The Dead Zone (Book One)

Chapter 7

“Okay, lead the way.”
She could hear Bryson and Zach talk in hushed tones as they trekked behind her, letting her lead the way. She didn’t want to know what they were saying. She walked for a while, looking closely at the underbrush that grew throughout the forest. She wasn’t having any luck spotting animal trails, though.

Turning to the sky, she was disheartened to see that not a single bird flew past the openings of the trees, giving no indication of which direction water might be in. After half an hour, she was more frustrated than anything, especially when Bryson and Zach began to seem bored with their little game.

It wasn’t until the ground started sloping slightly downward that she got an idea. Turning from her original path, she began trekking downhill, careful to avoid any loose earth. The last thing any of them needed was a sprained, or worse, broken ankle. She knew how long that would take to heal, and without the proper equipment, the bone could set wrong. She cringed at the thought.

When the slope became even steeper, almost too steep, she just about cheered for joy when she heard the slight tinkling of water hitting stones. There, at the bottom of the crevice they’d hiked down, mountain runoff drained into a tiny stream, flowing downhill to join a distant creek or river.

It wasn’t a lot of water, but it was enough.
“Ha! I did it! I found water!”

Bryson almost looked like he was about to laugh as he strode toward her, looking at her mountain stream incredulously.

“I believe we agreed on finding a creek? Not some mountain runoff.” She couldn’t believe this. After all her hard work, he was going to act like she hadn’t accomplished something? She’d found her own water source. Water was survival.

“No, I told you I’d find water. And I did. Just because it’s not a creek or river doesn’t mean I couldn’t live off of it.” She crossed her arms, challenging him to disagree with her. She was damn proud of herself.

Zach stepped forward, filling his canteen with the water as it bubbled over the stone creek bed. “You know, Bryce, I think she’s right.”

He winked at her when she shot him a grateful look. “Hmm. I have to agree with you little brother. We’ve got a survivalist in our midst.”

“Thank you.” She beamed, happy to have his approval. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a hug. She made sure to rest her head on the good side of his chest, which was hard and unyielding as marble under her cheek, but warm at the same time.

His chin pressed into the top of her head as he spoke softly to her.

“By the way, there was a stream, but it was a six mile walk from the cabin. I knew you’d find another water source all along.”

She smacked him on the arm. “You were going to let me walk six miles off course?!” He laughed, dodging another blow from her as she fumed at him.

“Of course not! I just wanted to see what you’d come up with. Don’t worry, you passed the test.” He paused. “Tell me, how’d you know to walk downhill?”

She shrugged, not really sure. Had it just been instinct? Or common sense? “I don’t know, I guess I just assumed water ran downhill. And maybe there’d be some place for it to collect.”

“Well, you were right. Water often flows into crevices.”

“Thanks, captain obvious.” Zach almost spit his water out at her remark, and she turned on him, eyes slitted like a cat about to pounce.

“And you! You were in on it too, weren’t you? That’s what you guys were talking about. How the stream was six miles away?”

His ornery grin gave him away and she flipped him the bird, not finding it the least bit funny.