Code Lyoko, Survival in the Wilderness, teenagers
Odd had known they were lost long before he admitted it aloud, but the belief that the path – any path – would emerge from behind the trees and then lead them to any kind of road, to then lead them to any kind of car or house or a person, kept his mouth sealed shut and his naivety aflame. But as a chill began sneaking up along his spine, stronger with every gust of the biting breeze, and he had to squint harder and harder to see the sneaky branches and roots sticking out of the tricky ground through the darkening forest, he finally said, “Yeah, we’re lost.”
“Don’t you say,” scoffed Ulrich. He’d been sulking for close to two hours, plodding along at the tail of the group. In the middle, Jeremie, Yumi, and Aelita walked in weary silence, their Are you sure you know where you’re going?s and Is this the right way?s exhausted a minute, an hour, a day, a week, or a lifetime ago, they weren’t even sure.
“I’m sorry, guys.” The leaves, recently green and now dripping with nightfall, whispered to them alongside nocturnal animals standing guard in place of their diurnal counterparts. “I think we’ll be here a while. We better set up camp.”
“What damn camp!” cried Yumi. “We literally have nothing with us!”
“Even less than we started with,” muttered Jeremie, looking at his shoe, detached with moisture.
“I’ll figure it out!” said Odd, fully aware there was no way in hell he’d figure it out. “I will.”
Of course, no one believed him. They just kept on walking.