Patagonia

No Way Out

~Jasper~

"Can you hold me?" Abby asked me with shielded eyes lowering to the ground as a blush crept up her face. In all honesty, I was stunned by her request, but considering the circumstances I hardly held it against her.

Wordlessly, I shifted my position to crawl further beneath the shade of my makeshift lean-to. My arms went around her. She shuddered beneath my hands before her arms hesitantly wrapped around my torso. Her rain-dampened, curly mop of hair was brushed against my shoulder while her fingers tightened around my waist.

"I'm sorry...I know this is weird...I'm just really scared, and you're the only other one here. I'm really sorry. you can tell me to move if you want to." She whispered, her voice like a mist in the pattering rain.

"Not weird at all. It's freezing, wet, and awful." I murmured, subconsciously holding her tighter, "I'll get us out of here soon."

My promise was not entirely empty. My intentions were adament on both of our survivals. I would see us to safety. I would send her back to my older twin brother completely safe and well. I was willing to die trying. Not only for Luke, but for Abby herself...

~Abby~

He was so moody all the time. We had been out here for nearly two weeks, simply moving north. The deeper we traveled into the mountains, the darker the atmosphere felt between us.

Never having had the privelage of spending any one-on-one time with Jasper, left me feeling strangely out of sorts. Attempting to strike up conversation with him, I hesitantly turned to him one day while we were eating charred squirrel,

"Can I say something?"

He looked up from his food, casting me a questioning glance. I took a breath and quickly said,

"Thank you for leading us through this...I don't think I would have survived without you here."

He smirked at me before chuckling and taking a bite of his food. after chewing and swallowing, he muttered lowly,

"You wouldn't even be out here if it wasn't for me."

I frowned, putting my stick of food down.

"That storm wasn't your fault, Jasper. I never blamed you for that."

His blue eyes lifted to meet mine sharply.

"Well maybe you should. Maybe you're just too naive to see the messes around you for what they are."

I winced at his bitter words before my turning mind stopped, hesitated and whispered inwardly,

What?

"What are you talking about? Because I don't think we're discussing the accident anymore."

His eyes flashed with alarm before he tisked and veered his eyes away from mine. Standing to his feet, Jasper stalked away with a, "I'll be back later, get some sleep."

I mimicked his words with a feigned voice of loathing before I emitted a loud, gutteral groan of exasperation. dropping to my knees, I reached for his jacket and curled it over myself in an attempt to catch some sleep....

Something loud growled in front of me, waking me up from my slumber.

My eyes bolted open to take in the sight of a dark shadow passing by the front of our firepit. I held my breath while I stared at it's great clawed paws thumping against the leafy ground. It was sniffing around through the dirt and somehow had not even noticed me yet.

I stayed completely still until the flickering shadow of the wolverine slowly moved away. Only then did I release the breath I was holding in for so long.

Countless minutes went by before I began to wonder where Jasper had dissapeared to for so long. Had something happened to him?

Not wanting to trek through the woods at night with a wolverine lurking about, I brought my legs up to my chest and hugged them as I began to pray quietly beneath my breath.

When Jasper finally returned, his eyes were downcast and his shoulders stiff. Wiping a stressed hand through his messy curls, he slumped down beneath the lean-to beside me.

"What? What is it? What happened?" I asked him in a barrage of questions. He looked up at me. I had never seen him look so defeated from these last couple weeks, but something about the way his eyes seemed so dead in that moment brought an inkling of dread stirring to life inside me.

"I went to find a vantage point, high up somewhere I could get a good look around and..." He took a shaky breath before swallowing, "Abby...there isn't...the valley we landed inside, the mountains cover this area entirely and there isn't...there's nothing but straight cliffs beyond."

My heart dropped. Naseua formed in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to vomit.

"What are you saying..." I whispered out, transfixed on his eyes as if I could find hope somewhere inside them. There was none to be found.

"I'm saying...we're stuck out here until a plane flies overhead."

"No." I shook my head while tears ran down my face, "No, I'm getting married, we are going back to Luke, my parents, your family, our homes."

"Abby--"

"No, shut up! This isn't happening!" I shouted with a gutteral sob. Jasper immediately pulled me against him, pressing my head against his firm chest while I sobbed uncontrollably.

"Don't give up hope yet. We're going to make it out of here soon. Someone will find us. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, do you hear me?" He said in a hoarse voice against my hair.

I clung to him for the rest of the night, feeling entirely hopeless and terrified that I would never see Luke or my family ever again.