The Long Way Home

Chapter 5

Stiles gasped, his stomach sinking as the ground gave way beneath him, opening into a massive hole that he was now falling into. His arms pinwheeled as he tried to regain his lost balance, but it was useless as gravity pulled him down. He grunted as his body jerked to halt, he barley had time to process what was happening when the chasm under him blurred.

Stiles shamelessly clung to Derek; the older man had his arms tightly wrapped around him. When he managed to get his bearings, he looked down into the hole he'd almost fallen into, poorly cut wooden spikes rose up from the ground, and the teen could scarcely make out the slightest tint of purple on the tips.

"Do you think these guys spend their spare time watching Indian Jones films-or maybe Predator?" Stiles joked as he tried to slow his rapidly beating heart, he'd almost died and for some reason he could only think of that one scene from Frozen, when Olaf had been run through with an icicle...though this one wasn't as funny.

Derek didn't bother to answer, his nose scrunched up at the strong scent of wolfsbane.

The sky had darkened considerably in the last half hour-which was why Stiles had nearly taken a nosedive into near certain death-and a chill had begun setting in. Being this far up north meant there were still going to be cold nights, of course they still had them back in Beacon Hills, but they had the luxury of staying indoors where it was warm.

"Come on, let's keep moving." The wolf finally spoke, tugging the human along, leaving the near-death trap behind them.

Derek made sure to keep him close, making sure Stiles stepped where he stepped. It was quite a feat when it came to fallen branches and roots, since the teen was already a klutz to begin with-toss in some wilderness and limited eyesight and it was an accident waiting to happen. More than once Derek had caught the younger man as he stumbled like a new born deer, it was either by the arm, waist, or literally having Stiles all but fall into his back; forcing the older man to catch himself, while grabbing onto each other's waists and wait till they were both steady enough to move on.

They were about two yards from the possible hovel they'd have to stay in for the night. Now that they were closer Derek could make out an extremely shallow cave, it only went in about eight feet, it was wide enough for both to be comfortable. The wolf had made sure to scent for any other wildlife that might be using the cave as a home, so far, he'd found nothing, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to be cautious.
"Wait here." He said when they reached the cave, pressing his hand to the younger man's chest.

"Wait, Derek?" The teen whispered out harshly, but the wolf ignored him and easily disappeared into the darkness ahead.

Stiles was only able to wait for all of thirty seconds before calling out to the wolf again. "Derek?"

"Derek, seriously, this isn't funny, I'm really starting to freak out." Stiles hissed out as he hunched over and hugged himself, he was beginning to feel unnervingly alone, and it felt way colder now then it had moments ago.

"Would you relax." Derek said from somewhere to the left.

Making the teen jump and flail uncontrollably. "Can you not? You and this forest are set on giving me a heart attack!"

"I was just checking to see if this place had been rigged, it's a lot easier for me to climb out of a hole then you." The wolf said as grabbed the teens wrist, pulling him towards the cave.

Stiles could barely make out the structure before him, it was almost as tall as the trees and stretched on to both his right and left, the roof of the cave was about eight feet from the ground. The limited moonlight only allowed him to see about three feet in front of him. The hill or mountain reached far past that. "You think it's okay to light a fire?" The teen asked as he ran his hands up and down his arms, trying to warm up his appendages.