Chapter
17
By Rachel
The sun was
slowly setting, and the sky was growing darker as each moment passed.
"Howie," AJ said painfully as the duo walked through the snow. "Can we stop soon? It is getting dark,
and I'm tired."
Howie nodded
in agreement and suddenly let out a shout and started running. AJ looked
after him in confusion and started to run after him, but soon slowed down to a
walk when the pain from his back started to bother him.
"Howie!?!" AJ yelled. "Where are you?"
"Over
here, Aje. I found a cave we can stay in for tonight," replied Howie, and
AJ let out a deep exhausted sigh of relief.
"About
time, D," said AJ with a grin as found the cave and entered it.
The cave was
small, but AJ knew it would serve the purpose of shelter well and was thankful
Howie had found it. Both men fell to the floor, and within moments, they
both fell into a deep sleep.
***
The next
morning, I was rudely awakened by the sunlight that was hitting me in the
face. I knew there was probably no use in going back to sleep so I slowly
sat up. I looked at my surroundings and sighed. I was hoping that
this whole plane crash ordeal was just a horrible nightmare and I would wake up
in my warm bed in my own house, but to my disappointment, the plane crash was a
real event that had happened.
I got up from
where I was and slowly hopped to where Nick was lying only a few feet
away. I lowered myself to the floor and cursed softly, as I again felt
nauseous. After a few moments the nausea passed, and I set my attention
on Nick. Ever since the seizure episode last night, my hope for him
surviving had slowly diminished. I put my hand gently on his forehead,
and tears rose to my eyes. The warmth rising off of his forehead greeted
my hand; I then knew that his temperature had gone up. The tears streamed down
my face as I gently placed Nick's head in my lap and reached over to shake
Kevin awake.
Finally Kevin
woke up and looked around. "What's wrong, Bri?" he said in alarm as
he saw my tear-stained face.
"He is
getting worse, Kev," I stated through my tears as I ran my hand gently
through Nick's hair when he began to whimper in his sleep. Kevin walked over
and put his hand on Nick's forehead and looked over at me and pulled me into an
awkward hug.
"It will
be okay, Bri. Can you go outside and make another ice pack while I try
and wake him up to give him some aspirin?" Kevin asked as I returned the
hug and nodded. I gently put Nick's head on the floor and with the help
of Kevin rose to my feet and got one of Nick's t-shirts we had used the night
before off of the floor.
I mumbled a
"See you in a few minutes, cuz," as I hopped up to the front of the
plane, praying that the dizziness and nausea that had suddenly appeared would
pass. I made it outside and hopped about ten feet towards the back of the
plane, where I knew Kevin couldn't see me, and threw up twice before I felt a
little better. I looked down and saw more blood mixed in with what I had
thrown up, and I started to break out in a cold sweat.
I pushed my
worries aside as I remembered what my task was and hopped closer towards the
entrance of the plane bending over to scoop some snow into the t-shirt.
As I was rising up, a sharp pain hit me with no warning, and I crumbled to the
ground, unconscious.
***
"Come on,
Nicky. Wake up," Kevin said as he gently shook the body of his young
friend for what seemed like the hundredth time. Nick started to moan and
opened his eyes, squinting against the sunlight that hurt his eyes.
"About time you woke up, 'Lil Man. I'm going to take your
temperature, okay?" said Kevin as he reached behind him and grasped the
first aid kit.
He helped Nick
into the sitting position where Nick was leaning against him and got the
thermometer out, gently placing it in Nick's mouth and waiting patiently for
the thermometer to beep. When the thermometer beeped, he took it out of
Nick's mouth and frowned at the number - his temperature was back up to 105.3
degrees.
"Here
Nicky, take these," Kevin said as he opened the small aspirin bottle and
poured out two aspirin. "This will hopefully bring your temperature
down." The only response he received was a blank stare from
Nick. "Open your mouth, Nick," Kevin gently said as he pulled
down gently on Nick's chin to open his mouth and put the pills inside.
Nick obediently swallowed with some struggle and looked up at Kevin.
"Thanks,
Kev," he whispered as he shuddered.
"No
problem, Nicky. I would have given them to you earlier, but you weren't
conscious. I didn't want you to choke on the aspirin," Kevin said as he
ruffled Nick's hair and got up. "I'm going to check on Brian now; he
went outside a few minutes ago to make you an ice pack to bring down your
fever. I will be right outside for a few minutes okay?" Nick nodded
and lay back down, quickly falling back to sleep.
Kevin quickly
walked towards the plane exit mumbling to himself. Why is Brian taking so long? he thought as he pushed the door open
and shuddered as the cold air hit him. He looked around and quickly spotted
the body of his cousin lying face down in the snow about seven feet to his
right. He quickly ran over to his cousin and dropped to his knees.
"Brian,
wake up buddy, come on! This isn't funny!" Kevin stated with a shaky
voice, clearly showing his emotions. It then struck Kevin that Brian
wasn't faking it as he shook Brian's shoulder and continued to receive no
response. With every attempt Kevin made at waking Brian and failed,
Kevin's hope decreased. He knew that if help didn't come soon, they all would
lose the fight for survival.
***