The Woods (A South Park Craig x Reader Fan-fiction)

Chapter 4

Third Person POV Craig

Craig has been walking for way too long now. He isn't lost though. No. He'll never admit to being lost. He has his hands stuffed in the pockets of his navy blue hoodie, fiddling with his lighter in his left pocket and your phone in his right. A small brief moment of curiosity causes him to stop carefully and he almost looks at your phone but stops himself. That would be totally creepy and invasive.

Instead he tenses and keeps walking breathing out foggy air and wishing he'd not left his backpack on the coach with his coat. He doesn't even know where he's going; only that he's looking for you but he has no idea where you are right now.

He's near the top of the mountain, walking on a rocky path through the plains. He's not sure why though, even if his phone has signal up here, he can't exactly ring you since he has your phone. Still, he hears a slight sound of voices and immediately stops, half in anticipation, half in anxiety. He doesn't want to have to talk to people right now; in fact, all he really wants to do is smoke or keep walking forever.

He listens to the voices, "Whoa... hold up, what's that?" He could swear that sounds like Wendy. Then he spots them: Wendy, Bebe and Clyde, all frozen in place. He glances towards where they're looking and spots a real-life mountain lion. He instantly half smiles but stops himself, not wanting anyone to catch him off guard. He ducks behind a large boulder and watches them carefully. He read somewhere not to run away from mountain lions because it'll provoke their chasing instincts and he kind of hopes the others know that.

"Is that a...?" Clyde whispers, Craig can tell how scared he is by his uneven breathing.

"Yep, don't make any sudden movements, we don't want to provoke it," Bebe instructs. Thank God, Craig thinks.

Wendy slowly picks up a stone and throws it toward the lion, intentionally avoiding hitting it directly; the lion backs up and hisses. Wendy turns to the others, "What?" She asks at their expressions, "It's still a protected species, I don't want to hurt it," She explains before moving down to pick up another stone.

At the third throw, the lion turns tail and flees into the forest where Craig came from. Hopefully it doesn't cause any problems for other groups.

"Nice job Wendy!" Bebe congratulates happily and gives her friend a supportive hug. Clyde looks around like he expects more mountain lions to come barreling through the trees to attack. His gaze stops on the rock where Craig still hasn't made himself known and he hesitates over it for a moment.

Craig takes that as his cue to come out from behind the rock and explain himself, as much as he doesn't want to. "That was really something there," He nods to Wendy in approval and she half smiles.

"Craig? How long have you been lurking around, where's Christophe and Kyle?" Clyde asks and Craig remembers he originally left with them.

"We split up; I uh... found someone's phone and needed to get it back to her," Bebe and Wendy exchange a knowing glance and Craig looks at the two confused, "What?" He asks.

"Who's phone?" Bebe immediately interrogates.

"(y/n)'s..." Craig admits reluctantly, unsure why their reactions are making his breathing unsteady.

"Do you still have it on you?" This time it's Wendy's turn to ask questions.

"Yeah... Why?"

"No reason," She and Bebe share another glance which frustrates Craig further but he says nothing.

"Oh! You guys! I have signal!" Bebe looks down at her phone and they all avert their gaze from Craig, to his relief.

"Really? That's great! Quick, try calling Wendy's phone!" Clyde exclaims.

Craig looks at him in confusion again, "Wendy's phone?" He echoes.

"(y/n) has Wendy's phone because it has signal, we decided to send her and Stan with it when they went looking for her phone so we could contact them once we got signal on Bebe's phone," Clyde explains and Craig pretends to follow.

He can't help but feel more anxiety rise up as Bebe dials the number, he isn't sure why but his anxiety grows to a moment of relief and then worry when the call cuts off immediately. "Wait, what's wrong?"

"It looks like they're out of signal," Bebe sighs, "Maybe we should try looking for them?"

"Good idea, but first, call the number on the guide books we got given so at least someone can come to fix the bus," Wendy instructs. Bebe agrees and rummages through her backpack with Clyde to find the number.

"Hello? Oh thank God..." Bebe explains the situation to the forest authorities while Wendy turns to Craig.

"Do you know if there's any way we can contact somebody back at the bus?" She asks thoughtfully, it almost seems as if she's asking herself as much as she's asking Craig.

He thinks for a minute, "I know Kenny has insane signal no matter how remote the location, he probably has it now," He realizes how stupid it was for him to keep this information to himself while Wendy gives him a look. "Okay... I probably should've said something to Mr Parker rather than taking off,"

Wendy shakes her head before asking, "Why exactly did you take off?"

The question catches him off guard and he looks at the ground trying to come up with an excusable reply, "I don't know," He admits, "I was frustrated with the bus breaking down and I just needed some time to think..."

"...With Christophe and Kyle? Don't they argue like an old married couple?"

Craig sighs in defeat, it doesn't sound the most convincing answer but Wendy looks somewhat satisfied, "Yeah... turns out I didn't get much thinking done until I found (y/n)'s phone,"

Wendy smiles as though she's withholding information and ceases to pry about the topic, instead turning back towards Bebe, "Any luck?"

"Yes! They're sending out a couple of mini buses to pick us up back at the road where the bus broke down!" She smiles and everyone cheers, Clyde exhales like he's been holding his breath for hours.

"Now we can finally start the real camping trip!"