The next morning I woke up earlier than usual. Having had yet another strange dream about what I was almost sure to be an alien as Grayson described, I went over the parts of the dream I remembered. His looks stood out for obvious reasons, but the strange look he got at the end of the dream made my suspicions rise. Was my subconscious trying to tell me something?
Bastion rolled over, his blue eyes running over me as he studied me. He noticed I looked concerned and maybe even uncomfortable. He sat up and looked at me, making eye contact. I saw the worry in his eyes before he whispered to me.
"What's going on, Morgan? Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I've just had some strange dreams for the past few nights. Probably just all the stress of our situation," I answered with a hushed tone. He nodded at me and looked around.
"Everyone else is sleeping still," he commented. "When are Maddie and Dylan going out?" he glanced over at them sleeping peacefully together. I shrugged unsure of the answer to his question.
"I'm not sure, really. I'm assuming whenever they wake up," I stated. He nodded once more before laying back down.
I could not get back to sleep after my conversation with Bastion, too much weighing on my mind. The sun was barely shining yet, keeping the cool night air trapped. I decided some fresh air would do me some good, possibly helping to clear my mind. I slowly pulled the blanket off myself, making sure it stayed on Bastion's once again sleeping body. I slowly walked towards the cave opening as I pulled my hoodie over my head and over my body. I stood and took a deep breath, letting the cool, fresh morning air fill my lungs.
I stood there for a good three to five minutes, letting the air soak into my skin and hair. I had relaxed myself against a rock against the cave wall when I noticed movement in the forest. I squinted my eyes, attempting to get a better view of whatever it was. Had Bex and Garret come back, I wondered.
I could hardly make out a shape, more or less just the color of it. I could tell whatever it was had black hair or maybe black clothing. I kept staring, trying as hard as I could to identify the suspect, but after several moments passed, whatever it was disappeared into the forest out of my sight.
After the strange sighting, I returned back into the cave when I heard some groans and giggles coming from the group behind me. Maddie was being tickled by Dylan and Lizzy was being poked and shaken by John. I smiled at the obnoxious couples and walked back to the group.
I sat down next to Kaylee who was curled up in a blanket. "Hey, how are you holding up, hun?" I asked softly. She shrugged and looked at her legs.
"I'm not really sure. All this is happening so fast and nobody knows anything right now," she said softly.
"I know. It is scary. We really have no way of knowing anything until we get some sort of cell signal or maybe if Bex comes back," I say in return.
"If she comes back that is," Kaylee said with a sigh.
I looked over to Bastion who gave a sympathetic look before returning back to his own conversation with Cade. I glanced back over to Kaylee before exchanging a glance with Lizzy and Maddie and moving over to sit near them. We mingled a bit before the sun came up enough for the scouts to begin looking for better shelter or water.
Maddie and Dylan packed a single backpack with things they would need if they found water or shelter that was better for our group. Grayson warned them that if they saw anything suspicious run back as fast as they could, and try not to be seen by anyone or anything. They nodded and waved before leaving the cave, pushing each other playfully as they went.
The rest of us stood around before looking toward Grayson and Cade got ready to investigate the cave more. They did not pack as much as Dylan and Maddie, only a pocket knife each, rope, and flashlights with replacement batteries.
"If anything happens, scream. We will come back as fast as we can," Cade said, looking mostly at Kaylee. She nodded along with the rest of us as the two boys began walking deeper into the dark cave.
Maddie's POV
We left the cave, pushing and shoving each other as we normally did. We did not really take this 'mission' seriously, we just wanted to have a little fun and play around. Though things were scary, we kept our fun loving spirits high. We hiked about a mile or two before a source of running water could be heard. We ran as fast as we could, losing our trail on the way, trying to get to the mystery stream.
As soon as the stream came into vision, both of our clothes came flying off except our under wear and my bra. We jumped into the stream and started splashing and playing. We ran up and down the stream, skipping rocks, splashing and drenching ourselves in the cool fresh water.
While Dylan and I splashed around, I heard a snap come from the nearby forest. Dylan did not seem to hear it as he kept splashing rocks into the stream. I stopped and looked towards the direction the sound had come from. I furrowed my eyebrows as I saw a dark figure in the forest.
"Dude! There's something over there!" I yelled, not actually thinking what I was doing. Dylan stopped and laughed at me, his blue eyes confused and skeptical.
"Where?" he questioned, water dripping from his hair. I pointed in the direction of where I saw the figure but nothing was there. Dylan splashed me with a giant wave of water and we went back to playing in the stream.
After we had had our fun, we pulled our towels out and dried off and put our clothes back on. After pulling my second shoe on, I looked up to see where Dylan was in his clothing process. To my surprise, he was not anywhere in sight.
"Dylan! Not funny, come out. We have to head back soon!" I yelled, waiting for him to start laughing and jump out. Once again, to my surprise, nothing. The forest had gone completely silent. All I could hear was my heart thumping in my head.
"Dylan?!" I yelled again. Nothing. I began to feel my chest grow tight as I became increasingly anxious. I began to panic, yelling Dylan's name and saying whatever joke he was playing on me was no longer funny. I began to beg for him to come out when a few minutes passed and no sign of him was seen or heard.
I decided I had to head back as fast as I could, but I could not remember exactly where the trail was. We strayed off at least a quarter mile, and I only knew a vague direction to head in. Even with my lost position, I ran in the direction I thought the trail was.
After twenty minutes of running, I still was not at the trail. Just how far off were we? I kept looking around, desperately searching for clues or landmarks that I could identify. The panic had gotten to every nerve of my body by now. Every snap, crunch or whistle in the forest made me jump. I kept running, desperately trying to find the trail.
I noticed the sun was slightly going down, making the time around three or four in the afternoon. We must have been in the stream longer than I expected. Shit, I cursed mentally. Behind me, I heard a loud crash in the forest, like a decent sized tree had just fallen hard. I jumped as the noise startled me, and I began my run again.
After another hour of running and fast walking, I realized I was nowhere near where the trail was. I was lost completely. I sat down, exhausted from running and panicking. I put my head into my knees and warm wet drops began to run down my cheeks. I was lost and there was nothing and nobody around to help me get back. Where had Dylan gone? Why did he leave me alone in the first place?. So many questions filled my head as it began to ache.
As I sat with my hands over my head, my head pounding and my heart aching from anxiety, a low growl came from nearby. I jumped up, causing my head to throb. I looked around, trying to see the source of the growl. I looked behind the tree I was sitting near, and that would be the last sight I would ever see.
Standing behind that tree was a man with silver hair and dark black eyes. He was in all black from head to toe, not a single color was to be seen on him. The anger and power radiated off of him, and I knew he was nothing to be messed with. My eyes widened as a gun was held up at me, and an evil smile that said he was happy to get rid of me came as he pulled the trigger and my world went black.
Morgan's POV
We waited for hours for any sign of either of the teams. We sat and talked about possible next plans of action. Kaylee was so over stressed, she laid down and slept for a long time. Lizzy and John had made several trips around the area of camp looking for food or signs of life.
Bastion waited anxiously at the mouth of the cave for anyone to return. Bex and Garret had not been heard from since they left, not that there was any way for them to inform us on anything. Maddie and Dylan had been gone for quite a few hours now, and we were all starting to become nervous for them.
Cade and Grayson walked out of the darkness of the cave, looking dirty, slightly wet, and disappointed. Kali ran up to them, hugging them both tightly before asking what happened. They both sat down, followed by Kali, Bastion and myself. They wrapped themselves in blankets and took their dirtiest clothes off.
"Well," Cade began. "There wasn't much besides spiders and other creepy crawlies back there. We hiked for a long time but there was nothing significant in here. Must be a pretty deep cave system. It would take days to search it all," Cade said with a sigh. We all looked at him slightly disappointed in the news.
Grayson picked his head up and looked around.
"Did Dylan and Maddie come back yet?" he asked with a worried expression. He glanced around at everyone before John spoke up.
"No, we haven't heard or seen them since they left," he explained as I straightened my lips. We all grew silent, as we all knew what possible end they had come to.
We all waited up well past dark, with still no sign of either of our missing friends. If the tension and emotion was not high already, it was through the cave's stone roof now.
"Maybe they got lost. Should we send a second team out to find them?" Kaylee asked. I looked over at her and nodded lightly.
"Maybe. What do you think guys?" I asked looking at the rest of our group. They all nodded at Kaylee and I.
"I'll go," John said. I nodded at him as Lizzy spoke up next me.
"Well he's not going without me!" she said, crossing her arms.
"And I'm going too, they might need an extra hand!" Grayson spoke up. Nodding to one another we came to our agreement.
"John, Liz, Grayson, stay on the trail. No matter what you see, stay on the trail. If you find evidence of them, come straight back. Cade, I think you should go too. That way everyone is in pairs. Kaylee, Morgan and I will stick around the cave and do a look around. Do not stray, that could have been why they didn't come back. These woods are thick and it's easy to get lost," Bastion said, confirming our plan of action for the next day.
We all nodded and returned once again to our sleeping bags and blankets. We exchanged glances and emotional looks before everyone got into sleeping positions. I knew I would not sleep well, but I had to try. There was so much running through my head I did not even notice when I finally drifted off.