Samantha
Samantha shifted on the log bench, moving closer to the warmth of the fire and hugged her arms to her chest. She glanced at Ben, one ear covered by a headset, the concentration on his face scowl-like in the flicking orange firelight.
‘How long before Al calls—’
‘Shh,’ Ben cut her off, twisting away from the fire and staring into the darkness.
She jumped up and followed the direction of his gaze. ‘Have you seen something?’
Ben shook his head. ‘No, but I’ve picked up Jaddi’s microphone so they must be close.’
Samantha spun towards him, noticing the red dot glowing on the camera. ‘What are they say—’
‘Shh,’ he said again.
A minute passed but she continued to stand, scanning the darkness.
‘There.’ She pointed. ‘I can see a torch. It has to be them.’
A moment later, the torchlight grew brighter and the forms of two hikers walked towards them.
Samantha ran across the grass clearing, relief carrying her forward, her aching legs forgotten. ‘Jaddi.’ She pulled her friend into a tight embrace. ‘I’m so glad you’re OK. What happened to you guys? I was beginning to think something terrible had happened.’
‘You can’t get rid of me that easily.’ Jaddi walked over to the collection of logs and sat down with a long sigh.
‘We were just considering calling the Park Rangers and forming a search team,’ Al said, stepping out from one of the nearby tents. ‘Grub’s over there by the fire.’ He pointed to a red picnic box beside Ben.
‘Bonza,’ Harrison said, limping in the direction of the camp.
‘Seems to me, you veered to the left at some point,’ Al said, ‘if you ended up coming in from that direction. Probably added an extra couple of kilometres onto your day, but, hey, you’re here now. So have some food and get some rest. We’re setting off at seven tomorrow. I’ll be ringing the breakfast bell at six-thirty.’ With that, Al turned and strolled in the direction of his tent.
‘Where’s Lizzie?’ Jaddi asked.
‘She’s gone to lie down,’ Samantha said, sitting back onto the log. ‘She won’t admit it, but the hike has really taken it out of her. She practically fell asleep eating her dinner.’
‘Oh.’ Jaddi scanned the tents before glancing at Harrison, already barefoot and halfway through a plate of sausages and jacket potatoes. ‘I need to talk to her,’ she said, pulling herself up to standing. She pressed her hands against her lower back as she moved.
‘Jaddi, just leave it,’ Harrison mumbled through a mouth full of food.
Samantha’s eyes narrowed on Jaddi. ‘Leave what? What happened?’
Neither of them spoke.
‘Jaddi,’ Samantha said, ‘what happened?’
‘I’ll tell you later. I need to speak to Lizzie first,’ Jaddi replied.
‘No!’ Samantha snapped. ‘Tell me now. What have you done? Please tell me you haven’t—’ She watched the guilt crease Harrison’s face and shook her head, unable to finish her question. ‘I can’t believe you would do that.’
‘Sam,’ Jaddi spluttered, ‘I didn’t, but I need to speak to Lizzie. Which tent is she in?’
‘Why do you need to see her so badly if you’ve done nothing wrong?’ Samantha jumped up and stepped in front of Jaddi.
‘Yeah, come on, Jad,’ Harrison said, pausing to swallow a mouthful of food. ‘Nothing happened. You tried it on, I said no. I’m with Samantha on this, let’s move on. Telling Lizzie is only going to hurt her.’