B: I think so. We were all really quiet when we started up the first hill, I guess ’cause we were all so hungry by then. Dr. D didn’t notice me looking over my shoulder at him as he was tripping Jodi. She fell back down the hill and broke her neck. Jodi was coughing up blood when we got down to her and she couldn’t move her arms or legs. That’s when Dr. D suffocated her with his hands. He said it was an act of mercy, but I saw how Jodi tripped and I know why he did it. It wasn’t just because he blamed her for Tara dying. Jodi was also a lot bigger than me and she had more meat on her.
E: Oh, god. He ate her?
B: We all did.
E: Did you tell this to the detectives?
Becky shakes her head, begins to cry
B: I couldn’t help it! We hadn’t had any food in days! We couldn’t even find berries or anything!
Erickson reaches across the table, places his hand on Becky’s
E: I know.
B: And she smelled so good cooking over the fire!
E: It’s okay.
B: It’s not okay!
E: You’re right it’s not. It’s not okay, but it’s not your fault, Becky. None of this is your fault.
Becky looks up, wipes her tears away
E: Can you tell me how you lost your arm?
Becky nods
B: It was a couple of days after Jodi died. What day did they find me?
E: Friday.
B: Then I guess it was Thursday. The antler men had come in the night to take what we hadn’t eaten of Jodi and we spent three whole days walking down one hill and then up another with nothing to eat and almost no water left. Dr. D had been whispering with Miss Rhonda all morning and when we stopped to rest for a moment, he saw a cut on my arm from where I scraped it on a low hanging branch and he said the cut was going to get gangrene and that he had to amputate the limb. Dr. D brought his doctor’s bag on the camping trip in case of an emergency. I was like no way and I tried to run, but Miss Rhonda jumped on me and held me down… Dr. D told me not to worry. I wouldn’t feel a thing and I didn’t. He injected me with something and I couldn’t feel anything and I couldn’t move and after a little while I fell asleep and when I woke up, it was nighttime and I could smell them cooking my arm.
E: I am so sorry.
Becky shrugs
