The Trinity War (Book 3 of the Trinity series)

Chapter 28

"This looks like something out of a bad horror movie," I said, stopping in my tracks.

I gazed up at the path before me. Traces of a light mist were visible between the thick brush of trees and bushes. I threw my head back and looked up towards the top of the mountain where our destination was and saw the fog become thicker. If we kept walking in the direction we were heading in now, soon, visibility would become minimal. And minimal visibility meant that I would be stripped of the most important of the five senses. And in a place like this, that meant danger.

"Just keep walking," Gerrard said, pushing past me to continue on down the path.

It was starting to get dark out now. We didn't want to leave the small village that we had found because it had provided us with a cozy shelter and food for a few hours. But time was ticking and we needed to get on our way.The problem was, in this season, the days were shorter and the nights were longer. And even though it was only about five in the evening, darkness was falling fast. The sun was only a sliver in the sky now, covered in thick purple clouds. The darkness would simply add to the visibility problem.

Which brought me back to my horror movie reference.

"I'm not going any further!" I called out to Gerrard. He stopped a few yards ahead of me and shot me an annoyed look.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Have you not seen every horror film known to mankind? This is a recipe for disaster! Girl and boy wander into woods. Thick fog. No lights. No civilization. Just the two of them and the unknown...I'm not ready to die this way!" I exclaimed. 

"You are being completely unreasonable right now," Gerrard said.

"I beg to differ," I replied, stomping my foot on the ground.

"Caley, we need to keep going. We've barely made any progress. What are you afraid of, anyway?" he asked.

"Ummm...Bigfoot? Ghosts? Crazy ax murderers?!" I listed. He gave me another look. I set my jaw squarely.

"I am not going," I said.

"Fine. Don't. I'll just keep going and you can catch up to me tomorrow," he said, turning around to continue walking down the path until I couldn't see him.

"Gerrard! No! Wait!" I shouted, scrambling forward and delving into the fog after him. I ran for my life for a good thirty seconds before spotting his dark silhouette. When I caught up to him, my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest cavity.

"I can't believe you would leave me behind to get raped like that!" I shouted at him. He chuckled.

"I knew you would follow me," he said with a shrug.

"And what if I didn't? What if in the sixty seconds it took me to catch up to you, something happened to me? What then?!" I exclaimed. 

"Stop being so dramatic," he said. I glared at him. "Ok, when you're done playing a reality TV star, can we get going?" he asked.

"I hate you," I said.

"No, you don't," he replied.

"Yes, I do," I snapped back. He chuckled.

"I think I'm okay with that," he said. I punched him in the arm and he laughed, rubbing his arm where I hit it. "Can we go now?" he asked.

I looked at the thick fog forming ahead and swallowed, my nerves getting the better of me. I grabbed a hold of Gerrard's hand and looked at him. He had an eyebrow quirked at me and I wondered if he was putting up a front; if under that masochistic exterior, he was actually frightened. But the way he was looking back at me, I didn't think so. He was brave. That's just who he was.