“Vale?”
He looks up, his eyes shining. “She’s amazing.”
“She is,” I agree. “So, what do we want to do about it?”
He stands up, smiling. “We keep playing. She’s going to lose, eventually. She can’t protect them forever.”
We make our way back down to the trail and find everyone waiting for us.
“What even was that creature?” Kendall says and pulls out an inhaler and sprays it into his mouth.
“It was a wolverine!” Vale says with a shrug of his shoulders. “I was exploring, and I stumbled across its kill.”
“Why the fuck did you run straight back towards us, man?” Quincy hollers.
Vale, through the acting of the century, shrugs and looks embarrassed. “I panicked. I couldn’t get it to stop following me.”
Quincy stares at him and then starts to laugh. “Your weakness is Wolverines. Good to know, Vale. I thought you were a damn superhero with no weaknesses up to this point.”
“I defy anyone not to run when confronted with a pissed-off wolverine!” Vale says in his defense.
“Maybe leading it to the group, not such a hot idea,” Bonnie says with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.
“I’m really sorry, everyone,” Vale says, chastised.
“You’re going to be!” Kota snaps and leaps on Vale, dragging him to the dirt and punching him lightly.
Bonnie rolls her eyes.
“We should get out of here in case it comes back.”
I’m not worried about it coming back. Cyn took care of it. He’s the most terrifying thing in this forest, but if that’s what Bonnie wants to do, then that’s what we do.
It takes a couple of minutes, but we’re back to walking. We’ve been heading up in altitude all day, climbing rocks and following thin trails made by animals.
“Right,” Bonnie says after she’s called a halt. “We’re about to enter a section with a steep fall on one side. I need everyone to listen to me carefully. There are guide ropes, but I want you to go slow and easy. If anyone has any trouble, shout out, but otherwise, just keep moving. Our camp for the night is on the other side.”
I’m not sure how she maneuvers it, but the alphas are mixed with the betas with no way for us to influence things. I grind my teeth, but I’m relieved to know she’s with us.
“Perhaps he’ll do us a favour and fall to his death on his own.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, that wouldn’t be fun at all,” Kota growls.
Bonnie stays at the start of the track, talking them through one at a time. There’s a sheer cliff on one side and a steep hill down on the other.
They stop moving.
“What’s going on?” Bonnie shouts.
“Nathan can’t get through, he’s frozen!” Rojer shouts.
“Shit!”
I drop my pack down and launch onto the trail before she can go. It’s much harder than I anticipated it would be. My foot slides out on the shale before I can catch myself. I jump up at the cliff wall and spider my way around to where I find Nathan hugging the cliff. He’s not even halfway, but if he gets past this part, it will be easy to pass.
I drop behind him, grab his pack, drag him down, and shove him forward.
“Fucking move before you kill everyone.”
