"Come on Carla," Matt yelled back. The two of them had been on a weeklong hiking trip through the lowland mountain forests. Best of friends through high school, they had graduated two weeks before and when they had proposed this weeklong hiking trip both families had readily agreed that it was a great idea, and so the old hiking gear was pulled out and packed for the kids and off they went.
The first two days were great. Warm sunny rays filtered down through the trees, but on the third day that they awoke the sky had turned very dark and gray, signifying a great huge storm to come. They decided to cut the trip a little short and head back for home.
Today was the fourth day now and as yesterday, it was raining and a huge muddy mess. Having a body that was a little more in shape than Carla's, Matt had been doing a little better on the hike. Carla was by no means out of shape, but all of the football and weightlifting that Matt had done through high school was definitely paying off on this trip.
Carla caught back up with Matt and he motioned for her to take a breather. Slumping down on a rock by the side of the trail, she blew an errant strand of her light blond hair out of her eyes. Matt was struck by how sexy she looked right then. Even though she was covered in sweat and grime, she was easily the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He knew that both of them had feelings for the other, but had never wanted to pursue it for fear of ruining the relationship that they had now. Better to be best friends than to loose it all he thought to himself.
Coming back to the present, he realized that Carla was trying to get his attention to ask him a question. "Oh, sorry Carla," he said, "I spaced out for a minute. What was your question?"
"I said, "Are we going to stop soon for the night or press on for a while yet. It is almost dark and we should probably find a spot to set up camp soon."
"Well what do you think Carla? I haven't seen any good spots for making camp, and I thought we could press on for a while yet and hopefully hit more level ground. It's up to you though, I know you're getting tired."
"Well lets press on for a bit yet," she said.
Carla picked up her pack and they started walking with Carla leading the way. After a time the trail came alongside the river, but started to angle up and soon there was a large cliff to the side of them. Rain began to fall again and they began to look in earnest for a place to strike camp.
Suddenly Carla pointed out up ahead of them. "That looks like a good spot, lets head for that," she yelled. The storm by now was very noisy, and Matt could barely hear her so instead of trying to reply, he simply nodded a motioned for her to press on.
All of a sudden though with a thundering rumble the part of the bank that Carla was standing on gave way, and she disappeared over the side.
"Carla," Matt yelled! Running over to where the earth broke away, he saw that somehow Carla had managed to snag a hold of the root from a tree and was madly swinging from it being rustled around by the wind. He could see that her leg was bent at an angle it wasn't supposed to, and Matt knew they were in trouble.
Throwing his pack to the ground he lay over the cliff face and took a hold of one of her hands. It was then that he noticed that she had lost her pack in the fall and it was floating down the river. With a super human effort he hauled her up beside him and she collapsed into his arms sobbing hysterically.
"Shhh, it ok," he said. Gently wrapping his arms tighter around her and pulling her face to his chest and he gently stroked her hair. Eventually her sobs lessened. Carefully lifting her up into his arms, he continued down the path to the spot she had spotted. Setting her down, Matt set up camp.
First thing he did was to build a fire and sat Carla down next to it so she could stay warm. Next he went out to the surrounding bushes and foraged for some nuts and berries that could be eaten, for all of their rations had been lost in the pack that Carla had lost. Blessing his father for making him learn the survival stuff that he had, Matt was soon able to gather enough to eat that would at least sustain them through the night and into the morning.