Scene 15 — Cal

“Wipe your hands off so we can get a better grip,” Lindsey said. Cal gave her a quizzical look, gesturing to his mud-covered attire. “Use your underwear,” she shouted, showing her technique.

That made sense, Cal realized, his underwear weren’t coated like his outer clothing, just a little bit down the waistband in the back - the legs of his boxers were still relatively clean. He reached up the leg of this shorts and dried the hand he’d reach up with. He reached up for a pull with his dry hand. Lindsey could get a good grip now and pulled with all her might. The extra help from her was what he needed to take a portion of his weight off the branches; he shimmied up the tree limb like a climbing rope and was soon over and onto the roadway. Just as he crested the embankment an SUV passed slowly on the road. ‘They must think we’re insane,’ he thought. He knelt on the ground for a moment, recovering from the exertion.

Lindsey gave Cal a hand to get to his feet and they began to jog towards the camp entrance and finish line a few hundred yards away. Suddenly a muddy object appeared at the side of the road in front of them. A large human form pulled itself over the side. It was completely covered from head to toe in mud. With a start, Cal realized it had to be Stefan. If he was here Annie couldn’t be far behind. Cal broke out into a cold sweat, terrified that they wouldn’t finish their comeback. Fueled by a combination of sheer panic and overwhelming desire to win, he broke into an all out sprint for the finish.