Family Ties

Part 48

Jackson felt as if he'd been away for a week of hell and torture. There was no end to the extreme situations they were put in. He felt as if his life was in danger the whole time.

At the moment they had to cross a particularly fast-flowing river because it was a shortcut. He watched as Jesse waded through the water, holding on to a rope, which he tied down once he'd got to the other side. That didn't look too bad, Jackson thought to himself as he stepped closer to the edge.

Now that he was standing, the water was going much faster than he'd first thought. Taking a deep breath he placed his hand on the rope and stepped in. He screamed as the icy cold water hit him up to his chest. He misjudged himself on how deep the waters were. Grinding his teeth, he slowly edged his way across.

For the fourth time, he lost his footing and got dunked under the freezing cold water again. By the time he reached the opposite bank, his fingers were numb and he could hardly get air into his lungs because he was shivering so much. Wiping as much of the cold water from his hair and face, he turned to see Skye and Damon wading through with no problem.

When they reached the others, Skye was almost bursting out of his skin, running around grabbing dead wood and dragging it to where his grandfathers were starting to make a fire.

"You might want to help the bean." Jesse looked at Jackson who looked like a wet skunk, shivering where he stood.

With a groan, he slowly walked to where Skye was. His clothes were so cold, they felt frozen and stiff and every time he moved, it felt like he was being drenched in the water again. He was wet and miserable and wanted his bed for the rest of the day.

The others seemed to be having the best time of their lives, going around adding wood to the fire like some crazy hippies about to dance around the fire.

"You'd want to get out of your wet clothes," Damon observed as he shooed Skye to put on dry clothes.

"Change? But I don't have any more clothes. The rest is covered in mud." He knew he sounded like a whiney kid, but good god, were they expecting him to put that mess on again?

"It's either that or die of hypothermia. You're choice." He shrugged, rummaging through his backpack and pulling out clothes.

Jackson ground his teeth and gingerly slipped out of his wet clothes, and into a mud-smeared pair of jeans, that he was very sure wasn't mud. He almost gagged as he got into his gross, smelly jacket that still had the blood stains of one of their many victims on it.

Watching Skye going through the paces of tracking and hunting an animal was incredible, and even a little scary. He never missed, whether it was with his bow or the small shotgun his grandfathers allowed him to carry. But he had to be grateful to the kid because, without him, he'd have died a long time ago.

"I think we should head back, don't you?" Damon suggested, getting up to clear their spot.

Jackson still had his hands spread out toward the last flames when a bucket of wet sand took away his last bit of joy. Helping to clear the site, he finally slid on his backpack for the trek back to the cars.

That wasn't a camping trip he thought as they were walking. That was hell in the wilderness. What he needed was a warm shower and food that he didn't have to watch being murdered before his eyes, and probably another week to recover.

--

When his doorbell rang sometime later that afternoon, he was surprised to see Raymond and Skye standing in front of him.

"My two favourite people!" He picked up Skye while planting a kiss on Raymond's mouth. "Have you come to make me feel better?" He led the way into the open-planned sitting room.