Peter Jameson ran his hand through his jet black hair as he trudged through the snow covered Smokies with his friends, Gwen Parker, Selina Quinn, and Bruce Kyle. Their parents sent them on a camping trip while they all went on a vacation to the Bahamas. Peter thought to himself oh, what I wouldn't give to be walking on the sandy beaches over there instead of crunching through the snow here!
"How much farther until we reach the campsite?" Selina asked as she adjusted her wool hat to hide her sweaty black hair.
"Not much farther," the guide answered in a frustrated tone as he had heard this many times before, "just a couple miles."
"Miles?" Gwen exclaimed with a crazed tone as she adjusted her heavy hiking pack on her back.
"Oh come on guys," Bruce said coaxingly while shaking some snow out of his smooth brown hair, "it's beautiful out here! Try to enjoy it a little bit!" They reluctantly continued behind the guide. As they walked the snow began getting heavier and heavier. Peter thought, trying to see out here is like trying to look through foggy glasses! In the distance there was a blurry black figure rustling around. The kids thought nothing of it but the guide seemed surprised.
"Hey kids gather 'round," he whispered as they neared the figure, "this is a very lucky moment for you all! You get to see a black bear preparing for hibernation!" As he said this, they noticed two smaller figures milling about around the larger one. The guide's face instantly changed and he had a frightened look on his face as he realized that it was a bear and her cubs.
"Kids...I want you t-t-t-to walk backwards very slowly," he said with his voice stuttering in fear. The kids did so without question. As they stepped back they did their best to keep from making loud noises in the snow. The guide began to fall out of sight. As the guide began to walk backwards, Peter did not realize that he had veered to the left and was about to go off the trail;he crushed a dead twig below his feet resulting in the loud sound cutting through the silence like a ninja's blade. The bear turned her head and immediately honed her sight in on the guide. The last thing the kids remembered of the guide was seeing his frightened face as he turned around to look at them. He screamed as the bear tackled him. The bear dragged him away and as the two became hidden by the falling snow, they could hear the guides desperate shrieks.
"You did this! This is your fault!" Bruce exclaimed grabbing Peter by his shirt. The girls dropped their packs to rush across the snowy trail to break the two boys apart. What the boys did not realize was that there was a cliff hidden by tress two feet behind them. Bruce began to shove Peter forcing him to drop his pack.
"Because of you and your two left feet, we are out here alone, and that guy is dead!" Bruce screamed.
"Watchout!" Gwen and Selina hollered but to no avail as the boys neared the cliff. Bruce dropped his pack and held Peter up against a tree in an effort to punch him. For Peter everything went in slow motion. As Bruce's fist neared his face, he saw the girls dive to stop Bruce and they all collapsed into a big ball together. They rolled over the edge and tumbled twenty feet down the rocky, bumby terrain before reaching the snowy floor of the woods. They watched their packs tumble past them and over a second cliff.
Peter had a flashback to when he went camping with his uncle. He remembered him mentioning a "sacred four." Now what were they? He thought to himself. Oh yeah! Shelter, water, fire, food.
"Ok you guys," Peter said, "we need to start thinking about surviving tonight because chances are nobody even knows we are mising yet."
"Survive?" Bruce questioned. "You actually think no one will look for us? Are you out of your mind? I am not going to be stuck out here!"
