The Event

5.

Why couldn't Jeremy's lifelong dream have been to go to Hawaii, or anywhere, literally anywhere, that was warm? Why had the top of his bucket list been to be on top of this cold ass mountain? At least if he had wanted to hike to the top of a volcano or something we could have been warm as we were killed off with the rest of civilization.

Warmth.

I don't even remember what that feels like.

I can picture sitting by the fireplace in my living room back home, but for the life of me I can't imagine what the feeling of sitting by the fire was like, not with the constant chills that cover my flesh even beneath the four layers of clothing plus my hiking gear.

We'd been walking for a day straight, not daring to stop. The night was upon us again, the sun no longer visible, just the lingering of her light still trying to hang on to the power over the sky before she is overtaken by the moon.

At least when the sun is out, there is some semblance of beauty left to our surroundings, sure we are going to die soon, but at least we got a good view. At night though there is nothing to hold onto. Nothing to focus your eyes on to make this torture to our bleeding feet any better, no distractions for miles around us. Nothing but covered crevasses and deadly ice patches hidden beneath thin layers of fresh snow have our attention at night.

The talking has died down since the pods were released from the mothership. No one wants to speculate, and all of that positive human spirit they had had only a day ago was pretty much eaten away. We walked like zombies, trudging through the night.

"You alright, Row?" Tommy asked, out of breath.

I didn't dare risking looking back at him, I just gave him a thumbs up over my head and continued to watch my footing carefully.

We'd decided to take the more treacherous path down the mountain again. By we, I mean Brock and Brent decided for the rest of us. Their logic was that if the aliens in the pods were out looking for us, they would probably think that the stupid humans would take the easier path, especially after everything that has happened. They thought that by going this way, we could outsmart the monster beings out to get us. I had laughed in their faces and gotten death stares from more than half of the group. I wasn't quiet about how stupid I thought this idea was. What was the point in 'outsmarting' them by going the direction that was most likely to get us all killed? They didn't care though, and why would they? They've made this climb and descent over a dozen times, they don't have to worry. Not like me.

Because it was a dangerous trail, and we had already seen how detrimental it could be to have a frequent slipper in the back of the group, I was forced to go first. Jeremy had fought in my honor, but ultimately the group agreed that none of them wanted to be the person in front of me just in case I fell and took them out in the process.

We walked slowly, carefully, and in a line.

Me first, Tommy just a step to the right and a step behind me, Jeremy directly beside him, Will behind Jer, then Kaylin's group, one behind the other, followed by Matty and Dani, and pulling up the rear was Brent and Brock, still whispering to each other, and still pissing me off.

"Pick up the pace kid!" Brent yelled and if he weren't so far behind me, and it wouldn't take me ten years to walk back up the snow to get to him, I'd knock him in the teeth. Since that wasn't an option I stuck my middle finger up in the air.

"Quit being an ass, old man." I called back.

We continued on another hour, but my footing was becoming more and more unsure, and my exhaustion was beginning to get to me. I needed a break, but I didn't want to seem even more like the whole group's weakest link.