The end- Lets not face it alone...

I Hate Trees and Ghost Towns

Trees are boring, that is my conclusion.

At first glance they're cool and old and you want to feel their bark and photograph the leaves as they glow and quiver in the sunlight. But after walking through a forest for  two days and having no reprieve other than a decrepid house and a cold river, you start to start to go a little insane. -You're not crazy, you're just weird For the last time WE ARE THE SAME PERSON! Gees, calm down Blare Don't call me that But it matches your attitude when you're mad Ugh you're impossible-

So right now I'm extremely tired of the colour green and brown, all I can see is a blur of nature *shudder* I'm so done with the out-doors, I used to like camping and hiking; this turned that hobby to shit.  

"Where exactly are we going?" I raise my voice to question Preston who is mercilessly beating the  wilderness out of our path up ahead of me. I jog, clenching my teeth together as i feel the raw blisters rub against my feet, shooting pains up from my fee, matching my tired muscles which strain and tense in complaint of being over used. 

"We are searching for some remnence of civilization to scavenge of all its useful materials" he says, exhaustion staining his voice turning and shooting me smile over his shoulder. 

"Okay, but we will be walking forever."

"Are you so sure of that chika?" He says, pointing to a gap in the treetops to our right; the side of the river. Through the gap I spot, no, no it can't be!

"POWER LINES?! How could you not tell me, this is note worthy news!" I saw pushing past his irritating ass, jogging ahead of him. I follow the edge of the forest; the river flowing continuously to my right, under the power lines, through the thin line of trees.

I pick up my pace, jumping over rotten logs and mossy rocks that are bloody EVERYWHERE just waiting to trip you up and roll your ankle. I weave my way around small saplings and tree stumps, just inside the tree line- watching the power lines continue to  trail along the opposite side of the river. I've lost count of how long I've been jogging for, all i can feel is the three phases of pain I've become way too familiar with:

-The piercing pain of the cut on my side, slowly healing but painful.OUCH!

-The fucking blisters that cover my feet, continuously rubbing against my shoes. DOUBLE OUCH!

-And the worst one; the hunger! Bloody hell you probably know the hunger where you skipped breakfast and spent the whole school day with out food, yeah that dull ache that makes you grumpy and gets you in trouble because you're easily irritated; yeah that sucks. But this pain is nothing like I've ever felt before; the ache started as a dull pain that fades at times, now it just sits in my stomach and brings me hell. It's constant, excruciating pain to the point where i have to stop, keel over and hold my stomach for a minute.

"Wait, stop, i can't do this much longer" Preston says from behind me. I stop and turn to face him, panting and tired i can see he is in the same boat; he's on his knees and he's got his hands on the grass, clenching his fists into the dirt, gasping for air.

"Stay here I'll go get you some water" I say, taking the pack gently from his shoulders and walking toward the river I bend some young trees out of my way. I watch my feet as i walk over the dark stones that out line the river. I dip the water bottle into the fast-flowing, bitterly cold water and watch as the water flows into the container. I glance up, checking out the clouds- white and puffy, tinted pink and orange and gold; the sun will be down soon. The power lines, look at the power lines; they follow a lazy curve-normal, normal, all goo- WAIT!.

They turn, holy crap they go into the forest. Take in your surroundings June.  The fast river still flows between the abundance of dark, large, smooth stones all the way along the banks- hold on a damn minute. To my left, further down the river jutting out into the crystalline water a jetty breaks the pattern; so dark with mold and algae I nearly missed it, the green had it camouflaging  into the forest behind it.

"Preston!" I call back to him, without taking my eyes off of the old wooden structure in front of me, afraid it might somehow disappear. "Preston come on!"

"What, what are you okay? What happened?" He says brandishing a stick, ready to attack. My hero *sarcasm* Hush you.

"Look" I say, drawing him to me and pointing to the dock aiming his eyes. 

"Let's go check it out, come on June" he says, leaping with renewed energy he strides toward the river, nearly tripping over the uneven rocks. "Now how are we going to get across this river?" He asks, staring at the rushing water, thinking over this challenge. He looks cute, you know in a half-starved, sleep deprived, dirty, desperate, post-apocalyptic school boy way Shut up, weirdo.

"We cant go around it, and i don't see any bridges in the vicinity, so hike up yo pants, we're going swimming!" I say, sitting down, undoing my shoe laces trying to ignore the blisters. He shrugs, not seeing a better option and plonks down next to me, carefully unlacing his converses. 

We now stand at the edge of the fast flowing water, shoes in outside hands, giving mutual pep talks. 

"We are strong, young, beautiful people who can damn well walk through a river!" He shouts at the water.

"Damn right we are! How deep do you recon it is?" I ask my companion with a laugh.

"That's not very inspiring but a good thing to find out, wait here" I says, turning and jogging back to the tree line. Returning shortly he has with his a pale stick that he reaches out to mid-stream with before dunking it into the flow- it disappeared beneath the surface. "Shit. This is a fucking deep river"

We ponder over this for a minute before I break the trend; "Strip" I announce, starting to unbutton my school shirt. 

"If you wanted to get me out of my clothes, all you had to do was ask" he says, a smirk adorning his face but understanding there must be a method to my madness he sets down his shoes and begins to undo his pants.

We undress quickly and stand on the rocks that are nearly submerged in the frost water, I only steal glances of his chiseled, if a bit skinny, form from the corner of eye a few times. "Well lets get this over with" I say, already shivering from the brisk breeze that is curling around my unprotected form. 

"What a way to spend our third night together, don't you agree June?" Preston asks, a slight waver in his voice from the cold.

I nod, grab his hand and pull him into the water with me.