Ellie gasped, and Marshall busted out in laughter.

“But, that pep talk was very good. Thank you, Ellie,” he sincerely said with a warm smile. And then his warm smile turned into a mischievous smile.

Ellie shyly returned his smile, and then whispered, “Was I Yellie before or after I was Smelly?”

Sawyer looked down with a hurt look, as if the reminder of the Smelly incident made him feel terrible for it all over again. “You never were smelly, but hold that thought.”

Hold that thought? What does he mean by that? Ellie looked just as puzzled as me by his mysterious statement. I glanced at Marshall, who seemed purposely to avoid seeing my questioning look. Before anyone could pursue the subject, Lydie stirred uncomfortably in her sleep and whimpered, “Mommy. It hurts.” Marshall and I instantly looked at her, and Sawyer and Ellie tried to look over their shoulders at her. She appeared to still be asleep, but her face was now wrinkled in a painful expression. Seeing her like that brought tears to my eyes. It was heartbreaking to see anyone, much more my little sister, writhing in painful sleep.

“Honey, we’re taking you to your parents right now. We’re on our way to your mom and dad. Stay strong, Lydie,” Sawyer gently said in a tone like an uncle would use. While his soothing words were obviously intended for Lydie, I also appreciated them. Lydie nodded, her eyes still squeezed shut, and she seemed to fall back into a more comfortable rest.

Ellie looked worriedly over her shoulder once more at Lydie, and I saw her eyes brimming with tears as she took in the condition of our usually lively sister. “We need to be thankful that she didn’t go into shock when the avalanche injured her leg,” Ellie said.

Sawyer wordlessly nodded, but his grim countenance told me that Lydie’s injury could have been much worse.

“How is everyone else holding up?” Sawyer suddenly asked us.

After a moment of shoulder shrugging, Ellie spoke first, “Battling a headache that is probably due to hunger and stress. Scared for Lydie and dying to see our parents, but otherwise I feel pretty well. I just focus on not thinking about how weak I should feel right now.”

Sawyer nodded and observed her for a few steps, “You seem very resilient through this. I’m glad you feel as well as you do. Marlee?”

I groaned inwardly. It was easier to feel strong when I wasn’t thinking about how I actually felt. “I’m alright. Also ignoring a headache. My legs have started to feel a little wobbly, like wet noodles. I keep focusing on one step at a time,” I said.

Sawyer glanced back, “Should we slow down or take a break?”

“Maybe not yet,” I shook my head, “I still feel stronger than when the stick was in my head. We need to keep going for Lydie. I want to try to go a little longer before taking another break.”

Sawyer sized me up over his shoulder as he hiked, and then turning back to face the trail he firmly said, “When you need to stop, speak up.”

“Thanks for asking me, Bro,” Marshall teasingly piped.

“I was getting to you. Ladies first,” Sawyer chuckled. “How are you, Man?”

Marshall was clearly doing better since his electrolyte replenishment. “I feel pretty strong now, since the last liter of electrolytes. But I am nervous about the next few hours. We’re basically running on fumes as it is.”

The next few hours? God, please bring us back before then! I prayed.

“How are you, Sawyer?” Ellie asked, nodding to his leg.

“I’m doing fair,” Sawyer honestly said. “The tape has helped stabilize my leg a ton, so I think I can keep up a steady pace in that regard. I am very hungry, though, which means we have about thirty minutes until I’ll be very grouchy.”

“You mean you aren’t already grouchy? Oh boy, what are we in for?” Ellie joked.

Sawyer was still in good humor, but then he quietly said, “I should warn you girls that when I am really hungry…”

“He turns into a real grump! Imagine ‘hangry’ times one hundred!” Marshall finished for him. Marshall shook his head and continued, “You’ll see a new side of him, Girls. When he’s hungry, he’s not even the same guy. Crabbier than-”

“Thanks for that explanation, Marshall,” Sawyer annoyingly said. His voice was raised a notch, and I wondered if the crabbiness was starting now.

“There’s actually a scientific explanation for that,” Ellie offered. “It’s very normal, and in fact, marathoners experience it at about mile nineteen. It’s called–”

“Marathoners?!” Marshall jabbed. “Sawyer is hardly a marathoner!” I thought Marshall was teasing, but his brother took it seriously.

“She’s not saying I am a marathoner, just that everyone gets hungry and it’s called–” Sawyer motioned to Ellie.

“Glycogen depletion,” Ellie nervously said, as if she feared a fight over the conversation she started.

“Call it what you want, but in our house, we call it–” Marshall was cut off by an irritated Sawyer, who shouted, “Seriously Marshall, not now!”

I had seen Sawyer hungry before at mealtimes, but this was the first time I would have seen him this hungry, as in two-days-with-practically-no-food hungry. While his reaction to Marshall’s taunting surprised me, I also knew that all of us were teetering in the same state. I know I get short-tempered when I’m hungry. I figured the countdown was on for when we all would totally lose it.

Thinking maybe I should stand up for Sawyer, I said, “Actually, Marshall, I also get pretty irritable when I’m hungry. But maybe we should hold off on the teasing until we’re eating.”

“I agree with Marlee,” Sawyer nodded appreciatively. “And besides, it’s scientific,” he threw Ellie a smile.

“Tapeworms are scientific,” Marshall muttered.

Sawyer looked to the sky in exasperation. “Did I mention that Marshall gets obnoxious when he doesn’t meet his daily quota–”

“Obnoxious?” Marshall defended. “And your moodiness isn’t ob–” I loudly cleared my throat to stop Marshall from digging himself deeper into a hole. His face was red and looked offended when he turned to look at me, but I shook my head and mouthed, ‘Not now.’ For a second, I thought he was going to keep arguing, but thankfully, he chose to keep his thoughts to himself this time.

I actually felt bad for Marshall. I guess that is why he prefers to say nothing than to wind up in a heated discussion and cause problems. I cast a sideways glance toward him, but his head was down, and he looked embarrassed. I asked God to return peace to our group. We could not afford a meltdown. We had to keep going.

“Shhhh!” Ellie suddenly voiced.

We looked at her, and then looked around us. Seeing only the towering ponderosa pine trees, I wondered what she heard.

“I heard someone,” she hopefully said. “Over here!” she shouted with such volume that Lydie jumped in her sleep. “Help! We need help!”

Quiet. Our group stopped hiking, wishing by some miracle that Ellie had heard our rescuers. Still quiet.

“Is anybody there?” Ellie hollered. “We have an injured hiker!”

Then a rustle of leaves about fifty feet away grabbed our attention. Peering through the trees, I tried to focus my eyes on anything other than trees. Then a big ball of black skittered away from us. Four pairs of shoulders fell, but my heart was racing.

Normally I am very excited to see a bear. Well, other than last night. But this time, I was completely disheartened that our potential help was a fluffy black bear searching for berries and grub.

“Good ears, Ellie,” Sawyer said. “Keep listening for help.” Ellie’s face reddened. “What’s wrong?” Sawyer asked, as they took the initiative to resume hiking.

“I was asking for help from a bear. How embarrassing. And,” she paused, then nervously stammered, “I’m glad that bear was running away from us.”

I knew she was referring to the aggressive bear from last night. When I realized that the sound was a bear, my chest had tightened with fear, and even as he was running from us, it took me a few breaths to relax.

“You girls had a genuine scare last night,” Sawyer acknowledged. “Are you okay now?” He glanced back and forth between Ellie and me. I nodded, feeling more confident since we were all together. Ellie on the other hand, still red in the face, bit her lip.

Still hiking, Sawyer faced her. “El,” he kindly said, “do you need to stop?”

Ellie sniffed and looked straight ahead. I could hear her breathing quicken, and because I know my sister so well, I realized she was trying not to cry. Or sob. I also knew that stopping and offering a hug would upset her worse, because she would rather give a speech to 2000 people than have four people see her cry. I knew that. I knew that Ellie wanted the conversation to switch and transfer the attention away from her emotions. But how would Sawyer know that? I give him credit; he had the best of intentions. Usually a crying girl needs compassion.