Something Wilder

“How bad is it?” Lily asked.

Leo felt along the bottom of Walter’s foot. He sucked in a pained breath and swore when Leo pressed near the top of his ankle.

He pressed again and pain seemed to wash Walter out, making him look sweaty and pale. “Don’t push there again, please,” he said weakly.

Leo looked up at Lily, expression crashing. “I think it’s broken.”

“Can you move it?” Lily asked Walter.

He tried to turn his foot and immediately gasped sharply. “No.”

Lily sat back on her heels, dread creeping like fingers along her skin. “Well, that’s it, then.”

“What? What’s it?” Bradley asked.

“Walter’s hurt,” she said. “We’ll need to turn back.”

Bradley took his hat off and tossed it into the dirt. “Goddammit.”

“Brad,” Nicole barked. “Don’t be a dick.”

“You guys, I’m really sorry,” Walter said. “Maybe we can wrap it and see how it is in the morning? Help me up.”

They helped him stand, checking to see if he could put any weight on it. He cried out almost immediately. Lily met Nicole’s eyes. They both knew what it meant: No expedition. No money.

No ranch.

And a dead body in the canyon.

Disappointment felt like a punch to Lily’s gut, and she dug into Nic’s pack for the first aid kit as Leo and Nic got Walt seated again.

“We have to go back,” Lily said, squeezing the cold pack until it popped and the contents grew cool. She carefully placed it against his ankle. “I was already worried about getting everyone down there. It’s questionable whether you could make it on both feet, never mind one.” Lily gave him a sad smile, knowing how guilty he must feel. “Better safe than sorry.”

Leo and Bradley stared down at Walter while Nicole handed Lily the elastic bandage, and they worked to get his foot stabilized and wrapped.

Bradley cleared his throat. “Leo and I will go ahead on Duke’s hunt.”

“We will?” Leo said with an incredulous laugh, and Nicole snorted.

“Are you fucking crazy?” she asked Bradley. “You could barely find an outhouse.”

“Okay,” he said, considering. “If you’re worried about how it would work, how’s this: Leo and Nicole will take Walter back. They’ll let the police know Terry disappeared, but that Lily and I went looking for him. Meanwhile, we’ll keep searching for the money.”

“No,” Lily said. “We’re not splitting up.”

“After all of this we’re just gonna quit?” he asked, voice rising.

“Brad,” Nicole warned.

“Bradley,” Walter corrected under his breath.

“No way, man.” Bradley started to pace. “Something’s out there.” He pointed to the Maze, looking at each of them. “How many times in our lives will we be able to say we did something like this? Something daring and risky with a mega potential payoff?” He turned to Lily. “You’re just going to live out your life not knowing whether your old man ever found the most famous treasure in American history? This is it, you guys, our big adventure. We can’t turn back now.”

“You could do this, Dub,” Nicole said to Lily, quietly.

Lily turned her face up. “What?”

“You’ve been there. You know the journal, you know the games—you know Duke. It has to be you.”

“Right,” Bradley said. “Like I said. Nicole and Leo, take Walter back, and Lily and I can keep going.”

Lily stared down at the wrap on Walter’s foot, thinking. No matter how much she wanted this—the money, her ranch, and a definitive answer about whether her father kept the biggest win of his life from her—could she do that? Just… send Walter to a hospital and keep going? Wasn’t it already terrible enough that they’d left Terry at the bottom of the canyon?

But… having them go back and contact the authorities would at least show they’d tried to do the right thing. It wasn’t a terrible idea…

“Leo,” she said abruptly.

Bradley blinked, confused. “Leo?”

“I’ll go with Leo.” She straightened, jaw tight in false confidence with this decision.

Bradley balked at this. “Why not both of us?”

“Fewer inexperienced hikers mean fewer risks. Leo was an Eagle Scout and has more outdoor experience than any of you.” She paused. “And frankly, I don’t think I can do it without him. Duke wouldn’t have made this easy, and I’ll need Leo to figure out whatever codes he’s left for us.”

Leo met her eyes and she blinked away. She’d asked him once how he figured things out so quickly. He’d explained that he saw codes and puzzles as pictures in his head. He would shift things around, mentally sliding pieces or numbers together and apart until he had a solid visual of the solution. Then, he said, he would poke at it, check and recheck his conclusion. If it was a code, he’d confirm the translation of every number, letter, or symbol. If it was a puzzle, it was easier: he’d figure out where to move each piece, and he’d know he was right when he did it manually.