One by One

Claire has to pee again. She and Lindsay go to find a spot to pee in the woods, but Claire stumbles on a tree with claw marks that are suspiciously low on the trunk of the tree, lower than the marks from a bear would be. The group is unsettled and decides to keep moving.

Three hours later, the group is lost, and darkness is approaching. Lindsay makes the group stop for a rest. They’re out of water except for Jack’s water bottle. They all sip slowly from the bottle to conserve the water as much as possible. Lindsay thinks they’re lost, but Jack and Warner argue that they know where they are and will find civilization soon. Lindsay is exhausted, but the group keeps moving.

Claire hangs back with Lindsay, who fantasizes about ordering room service when they reach the inn. Claire tells her that Jack has beef jerky, but Lindsay says Warner wouldn’t allow her to eat it. Lindsay says that Claire wouldn’t understand.

They then arrive at a bush with berries that resemble blueberries. Lindsay eats a few, though Claire tells her not to, as they cannot properly identify the berries. Lindsay then stops eating the berries, and she and Claire go to catch up with the rest of the group.

The unnamed narrator remembers their mother’s garden, filled with raspberries, blueberries, and deadly nightshade, a berry that closely resembles blueberries. One morning, the narrator’s mother Helen made breakfast for the narrator’s father. She also made a bowl of cereal and berries for the narrator. Suspicious, the narrator lets one of the berries fall to the floor. Snowball, Helen’s beloved cat, almost ate the berry before Helen stopped her. The narrator knew that Helen loved Snowball, which made them realize the berries in the cereal were nightshade.

The narrator refused to eat, even when their father threatened to take away their new baseball cap. They didn’t trust their father to believe the truth: That their mother tried to poison and kill them because she never wanted a child.

Sunset comes, and the group still has not reached the inn. Claire asks Jack if they’re almost at the inn, and he hopes so. He notices she is cold and offers her his sweatshirt.

They return to the group and find Lindsay sitting down, appearing unwell. Noah questions Claire about Jack’s sweatshirt and claims he would’ve given her his own, though Claire doubts this. Lindsay then begins to scream.

Lindsay claims to have seen a bear, though the rest of the group assures her that she didn’t. Since Lindsay is acting strangely, Claire tells everyone that Lindsay ate strange berries. When she describes them, Jack worries she has eaten deadly nightshade. She ate 10-15 berries, which is enough to kill an adult. Lindsay falls unconscious and begins having a violent seizure. After she stops shaking, Warner realizes she’s not breathing. Claire tries to see if her phone has service, but it doesn’t, though for a moment she thinks she sees a bar of service on Noah’s phone screen.

Warner does CPR on Lindsay, but after a while announces that Lindsay is dead. Claire is shattered, sobbing and screaming in Jack’s arms. Michelle argues that the group should keep moving. Claire is angry that they would try to move so quickly after Lindsay’s death and leave her corpse behind, but Jack and Warner agree that they need to keep moving so they don’t also die. Claire is suspicious of Warner’s lack of grief.

Noah offers to stay behind with Claire if she wants to sit for a while with Lindsay, but Claire thinks that it is logical to stay with the group. Noah tells Claire that he’s glad she didn’t eat any berries.

After another hour of walking, Claire hears another woman’s screams. They find Michelle on the ground with a twisted ankle. She cannot walk, so after some argument, the group decides to camp for the night before following animal footsteps to a water source and gathering water tomorrow.

The group makes camp in an open field. Claire is uncomfortable, heartbroken by the loss of Lindsay, and worried about Aidan and Emma. She offers to make a bed for Michelle, who begrudgingly accepts. She talks to Michelle about the time she sprained her ankle before prom in high school, though Michelle does not listen to her.

Jack and Noah set up the fire and the rest of the camp, as Jack was a boy scout and has some technical wilderness knowledge. Claire thinks she hears a wolf howl, but no one else claims to have heard it. Jack says it may be a coyote but that there aren’t rabid coyotes around, though Warner isn’t sure about that. Claire gets many mosquito bites, so Jack gives her insect repellant. She is shocked when Noah knows her blood type since she doesn’t know her own. As an O+, mosquitos are more attracted to her blood.

The group drinks the last of the water, with Noah drinking very little to make sure Claire gets enough. Claire then suggests everyone share their favorite memory about Lindsay. Claire’s favorite memory is when she and Lindsay broke into their dorm kitchen to bake cookies after Claire’s boyfriend cheated on her. Jack’s favorite memory is eating brownies that fell on the floor with Lindsay. Michelle doesn’t have a memory to share other than the fact that Lindsay had nice hair. Noah shares his memory of Lindsay helping him pick out and haggle for Claire’s beautiful engagement ring. Warner also doesn’t have a memory and debunks the idea that he was planning on proposing to Lindsay. This upsets Claire, but Michelle suggests they go to sleep. Claire hears another howl, and Noah confirms he also heard it. With nothing else to do, the group goes to sleep.

The unnamed narrator practices shooting guns in the backyard with their father. The narrator is a good shot. The narrator’s mother Helen comes out in the yard, dressed nicely and smelling fresh, the opposite of what she does when the father is out of town on business.

The narrator briefly points the gun at their mother’s face and fantasizes about shooting her before their father pushes the gun away, not realizing the narrator’s intentionality, though Helen knows the narrator would have shot her if they could have.

Claire wakes up feeling dehydrated and sore. As Warner and Noah also wake up, they hear Jack calling Michelle’s name. Michelle is missing, and Warner finds footprints that he thinks are Michelle’s. Jack assembles the gun, which he lied about not bringing, before they begin to search for Michelle. As they search, they find a massive amount of blood but no Michelle. Jack doesn’t believe an animal could have killed her because the group would have heard her scream. They’re also confused as to how Michelle would have walked on her twisted ankle.

Warner thinks Michelle is dead and that they should move on, but Jack wants to keep looking. Jack threatens Warner with the gun before Noah tells him to put the gun down. They decide to keep searching for Michelle, but Claire knows that Jack and Warner are now enemies.