Project: Socialize (Chapters 198-Continued) [Hiatus]

217. Trapped

"Everyone calm down," Mura forced out in a calm voice as she tried to tranquilize the situation. However, I can tell by the subtle expressions on her face as well as the tone of her voice that she was also worried and was simply faking it. "There must be another way across. We just have to find it."

"I wouldn't recommend looking for it now," I said as I rose to my full height. "It's dark out. Plus it's getting colder. It'll be extremely dangerous."

"Then we find someplace we can stay for the night," Muria calmly announced.

"Noah," Alvelyn called over to Noah. "You still have the lighter on you?"

"Yeah," Noah reached into his pant pocket and pulled out the lighter.

"Then we can start a fire," I nodded and observed. "We need to gather some firewood fast. We also need to stay in a group to not get lost."

"Someone take the flashlight and go look for firewood," Loyd suggested. "I'll go look for a place to stay for the night."

"Someone go with him," Mura added. "It's too dangerous."

"Preferably it's a cave," I sighed. "But if not, a clearing surrounded by trees will have to do. I'll go with you."

"Take the flashlight with you," Mura insisted. "You're gonna be walking around the forest. We can just use the flashlight on our phones."

"Alright then," Loyd nodded. On his face was an expression of a calm uncertainty. He seemed to be worried but still able to retain most of his composure.

Loyd and I then set out on our own, making our way away from the group in search of shelter. We walked in silence as we trod through the cold forest with the circular light from the flashlight illuminating the path ahead of us. The moon overhead has been covered by the clouds, so we were left with basically only the flashlight.

I rubbed my hands together to generate heat and brought them close to my mouth. I huffed a breath of warm air into them and wasn't surprised when another white cloud appeared and faded away.

"Temperature's dropping fast," Loyd muttered to me as we continued. He too was breathing hot air into his cold hands. In addition to that, whenever he would stop, the hand holding the flashlight would shiver, causing the light source to tremble and be unsteady in its illumination. "What the hell happened?"

I didn't tell him about what I had discovered about the ropes. Telling him or anyone else wouldn't help. Instead, it would make things worse. Having everyone be in anymore panic would just prove detrimental. It would lower morale and make them harder to mobilize.

"You see anywhere we can use as shelter?" Loyd asked me.

"No," I muttered. "If we want a cave, we have to get closer to that cliff."

I looked up and at the tall wall of rocks that served as a cliff to a mountain of some sort.

"If there's gonna be a cave, then it's gotta be there..." I frowned as I thought about the bridge.

We're not alone on this mountain.

After walking up to the face of the cliff, we searched around for a cave of some sort that we could use to escape from the cold temperature outside. As we searched, the temperature dropped even further. We shivered due to the cold as we searched, and the cold hindered our motion as it numbed our limbs. However, we continued to push on, knowing that surviving the night out without cover in this temperature would be extremely difficult.

After a minute or two, I realized something cold touch the back of my neck. This caused me to pause in my steps and look up at the sky. I reached a hand out, and sure enough, I felt something cold make contact with my naked hand. White particles were now floating down from the heavens above.