Free Famished by Lauren Hammond Page A

which knapsack contained the watch.
    Colin didn’t mention anything about the watch so it had to be in mine, somewhere. I had gone through it earlier but only briefly. I didn’t examine everything that was inside of it. Or maybe Colin did have the watch and never got the chance to tell me because I stormed off.
    Either way, I knew I was cutting it close time-wise. So, I made a mental note that I would only move a couple more rocks and if I didn’t find anything, I’d chalk it up as a loss and move on.
    What could the council say? If we didn’t find anything, we didn’t find anything. The outside world was vast and confusing for teenagers who hadn’t seen it in so long.
    Picking up another rock, I followed the same routine, tossing over the side of the hole. Then my eyes centered on something black that was peeking through some smaller rocks.
    Delighted, I got down on my knees and brushed the various pebbles away. I yanked on the black item, which had the same texture as an inner tube, and fell backwards as I freed it.
    My back slammed into something sharp. and warm liquid oozed down my spine. I was bleeding. Truthfully, it seemed like every inch of my body was bleeding. My hands were cut pretty bad from handling some of the sharper rocks. Flaps of my skin dangled at my palms. I had gashes across my shins from the climb up, and not to mention the cut I got on my ankle when Colin saved me from my potential squashing. Now I could add my back to the tally. And I didn’t even care, because I was distracted by something else entirely. I had finally found one item on my list. “A tarp!” I exclaimed.
    That was it. That was all I wanted. One item and I was happy. It wouldn’t have bothered me that much if I went back without any, but a twinge of failure would still be gnawing at me. What if Colin finally found me and he had every item on his list?A horrified expression formed on my face when I thought of Mr. Baker. “Did you find anything?” he’d ask. Of course Colin would dump out his knapsack and beam proudly as he displayed every item on his list. Then Mr. Baker would turn to me. “And what about you, Georgina?” That would never happen but, I still felt the embarrassment of the fake scenario—my cheeks red and tingly—like they were burning. Thank God I found that tarp.
    After balling up the tarp, I climbed out of the hole and began my journey down the rock mountain, scraping my shins at least a dozen more times. When my mother saw me she was going to freak out. She used to hyperventilate when I bumped my head as a kid. And now I looked like some mad man’s special experiment.
    Once I reached the bottom, I made a beeline for my knapsack. Determined to find the watch, I fished through every pocket and examined the interior thoroughly. Damn it. There was no watch in my bag. And that meant that Colin had it.
    Cupping my hands to my mouth, I shouted, “Colin!” I heard nothing in response, only the sound of my voice echoing. “Colin!” When I was worried about someone or something, nine times out of ten, I would let that feeling completely consume me and feed off   me until I found a resolution for it.
    Another thing that made the entire situation worse was the fact that if I left without Colin, and something awful happened to him, I’d blame myself. And living with that kind of guilt for the rest of your life, was a burden no one in their right mind would want to bear. Also, if I wasn’t back in time, I didn’t know if I’d be allowed back into the colony. I’d be out here alone, meandering around the morbid desert/earth. And I knew one thing, I wouldn’t last long. I’d probably starve to death. No, probably wasn’t the correct word . I would starve to death.
    In the end, I came to the conclusion that I would wait another ten minutes for Colin—fifteen minutes if necessary—and that was pushing it. If he wasn’t back, then I’d have no choice. I’d have to go back without him.
    As those final