"I'm telling you, this is the ultimate place to go swimming. When its too crowded by the pool or the lake, you go to Moose bear spring." They had been discussing how hot it was back at the shack when Wendy had suggested that she could take him swimming in the natural spring. And right now they were on their way there, taking the golf cart down an ancient path which had existed since Quentin Trembly founded this strange town. "Why is it called Moose-bear spring again? Moose aren't even indigenous to Oregon..."

She shrugged, "Beats me, I didn't come up with the name. I just know that it feels amazing on a hot day."

Dipper nodded absentmindedly and stared off into the woods, "It's a shame Mabel is going to miss this." He pretended both to her and himself that he wasn't happy to have her to himself. The ginger took her eyes off the path briefly, "I forgot. Why is it she can't come?" Dipper shrugged, "Something about helping Grenda get ready for her date with an Austrian prince." Nodding, Wendy returned her focus to the path. "AH! Here we are…" She pulled up in front of a small rock formation; the brunette looked around, and was confused by the lack of water. "I don't see any natural pool…or moose-bear." She rolled her eyes with a smile and dismounted, throwing a bag of the essentials over her shoulder. "Ha-ha. It's a little way ahead. C'mon!" She began to walk towards the forest. He hopped out and followed her, slightly reluctantly.

The pool appeared to be downhill, and as Dipper began to walk he started to pick up momentum and slid in the mud. His hands began to go windmill style as he attempted to slow himself down; Wendy laughed as he went tumbling past her and crashed into a bush at the bottom of the hill. The redhead walked up to the bush with a hand placed over her mouth, attempting and failing to stifle her laugh, "Are you okay?" His head popped out of the shrubbery and he spat out a twig with smile. "I'm fine."

She threw her bag onto the beach next to the spring, and threw her towel onto the log. She pulled off her shirt, revealing the top half of the one piece bathing suit she was wearing and began removing her pants as well. Dipper took off his shirt and began rubbing his SPF:50 on, his chest and back. "Hey, can you get my back?" He gulped and nodded, stepping forward and with one hand he began rubbing the lotion into his companion's exposed upper back. The touch and smell of her was enough to mesmerize him, and he kept rubbing until eventually it she asked him if he was okay. "Yeah, I...uh, I'm sorry, I'm just really tired, and I almost fell asleep." His crush nodded and scratched the back of her neck, her face red.

Desperate to ignore the truth of the matter, they both accepted the lie and the young detective tried to change the subject. "So, when was the last time you were here?" His crush looked thoughtful, and then she lit up, "Back at the beginning of summer!" He nodded, "Why didn't you invite me and Mabel?" She smirked, "It was before I met you, dork." He nodded once again, "Well I'm glad you didn't bring your friends with us today." The lanky girl frowned, "Oh?" The youthful brunette stumbled for the right words, 'It's just, there kind of rowdy, with the exception of Tambry. And I wanted to hang out with you..." She sighed, the two of them hadn't hung out that much since the bunker, and she didn't want to lose a great friend like him. That's why she had suggested this place to begin with.

Most of the trees in this area had been cut down in the town's lumber days, so the sun streamed down onto the waters unobstructed, and caused it to glisten. His sweetheart climbed onto a massive log, which stretched over the spring and spoke before leaping down into the water. "Alright, that's enough talk, it's time to swim."Dipper took a step back to avoid being splashed, "Come on in, the water's great!" He tested the water with his toe, "I don't know Wendy, maybe I should just wade my way-" She rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, pulling him into the pool with a quick tug.

"Woah, woah, WOAH!" There was a splash as the sleuth entered the water, and surfaced almost immediately afterwards, shivering and trembling in the cold. "It's fre-fre-freezing..." he manages to get out as his teeth clicked and clacked together. She smiled, "Oh, you'll warm up." She advised smugly, before swimming to the far end of the pool, and sighing in comfort as she leaned against the sun baked rocks. He blushed and swam towards her, with a mischievous smile beginning to form on his face. "Hey, what are you planning?" the redhead squinted at him and raised her arms defensively.

He dove forward and climbed on top her, reaching underneath her arms and tickling the hell out of her. She giggled and tried to push him off, causing both of them to fall into the water. They surfaced after a moment, both laughing hysterically. The two trouble makers began dashing around the spring, laughing like hyenas, and splashing one another.

So much fun was had that they quickly lost track of time, and it wasn't until two hours later they realized that not only was it getting late, but storm clouds were crowding overhead. Wendy had just suggested they get going when it began to drizzle. The two leaped out of the spring and scrambled to pick up their things, as the rain picked up and the breeze turned into a gust.

The trees started to moan as Dipper struggled to walk uphill, with the wind pushing him back down and the rain making the mud even more slippery. This combined with the fact that he was not particularly strong or fast for his age caused him to fall backwards, and scream Wendy's name as he plummeted towards where the rainwater and overflowing spring had created a mudslide, sweeping everything in its path away.

The redhead had been almost to the top of the hill when she heard his call, and was previously unaware that he was so far behind her. She ran downhill, but slipped and fell face forward causing her leg twisting at an unusual angle. Momentarily stunned, she too was swept up in the mudslide, and she grabbed a hold of a log, screaming in pain as the action moved her leg. Dipper tried to stand but found it impossible, so he half walked half swam towards her, the tide pushing the log towards his struggling form. Grabbing a hold of the log, he stared across to Wendy, who still had look of pain twisting her face; she was biting her lip so hard it had begun to bleed.

The mudslide threw them around like rag dolls, until eventually they slowed to a halt. Once everything had come to a complete stop, and Dipper had regained his senses (he had vomited a while back and was still feeling sickly), and stood. He tried to help his friend up, but they quickly realized that her leg would not allow her to stand without support. "I'm gonna go get a stick for a splint; I'll be back as soon as possible." She nodded, the pain bringing tears to her eyes.

He waded through the muck, having to lift an entire leg with every step, halfway to the tree line he stopped and looked back at her. His face was the picture of worry. He gulped and picked up the pace trying to move twice as fast.

Dipper was glad he had clung onto the journal during the mudslide, according to the map at the beginning of the book they must have had landed somewhere at the bottom of the valley, between two mountains, they were completely cut off from the town, and many miles away from the nearest road. Once he got out of the quagmire, Dipper began searching for a good stick and some vines. Careful to make the least amount of noise possible, Dipper crouched as rooted through the piles of sticks that the ground offered. Finding the right stick relatively quickly, the young detective realized that the vines were most likely higher up the mountain.

There was no path, and although the storm had subsided, it still made hiking up the mountain an incredibly difficult feat, and Dipper worried that by the time he found the vines and returned an animal would have gotten to her. Finally coming upon some vines, Dipper gripped them and tore the vegetation from the cliff side. They gripped so tightly that his hands ended up cut and covered in rope burns by the time he had collected enough.

Then he sped back down the mountain.

Wendy struggled to stay conscious, she kept slipping back and forth, everything had become a blur and it felt impossible to keep awake. Like she was fighting a war that she never had a chance of winning, it was inevitable that she would soon fall asleep. And she was ruled by the crippling fear that she would never wake up. You have to, stay awake, you have to….

Bathing suit had torn in several places, and she felt like her entire body was covered in something hot and slow, something sticky that smelled metallic and stung the nose. She called out several times, hoping that Dipper would hear her. But all that came out was a series of weak cries, which made her feel even more pathetic. Nice job, now you're relying on a twelve year old to save you. This was your idea, and now the two of you are going to die in the wilderness. For all you know, he could be dead.

These thoughts brought more tears to her eyes, and no matter how much she tried to calm down and think rationally she couldn't help it. Everything was a swirl

"Wendy! I'm back!" She tried to turn and found it very difficult, so she gritted her teeth together and pushed herself to her feet. Staggering for a moment, she leaned against the log for support, the mud had started to clear into different directions, so it was easier to stand up in, and, as Dipper proved, walk through. He arrived out of breath, carrying a sizable stick and several coils of vine, "Wendy... I *gasp* found a cave *wheeze* not too far up the mountain. We'll be safe there." She nodded and lay back on the log, "Have you made a splint before?" He shook his head, "But I know how, they taught us at the camp I went to last summer." He sat down on the log, right in front of the bruise. It was swollen and purple, with torn and ripped skin. He placed the stick against the wound as gently as possible and she bit her already walled lip, trying to keep quiet.

I don't want to make this any harder for him. She tried to reason, but half of her was still disappointed in how she was relying on him to pull her through this mess, when her whole life she had been taught self reliance and survival. He began tying the stick to her shin, and she hissed in pain, squirming like a bug under a thumb. He looked distressed and unsure of himself for a moment. Then Wendy opened her eyes and, composing herself as best as she could, the redhead nodded to her friend to continue.

He nodded back and wrapped it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Then he gave her his hand, and helped pull the physically impaired teen to her feet. She stumbled, and for moment he was prepared to catch her if she fell. Then she straightened and reached down, leaning on Dipper's shoulder. He led her to the cave, the rain getting worse and worse as she was forced to hike up hill. He kept saying that they were almost there, and her pain and tiredness made her start to resent the term and it's user, no matter how logic protested.

It was pouring when they finally reached shelter, and both Wendy and her companion were soaked to the bone. Exhausted, she gave in to the pain, fell unconscious. Dipper was forced to carry Wendy the last few steps, he laid her down fourteen feet into the cavern, before removing the splint and checking her leg. It was worse than when he had applied the splint. The bruises looked bigger, there was more dried blood, and the cut seem to have stretched.

He sat down next to her. In all his experiences with the supernatural, things still had never looked this bad. They were miles away from rescue, and they couldn't hike back. They also lacked food, and warmth. He looked down at her, and was fascinated by how peaceful her sleeping was; then he remembered how much fun they had been having until the storm hit. Don't worry, I'm gonna get us out of this.

Mabel stared out the window at the storm clouds in dismay. She glanced at the clock for the umpteenth away in the hour, 8:20. The TV was on, she had been watching when she realized what time it was and how long it had been since Dipper and Wendy had left. At first she had chalked it up to them goofing around, or deciding to go somewhere else, and Dipper being too enamored to remember to call. Then there had been an emergency report on the TV warning against using the mountain roads, and that there had been massive mudslides in the West Mountains, where Dipper and Wendy had been headed.

Then she saw headlights pierce the mucky darkness of the storm, at first she thought it was the golf cart, but then she remembered that Golf carts don't have headlights. The car was beaten and its windows stained in mud, the door opened and a man dressed in a tall black coat exited the car, a bag of something in his right hand. He stomped over to door, Mabel grabbed the lamp, and raised it preparing to strike as the man banged on the door and demanded to be let in. "No way Jose!" The man groaned and messed around with the knob for a moment before the door went flying open. She charged towards him, but stopped short when he removed his hood, revealing a face she knew all too well.

"What you want me to die of phenomena? Why didn't you let me in?! Also, what are you doing with my good lamp?" She put down the lamp and averted eye contact as she apologized. "Sorry Grunkle Stan." He handed her a bag of groceries before running out to lock the car, and returning with a disgruntled look on his face. He called out to the kitchen, "Where's your brother? Upstairs as usual...?" She shook her head as she deposited the contents of the bag into the refrigerator, "He still isn't back yet..." The old man frowned and glanced at his watch, "He was supposed to be home three hours ago." Mabel walked into the living room with a sad look, "Do you think he and Wendy got lost?" He leaned down and patted her, not wanting to see his great-niece so worried. "I'm sure there fine, let me call the Corduroy's, there probably over there." He walked over to the house phone and began dialing. His great niece just sat on the sofa and stared at the TV, rocking back and forth. Stan was very annoyed at the movement and turned to her as he waited for someone to pick up, "Hey kid, will you stop-" she looked up at him, and his face softened. "Don't worry, he's gonna be fine, they're going to be fine."

Someone picked up the phone and he turned away, "Hello? Yes this is Stan Pines. The guy who owns the Mystery Shack, yeah, I was wondering if a Dipper Pines was over there. No?" Mabel looked back u p from the weather report. No, please let him be over there. Please let it be some sort of mistake. "Well he's my great nephew, likes to hang around with your daughter. She hasn't come home either?" He rubbed the back of his neck, he hated delivering bad news.

"Alright listen, I don't want to alarm you, but there's a chance that your daughter and my great nephew are stranded in the wilderness." Mabel, bit her lip and stared out the window one last time, before running past Stan and up the stairs. Stan watched her go for a moment, "Okay, I'm goanna call the police, I suggest you do the same. I sincerely hope your daughter is fine, thank you. Bye." He hung up the phone and sighed, rubbing his temple. What if they couldn't find him? What was his sister going to do if she lost her brother? She did not take loss well. And what was he going into tell their parents?

He dialed 911 and once he had informed the police of the situation, and what the missing couple looked like, they told him that they would start searching the moment the storm let up and would contact him if they found anything. He hung up the phone, and began ascending the stairs. "Kid? Its goanna be okay…just uh, please come out." He opened the door to the twin's room, and saw her curled up on his bed, holding her scrapbook and her pig close to her. She had tears in her eyes, "Kid, you know its goanna be fine, right?" He rushed over to her, and she hugged him almost as soon as he got to the bed. She pressed her forehead against his chest and mumbled something, as her tears stained his suit. He was little bit shocked by the action, but swallowed and looked back at the door as he patted her back. "It's okay, he's goanna be fine…" he began wishing that he could believe that himself.