Backwoods Chapter 1
Hey. This is not Hunky Husky writing this little intro. My name is Faller and Hunky Husky and I collaborated in making this story that we have planned out to have more installments. I am writing this because I am a little more used to writing this little notes before my stories. So I just wanted to mention that this was a cooperative effort between he and me and we hope you enjoy it.
The sun glinted off the windshield in the early morning. It was maybe an hour or two before lunchtime and everything was running smoothly for a group of college students heading to the river side. The Derringer River carried a wild range of wilderness and precarious vistas surrounding it with the state's largest river, holding some of the most infamous rapids known to fur kind. But it did have its more tame expanses of water, despite the often turgid swells beyond treacherous wrong turns.The students, off on spring break, had planned a trip down the river as a fun experience; to an extent, they were to have an experience of sorts.
The rubber of the wheels made the gravel below skip to the curbs of the grass covered road shoulders. There were four in total riding inside the car, well, one of them was driving of course and the other three were riding that is. The two in the front were laughing light-heartedly as the car came to a halt, kicking up a portion of dust just above the ground. Meanwhile, the slightly disgruntled riders in the backseat grumbled as the car came to a stop at the ferry. Here the boat they rented for the weekend was situated at the dock, readied for them by the boat rental company.
Upon emerging from the car, the panther stretching his arms up into the air, let out a growling yawn. As he rose, the blood flowed into his legs, circulation slowed from the hours of sitting down. The panther, at a height of 6ft, watched the scenery, his black fur ruffling as the wind blew.
"Hey Donny. Are you going to stand there like a pole or are you going to help me unpack this car?" said another fur coming out of the car.
Donny snapped to. as his friend stared at home with smirk on his face ,"Sure thing buddy," in a friendly but partially distracted manner. The panther opened the left backseat door to let out the group's lone female. The doe stepped out with a grim look to him.
"Thanks Donny. At least you have better manners then a certain someone else." she said like venom, glancing back only slightly for her own benefit at the fox still in the car. The fox grumbled as he snapped off his seat belt and tossed it to the side.
"For god's sakes Tera, are you going be like this the entire trip?" The fox muttered as he opened the right backseat door of the car. Tera just glanced away, pretending not to hear him. Ben, the German-Shepard, said after a brief silence, "Glad to see the happy couple haven't changed their moods once this entire trip." The fox, David, gave Ben a sour look. The canine just shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way to the boat, starting to whistle lightly, if anything to show his benign intentions. Donny just chuckled underneath his breath as he turned to open the trunk window of the car and started to pull out bags containing their accouterments and food for the trip.
Donny rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself a little as he pulled out the bags, "With that commotion, I imagine I will be left carrying everything."
He was a little surprised when David grabbed a couple of the bags. "Hey thanks Davy." Donny said with a smile.
"Sure." David muttered apathetically while making his way to the boat, exhaling a heavy breath as he made his way. Donny took in a breath and looked over at David with an bit of concern as the fox walked away. He twisted the key and let it back and the car give a beeping noise to indicate it secured. Donny shoved the keys in his pocket and soon followed behind David.
"Hey Ben is everything alright?" Donny asked, picking up the pace a tad to catch up with the dog until he trailed just behind him. Ben turned and gave his trademark smile as his tail wagged a bit behind him.
"Just fine Donny. I was just thinking of a way to get those two to forgive each so they aren't the proverbial black clouds that hang over our vacation." Ben said chuckling as he playfully punched the panther who also laughed at the joke.
"Well that's a challenge in of itself." Donny said as he took the punch in good faith, also unable to punch back with carrying a number of bags. Tera was back at the car sighing to herself as she too started to walk to the dock, looking from side to side at the relative wilderness around her, giving no attention to the two in front of her. David followed similarly, but he looked down on the ground as he moved, a bag in either hand.
"So guys, how long are we going to be on this river?" David asked trying to lighten his situation as he glanced up. Looking at Ben as he was the one who planned the trip in the first place.
"What's wrong Foxy? Can't handle the great outdoors?" Ben said playfully to fox as he rubbed the other's shoulder with his free hand. David just groaned rolling his eyes and shook his shoulder a little to get off Ben's paw.
"Hey, I've been camping before. Just not river rafting." David said as he looked onward towards the docks that were quickly approaching. "And plus, this isn't exactly the time for this anyways." as he looked back giving the doe a glare.
"Oh shush, you never know. You might just make up if you let yourself buddy." Ben said with a smile, placing his paw back on David's shoulder. Donny nodded in agreement as they finally arrived at the docks. The docks were teaming with all sorts of furs getting ready to go down river.
One group however was talking with what looked like the manager to the side of the groups. The male wolf of the group was looking at the manager with a little contempt and just rolled his eyes before gathering his family and walking away from the docks, his voice coming with in earshot of Ben, Donny, and David. "What a crock. Flooding on the river? Psh, who do they think they are trying to fool. And that 'commotion in the mountains' business, Jesus. I know they only said that because I didn't want to buy the insurance for the boat. That is the last..." David listened carefully to the wolf as he passed while Donny and Ben were chuckling to themselves.
"Guy's did you hear that?" Ben ask with mock enthusiasm as his tail playfully swayed from side to side "Flooding this time of the year is quite common." He said to the other's before winking. "Don't worry, I've been here before with some family." He took an odd, almost solemn pause, his mouth hanging open for a second before realizing he had started talking and was obligated to finish doing so before he could trail off into thought. He quickly added, "So I know what to do in flood waters." Trying to calm any worries that the group may have had before he looked forward and turned back to his thoughts for a moment. His reasons for taking the time to come to this placed remained slightly more complex than that of his friends.
Ben thought back to years when his family lived in the area, he returning just a year or two ago to go to college in the state where he grew up. He continued forward walking a little slower than before, partially absorbed in the past and partially driven to continue the trip, a means of addressing that past.
Tera was walking up to the guys while looking back at the wolf's group that just passed them.
"Sheesh did you hear that guy? What a mouth, even in front of his kids."
"Yeah some people just don't know how to take things in stride." Donny said with a slight inflection directed at Tera, if she noticed, she hid it very well because she made no change in demeanor.
David smirked as he caught on to what Donny had said. "Yeah I total agree with ya Donny." He said looking back with a smirk as a park manager walked towards them.
"Hey you must be the group from Boulder college. Your boat is ready to cast off at anytime, but I have to go through some rules with you guys first." The park manager said as he lead them to their boat which was situated in between two oar rafts. After a lengthy explanation of rules, the park manager bid them adieu and walked off to speak to the next group.
Ben clapped his hands together. "Well let's get everything onto the boat and tied down, then let's head off." He looked around without turning his head to gauge the enthusiasm of everybody present. Unsurprisingly, Tera and David were not in the greatest of spirits. He glanced over at Donny who looked over at the happy couple with a shrug. After a deep breath, Ben turned to the boat. Ben picked up the bags that were sitting next to his feet and walked down the plank that creaked a little under him, leading to the deck of the boat.
The craft was of moderate size for a river raft, constructed of a rather dark wood and held a maximum of five people with two planks of wood across the inside of the hull for seating. In combination with the supplies that accompanied the group, there was enough room to hold everybody. They rented such a boat as a means of having a single craft that all four could fit into as to not be separated, instead of the option of two canoes that might split the group apart given any rough conditions.
"Ok Donny hand me your bags before you come onto the boat." Ben said to the feline as Donny made his way down the plank slowly so he didn't lose his balance and fall into the water with the bags in his hands. But before Ben could correctly situate the supplies at the stern of the vessel, he had to get everybody on board so he could have room to remove the gangplank.
Donny tossed the bags to Ben before he stepped onto the boat. Meanwhile Tera and David stared each other down to see who would cross. "Ladies first" Tera said as he stepped forward
"Sometimes I wonder about that." David said under his breath as he let the doe go in front of him. Tera situated herself on the rear seat of the boat and David passed her to accompany Donny in front as they both sat down. With everybody on board, Ben proceeded to pull out some cordage from a bag and begin to secure the supplies. He wrapped the rope up the anterior of the mass before crossing over the top and tying down the rear with a rather simple knot.
"Alrighty if everybody is ready we'll cast off and head out onto the river, so we can start this vacation." Ben said trying to raise the moral of the group to little effect. Ben tossed Donny an oar so he could help guide the boat away from the dock while Ben untiled the ropes that attached the boat to the dock. A calm breeze blew over the water as the group casted off, the dense forest adjacent to the water swaying its limbs at the whim of the air while the boat started to pick up momentum from the rivers current. In the distance, storm clouds were pulling together in the heavens, the air vibrating with tension.
There you are. This is still Faller talking. So we hope you enjoyed the story and hope you are interested in reading the next installment when it is posted. Until then, thank you all for reading. All comments and feedback are appreciated as always.