In Their Domain

Chapter 9

"Look, we'll find them, okay?" Dean said, placing a hand on Chris's shoulder.

Nodding, Chris muttered, "yeah... we will." But his reply was saturated in fear and doubt. He continued to shuffle along beside Dean, straining to listen for any tiny sound that could be Arlo.

They found the spot where Sara had dropped her bag, the imprint of it still in the soft dirt. Dean was far more enthused about it than Chris. The bottle-blond barely reacted to the lucky find or anything Dean and Sara had to say about which way they should go from there.

Chris didn't really seem to come out of his own head until the chime of his phone scared all three of them.

"Holy—" Dean rubbed his chest. "That Arlo?"

Chris read the text. It was only three words...

"Look at it."

"What?" Chris sent back, practically holding his breath in anticipation of an answer, but nothing came. Thirty seconds passed. A minute. Then two more minutes.

"Let's keep moving," Dean encouraged. "Trail should be right over there."

"But I have a signal right here," Chris argued. What did it fucking matter? He didn't care about the path anymore. As much as he wanted to get the hell outta this place, he couldn't leave knowing Arlo was still out there somewhere. Every missed opportunity with his best friend and secret crush since twelve was playing over and over in his mind—swirling in a storm of guilt and anger.

"Bro, if we get back on the trail, and they find the trail, then we'll find them," Dean pressed.

"Yeah, where's standing around going to get us?" wondered Annie who was starting to sound more irritated and she had every right to be. She'd come out here for a good time, to see something—anything—get scared and then go home, but nothing scary or creepy had happened. Not unless you counted everyone losing their minds over not knowing how to stay on a path or find a simple parked car. She was annoyed, for sure, but not at all fearful. "Look, what do they say is the one thing you should do when you're lost in the woods? Isn't it to keep moving?"

Chris stayed defiantly still until Dean shook his head and kept walking. "Ar???" Chris typed, sending it before catching up to the other two.

Just as he had, his phone 'binged' again. Then again before he could even unlock his phone. Then, another.

"BRIDGE"
"BRIDGE"
"BRIDGE"

Hope flared in Chris's gut and he immediately tried to text back. "You found the bridge???"

"Look!" Dean said. "What did I tell y'all? I knew this was the right way! That's the bridge, there."

Chris flew past them, bolting for the wooden structure. "Arlo?!" he called out, as soon as he reached it, but his brows quickly furrowed in confusion. There was no sign of his best friend or of Sara. His phone drew his attention down to his hand.

"Chris?"

Chris re-sent his last message that had failed to send moments before. "You found the bridge?" Following it with, "We're here too! Where are you?"

"On the bridge?" Arlo sent back. "I don't see you."

Chris was huffing now as he frantically looked around.

"Man, what are you doing?" Dean asked, stepping up to the bridge.

"Arlo says he's here," Chris replied without looking at him.

"Where?" Annie asked, glancing around and seeing no sign of their two missing group members. Her attention settled back on Chris. "Are we sure they're at the same bridge?"