Team Building?

After a long, tedious walk towards the meeting place, the gopher hockey team was finally reunited with only one injured player.

"What the hell man!" shouted someone, who Kyle though to be Zach's voice, at the sight of a limping, very tired looking Kyle.

"What did you do fall down a hill?" Seth joked out as they cam within hearing range.

"Actually yes, and he is seriously hurt so it's. It's not something to tease and talk about. Right now we need to focus on making him more comfortable so that we can finish the treasure hunt and make it to the cabin so that he can be looked at by the Christian." Taylor said in a serious tone that made Seth's joking smile disappear.

'wow' Kyle thought 'maybe the coaches were right this would help team build, at least by the way Taylor just stood up for me and they actually believe me.'

After Taylor's comment the whole group went silent, scared that one of their new best players was seriously hurt was never a good sign.

"Does anyone have some pain killers that they either brought with them or were given them in there care kit?" Nate asked out as they helped Kyle down next to a tree. "also, Joey, you are doing some medical training right?"

"Yes I am, I'll take a look at it. One moment, I know that I have ibuprofen somewhere in here" after rummaging around in his bag he pulled out a bottle of aspirin.
"first things first lets elevate your ankle," Joey said placing his bag on the ground and carefully moving the 'swollen' appendage on to the top.

After doing a few tests, at least the ones Joey new how to properly do, Kyle was handed a bottle of water and some ibuprofen. "We need to get you back to Christian quickly." Joey finally concluded. "This could be a very serious injury" He finished off sounding very intelligent, "I don't think its broken, but definitely a high ankle sprain and if it is not taken care of, well then..."

"Well, the cabins a good two miles away. We could have two people and Kyle go to the cabin while the others continue on the sidewalk." Taylor started to talk, trying to form a plan.

"Well, we really aren't supposed to 'separate' into more than two groups." Zach added in, recalling the rules from before.

"I think this could be an exception, I mean it's health over fun."

"Guys, I will just go with you and when we get to the cabin we get to the cabin." Kyle added, being his humble self, but in obvious pain.

"I don't think so that ankle needs to be wrapped up proper ASAP so that you can get back to the rink" Joey said, thinking more long term.

"Okay, enough said," Taylor began, "Me and Nate will head towards the cabin with Kyle and the rest can finish finding things."

"You sure, I really don't mind tagging along" Kyle added, although he appreciated Taylor's decision to go right to the cabin, only for his well being.

'No, Kyle, you will probably just slow them down more, and we need to make up some time." Nate said, trying not sound to harsh.

"true" Kyle muttered off.

With all this done the rest of the boy headed off, while the other three waited around until Kyle felt ready to continue forward.
Slowly five minutes passed by when Taylor said, "We should probably get going so that we can take breaks along the way."

Slowly but surely the boys made their way towards the cabin. Kyle only stumbled a few times due to uneven ground and they only stopped to take a few rests. BY the time they came with in the sight of the cabin, Kyle was exhausted, hoping for a little less than two miles was tough. Unfortunately, when they came with in the cabin, they saw their was a river that needed to be crossed and then a super steep hill.

"Well, what do you think?" Taylor said as they came right up to the river.

"I don't know if its a good idea," Nate said thinking, "The current looks quite strong, and it doesn't look shallow either."

"Guys, can we please take a rest" Kyle said huffing, and exhausted from standing.

Taylor slowly turned me around and sat Kyle up against a tree,"Lets elevate, we may be here a while until we figure out how to get across." Slowly, Taylor picked up Kyle's limp foot, and placed on the backpack. As he did so he watched Kyle's eyes clench in pain, and trying to hold in the tears. He knew he was in a real lot of pain, which meant crossing this river probably wouldn't be a good idea.

"Nate, Do you have any ideas?" Taylor said walking away from The exhausted looking Kyle back to the river bank.

"No, I dont see any bridges, or boats, do you?"

"No" Taylor said picking up a long stick that was on the ground. Then, he stuck the stick into the river and found that it wasn't as deep as they thought it was. "Dude we may be able to carry him across."

"Are you sure? I mean it could get deeper, and the current looks pretty strong."

"Do we have a choice?"

"Well, we could always sit around and wait."

"And if they can't help us?" Taylor argued,"Then we are just making Kyle wait longer for the medical attention that he needs."

"True," Nate muttered off, sad that he lost the argument.

"Kyle," Taylor shouted out, "We are going to try to cross the river are you ready?"

"Ya sure," Kyle responded trying to get up, "Doesn't make a difference if we do it now or later." This time, Kyle was able to pull himself on to his good foot, but having to hop to catch his balance stepped on uneven ground and started to fall over again. Fortunately Taylor and Nate were close and fast enough to catch him before he crashed to the ground.

"Kyle! We are here to help you and we don't want you to get hurt more, don't feel like you need to be independent and do things yourself!" Nate shouted to Kyle, who returned a meek smile of apology.

"Okay, Kyle you good?" Taylor said, and seeing Kyle's head nod he continued to say the plan. "We are going to pick you up and carry you across, if the ankle touches the water it will hurt because of how strong the river is but it may have to because we don' know how deep it is."

"On my count of three" Nate added in we are going to pick you up and make our way across. "One, Two Three"

Nate and Taylor gracefully picked up Kyle and started walking across the river slowly. As they continued the river got deeper and deeper, making it harder and harder for them to hold Kyle's ankle above the water. Fortunately the water only got about their waist level and then it became more shallow. By the time they reached the other side of the river another five minutes had past and the two carriers were exhausted and thought it was a good time for a break.

After their short break, they carefully helped Kyle up the steep hill, Making sure that he didn't loose his footing and fall backwards. Finally they reached the cabin.

The cabin was a nice looking place. It was recently finished, and or was never lived in, because the smell of new materials was present when they walking into the door. The kitchen, where they were supposed to make their food had brand new appliances and pans.

Eventually the three boys made their way around to one of the bedrooms, and helped Kyle into one of his beds. "Thanks so much guys." Kyle said as he laid on the bed and they found extra pillows for elevation and a bag of ice to help with the swelling.

"Is it feeling any better?" Nate asked.

"No" Kyle said dimly.

"That's not good." Taylor said, "I'm going to call Christian."