Where We Come From ✅ [Complete]

Chapter 15: Contact

On the third day around midafternoon, the trio finally make it to the summit of the mountain range. They’re tired and exhausted but feel relieved at arriving. After a quick fifteen minutes of catching their breaths and drinking some water, Ash takes out the tablet and radio and turns it on. Bellamy is busy surveying the area, looking for unknown dangers and so far, he sees none. The area they’ve chosen has a little buffer area of some bushes on the west and north side of them. Towards the east, there’s a little clearing where they can set up camp and on the south there are some tall trees that can provide a little shade during the day and help hide their position if anything should come their way. As for Raven, she’s checking on their food and water rations. “Guys, we have food for two more days but it took us three days to get here and we don’t know how long we’re gonna stay,” she comments as she searches the other backpacks hoping to find more food.

“Don’t worry Rae, if we run out, I’ll get some more. In fact, while you guys do your thing, I’ll go set up some snares around here . Maybe I can get something and save what we have for later,” Bellamy tells her. “Okay, sounds good Bell but don’t go too far please. I’ll set up the tents in the meantime,” she says, already opening one of the tent bags and taking out its contents to assemble it.

“Come on! Come on! Work damn it!” Ash yells in frustration. The signal on the app is low; at times it spikes to one more bar but quickly goes back down to the last bar. Without contact, she can’t access the camera so she tries sending a text, but still, nothing. She has been at this for the past hour and no contact has been made. She has also tried the radio but there’s only static. She walks around the clearing trying to amplify the signal but there’s still no communication. “Hey Rae, why isn’t this working?” she asks Raven for the tenth time.

“Because the signal is low. I’ve told you we need a higher point,” Raven responds, as she rolls her eyes back at Ash again. “Well there’s nothing higher than this mountain so we have to find another way and fast! We only have two more days or we’re screwed!” she yells at Rae. Raven looks up but there is no higher position than this mountain peak.

“The tablet is showing one bar right? Well, what if we climb one of the trees like this one!” Raven points to the tallest tree in the area.

“That’s a good idea Rae but um… do you know how to climb a tree cause I sure as hell don’t know,” Ash says irritably.

“Hey! I’m here trying to help and you’re shooting down each point I make! What’s your problem Ashley?” Raven huffs out as a small growl slips her lips.

“I know! I know Rae. It’s just that we only have two more days and I’ll be damned if we can’t make contact. I’m sorry,” Ash says frustrated; she feels incompetent and like a huge failure. Raven walks to her and pulls her tightly by the waist towards her.

“I know, I know Ash but we’ll make it work, I promise,” she tells Ash softly while caressing her back gently. Ash wraps her arms around Raven’s waist and her face unconsciously seeks out the alpha’s neck and inhales deeply taking in Raven’s scent. She doesn’t know what to compare the alpha’s scent to but she likes it. A few minutes of silence while holding each other, they duo slowly part and Ash says nervously,

“Thanks Rae, I needed that. We’re gonna be okay, we have to.” Raven just nods and feels as Ash’s warmth slowly leaves her body; she feels a little sad. She’s always had a little crush on Ash but has never acted upon it because, “She’s an Elite and I’m just - I’m just me,” she thinks to herself. She vowed to always be a friend and nothing more because “more” is impossible for them.

Leaving those thoughts behind, Raven says politely, “Come on Ash, how hard can it be to climb a tree. Just follow my lead. If we can climb ladders I think we can climb a tree.” After a while Raven mutters, “This is so much harder than climbing a ladder, fuck!” She hears as Ash chuckles and asks playfully, “Is this the part where I tell you ‘I told you so’?” Ash hears as Raven mumbles something and then continues climbing all the way grumbling and she just laughs.