After Greendale is saved from Subway and the semester ends on a triumphant note, reality still intrudes on the study group's celebrations. Unable to find another roommate they could imagine adjusting to life in Apartment 303, Annie and Abed are still struggling to pay the rent. A few days after they emerged victorious from their school's long-hidden computer department, Annie grimly contemplates the prospect of returning to the sales job she had last summer. It's then that Abed, watching Inspector Spacetime while she fills out the application, brings up one of the stranger adventures from their second year at Greendale.
"Remember that ghost town we visited?"
"Of course! I wouldn't forget being shot at by-"
"That racist prospector. That's what I was thinking about. I might have a more narratively interesting solution to our financial problems."
"How could that guy be relevant to—"
"What was he prospecting for? How did he make a living? It might seem like a plot hole in a comic adventure that would work better as a flashback than an episode, but—"
"Stop developing!"
"OK, here's my idea."
Not long after, they spend a day at the county library, poring through dusty maps and history books. They find the story of that ghost town's origins in the Colorado gold rush. It requires a lot of note-taking and some review of the basics to work out the rest—they'd actually taken a geology class, but you couldn't expect Greendale to prepare you for interpreting these kinds of details—but by the end of the day, they think they know what to look for.
So, on a warm morning about a week into summer vacation, Abed and Annie get in Abed's car and head west, Annie studying a road map to make sure their directions are right. On the way out of the suburbs, they pass the hills where they'd gone sledding with Troy the last couple of winters. They both wonder where he is now, and how soon he could finish his trip around the world. Then, leaving the highway, they turn onto a little road that winds upwards into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
The further they climb, the more trees and fewer houses they see. They skip the turn that would take them back to the ghost town; even if they owe the idea to him, they don't want to meet that prospector again. Besides, the miners who once lived there had torn up the landscape, leaving the creek that flowed through the town polluted downstream and the gold they were looking for depleted until the town could no longer sustain itself.
Instead, Abed parks the car in the woods a little further into the mountains, and he and Annie scramble down a steep hillside covered in pine trees, awkwardly carrying a bulky metal pan they'd ordered online. At the bottom they find the creek; here, upstream of the abandoned town, the water is cold but safe to wade in. They pour some gravel from the streambed into the pan and start sifting through it. It's a tricky process; it takes a few tries to get it right, and a few more at different spots in the creek to find anything, but eventually they see a few tiny flecks of gold at the bottom of the pan. The old miners didn't get everything; there's not enough gold left here to sustain a town anymore, but there might be enough to help them keep up with the rent for a little while. Annie briefly worries that she's not building her resume—how would she even explain this?—but remembers the months she spent marketing pharmaceuticals and decides it's worth it.
When they get home that afternoon, Abed sees that Rachel's been trying to reach him—apparently there was no cell service in that canyon up in the mountains. They make dinner plans at Senor Kevin's. At the restaurant that night, Abed explains where he was that day. He tries to read Rachel's expression—was she annoyed that he missed her text messages, or just confused? She offers to help him get a coat-checking job at a local theatre (even with the number of dances the Dean held, it was more reliable work than at Greendale), but Abed declines. After the most obvious opportunities for sitcom hijinks were exhausted, that would probably get pretty boring. Anyway, he liked that stream; maybe he should film one of his movies there.
So, for the rest of their vacation, Abed and Annie share a secret place. Most of the time, life goes on as usual, except for Troy's absence making things seem a bit slower and less exciting in the apartment. They watch movies together many nights, or go out to meet the other members of the Save Greendale Committee (though Chang usually joins them, and sometimes Duncan and Hickey, they still mentally call it a study group). Other times Abed stays at Rachel's place; Annie doesn't mind being alone, but for some reason she doesn't like those evenings. And sometimes Rachel stays with Abed; on those days, Annie starts to find herself avoiding conversation and staying in her room, reading or studying Greendale's course catalog for the fall semester. She gets in the habit of taking walks to the Greendale campus at those times; she likes seeing the school empty and quiet, and reminiscing about their old adventures there. It's more comfortable than hiding out at home, feeling guilty at her inexplicable sense of resentment.
But, on a couple of mornings every week, the two of them get up early and head for the mountains. They leave the suburbs behind them, drive up the first line of foothills where they can see the sun climbing high above the city and the plains beyond, and follow the winding road into the forest, then leave the car and make their way down to the creek. They spend most of the time working, sifting through the gravel in the cold water, learning to recognize the bends in the stream where they get the best results. Still, they also take some time to enjoy the place, exploring some of the surrounding woods. Once they simulate an Inspector Spacetime episode in the Wild West; though he still has the miniaturized Dreamatorium, Abed hasn't had so much fun running a scenario since Troy left. And, spending so much time in that wild spot, they see things: eagles flying high overhead, herds of elk wandering over the hilltops, a raccoon that lives by the creek and ventures closer and closer as she grows accustomed to them. Once a mountain lion appears silently on the rocky hillside, watching them; they huddle together and start to retreat towards the car, but the cat turns away and disappears into the trees, just slowly enough for Abed to capture a moment of video on his phone.
On the hottest day of the summer, they hurry there first thing in the morning to escape the heat. The stream that had seemed unpleasantly cold when they started is a relief now. In the afternoon, they explore some deeper pools of water that they had previously avoided; it reminds Abed of an Inspector Spacetime episode where squid-like aliens hid in major rivers to infiltrate Earth's cities, and that starts another simulation.
"Inspector, look out! The Blorgons have taken advantage of the distraction to launch their own attack!" Annie shouts, splashing water at Abed. That never happened in the original episode, but Abed sets that aside for the moment and retaliates. Soon the Inspector and Geneva have to flee by diving beneath the surface to emerge downstream and surprise the Blorgons from an unexpected angle. When Abed finally pauses the simulation, he and Annie climb out of the water and take a break to dry off on the sunny north bank of the creek.
Lying next to each other on a rock above the water, they watch the clouds building up all around them, towering above the mountains. "This is nice," Annie says after a while. "We should spend more time up here." Usually she spends a lot of her school vacations planning for the next semester. It occurs to her that she should take free time more seriously. "Wanna come back tomorrow?"
"I can't," Abed replies. "I'm going to a movie with Rachel." Annie shifts away, strangely uncomfortable. Annoyed with herself, she makes an effort to respond appropriately.
"How are things? With the two of you, I mean?" Abed looks at her quizzically. He may not read most people easily, but Annie realizes he knows her well enough to tell when she's trying too hard. After a moment, though, he brushes the anomaly off.
"Good. After some early difficulties, we've learned to share space with minimal conflict and our shared interest in film and television ensure engaging conversation." Annie chuckles at that; it's what Abed would call an "in-character" response. But now he looks hesitant. "I think I might be in love with the idea of being loved."
Annie's suddenly aware that hearing that sentence was an emotional roller coaster and that it's not supposed to be. Hoping she can keep her expression more or less neutral, she asks, "That's not just another callback, is it?"
"No. Well, it is but that's because I was hoping you would understand it better than me. Logically, everything about our relationship should make sense. It does make sense, but I've noticed that sometimes I'm happier that it does than that we're spending time together. We have so much in common, but sometimes it seems like we're just repeating ourselves. Not like—" he cuts himself off suddenly. "It just feels like she's a guest star and the study group is the real show."
Annie thinks for a minute. "I do understand that. I guess your callback was accurate—I've spent a lot of time wanting to prove something about me and Jeff, maybe more than I wanted to know what the reality of it would be like. But I don't know what will make you happy." Abed looks at her, processing new information, but doesn't continue the conversation.
They stay there a while longer, watching the sky. One immense cloud looms over them, blocking the sun. The shade feels nice—for a moment. Then they hear thunder, close by with no warning. By the time they can scramble up the hill to the car, it's raining torrentially and lightning is flashing all around them. They huddle in the car until the storm passes, then set out for home.
For the next few weeks, things mostly stay the way they've been. Once Annie walks to the Greendale campus on an evening when Abed is staying with Rachel and runs into him there, alone. She doesn't ask about it, but after that they start walking there together sometimes. Meanwhile, Annie starts to notices that Abed is at the apartment more and Rachel less than before. And they spend more time than ever in the mountains. The raccoon grows bold enough to steal their lunches a couple of times; Abed and Annie start trying to suggest a new way to hide their food each day, more for entertainment than practicality. As the hot, dry days go on, the water falls and they can work in pools that were too deep before. This still isn't a lucrative career, but they're getting confident they can keep up with the bills for the summer and at least part of the fall.
On a beautiful day late in the summer, they make a series of small miscalculations. First, Abed let Britta borrow his car while hers was in need of repairs. Instead, Annie drives them to the stream in her much older car. Second, they don't bring their phones—why bother if there's no reception in the canyon? The day's work passes with no problems. They stay out longer than usual; the sun is already falling towards the high peaks to the west when they walk back to Annie's car.
Which won't start.
After a few minutes of futile attempts to start the car, they take the long walk to the nearest house they've seen along the road only to find it empty. Now it's getting dark, it's a long way to any other buildings they know of, and those could be vacation houses with no one around. Instead they decide to wait for morning.
"Was Rachel expecting to see you tonight?" Annie asks reluctantly. "Maybe she'll look for us."
"Nope." Abed thinks for a moment. "The study group would probably notice we're missing in a couple days. But we might be better off counting on finding someone to give us a ride in the morning. Expecting to be rescued sounds like a moment of dramatic irony at the start of a Robinson Crusoe homage, and spending months living off the land would wreak havoc with my filming schedule."
Returning to the car, they inventory their supplies; they brought extra water, but there's nothing to eat. They find a single picnic blanket left in the trunk; not too warm, but probably good enough for a mild summer night. There's no way they can both sleep comfortably in the little car; instead they walk back to the stream, lay the blanket down in a grassy clearing on the far bank, and watch the stars.
Abed tells Annie about his new movie idea, the one he wanted to film up here. "Those geology books we read said that dinosaur fossils found near here were radioactive because of the uranium deposits in the rocks. So the scientists in the movie discover that this gives them the ability to travel through time and reanimate dinosaurs in the present to become…Time-osaurs!"
"Can I be in it?"
"Of course. You can play the paleontologist who discovers the reanimated dinosaurs, and I'm the time-travel expert the President sends to investigate. I'll have to film a lot of it on campus this fall, though. It's too complicated to get many actors up here, so it may be just us in those scenes. It would be easier if Troy was here. Maybe I can get the rest of the study group to join us for a day."
"When Troy comes back, you can make a sequel with him," Annie says, trying to be reassuring. Troy's been able to contact them once in a while, so they know he's safe, but he still has a long way to go. "And Rachel usually likes to help with your movies, right?" she adds, suddenly realizing that Abed's been avoiding talking about her. He hesitates for a moment.
"We broke up last week. I wasn't sure how to tell you."
"I'm sorry, Abed. Are you okay?"
"Yes. It's probably for the best." He doesn't elaborate further.
They stay there for a while, not talking much. It's a clear night, and the stars are beautiful, with no lights to interfere with the view. Somewhere in the hills above them a pack of coyotes are howling. By the time they try to sleep, it's getting chilly. Annie rolls over and huddles against Abed for warmth.
They wake up like that as the sun rises the next morning. Neither hurries to get up, but they're cold, hungry, and soon feel compelled to start looking for help. Remembering the maps they studied, Annie wonders if there might be more chance of finding people on the next road over, across the canyon from where they parked. They climb up the hill to see. The view from the top is beautiful, but not much help; the road is far away and looks deserted. They're about to turn around when Abed hears footsteps coming from a nearby stand of trees. After a moment, a black man with a long beard and a scar on his face emerges into the clearing, studying them with a bemused expression. Annie suddenly realizes he looks familiar.
"Professor Kane?" she asks hesitantly.
As he explains to Abed and Annie on the walk through the forest to his cabin, Professor Kane has been living a solitary life in the woods since he left Greendale two years ago. Remembering the circumstances of his abrupt departure, the two students explain that Starburns' death was faked, but it turns out he already knew from the local paper. Annie tries to talk him into returning to Greendale—the school needs more teachers who take their job seriously—but he says he's happier here. They stay at the cabin long enough to have breakfast and share some stories about life at Greendale, then Kane gives them a ride back to town.
Annie is eventually able to get her car towed out of the mountains and repaired, but they make a point of only using Abed's car for that drive afterwards. As the summer draws to a close, they're closer than ever, but don't really talk about it. Abed writes a script for Time-osaurs, and they start filming some scenes when they take breaks. Abed is reminded of how impressive an actor Annie can be when she really commits to a character. Of course they still do some Inspector Spacetime simulations for fun between takes.
At the end of August, Shirley invites Annie over to her house and explains that she's going to Atlanta to take care of her father. Saddened by the prospect of another friend leaving for who knows how long, Annie also worries about how Abed will take the departure of another member of the original study group. She's getting ready to tell him when they're working in the stream the next day, but he's getting excited talking about how he wants to film the next scene and she can't bring herself to upset him. Maybe the whole group should explain it when the semester starts.
On the last day of summer vacation, they drive up through the foothills, climb down the canyon, and wade into the creek again despite the chilly autumnal morning. They've made enough money to pay the rent for a while (and of course Abed's made sure all the location shooting for the movie is done; he can film the rest on campus). This is a last visit to see the place. They get out of the water after a short time, shivering even though it's warming up quickly in the sun. Abed insists they wave goodbye to the raccoon, who's watching them from the streambank. Instead of returning to the car, they cross the road and take a path they've been curious about, one that heads uphill towards the nearest mountain, a minor foothill of the Rockies that still towers high above them. The path fades away eventually, but by then they can see the way to the top. They scramble over steep piles of rocks and through thickets of spruce and fir bent by the wind, until finally Abed takes Annie's hand to pull her up onto a boulder and they're at the summit.
They stand there quietly for a while, hand in hand, contemplating the view. They can see a glint of water in the canyon they just left. All around them are the foothills, green trees and brown grass punctuated by a few flecks of yellow where the aspens are starting to turn. To the west are the peaks of the Continental Divide, high and cold and remote, gleaming from an early snowfall. Eastwards, at the feet of the mountains, vast stretches of suburban sprawl are surrounded by a vaster prairie. Abed brought binoculars; he picks them and scans the rooftops until he glimpses a familiar building, one of the taller ones on the Greendale campus. As he points it out to Annie, he tries to make sense of their relationship, wondering if he's been avoiding dealing with feelings they haven't talked about. Then he shrugs, pulls her closer, and focuses on Greendale again. If something is going to happen between them, it will probably happen there. For the moment, what they have here now is enough.