𝔼𝕝𝕝𝕖 𝕎𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖 𝕀𝕥
Thirteen
"Are those bananas?" Cal asked, eyeing the pile of fruit Grant had collected.
"They sure are!" he beamed.
Cal cautiously walked over and inspected the fruit, grabbing a banana. I joined her and grabbed a couple bananas and some berries and brought it to Beth. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. She smiled brightly as I placed it in her lap, helping her find a shady spot to sit down at.
"Where’d you get all this?" Aaron asked.
Grant pointed behind himself. "Check it out."
Aaron and Will both strained to get a good look, moving closer.
"There are bananas, oranges, blackberries...you have to see for yourself!" Grant exclaimed.
Will bounded past Grant and started grabbing at the first fruit he saw, stuffing it into his mouth. Aaron looked skeptical, but his hunger took over his doubt, and he made his way over towards some trees. Cal and I exchanged wide smiles, and she threw her hand out towards me. I grabbed her hand and giggling, we ran straight ahead.
The two of us used the hems of our shirts like baskets. We held the very bottom and then dumped handfuls of fruit into it until we were both overflowing. Finding a shady spot under an orange tree, we marveled at all that we had found. Cal popped a berry in her mouth.
"Mmmm." She closed her eyes. "And I don’t even like berries that much!"
"More?" I offered.
She greedily accepted with a grin. We barely said a word, sounds of enjoyment the only audible noise coming from either of us.
When we had finished we both were on our backs, stomachs full.
"I never thought I’d say this here, but I’m stuffed!" Cal groaned.
I laughed at her, then held my stomach. "Me too!"
Grant strolled over, chewing on a banana.
"So? What do you think? Wild, huh?"
"I’d get up and hug you right now," Cal groaned. "But I can’t move!"
"This is incredible," I told him.
He took a seat with us. Will strolled over, with handfuls of bananas.
"How is all of this here?" he asked.
"I don’t know and I don’t care! It’s amazing!” Cal sang.
"Yeah, but look how far we walked and there was nothing. And the crap that Gina was feeding us? Why give us those stale sandwiches when this was here the whole time?" Will asked.
Grant stood up. "Yeah, I thought of that, too. Maybe they don’t know this is here?"
"They know," Will argued. "There are cameras up in some of the trees over on that side."
Startled, we all looked to where Will was pointing.
"We’re good right here," he assured us. "But, they know about this spot."
We all exchanged worried glances. Grant called out to Aaron while I went and helped Beth over. Once we were all there, Grant asked Will to point out the cameras.
"So if Gina and Dean know about this spot-" Grant started.
"Know about it?" Aaron scoffed. "They created it!"
"Created it?" I asked.
"Yeah," he replied. "We’re in New Mexico, right? When was the last time you heard of New Mexico growing all types of fruit all together like this?”
I thought for a minute. I had been so hungry that I didn’t stop to question why all of this was growing there. I was just thankful we had found it. Grant searched the land with his eyes.
"I don’t know," he shrugged. "Gina and Dean...they are some whacked out individuals. Clearly with money to burn. I can’t answer why crazy people like them do the things they do. But I’m grateful they created a garden up here, that’s for sure!"
"Yeah, really," I agreed. "They’re twisted. I’ll never forgive them for what they did to me...to all of us. Honestly, I can’t even think about it right now. I just want to go home to my family."
Cal nodded silently.
"We all do," Grant consoled us. "And we will all go home to our families. I say we stock up of as much as we can carry - which I know probably won’t be much - and then we head down towards the water."
"Take a few more minutes. Eat as much as you can," Grant suggested.
Cal groaned, making us chuckle.
"Okay, well you’re good. The rest of you eat up. Then we’ll go," Grant shook his head at Cal, laughing.
"It’s not funny," ’she laughed and rolled over.
"We can get water at the waterfall, too. Refill our bottles on our way out," I added.
Grant nodded at me and then went to talk to Aaron. I took a good look around. The garden was definitely man made. I had no doubt about it after considering what Aaron had pointed out. The tallest trees grew along the outer edges, framing the shorter trees and then the berry bushes so that it formed a circle. Grant and Aaron had stepped past the farthest trees and were now staring down at the ground. I saw Grant kneel down and feel the soil. I stood up and brushed myself off. I walked a couple of feet back and hopped up on a boulder so I was able to get a better view.
This land was clearly sectioned off so that the fruit garden grew in a specific pattern. Unless you really stopped to look, it wasn’t obvious. It did seem to all be randomly growing here or there to the naked eye. But with just a little added height, I was able to get a different perspective. This layout had been intentional, almost calculated so everything was in a specific spot.
I hopped down and went back, taking a seat in the shade. I grabbed a handful of berries and poured them from one hand to the other a few times. Cal was next to me basking in her full stomach glow. She was nodding off slightly.
"You remind me of my grandpa after we eat Thanksgiving dinner," I told her.
She opened one eye. "I’m not even sorry! This is a great feeling." She gave me a thumbs up and closed her eyes again.
"Enjoy your food coma. I’ll be right back," I laughed.
I got up and briskly walked to find Grant and Aaron. Will had seen cameras in some of the trees, but not on the tallest trees that surrounded the two gardens. Wouldn’t those trees be exactly where the cameras should go?
Grant and Aaron were talking as I approached.
""Listen, something doesn’t add up. Look back over there by the rest of our group." I pointed.
Grant glanced up. "Okay."
"See how it’s surrounded almost by the tallest trees? And here. Same thing.There are trees bordering this side," I told them.
Aaron was looking back and forth between the sides where we stood.
"They separated the fruit. So what?" Aaron said sarcastically.
"So," I shot back. "It’s intentionally set up this way. It doesn’t seem like it from here. But it is. There must be an explanation for it."
Aaron rolled his eyes. "You’re questioning stupid stuff. Who cares why Gina or Dean made this garden or how they set it up? Stop wasting your time thinking about that crap and maybe think of a way to get off this island."
"It’s not ’stupid stuff’!" I raised my voice. I looked at Grant. "Why would they put so much time and effort into setting it up so specifically?"
Grant stared up at the trees nearest to us. He squinted his eyes and took a few steps. He slowly spun around, inspecting all of the trees, before making a complete circle. I watched him curiously as he went up to one of the taller trees. Touching the trunk, he tilted his head up towards the treetop.
He turned to face me and pointed to the tree’s leaves, his mouth opened to say something.
Just then we heard a noise that reminded me of our lawn sprinklers turning on at home. I pictured Rachel and I wearing swimsuits and happily skipping through the sprinklers’ water in the summer.
Droplets of water hit the top of my head like rain. Grant rushed back over to Aaron and me.
"Those trees have sprinklers!" he huffed.
Water sprouted from the trees, drenching the vegetation. We looked back over to our group and sprinklers began turning on above them also.
"Let’s go!" Grant ordered and the three of us rushed back.