, feeling into every corner. Carefully at first, then faster and faster.

  “Mase?” said Fash, when I didn’t answer. I sensed the others looking over, too.

  I raised my head. “Sure,” I said. “Couldn’t find my iPod for a sec, that’s all.” I pulled it from a side pocket of my rucksack and held it up in the air.

  “So that’s it, then,” said Luke, sitting down. “It’s just the water and the phones.”

  Abi didn’t answer. She flopped onto the ground beside her bag. Cora, standing, folded her arms. Fash was still surveying his belongings, double-checking that nothing was missing.

  “Looks that way,” I said to Luke, shrugging. He shrugged back, then made a start on doing up his rucksack. I took the opportunity to sneak another look in mine, even though I knew exactly what was in there. Or, rather, what wasn’t.

  Because Luke was wrong. It wasn’t just the water and the phones.

  That knife I brought? The kitchen knife?

  That was missing, too.

  FASH

  “SO WHAT NOW?”

  It was Luke who voiced what we were all thinking. After we’d packed up our stuff, we sat munching sunflower seeds in the clearing. We were passing around the bag, each taking a few at a time. Abi had ended up next to Cora, so obviously she’d passed it the other way first. Because they were niggling at each other even more than usual. I mean, they were mates, but they’d never been as close as Abi was with Sadie, for example, or as Cora and Sadie used to be when we were younger. And probably that was part of the problem. I always had the impression that Abi and Cora were sort of jealous of each other, you know? That, when it came to Sadie, they were vying for position. Except out there, in the woods, it seemed to be more than that—unless it was a reaction to Sadie no longer being there. Either way, I figured it was down to stress. A response to everything that had happened.

  “I’m thirsty,” Abi said, as though in answer to Luke’s question. Which I suppose it was, in a way. Because she had a point. We were all thirsty. And we were only going to get thirstier. It was barely eight o’clock, and we were sitting in shadow, but already it felt as hot as it had all summer. And on top of that there was the sound of the stream just a few meters away, which sounded like a little kid’s laugh. You know, sort of mocking, like it had something you wanted and it knew there was nothing you could do to get it.

  “We’re all thirsty,” I said. “And breakfast isn’t exactly helping much.” I quite liked sunflower seeds ordinarily, but they were sticking to the insides of my mouth. It was like trying to swallow papier-mâché.

  “Feel free to eat your own food,” Abi sniffed. “Oh, sorry, I just remembered. You didn’t bring any.”

  I expected Cora to say something, but she’d gone quiet since she had realized she was in everybody’s bad books. Not that I necessarily blamed her myself. I didn’t know who to blame. Why would Cora—or any of us—hide our phones, or deliberately get rid of our water? On the other hand, it was like Abi had said before. There was nobody else out there but us five. So it had to be one of us. Didn’t it?

  The bag of sunflower seeds came back around, and Abi snatched it from Cora without even looking at her. Then she stuffed it back into her rucksack.

  “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you,” she said, standing, “but I’m not staying out here without water. Without any way of contacting the outside world.”

  Mason dropped his head between his knees, and gave a sort of sniff. Not a laugh, but not far off. Which, I have to admit, was getting a bit annoying. The way he refused to take anything seriously.

  “What?” said Abi. “What’s so funny, Mason?”

  Mason looked up. “The outside world,” he said. “Jesus, Abi. We’re not exactly in the middle of the Amazon. And you’ve only been awake an hour. You can’t be that thirsty.”

  “Like, hello?” Abi said, and I have to say she was getting pretty annoying, too. But I guess the others would probably have said the same thing about me. It was like I was saying about Abi and Cora . . . We were all tired, and hungry, and, yes, thirsty, so I suppose it was only natural that we’d start getting on each o
ther’s nerves. But, “Hello?” Abi said. “I haven’t had anything to drink for almost twelve hours. My pee just now was bright yellow.”

  Mason scrunched up his face. “I thought pee was supposed to be yellow?”

  Which made me laugh. Not because it was particularly funny. Just . . . just because, I guess.

  “I think your pee’s supposed to be white, dude,” I said. “Not white, but . . . you know. Clear.”

  “Seriously?” Mason said, and I couldn’t tell whether he was joking or not. Abi was standing there openmouthed.

  “Dylan had purple pee once,” said Luke. “And not just a little bit purple. Purple like . . . like a lightsaber or something. Like Samuel L. Jackson in The Phantom Menace.”

  “What the hell?” I said, not sure whether to smile or frown. Luke didn’t seem sure, either.

  “This was like, two summers ago. He started crying the second he saw it, and he ran to find our mum and dad.” Now Luke’s face set in a scowl. “They totally ignored him,” he said. “They were heading out to one of Sadie’s shows. I mean, they weren’t even late. They had time. They could have . . .” Luke shook his head. “I don’t know. But they could have listened to him at least. Instead they just left, and told me to tell Dylan to stop making up stories.”

  I shared a glance with Mason, and waited for Luke to go on.

  “He burst into tears again the second they left. So I made him take me to the toilet to show me what he meant. And he wasn’t kidding. The water in the bowl was practically neon. So I . . . I took him to A&E. I didn’t know what else I was supposed to do. I was worried he might have kidney failure or something.”

  “What did they say?” I asked. “The doctors, I mean.”

  Luke sniffed, like what he was telling us should have been funny. “They asked Dylan what he’d been eating. Which, it turned out, included a Slush Puppie. Three of them, actually. Not actual Slush Puppies. The fake kind they sell at the end of the pier, which are basically made of nuclear waste. He’d stolen some money from my dad’s wallet and pretended when he bought them that they were for him and his friends.”

  I gave a snort. I couldn’t help it. I noticed Mason grinning, too, and in the end even Luke cracked a smile.

  “Man,” I said. “What I wouldn’t give for a Slush Puppie right now. Cherry flavor, with two fingers of strawberry at the top.”

  “Raspberry,” said Mason. “All the way. But right now I’d settle for lemon-and-lime.”

  “Or just a Sprite,” Cora suggested. “Squash, Ribena, anything. As long as it’s cold.”

  There was a noise like someone being strangled, and we turned to see Abi making fists at her sides. “Will all of you please just stop?” she said. “It’s like you’re deliberately trying to make things worse!” She folded her arms and turned her back.

  I caught something in Mason’s smile then. I mean, I guess I was smiling a bit, too, but something about Mason’s expression seemed . . . I don’t know. Different somehow. Cruel.

  Cora got to her feet. “So?” she said. “What’s it to be?”

  “Well,” I said, when nobody else spoke. “We obviously have to find something to drink. Except . . .” I glanced at the stream. “There isn’t anything to drink out here. So I don’t see that we really have any choice.” I looked at Luke, who dropped his head. He was thinking about Sadie, obviously. About leaving her out there. Not that we knew where she was, but there was no getting away from it: going home meant giving up.

  “You’re kidding,” said Mason. “Right?”

  The rest of us were already standing. Even Luke, after I’d offered him my hand.

  “You’re turning tail already?” Mason went on, rising now, too. “Even though we’ve only just started?” He glared—at me in particular.

  “It was always the plan to head back today anyway,” I said, giving him a lopsided shrug.

  “I told you before, that wasn’t my plan,” said Mason. “That’s just what you and Cora cooked up between yourselves.”

  “Cooked up?” said Cora. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “We can’t stay out here forever, Mase,” I said, trying to be appeasing. “Apart from anything, our parents will have realized we’re missing. My mum will have, anyway.”

  “I thought you told her you were staying over at mine?” said Mason.

  “No, I did, but—”

  “So there you go then. She won’t start worrying at least until this evening. And none of the rest of our parents are going to panic exactly, are they?”

  “How do you know?” said Cora.

  Mason rolled his eyes as he turned toward her. “Because my dad doesn’t give a shit where I am. Yours and Abi’s probably won’t even notice you’re out of the house, and Luke’s—”

  “No,” said Cora. “I meant, how did you know Fash told his mum he was staying at your place? He told me he said that. But at the time we didn’t even know you were coming with us.”

  “He . . . told me yesterday. In the woods.”

  “When? I didn’t hear.”

  “You were probably arguing with Abi,” said Mason, waving a hand. “Jesus, Cora, what’s the big deal?”

  He turned back to me and raised his eyebrows. Like, well?

  “I suppose we could keep searching for a bit longer,” I said.

  “What the hell, Fash?” said Cora. “You don’t have to do everything Mason says, you know.”

  “So what’s your hurry, Cora?” Mason said to her. “Don’t you want to find your friend?” He emphasized the final word so that it sounded like it was wrapped in quotation marks.

  “What? Of course I do! Why do you think I came out here in the first place?”

  Mason smiled, snidely. “And that’s the question, isn’t it? Why are any of us here? And why is everyone so desperate to hurry home the second there’s the slightest excuse?”

  I saw Abi shift uncomfortably.

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, Mason,” said Cora, “we’re miles from home on the hottest day of the year with nothing to drink but pond water, and with no way of calling anyone for help. That’s not an excuse. That’s a frigging reason.”

  “And whose fault is that?” Mason answered. “The water, I mean. The phones.”

  Cora turned red. “I told you already! It wasn’t me!”

  Mason stared at her. “Maybe it was,” he said, “maybe it wasn’t. But it was clearly someone.” He turned his stare on me.

  Cora spoke again before I could. “What’s your problem, Mason? If you’ve got something to say, just fucking say it.”

  “It’s just curious, that’s all. Don’t you think? That we set out to try to find Sadie, and yet the second we close our eyes, something happens to force us back?”

  He was looking at me again, and I swallowed. Because I hadn’t thought about it like that. The phones, the water . . . I’d assumed that it was all a prank or something. I didn’t imagine it was anything more serious than that.

  “As for my problem,” Mason went on, “my girlfriend is missing and nobody but me seems to want to find her. Plus, the second we get back home, the police are going to do what they’re probably wishing they did last week: they’re going to lock me in a prison cell and throw away the key.”

  Cora sniffed. “So that’s what this is about for you. The Mason Payne Self-Preservation Society.”

  Mason whipped around to face her. “I don’t give a fuck what happens to me! But if the police lock me up, they’ll say they’ve solved it, and that’ll be the end of it. They’ll stop looking and they’ll stop asking questions and then we’ll never find out what happened to Sadie. Never.”

  He was breathing heavily, and there was a bubble of spit at the corner of his mouth. It was hard to believe that just a few minutes ago I’d been getting annoyed at him for not taking things seriously.

  �
�Easy, mate,” I said. I reached out a hand and touched him on the shoulder. Tentatively, the way I would have tested something hot.

  He flinched when I made contact, but after a second his shoulders dipped lower. His eyes met mine, then moved on.

  “Luke,” he said, turning. “You agree with me. Don’t you? You agree we should keep looking?”

  I looked at Luke—we all did—and suddenly I felt this rush of sympathy for him. It was everything, you know? Sadie, obviously, but also all the stuff that was waiting for him at home. Like Dylan. Like, how do you deal with something like that? Explaining things to your little brother when you’re hurting, too, and you don’t even understand what happened yourself? And then there was us. Luke was the one whose sister was missing, and yet every time there was a difficult decision to make, the rest of us turned to him.

  “I’ve been thinking,” said Luke. “About the phones and that? And the first thing is, I think we should stop blaming each other.”

  “Thank you,” said Cora.

  “Because the thing is,” Luke went on, “who’s to say it wasn’t someone else? Just because we think we’re alone out here, doesn’t mean we are.”

  Abi’s eyes widened. I caught Cora glancing toward the tree line.

  I narrowed my eyes. “That noise you heard,” I said to Abi. “Yesterday, just before you came rushing over. Do you think . . . Do you think that could have been someone following us?”

  Abi didn’t even stop to think. She nodded.

  Cora cleared her throat. “I heard something, too,” she said. “I mean, I’m not sure if I heard it exactly, but I saw something. Maybe. In the night. Someone, rather. Watching us from the trees.”

  “What?” Abi said. “Are you serious? Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Because I thought I was dreaming. Or . . . that it was just one of you lot going for a pee. And anyway, nothing happened.”

  “Apart from our phones being stolen, you mean? And all of our water?”

  For once Cora didn’t have an answer.

  Abi’s eyes widened even further. “What if whoever’s out there had something to do with what happened to Sadie? What if that’s who’s trying to force us back?”