Dark Forest

4.Start of the camp

The bus stopped in front of the familiar headquarters building. Sam and Penny were still sitting, staring out the opposite windows, so Elvis, Arnold, and Ellie had to repeat several times that they had arrived. Encouraged by the words of their friends, they finally tore themselves away from the view outside the window and stood up, albeit reluctantly, to be the last to exit the bus.

"Are you still asleep or what?" Ellie continued to grumble as they walked down the sidewalk in single file, each of them holding a hand on the wall of the building, because the lights on the entrance side had already gone out at this hour. She only stopped when someone hit her in the neck from behind. "What's that for?" she asked, offended, turning her head back sharply to meet Penny's focused gaze.

"You're still asking?" she hissed through clenched teeth. "You almost gave me away."

"You don't have the courage, someone has to," Ellie defended herself, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Face it. This trip is the perfect time to tell him. You've been putting it off long enough," she tried to convince.

"It's not that easy, Ellie," Penny sighed heavily.

"It's just three words, Penny," Ellie reminded, more gently, trying to achieve what everyone on the team, including her, wanted, except for the two who should have wanted it the most. "You always tell each other everything. It can't be that hard."

"You saw how he reacted today," Penny pointed out, her voice starting to shake with desperation. "What if I'm wrong and he doesn't like me at all..." she hesitated, apparently remembering that the person she was talking about was walking just a few meters in front of her. "He doesn't feel the way I feel about him," she whispered almost silently.

"Someone would have to be blind not to notice the way you look at each other. It must be love," Ellie emphasized. "Even if we're both wrong, what do you have to lose?" She asked defensively, shrugging.

"Let me think," Penny looked up at the sky thoughtfully. "Hmm... maybe our friendship and being happy that we work together. If I'm wrong, I'll just embarrass myself in front of him and ruin everything I have," she admitted what she was really afraid of. "Better a bird in the hand than a pigeon on the roof, as they say. I'd rather have Sam as a friend than not at all."

"You two are more than friends to each other," Ellie rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Maybe this trip will cool your fears. Because if a week in the wilderness doesn't wake you up, I don't know what else will."

"Stop it, Ellie. And please don't try anything, I don't want any secret hideouts or romantic circumstances, do you understand?" She looked suspiciously at her best friend as she nodded.

"Yeah, sure," Ellie muttered under her breath, taking a few steps away from Penny.

"Ellie! Penny! You're not falling behind!" Elvis urged them on.

With that, their conversation came to an end. Elvis waited for them by the door and let them in first, and the three of them began looking around for Arnold and Sam, who had gone ahead. They found them only in front of the door to Chief Fire Officer Boyce's office.

"Great, but what are we doing here?" Ellie asked, a little confused. "We were supposed to go to the train, not to Boyce's," she added in explanation, but quickly jumped and turned around, frozen, when she heard someone clear their throat. "I think I asked a stupid question," Ellie said almost silently, burying her head between her arms as she turned around.

"There are no stupid questions, colleague Phillips, only stupid answers," Chief Fire Officer Boyce said, amused. "And you were supposed to come to me to avoid situations like this on your trip," he explained, letting them all into his office. Without a word, they lined up and looked expectantly at Chief Fire Officer Boyce, who, entering last, took a seat behind his desk, then looked at them sharply.

"I understand you got your tickets," he said, after checking the contents of his desk drawer.

"Yes, we did, Chief Fire Officer Boyce," Sam confirmed on behalf of everyone.

"Good," Chief Fire Officer Boyce nodded in satisfaction. "And of course, are you looking forward to this trip?" He added politely. However, as soon as he saw the uneasy expressions on the usually confident faces of the firefighters, he turned serious and asked again. "Is something wrong?"

"With all due respect, chief, but we don't quite understand why we're taking this trip?" Ellie dared to ask.

"I would have expected firefighter Jones and firefighter Morris to be eager to work, but the fact that even firefighter Phillips didn't like my gift surprises me a little," Chief Fire Officer Boyce joked, amused. "Oh well... you can always go back to writing reports," he said, focusing his eyes on the piece of paper.

"Well, I think I'd rather go," Ellie grumbled, slumping her shoulders.

"I'm glad," Chief Fire Officer Boyce smiled. "I hope you'll be able to enjoy some peace and quiet and bond even better."

"We don't even know where we're going yet, Chief Fire Officer Boyce" Penny noticed.

"I'll explain everything to you, firefighter Morris. You now have tickets for the train to Oldtown, which leaves from the station in two hours. So you still have time to eat something before you set off. The journey shouldn't take longer than two hours either, in which case you'll be almost there in less than five hours" Chief Fire Officer Boyce explained in detail. "When you get to the start of your expedition, you'll spend the night in a training center where you'll go through a training lesson. It'll probably be boring for you, but we couldn't skip this stage" he explained. "You'll find out the rest on site. You'll be able to get ready by spending the night in a specially prepared shelter, and you'd better make the most of it, because for the next few or a dozen nights you'll be sleeping in tents on campgrounds along the route. When you have completed your task, you will collect your return tickets and new provisions at the last shelter," he finished. "Any more questions?"

"Just one, sir," Arnold volunteered. Throughout the story of Chief Fire Officer Boyce, he had been carefully examining the map on his desk. "Why are there two routes marked on your map, while ours, on a map with the same coordinates and the same title, only have one route colored?" he asked in detail.

"You have a more difficult route marked on the map, so why do you need an easier one?" Chief Fire Officer Boyce deflected the question with a question. However, seeing how the Pontypandy firefighters paled imperceptibly, exchanging frightened glances, he explained encouragingly. "You didn't think I would let some of the best firefighters under my command go on the easy route, did you? You need to get your act together and develop, and also get some rest. You've worked hard on the fires this summer, you deserve a break," he said as he waved them off.

They walked in silence, down the streets of Newtown. As they passed some of the larger housing estates, they could see the station building in the distance. They turned down a few more smaller streets to get to their destination as quickly as possible.