Europa

Chapter 3- Crossing

We wave a final goodbye to Flantloc and he smiles one last time before jumping back into his hole and pulling the stone back over the entrance.
We turn around, scanning the area. I was filled with a feeling of security in the cave but the landscape surrounding me reminds me we are still very much in danger.
I begin following the direction of the arrow, straight west.
We walk in silence for a while, staring around and keeping watch. As I walk I think about how sad the small yellow man looked at the loss of his friend. Im hoping along the way we can meet some more human friendly creatures like him but i doubt it. We've been extremely lucky, but I feel like that luck will quickly run out.
The fog has got a lot thinner and the ground rockier and uneven.
"How's the transmission looking?" Farren asks.
"No closer and no further" I huff. "But we are headed the right way."
I think for a bunch of kids, we are handling our situation pretty well. I would be lying if I said I wasn't terrified but I need to carry on keeping my composure. If I lost it I'm sure everyone else would quickly follow, plus I would rather die a horrible death than freak out in front of Farren!
As I'm thinking this, Farren catches up with me and walks evenly at my pace for a while.
"I'm worried about Marsh" she eventually whispers. "He's not acting like himself."
I glance over at marsh. He's keeping pace and his leg seems to be feeling better, but he looks stressed, his brow glistening with sweat.
"So am i" I whisper back, "I don't think we can do though. To baby him would just annoy him, you know what he's like."
"Yeah" Farren sighs, "we need to keep a close eye on him though, especially if his leg acts up again. What if it gets to the point where he can't walk?"
"Then I carry him" I say evenly, "I won't leave him behind no matter what."
I mean what I say. I'm not just saying it for Farren points, though the way she smiles at me is pretty sweet. Marsh is my best friend and probably the bravest of us all, even me. He wouldn't abandon any of us and I refuse to do it either.
Farren walks beside me for a while staring down at the transmitter, then she walks over to Marsh and keeps pace with him. I hear laughing and Farren giggling, when I look over she's smiling at him and patting his shoulder.
I know this is a stupid time to feel such unnecessary emotions, but jealousy bubbles around inside me. I like Farren. I always have, from pre school to now. But it's clear that Marsh does too. I noticed it a few months ago and it's still just as clear. It's unfortunate, me and my best friend loving the same girl. But logically, nothing can be done. It's a case of 'may the best man win!'
As I'm pondering on this and day dreaming about swooping Farren up into my arms, I hear a familiar whooshing sound. We all stop dead and stare at each other.
"Is that what I think it is?" Alora gasps.
We rush along and realise the land dips down, we stand on the edge before the small drop and in front of us lies a huge river.
When I say huge, I mean huge. It goes on for longer than the eye can see and rushes manically, clearly ripped along by a strong current.
"There's no way in hell I'm crossing that!" Stephen barks.
"Agreed!" Loan responds. "Say, Adriel. Can't we walk around?"
I look left and right, assessing the situation. I can't see an end to the river and the land is pretty flat, it seemingly goes on for miles in either direction.
"Technically we could try" I say slowly, "but look. The river has no visible end, we could end up travelling for days or even weeks before we find its end and that's if we do! On the borrowed time we have, I don't think it's the best option."
"So whats the plan?" Marsh asks, leaning down and looking into the water.
"We need to cross it" I tell them, scratching my head.
Immediate protests from Stephen and Loan. They're saying there's no way in hell they are stepping in the water. Alora looks like she's going to cry, she's staring down into it with a look of terror on her face.
Farren's trying to reason with the boys, arguing that it's the only way.
I'm kneeling down, observing the speed of the flow and the obvious rip currents. Marsh kneels next to me.
"Is it the only way?" He asks me.
"Sure looks like it." I respond, gritting my teeth.
"It's not ideal but we can't risk wasting valuable time, not with the cold that Flantloc spoke of  approaching."
Marsh reaches over and digs around in my jumper-sling. He pulls out the scanning device and fiddles with it. Flantloc showed us how to scan things to check if they're fit for human consumption or hazardous.
He holds it out and leans his arm down, scanning the water below.
A few clicks and whirls, then it spits out the answer in our language.
"Potable water." it tells us. That means it's drinkable and unlikely hazardous.
"Well, it won't burn us and it doesn't harbour any high levels of methane or ethane" he says with a grin. "We should also drink our fill since we don't know when we will find fresh water again, we should drink after though, crossing is the first priority."
I nod and stand up, brushing myself off.
"Right!" I address the group.
They all stop shouting and turn around curiously.
"We scanned the water and it's potable. That means it's not only safe to walk through, it's also drinkable. I know we are sceptical and even scared, but we need to cross it. Looking at the width it should take us 15, possibly 20 minutes to cross. That sounds like a lot and it is but we need to get moving now. We don't want to hang about in one spot for too long, something a lot more dangerous than water might pass us and I would prefer not to fight unless we have too."
"Is there really no other option?" Loan sighs
"None" I say firmly. "We cross."
We take all of our gadgets and provisions and make sure they are firmly stuffed and folded tight in the bags flantloc gave us, then we tie the straps under and over our shoulders, keeping them at the back of our necks. It's uncomfortable, but it's necessary to keep them dry. I tie my sling in the same fashion, then double check the others are secure. I've gave the bag carrying jobs to Marsh, Farren and Alora. It's not that I don't trust Loan and Stephen, but they have a tendency to mess around and I don't favour them to keep them safe. Once I've done a triple take I jump the 2 metre drop and land on the bank. It's only just crossed my mind that we don't know the true depth. Leaning forward, I poke my spear into the water. Knee depth, but that's not to say it won't get deeper the further we go.
I turn around and address the group again.
"Use your spears to test the depth in front of you" I tell them. "Poke the ground before you take a step and stab it as hard as you can. If it keeps and stays the same depth, continue walking. If it doesn't shout out and let us know so we can all stop and assess the new depth. Avoid the rip currents! Try and stay close and level at the same time, we will stand in a line, a few inches apart. Are we ready?"
I see fear on every face, even Marsh and Farren, and I'm pretty sure it's etched on mine too.
"Let's go!"
We stand in a line. Farren on the far left, then Marsh, Alora, me, Stephen and lastly Loan on the far right.
We've taken off and bagged our shoes and socks and rolled up our trousers. With a deep breath, I take the first step.
We advance.
The ground is Sandy and slightly slippery, the Sandy dirt fills in between my toes and swooshes around, but the ground holds.
The others step in sync with me, staring down into the muggy water. We poke the ground with our spears and nod at each other, continuing the advance. This goes on for a while, then we stop nodding and focus on crossing as fast, but safely, as possible. We get to around the quarter mark with no issue.
I stare at the bank in front of us, then at the one behind us. Nothing in sight, we can do this! We are gonna cross with no trouble and land safely on the other side!
A splash to my right interrupts my thoughts.
I spin my head and see Loan has tripped over something and is flailing around in the water, but more troubling than that is the rip current he's dangerously close too.
"Loan, don't!" I shout, but it's too late. The current grabs hold of him and yanks him into it.
Before he shoots away Stephen yelps and grabs his leg, but doing so sends him toppling over, swishing into the current.
"No!" I yelp in panic, grabbing for Stephen. I manage to seize the back of his jeans and the others hold onto me. The pull of the current is immediately apparent. It's sickeningly strong and seconds remain till we are all pulled along. Do I let go? If I do they will likely be lost to us forever!
I don't have time to make a rational choice, with a roar I allow the current to rip me from my place and with Marsh, Alora and Farren hanging onto me and each other, we shoot down the river at sickening speed.
"Stomach!" I try to scream, head dipping under every few seconds. We've travelled a distance in mere seconds and seem to have been pulled into the alien equivalent of rapids. "Try and stay on your stomach! Don't.. let the bags go...and whatever you do... don't... let go of each other!!!"
Everyone screams and thrashes around, but I hear Marsh and Farren shout back an okay. I hold tightly onto stephens jeans, trying to pull myself up his body with my other hand. Water splashes all around and sprays into my face, obscuring my vision. My knee slams into a rock and I cry out at the pain.
"Stephen!" I scream, "can you hear me?"
"Ahhhhh!" Stephen screams back. He's panicking, I need to calm him down.
"Stephen, breathe!" I shout, spitting water out. "Are you still holding on to loan?"
"Yes! But- he's- his heads under!" Stephen splutters.
"Then pull it back up!" I shout back.
"I can't!!" Stephen howls, then continues screaming.
This isn't good. Drowning is an obvious danger but his head could take some gnarly hits. He needs to surface now.
"Alora!" I screech, turning to see her flailing and clutching hard onto my pants.
"I need you to focus, can you hear me?" I shout.
"Yes!" Alora cries back, gripping me harder.
"I need you to focus, Alora! Loans life depends on it. Now listen, I'm going to climb up Stephen to get to Loan! When I reach Stephen's upper body I need you to grab onto him instead and whatever you do, do not let go!!"
"I can't!!" Alora splutters, "don't make me let go Adriel, please!"
"You have to!" I scream, "Loan needs help now! Focus! Can you do it Alora?"
Alora sobs but nods her head vigorously.
"Fine! Okay!" She cries.
I turn around, determined. Stephen is thrashing around and I can't see Loan beyond him.
I grab his thigh and with all my strength, yank myself up to his hips. "Stephen! Stop thrashing, stay still!" I scream.
"I can't!" He screams back.
"Stop saying you can't, you risked your life to grab Loan in the first place! Stop thrashing right now!"
Stephen goes limp and I grab onto his shirt and pull myself up, face level with him. His head is bleeding from a small cut and his eyes look bloodshot and wild.
"Right, Alora's gonna grab onto you now okay?" I shout, trying to be heard over the spraying of the rapids.
"Okay!" Stephen shouts.
I shoot my head round and see Alora, still clinging onto my leg and wide eyed.
"Alora, now!" I scream.
With a roar she lets go and simultaneously grasps onto stephens leg. I watch for a moment, making sure she has sound grip, then I focus ahead.
I can see Loans back, but he's not throwing himself around. He's bobbing and his head is under water.
"Loan! I scream, grabbing his belt and trying to pull him back up.
He's too heavy at this angle, I need to get closer.
"Stephen!" I scream, "I'm gonna climb up to Loan. I need you to swap places with me and grab my ankle!"
"Just hurry up!" Stephen shrieks.
I hold tightly onto his belt and with a heave, pull myself onto his lower body. Stephen grabs my ankle hard and let's go of Loan.
I can see him clearly now. I grab his hair and yank his head out of the water. His eyes are rolled back and his mouth is open.
"Loan!!!" I scream, slapping at his cheeks. No response.
I hold his head up, looking around. With joy I see we are about to pass by close to the bank.
I scan the area, eyes desperately trying to lock onto something I can grab onto.
Then I see it.
A thick yellow branch sticks out of the river bank and down into the water, it might not hold but only a fool wouldn't give it a shot.
I turn around and see the group is still clinging onto each other.
"Brace yourselfs!" I scream. "Your going to feel a big pull! Hold on as tight as you can and do not let go!"
I hear screeches in response and ready myself. We are moving fast, I'll have only a second of a chance.
I hold onto Loans belt, no choice but to let his head bob back under for a second, and turn around, readying myself.
It's getting closer, it looks big, I can do this, I need to do this!
I reach out my arm as we get even and throw myself forward, latching onto the branch.
Immediate pull. The groups stopping weight yanks me backwards and I almost loose my grip.
I yelp at the force, grit my teeth as I renew my grip, then turn around.
The group is in a straight line, rip still trying to take them back. Water sprays and splashes everywhere and the sound is deafening. "Stephen!" I scream over the chorus, "grab Loans belt with your free hand, I need both of mine!"
Stephen grunts and grabs Loans belt. I let go and he shoots backwards, but Stephen holds him in place.
"Hurry up! I can't hold on!" Stephen screams.
I spin back around and throw my free arm forward, grabbing onto the branch. It's slippery but has a lot of knots that help keep grip.
With a scream and using every inch of my strength, I pull myself up the branch bit by bit.
"I've got it!" I hear behind me. I turn and see Stephen holding onto the end of the branch. Immediate weight release from my ankle.
"Keep going, you have to keep going!" I scream.
One by one we pull ourselves up. Once Farren is on the branch I finally reach the bank. Exhausted, I yank myself up. But there's no time to stop. I spin round and see Loan floating next to Stephen who was right behind me. I lean down and grab him, with a few gruelling tugs I drag him up onto the bank.
"Can you get up?" I scream to the others.
They nod back as Stephen makes surface, slowly pulling themselves along the branch.
I flip Loan over and assess the damage.
His eyes are still rolled back and his mouth slightly open.
I throw my head onto his chest and check for a pulse. It's there, but it's faint.
Luckily, my mom made me and my brother do a first aid course after I choked on candy as a kid, so I know what to do.
I start cpr, pushing down on his chest and breathing into his mouth.
"Come on Loan!" I scream, slapping his cheeks in intervals. "This isn't how you go out, not here!"
I carry on with cpr, but I'm not getting a reaction.
"Loan, come back!" I scream.
I do it more ferociously, pumping hard and shooting deep breaths into his mouth.
I keep repeating the sequence, and just as I begin to think all hope is gone, Loans eyelids flutter. Then they suddenly shoot open and he vomits out a load of water.
My eyes light up, I flip him onto his side and pat his back as he splutters up more of the lakes contents.
"Loan!" I shout, laughing and smiling. "I knew you would come back!"
When he's done he sits up wearily, looking around, then down at the river.
The others have surfaced, they're lying on the ground like fish out of water. Drenched and exhausted.
I'm exhausted too, but I've pushed it to the side so I can focus on more important matters.
"Wha... what happened?" Loan coughs.
"Your janky ass fell!" Stephen shouts, "and you pulled us along with you!"
Loans eyes shoot open and I immediately see guilt sow his features.
"That's not how it was!" I retort, shooting Stephen daggers and turning back to Loan.
"Stephen grabbed your ankle, and I'm glad he did or you would be dead right now. I in turn grabbed Stephen's and everyone else grabbed onto me and eachother. I could have let go and let you both shoot off, but I decided not too. So if anyone wants to spit out blame, I'm all ears."
Stephen huffs and turns away.
"I'm sorry" Loan says quietly.
"Don't be!" I reassure him, patting his back. "Mistakes happen, I'm just glad your okay."
I turn around and look at the rest of the crew. Farren, Marsh and me thankfully still have the bags, but they're unavoidably wet.
The others slowly sit up and I run around and grab the bags and Aloras fanny pack, carefully opening them and emptying them.
First off I check mine. Thankfully since I tied it in a back of the neck position and my head didnt go under, it's not soaked through. It's wet, but it's outside skin is waterproof material and the inside is fairly dry.
I yank out the remote, breathing a sigh of relief as I see the light blinking and the arrow still clear.
I empty the others. Farrens was holding the food and was slightly open, it's soaked through.
"This is drenched" I say, then quickly smile and laugh as Farrens face drops. "But it's nothing a little time drying out won't fix!"
I check Marsh's. It's thankfully like mine, the weapons and devices are in working order.
"I can't carry on today, Adriel" Alora whispers. "My legs and neck hurt."
Her complaining reminds me and I check my knee. Badly bruised, but nothing to worry about.
I ask everyone else if they're hurt.
Stephen has a cut on his head but it's not deep and has stopped bleeding.
Alora has what seems to be mild whiplash and just needs rest.
Loan was almost a drowning victim, but luckily he seems to be gaining strength by the minute.
Marsh insists he's absolutely fine, but he's visibly shaking. I want to push the matter but he might get mad. I don't want to de-man him in front of everyone so I'll ask again when I'm out of their earshot.
As I'm checking Aloras fannypack Farren walks over and sits next to me, smiling.
"That was really brave" she says, looking down at her hands. "If it wasn't for you we would all be dead, Thankyou Adriel."
1000 Farren points! She said I'm brave! Take that, Marsh!
I compose myself and shrug coolly.
"It was nothing" I laugh. "I just did what I had too."
"Well, I'm really thankful your so quick thinking" Farren giggles. "I have to say, I was in a full blown panic! Drowning has always been my worst nightmare."
"Well, fear no longer sweetheart!" I say in a terrible superhero mimic, "I would never have let that happen."
Farren laughs and smiles at me, looking into my eyes. Her face goes semi serious and my heart lurches.
We're having a moment. Moment detected! What do I do? Do I smile, do I laugh? No, why would I laugh? That would be weird!
I settle for a wink and regret it immediately. I don't know why I assumed I could wink, it looked more like a messed up twitch.
"What was that!" She laughs, doubling over.
I go red but try to hide it.
Thankfully my hero comes in the form of a whining Alora.
"Seriously Adriel, i can't keep going tonight. Can we sleep here?"
"Obviously we can't sleep here!" Stephen retorts, "we're sitting ducks!"
I think about it. It's true that we need rest, we can't continue without it. But it can't be here either. I look around. It's just dawned on me that we are in a completely different area. The ground is rocky here, but further ahead blue shrubby plants cover the ground, like blue grass tufts.
They're's also blue hills in the distance, and long tree-like yellow trunks with big blue leaves.
"I know we're tired, but we need to head out" I tell them. They all groan and protest but I hold my hand up. "Only to find a resting spot!" I laugh, "we need to get out of the open."
We stop and take a drink from the river, filling up the bottles flantloc gave us, then we gather everything and after a double and triple check, we head out.
We walk for a while, still due west. The landscape here is fascinating! A few worm like creatures slither across the ground and small rabbit-resembling animals scurry around.
When they're first spotted Stephen almost screams, but Flantloc said most of this planets inhabitants are harmless and he didn't point them out as otherwise, I also remember the worm ones being prey to the yereteins. I'm not worried about them. The rabbit ones look peculiar, they have small black flurry bodys and long ears pointing out to the side. I can't make out their facial features because they're super quick but they look kind of cute.
The trees are especially strange. I walk up to one and touch it. It feels like bark, but softer. It's leaves are huge and fan out, drooping down. I look under the leaves and see that this tree is growing fruit.
Little blue balls the size of a satsuma, they look squishy and similar to plums.
My stomach growls almost as in answer to the discovery and I suddenly realise how hungry I actually am.
"Hey Marsh?" I call.
Marsh walks over and looks up.
"Scan those" I tell him.
He pulls out the device and after fiddling, holds it up and scans the fruit.
"Comestible" it spits out. Aka, it's edible.
I reach up and grab one, it falls into my hand almost gratefully. It has pearls of moisture on its surface and is, like I thought, very squishy.
The others gather round, exhaustion momentarily clouded by curiosity and hunger.
"Who wants to try it first?" I ask.
Nobody answers, I get the sense they're scared to eat it and honestly, so am I.
But I trust Flantlocs technology. So I lean forward, close my eyes and take a small bite.
The skin pierces easily and the inside is soft and mushy. It tastes like sugar and honey mixed into a thick slime. Not very palatable in my opinion and the texture is off putting, but beggars can't be choosers. I open my eyes and look at the bite.
The inside is neon green and oozing out.
"Gross!" Alora howls. Ews and nopes fly from the others, but Farren bravely steps forward.
"What does it taste like?" She asks me.
I describe the taste and sensation to her and she shrugs, then leans forward and takes a bite.
She chews uncomfortably, then swallows and smiles. "I like it!" She laughs.
Farrens announcement intrigues the others and they all pull a fruit down, trying it in turn.
"It's grainy, but it's okay" Alora quips.
"It's decent enough!" Stephen adds.
"I could eat this all day!" Loan laughs, finishing his fruit and grabbing another.
Marsh chews slowly on his, looking around.
"We should grab more" he tells me. "We might not come across anything else like this."
I agree and we both open our bags and go tree to tree, stripping them of their fruit.
Moulding ones lie on the ground and I kick them around, then suddenly one of the small black rabbit animals bolts over and hides behind the tree I'm picking from.
Sceptically, I look around the tree and stare down at it. This close I can make out it's facial features.
It has an ant eater style mouth and two big dark eyes. It looks up at the fresh fruit then looks back at me. I see what it's getting at and pluck one off.
"You want one of these, little guy?" I ask it.
It doesn't make any sound, just shuffles it's legs around and stares up at the fruit.
I drop it on the ground and it pounces on it, then darts off. I stare after the creature, watching it disappear, then finish plucking the fruit.
"This should be enough" I tell Marsh as we meet back up and compare our hauls. "It's probably perishable after all."
We keep walking and eventually come close to the hills we saw. The dirt seems hard and rocky but the blue grass still covers most of it.
"Look over there!" Alora says, pointing.
"We look through the gap in the hills and in the distance, we see a fair sized mountain. It looks like it's made of dark blue rock and seems to have darker versions of the fruit trees surrounding it and on it.
I hold the remote up and smile.
"It's due west" I tell them.
"We could get a pretty neat view from there!" Stephen says.
"It might be beneficial to see from that height" Loan adds.
We nod in agreement.
"We need to rest first, there's no way we can climb that right now" Farren sighs.
We walk through the gap and to the left, I see a bunch of trees and shrubbery close together.
Taking caution, I walk towards it and push the shrubbery aside, finding a small clearing in the centre with just enough space to fit us. I scan the clearing. There's no evidence of life or that it already belongs to someone, the withered and rotten fruits and other shrubbery lie undisturbed.
I call the others over and they look around. We agree that it's as suitable as we will get and one by one we clamber through. Once inside Farren and Alora get to work on moving the fruit to one side and me, Marsh, Stephen and Loan pick up the fallen shrubbery and stuff the gaps, trying to obscure visibility as much as we can. Once we're satisfied we finally sit down.
"Thank god for that" Stephen sighs, curling up in a ball.
"Should we make a fire?" Alora asks.
"We shouldn't" Farren tells her. "The smoke will act as a signal to anything that might pass."
"She's right" Marsh says. "And it's warm enough to survive. If your hungry have more fruit or uncooked root."
"Actually" Loan says, grinning. "Don't we have chocolate?"
Everyone's face lights up and they turn to me. I've been carrying the fannypack and their eyes dart towards it.
"Why not!" I chuckle. "We have provisions after all."
I open the fannypack and pull out the bar, ripping the wrapper off and dividing it.
We share out the chocolate, laughing and joking. Then conversation turns serious.
"I hope my moms okay" Stephen says. "She doesn't have anyone other than me since dad died, I'm sure she's sick with worry. I wonder if they know what happened?"
"If the portal closed then they probably don't" Marsh says, munching his piece of chocolate gratefully.
"Wait" Farren says, "if that's the case, they will find Mr Katz's remains and us missing, so doesn't that mean.."
I realise what she's getting at and my blood runs cold.
"They will think we killed him!" Stephen realises, "how are we gonna prove otherwise if that's the case?!"
"Don't worry!" Farren laughs. "I've been documenting this whole journey! We have more than enough proof."
"They might think it's cgi!" Alora adds, finishing her chocolate. She turns to Loan and pulls a sad face. "Loan, I've finished mine. Don't you wanna share with me?"
"Alora, you pig!" Loan laughs, but never the less half's a piece and throws it to her. She catches it and gratefully shoves it in her mouth.
"You can prove the photos are genuine" I tell her.
"They can tell if somethings edited or not."
"I guess" Alora says. "I miss my mom too, and my dad. But most of all my big sister. She will be going crazy without me! We're best friends and do everything together other than science, she hates it. I wish I could let her know that I'm ok."
"Yeah, my grandparents will hit the roof!" Loan laughs. "They will totally think I've been kidnapped, they think I'm an angel."
"You, an angel?" Farren laughs. Loan picks up twigs and throws them at her.
"As for me, my mom and dad will likely be the same as your grandparents Loan. I've always been well behaved, never rebelled and got the best grades. They know I would never step a foot out of line. I don't know what I would do without them, I really hope they're okay."
I look over at Marsh. He's lying back staring at the sky.
I know why Marsh isn't speaking up or adding anything to this conversation. His mom and dad died in a car crash when he was 9 and he's lived with his uncle ever since. His uncle works a lot so Marsh is usually home alone, he doesn't have much family. He spends a lot of time at my house though, my mom knew his mom before she died, they were friends when we were little. She loves Marsh and treats him like another son.
"Yeah, my mom will be hitting the roof" I add, turning away from Marsh. "My brother will be ecstatic and will take the opportunity to go through all my stuff though. If he touches my comics he's gonna pay!"
We all laugh and quieten down, lying back and staring at the other worldly sky as we think about our separate lives and families.
After a while I begin to hear snoring. I look around and see everyone asleep, then my eyes fall on Farren. Her eyes are open and she's smiling at me.
She shuffles over and lies next to me.
"Not tired?" She whispers.
"I'm tired alright!" I respond, "just can't stop thinking."
"About what?" She asks sweetly. I turn and look at her. Her eyes seem to glow and her smile is just as radiant.
"My family" I answer honestly. "If those monsters have broken through, they might all be dead right now."
Farren lies in silence for a moment, then sighs.
"We can't dwell on that" she tells me, "we need to stay positive and hope for the best."
"I guess" I whisper.
"I have the same worries of course" she whispers, "but if we let them consume us we have already lost."
"We can't loose" I reply, "we need to make it back Farren. For our sake and everyone else's. I feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders."
"It is!" She laughs, "heavy, right?"
I look over at Farren again. I really want to tell her how I feel, but now just isn't the time. I gulp back my emotions and smile, then ruffle her hair.
"Let's try get some sleep" I tell her. "We've got a long day tomorrow."