221 Trapped (1/2)

The trek through the mountains after crossing the suspension bridge to the flower fields didn't take long. After walking about three minutes, we made it to the small clearing where the glowing flowers were located. The flower field was extremely beautiful, filled with a wide collection of flowers glowing different hues and shades of azure. Small particles, maybe pollen? floated about the buds of the beautiful flowers. In all honesty, this was an extremely beautiful scene, one that justified the long hike here.

”It's so beautiful,” Irina exclaimed.

”It's beautiful and all,” Zaksus shivered as he commented. ”Can we head back now? It's getting quite cold.”

”It sure is,” Mura frowned as she felt the air with her hands. ”Everyone ready to go back?”

”Wait a minute,” Luna said as she took out her phone. ”Let me take a picture first.”

”Send it to me,” Irina asked of her.

”Of course,” Luna nodded. However, a frown soon appeared on her face. ”No service here as well...”

”We're in the middle of the mountains,” Noah said with his hands clasped behind his head.

”Let's head back,” Mura then announced.

Without any further objections, the entire group started moving in the direction we had walked here from. As we walked back, I noticed that the others had also started shivering somewhat. In addition, when I breathed with my mouth, I could see a white cloud forming.

”It's getting quite cold,” Erith said as she hugged her arms and shivered.

”The weather on the mountain changes without warning,” Loyd frowned. ”We need to head back fast.”

Loyd was right. The temperature change is surprisingly fast, one that will surely endanger us. The air around us seemed to be getting colder every second with no signs of stopping. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the drop in temperature will continue. We must head back to our tents fast to escape the cold.

”The bridge is just ahead!” Zaksus announced with a joyful expression on his face as he rushed out ahead of us, making his way past the covers of the trees. However, he soon stopped dead in his tracks and dropped to his knees. On his face, there was a look of despair. ”T-the bridge...”

”The bridge collapsed...” Irina covered her mouth with both hands and muttered.

”Wait wait wait...” Noah shook his head in disbelief as he stared at the dark chasm before us with wide eyes. ”What? This gotta be a joke!”

Without saying anything, I looked around the two wooden post that had supported the suspension bridge on this end of the mountain. I walked over, squatted down, and peered at the broken rope. I squinted my eyes to see past the obscuring darkness and at the broken edge of the rope. The break was rather clean, almost as if it had been cut with something sharp...

”What do we do now?” Zaksus cried in despair.

”It's getting cold,” Luna frowned and muttered. She leaned against Erith as the two bunched together for warmth.

Alvelyn approached me and also huddled close to me. With her hood on, she kept her head down, resting it on my chest and kept her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. She seemed to be wanting to escape the cold wind, so who's better than the male version of yourself?

I glanced around at everyone to see their reaction, wondering if this gesture of ours would be considered weird. However, it would appear that everyone else was too distraught to even care about us. The only person who paid attention was Loyd, but it would appear that he was quite accepting of it, probably because I'm technically her ”twin brother”.

”Everyone calm down,” Mura forced out in a calm voice as she tried to tranquilize the situation. However, I can tell by the subtle expressions on her face as well as the tone of her voice that she was also worried and was simply faking it. ”There must be another way across. We just have to find it.”

”I wouldn't recommend looking for it now,” I said as I rose to my full height. ”It's dark out. Plus it's getting colder. It'll be extremely dangerous.”

”Then we find someplace we can stay for the night,” Muria calmly announced.

”Noah,” Alvelyn called over to Noah. ”You still have the lighter on you?”

”Yeah,” Noah reached into his pant pocket and pulled out the lighter.

”Then we can start a fire,” I nodded and observed. ”We need to gather some firewood fast. We also need to stay in a group to not get lost.”

”Someone take the flashlight and go look for firewood,” Loyd suggested. ”I'll go look for a place to stay for the night.”

”Someone go with him,” Mura added. ”It's too dangerous.”

”Preferably it's a cave,” I sighed. ”But if not, a clearing surrounded by trees will have to do. I'll go with you.”

”Take the flashlight with you,” Mura insisted. ”You're gonna be walking around the forest. We can just use the flashlight on our phones.”

”Alright then,” Loyd nodded. On his face was an expression of a calm uncertainty. He seemed to be worried but still able to retain most of his composure.

Loyd and I then set out on our own, making our way away from the group in search of shelter. We walked in silence as we trod through the cold forest with the circular light from the flashlight illuminating the path ahead of us. The moon overhead has been covered by the clouds, so we were left with basically only the flashlight.

I rubbed my hands together to generate heat and brought them close to my mouth. I huffed a breath of warm air into them and wasn't surprised when another white cloud appeared and faded away.

”Temperature's dropping fast,” Loyd muttered to me as we continued. He too was breathing hot air into his cold hands. In addition to that, whenever he would stop, the hand holding the flashlight would shiver, causing the light source to tremble and be unsteady in its illumination. ”What the hell happened?”

I didn't tell him about what I had discovered about the ropes. Telling him or anyone else wouldn't help. Instead, it would make things worse. Having everyone be in anymore panic would just prove detrimental. It would lower morale and make them harder to mobilize.

”You see anywhere we can use as shelter?” Loyd asked me.

”No,” I muttered. ”If we want a cave, we have to get closer to that cliff.”

I looked up and at the tall wall of rocks that served as a cliff to a mountain of some sort.

”If there's gonna be a cave, then it's gotta be there...” I frowned as I thought about the bridge.

We're not alone on this mountain.

After walking up to the face of the cliff, we searched around for a cave of some sort that we could use to escape from the cold temperature outside. As we searched, the temperature dropped even further. We shivered due to the cold as we searched, and the cold hindered our motion as it numbed our limbs. However, we continued to push on, knowing that surviving the night out without cover in this temperature would be extremely difficult.

After a minute or two, I realized something cold touch the back of my neck. This caused me to pause in my steps and look up at the sky. I reached a hand out, and sure enough, I felt something cold make contact with my naked hand. White particles were now floating down from the heavens above.

”It's snowing,” I apathetically commented.

”Yeah,” Loyd sighed. ”We have to find someplace fast.”

”Loyd,” I called his name, stopping him in his tracks and forcing him to look over his shoulders ta me.

”Yeah?”