"Well, sitting there staring, isn't going to get us out of this any faster, Gus!" Shawn said, looking from his best friend and the mountain before them. He sighed and started to run up the steep slope, Gus trailing after him. He pushed with all his force against the ground, which sent a shower of dirt and pebbles onto Gus.
"Do you mind?" Gus panted, blinking dirt out of his eyes. Shawn was running several feet in front of him, and was pulling himself up over a stone slab with newfound hope. Gus came up more slowly, and when he got to the stone slab, Shawn was sitting on it staring wide-eyed at something in the distance.
"What?" Gus asked craning his neck to look over his shoulder. Shawn started shaking violently and pointed at the bottom of the mountain they had just come from. A brownish black shape was moving at the base of the mountain. Gus's eyes widened. "Oh my God." He breathed, "It followed us!" he yelled, turning back to look at Shawn. The place he had been sitting only moments before was empty and he was running with speed Gus had never seen Shawn run with before up the mountain. Gus bolted after him. Panting Gus managed to catch up with his best friend and ran at his side. They were halfway up the mountain when they stopped and looked behind them. The bear was nowhere in sight. Gus took deep breaths and Shawn dramatically flopped backwards, lying motionless on the ground except for the heaving of his chest.
"Gus…. I don't think….. I ever need…..to work out….again!" Shawn panted in-between breaths. Gus nodded his agreement then reached toward Shawn.
"Give me some water," he said, rubbing his head.
Shawn shook his head, "No can do buddy."
Gus's head jerked up. "Why not?!"
"Because I had to run fast and in order to do that I had to ditch something."
"Yeah! Me! I saw you take off without me! Why can't I have water?!"
"If you want to hike back down and get the pack be my guest, just don't let Mr. Curly Claws know your down there." Shawn replied not making eye contact.
"You ditched the water pack?!" Gus screeched.
"What was I supposed to do? Get eaten?" Shawn defended himself.
"I we get out of this alive, I'm gonna kill you!" Gus spat.
Shawn rolled his eyes and waved a dismissive arm at Gus. He knew his friend would forgive him sooner or later. He sighed and raised his eyes to the sky. He studied the position of the sun for a while and then stood up, hitting Gus's arm.
"If we hurry we'll get to the top of this mountain by sundown." He said.
Gus sighed and stood up. "Do you somehow know what could be on the other side?" he asked hopefully.
"We'll," Shawn said helping his friend up and beginning to walk up the mountain side by side, "I know there are two possibilities. There could be a city on the other side."
"Preferably," Gus cut in.
"Or there could be another mountain." Shawn continued. "Most likely another mountain."
Gus scoffed and pushed ahead of Shawn and muttered, "Why can't you be a real psychic?"
