Team Building?

“Wakey Wakey!” someone shouted in Kyle’s ear and shook my gently awake.

“Huh?” He said rubbing his eyes, “ohh, ya” remembering that we need to finish the hunt today.

“How are you feeling?” Nate, who woke him up, asked.

“I’m okay, still a light throbbing in my ankle, but feels better”

“That is good” He said bringing the crutches which were against the far wall to Kyle, “Can I grab you anything? Breakfast starts in a few minutes.”

“No I got it” He said pulling myself on up onto the crutches and grabbing a fresh pair of clothes to put on and then moving towards the bathroom. “Thanks though”

At breakfast, everyone seemed sleepy. Most of the boys were not morning people. Unfortunately, for them they often had morning lifting sessions.

“So,” Taylor started to say getting all the boys attention, “We all need to watch and help Kyle, since we all have to finish this together, so Kyle you need to ask for help if you need it.” Kyle nodded at him telling him that he understood. “We only have a couple more things to find, so we will stay as a group and let’s not have anyone else get hurt.”

“Bring it in!” Everyone said huddling together and cheering.

“You going to make it?” Taylor asked Kyle as we were walking up a gigantic hill, because the prize was hidden on the other side.

“I think so” He said as Kyle continued to concentrate on the ground and where he could places the crutches so he wouldn’t fall. Kyle was really starting to regret the decision of going along with this plan. Finally at the top of the hill Kyle sat down next to a tree and Taylor gave him his bag so that he could elevate his foot while the rest of the boys went off looking for the treasure.

Once the treasure was found, Taylor helped him back on to his feet and he began to make his way cautiously down the hill. As he came closer to the bottom the hill became steeper and wetter. For a few moments, he placed the crutches in front of him seeing how sturdy the ground was.

Unfortunately, the ground was super muddy, and the crutches kept sliding even after putting a little bit of weight on them. Kyle glanced up to see the rest of the boys had already continued to move forward. He figured they were just trying not to hover.

Finally, Nate turned around and Kyle waved him over. Quietly Nate snuck away from the rest of the team, and climbed up the hill, and without a word spoken took the crutches from Kyle’s hands and put his arm around his shoulder. Slowly but surely they made their way down the hill. Kyle only almost fell twice, slipping from the lack of traction due to the mud.

“Thanks” Kyle said adjusting the crutches under his arms.

“No problem” Nate said looking ahead, “We have some ground to make up, How fast can you move with those things.”

He was already moving forward, seeing that the rest of the group was almost out of sight, “We’ll see”
Kyle was beginning to feel the pains of using crutches his arms, shoulders, and hands ached by the time they reached the next check point. This time Nick sat with him by the tree, taking a rest while the others looked for the clue, “You holding up okay?” he asked.

“ya I guess so, but boy these are really annoying” Kyle answered, nodding, indicating the crutches,

“And coach wants this to carry over longer”

“Really? He said surprised, “So does that mean…”

“I am not exactly sure, but that means I’m missing practice” he said gloomily, “They said something about giving me a split cast, and then a boot, but that I would be able to play in the first game.”

“Well that is good”

“How many more stops do we have left?”

“I think this is the last one, but it is still like another two miles back to the cabin, and I think we are going to have a slight problem.” Nick said looking at the map that Taylor had given to him when he sat down to find their way back.

“What?” Kyle said concerned, because Nick’s whole posture changed as he stared at the map.

“Here,” He said pointing his finger on a red line that he traced throughout the entire side of the forest that we needed to go through. “I think this is a 5 ft wall, I mean if I can read a map right.” He finished bringing his finger back to the legend to show me what the line meant.

“crap” Kyle interjected.

“What’s crap?” Nate said coming up to us, closely followed by the rest of the group.

“uh” Kyle said, surprised that Nick was with in hearing range, “here why don’t you look at the map.”

Nick handed Nate the map and a few moments later he said, “Crap is right” and then handed the map to Taylor, and showed him the problem.

“Okay guys” Taylor said “So, All this dang stuff that’s going on is because, for those of you who were curious, is because there is a nice big wall that we have to climb in order to get out.”

The entire group groaned. “Well, I know how to rock climb!” Sam, another freshman said.

“Awesome, so then you can find the path up” Taylor said, helping Kyle to his feet and then handing him his crutches, “Onward and upward”

Kyle immediately began walking forward, knowing that almost everyone, could out pace him. The walk to the wall was short, but at the sight of the wall, it seemed to be impossible to climb. Taylor took a deep breath and began to say, “Ok, Sam figure out how all of us can get up and then we will get Kyle up.”

All the boys nodded and Sam began to pace up and down the wall to choose the best way to get over it while the rest of the boys sat down. After Kyle sat down he began to message his tired, blistering hands. “You sure you are going to make it?” Nate said, watching Kyle’s actions.

“I guess, I don’t really have a choice” Kyle shrugged, only seeming to be partially attentive.

“Besides the rest of your body, how are you feeling?”

“Pain killers are awesome” Kyle said smirking.

“haha” Nate laughed. “But honestly does it still hurt a lot?”

“Eh” Kyle said, sounding like a Canadian, “It’s not too bad, better then yesterday, but I wasn’t kidding with what I said before, my ankle feels numb.”

Nate smiled satisfied with the response and stood up to talk to Taylor, who was conversing with Sam,
“I’ll climb up first and if everyone else watches they should be able to copy me and then you stay and I’ll climb back down and help Kyle up while someone up top helps” Sam was saying.

“That sounds great” Taylor said.