“This way.”

“Are you sure?” Merle was pointing down a dry stream bed with his walking staff. Or perhaps “up the stream bed”, since the direction went against the flow of water. The path looked torturous and I couldn’t imagine anyone trying their luck there, least of all Brad.

“I’ve been doing this since before you were born.”

“I don’t know, Steve. I guess we have to trust him,” Val said.

I nodded and let Merle lead us into the gulch.

It was more difficult than I imagined. Though mostly dry, there was still some water and a few deep pools, but it was the boulders and the downed trees that were the worst.

I paused after scrambling over a log about 30 minutes in.

“This is next to impossible,” I said.

“If he took an easy path, they would have found him by now,” Merle said. He shrugged. “If he really wanted to be found he should have just sat it out.”

Continue reading at Trent’s World