Theories Around the Fire
The fire crackled beneath a sky filled with stars.
Dinner was finished, but nobody seemed ready to crawl into their tents.
There was only one subject anyone wanted to discuss.
The forest.
More specifically...
Whatever was out there.
One of the Golden Bros leaned toward the fire.
"Okay. Giant footprints. Scratched trees. Broken branches. Weird noises. Obviously, we're dealing with a bear."
Another immediately shook his head.
"Bears don't knock."
"How do you know?"
"Because they're bears."
"Maybe it's a polite bear."
Someone snorted.
Another Bro raised his hand.
"Mountain lion."
"Those footprints were way too big."
"Really big mountain lion."
"No."
"Fine. Two mountain lions walking really close together."
Everyone laughed.
Brock Gold #46 sat quietly on a fallen log, enjoying the increasingly ridiculous speculation.
Another Bro lowered his voice dramatically.
"What if it's something nobody has discovered yet?"
A pinecone sailed across the campfire and bounced harmlessly off his shoulder.
"Ow!"
"No monster stories before bed," the thrower said.
"I'm serious!"
"So was the pinecone."
Even Brock laughed at that one.
Eventually someone turned toward him.
"Okay, Brock. You've been sitting there with that stupid little smile. What's your theory?"
Brock looked toward the dark trees.
"I have one."
Everyone waited.
He took another sip from his mug.
"And I'm keeping it until we have evidence."
The complaints were immediate.
"BROCK!"
He grinned.
"Get some sleep. Tomorrow we're following those tracks."
Morning transformed the forest.
The shadows that had fueled their imaginations disappeared beneath warm summer sunlight.
The Golden Bros packed water and supplies and returned to the trail.
They noticed things differently now.
A broken branch wasn't simply a broken branch.
Mud wasn't merely something to avoid.
Scraped bark wasn't meaningless damage.
The forest was leaving clues everywhere.
They just had to learn how to read them.
Before long, another track appeared.
Then another.
One Bro suddenly stopped beside a tree.
"Brock."
Caught against the rough bark were several strands of coarse hair.
Brock examined them carefully.
That smile returned.
"Oh, come on!"
"What?"
"That's the Brock knows something face again."
"Maybe."
"Brock!"
"Keep walking."
The tracks eventually emerged from the trees into a broad mountain meadow.
Wildflowers swayed beneath the afternoon sun.
Near the opposite tree line, however, the grass had been flattened.
A surprisingly large area of it.
Something had been there.
Recently.
One Bro stared at it.
"Still voting polite bear."
Nobody laughed quite as loudly this time.
Then—
The call came.
Long.
Strange.
And much closer than yesterday.
Everyone froze.
Brock slowly raised one hand.
Quiet.
Across the meadow...
A bush moved.
Then another.
A branch bent sharply before springing back.
Something large moved behind the trees.
For half a second, there was a shape between the trunks.
Too quick.
Too obscured.
Gone.
Nobody could say exactly what they'd seen.
One Bro whispered:
"...Please tell me someone else saw that."
Brock nodded.
His expression wasn't frightened.
It was almost satisfied.
The Bros had spent days imagining what might be hiding beyond the firelight.
Now the answer was somewhere just beyond those trees.
Brock smiled.
"Tomorrow..."
He looked toward his brothers.
"...we stop telling stories."
His eyes returned to the forest.
"And find out what's actually out there."
To be continued...
You won't always know what waits beyond the next trail, and you don't need to. The Golden Army moves forward with curiosity, courage, and brothers beside you. Together, the unknown becomes something to explore—not something to fear.
Ready to join the Team? All you need to do is contact our recruiters @alton-gold77 or @polo-drone-125.
