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Chapter Two The other side of the summit was steeper. Flea led the group, stepping sideways. Chad watched as Flea, Anthony, and John took careful side steps down the incline. Shrugging, he sat down and took off his pack. John glanced over his shoulder. "What are you doing?" Chad smiled. "Slide!" he pushed the pack down the incline, then slid down it on his backside. "Whee!" Anthony and Flea watched as Chad shot past them. They glanced at each other, then up at John. The three sat down and shoved their bags before themselves down the incline. John flew past Anthony and caught up with Flea. The two landed in the dust at the same time. Anthony was sliding along when he spotted a root. It stuck out of the stone in a loop shape. He shifted to his right. But his foot jammed into the root. The rest of his body kept sliding, tearing at his hindered left leg to join it. CRACK! "Aah!" Anthony cried out. "Anthony!" Flea scrambled up the incline, John and Chad directly behind him. Flea untied Anthony's boot. The foot slipped free, and Anthony fell into John and Chad. The three crashed into the ground beneath them. Dust flew in every direction. Flea slid back down the incline, where John and Chad were propping up Anthony, against the rocky base of the incline. Chad pulled off Anthony's sock. "Ooh!" slipped from Chad's lips as he observed the red, already swelling ankle that greeted him. "Is it bad?" Flea asked, hovering over Chad's shoulder. "Hell yeah!" Anthony replied through closed teeth. Tears lined his bottom eyelashes. Chad touched the swelling ankle; it was conducting heat. "It's at least sprained, if not broken," he announced. Glancing at Anthony, he found his friend wincing. "Can you move it?" Anthony's jawbone jutted out; his eyes clenched shut. His toes stretched, and his foot jerked. "Don't think it's broken," Chad commented, reaching for the ankle. "Can you not touch it again?" Anthony leaned his head against the rock. Chad sighed. "It's going to have to be wrapped. Looks like you guys get to see another one of my medical specialties." He cracked an empty smile. John and Flea stepped back as Chad went for his bag. "Hey Chad?" Flea stood behind him. "I've got an Ace bandage on my knee, if that would help." Chad looked up. "Yeah, that WOULD help! Thanks!" Flea rolled up his right pant leg and unwound the wide beige cloth wrapped around it. Chad took the bandage from Flea and laid it across the top of Anthony's foot. He wrapped it around the foot, then around the ankle, and back around the foot. He continued with this figure eight pattern until a few inches of bandage remained. He held the end in place with metal clips. Then looked up at Anthony. The injured Chili Pepper's head faced skyward, his dark eyes squinting. He swallowed hard. "Thanks, man!" he breathed. His hand extended toward his bag. "What do you need?" John asked, wanting badly to be of use. "My water," Anthony panted, his eyes closing. John unlatched the buckle on Anthony's frame pack, and he dug a hand around inside. Camera, flashlight, trail mix... "Here it is," John announced as his fingers wrapped around the plastic bottle. He pulled it out and handed it to his friend. Breathing heavy, Anthony loosened the bottle top and threw back half the water in one shot. The others watched him gulp it down. He sighed as he drew the bottle away from his lips and glanced at the three who were staring at him. "Well, this sucks," he commented. "How the hell are we going to finish the trail?" "We're not," Chad replied, sitting down beside him. "We can't hike two more days." Anthony heaved a sigh. "Damn it!" He gazed at Flea. "Sorry, buddy. This time, it's my fault." John raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about?" Laughing, Flea shook his head. "Anthony and I have hiked this damn trail three times now, and we've never finished. The first time was with Hillel." "Yeah, back in high school," Anthony added with a smile. "Hillel and Flea got poison ivy and were miserable. That was only after the first day." "The second time," Flea chimed in, "it was just the two of us, and we ran out of water..." Anthony laughed. "We had to f***ing ladle water out of puddles!" "Then we got sick on the water, 'cause we didn't have any way to purify it. We weren't getting anywhere, so we quit." Furrowing his eyebrows, Anthony asked, "Was that the time we ended up hanging around in that fishing village?" "Yeah!" Flea chuckled. "We were walking around, me with a green mohawk, Anthony with long hair, all in braids. I think we scared the locals!" Anthony laughed, but his smile faded when his eyes rested on his ankle. "This still sucks. We were supposed to go white water rafting next week too!" He hissed through his teeth, and the four fell silent. "So what should we do?" Anthony asked. Chad shook his head. "We're not getting down this mountain tonight. It took us more than half a day to get up it." He glanced at his watch. "And it's three-thirty now. What if we hike for another hour, then set up camp wherever looks good." He turned to Anthony, eyebrows raised. "Do you think you're up for that?" Anthony's ankle throbbed beneath the bandage. His back rested comfortably against the rock, his head enjoying its support. "Yeah, I'm up to it," Anthony replied. Flea wrapped his arms under Anthony's and pulled him to his feet. Anthony held onto Flea's shoulders, steadying himself on his good foot. John slipped his arm around Anthony, who shifted his weight to lean equally on his two friends. He flung an arm around John. "Okay," Anthony breathed, gazing at Chad through squinting eyes. "Let's go." Anthony led the way, leaning heavily into John every time he stepped down with his left foot. Chad followed just behind the three. They left the clearing, unaware that Anthony's frame pack still rested against the rock incline. |