Prey

Disclaimer:See chapter 1

Chapter 2: Pitching Tents or Pitching Woe

"Uggh", groans Gabriella as she slumps down onto a rock and pulls off her boots to massage her aching feet. "I don't understand why my feet hurt so much. I bought the boots that the outdoor store recommended."

Troy plops down next to her and takes a swig of water from his canteen. "Yeah, those are really nice looking boots", he comments. "When did you get them?"

"I bought them three days ago."

Sharpay, who until now, had been ignoring the two couldn't help but speak up. "Three days ago? Are you insane? You can't go hiking in new boots. Besides, those things are way too big and heavy."

"She's right there, miss", provides Jake, the male trail guide. "The rule of thumb is new socks, old shoes." Jake, himself, is wearing jeans, a flannel red shirt and well-broken in hiking boots.

Troy happens to be looking at Sharpay while Jake is giving Gabby his advice and he's shocked when he sees her mouth the words, "New socks, old shoes", in time with Jake. He looks down to see what she's wearing and is equally shocked to see that Sharpay is wearing beat up old trainers.

"Well, at least she's wearing boots", Troy says. He feels an uncomfortable need to defend his girlfriend. "You're just wearing old sneakers."

"Old sneakers?!", she shoots back at him. "I'll have you know, Bolton, that these are North Face trail running shoes and my footwear is properly broken in! And if Nerdiella, there, would get her nose out of a book and get some practical experience, she'd be a lot better off."

With that Sharpay storms over to where Ryan is sitting and snatches his water bottle out of his hand. She squirts a stream of water into her own mouth, swishes it around and then, spits it out onto the ground, narrowly missing her brother's foot.

"Hey! Don't take it out on me. I wore the proper footwear."

"God, Ryan! It's bad enough we have to be here at all... But to be here with them."

"I thought you liked him", Ryan says mockingly.

"Things have ... changed since the summer." Yet... Sharpay finds herself unconsciously glancing back over at the brunette couple and feels ... a certain longing ... until Troy's eye catches her and she quickly looks away.

"Alright, campers!", Eve, the female guide, announces as she comes to stand in the middle of the clearing. She is a tall, willowy woman and looks like she's swimming in the green flannel shirt and blue jeans she's wearing. "We have about two more hours of hiking until we reach the campsite, so let's get moving. We need to have time to set up the tents before nightfall." She takes a final bite on her Snickers bar and drops the wrapper on the ground before walking over to Jake who's taking a final drawl on his cigarette. He casually grinds the butt into the ground before reaching down to retrieve his backpack.

"Something's up with those two", Sharpay observes in a low whisper.

"Whadaya mean?", Ryan asks while he pulls on his own gear.

"Well, Morticia and Gomez, there, don't look like your typical outdoorsey types is what I mean. She's paler than you and he's got a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit that doesn't mix well with the great outdoors."

Ryan mumbles, "I'm not that pale", while reaching down and pocketing Eve's disguarded candy wrapper.

"And that...", she points out his action. "What kind of wilderness expert litters?"

"I don't know ... a careless one? Maybe they weren't raised by such a flaming tree-hugger, like we were."

"And another thing ... we're going the wrong way. Why are they taking us up this way? We'd have been there by now if we'd stuck to the main trail."

"I thought we weren't going to tell anyone we'd been here before."

"I'm not ... I'm just wondering why we're taking such a roundabout way of getting there is all."

"Maybe it's part of the training ... you know ... try to tire us out more or something."

"Maybe...", Sharpay murmurs as they take up their positions at the end of the group.

After arriving at the campsite, Jake and Eve leave the teenagers alone to pitch their own tents, stating that this is OJT or On-the-Job-Training. The two guides disappear into the forest and tell them that they will return in one hour to inspect their shelters.

"I bet they're hiding out in an RV parked on the other side of that ravine", comments Sharpay.

"Do you always have to be so negative?", snaps Gabriella. Normally, she would have never made such an argumentative statement, but she's tired and hungry and her feet hurt.

"Whoa, when did you grow a spine?"

"Will you just quit it? Please?", Gabriella pleads. "I really want to learn and enjoy this experience and you're just ruining it."

"I'm ruining it?", Sharpay asks in disbelief. "I didn't just desert us in the middle of the wilderness in order to test us, you know? That wasn't me; that was our, so-called, instructors."

"I think it's an excellent idea. But I could understand someone like you not liking that. You're used to having everything handed to you on a silver platter and now that you have to actually work for something ..."

"We'll see who's used to working...", Sharpay cuts her off. "How about a little contest? Ryan and me against you and Bolton. We'll see who can get their tent put together first."

"Well ... okay ... I guess", Gabriella says, a little nervously.

Ten minutes later, Sharpay and Ryan are lying back against a tree watching Troy and Gabriella argue over which pole goes where. The Evans twins pitched their tent perfectly, like a precision drill team.

"Think we should help them?", Ryan asks with concern.

"Hell, no. Let them sleep out in the cold, if it comes down to it."

"Uh, Sharpay... Remember that no mixing of the genders rule?"

"So?", Sharpay asks with knitted brows.

"Well, there's only two tents, so that means one tent is for the girls and the other one is for the boys..."

Sharpay's eyes narrow as she studies the other two "trainees" and she wonders how Ryan suddenly became so smart.

"Dibs on our tent!", she shouts as she jumps up and makes a run for the only completed tent.

Ryan is right behind her and decides to make a daring move by jumping into the air and sliding head first towards the tent --- just like sliding into home plate. His new found love of baseball will definitely serve him well. Everything starts out perfectly; Ryan leaps into the air and goes sailing past Sharpay. Unfortunately, sliding on a flat, level baseball field is very different from sliding in a clearing in the middle of the forest. And when he comes back down to earth to commence the actual sliding part of the slide, his ankle snags on a large, half-buried tree root, partially hidden by some pine needles.

"Owww!", screams Ryan as his body comes to an abrupt stop.

Sharpay, meanwhile, is doing her victory dance in front of the tent.

Gabriella, upon seeing Ryan's distress, drops her tent pole and runs over to help him.

Troy is still standing there with a puzzled look on his face as he compares the mess on the ground at his feet with the tent that Ryan and Sharpay built.

"Oh Ryan, quit being such a baby", Sharpay admonishes her brother as she moves to stand next to him. "Just because I won..."

"It really hurts, Shar", Ryan whines as he gently cradles his ankle in hopes of finding some relief.

She seems to be studying him for a moment as she tries to come to a decision. Then, she drops to the ground next to him and responds sincerely, "Oh Ry, you're not joking, are you? It's really bad."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I sprained it."

"Okay! Nobody panic! I had first aid training. RICE!", Gabriella shouts.

"Umm, I'm not really very hungry right now", Ryan says through gritted teeth.

"RICE", she repeats, "Rest!", she puts her hand on Ryan's chest and pushes him down to the ground. "Ice! Well, we don't have any of that", and then, to Ryan whispers, "Sorry. ... Compression!" She takes a bandanna out of her pocket and ties it around his ankle. "And finally, Elevation." She takes one of the sleeping bags and gently lifts his leg and puts it under his injured ankle.

All this attention from Gabriella happened so fast, Ryan is stunned into silence and momentarily has forgotten how much his ankle hurts. He especially liked how it felt when she had her hand on his chest.

"Umm, thanks, Gabriella", Ryan says shyly.

"No problem", she mutters before turning away.

"I think we need to take you back and get you to a doctor", Troy states. He's finally given up on the tent project and joined the other three.

"Oh, I definitely agree", Sharpay says. "I'm sorry you had to get hurt, Ry, but if it'll get us out of this camping crap, then good going!" Then, she looks up from her kneeling position next to Ryan and says sincerely, "Umm, thanks Gabriella ... for ... taking charge and taking care of Ryan. I really appreciate it."

Gabriella nods silently.

"So now, we just have to wait until the guides come back", Troy says. "They should be back soon; I think our time's almost up."

Before anyone can respond, a loud clicking noise comes from behind them and everyone turns to see three people standing there with the large man in the middle casually aiming a rifle right at them.

"That's where you got it wrong, boy", a deep male voice drawls out in a slow southern accent. "Your time is jest beginnin'."

Insert dramatic cliffhanger music here

TBC

Thanks for all the reviews; I really appreciate it.

The reference to Morticia and Gomez --- That Mr & Mrs Addams from The Addams Family.

Please let me know what you think.