Hellbound ⇢ The Edge Of Winter {Bradley Baker}

Chapter 10 - Falling.

"How are we even gonna find this place?" Carson asked as she closed her backpack, now filled with anything she and the Bakers might need for their little adventure.

"Where's your usual sense of adventure?" Elliot asked, turning to the girl.

"Well, you know," Carson said, giving the man a simple look. "My 'sense of adventure' tends to die down a little bit after you get caught in a hunting trap and nearly bleed to death."

Elliot put his hands up in defense and Carson smirked in victory.

"Boys, let's go!" Elliot called, and a few moments later Bradley and Caleb appeared from the other side of the truck.

"This is bullshit," Bradley muttered once he was at Carson's side. "We would have had a better chance getting back to the highway. He wants us to hike aimlessly for who knows how long, with you being hurt, an–"

"Bradley," Carson said, interrupting him. He turned towards, giving her an apologetic look. "Look, we're gonna be fine. Elliot talks about this cabin all the time, he's gotta remember where it is." Right?

And so they walked. They walked and walked until Carson could feel the scabs on her ankle breaking and her muscle burning. She tried looking around to distract herself. Come on, Carson. It's just a wound, get over yourself. Look, snow, trees, a bird, another tree, Bradley, leaves... As the girl thought about the things around her, her mind set on only one of them. She knew this wasn't the time to develop feelings, in fact, this was probably the kind of situation to hide them but... she couldn't help but stare at the brown haired boy in front of her.

Bradley sometimes turned around to check on her, making sure she was ok on her bad leg, but his eyes would always linger on her a little bit longer than they should've before returning to their original position, looking in front of him. But even then, when he wasn't looking at her, he knew she was there, in the back of his mind. Always.

"What?" Caleb asked, snapping both teens out of their thoughts. They hadn't noticed Elliot had stopped to look at...

"A tree?" Bradley asked, noticing how his father was intently staring at a pine tree.

"This way," Elliot said, pointing to the right.

"How do you know?" Caleb asked.

"See these branches?" Carson said, stepping in front of the group so she could point at the tree. "They're bigger on this side. They get more sun, less stress from the north wind."

The two boys looked at her as if she'd just spoken an alien language. Elliot just looked at the tree.

Carson sighed, putting what she had just said in simpler terms. "It means they point south."

Caleb and Bradley both seemed to realize what she meant, forming an 'o' shape with their lips.

"Elliot, if you keep staring at the tree, you're gonna have to marry it," Carson said, turning towards the direction in which they had to go.

Caleb let out a chuckle as he moved around his dad, followed by his brother.

So, they kept walking. Carson was trying her best to keep up on her bad foot, but she often had to stop for a second and lean on a tree to rest it.

"How much further is it?" She finally asked, pressing her arm on the bark of a pine tree.

When Elliot didn't respond, Caleb spoke up, stopping as well. "Dad?"

"Hey," Bradley called to his father, "should we really keep going if we're not sure where we're headed?"

Elliot stopped, turning around to face his son. "You got a better idea?"