Wilderness - R. Scott Robison

The rain soaked through the fallen pine needles, saturating the loamy soil below. My soggy Keens slipped on the loose earth with every step, and my hands were clammy from repeatedly breaking my near-falls on the slope.

“Are we still going the same direction?” Lisa shouted from behind. I looked back; her eyeliner had run, leaving her with sad raccoon outlines. Behind her, Jessica slipped and fell, plowing a sheet of topsoil into the base of a big tree, where she stopped and looked up at Lisa. Jessica’s eyeliner had also run, and it wasn’t just from the rain.

She gave a little hiccup. “Fuck…” she trailed off and shivered. “It’s freezing out here.”

“Carry the pack,” I said. “That will make you warmer.”

“I’m too tired,” Jessica said. “Let’s just sleep here.” She curled around the rough bark of the tree.

“You are filthy,” Lisa said. It was true: Jessica had damp dirt and dead needles streaked through her hair and over the maroon hiking sweater she had bought just for the trip.

“I don’t care.” She shut her eyes more tightly.

I suddenly shuddered with cold and realized that it was getting darker. “What time does the sun go down?” I said, peering uphill through the thicket. We hadn’t seen the sun in several hours because of the trees, but it was now noticeably dimmer.

“Still no service,” Lisa said. I turned; she was frowning at her Chocolate.

“This is so stupid,” I said. “We should have stayed on the loop around the campsite.”

“You’re the one who thought he saw the tent.” Jessica hadn’t opened her eyes.

I started down the hill. “Come on, we have to get to the bottom before it gets dark.”

“Why?” Lisa said. “You don’t know if we’re even going the right way. What’s at the bottom? You don’t know.”

I turned around and scrambled back up the hill, pulling Jessica up from the tree. She was so heavy, I let her go. Lisa chirped a little laugh. I smoothed my shirt. “I’m not carrying you,” I said.

I turned to Lisa. “Let’s go. We’ll freeze to death if we stay here.”

“Come on Jess,” Lisa said in a singsong voice. “Rafiki know the way.” She pulled Jessica up, at first more successfully than I. Jessica remained limp, like a doll. I could see the next act coming – Jessica’s head lolled like a dead person’s, and as Lisa gave her arm a tug, she lost her balance, falling heavily on her side and careening through the mud, losing her grip on Jessica. I tried to jump out of the way, but the pine needles gave way and I merely fell on top of Lisa as we both plummeted down the mountain.

We rolled over one another and over roots and rocks, mud spattering into our mouths and eyes. I heard a snap and a cry of pain from Lisa. Suddenly we slammed into something hard and water was rushing all around us, freezing water, making it impossible to breathe or move or think. I splashed weakly and felt myself slide away from Lisa. The current was pushing me. I whipped my head up and realized the stream was shallow, barely deeper than my shoulders, and not even four feet wide. The incessant pattering of the rain had masked the rushing of the water.
I gasped – the cold was making it incredibly hard just to breathe – and pulled myself half out of the stream before I had to rest. The current was much less than I had thought, and I was only a few feet downstream from Lisa, who hadn’t moved, though icy water cascaded over her whole body.

“Lisa!” I shouted, but it came out as a whisper. I heard another snap, but this time it was Jessica, carefully making her way down the mudslide we had just created.

“Martin, you are so weak,” she said as she approached, carrying the pack that had ripped off my back as we tumbled. “We should have brought a real man. Lisa, are you ok?”

“I think I broke my arm.”

Jessica bent over Lisa and gently probed her arm. Lisa winced.

“I think you’d be crying a lot more if it was broken,” Jessica said. “Come on. You’ve got to get out of the water.”

I pulled my sodden body off the carpet of little ferns that lined the stream and moved to help Jessica, but she cut me off abruptly.

“Just don’t, Martin.” I turned away and crouched by a small boulder, wrapping my arms around myself. It was really freezing now. And dark. I heard splashing behind me, but didn’t turn around.

“We’re all soaking wet,” I heard Lisa say.

“How’s your arm?” I heard Jessica say.

“It hurts.”

I heard rustling and a wet slop, then a muffled “ow!” followed by another wet slop.

“We’re all soaking wet and it’s gotta be about forty degrees out here,” I heard Jessica say. “There’s no wood that isn’t soaked, so we’re not gonna be able to make a fire.”

“What happened to the girl who just wanted to sleep curled around the tree?” I said, a little more petulantly than I meant.

I heard more rustling, followed by a zipper, then another. I turned my neck as far as possible without moving anything else. In the twilight, I could make out two little piles of clothes, behind which Jessica stood, hugging Lisa tightly and rubbing her bare back vigorously. Lisa feebly returned the favor with one arm.

“Martin get over here,” Jessica said. I thought about it. It felt warmer not to move, not to do anything at all except pull myself into as small a ball as possible and stay like that until the sun came up.

“I’m not that—” A sudden shiver made it impossible to finish. Two pairs of bare feet appeared beside me, and I felt Jessica pulling at my armpit.

“All you’re wearing is a shirt? You’ve got to be freezing.”

I numbly let Jessica unbutton my shirt. It felt like ice as it slid off my shoulders. I immediately nudged my way between Jessica and Lisa, but Jessica shoved me away.

“Take your pants off. They’re wet too.”

I quickly wriggled out of my Levis and huddled with Jessica and Lisa, miserable. It did seem a few degrees warmer between all of us.

“Wh-what’s the plan,” I said, pulling my arms in tight against my chest. Jessica grabbed my arm and wrapped it around her back.

“Rub,” she said.

I shakily moved my hand in circles. As the friction warmed us both, I rubbed harder.

It was now almost completely dark. A pale, diffuse glow was all that remained to light the forest, impossible to identify as moon, sun, or other. I heard the sound of a kiss. I kept rubbing, now using my other arm to warm Lisa’s side. I felt her arm brush against me as it reached past me, down, toward Jessica’s leg, and in. I thought about how good it would feel to take a hot shower. Jessica shifted against me, and I heard someone moan. I thought about what classes I would miss on Monday if I died, and if I died, would Noah even care. I closed my eyes and realized I had stopped hearing the rushing of the stream. The sound filtered back into my consciousness as someone’s arm accidentally brushed against my package in the course of some other business.