CHAPTER TWELVE | INTO THE WILD

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IT WAS DEFINITELY A LONG A GRUELLING JOURNEY TO THE ISLAND OF NOVA SCOTIA. Evelyn had to endure an eight-hour plane journey and, what felt like, two hours on a boat to the island just off the mainland. The arrived on a beach, though it was not a sandy one like Evelyn was used to. This one was rocky and covered in seaweed and stones.

"Couldn't they have hidden this cure in Hawaii?" Evelyn heard Damon gruffly speak in his usual irritated tone which caused a chuckle to leave her lips. "Where the hell did you take us?"

"Two hundred-miles off the Nova Scotia mainland." Professor Shane answered as he wandered over to Damon and Evelyn. "If you recall, the whole point was to hide the cure on the world's most obscure, desolate island."

"Yeah, I got that." Evelyn nodded as she glanced back at the tall trees that overlooked the island. "But, I know about a dozen islands that are obscure, desolate but enjoyable to be."

"Girl has a point." Damon chuckled as he continued sharpening his blade with a rock he had found on the sand. "Besides, I thought the whole point was that no one found Silas; the oldest, deadliest freak in the world."

"Yeah, that too." Shane shrugged as he held up a bottle of sunscreen and offered it toward the two vampires. "Sunscreen?"

Damon stared at the bottle and then glanced at Evelyn, who was trying desperately to hide her laughter even though Damon didn't seem amused. "Is that a joke?"

Awkwardly, Shane pulled the sunscreen and wandered away which left Damon and Evelyn to speak. "So..." The Salvatore trailed off as he pulled his duffle bag over his shoulder. "You here for the cure, or?"

"Nah." Evelyn shook her head with a pointed look on her face. "I've been a vampire for a long time, Damon. I can't imagine being human—not now. I'm just here to make sure nobody gets themselves killed."

"Ah. You're here to watch my back then." Damon wriggled his eyebrows suggestively as he heard the brunette immortal chuckle.

"Awfully big head you've got on your shoulders there. Must hurt carrying that around all day."

Damon rolled his eyes and nudged Evelyn with his elbow. He smirked as he watched her stumble backward a little. "Shut up."

"Come on." Professor Shane called out to the supernatural that stood on the beachfront. It was obvious that he wanted to get going and hated wasting a second. "We gotta get going."

Evelyn rolled her eyes and reluctantly followed after Shane, as did the rest of the group. They headed into the forest as the trees enveloped them, ridding them of any warmth they once felt.

Eventually, Shane halted in front of them and pulled out his phone. It made a single deep and then a sigh left his lips. "Satellite phone lost its signal."

"Well, that's a good sign," Damon mumbled from beside Evelyn as the two walked together. Evelyn enjoyed Damon's ability to make her feel like the hike wasn't as unbearable as she originally anticipated.

"Is anyone else a little creeped out?" Elena asked with a shaky voice as she pulled the strap of her backpack closer to her. She walked just a little in front of Damon and Evelyn.

"So, then leave. Out of everyone, your presence is the least necessary." Rebekah voiced from right at the back of the group.

Evelyn chuckled softly when she heard a groan escape Stefan's lips. "Please, don't start." He wined while he shook his head.

"I'm merely stating the facts." Rebekah continued to explain. "Jeremy has the spell on his body. Bonnie's the witch that unseals the cure. Shane is the human compass. You and I have the tombstone that does God knows what, and I happen to like Evelyn. And Elena has no point."

Damon furrowed his brows. "What about me?"

"You have a nice behind," Rebekah answered back without a hint of hesitation.

Evelyn smirked once she saw Damon shrug at Rebekah's compliment. "Ooh, look. That massive head of yours is growing again."

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Night had fallen, and the group was still very much walking through the forest. Evelyn was bored senseless and freezing, so she zipped her jacket up to preserve what little warmth she felt while she continued with his stories about Silas.

"Centuries after Qetsiyah died, there were these miners that were excavating a well on the island. Suddenly went mad, bled themselves dry for no apparent reason. So, the legend spread that these miners, in exchange for a drop of their blood, saw visions of their lost loved ones in the well they were digging. The word traveled and explorers sought out the well to see if the legend was true."

"So, the well was magic?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow as curiosity got the better of her.

"Yeah, some people believe the voices of lost souls were just a wind vortex whipping through caves and visions were caused by inhaled the islands poisonous plant-life," Shane explained again.

"Okay. And, what exactly do you believe?" Evelyn voiced as she looked around, unable to really see anything due to the darkness that had fallen quicker than expected.

"I believe in magic." Shane immediately answered. "My wife and my son died within months of each other so I decided to try the well out for myself. I saw my wife, I saw her eyes, her smile. My blood let me see her again."

"Yeah. I got it." Damon rolled his eyes. It was obvious he didn't believe anything Shane was telling them. "Don't eat the poisonous flowers."

After a few moments of walking, Shane stopped again. "Is everybody paying attention?" He glanced at everyone before he grabbed a rock from the ground. "Our first lesson in survival." He then tossed the rock up into the trees which triggered a net trap that swung just a little bit in front of them. "Stay together. Keep your eyes open."

They reached a clearing in the forest which caused all eyes to scan it for danger. Evelyn had to admit, the atmosphere was making her a little uneasy, though she would never admit that.

"What is this place?" Stefan asked as he started to shine his flashlight around the campsite to get a better look at it.

"According to island lore, a group of college kids came here for spring break. A few weeks later, they were all found dead completely drained of blood."

Evelyn's eyes widened. "Wonderful."

"Well, tragic for them, brilliant for us." The Original vampire shrugged. "Who sleeps where?"

"Well, that's lovely. There's a mystery man with a hatchet lurking in the woods, and we're just gonna camp?" Damon used his usual sarcastic tone.

"We're safer here than we are hiking in the dark."

One the rest of the group had split off to sort out their sleeping arrangments, Damon continued to ignore with Shane. "Let's just keep going. You know, get the cure. Get in, get out. Where is it?"

"How stupid do you think I am?" Shane scoffed as Damon took a step closer, though Evelyn attempted to tug him away.

"He's right, Damon, okay? As much as I don't want to, I think our best bet is to wait until sunrise, then we can start the search again." Evelyn patted Damon on the shoulder and then wandered off over to Stefan's tent. "Mind if I share with you?"

"Course not." Stefan gave his friend a smile as she crawled into the tent, thankfully.

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The next morning, the sound of Elena Gilbert's screeching voice caused Evelyn to jolt awake. She rubbed her eyes and glanced over to where Stefan had fallen asleep, though he was gone, too. The vampire zipped up her jacket and stepped out of the tent. "What's going on? What's with all the shouting?"

"Jeremy's gone." The doppelganger quickly explained in a flustered tone. As the rest of the group wandered back to the camp. "Did you find anything?"

"He's not on the trail," Bonnie confirmed with a nod. She had taken the entire trail root in the hopes that Jeremy was there.

Shane appeared from inside Jeremy's tent while he held his duffle bag of belongings. "His gear's still here."

"He's not at the quarry, either," Stefan confirmed whilst he and Rebekah wandered back from the opening of the trees.

"Right. Okay, then we split up. Cover more ground." Evelyn voiced. She was a little bit irritated by the fact that nobody had woken her to help look for the missing Gilbert.

"I'm gonna stay and try a locator spell." Bonnie shook her head and wandered off in the opposite direction.

"Okay." Shane glanced around at the rest of the group. "I'll stay here. I'll make sure she's safe."

"I'll stay here and make sure you're not lying," Damon stated before darting his eyes over to the rest of the remaining vampires.

"Fine. We'll keep searching the island." The doppelganger reluctantly agreed. She knew that it meant having to deal with Rebekah and Evelyn. Even though she and Evelyn were friends, she didn't really know how to act around the girl.

As they continued walking through the forest, Evelyn couldn't help but roll her eyes at how much attention Elena was drawing to them. "Seriously? This is shouting so unnecessary."

Rebekah nodded her head in the brunette vampire's direction before scoffing, "Why don't you yell louder? Maybe we haven't drawn enough attention to ourselves already."

"I'm sorry, and how are you helping?" Elena gritted her teeth at Rebekah's sudden need to get involved.

"I'm stronger than you. I'm faster than you. And I'm quite certain I can charm the islanders a lot easier than you." The blonde snapped back.

"Not disagreeing on the easy part." Elena scoffed before Stefan stopped in his tracks and turned around to scold the two vampires.

"Alright, we get it. You hate each other. Can we just keep going, please?"

"I tried to be her friend but somehow I end up with a dagger in my back because I'm the evil one." The Original explained to Stefan, with her brows furrowed.

"Technically, you didn't achieve evil status until you killed me." Elena retorted as she pushed past Stefan and continued to lead the walk but as she did so, she was unaware that she triggered a tripwire.

Rebekah sped in front of her and grabbed hold of a border of nails that swung down from the trees, just before it killed Elena. Both Evelyn and Stefan watched in awe of Rebekah's save. "Oh, my God."

"Nice catch." Stefan nodded toward the blonde.

"Thank you."

"No, actually, thank you." Elena glanced at the wooden board of nails, and then to Rebekah. "This thing would've killed me."

"I don't care what happens to you either way. But if you're going to die, it might as well be epic." The female shot a fake smile towards the girl who just nodded slowly.

Elena swallowed thickly. "I'm gonna go back and check on Bonnie, see if she's found anything. Be careful."

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After the earlier events, Elena returned back to camp and had an epic failure of a discussion about the cure with Damon. He basically told her that becoming a human with her would be the worst thing imaginable which left her to storm off back to her tent where she found Rebekah going through several of her duffel bags.

"What are you doing in my tent?" Elena breathed out just before the blonde Original sped over to her and grabbed her by the throat.

"Where the tombstone?! What have you done with it?!" Rebekah growled with her hand tightly clasped around the doppelganger's neck.

"What are you talking about?"

"Like it's not bloody obvious? All you people do is betray me and here you go again!" Rebekah's rant was interrupted by Stefan and Evelyn's entrance.

"Let her go, she didn't take it," Stefan demanded.

"Unfortunately, it's true. Elena didn't take it." Evelyn nodded her head as she watched the blonde remove her hand from Elena's neck.

"Was any of this real? Was it just a ploy to distract me while Shane ran off with the tombstone?" Rebekah demanded her questions Stefan's way, clearly feeling betrayed by their sudden friendship.

"You think I would do that? You think I would let some psychopath run off with the cure? Every single moment of my last 146 years has been ruled by the pain of being a vampire. This cure ends that. It ends the guilt, and it ends the suffering. And, you really think I would jeopardize that?"

"Stefan wouldn't be that stupid, he isn't like that. Betray isn't within his nature." Evelyn stated boldly as Elena moved her eyes from the brunette vampire.

"Fine, you didn't take it." She began before darting her eyes to the doppelganger. "But that doesn't mean I trust her."

"I didn't take it, but here." Elena went through her bag and pulled out the White Oak stake and handed it to Rebekah. "Consider this a peace offering."

"Damn, White Oak. She means business." Evelyn chuckled from the back.

"Don't you get it, Elena? There is no peace. We're all screwed."

"Exactly, Rebekah. We're screwed. Bonnie's gone, Shane's got the tombstone. Jeremy's missing and who knows if Damon's coming back... so, us four right here, this is all we've got. We're either in this together, or it's over."

"You seriously think four dysfunctional vampires baring grudges against each other are going to do well as a team? Honestly, Elena, you are more delusional than I anticipated." Evelyn scoffed as Stefan shook his head clearly agreeing with the doppelganger that teamwork was the only way to end this.

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