Dialogue color: #18D81E
Slowly but surely Ben found himself leading the group again when Nikki fell back a bit. The sight seeing had definitely been better with Nikk's in front of me, Ben thought. He walked on in a steady tempo, sure it was a bit hard now, but they were going to make it in about 40 minutes, which wasn't bad. Once there the ladies could sit down while the man set up the tents and got the fire started. He kind of assumed he would have to do most of the work, but since it had been his idea to camp this far out, he didn't mind at all.
Behind him he heard Tess talking about her sprinting. Hearing Zack's response he decided not to partake in this little contest. Normally he would totally be up for it, but with the amount of stuff he was carrying it wouldn't be a smart move. Ben thought Zack would love to beat him in a sprint, especially after their surfing contest earlier that week. They had been highly competitive with each other from the moment they'd met. It got a bit extreme where every silly little thing, drinking, surfing, girls, running, partying, simply everything turned into a contest. They had slowed down a bit, but Ben still felt bad he would not be sprinting with the others. At least I'll make sure to have a front seat when Tess starts running.
Maybe they should take a little break. Ben thought some of them were more tired than others. He stopped and waited for the others to all catch up with him. "Okay guys. I'm sorry but I'll take a little break, I guess my bag is heavier than I thought." He gave his GPS device to Zack and explained him in short how to use it, Ben himself had a pretty good sense of direction and knew he didn't need it any more. "So the people that don't want to stop can go with Zack, if you also want to take a break you stay with me and we follow them in about 15 minutes." He hoped that if he was the reason for the break, others that needed it wouldn't be offended. Ben whispered in Tess' ear. "When you sprint take care of where you step. Sprinting in the forest is 10% speed and 90% not tripping." He continued with a smile on his face. "I'll be forever grateful if you beat him.
He stepped back and sat down on a bed of leaves just of the beaten track. He took a sip of water from the bottle in the side pocket of his backpack. Afterwards he help the bottle in the air in front of him. "Anyone wants some water?"