Page 34

Billy

My hands are throbbing, and I think they’re all insane for wanting to continue—apart from Doc—but I have to admit that I do want to finish this journey as well.

It feels right, even with everything that has gone wrong since we began. With the majority of us in agreement about continuing, we finish our coffees and break camp. After a quick sweep of our little campsite to make sure we’ve packed everything, we set off.

The pace is slow, grueling, and gets more difficult as we begin the next stage of our mountain hike. We barely talk except to communicate about minor obstacles or tricky-to-navigate stretches of path ahead of us.

This time, we stick a lot closer together, and despite the eagerness of our group to reach the end, we’re all feeling the intense burn. I know deep down we’re all worried about whether we’ll make it, especially Calla after what happened to her yesterday.

I’m glad it wasn’t more serious than it was, though it scares me to think about how much worse it could have been. The deep rope burns in my palms are a painfully vivid reminder.

I haven’t said anything to the others, but it feels like the wounds have reopened, and the ache is only getting more intense as we climb.

I mask the pain as best I can, but I’ve caught Jesse checking on me when I’ve let out the occasional hiss of pain when the skin pulls tight as I put weight on them.

A part of me feels like I should have been more vocal about my reluctance to continue, but the other part of me wants to see the same views as the rest of our group when we finally reach the peak.

I know this isn’t the biggest mountain in the range, or even in the country, but it’s our challenge, and we’re going to rise to the top and face it.

The air is even thinner at this point, and as a precaution, we’ve made sure the oxygen canisters are easily accessible in case we need them.

Clyde is leading the group again, and Doc is at the back, putting Calla, me, and Jesse in the middle of the group. It makes sense, considering that currently the three of us are the weaker members of our team.

I don’t know how much time has passed, I haven’t been paying much attention, suspecting that it would make it seem so much longer to know exactly how long we’ve been going.

Clyde eventually comes to a stop, and his voice is filled with a breathless awe as he speaks. “ We ’ve made it.”

We ’ve come to a ledge, similar to where we made camp, but it's clear that the path has ended and we’ve gone as high as we can safely go without scaling the cliff face of the peak.

“Wow, it’s beautiful,” Calla says, looking outward at the country below us.

“Stay away from the edge,” Jesse warns her, pulling her closer to the walls.

She glances down and wobbles slightly, and all four of us move to grab hold of her in case she faints on us again.

“I’m okay, I just need to remember not to look directly down,” she giggles, looking embarrassed.

Her face is pale, and she slowly sits down on the ground with her back against the rocky cliff.

Doc pulls out one of the oxygen canisters and hands the mask to her. “Use this if you need to, okay?”

She nods and takes it from him, setting it beside her as she gazes outward.

Satisfied she’ s fine —at least for now—I turn my attention to the view that’s captivated the rest of them.

It really is amazing to witness. The rise and fall of the land, the lakes and snowy mountains sparkling under the sunlight, and the small speck that is the village and resort we’ve been staying at.

I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life, and I consider myself lucky that I’m getting to see this with my own eyes and not just in the pictures Calla showed us when she picked this country for our trip.

We stay here for a while, just admiring the view and committing it to memory.

I realize that I’m going to miss this place when we eventually have to leave and return home after our time here has run out.

It’s like something out of a dream, and it is almost hard to believe that it’s even real and not some collaborative hallucination.

We slowly return to reality, turning away from the captivating view to begin our slow descent.

The journey down is easier, though I find the pull of gravity is a bit unnerving at times with the ground seeming to try and pull us down quicker than we’re able to go.

We make it though, safely back to level ground. There’s energy rippling through us all, exhilaration from what we’ve just achieved, mixed with the lingering awe of everything we saw at the summit.

We remove all the harnesses and pack the ropes away in our backpacks, having kept them on for the remainder of the trek upward and then back down to the bottom.

Slowly, we make our way back to the resort, eager to dump all of our bags in our rooms, eat, and clean up. All of us are hot, sweaty, and in dire need of showers.

When we walk through the front doors of the resort, Calla heads over to the reception desk to order food to be brought to our rooms.

While we’ve still got food left over from our trip, I don’t think any of us are going to want to cook when we can simply order it instead.

Calla returns to us, and we go up to our rooms. She swipes the keycard, and we enter one by one, dumping our bags in a haphazard pile before taking it in turns to freshen up.

I carefully unwrap the filthy bandages on my hands, wincing as the material pulls at the wounds. Rinsing them under hot water, I watch as fresh blood stains it pink.

Calla walks in as I’m doing this and gasps. “Your hands! Let me look at them.”

She takes each one in hers and inspects them closely, probably to check whether I’ll need stitches or something.

“I think we can probably just wrap them again, but we need to keep an eye on them and keep them clean so they don’t get infected.”

I sit on the edge of the bed as she grabs the first aid kit and proceeds to skillfully bandage them back up.

“Much better,” I murmur when she’s done, lifting them and stroking her face with my fingertips.

Her breath catches, and her cheeks flush a little.

“Food will be here soon,” she whispers breathlessly, and I lower my hand as I nod. “I’m going to check on the others. I know Jesse was hurt as well, but he’s still in the shower.”

“I’ll be there shortly,” I tell her, and she smiles as she leaves the room to go find Doc and Clyde.