Survivor

9| Safe Haven

The next 5 minutes of walking that followed were a little bit awkward. Nobody was talking and everyone seemed nervous about the choice we made to move left. Well, everyone but me. I could still hear it, nay, I could smell it even. Everything in me was screaming that there was a water source, and they had to trust me.

However, everything was just barely detectable, and I knew the guys weren't going to just blindly trust me without some kind of proof. So, everyone walked in silence and I was just patiently waiting for Jake and the others to get close enough to hear it for themselves. Soon enough, they were finally on board.

"Oh my god! I can hear it!" Luke shouted in a tone that indicated complete surprise. Clearly, he didn't believe I was leading them towards anything useful. Jake stopped walking then to have a listen for himself.

"Holy shit... I can too!" He exclaimed.

My subconscious was just itching to shoot every single one of them with a smug I told you so, but considering the circumstances I bit my tongue and decided to get on board with their enthusiasm.

They all picked up their pace as we headed towards the sound. I was going to mention maybe slowing down so they didn't completely burn themselves out since I assumed the water to still be about a mile away, but hey, nobody listened to me anyway.

At his quick pace, we arrived at a break in the trees not long after. The sight was beautiful! I couldn't believe what I was seeing; like a ray of light in an otherwise dark room. There was a medium sized waterfall careening down into a small lake that, If you followed it closely, turned into a river further downstream, pouring into a series of mini-waterfalls.

"Oh my god!" I basically squealed as I perked up on Jakes back, "it's SO beautiful! Don't you think?" He grunted as I shifted around. He was breathing so hard I wasn't sure if he was going to answer, but he nodded his head as he trudged toward where some of the other guys were gathered. A few of them got here a little sooner since they were carrying less weight.

"Dude, you made it," Nathan panted.

"Welcome to paradise," Luke smiled although his smile wasn't quite as bright. They were all absolutely gassed and I could tell. It had been a long day, but at least we made it to some sort of safe haven.

Instead of crouching this time, Jake dropped down to his hands and knees so I could slide off. I planted my good leg on the ground and swung my bad leg over... a bit too fast. The weight of the backpack and lack of balance on just one foot sent me falling over directly onto my side. My cheeks heated in embarrassment.

"First day on the new feet sweetie?" Adam said with a chuckle as he appeared behind me.

"Oh lay off Adam," Jake said as he quickly pulled me up into a sitting position, "are you okay?" He asked as his green eyes bore into mine. His lips twitched at the corners and I could tell he wanted to chuckle at my misfortune also, but was trying to be nice. I almost didn't comprehend he asked me because he was so gorgeous. I was a bit distracted by the beads of sweat dripping down his face and onto his neck.

"Yeah I'm good," I said, quickly snapping out of it and not wanting to be caught staring.

"I was just teasing man; sorry if I offended you Cassie," Adam said.

"It's fine, I'm a clumsy person," I said with a shrug. 

"Well, this looks like a good place to spend the night! We should get a fire going first to boil some water," Cam said.

"Yeah. There was a pot attached to one of the backpacks right?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, I carried that one. I'll go grab it," Wes confirmed.