"Why not?" Veronica excitedly pulled my hand. "Is this a great opportunity for us to experience 'Forest Exploration'?"
Before I had time to refuse Veronica's crazy offer, she excitedly shouted and told Miss Jenny that the two of us would join. Miss Jenny was of course delighted with our kindness and dynamism and she agreed.
"Esther, stay, it's safe here." Garrick grabbed my elbow, his eyes filled with concern.
"Actually..." I hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at Veronica, who was excitedly holding a flashlight. "It's okay, I think I can help. Besides, it's safe to go with everyone."
Garrick, seeing that I had no intention of changing, decided not to try to persuade anymore.
"Then stay close to me." Garrick advised me.
After everyone was ready, the five students followed Jenny into the forest. The other students all returned to the tent in an uneasy mood.
"Okay, according to the map, let's just follow the stream so we won't get lost." Jenny took a map, looked at it, and looked at it with a flashlight to find the way.
Ms. Jenny and Garrick lead, me and Veronica are female, so we go in the middle, behind are two boys. The tall, muscular guy with the blond hair was Nolan, and the black guy next to him was Cato. They were all A-level students in the Royal group.
The deeper we went into the forest, the more fog became and obstructed our view. Every now and then, Garrick would still turn his head to check if we were safe behind.
"Ah, this sign is from the game 'Forest Exploration'." Veronica chirped and shone her flashlight at a sign.
Everyone, even though they didn't understand what was going on, followed Veronica and approached the sign.
Veronica picked up a rock and scooped up the snow. Everyone watched her actions with curious eyes. Seconds later, Veronica pulled up a leather sheath. Inside there are three walkie-talkies.
"Well, this is like a treasure hunt, isn't it?" Veronica giggled, then she turned on the three radios herself and tried to see if it worked. "Fortunately, they all work."
"How do you know there's a radio hidden there?" Nolan looked puzzled at Veronica.
"Wow, don't you know? Originally, our academy was going to hold a game 'Forest Exploration', but because the students were too tired, it was postponed.
I thought they'd cleared all of this stuff out, but it's still there."
"So what else is there besides these walkie-talkies?" Cato asked.
"Also, a lot of things are hidden in various places in this area, and they are marked by signs."
"Ah, then let's do this."
Garrick took the walkie-talkies, then handed two to the two boys. According to the plan Garrick came up with, he figured we wouldn't be able to find Kaylin so quickly if a bunch of people were groping in the dark like that. Therefore, he thought that we should split up into couples to find Kaylin quickly. Veronica went with Nolan, Miss Jenny went with Cato and I went with Garrick. The boys will hold the walkie-talkie to communicate and promptly update the location.
I don't know how long we walked, but I can feel that my legs are tired.
"Can you still walk, you look exhausted." Garrick asked me with concern.
"I'm fine. It's just that I was a bit tired from climbing this morning, so it's a bit difficult to breathe now."
"Need me to carry you?" Garrick paused to give me a break, his hand resting lightly on my shoulder.
"No need, I just need to rest for a while."
We sat together for a while. The night was cold, we sat next to each other to avoid the cold. Just now, we found a flare that was prepared for the game 'Forest Exploration'. This really helped because if we had an accident, we could light flares for help.
After regaining some strength, we continued our search for Kaylin.
"Kaylin... Kaylin..." As he walked, Garrick shouted loudly hoping that Kaylin could hear.
"Save... Save me..."
Someone's gasping voice rang out, and Garrick and I turned to look at each other, seeing surprise in each other's eyes. We rushed to the direction of the cry for help. It was a dark cave, we shone our flashlights in and saw Kaylin trapped in it.
The cave is deep and down below, most likely because of the slippery snow, Kaylin slipped down here.
"Kaylin, it's me, don't be afraid." Garrick reassured Kaylin.
"Huhu, is it Garrick? Help me, I'm about to fall down." Kaylin sobbed, her voice trembling with fear.
"Calm down, listen to me, are you hurt anywhere?"
"No, but my limbs are numb. I'm afraid I can't hold on anymore and I'll fall."
Kaylin was leaning on a sloping cliff, so luckily she hadn't fallen into the cave. Her limbs were numb to cling to this tiny cliff.
She was angry with Garrick, so she deliberately ran into the forest. She assumes that people will soon find out about her disappearance and go looking for her. Unexpectedly, she waited until her limbs were numb and still no one came to look for her.
Unexpectedly, when she returned to the campsite, she lost her way. Even worse, because the dress was difficult to move, she missed and slipped into this cave. She thought that if she fell here, she would be dead, luckily there was a ledge that kept her from falling. However, she could only stay upright like that for a few hours. This is more torture than falling.
After all, Garrick also reached out and saved her.
Garrick shines a flashlight and shines it down on where Kaylin is standing, then he calls everyone over the radio and reports their location.
"With so much fog, it's also very time consuming for people to want to come here." I told Garrick. "We should pull her up now."
Garrick agrees with me. We didn't have ropes or anything that could pull people, so we came up with a way. Garrick will hold me and drop me below. Then I'll grab Kaylin and Garrick will pull us both up. This way was dangerous, but because Kaylin's stamina was exhausted and we didn't know when we would fall, we had to take the risk.
"Okay, calm down Kaylin, we'll save you."
Dominic let me down slowly. With a flashlight in my mouth, Kaylin seems to have worn out and is about to lose her footing. I quickly grabbed Kaylin and held on tight.
"OK?" Garrick asked.
Since I had a flashlight in my mouth, I could only hum in response, hoping that Garrick would understand. And indeed Garrick began to pull us up with force. Just as I was about to reach the top, Kaylin suddenly opened her eyes. She grabbed Garrick's arm and shoved mine away.
The situation that arose was so unexpected, neither Garrick nor I had foreseen it. The strength in his arms loosened slightly and I felt my whole body light and freely fall downwards.
When faced with extreme fear, I couldn't even scream.