The Mountain

Chapter 18

I find myself laying on the ground the next morning, not quite remembering what has happened. All I know is that I'm groggy and exhausted. I move to sit up but my head blooms in pain. I cry out and gingerly lift my hand to it, red flakes rub off onto my fingers and sharp pain pulses through my head as it's touched. "What the hell?" I ask aloud.

I look around and find that I'm sitting in a large spread of gravel. There's a small spot next to me that is colored crimson. I put the small pieces together: I probably fell and hit my head as I was walking, knocking me out.

I'm embarrassed by it. Fueled by so many emotions I couldn't even watch where my feet were? God, how stupid could I have been?

Yesterdays events come flooding to me. The girl in the cave, the walk up the mountain in the dark, the flashback. I laugh out loud remembering the flashback. I was a weird kid. Running off all the time apparently, but why?

I also remember the kid who I kicked, it was James. We grew up together? I'm guessing we weren't friends because of how I treated him.

I decide to get up and start moving again. I start off by changing my clothes, I haven't in a few days and the ones I'm wearing have gotten gross. The new ones feel soft and clean, although they immediately get dirty just by touching me. I find a river nearby and decide to wash off in it before I take off again. Undressing by the river, I quickly rinse off my body, the water immediately soothing me. The water takes most of the dirt just by running over me but some is harder to scrub at. I wash the dried blood off of my head and see the thin jagged scar that starts on my forehead and crawls back into my hairline. It isn't too bad so I'm not worried about it much. I put the new clothes back on after crawling out of the water and drying off. I didn't realize how grimy and gross I felt until changing.

I braid my hair, planning on taking it easy for the day. First I need to figure out where I am on this mountain. I pull out the map and eat a granola bar that I'm surprised is still in my bag. I find a few caves scattered around the mountain and use my current landmarks to pinpoint an area where I might be.

I find that Ellen took me farther up the mountain after I passed out; the cave lies about a mile from where I thought I was. After traveling about two miles after leaving the cave , I'm now only about twelve miles away from the end. If I travel about five or seven miles, I'll easily reach it with time to spare tomorrow. I pack up my things and map my route for the day.

As I start walking, the flashback pops into my head again and again. The same questions come along with it: Why did I steal and run? Why was my father so happy about it?

I groan out loud and try to think of something to do to get my mind of of things. My brain is going nuts and the headache isn't helping me. I figure the only way I'm going to feel better about anything is talking about this to someone. I pull out my radio and switch the channel to reach Johnathan.

"Hey, it's me Adylin," I start, waiting for an answer. "I need to talk to you, Johnathan."

When I don't get one for a minute, I sigh. "Look, I know we aren't really supposed to wok together from this point on, and I'm not trying to break the rules, but I just need to talk some things out. A lot has happened since we split up, and I just needed to talk to someone about it."

After two minutes of hoping and then figuring he won't reply, I hear a noise coming from he radio. "I'm here, sorry about the wait. I just- I didn't know if us talking was a good idea. But you're right, we are just talking, right? That can't be too bad. What's up."

I laugh before replying. "Um, where do I begin? Well, to start it off, I was attacked."

"By what?" He asks.

"Not what, who. Her name is Ellen, she's one of the contestants," I begin. I tell him about what she told me, that she's being forced by James to kill contestants so that they survive. I break the news to him that they killed Eloise and the other guy who was with her. 

"She- they killed Eloise?" He asks in shock.

I sigh. "Yeah, they did. I thought we could trust him," I admit. "I thought he was with us."

"Me, too," he replies. "Look, from now on, we can only trust each other. Don't talk to anyone else on your way to the finish, not that you would. Can you do that?"

I hesitate. "Johnathan, I just lost the person who I thought had my back this whole time. I can't just trust you because you tell me to. I know you probably would never think of doing something like that, but I'm sorry, I really want to trust someone, but I can't."

"I understand," he says. "How far are you from the finish anyway?"

"About twelve miles," I tell him. "I'll reach it tomorrow."

"Twelve miles? You can easily do that today, you know. I'm planning on reaching it by mid-afternoon," he says. "I'm about ten miles out."

"I know I can make it, but I had a rough night and who knows what could be waiting at the end. I want to be ready for anything," I explain.

"Probably a good idea. I'm just gonna go for it, I'm feeling ready for some answers," he laughs.

"Me, too. I guess I'll see you on the other side," I tell him, feeling the weight of a good-bye.

"I'll find you there," he replies, and with that I hear him disconnect his radio.