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Axel grumbled to herself under her breath as she trudged off into the woods. She couldn’t believe Priya had tasked her with something as menial as collecting firewood, and with Ripper, no less. Axel was the one who had spent three summers in a row at survival camp, so she was the one who should be giving the group orders, not Priya! But no, everyone in the party treated Priya’s word like gospel, just because she was “friendly” and “personable”, and Axel wasn’t. And, as if it wasn’t bad enough that nobody was taking Axel and her survival expertise seriously, she’d more or less been told to “keep an eye on Ripper”—in other words, she was on babysitting duty. Great.
Now, here she was, walking through the forest and filling her arms with as much kindling as she could carry while keeping Ripper in her peripheral vision to make sure he didn’t get lost, or whatever it was Priya expected her to accomplish. They had been pretty much keeping a safe distance from each other, staying out of each other’s way and not saying a word, but now Axel’s arms were getting full.
“Hey!” she shouted out to Ripper. “I’ve got about as much as I can carry for now, so…”
Ripper turned around to face her. “So what? You want my help? Not going to happen.”
“What? No!” Axel was irritated that he’d think she even needed his help. “I just wanted to let you know I’m going back to camp for a minute, so don’t go too far.”
“Or else what? You think I’m going to get lost or something?”
Axel’s already-limited patience was wearing thin. Why did he have to argue with everything she said? How hard was it to just stay put for five minutes? “Priya told us to stick together, remember?” Axel said through gritted teeth.
Ripper scoffed. “As if I’m going to let some girl tell me what to do!”
Axel bristled at the comment, even though it was directed at Priya. “Look, I don’t like her either, but—”
“So you agree with me, then,” Ripper cut her off.
“Huh?” Axel didn’t like the idea that she had any sort of common ground with Ripper.
“You don’t like taking orders from Priya either,” Ripper said matter-of-factly. “You don’t think she should be in charge.”
“I mean, yeah, but—”
Ripper wasn’t finished. “You think this party deserves a real leader—someone like me!”
Axel wasn’t sure whether to be angry or burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, you?”
“Yeah!” Ripper clearly wasn’t kidding. “You know, someone capable, who exudes power! A real alpha male!”
Axel just rolled her eyes. “All you ever do is break things and get us kicked out of places. Even before we got here, you just made fart jokes in the chat whenever we didn’t have something to fight.”
“So?” Ripper didn’t see a problem with this. “Things were boring when there was nothing to fight!” He shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe that Axel didn’t see things from his perspective. “And I suppose you think you’d be a better leader?”
“Uh, yes?” Axel thought it should’ve been obvious to him.
“And what makes you so qualified?”
“For starters, I’ve spent a lot of time at survival camp. Plus, I’m the oldest of five, and I babysit a lot, so I’m used to making people listen to me. I know more about zombies and doomsday scenarios than any of you, so—”
“Oh, blah, blah.” Ripper waved a hand dismissively. “ You’re still just a girl.”
Axel almost dropped the kindling she was holding. “Excuse me?”
“You heard what I said! You’re a girl, and girls don’t know how to lead! You’re basically no different from Priya.”
Axel took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm, but it wasn’t really working. “You want to know what the difference is between me and Priya? Priya is nice. You should consider yourself lucky that she’s our leader, because if it were me, I would’ve kicked your ass from this party a long time ago! You’re full of yourself, you don’t care about anyone, and you’re not good at anything, so the way I see it, you’re nothing but dead weight! I might not be the nicest or the most well-liked person in this party, but at least people respect me because I can fight. But you? The only people who even sort of care about you are Chase, who’s just as much of an idiot fuckboy as you are, and Zee, who likes everyone! But if you left or something happened to you, nobody would give a shit!”
For a split second, Ripper looked hurt, and Axel wondered if she had gone too far. But then Ripper’s expression hardened again, and he shouted, “Fine! If that’s how you all feel about me, maybe I should just leave the party!”
Axel called his bluff. “Good! We’d be better off without you anyway!”
“Don’t come crying to me when you all realize how much you really needed me!” Ripper started to storm away, but then stopped and yelled, “I give it a day before you come looking for me!”
Axel really wanted to get the last word in, but decided to save her breath, turning around herself to head back towards camp. If Ripper wanted to leave, so be it. She was sure he’d come crawling back to them before dark. There was no way he could survive out in the woods on his own.
When Axel returned to camp, Priya was standing over the fire pit, watching Zee and Damien attempt to make a fire. She then went over to greet Axel, smiling when she saw the large pile of kindling in her teammate’s arms.
“Nice work, Axel! Set it down over there. Hopefully we should have a fire going soon.” Then, Priya paused and looked around. “Where’s Ripper?”
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Axel said flatly, setting the kindling down by the fire pit.
Priya frowned. “Axel, I told you two to stick together! Buddy system, remember?”
Axel let out a frustrated sigh. “Look, we kind of got into an argument, and—”
“Again? Can’t you two go a day without fighting?”
Axel wanted to point out that if Priya was worried about her not getting along with Ripper, she shouldn’t have paired them together, but she bit her tongue. “The point is, he got mad and ran off. Said something about leaving the party.” She decided to omit the part where she’d basically encouraged him to leave. Priya didn’t need to know that.
Thankfully, Priya didn’t seem terribly concerned about Ripper’s absence. “Oh. Well, hopefully he’ll snap out of it before it gets dark. I heard it can be pretty dangerous out here after dark.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be back once he starts getting hungry,” Axel agreed, not feeling too worried either. Ripper’s ego was just a bit bruised, but once he shook it off, he’d be back.
Hours passed, and Ripper still hadn’t returned to camp. It wasn’t until the fire started to die down and everyone began to settle down for bed that the group took notice. Before everyone retired to their tents, Millie did a quick headcount, as she was accustomed to doing, and frowned.
“Wait. Something’s wrong. We’re one person short.”
Everyone looked around at each other, taking stock of who was around them, until Chase finally said, “Oh yeah. Where’s Ripper?”
“He had a fight with Axel earlier, and I guess he ran off after that,” Priya told the group. “I kind of thought he’d be back by now. Nobody’s seen him?”
Everyone shook their heads. Axel looked down at the ground, starting to worry a bit. She, too, had thought he would’ve returned at some point. What if he was in trouble?
Julia looked at her nails uncaringly. “He probably got eaten by a bear or something.”
Scary Girl clapped and giggled. “Ooh, I hope so!”
Caleb and Priya exchanged a worried glance. “Do you think we should go look for him?” Caleb suggested.
“If you guys really want to, knock yourselves out, but I’m getting my beauty sleep,” Julia said before disappearing into her tent.
“I mean, it’s just Ripper,” MK agreed, following Julia into the tent. “Who really cares?”
There were a few mumbles of agreement, while Millie and Caleb looked to Priya for guidance. Priya seemed torn. On one hand, she had never cared for Ripper either, but on the other hand, he was still part of their party, and as their leader, it would weigh on her conscience if anything happened to him.
“It’s getting late,” Priya finally said. “We’d be better off waiting until the morning to look for him, when it’s light out and we’re all well-rested. If he doesn’t come back overnight, we’ll set out to find him first thing tomorrow, but for now, let’s get some sleep.”
Everyone who hadn’t already retired to their tent agreed, except for Axel, who lingered outside for a moment. She felt completely responsible for Ripper leaving, and the worst part was that it looked like she had been right: nobody else seemed to care much that he was gone. When she’d said it, she hadn’t really believed it; she’d just been angry. But now, seeing how little everyone else was affected by Ripper’s absence, she couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Plus, she knew Ripper didn’t have the same wilderness survival expertise that she did. Was he going to be okay out there on his own? Would he be able to find his way back to camp even if he wanted to?
“Girl, why are you just standing there?” Nichelle put a hand on Axel’s arm, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Come on. It’s time for bed.”
Axel didn’t want to admit that she was worried about Ripper, so instead she said, “I’ve just got a lot on my mind. You go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Nichelle saw right through her. “Don’t tell me you’re actually worried about Ripper. He wouldn’t be doing the same about you. Don’t forget that.”
Axel sighed. She’d been caught. “I know that, but…look, I was the one who drove him off, so I feel responsible. I’m just going to take a quick look around the area and see if I can find him. I’ll be back before morning. Don’t worry.”
Nichelle looked at her skeptically, then shrugged and said, “You do you. Be safe out there.” Nichelle ducked into the tent as well, leaving Axel alone. Without wasting any more time, Axel grabbed her backpack, her flashlight, and her crossbow, and headed off into the night to find Ripper.
It was a little difficult to follow Ripper’s tracks in the dark, but thankfully, Axel was an expert. It seemed like Ripper had just wandered about aimlessly for a while before his trail finally led Axel to a cave. There was a faint glow coming from deeper into the cave, but from where she stood at the mouth, it was still too dark to tell if the cave was inhabited or not. Stepping as quietly as she could to avoid drawing too much attention to herself, Axel cautiously entered the cave, heading for the light source with one hand on her weapon.
“Axel? Is that you?” a familiar voice called out once Axel was a little deeper into the cave.
“Shh!” Axel hissed instinctively. She turned toward the source of the voice to find Ripper suspended on the wall by a set of crude shackles. His eyes met Axel’s, and for a moment, his expression was full of hope, but it was quickly replaced by a more characteristic smug grin.
“Well, well, well. Look who missed me after all.”
“Don’t get a big head,” Axel grumbled.
Ripper raised an eyebrow at her. “Admit it. Admit that you missed me.”
Immediately remembering why she had fought with him in the first place, Axel shook her head and started to walk back out of the cave. Forget it. He would be fine until morning, when Priya and the others could deal with him.
“Axel? Where are you going? Hey, wait, come back! I need help! Please don’t leave me!”
The desperation in his voice made Axel sigh and turn back around. “Fine. But I want an apology.”
“An apology? For what?”
Axel frowned and pointed her crossbow at him.
“Ahh! Okay, okay, I’m sorry!”
Axel started to lower her crossbow. “Sorry for what?”
Ripper sighed and looked down at the ground. Then, in the sincerest tone Axel had ever heard him use, he said, “I’m sorry I said you’d be a shitty leader because you’re a girl. I actually…I think you’re really cool.” He mumbled the last part, but Axel heard him nonetheless.
With a satisfied smile, she put away her crossbow and walked over to start working on Ripper’s restraints. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
Axel had almost finished undoing the first restraint when they heard a scuffling sound from somewhere within the cave. “Uh, what was that?”
Panic immediately washed over Ripper’s face. “Oh no, the goblins! They’re coming back!”
“Goblins?” Axel repeated. “Dammit, why didn’t you warn me?” She reached for her weapon again.
“You were too busy pointing your bow at me and making me apologize!” Ripper protested.
Axel didn’t have time to argue before three goblins appeared around the corner, each holding a spear and glaring at her and Ripper.
“Oh my god, I’m going to die!” Ripper screamed.
“Not while I’m here you’re not.” Axel drew her crossbow and fired a bolt at the middle goblin. It struck its target immediately and the goblin fell to the ground, dead. Ripper’s jaw dropped. Axel didn’t have time to celebrate, however, because the other two goblins began to charge at her. Acting quickly, Axel delivered a roundhouse kick into the closest goblin’s chest, causing it to fly into the wall and drop its spear. Axel picked it up off the grown and snapped it over her knee just as the third goblin lunged at her. The goblin landed on her back, scratching her shoulders with its sharp nails and causing her to stagger backwards. Axel soon regained her balance, however, and she managed to pull the goblin off of her. Grabbing it by the throat, she squeezed until she heard something crack. Then, just to be sure, she slammed the limp goblin into the ground, shattering its skull. Finally, she approached the last remaining goblin, the one she had thrown against the wall, who was now lying in an unconscious heap. Taking a switchblade out of her pocket, she cleanly slit the goblin’s throat before it could wake up. Then, she wiped the blood from the knife and the dirt from her hands on her pants and walked back over to Ripper to finish undoing his restraints.
“See? Told you you weren’t gonna die on my watch.”
Ripper was still speechless. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of Axel for the entire fight. “I…you were…holy shit.”
Axel just smiled as she finally managed to break the last of Ripper’s restraints, and he dropped down to the floor.
“Thanks for saving my ass,” Ripper said sheepishly. “Seriously, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t shown up.”
“Let’s just get back to camp.” Axel said, averting her gaze. She wasn’t great at handling compliments.
Ripper’s face lit up at the thought of returning to the safety of camp, but then his eyes landed on the scratch wounds on Axel’s shoulders. “Wait! You’re bleeding.”
Axel glanced at the marks. “Oh, yeah. Mind patching me up? I don’t think I can reach. I’ve got a first-aid kit in my backpack.” She hadn’t even noticed at first that she’d been injured, but now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she was starting to feel a little pain. She winced a little as she took her backpack off of her shoulders and passed it to Ripper. Then, she sat down cross-legged on floor, her back facing Ripper.
“Um…” After Ripper found the first-aid kit in Axel’s bag, he opened it and stared at its contents. He wasn’t first aid trained and had no clue where to begin.
Axel sighed, noticing his hesitance. “Sanitize your hands, then clean the wounds with rubbing alcohol, apply the antibiotic cream, and cover them with bandages. I don’t think they’re too deep, but I’m worried about infection. I don’t even want to know what was growing under those goblins’ nails.”
Ripper nodded and did as he was instructed. “Sorry,” he said as he cleaned the wound, noticing Axel flinch a little.
“It’s fine, it’s supposed to sting a bit.”
Ripper finished treating Axel’s wounds with a surprising amount of care. “Uh, there. All done.”
“Thanks.” Axel stood up, then held out her hand to collect the first-aid kit. “Feels like you did a good job.”
“Yeah?” Ripper’s eyes sparkled. He didn’t get told often that he’d done a good job.
Axel nodded. “Okay, now let’s go back to camp. I told Nichelle I’d be back before morning.” Zipping up her backpack and slinging it over her now-bandaged shoulders, Axel began to walk back towards camp, Ripper following closely on her heels.
“Hey, Axel?” Ripper spoke up after a moment. “I really am sorry for what I said earlier. For what it’s worth, I think you’d be a great leader. What you did back there…that was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Because I’m a girl?” Axel challenged.
“No! Because you’re just…amazing…” In the dim glow of the flashlight, Axel thought she saw Ripper blushing.
Axel smiled warmly, but then she felt a pang of guilt, and her face fell. “I’m sorry too,” she admitted. “I didn’t mean any of those things I said. I was just so frustrated with you, and Priya, and I got a little carried away. I didn’t think you would actually run away.”
“No, you were right.” Ripper looked down at the ground. “Everything you said about me was true. I’ve never really contributed anything to the party, not like you have, and…I was in trouble, and nobody showed up.”
Axel shook her head. “I showed up, didn’t I?”
“Yeah.” Ripper’s expression brightened again. “Thank you, Axel. I mean it. I seriously owe you one.”
“I’ll remember that.”
They walked together in silence for a moment before Ripper spoke up again. “Oh, and one more thing? Could you do me a huge favor?”
Axel stopped walking. “That depends on what it is.”
“Well, uh, I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t tell everyone how helpless I was during that fight.” Ripper rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“You mean how you were literally chained to the wall and couldn’t do anything but watch?”
“Yeah…would it be okay if I, maybe, lied a little bit and told them we fought the goblins off together, or something? Something that makes me sound a little cooler?” Ripper gave her a hopeful grin.
Axel rolled her eyes, but then she smiled. “Sure, Ripper. Whatever makes you happy."