The Lost Civilization

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟹: 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚆𝚊𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍?

As we walked through the mountains on the trail, I couldn't help but catch myself gazing around at the beauty of all of the scenery that nature provided around us. It was almost like a fairytale movie. Beautiful pine trees stood tall in every direction. The sky had now turned to a brighter blue, with less clouds blocking it. Bushes and foliage lied and hung all around. I couldn't help myself from gazing around, that was until when I looked way ahead and saw Maxwell standing turned away from us, using a large pine tree as a urinal.. is how I'll put it.

"Jeez, Max! Why you got to do that in our vicinity?" Joked Serenity. You could hear Maxwell zip his jeans back up right before turning towards us and throwing his hands in the air, "A man has got to do what a mans gotta do!"

As Maxwell started to take lead through the forest again, Victoria turned a glance towards Serenity and I, holding her pointer finger to her lips and silently shushing us. We look at her in confusion for a moment. She took off running towards Max and launched herself like a rocket into the air. Somehow landing on his back pretty softly. He fell forward a bit as it was unexpected, but caught himself within a brief second. They both laughed and I piped in, "Damn, don't break his back with that rocket launch before we even make it through the first night."

Suddenly, the joking quickly turned to complete silence as we all heard a screeching noise. Victoria hopped off of Maxwell's back, looking around, but seemed to be less nervous than she should be. It sounded like someone screaming way off in the distance. Miles away possibly. It wasn't a normal, terrified scream though. It was an eerie, high pitched one.

"Did you hear that?" Serenity whispered, her voice trembling just a bit. I nervously replied to her, "Unfortunately, I did."

Victoria was apparently having no part of acting like she just heard the sound that everyone else did, "Oh my gosh! It was probably a mountain lion or something." She said in an almost irritated or annoyed tone.
"Is a mountain lion any better?" I replied back to her, with a slightly smart tone. I wasn't trying to be bitchy, but I'm starting to second guess this whole trip idea now.

"As long as we watch our surroundings, we will be fine. If we encounter one, just make yourself try to appear bigger than it. Walk backwards slowly away. I'm sure it was nothing though," Maxwell chipped in seemingly trying to comfort everyone's nerves. Maxwell was pretty educated on wildlife and all types of animals near and far, so I wanted to believe him. The uncertainty in his voice made me question his statement though. "Can we please continue now?" Victoria asked impatiently.

After a brief look around making eye contact with everyone, Maxwell tried giving a reassuring smile to everyone and began walking forward again. We all followed, Maxwell in the lead with Serenity and I trailing not far behind him, while Victoria walked in the main back alone. I'm not sure if she's angry or annoyed with us. I hope not. She is trailing a pretty good distance behind though, almost out of sight. I just want this to be an enjoyable experience for everyone. Maxwell, Serenity, and I carried on more conversation to try and forget the unexpected occurrence we just had so quickly into our journey.

The nerves and panic quickly came back. There was a rustling of leaves far behind us, but very loud. Victoria let out a loud scream simultaneously with the sound of the rustling leaves. We all quickly turned around, looking around and seeing Victoria no where in sight. "Victoria?!" We all screamed together in a frantic panic. We started running back on the trail where we had just walked, trying to find Victoria. Serenity was in the lead and came to a dead halt, turning her attention to the shrubbery along the tree line to our right, mumbling out an, "Oh God."