A Scout Is...

Chapter 3: Civil Lie Bation

As Leisa worked on getting Cal’s hand out of the toaster, Trevor, Sean and Tyler were up and about.  Their hearts still ached with the loss of Andy; they knew though he would want them to move on, to try to get help...

“What do you guys think about heading east in search of our campsite?” asked Trevor.  It was 9:00 in the morning.  The sun had crept over the tops of the trees and was slowly building up to the 77 degrees of heat that the weather forecaster had predicted for the day.  Humidity hung in the air.  No wind blew from any direction, but the intense raining from yesterday had made it cool and moist.  The heat beaten, fled from them, made their situation more bearable.

      Trees still smoked where the truck had blown up.  A blackened spot now lay in the middle of all this greenery and numerous trees had been burnt up because the gas had flowed down the uneven turf, devouring everything in its path like some wild beast.

Tyler eyed Trevor with an expression that said I don’t know what to do.  Actually he did, but there were so many options to choose from he couldn’t decide.  He searched his memory, trying to remember the way they had fallen, the twist and turns the truck had taken as it tumbled down the hill; but soon dizziness came upon him and he had to sit down.  “I think,” he began slowly; “I think that we should try to climb up the hill.”  He looked at Trevor and Sean for support, but found only disbelief.

       “You want us to climb that?” Trevor asked pointing to the enormous hill.  It was very steep and had huge boulders and loose rocks.  The top could be seen about five hundred feet up.  Trevor looked back at Tyler.  “No way. We should head out now and look for our campsite. If – ‘

    “Yes, but what if I climbed it? It might take me a while, but I could make it. Eventually,” he added.  He uncapped his green water bottle and took a sip from it.

        Trevor glanced at Sean, who answered his obvious question with a shrug.  Trevor wiped his nose and declared, “You can do whatever the heck you want. Sean and I are going to go see if we can find our campsite.”

      Tyler stood up angrily.  “How,” he asked.  “How the hell do you expect to find our campsite? You don’t know where we are. We don’t even know if we’re close to it.”  Tyler paced back and forth, his hands clasped behind his back.  When no one said anything, he continued.  “For all we know our campsite could be ten, twenty miles from here! And right there behind us is the road. Now I know you guys aren’t used to climbing, but I am. It could just be me. I could walk down the road, get help, and everyone goes home and we can eat good food and take a hot shower.”  Without looking at them he began to head up the hill.

    “Tyler! Tyler, get back here! Oh - Sean tell him he’s being stupid.”

    “Hey T-man! You’re being stupid!”  Tyler brushed the comment off and continued on.  Sean looked at Trevor.  “Was that good?” Trevor ignored him, going off after Tyler.  “Tyler – listen to me. There is no way you can climb that.”

     Tyler turned around with a doubtful expression on his face.  “I got this Trevor. Watch and learn.”  He grabbed a tree root and pushed his legs up onto a rock.  Maneuvering here and there, he crawled over rocks and trees.  Sean and Trevor watched in amazement as he soon became a small speck very high up.  His breathing became irregular, the hill steeper.  Now there were hardly any roots or plants to grab onto – only hard rock.  Sweat formed on his forehead, running down his cheeks.  His palms were scratched, along with his arms and legs.  Gathering his strength, he lifted his head back to see how far he had to go.

              He still had some three hundred feet to go.  Damn. Ah I can’t do this anymore. It was never this hard during summer gym at the climbing wall.  The Terminator from summer gym entered into his mind.  How can I compete with that? Sure the guy is ripped, but I can do this. I know I can.  So he did.  Somehow, someway, past rock, plant, more rock and a pile of dung, he made it to the top.  He hoisted himself up over the ledge, praising God for what he had accomplished.  Laughing, he turned around to get going on the road.  There was only one problem: there was no road.  Tyler’s eyes gazed up at another massive hill, steeper than anything he had seen, impossible to climb.  There go our chances of our real food, he thought.  Broken down, he heaved over, striking the ground and cursing quietly.  He would have to man up now.  There was no easy way out, no ‘everyone goes home real quickly’ deal.  Not anymore.