The Mysterious Quest

Chapter 12: Re-Uniting at Camp and Bitter Sweet Goodbyes

Jake's POV

When we reached our campsite I sat down on the moist ground of dirt and grass, and leaned against a tree, watching my friends collect around the camp and rest after a long day of walking and jogging. Birds chirped around us, unaware of what had just occurred, or the death that had happened not too far away. Eliza sat down next to me and laid her head on my shoulder, I froze. I lifted the leg of my pants and looked at my leg, my fingers brushed against the wound and pain shot up my leg. I grimaced. I looked around at my surroundings, the large oak trees encircling the small encampment that we had made, the birds chirping away happily at each other, the squirrels fighting over which nut to have. The gentle sway of the branches, moving methodically in the wind. I wondered what would happen if Lord Grekkel had found us, what would I do with such injury, I would be useless to defend my friends.

"Stop worrying Jake, we are fine here, Derek chose this spot intentionally so they wouldn't find us, we have to relax now" Eliza softly spoke. She stood and the right side of my body went cold and I wished Eliza still laid there. She turned around and offered me a hand to get up, which I gratefully took. She pulled me up and I limped over to my tent, I pushed through the nylon door, the material rustling as I walked through. I sat down on my sleeping bag and took a deep breath, the air not as fresh as outside. I heard rustling from the tent door and Eliza crawled through, dirt fresh on her palms from crawling in the mud. I turned towards Eliza, "Hey, I'm gonna get some rest, I am really tired, you should get some, we all should, we have had a long day" I said to her. I crawled into my sleeping bag feeling the warmth around me almost instantaneously. I heard a Ziiippppp from the tent entrance, and with that, I succumbed to the darkness known as sleep.

I awoke to the smell of food, a salty, juicy, and meaty smell, which gave me enough energy to get up and out of bed. I saw Eliza tending to the pan on the camp stove, with bacon bubbling in its fatty oils. Around the stove were paper plates, each with plastic forks and knives on the plate. I looked around, again in awe of the beauty of nature, the sunlight streaming through the branches of the trees, the birds chirping away, hoping to find a mate, or to tell the other birds that two tall bipedal creatures are roaming about. I sat down on the soft grass, still moist from this morning's dew on the different blades. I rubbed my hands against my eyelids hard, hoping to rub the grogginess out of my system, but it didn't work. Eliza turned her head to look at me and smiled. "Still not a morning person, are you Jake?" she said teasingly. Eliza turned back to the bacon, which was now turning a golden brown color, and the smell was overpowering. Eliza scooped up the bacon from the pan and dropped it on a plate which was in the middle of all the other plates. Eliza stood and turned to me, "Jake, I'm going to wake the others, don't eat anything yet, we have to wait for the others, okay?" she said to me. I nodded in approval.

I looked around. The morning sky wasn't as nice looking as yesterday's, but still had a lot of sunlight. A wave of gray clouds in the distance was slowly moving towards us and I had a feeling that in a small amount of time it wasn't going to be very sunny. Somewhere in the distance thunder rumbled. The birds were chirping up a storm this morning and woodpeckers were drilling away at trees around us, searching for their breakfast, which most likely didn't compose of bacon. I heard footsteps from behind me. I turned to see Eliza coming over, with all my other friends following suit. Eliza sat down next to me and started scooping bacon into her plate. After putting the clippers back, E-doh picked them up and started to dig in. I knew that it would be a while until it would be my turn to grab some bacon, so I did an unspeakable action, I grabbed one of Eliza's bacon pieces. I popped it into my mouth and, Holy Moly, it was heaven. The bacon was crunchy, and the juices still left inside of it exploded with flavor. I moaned in delight. Eliza punched my shoulder angrily, "Jake, what the hell! Wait your turn and get bacon yourself!" I laughed. I heard the sound of the scoopers being dropped onto the middle plate, Derek looked at me and said, "Take the rest, we all took our portions" I happily agreed and scooped the rest onto my plate, I stared at the bacon hungrily, I couldn't wait.