Chapter 7 Trapped

It's been a few hours and Scott has been resting in his tent, after Jackson ordered him to. Jackson sits outside, mindlessly drawing in the ground with a stick. He chuckles lightly at the stick figures that represent him and his friends. But his smile soon fades as he realizes all the pain they are going through.

"Okay, I've rested long enough, let's go." He suddenly hears Scott's voice say.

"Um, are you sure that's such a good idea?" Jackson asks.

"I think we've gotten hurt enough now, don't you think? I just want to go home."

"I want to go home, too. But Stiles and Danny are in no shape to go hiking home right now."

"So you're suggesting we just stay here and die instead?"

"Jesus, Scott, what is up with you? A bear nearly killed you today, Danny is still very sick and Stiles is out cold. Of course I want to go home, but I want you guys to make it there alive!" Jackson yells.

"What's with all the yelling again?" The cracking voice of Stiles asks. Jackson whips his head around, to see Stiles staggering out of the tent, holding his head. He quickly catches him, when he nearly falls down.

"Whoa, there. You should lie back down." He suggests, but Stiles protests.

"No, I want my helmet first." Scott casts his eyes to the ground. "Have you seen it?"

Jackson gives Scott a confused glance. "Uh, no, I haven't. Why don't you just go lie back down and I'll look for it, alright?" Stiles sadly nods. He steers Stiles back to the tent and then focuses his attention on Scott.

"Scott?"

Scott looks up at him and looks away quickly.

"Do you know where his helmet is?"

"It's gone." Scott says in a quiet voice.

"Gone, what do you mean it's gone?"

"The bear took it, smashed it into a rock and left." Jackson rubs a hand on his face.

"And he took it with him?"

"No, he left it behind, but.." Scott starts, but Jackson interrupts.

"So then it's not gone." He starts for the woods immediately with a determined look.

"Jackson, where are you going? That helmet is destroyed!" Scott shouts after him, making him stop.

"Maybe it's not. Look, that helmet is important to him. Don't you remember how he reacted when he lost it?" Scott thought about it for a minute.

"Yeah, but.."

"I'm going to go look for it, alright?" Jackson starts to walk again. Scott sighs.

"Wait!" Jackson stops again, looking at Scott. "I'm coming with you."

"I don't think so, Scott." Jackson walks away from him. Scott puts a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm coming with you." Scott repeats. Jackson sighs when he sees the determined look in Scott's eyes.

"I'm not going to convince you to stay am I?"

"Nope. Besides, I know where to find it, remember?" Scott adds with a sly grin, before he starts to walk.

Jackson rolls his eyes, but follows.

After a few minutes the two arrived at the spot the helmet was last seen. Scott looks by the river at the spot he was in earlier today, with the bear over him. He shudders at the memory and is lost in it, not realizing Jackson is talking to him.

"Scott?" A sudden touch of Jackson makes Scott flinch and look up.

"Huh?" He sighs with relief when he sees it's just Jackson. "Sorry, got a little carried away there. What were you saying?"

"I was asking where you saw the helmet."

"Oh, uh, I think it was over there somewhere." He replies, pointing to his left where some trees and rocks are gathered. Then he sees the rock Stiles fell on, blood still there. He shudders again, but shakes the thought and decides to focus on finding the helmet.

They both walk around, looking for the helmet, when suddenly:

"I got it!" Jackson shouts with a smile. Scott and him smile and cheer. But they stop quickly when they really look at it.

"oh no…" Scott says.

"What are we going to tell Stiles?"

"Maybe we could pretend not to have found it, take it home, buy a new one and give him that!"

Scott and his plans…

"Or, we could not try to hide a helmet in what? Our pockets? And just tell him the truth." Jackson says. Scott sulks.

"Let's just go back."

They start walking again, when Jackson suddenly spots something. Scott doesn't notice and Jackson walks away from him.

"So what do you think he'll do?" He looks beside him, finally seeing Jackson isn't there. "Jackson?" He looks behind him, suddenly spotting Jackson in the woods. "Jackson!" He shouts. "What are you doing?"

"I think I just saw my bag." Jackson replies. "I did, it's here!" Jackson happily shouts. He starts to run, not looking where he's going.

Scott watches and suddenly his eyes go wide as he looks on the ground.

"Jackson, stop running!" Jackson just keeps on going. "Jackson, look out, you're going to get hurt!" Jackson still ignores him. "Look out!" Scott screams. SNAP!

Jackson screams loudly as he falls to the ground. He tries to reach for his right foot, when he sees a bear trap clawed around his ankle. He tries hard to get it off as his eyes start to tear up.

Scott has started to rush towards his friend, careful not to step into the several bear traps placed in the woods.

"Jackson, stop moving around, you'll only make it worse." He says, now very close by Jackson.

"It hurts!" Jackson screams, pain evident in his voice. He still keeps clawing at his foot.

"Just hold still!" Scott shouts, now sitting in front of Jackson. Jackson finally stops struggling, tears flowing down his cheeks. Scott looks closer at the bear trap, wincing when he sees the sharp teeth embedded into Jackson' skin, blood already showing. "Okay, now this is going to hurt, alright?" Jackson' eyes widen at this. "Well, more than it already is. Are you ready?" He asks as he puts his hands near the edges. "I'm going to pull then down and you take out your foot quickly, okay?" Jackson nods with fear in his eyes.

Scott takes in a deep breath. "Alright, one, two, three!" At three, he pushes the sides of the bear trap down as hard as he can. He tries to ignore Jackson' screams.

"Now, Jackson!" He says to Jackson with a red face, using his full strength on the trap. Jackson quickly pulls out his foot. Scott lets go of the trap, it snaps closed again in a second. Scott falls back, panting. He sees Jackson squeezing his eyes shut, looking a little pale.

"Jackson?" He softly asks, while moving closer to Jackson. He doesn't answer, but puts his arms around him. "Come on, lets get you back to the camp." Jackson slowly opens his eyes when Scott starts to pull him up.

He lets out a scream, when he accidentally places his foot on the ground. Scott holds on to him, as he nearly falls over. Jackson steadies himself with help from Scott and they carefully head back to the camp, making sure to avoid any more bear traps.