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.
"Thank God this was a survival trip so we actually do have a lot of good materials to help us survive out here," Nathan pointed out.
"Yeah true. Too bad one of the requirements was leaving your phone behind," Luke said with an eye roll. "Now would be a really good time to call someone."
"Here's the pot," Wes said as he came back over to the group. "I need one of you guys to go and get the water though. I won't be able to carry it with one arm once it's full."
"I got it," Jake offered as he stood up and took the pot from Wes.
"Anyone want to help me get some firewood?" Nathan asked as he got up off the ground. I caught him flinch a little bit as he bent his torso in an odd way to stand.
"I'll come," Luke and Adam volunteered at the same time.
"Me too," Cam said, walking over to one of the backpacks and pulling out a small axe.
This was a trip that required weapons, although there were restrictions. We were not allowed to bring guns which would have came in handy now, but was definitely a reasonable request. I brought an army knife and my retractable bow and arrow kit, although who knew if that made it out of the plane. I watched the 4 of them head off into a wooded area, and I felt a pang of guilt for not being helpful.
I decided I could at least scope out the surroundings a bit. I looked around the beautiful valley, taking in the river and the mountains in the distance. I moved my attention to the main waterfall. It wasn't huge or anything, but it was definitely a sight for sore eyes at this point. I was staring at it when I noticed something in the rock wall next to it.
We were sitting a bit away, so it was hard to tell, but it kind of looked like a cave. I wanted to get closer to be sure and I could have sworn I saw a pair of binoculars hanging off of a backpack earlier. Being careful of my ankle, I rose to my feet and started to hop on one leg towards the backpacks.
"Woah there..." Wes said as he ran over to me. "Where are you going?"
"To the backpacks. I want the binoculars," I explained as I jumped forward again and wobbled. I really was a clumsy person so balancing on one leg was not my strong suit.
"Okay, well let me help you! We don't need you falling again," he said with a chuckle as he wrapped his good arm around my waist.
"Ugh. I'm fine but if you insist," I said as I hooked my arm around his neck and used him as a crutch. He was also very strong. I could tell by the way he was half carrying me as we walked and I could feel the muscles in his arm and chest flexing with our movements. We arrived at the backpacks and he grabbed onto my hand to assist me to the ground.
"Thanks Wes," I said as I began to look around in the backpacks.
"No problem. So how come you want the binoculars so bad?"
"I think I see something and I want to be sure... AHA!" I exclaimed when I found what I was looking for.
I scrambled to my feet quickly, and only wobbled a little before Wes steadied me with his arm around my lower back.
"Jeez, Cassie slow down. I could have helped you up," he said.
"You could have, but I can get up on my own too; don't want to inconvenience anyone," I said with a shrug and raised the binoculars to my face. Wes continued to stand behind me with his arm around my waist. I was used to being so independent that all of this concern and assistance was new to me, and it wasn't easy to get used to.
"You're impossible," he sighed. "Did you find what you're looking for?"
I focused the binoculars onto the spot in the rocks. I still couldn't really tell, but it looked like there was a hole at the top above a large boulder that made me think it was a cave, but I didn't know how big it was.
"Kind of... do you see that big rock back there next to the waterfall?" I asked as I pointed to where it was.
"Ummmm kind of?" He replied.
"Here look through these," I said and passed him the binoculars. "I think that there may be a cave there behind it, but I can't really tell."
He let go of my waist to hold the binoculars and I held onto his shirt for balance while he looked.
"Hmmm... Oh! Okay I see what you're saying. I can't really tell though. Wanna go check it out?" He asked.
"I do, but you and I aren't exactly the most physically able at the moment. I mean together we're missing an arm and a leg," I so eloquently pointed out.
"What are we looking at over here?" Jake asked from behind me and I jumped and grabbed Wes's shirt tighter. His footsteps were so quiet.
"Jeez Jake you scared me!" I exclaimed as I turned around to see him and Derek standing behind us. He was smirking like he had meant to. "We are looking at this big rock next to the waterfall... does that look like there could be a cave there to you? Wes and I were thinking of going to check it out," I explained while Wes handed the binoculars to Jake.
"Hmmm... I don't know. It could be but it's hard to tell. It may be worth taking a look though," he agreed as he passed the binoculars to Derek.
"Oh yeah! Let's go see!" Derek said with enthusiasm.
"Should we wait for the others to come back with the firewood so they know where we are?" I asked.
"Nah they'll be fine. There's 4 of them and 4 of us. Plus, they'll be able to see us if we're just going to the waterfall," Derek said. "Here Cass, I'll carry you this time so Jake can have a rest. Hop up!" He encouraged as he walked in front of me and crouched down. I set my hands on this broad shoulders and launched myself up. It was a little easier to get onto his back because he was a little shorter than Jake, but he felt like he had the same muscle mass. He easily hoisted me higher and began to walk toward what we hoped was a cave.
"Wait! Shouldn't we bring a flashlight to see inside?" I asked.
"Oh right," Derek said as he stopped walking.
"Go ahead guys, I'll grab one and catch up with you," Jake said before turning around and sprinting for the backpacks.
"So Cassie, did you know Jake before this trip?" Derek asked me. I was surprised not only by the question but a little by his accusing tone.
"No. I just met him on the plane. I was seated next to him," I shuddered at the thought of the plane but tried to push the thoughts away. We were all in survival mode now and there was no time to be weak. "How come?" I continued to distract myself.
"Just wondering. He seems to be pretty protective of you, that's all," Derek shrugged.
I chuckled a little at this. "No offense Derek, but you're all coming off as a little protective. Hell, Wes came sprinting over to help me when all I was doing was heading to the backpacks."
"Hey now; You were wobbly and could have fallen! I was just trying to help," Wes chuckled and threw his one hand up in defeat.
"Huh, yeah I guess you have a point there. You just remind me of someone, so maybe that's why I feel like I need to protect you. But with Jake, I think it's something more. I actually know the guy and he usually doesn't act the way he has today," Derek explained.
This brought up a lot of questions for me. First, who was it that I reminded Derek of? Second, how did Derek and Jake know each other? And third, what exactly did he mean by how Jake was acting? The stress of the situation alone could change how a person acts. I was about to ask some of my questions when I could hear Jake approaching behind us.
I would just have to talk to Derek later.
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Hi!
This chapter also got long so once again I split it into two. That's going to be the case for a lot of my chapters. Originally I was writing them and they ended up like 4000 words a chapter! I realize most people on here read on the go so as I'm editing it I've been splitting them in half. This one I forgot to delete the second part off of for a while so sorry if you read it and it was duplicated in the next chapter. I wonder what Derek means about Jake? Interesting stuff. Anyway, thanks for reading!
-Haley