Chapter 112 - 112. Camouflaged

Asher's eyes were teary from the wind but he was still able to make out a padded white platform ahead. The zip line would take him to a perfect position to land on it. However, he could also see that the entire platform was surrounded by a massive mud pit. If he was not exact in his release he would either roll off in to the mud or he would let go and fall straight in to it.

Asher had no time to think since the speed had not let up. He made the split second decision to release his grip at a smaller tree right before the platform. 'Let's hope that this works.' With his jaw clenched and his eyes tightly shit Asher let go of the handles.

The sudden drop made his stomach do a flip. He slightly bent his knees and waited for the feeling of soft padding or cold mud to envelop him. This fall felt like an eternity with the amount of adrenalin pulsing through his body.

With the speed he was going Asher drifted forward through the air and had covered the distance between himself and the platform. He landed with his eyes closed feeling the soft padding below his feet. "Yes! I made it!" Asher opened his eyes and was about to jump up in happiness.

What stopped him was the fact that he was on the literal edge of the platform. His toes were nearly over the edge and he could have easily fallen over in to the mud if he was not careful. "Whoa!" He backed away and fell on his butt thanking any amount of luck that had just saved him from a muddy fate. "Wait, where's Jackson?"

Asher said this out loud not knowing where his friend was. It was strange that he could not see him anywhere even though he had gone down the zip line first. "Here, I am here." Jackson's voice came from much closer than Asher expected, but he still couldn't see the large boy. "Here, I am here." Jackson had a more powerful tone this time.

Asher looked downwards and in to the mud to find a perfectly camouflaged Jackson. "Oh, you were practicing your camouflage. That's a good idea. Maybe I will do that later." Asher misunderstood for the simple fact that he believed Jackson would have landed on the platform with his super power being physical enhancement type.

"No, I fell in. I didn't know there was a platform. I also didn't know that brake would stop me so suddenly and literally throw me off in to this mess." He raised his arms and gestured to the massive mud pit. He was far from happy with his situation.

"Woooohhhhhoooooo!!!" Laura was flying down the zip line and landed perfectly center of the padded platform. She had done the only logical thing, she followed the boys down. "You landed pretty well too Asher, congrats!. But where is Jackson?" She hadn't noticed Jackson either.

"Down here." The depressed voice from the mud instantly drew Laura's attention.

"Wait, are you practicing camouflage? That's awesome. We should do that next Asher." Laura was overly excited thinking that Jackson had gotten ahead of them in one of the classes to learn camouflage. She too had expected him to still perfectly land on the padded platform without fail.

"Watch it!" Dia came down with a picture perfect landing. She even raised he hands in the air like a gymnast. "One, two,...where's the third?" She also missed Jackson. However. With his current embarrassment continuing he did not say a word.

Laura was giggling slightly but eventually calmed herself and spoke up. "He is practicing the camouflage he learned. You can't even see him right there." Laura pointed to an empty spot of mud.

"No, over here." The depressed voice of Jackson droned again.

"I see, camouflage...Well nice job taking advantage of the situation. When you start camp tomorrow come and go to the course again, I will give you a few bonus points." She knew that it was completely her fault that a camper had ended up in the mud. As much as she wanted to just pretend it didn't happen she needed to properly play it off.

"So, how do we get from here to the other side of the mud pit." Asher was looking around for a way but was coming up empty.

"That's the easy part. Just hit that button on the side of the platform." Dia pointed out a red button on the side of the platform. It was set up so that no one could accidentally hit it when they dismounted the zip line.

Asher walked to the edge and tapped the button. There was a mechanical clicking from underneath them and mud covered stepping stone rose for them to walk to the edge of the platform. This was set up so anyone who missed the platform wouldn't hit them and get hurt.

"Thanks Dia, now the two of us can walk over there without getting all muddy." Laura smiled widely and started to hop across the stones.

"Two of you? Why is this kid not coming with us?" Dia thought it must be Asher who was staying behind. There was no other way that she could interpret this.

"You can't forget our bet. I won't let you go against it." Laura smiled even more. "You are going to jump in to the mud pit since Asher made it out of the crawling maze while still blinded. You can't say he didn't make it since he even made it partially through the next obstacle."

Dia was frozen, since Laura had not mentioned it since they moved to the next obstacle she had chosen to forget the bet all together. Having Laura bring it back up was like taking a shot through the heart. There were no words coming to mind of how she could escape this fate.

"Awe, what? You two were betting on me making it through the maze? Laura, you owe me a drink for winning you something." Asher tried to play it off like he was mad, but he was much more amused to see that one of the counselors had been baited to jump in to their own mud pit.