Before the Fall

Chapter-One

Before the Fall

“Hey, Adam!” Derek yelled. “Give me a hand with this tent?”

I was hammering in the last tie-down stake when he called. With one last check of my tent, I looked up.

Across the fire pit, Derek was getting frustrated as he tried to assemble one of the support poles. Lance and Brian worked on their tents to either side, boxing in the pit so we could all steal some warmth once the night chill settled in.

The air had that late-evening bite, and beneath the last of Brian’s fire smoke, the campground smelled like damp earth and pine needles. He’d started it earlier while the rest of us unpacked, but the damp kindling smoked more than it burned.

I nodded to Derek as I walked over. He dropped the pole, and it flopped into three pieces held together by the elastic cord.

I chuckled and reached down to assemble it, then noticed the metal ferrule was bent. Pulling my knife free from its sheath, I straightened the lip, slid the pieces together, and handed it back.

Derek frowned at the pole, then at me.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What?” I asked.

He lifted the pole. “I fought this stupid thing for five minutes, and you fixed it in ten seconds.”

I chuckled and shrugged. “I wasn’t frustrated. When I got over here, it looked like everything was working against you — the pole, the liner, the tangled cord, the tarp bunched under your knee.”

I looked over the tent and sighed. “Here. We’ll set it up together, then before we leave, I’ll help you pack it right. Next time, this’ll be easier.”

Derek planted his hands on his hips and glared down at the half-collapsed tent. “Last time, we were in a hurry to leave, remember? I did the best I could.”

“And you didn’t repack it when you got home?” I asked, giving him a look.

His mouth opened, then shut again when he failed to find a defense.

I smiled to take the sting out of it. Derek was good at plenty of things. He just had a habit of fighting the whole problem at once, and I’d learned a long time ago that most problems got smaller once you found the part actually causing trouble.

I patted Derek on the shoulder. “I’m just giving you a hard time. Let’s get this done so we can light the fire, break out the camping chairs, and drink a couple of beers, eh?”

I set Derek’s last stake, stood, and brushed my hands off on my pants. The tent sagged, then caught its shape as he tightened the line.

Derek patted me on the back. “Thanks. Now about that beer.”

I snorted and glanced toward the fire pit, where Brian’s earlier attempt had left a sad little pile of blackened kindling. “Grab the camping chairs and I’ll start the fire. Once Brian and Lance are done, grab the cooler so we can start relaxing.”

Derek gave the tent one last suspicious look before heading for the car, parked just off the dirt road that looped past the campsites.

We had picked a campground outside Robbinsville, close enough to the Dragon that Derek kept joking we should have shown up on motorcycles, as if any of us could afford one.

Looking at the kindling, I decided I needed better tinder, so I made my way to the dirt road. Derek gave me a confused look as I searched near the edge, but it only took a moment to find a patch of crushed plant matter that had been run over enough times to break down.

I brought it back to the fire pit, built a small teepee with the thinner logs, and tucked the crushed tinder underneath. A little magnesium from my flint and steel gave it something to bite into, and after a few strikes, the tinder caught.

The flame started small. I leaned in, blew gently until the glow spread, then fed in smaller sticks and nudged them toward the center.

When I looked up, Lance and Brian were carrying the cooler from the car, joking about something I didn’t catch. After a week of stocking shelves and cleaning windows, hearing that was exactly what I needed.

Derek flipped open a camping chair with the usual dramatic flourish and set it beside me. “Sit, my good man,” he said, giving a ridiculous little bow.

Brian popped open the cooler. “Heads up.”

He tossed beers around the circle. I caught mine and nodded. Derek caught his too, while Lance leaned into the cooler and grabbed one for himself.

One by one, they unfolded their chairs and settled in around the fire. That was when I noticed Brian had a bundle of sticks in one hand and a bag of marshmallows tucked under his arm.

Popping my beer open, I accepted a stick as Brian passed them around. Darkness was coming on fast now that the sun had dropped behind the mountains, and I was glad I’d gotten the fire going.

Brian finally sat and ripped the bag open. He passed it around, and we each grabbed a marshmallow and jabbed it onto our sticks.

Lance stared into the fire, slowly turning his marshmallow over the flames with the kind of patience I had never once managed. The fire crackled, and a few embers lifted into the dark, glowing briefly before the night swallowed them. The light caught on his face as he looked around at the tents, the trees, and the thin smoke climbing into the dark.

He took a deep breath, then let it out.

“Yep, this is what I’ve been waiting for.”

We all understood and nodded.

Then my marshmallow burst into flames.

I lifted it away from the fire and watched it blacken before blowing it out.

I popped the blackened marshmallow into my mouth, leaving half the melted center stretched and stuck to the stick.

Lance looked at me in disgust. “You ruined it.”

“What?” I looked at what was left of my marshmallow, then licked a bit of char off my thumb. “It’s better this way.”

Brian shook his head, smiling around his beer. “No. That was marshmallow murder.”

Derek let his marshmallow catch fire, then blew it out with an exaggerated puff. He looked at me, then at everyone else, shrugged, and popped it into his mouth like he was conducting serious research. He chewed once, then twice, and his face folded in on itself as he leaned forward and spit it into the dirt.

“Nope,” he gagged. “What is wrong with you?”

He took a big gulp of beer, swished it around like mouthwash, then swallowed and glared at me over the can.

“No, man. It is not better.”

Lance and Brian looked at each other, then at me, and we all burst into laughter.

Derek scowled at us and took another deep drink, lowering the can slowly before pointing at me. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, no matter how hard he tried to bury it.

“I was trying to see if you were onto something, and this is the thanks I get.”

I laughed a second longer, wiping at one eye before trying for a serious look and failing horribly.

“It’s an acquired taste.”

Brian laughed a little longer before looking back into the fire. “What happened to Jennifer and Kate? I knew Maria wasn’t going to make it because she had to work. Anyone want to text them?”

Lance looked to Derek, since he was usually the one who got everything organized.

Derek pulled his phone from his pocket and checked it. “They said they wouldn’t be here until after dark. They got caught up looking for Kate’s tent, so I told them we’d help set it up when they got here.”

He moved his thumb across the screen, then frowned. “Yeah, looks like they won’t be here until around lunch tomorrow. That’s too bad.”

I frowned. I’d been looking forward to Jennifer being here. Lance glanced at me, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing about Kate. But what could we do?

“Did they say why,” I asked, “or just that they won’t be here until lunch?”

Derek sighed and looked back at his phone. “Yeah. Kate’s phone sent them to some campground outside Bryson City with almost the same name. She swears she typed ours in, and Jennifer says she watched her do it. Guess their phone decided this trip needed a side quest.”

I chuckled, mostly to hide how disappointed I was, and picked at the label on my beer. “Side quest? Who even says that?”

Derek lifted one shoulder. “People with better hobbies than you.”

“Fair.”

Brian lowered his beer. “So they’re what, an hour out?”

“More like two, after they stop for food and gas,” Derek said. “They’ll just come in around lunch. They said they were tired and got a hotel.”

Lance chuckled and leaned back in his chair, the firelight catching the grin on his face. “Hey, remember a couple years back when she followed her phone and nearly drove off that washed-out bridge in Alabama?”

Brian pointed his beer at him. “In her defense, the phone did say the road was still there.”

“The road was in the creek,” Lance said.

I chuckled and shook my head, remembering the mud, the mosquitoes, and Kate swearing at her phone. “Yeah. Front tire dropped off the edge where the bridge washed out, and she tried to back out with the wheel turned hard. Put the axle at a bad angle and tore up the CV joint. Guess who fixed it?”

That got the expected groans, followed by a few more stories where someone else had been the idiot.

We sat around trading stupid stories until the fire had burned low and I’d finished three beers, which was enough for me to start feeling it. I stood, stretched, and yawned as I patted my chest.

“Well, I’m going to hit the hay. I’ll throw some larger logs on the fire — maybe it’ll last through the night.”

Derek lifted his beer. “Responsible of you.”

“Barely,” I said, stepping toward the wood pile.

I woke up chilled and needing to pee, so I decided to get moving.

I unzipped the tent, stepped into the cold morning air, and tossed a couple of logs onto the embers before finding a good tree. When I came back, I nursed the fire to life, then grabbed the percolator and coffee from my tent.

The cooler sat near the car. I filled the percolator with water, set it in the fire, and sat down with my hands held toward the heat.

Pulling out my phone to check the day’s weather, I looked toward the sky. In the distance, I could see a storm front, though I couldn’t tell which way it was moving. Hopefully away from us.

I opened the browser and pulled up the weather radar. After a few seconds, I frowned. It was moving toward us, but slowly. Looked like it would arrive sometime after Kate and Jennifer got there.

I smiled to myself. Maybe Jennifer would want to wait out the storm with me. I liked that thought more than I probably should have. We’d known each other for years and used to spend a lot of time together, but things felt different now that I’d realized she might like me as more than a friend. At first, I thought I was reading too much into it, but she never pulled away when I tested the edge of it. When I invited her, she seemed excited, and part of me hoped she wanted to be here with me as much as I wanted her here.

Just then the coffee gave its first perk, and I heard Lance’s tent unzip.

I turned and caught his eye, then pointed toward the tree where I’d handled my business. He nodded and made his way in that direction.

Before long, Brian’s and then Derek’s tents unzipped, and they stumbled out with the same morning mission written all over their faces.

Once everyone returned and had mugs in hand, I poured coffee for them, then for myself. I took a sip and gave them the report.

“We’ve got bad weather on the way. Radar says it’ll be here around noon. What do you guys want to do? Hike for a bit and come back, or wait here for the rest of the group?”

Lance looked to Brian, then Derek. Brian shrugged and took a sip of coffee before answering. “I’d like to check out the area. No sense just sitting around bored.”

Derek nodded. “Yeah, I’m with Brian. What about you, Lance?”

Lance took a sip of coffee and cleared his throat. “I’m good with whatever. I’ll go with the group.”

I nodded. “Well, it’s settled. Let’s go check out the area, then.”

I pulled up the map and pointed to a short trail. A lot of people skipped it because it wasn’t very scenic, but that made it perfect for today. “This is my vote.”

Derek pulled my phone toward him and frowned. “Doesn’t look very exciting. What about this one?”

I pulled the phone back and looked. Then laughed. Derek smiled. “Go big or go home, right?”

I looked at Brian. “What do you think?”

Brian leaned in and pointed at the screen. “This trail here is the one you suggested?”

I nodded. “And this is Derek’s?”

I nodded slowly. “Yep. Crazy, right?”

Brian chuckled and looked at Derek. “Yeah, no.”

Lance peeked around him, pointed to the trail I’d suggested, and nodded.

“Okay,” I said, looking at everyone. “We have a plan. Let’s fill our bottles, and I’ll grab a bit of gear before we go.”

Derek laughed and pointed at my pack. “That thing already looks like it has everything you need. What could happen on such a short trail?”

I shrugged. “You never know.”

I grabbed my backpack, clipped a light to the strap, and zipped the hood onto my jacket in case the storm caught us early.

We filled our canteens, checked the fire one last time, and before long found the trail head.

Then we started walking.

As we always did, we walked and chatted about nonsense. The trail was packed dirt at first, easy enough that none of us paid much attention beyond stepping over the occasional root or loose stone.

Eventually, Derek turned around and began walking backward, spreading his arms like he was making a case in court.

“You see, this trail is way too easy. And look around, there’s nothing good to see. No falls, no streams, not even a ruined building.”

I checked the map and pointed ahead, ignoring Derek’s performance. “Trail starts doubling back up ahead.”

Up ahead, the trees thinned out oddly while Derek was still walking backward.

“And look, we’re almost halfway done. The storm will be nowhere in sight by the time—”

He didn’t finish.

The rest of us saw it at the same time.

The trail ended.

“Derek!” I shouted.

Brian and Lance yelled over each other. “Derek, stop!”

Derek froze, but his weight was already moving the wrong way.

I launched forward. I didn’t know if it was a dip or a cliff behind him, and I wasn’t waiting to find out.

He started to step back anyway, his body still obeying the momentum his brain had just caught up to. I grabbed the front of his jacket and yanked him toward me.

“What the hell, man?” Derek protested.

Then he glanced over his shoulder.

His eyes went wide, and his face paled.

“Oh.”

Standing there with Derek, I could see it was some kind of ravine, maybe twenty or thirty feet deep. The trail didn’t slope into it or narrow around it. It just stopped, like someone had cut the path clean in half.

Brian and Lance ran up and looked over the edge. Lance looked around, frowning. “Is this on the map? Did we miss a trail marker somewhere?”

I checked the map, then looked around us. “I don’t think so. This ravine isn’t on here. Here.”

I handed my phone to Lance, then started looking for trail markers myself.

Leaning over the edge, I caught the corner of something below. I moved closer. The gravel was loose, so I shuffled my feet instead of stepping, trying to keep my weight spread.

At the bottom, I saw it: a trail marker lying on its side. A tree on the opposite bank looked like it had fallen recently, and about fifteen feet down, a narrow ledge ran along the ravine wall like the ground had eroded in two stages.

I turned slightly toward the others and pointed down. “There’s a marker at the bottom—”

The edge shifted.

“Whoa.”

The ground slid out from under me, and I went with it.

As I fell, I saw Brian lunge for me. His hand missed mine by inches.

I slid straight down, hearing nothing but the scrape of dirt, gravel, and stone. Then I hit the ledge.

My feet kicked out to one side, and my shoulder slammed into the rock before I went over again. I scrambled for anything to grab, but there was nothing.

I hit the bottom hard.

The ground was angled, and I started rolling before I could stop myself. Sky. Dirt in my face. Sky again.

Then I came to an abrupt stop.

Pain flared through my back and ribs.

My ears rang, and I could barely hear my friends yelling above me. Their voices sounded muffled, distant.

I reached for my ribs. The pain was sharp, and every breath kept catching halfway in my chest. I felt around carefully, but nothing shifted under my fingers.

I wasn’t even scared.

My father had hit me harder than this, and I knew what broken ribs felt like.

I started to slide my other arm under me to lift myself, but the ache in my shoulder stopped me. I rolled to my other side instead.

The fallen tree. That was what I’d hit. I had rolled across the ravine and slammed into it.

Sitting up, my world finally started to come back into focus. That was when I heard Derek yelling.

“Adam, man, hold on! I’m coming for you!”

Brian shouted after him. “Don’t move, Adam! Lay back down, man. You could be more hurt than you think!”

I could barely hear them talking among themselves, likely planning my rescue.

I winced and sat all the way up, looking over my arms and legs as I slowly assessed my injuries. My arm was scraped and bleeding. I had a scrape on my head, and my back, ribs, and shoulder all ached.

But nothing felt wrong.

Somehow, I’d gotten lucky. Nothing felt broken. Only bruised.

I raised a hand as I looked up. Brian was still by the trail, while Derek had moved farther to my right, frantically searching for a safe way down. Lance was moving left, talking something over with Brian.

“I’m okay,” I said, wincing as fresh pain flared behind my ribs. I pushed through it. “Only thing I hurt was my pride.”

A single fat drop of rain hit my cheek as I looked around for a safe way out.

There wasn’t one.

The ravine was eye-shaped, maybe forty feet wide at its widest point and around three hundred feet long, each end tapering to a sharp point. The walls were too steep and loose to climb, and I couldn’t see any way for them to reach me safely without rope.

Good thing I always packed some.

Rope fixed tents, hung food away from bears, tied down gear, and solved problems people didn’t know they had.

You never know.

Derek yelled down to me. “Man, I’m still looking. Are you sure you’re okay?”

I yelled back, my rib pain already dulling. “Yeah, I’ll make it. I don’t see a safe way up from down here. We may need my rope. I packed about fifty feet in the car.”

Brian nodded, and he and Lance ran off while Derek made his way back to the trail.

The rain had started coming down harder, but Derek stayed at the top, keeping an eye on me. I didn’t think he was going to let me out of his sight.

I smiled slightly.

He was a good friend.

The sky darkened to twilight as the storm rolled in over us. Lightning flashed, and a second later thunder rolled past.

“Hey, get out of here, man. This storm isn’t going to get better. I think I can see a spot I can use as shelter.”

Pushing myself to my feet, I pulled the hood over my head. Lightning flashed again, and I looked up at Derek.

He paced for a moment before looking down at me. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

I smiled and pointed toward an overhang of roots and vines. “Yeah. I can huddle over there and ride this out. Not much we can do in this storm. I’ll be fine.” I started toward the spot and looked up. Derek moved out of view, then stepped back into sight as he looked down the trail. He said something, but thunder swallowed the words before he disappeared again.

I reached the overhang and pushed into the vines, trying to get as far under the roots as I could.

Then I pushed through.

There was a small cave behind the vines.

I stopped and pulled out my flashlight, giving the crank a few quick turns. As the bulb steadied, I aimed the beam into the dark.

Stepping farther into the cave, I let the vines fall closed behind me. I didn’t see another way out, just solid rock wall. The floor tilted slightly upward, which was good. It kept the rain outside and left the ground dry.

With one last sweep of the light, I sat with my back to the wall and leaned against my pack. Then I reached for my phone to check the time.

“Crap,” I said, the word echoing softly in the cave. “Lance has my phone.”

I sat there for a moment, listening to the storm beat against the leaves outside, then dug through my pack and pulled out the small first-aid kit.

It was nothing fancy: ointment, bandages, gauze, tape, painkillers, a few antiseptic wipes. Enough for the usual camping stupidity.

I cleaned my palm as best I could, rubbed ointment over the scrape, and covered it with a bandage. The cut on my head was harder to manage without a mirror, but I found it by touch and dabbed at it until I was satisfied it was clean enough.

Derek was probably losing his mind, I thought as I worked.

The idiot was the closest thing I’d ever had to a brother, though neither of us had ever said it like that. He’d been there when the bruises appeared. When I ended up in the hospital. When my dad finally decided I wasn’t worth his time. Derek’s couch had been the last place I slept before foster care.

After that, I took a couple of painkillers, packed the kit away, and leaned back against my bag. My ribs still hurt, and my shoulder had stiffened up, but there was nothing else I could do about either one.

With nothing else to do, I sat there and listened to the storm.

I didn’t mean to fall asleep.

It took me anyway.

I woke abruptly.

I didn’t know what hit me first: the light streaming through the vines, or the silence where the storm should have been.

I had no idea how long I’d been out, but the storm had passed, and the sun was out in full force.

I stood, my body protesting every movement. Brushing myself off, I made my way to the entrance.

I pushed the vines aside and stepped out.

What the hell was I looking at?

I took another step and stopped.

I was standing on a ledge. The scene in front of me didn’t make sense. Trees rose around me, far larger than any I’d seen before, their trunks wide enough to make the forest feel ancient.

Through a break in them, I looked into the distance.

And froze.

I rubbed my eyes.

I must have hit my head harder than I thought. Or maybe I was still dreaming. Maybe I’d slipped into a coma.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, then checked my hands.

Still scraped. Still sore. Still real.

I turned back toward the cave and pushed the vines aside.

Solid stone.

The cave was gone.