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They were less than 5 minutes into their hour long hike and Saylor was already over it. "And we're 100% certain there's not a lift?"
"Are you not a fan of hiking, Miss Routledge?" Singh asked her from his position slightly ahead of her, his thick eyebrow arched in her direction.
"Not in the slightest." Saylor huffed pushing of a small bug which had landed on her thigh. She was glad that she had worn a pair of short shorts as it was incredibly hot and the heat was sticky but she didn't enjoy all of the critters taking residence on her skin.
"I could arrange for you to be dragged up if you like." Carlos offered with a small smirk on his face but Saylor wasn't sure whether or not it was friendly.
"Does he mean that in a jokey way or a violent way?" She whispered to Carlton who was stood directly beside her.
"Honestly, I have no clue. Just laugh." Carlton replied in the same hushed tone so that Singh couldn't hear, not that it was easy to hear the people close to you due to the loud noises of the jungle.
"Aha haha." Saylor nervously laughed. "Good one, Carlos." She only stopped laughing when Carlos once again turned his back to her as they carried on their walk.
"Maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you didn't stay up watching Moana all night." Carlton suggested as he knocked her shoulder with a playful smile on his face.
"You watched it too!" The blonde girl defended herself.
"Yes. Once, then I went to sleep. You watched it another two times." He looked at her with a knowing smile on his face, she couldn't argue with him because he was right. She knew she needed rest for the long journey ahead of her, yet she kept rewatching the film. But who could blame her... it's Moana.
"In Bambis defence it is a great film." Adam spoke up from his position at the back of the group, it was his job to ensure no one was following them.
"I never said it wasn't a great film." Carlton replied immediately whilst rolling his eyes.
☘︎︎
3 hours into their journey the heat was really starting to bother Saylor. Her skin felt sticky and her clothes clung to her so tight she wasn't sure she would ever be able to peel it off.
Her hair was now in two Wednesday Adam style plaits which she had quickly braided in a desperate attempt to get her hair away from her neck.
By hour 6 they were just over half way, her legs were aching and her knees were close to giving out. Her water was now warm which aggravated her to no end, who the fuck wants to drink warm water.
Thankfully they were ahead of where they had planned to be so Carlos allowed them to have an hour break.
If they arrived to early Big John, John B and Sarah would see them too soon and their plan would be ruined, they needed to arrive late enough for her father to have translated but not late enough for them to have left.
Saylor rested against the trunk of a large tree, her legs sprawled across the bright green grass which she had previously checked to ensure there were no bugs.
Her eyes were closed as she tried to focus on slowing her breath. She was hot, sticky and tired which meant she was incredibly irritable but she didn't want to lash out on any of the guys because of it so she made sure to centre herself.
"How you feeling down there Little B?" Ryan asked her as he tossed her a new water bottle which landed on the ground beside her leg.
"Legs. Jelly."
They all laughed at her response, they were feeling it too but not as intensely as the Routledge girl. All of them had trained years for this moment, for that very hike. Saylor on the other hand, had not.
Once they restarted their hike the sun was no longer at its peak which made the heat more bearable. The only problem was that the incline was steeper now that they had reached the final miles of their journey.
Ethan and Stephen were practically dragging Saylor up the mountain by that point. They held her arms and walked ahead of her on either side to ensure that she had no way of slowing down.
Saylor thought back to when Singh had told her she would be dragged, it wasn't as bad as she thought... in fact she was rather enjoying it. Ethan and Stephen had taken some weight of her legs and it felt great, she was basically gliding through the jungle.
Ryan had offered for her to get on her back a while back but she immediately refused for multiple reasons.
1) It was way to hot to be that close to someone else.
2) It would be really difficult despite his strength and she didn't want to make the already strenuous work any harder.
And
3) Carlton would never let her hear the end of it.
When they reached the summit of the mountain they took another short break to prepare for their descent. The view was absolutely incredible, it felt as if they were on a completely different planet.
"Worth the climb?" Stephen raised an eyebrow at Saylor as she continued staring at the view in front of her, her eyes glistening.
"Yeah." She breathed out in complete awe. Saylor had spent so long trapped inside her mothers house on the mainland and the entire time all she dreamed of was the world outside of those walls.
Hours after hours she spent watching nature documentaries trying to live her life through her small broken laptop screen, to see the world through a pixelated image because she never thought she would have the chance to see it for herself.
But there she was... stood at the top of a mountain in South America observing the world around her through her very own eyes. "Worth the climb." She nodded and as she did a tear fell from her eye. For the first time in months she made no effort to rush to wipe it away.
.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.
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