Falls Peak

Chapter 13

After her chilling encounter with the most notorious person in all of Falls Peak, Katie kept her distance from the others until the end of the week, not wanting to relive the scariest moment she could remember in recent times.

However, when it came to Friday night, she arrived on time at the designated meeting place, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Are you sure we can't just drive up to the waterfall?" She asked. "The woods are so big that there has to be a trail for cars. And plus these bags are heavy as shit!"

"There maybe is, but I wouldn't trust Kyle's bucket of shit to get us up there in one piece," Matt laughed as he unfurled his trusty map.

"Would you shut up about the car?" Kyle groaned. "It works, ok? But I can't afford any more gas right now and God knows how much we'd need to get up there anyway."

"I've always wanted to try camping anyway," Jess told them, much to the surprise of the group. "What? I'm not just a princess you know!" She laughed at seeing their startled reactions.

"Could've fooled me," Katie smirked.

"Alright, before you two get into a catfight before we've even left, what do you say we hit the trail? Matt, what are we aiming for tonight?" Kyle asked.

Matt consulted the map for a moment before answering.

"Alright well we could probably hit the top before dark, but that doesn't give us much time to set up the tents and stuff. And besides, we don't really want to run into those guys so I was thinking if we took the long way then we can stay out of trouble and be able to see more over the weekend?" He explained.

"What exactly is the long way?" A cautious Jess asked.

"Instead of going straight up, we'd kind of do a lap around the forest and head up the other side," Matt told her. "It would take a few hours longer but I think it's our best bet."

"But wait, aren't we trying to catch those guys?" Katie asked. "Why would we avoid them?"

"We wouldn't be avoiding them, we'd be flanking them. Right?" Kyle turned to Matt for assurance, something he never thought he'd do.

"That's right. Going this way just keeps us out of their direct path. There's no way they'd go this way because it's just not practical. Especially if they're carrying anymore bodies."

"Which is why we're doing it?" Jess was trying her best to follow.

"Exactly!" Matt cried.

"This is so stupid that I can't believe I understand it," Jess said to herself before turning to the others. "Alright, let's get going!"

*

As they slowly made their way through the woods, no one spoke, all deciding instead to save their breath for the uphill climb they would soon be facing. As Matt was the only one who really knew where he was going, he was the one leading them and although none of them particularly wanted to follow him, they all knew that it was their best option.

After around an hour, finally Katie asked if they could take a break.

"I'm dying here." She told them.

"Yeah, it's pretty hot," Kyle conceded. "But the sun should be going down any time now".

"We're still near the base of the hill. And since we're heading to the other side, the sun should be with us slightly longer. Sorry," Matt shrugged.

"Normally that would be a good thing," Jess laughed as she joined the others in sitting on a fallen tree to drink some water from her bag.

Other than Matt, none of the group had really known what to take with them so they'd just taken a bit of everything.