Written by: JanePeden 

DENALI NATIONAL PARK, ALASKA, USA

AUGUST 2, 1:00 PM

"I should have stayed at the base camp." Emily is staring at Jacob, who just slipped on a rock and fell, banging his elbow and twisting his ankle. She is unsympathetic. We are two weeks into our six-week grand Alaskan wilderness adventure, but it's been enough time for me to get a feel for who the others are. And how well everyone is coping without cell phones, since there's no reception here anyway.

"Don't take your boot off," Aidan warns. "You might not get it back on again."

"Shit," Jacob says, and I know what he's thinking. We only have a couple more hours to go today to reach the base camp and the rest of the group—but double that if he can't walk without help.

We broke camp at five a.m. Just as the sun came up. But even exhausted from a full day's hike, I didn't get much sleep. I'm not used to the long daylight hours, with sunset not happening until eleven p.m. It will be a while before the days get shorter, and winter comes.

By then, I'll have gone back to my hometown in Western Pennsylvania, in the hills where my love of hiking was born. But only for a few days before I leave for good. After that, my life will never be the same again.

There are eight of us altogether, plus our tour guide, Marcel. There were supposed to be two guides, but Liuna tested positive for COVID the day we were to fly from Fairbanks to our drop-off point at Denali National Park, and there was no time to get a replacement. Since Aidan has spent his life in Alaska, the tour company reluctantly decided we could go ahead, as long as everyone signed waivers. All of us are over 18 - just barely.

It took a week to hike to the area that will serve as our initial base camp. We all thought we were in good shape, but it turned out to be some more than others. Which is why half the group voted to stay at camp, rest up a little, and practice their wilderness skills with Marcel, while the other half of us were determined to head north, hoping to get a spectacular view of Denali—the highest mountain peak in North America—before our group moves further southwest along the Alaska Range.

"Emily," Jacob says, "for five minutes can you not be a bitch?"

She just stares at him, then turns and starts back down the trail. I lean down and give him a hand up.

"Thanks, Madison."

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he says, but he's clearly not. I hand him the trek poles he should have been using before and maybe he wouldn't have fallen. Aidan insisted we bring them, although both Jacob and Emily protested it was just one more unnecessary thing adding weight to their backpacks. Aidan won, because that's what Aidan does, in his quiet way.

Jacob manages, despite the injury, and I'm optimistic that maybe he just strained it. A sprain would be bad news, since we have some pretty aggressive hiking to do tomorrow. And while the four of us are already tired, the others have had five days to rest up.

But oh god it was worth it. With Marcel's directions and Aidan's skills, we reached the perfect spot to view the majesty of Denali, and what seemed like the whole of Alaska spread out in front of us. Then I spotted a moose, standing solitary and majestic. It seemed to look right at us, take our measure and then, deciding we were no threat, returned to grazing for twigs from low branches at the edge of the grassy field. All of it—the towering face of Denali, the wilderness stretching out forever, and the lone moose—took my breath away.

The only thing I imagine will top it on this trip is when we finally get to see the northern lights. Aurora borealis. Those stunning bands of color that fill the sky. I'm told no photograph even comes close to seeing them in person. They aren't visible now, because it doesn't get dark enough. But by late August we'll see them. It makes me think of new beginnings.

We stop for lunch at a small fast-moving stream that cascades over rocks in small waterfalls. The water is icy and clear, but I don't trust it. I get out my bottle filter and purifier. Aidan shakes his head and lies down by the stream, scooping handfuls of water to drink directly from the source. He tells us again that this deep in backcountry—the water is pure and safe to drink.

I'm not taking any chances. I fill my bottle using the filter, then insert the pen-like purifier, push the button and swirl it. In about sixty seconds the UV light goes off, and I take a long drink and then pass the bottle to Emily for her and Jacob to share.

Meanwhile, Aidan actually dunks his head under the running water, then shakes himself off like a dog, his wild hair flying. The time he spends outdoors in the long daylight of summer has streaked his hair with blond, and he looks incongruously like a California surfer. He grins at me, then digs out the bear-proof canister from his pack and passes out energy bars.

Emily and Jacob are sitting next to each other on a slanted boulder, his arm slung casually around her shoulders. She has the first aid kit open beside them and just finished cleaning and bandaging his scraped elbow. He protested that she was making a big deal about it, but seemed to be enjoying the attention.

In the week we've been together, I can't remember a time when they weren't either sniping insults at each other, or cuddling up and kissing. They've been a couple since middle school, and are the only two of the eight of us who knew each other before we all met up at the airport in Fairbanks. The rest of us come from various places around the country, the only thing in common being that for some reason we all wanted to spend the last six weeks before heading off to college or wherever making this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Well, we also are privileged enough to be able to do this, because the price was not cheap, plus all the gear we had to either rent or buy.

For this whole mini excursion Emily and Jacob have been reminding us that they live in Orlando, Florida, and have amazing endurance hiking on flat terrain in the heat, but that it just doesn't translate well to hiking in the mountains. If they say it one more time I'm tempted to scream it does not matter no one is judging you.

Cole, Morgan, and Liam are all from the West Coast—Seattle, L.A., and San Francisco. Parker is the only one I've really connected with so far, but they didn't want to come on the extra hike. Didn't want to is perhaps putting it too mildly. Hell no and I'm already wondering why I thought this would be fun was Parker's reaction after the grueling week-long hike that got us this far into the backcountry. When we sat around the campfire the very first night, Parker shared that they recently came out as nonbinary, and that their parents in their small midwestern town were not so much non-accepting as simply baffled. "I just had to get away for awhile," Parker explained, "and this is about as far away as I could get."

I definitely relate to being from a small town and feeling like an outsider. I don't think I will ever really go home again. A flourishing coal and steel town a few generations ago, the area is now economically depressed. There's a branch campus of one of the state universities there, but it's not like people go there because they want to stay. They go there because of the vicinity to ski areas and because it's scenic. The only industries that flourish are illegal meth labs, and hospitals. Old men sit in corner bars drinking boilermakers and talking about the good old days. And how strip mining would revive the economy if it weren't for "those damn environmentalists."

Which is ironic, considering that the only other quasi-successful industry is hospitality, providing a destination for hikers drawn by the same forests those guys would like to strip mine away.

Aidan gets us moving again. Jacob doesn't complain, although he's limping more now than he was before. I think he realizes his ankle is going to get worse before it gets better, and wants to get back as quickly as possible.

It takes another two hours before we come out of a dense area of trees to the base camp. We all stand there, in shock.

Everything is chaos. Tents are shredded, equipment strewn everywhere. I recognize a sweatshirt that has literally been ripped apart. It's Parker's.

"Grizzly," Aidan says.

"Parker!" I scream, and run into the campsite. Aidan reaches out to stop me, but I pull away and he lets me go, probably realizing that if the bear was still here we'd know it already.

I can't breathe. I have this horrible picture in my mind of them all being dragged off into the underbrush. Do grizzlies eat people? Or do they just maul them to death? I don't even know.

Emily is crying and Jacob has his arms around her.

"Ok, everybody, just calm down," Aidan says.

"Are you serious?" I ask him. "Calm down?"

Aidan has been walking through the campsite.

"Look," he says, "there's no sign of anyone getting hurt here. No blood." And I'm thinking, no body parts, but I don't say it out loud.

"And this isn't even half the gear we had," Aidan continues.

"But Parker and Liam and Morgan and Cole," Emily sobs. "And fucking Marcel, who was supposed to protect everybody."

"Emily," Aidan says, "nothing happened to them. Nothing like that."

"Then where are they?" I ask.

"They must have left for some reason," Aidan says. "I don't know. Maybe someone got sick, or there was a serious enough accident to need medical attention."

"So they just abandoned us?" Jacob says, in this kind of incredulous voice that completely echoes my own thoughts.

"I imagine Marcel left us a note, but"—he gestures at the destroyed base camp—"it looks like a grizzly got in here later and did all this, so good luck finding it now."

We all stare at each other. Then we hear a rustling in the brush on the other side of the camp site.

"Oh god," Emily says, "it's coming back,"

Aidan has the bear spray in his hand in seconds and we're all in position to jump up and down and scream and hopefully scare it away. There's a dented pot lying on the ground and I pick it up and look for something to bang against it, then drop it.

"Parker!" I yell, and I'm running toward them so fast I almost knock them over.

"Oh my god I'm so glad to see you all." Parker looks like they haven't slept in two days. "I've been checking a couple times a day, watching for you."

"What the hell happened?" Aidan asks.

"Can we get out of here?" Parker looks around nervously. "I'm still worried it will come back. The bear. I set up camp on a ridge about a mile that way."

"Wait," Emily says, "you set up camp? As in just you? Where's the rest of the group?"

"They're gone," Parker says, then sees the horrified look on my face. "No, not dead. They headed back down the trail. I stayed behind to wait for you. And then this happened." Parker gestures toward the ravaged camp.

"Parker," Aidan says, "can you just tell us what's going on."

"I will, but you're not going to believe it. Just—let's just get back to where I've got my tent and stuff and I'll explain everything."

Parker turns and heads back into the trees and we have no option but to follow.

By the time we hike the mile or so of uneven terrain and reach the ridge Parker described, Aidan is almost carrying Jacob.

"Oh crap," Aidan says, and shakes his head once Jacob is sitting on the ground. "I should go back and get the other bear canister. If Marcel and the others didn't take it." He looks over at Parker.

"Don't bother. The bear got it. Marcel was in such a hurry to leave, he didn't fasten the lid properly and that's what the grizzly got into first. Then it must have figured there'd be more food at the campsite."

"So what happened," I ask as we all sit down. There's a log Parker must have dragged over to where I see ashes from their fire, and a rock opposite it that Aidan sits on. The rest of us sit on the log except Parker, who is pacing back and forth.

"They all decided to leave—I'll get to why in a minute—but I stayed behind. It was night, but still bright out, obviously, and I was in my tent when I heard the bear. I started yelling so it would know I was here—that's what Marcel told us to do, remember?"

We all nod.

"Then I opened the tent flap and looked out. It was so much larger than I expected. It saw me and started walking toward the tent, like lumbering, with its shoulder muscles rippling. and I have never been so terrified of anything."

"What did you do?" Emily asks, transfixed.

"I tried to yell again but no sound came out. Then I remembered the air horn. I grabbed it and I just keep blasting it, and the bear turned around and ran back into the trees. But I was afraid I'd just startled it and it would be back again, so I packed up what I could as fast as I could and I kept walking until I was far enough away and found a spot on this ridge, then I set up my tent."

"When was this?" Jacob asked.

"It was just yesterday. God, but it feels longer."

"You said you were going to explain why they all left but you," Aiden prompted.

"What happened, Parker?" I ask.

"It's just . . . it's really crazy."

"Just tell us," Emily says.

"Ok, so a few days ago Marcel used the satellite phone to check in with the office in Fairbanks, and when he got off he said that it's all over the news and the internet that there's this huge UFO hovering over an entire section of the Eastern U.S., and I mean huge. Like they think it's a thousand miles wide. It's covering Pennsylvania, New York, DC, down as low as South Carolina and as far west as Kentucky."

Jacob looks up. "Come on, that's got to be, like a hoax."

"Yeah, that's what we thought, but Marcel called his wife and she was freaking out. They live in Vermont and he just comes up here for the summer for work, and they've got two little kids, but she was saying he needed to come home now, and crazy stuff like the world might end."

"Oh, come on," Emily says. "Seriously? This has to be some kind of hoax."

"Yeah," Jacob says, "like remember that thing from back in the 1930's? Some radio broadcast about Martians invading and people thought it was real and panicked?"

"Orson Welles," Aidan says. "It was a broadcast of H.G. Wells' science fiction story, War of the Worlds."

"Yeah, that's right," Jacob said. "It was a big hoax and I'm betting this is, too. Somebody must have been having Marcel on, and his wife was in on it."

"No," Parker insists, "you're wrong. There's something weird going on. The president has left Washington D.C. They're saying he's in some secret bunker. This is real."

"Wait," I say, "so you all learned about this a few days ago? Why did they leave yesterday? They couldn't wait for us to get back?"

"We weren't sure if you'd be back today or tomorrow, and Marcel talked to his wife again and everything has gotten insane. Yesterday this eerie blue number 30 appeared in the sky and it showed up on every screen at the same time. I mean, like every screen in the world." Parker shivers. "Phones, laptops, TV's. People are panicking. They think it might be some kind of a doomsday countdown."

I'm still trying to get my head around this. It's not a hoax. This is real.

"I wouldn't leave without you guys," Parker says. "But Marcel and the rest wouldn't wait. He wants to get to his wife and kids while he still can."

"My parents," I say. "My parents live in Pennsylvania. They're under it." Suddenly I can't stop my body from shaking.

"Cole and Morgan and Liam are all from the West Coast," Parker says. "They just wanted to get home in case the 30 days is, well, you know."

"I can't get to my parents," I say. "They might never even know."

"Know what?" Aidan asks.

"Know that I'm pregnant." My voice comes out in a whisper.

Everyone just stares at me. They don't know what to say.

Finally, Jacob breaks the silence. "So. I guess we start hiking back to the drop-off point tomorrow morning."

"You can't even walk," Emily says.

"Why?" Aiden asks suddenly, his voice quiet.

"Well, because he's got a sprained ankle," Emily explains. "It might even be broken."

"No," Aidan says patiently. "Why are we going back?"

Everyone sits in a kind of stunned silence.

"You're right," I finally say. "I can't get to my parents." I look at Emily and Jacob. "I know your families are in Florida, but people are going to panic and there will be mass evacuations. You probably can't even travel to Florida anyway."

"We'll run out of food," Jacob points out.

"Not if we follow the original plan, hike southwest, and catch the salmon run."

We all continue to stare at each other until Parker breaks the silence. "I think we should stay."

"Isn't there someone you want to get back to or at least be able to call?" Aidan asks me. For a moment I don't get what he's driving at, then suddenly I do.

"No." And then I feel like I have to tell somebody, so why not these people? After all, they might be the people I die with.

"I started going to these parties at the college my senior year in high school. I met a guy."

"A college student?" Emily asks.

"No. A professor."

"Oh." Emily's face fills with sympathy.

"He acted like I was special. I might have even stayed, gone to school there, because of him. When I found out I was pregnant I thought he'd be angry, hoped he'd be happy. What he was, was indifferent. Once he confirmed that yes, I really was 18."

"A little late to ask," Aidan says sardonically.

"Yeah."

"Madison?"

I turn my head and look over at Aidan.

"What?"

"You are special."

"Yeah, well." I just shrug.

"So, what are your plans?" Emily says. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

"That's what I came here to figure out."

"Then that's what you should do."

"Yeah," Parker says. "We'll all help you figure it out."

Aidan stands up, reaches for my hand. "Come on." He pulls me up then jerks his head over to the edge of the rim. "All of you."

We follow Aidan and sit down, a little back from where the ground drops off.

"I know things are crazy down in the Lower 48 right now, but here? It's the same as it's always been."

"Maybe I'll never go back." I picture myself keeping my baby and staying here in Alaska, making a life for us. And I realize I can be anywhere.

"The world will either end or it won't," Aidan says. "And if there's only 29 days left, at least we'll see the northern lights together."

"Yeah," I say, and he puts his arm around my shoulders. Then I put my arm around Parker's. And then Jacob and Emily join in. We are sitting in a line along the top of the rock face, all connected, looking out across the Alaskan wilderness.

"So, let's just say for now that it's not going to end," Emily suggests.

And we all agree, there in the vast silence of the bright sun at night, that it's our choice to believe the world will go on forever. 

<<<<< END >>>>>

Find more stories by JanePeden on Wattpad.

Multi-published Award Winning Author, Collector of Rescue Dogs, and Vegetarian Foodie.

Jane writes sexy contemporary romances, thrillers set in exotic locales, and short stories including romantic capers, YA horror, paranormal, and literary fiction. Her ongoing serialized fiction project, Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss, is available exclusively on Wattpad.

Jane is proud to be a Wattpad Creator and an author on YONDER, and is published with Entangled Publishing and Mr. Media Books. Her book Law, Lies, and Love Affairs has over 3 million views on Wattpad. When she's not writing, Jane is at work as a trial lawyer.