Chapter 1: Where are we?

Steve tossed his backpack in the trunk of his Dodge Stratus and checked for the fifth time to verify that the tent, ice chest, sleeping bags, food, soda, and most importantly beer were loaded. They were and he slammed the trunk lid. Walking to the driver's side, he got in and drove to pick up Mark.

Mark was waiting at the curb for him backpack in hand. Mark tossed the pack in the back seat and jumped in the front seat. "Well buddy," he said, "ready for a little camping and fun on the beach?"

"Yeah," Said Steve, "Just sitting on the beach and drinking beer will be fun for me after taking all those finals. I just want to drink, vegetate, and unwind."

They headed for Lake Powell where they hoped to meet some girls but just getting away from the hectic college life for a few days would be enough. It seem like one thing after another had cropped up so they weren't able to get away from Albuquerque till late afternoon so, of course it was late at night before they reached the turn off at Flagstaff on to US89 and headed north. They went around a curve there was a flash of light and then nothing.

Steve awoke still behind the wheel, bright sunlight shone in the car, which was not moving; in fact, the engine was not even running. He was looking out of the car, which sat in the middle of a beach.

Mark groaned and opened his eyes. Looking around he asked, "What happened? Where are we?"

"In answer to your first question, I don't know. In answer to your second question, I don't know." was Steve's smart-alecky answer but the truth.

Steve and Mark got out of the car and found it was sitting in sand with no road in any direction. A tree line of strange looking ferns, bright purple and pink started about fifty yards away from the water. Steve and Mark decided to walk into it a little way but, fearing they would get, lost they returned to the car. The sun was setting giving notice that it would soon be dark.

"I guess we might as well plan on spending the night here and get an early start tomorrow. I hope we can figure out where the hell we are." Steve said.

"Yep we might as well pitch the tent right here beside the car, that way we can at least stretch out," Mark said and went to the trunk waiting for Steve to pop it open.

Steve popped the trunk and went back to join Mark. Mark handed him a beer and opened one himself, then grabbed the tent. They had it set up quickly and fixed sandwiches and dip for supper. They laid on the sand in front the tent as it got dark and looked up in the sky.

The stars started to fill the sky and Mark commented, "Uh... Steve, I'm not an astronomer by far but I do know a few of the constellations and I don't see any of them in the sky. In fact something about the pattern of the stars is all wrong."

Just then, the moon came up over the horizon and something about it didn't look right either but the real shock came when a second moon came up.

"What the fuck?" Steve exclaimed pointing to it for Mark, "Now I really wonder where the hell we are."

They spent the rest of the night speculating, but when morning came, they still had no answers.

"I guess we should go a little further into that forest. Maybe it isn't as deep as it seems and we will see something on the other side."

Mark got a hatchet from their camping supplies and said, "I'll mark trees so we can find our way back."

They walked into the forest and after walking for about ten minutes, the forest ended against a cliff that stretched in both directions as far as the eye could see.

Steve looked up at the cliff and said, "I'd guess that to be about 30 to 40 feet high wouldn't you Mark?"

"Yeah, we could probably scale it but let's see if there is an easier way," Mark suggested.

They returned through the forest and walked up the beach. They had hiked about a mile when they saw that the cliffs had tapered toward the sea and ended at its edge.

"I guess this way is out too," Mark commented. They reversed directions walking back toward the car and then down the beach. They crossed a stream that flowed into the sea and hiked on. About a mile later the cliffs again tapered and ended at the sea.

"I guess we don't have much choice but to climb out, either that or stay here till the food is gone and starve," Steve stated.

"The cold food won't last much longer in the ice chest," Mark pointed out, "the ice is going to be gone before long."

"Let's go back to the car and call it a day," Steve said with discouragement in his voice.

When they got back to the car, they went in the nearby woods and gathered firewood but the wind came up so they didn't start one when nightfall came.