A dim glow flickered against the trees as five figures sat around a dying fire, its warmth barely cutting through the night chill. They hadn’t all been together in years. Now, thanks to one unexpected transmission, they were.
Elliot leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the laptop screen resting on the log beside him. The audio file had ended minutes ago, but Landon’s voice still echoed in his head.
"I don’t know what it means yet, but I’m going to find out. And if I don’t make it back… well, maybe you’ll know what to do."
A plea. A call for help. And for the first time in a long time, Elliot felt the old instincts kick in.
"So," Claire finally said, breaking the silence. "We’re doing this, right?"
The fire crackled softly, filling the pause as each of them processed what they had just heard.
Five years was a long time. They weren’t kids at camp anymore.
Mia leaned back, arms crossed. "You heard him. He said if he doesn’t make it back. That means he thinks he won’t."
Jay frowned, adjusting his glasses. "You’re acting like that’s a reason to sit around and do nothing."
"I’m saying it’s a reason to think before running straight into whatever mess he’s in." Mia gestured at the laptop. "That message? That wasn’t ‘Hey, come help me set up a tent.’ That was ‘I might be dying.’"
Elliot exhaled sharply, rubbing his chin. "You really think he’s exaggerating?"
Mia’s jaw tightened. "No."
That was the problem. She had always been the fighter. Fast, strong, willing to take on anything physical. But this? This wasn’t a track meet or a training course. This was real danger.
Claire, sitting beside her, finally spoke. "It’s Landon. If he’s in trouble, we don’t have time to hesitate."
Mia scoffed. "And what exactly do you think we’re gonna do, Claire? Read him a book until he magically appears?"
Claire stiffened, pushing her glasses up her nose. "If you bothered to listen to anything I ever told you, you’d know history tends to repeat itself. The last time someone went after a lost artifact, they either disappeared or ended up dead."
Jay cut in. "Which means we need to track his movements, not argue over them."
Mia rolled her eyes. "Great. Jay’s got a keyboard and Claire’s got some bedtime stories. How does that help us find Landon?"
The fifth voice, quiet until now, finally spoke.
"Because we have me."
Everyone turned toward Rowan, the last member of their group.
His fingers idly twisted a piece of grass between them, his expression calm, like the weight of this situation hadn’t fully hit him yet.
"If we’re going into the wild, you’re gonna need someone who actually knows how to live in it."
Rowan had always been different from the rest of them. While the others had excelled in their own ways—Elliot with strategy, Mia with strength, Claire with knowledge, and Jay with technology—Rowan had been the one closest to nature. The one who knew every edible plant by sight. Who could smell rain coming hours before it hit. Who understood the land better than any of them.
At Richmond Survival Camp, they used to joke that Rowan could survive in the woods for months with nothing but a knife and a pack of sunflower seeds. It wasn’t much of a joke.
Rowan leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "If Landon’s out there, I can track him."
Mia raised a brow. "Even if he’s been missing for days?"
"If the land can talk, I can listen."
Elliot studied him carefully. "That means we have a real chance."
Jay cleared his throat. "Speaking of real chances, I think I found something."
All eyes snapped to him as he flipped his laptop around, revealing a map with a glowing marker.
"The transmission metadata didn’t have GPS tracking, but there was a signal fragment—a digital fingerprint, basically. It matches a known satellite bounce pattern from a remote area west of the national park. That means..."
"He was somewhere near Ashen Ridge," Claire finished, her voice barely above a whisper.
Silence.
Mia exhaled sharply. "That’s a death trap." They all knew the stories. Ashen Ridge wasn’t just dangerous—it was practically cursed. Old rumors about lost explorers, hidden caves, sudden disappearances. No one went there without a good reason. And Landon had gone alone.
Elliot stood. "Then we don’t waste time."
Mia shot him a look. "Whoa, hold on. You want to head out there just like that?"
"We were trained for this, Mia."
"Five years ago, sure. Now? We are in High School, trying to survive that hell itself. We’re not campers anymore."
"Then let’s act like it and do what we were trained to do."
Claire stood too. "I’m with Elliot."
Jay shut his laptop with a decisive snap. "Me too."
Rowan cracked his knuckles. "Sounds like a plan."
Mia looked between them, frustrated—then exhaled, shaking her head with a reluctant smirk. "Fine. But if I die out there, I’m haunting all of you."
Elliot smirked. "Deal."
As the fire burned a little brighter, the team fell into an old rhythm—gathering supplies, checking gear, planning routes. For the first time in years, they weren’t just old friends.
They were a team again.
And they were going to bring Landon home.