Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I'm doing very well with posting on time now yay!



Chapter 14: Fast Forward

It had been about 10 days since we killed the behemoth. We were close to the end of this mountain trail. By a few calculations I made, we should be off this rock by tomorrow afternoon.

The sun had begun to set on the mountainous horizon. “How much farther until we stop for the night?” Ashley yawned. We hadn’t stopped but about twice the whole day.

I stopped walking and began to pitch the tent. With my actions speaking for me, I then said to her, “Come help me set up camp!” So after pitching the tent and putting our personal belongings inside, Ashley made a fire. It was a simple pit fire surrounded by rocks we collected along the way. The sticks used for fuel were gathered the same way as the rocks.

“I’m going hunting for a while,” I informed Ashley taking my weapons and a flashlight. I ahead on the path and saw another cave. We’d many caves by now, some inhabited by bats or the occasional group of goats. This cave seemed different. I entered cautiously as always, pulling out a single arrow.

I tapped the steel head on the wall of the cave to see if I’d get a reaction, which I did. From the back of the cave there were shifting sounds, and little green dots darted this way and that across the floor. “Hello?” I called as if expecting a human reply. Finally, I just broke out the flashlight and shined in the desired direction.

Mountain lion cubs! Not good. For where there are cubs, there is a mother. She didn’t seem to be here at the time, so I’d leave while I was still safe. As I pivoted towards the entrance, I learned that I was too late. The mother lion was now angrily staring me down. She had just returned with a freshly killed ram, but dropped it, baring bloody fangs, eyes filled with fury. I slowly readied the arrow in the bow and aimed for the head. She roared and advanced in my direction. I hated to do it but-

“Nice catch Dyron!” Ashley congratulated.

“I do what I can!” I replied beginning to skin the animal. We smoked and saved the meat we couldn’t finish that night. The meat was tough meat, but still delicious! After dinner, we got inside our tent and wrapped up in our sleeping bags for the night. The fire had died down and it would’ve been pitch black if not for our flashlights. I switched mine off and turned over. “Night Ashe!” I whispered.

“Night, Dy! Love you!” she responded.

I dreamt of home. There were a bunch of us. Me, Ashley, Anthony, Kimi, and even Team Kratias! We were outside my house having a great time. It suddenly began to rain, but it didn’t seem to matter. We just kept enjoying ourselves. Eventually, Mom made us come inside, and I don’t remember much past that.

When I opened my eyes, it was morning. I squinted at my watch to read 7:06 am. I left the tent as quiet as possible, for Ashley was still asleep. I surveyed the campsite for anything out of place but there was nothing but the chilly morning air that ran through me. I then turned around, hearing rustling from within the tent, meaning that Ashley was up.

The morning sun shined on her face and golden hair so she put her hand up to block it. “Hey,” she mumbled walking up and leaning on my back. As I said, it was chilly, so we quickly relit the fire and fully cooked and ate the rest of the lion I so reluctantly killed the day before. With breakfast done, we packed up the tent, and kicked dirt over the fire to put it out. We collected the rocks for future use, and we were done cleaning up. You’d barely deduce anyone had been there.

From then until a little after midday, we traveled. As we did so, I checked the map and did the math again. “Ok,” I sighed, “if we move fast, meaning no breaks unless necessary, we should get there by this evening or tonight.”

“Yesterday, you said we’d be there by this time today according to your ‘calculations’,” my partner teased.

“I’m sorry, my math sucks!” I sarcastically apologized. Though geometry was really easy for me.

“Whatever Dyron,” she laughed. “Let’s go!” And we did just that! We alternated between jogging and walking for most of the day. That is until; we confirmed our leaving the mountain. The air was filled with the scent of sea salt and gulls called overhead. Finally, the trail began to gradually slope down.

Since we were going downhill, we had no choice but to jog at the least. After a while, the trail flattened again and we saw an old weathered sign saying that the beach was three miles pointing our way!

The mere thought of the beach made us dash down the dusty trail, which eventually sloped for another half mile. As we hit beach, the sun had set, and all was bathed in twilight. I spotted three little flags sticking out of the sand; meaning we were still first! I grabbed Ashley’s hand as we ran, snatching up the center flag. “We did it!” I laughed as we embraced.

“Ah! So the Neravees have arrived first!” Tom greeted.

“Yo Tom! Looks like we got this in the bag!” Ashley said waving at him.

“We’ll see about that!” he said pointing behind us. Teams Lamis and Kratias were racing down at the same time! Curstan was leading for Kratias and Tyler for Lamis. They left their partners (who would’ve wanted them to) behind and battled for second place.

Curstan was still in the lead, but Tyler had begun to close the gap. Nathan and Melissa were still trailing behind them just in case. “Curstan, push!! Come on, you can do it! Puuush!!” I shouted. I was incredibly tempted to bring Curstan her flag but I contained myself and cheered her on anxiously.

The darkness had now set in and you heard Tyler trip and his figure falling hard on his arm. He rolled and quickly got up but it was all in vain for Curstan dove for her flag; claiming second place!