Becky jogged over to her friends. She is comforted to know that Allyson, Brenna, Miki, Rachel, and Melissa all look basically the same since the last time she saw them. It's almost like high school again; well except for the fact that a person's life may be at stake. Things are a little bit awkward. No one said anything for a few seconds until Melissa finally spoke. She announced that she and Rachel had gotten everyone together to search for Lindsey. She also explained that the trail would be long and grueling (Miki groaned at this remark) but that they owed it to Lindsey to get back together and do whatever they could to find her. Hearing Lindsey's name was painful. Becky wanted to believe that she was alive but her life experiences had given her a somewhat realistic, pessimistic view of life and she couldn't help but imagine the worst.
Allyson suggested that they should probably start hiking so they could find a decent place to sleep before nighttime. Melissa had been talking about hiking this famous trail since high school so naturally she led the way. Becky kept a fast pace and walked with Melissa, taking everything in around her. Allyson and Brenna followed closely behind. Becky couldn't help but find Brenna's cynical comments quite amusing, even considering the dire situation. Allyson seemed as good-natured as she had always been, never complaining and full of sympathy. Rachel and Miki brought up the end of the line; Rachel by choice, and Miki due to the fact that she tripped over something every other minute. Rachel seemed to find this quite hilarious. Seeing everyone was definitely nice but it was hard to ignore what had brought them all together. Every memory they discussed, every update on someones life somehow made everyone think of Lindsey and it put a depressing mood on the group.
They hiked for about an hour, talking about how everyone had been doing since high school. It was basic, polite conversation, nothing too deep. Things still felt a little awkward. About an hour into the hike, the women heard obnoxious laughter coming from somewhere. As they rounded the corner, the discovered the cause of the noise.Three men were standing there, laughing and joking around but when they saw the women, they stopped talking. One of them walked over in a confident manner.
"Hey there, I'm Javaris Jamar Javarison-Lamar" said the black man who held out his hand. Miki laughed at this ridiculous name. Rachel stepped forward and shook his hand. Becky shot Rachel a glare. She didn't trust him, but then again, Becky didn't really trust anyone. Rachel was about to say something when one of other three men walked up.
"Are you looking for the reward?" said the other black man who Javaris had introduced as Quatro Quatro. He spoke with a roughness to his voice and had a tough appearance but Brenna could have swore she saw him flinch in terror when an insect buzzed by him.
"We're not looking for a reward, we're looking for our friend." Brenna said in a condescending tone. The third man then stepped forward. He was a smaller white guy and he just looked and sounded annoying the way he introduced himself as Dan Smith with a sense of false masculinity..
"Well it's not worth it you'd better give it up" Dan said. "We've been out here for weeks now, and I've made a fair assessment that the girl will not be found, it's too dangerous anyways out here. There's creatures you wouldn't believe that roam everywhere and poisonous plants at every corner."
"You can't forget about the bugs either!" Quatro Quatro chimed in. None of the women spoke. They were confused as to why these men were trying to convince them to leave the trail.
"We're leaving pretty soon", said Javaris "it's just too dangerous out here."
"Well, I think we'll be fine." Melissa replied shortly.
"You should really turn back!" called out Javaris, but Allyson had already started walking away and the rest of the group followed. Becky knew that something was up with those men. She had a pretty good judge of character and she knew that those men were lying about something, she just wasn't sure what. Plus, that Dan Smith dude totally creeped her out.
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