BEYOND The SUMMIT

Chapter 12 - F$*# Rules

Nicole

Okay, the fire is set, the beans are warm and the guests are seated." Cody said, as we sit around the firepit.

There's nothing appealing about the beans, as I poke them with a plastic fork that I packed. They're brown and mushy, but it's food and right now anything in our stomachs is far better than nothing at all.

"God! I can't eat this shit!" Chantel rants as she puts her plastic cup down on the ground.

"Hey, watch your mouth. We're lucky that Nicole even thought about bringing food." Chris reacts to Chantel's comment, "we'd be dead."

"Or resort to cannibalism," Cody throws in, "which, in that case, Chantel, you'd have no choice but to let me eat you." Cody says as he looks at Chantel with a smirk of victory on his face.

Chantel reacts with a shiver and sticks up her middle finger. She then picks up her cup of beans and starts to eat.

"I think the battle of C and C is going to be the most entertaining of the whole trip." Chris chuckles.

Cody looks at Chris, with an annoying expression, "Hey Christmas, why don't you focus on your goal on this trip and grow some balls and get your girl."

Chris quickly looks down at his beans as I do the same. I know what Cody is implying and I wish these guys would stop using this trip to get laid.

I take a deep breath, as I put my thoughts together. No one wants to talk about the obvious concerns that we are facing. As always, I'm the one who's going to be the bearer of bad news.

"We should talk about what we plan to do tomorrow." I start, "Which direction we should go and maybe delegate duties and make some rules."

"Fuck rules!" Cody answers to me.

I stare at him, "and respect."

Cody springs up from his seat, "Fuck rules, and duties and all that shit that confines us to the dead and dreaded. Nicole, look around you. Who the fuck are you trying to impress? We have the whole world out here. We could die tomorrow and have never looked up at the stars, "Cody looks up, " which by the way are so fucken beautiful up here. Which of you have looked up at the stars in your backyards?"

None of us say anything.

"I didn't think so. Me neither, but we are tonight. Together. Best friends for life," Cody looks at each of us, " and I wouldn't want to be with anyone else but you guys."

Chris and Rico dramatically applaud as Cody bows down and waves his hand to us.

"At this point, I'm so high on life that if a bear kills me tonight, I'll be happy that I spent tonight with you snots."

My eyes open wide, Shit Bears!

"Oh my God!. I didn't even think of bears." Chantel whispers with anxiety, "Holy shit, what the fuck were we thinking?"

"Relax, the fire will keep them away." Cody assures Chantel, " but if you're worried, you can always sleep in my tent with Rico and we can..."

"CODY, SHUT UP!!" Chantel shouts as the rest of us moan in disgust at what Cody's implying.

Cody smiles the biggest smile. I haven't seen him smile that much in a long time as he looks at Rico.

"What? I'm sure the thoughts ran through your dirty minds already. I'm sure you guys have already played out many different scenarios in your heads."

I look at each of them and try to get back on topic, "I think we should discuss and organize how we're going to move forward. We have no car, limited food and I estimate three, four days before we are near the gold."