Hamilton Academy: He's Always Watching

Part Three ~ Chapter Five

            “Trust me. I can read a map.” He shook the map out for emphasis. “Remember when you all tried to read a map? I think it’s best that I deal with this.”

            “Yeah, but you’re trying to lead us to a tree…” Johnny tried to reason.

            “Guys.” I stepped in between them, shutting them both up. “Kyle, what exactly is it telling us to do?”

            Kyle moved the map so it was in my view, pointing out the instructions that told us what to do next. Sure enough, they were telling us to look for a certain tree. At the top of this tree there was supposedly some supplies for our night at the cabin. The tree would be labeled though, with a large, green, star painted on it.

            “See! I was right!” Kyle cried indignantly. “Stop doubting me. It isn’t just a random tree, it’s labeled, and it has stuff we have to get in it.”

            “We didn’t doubt you,” Ethan explained carefully, trying not to hurt Kyle’s feelings. “It was just a little difficult to believe that they would send us looking for a tree in the woods.”

            “Well,” Kyle huffed. “They did. Now, we have to continue going this way.”

            We moved along the path carefully, watching out for roots and other things we could trip over. I had the backpack on me at the moment, the one with the gun, and it made me a little nervous. I didn’t know if I should feel safer with it, or nervous that we needed it. At least it wasn’t one of the boys holding onto it though; they might actually try to use it or something.

            Andrew and I seemed to have made an agreement of our own. Neither Amy nor Julia were to have the gun. Especially not Julia. She was still very…nervous around them…since Mrs. Grey had it pressed against her. Sure, there were no bullets in it, but she didn’t know that at the time. I’m sure it wasn’t a moment she would want to relive. Julia’s reaction to the gun was always the same; fear.

            Amy didn’t like it, I was sure, but she wasn’t anywhere near as afraid of it as Julia was. I wasn’t going to let either of them near the gun; I didn’t want anything to happen.

            “Just keep your eyes peeled for a green star, okay?” Kyle’s voice snapped me out of any thoughts of the gun and back to the trip. We needed to find that tree, it had all of the things we might need at the cabin. We had to stay for a night in the cabin before going the rest of the way up the mountain, and I didn’t know whether to look forward to a night alone in the cabin with them or not.

            One thing was for certain, Amy and Andrew would make it rather entertaining.

***

            Pushing through branches and dodging roots was getting old, and I knew that we were all wishing the tree could just fall from the sky and land in front of us. A tree was not an easy thing to find, even when labeled. Even Kyle had been a little mopey about it.

"I'm sure it's nearby. The map doesn't say exactly how long it will take, but I'm sure they wouldn't send us looking for a tree for any longer than half an hour."

"Kyle," Johnny started. "We've been at this for four hours. We are supposed to arrive at the cabin in one and a half hours. If we don't get there at six like they told us we should, it'll get dark soon."

"Relax, relax. We are all alive with no scratches or cuts. Think positive." Even as she said it though, Amy sounded a bit dreary. 

"I'd rather be dead than searching for a tree in the woods," Julia muttered. "This is incredibly stupid."