You know how you get that weird feeling in the pit of your stomach when you're laying in bed during a thunderstorm? You run down the hall and race to your parent's room because you feel safer and you decide if you get there the storm won't follow you or hurt you? I guess that's sort of the way Lizz and I felt about being apart. Since all this stuff had happened, especially after Oklahoma and Marcus, we've been inseperable.

"My god woman, how many suitcases do you own exactly?" I sighed as I heaved yet another floral patterned suitcase through the open front door.

"Oh come on Nick, that was only the third suitcase so far, I think you're getting a little soft on me," Lizz chided. "You trying to tell me that you travel light on tour?"

"Yes, I only carry two bags---"

"Plus your playstation, plus your games, plus your laptop," Lizz interrupted, counting the items off on her fingers.

"Hey! Those don t count!" I defended, folding my arms across my chest, sticking my lower lip out for added effect.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah Carter, tell someone that would believe that one, I bet Brian travels lighter than you do!" Lizz commented as she gently slapped her hand on my chest as she slid past me in the front door. "My god Nick, you never told me how big this place was!"

I closed the front door and followed her into the living room. She was acting like a kid cut loose in a toy store, going from room to room. "Lizz would ya slow down? You re staying here so I'm sure you' ll" get to see every room ya know."

Grabbing a suitcase, I let out a huge fake groan as I started off towards the stairs. "Your room is the first on on the left, top of the stairs."

"Did you want me to carry that?" Lizz asked, one eyebrow raised in question.

"Nah, I got it, besides, I wanted to add hernia repair to my list of surgical procedures."

"Well, you shouldn't be lifting anything like that anyways and neither should I," Lizz commented.

"So you wanna leave your bags downstairs for another 4 -6 weeks?" I questioned, knowing full well that my face was turning beet red.

"Nope, carry on Boy Wonder," Lizz coached.

Thirteen steps never seemed that difficult until now. God, I was glad to reach the top of the stairs. I dragged the suitcase to the door that would be Lizz's room. I stared at the blank oak door and a thought came to mind.

"Nick, what are you thinking about?" Lizz asked nervously as she saw the smile play across his lips.

"We gotta get you one of those door name tags, ya know, the cheap looking mini license plates that say Lizzard or Katie."

"Only if you get Nicky or Jack on yours and by the way, wheres your room at?"

"Down at the end of the hall," I said as I nodded my head towards the direction.

"Okay, and the bathroom?"

"You have one in your room, smart one,"" I snickered.

As I opened the door to her bedroom, I could of sworn I heard her gasp. I smiled as I turned to see here standing in the doorway, staring with her mouth agape. "It's your room, go ahead."

I followed Lizz into the bedroom, amazed by how taken up she was with everything in the room. My heart lept into my throat as she looked appreciatively at the view from her bedroom windows.

"Oh god Nick, the water, it's beautiful," she sighed.

"Had it shipped in this morning," I joked.

"The ocean is so beautiful--"

"The gulf, it s the Gulf of Mexico, sweetheart," I corrected.

"I don't care if its Lake Michigan, well, actually I do care, but hell, at least its water, oh do I have to leave the windows shut? Can I..."

I gently put a finger to her lips. She looked at me as she stopped in mid- sentence, our eyes locked. Before I lost all nerve, I leaned forward and cupped her chin in my hands. I closed my eyes and captured her mouth in a gentle kiss.

I couldn't help but smile into the darkness. We had known each other for how long now? It still amazed me that it seemed to take no time at all for us to get as close as we did. Not to mention how alike we were and then of course that damnable link. We couldn t get anything by each other without getting busted almost immediately. The idea of being too far from him didn t really sit too well with me. Finally my mind drifted to what had happened earlier. I found myself smiling again. Then the smile faded, why was I so worked up about this?

Cause I liked it.

I mentally slapped myself. I was worried that it would change things. Like, what if we acted different? Or, what if it didn't work out? I didn't want anything to mess up what we had. Then, with that very thought, it sort of sunk in that everything was going to be okay. Nick and I had said to each other so many times that there isn't anything that could ever come between us, nothing that could tear us apart. Especially not something that could bring us even closer. I groaned. I felt a lot better, but I wasn't going to feel totally better till I talked to Nick. I slipped out of bed and into the hallway. The moon shining in through whichever windows it had managed to hit was the only light I had to go by. I used the wall to guide myself down the hall. The door to Nick's room was slightly ajar so I stuck my head in.

"Nick?" I whispered.

"Yeah?" Came the eventual reply.

I inched in the room hesitantly. He must have shut his blinds because it was almost pitch black. "You can't sleep either?"

"Nope." I heard him shuffling in the bed and then he patted a spot next to him.

I padded across the floor and climbed onto his bed. He was sitting up and I was pretty sure he was facing me, but it was hard to tell with the dark. "Um, about earlier..." I started.

"It's okay Lizz. I shou--" Nick interrupted.

Then I did the same thing to him that he had done to me a few hours ago. "Shush." I whispered. I smiled, my heart feeling lighter than it had in a long long time, and I kissed him softly.

We must have sat and talked until the early hours of the morning. My alarm squawked it’s annoying tone and it must have taken me five attempts before my hand connected with it, shutting it off and then brushing it nearly off the nightstand. I looked at the time with one eye open and groaned when I saw 6:00.

“I bet Kevin set this time up,” I mumbled as I slowly slid out of my waterbed and stumbled towards the bathroom, turning the shower on full blast. As quickly as I had forgotten something important, I remembered and quietly walked down towards the guest room at the end of the hall and banged on the door.

“Lizz, it’s 6am, time to get up.”

Nothing.

Okay, I knew she was a hard sleeper and I always hated trying to wake her up. A year ago I used to page her when I knew I would be online in the morning and there were many days that she would sleep through three or four pages before she would finally come online. I balled my fist up and banged harder on the door.

“LIZZ! 6am! Rise and shine, don’t make me come in there and physically drag you from the bed!”

“Oh, god, ten more minutes, please?” came a tiny voice from the other side of the door.

“Nope, you gotta get up now, I want to go through the drive thru for some chow before we get there. You would hate the complimentary donuts they offer with the weak coffee.”

“Alright alright! I’m getting up now,” Lizz groaned as she got out of bed.

I shook my head as I headed back towards my room and the inviting shower that was waiting for me. My eye caught a glimpse of myself in the partially steamed mirror. I had debated last night about doing the hair color thing to lighten my hair back up to it’s original blondeness, but I decided I liked my original color much better. I’m sure that management would have me switch back, but this was kinda a statement, almost defiant.

After the shower, I stared at my face, doing an inventory. The scrapes were gone and the bruises had faded to a slightly greenish-yellowish hue. The ones on my neck were still distinctive to me - fingers that had wrapped around my neck. The scar on my chest was still a nasty looking dark pink that I knew deep down was the best it probably would ever look.

Grabbing the razor, I quickly shaved off the moustache and the stubble, knowing that it would be the first thing to be decreed gone by management. I walked into the bedroom and started the monotinous chore of pulling out suitable clothing to wear at this godforsaken press conference that I was dreading with all my body and soul.

After I got dressed, I walked down the hall past Lizz’s door and told her she had only fifteen more minutes before I would leave without her. I heard her cussing and I couldn’t help but laugh quietly. Women were always holding up the guys and Lizz wasn’t the acception to the rule here.

Ten minutes had passed finding Lizz plodding down the carpeted steps and into the living room where I was sitting. I glanced at my watch and gave her a playful scolding look.

“It won’t work Nick, I had time to spare so save the look,” Lizz replied, giving me a stern look in return.

I held my hands up in the air as if I surrendered. “Okay, okay, but we oughta get going so we can swing thru McDonalds, is that alright with you? I definately need my coffee at this early hour of the morning.”

“Why is it so early anyway?” Lizz asked as she followed me out the side door leading to the garage.

I wasn’t sure if I should tell her or not, but I knew she would figure it out eventually. “It’s cause we’re gonna have a live feed on the Today Show, CBS Morning Show and Good Morning America as well as taping for Mtv and Much.”

“I can’t do that,” Lizz replied quietly.

I turned around to see Lizz, leaning against the garage wall, her face pale and she was shaking like a leaf. She quickly cupped a hand over her mouth and bolted back into the house.

“You can do this,” I called out to her. “Just shake it off, it will be okay, you don’t even have to talk.” I winced as I heard the distinctive sounds of her wretching in the bathroom. “Good lord Lizz, we’ve been through shit and back and you’re gonna let a live feed do you in?”

She emerged from the bathroom, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, her face as white as a sheet. “That’s so damn easy for you to say Nick, it’s not fair.”

I took her hand and led her to the car and helped her in. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to say a word if you don’t want to, I’ll let them know that, it’s gonna be okay.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

We pulled into the parking lot with twenty minutes to spare. Because of Lizz’s nausea I reluctantly drove past the fast food strip and opted for the weak coffee and nasty stale donuts that would be at the conference. Just as I figured, Kevin was standing in the doorway, tapping on his watch.

“Hey, we’re twenty minutes early!” I yelled in defense.

“Well, they miscalculated how much time for makeup and stuff, hurry up you two.”

“Skip me, okay,” Lizz begged as she filed in past Kevin.

“No, they want to see you too, Lizz.”

“She’s a little nerved up over this, got sick before we left and once on the way and....” I stopped as I watched Lizz duck into the bathroom, hand over her mouth.

“She coming down with the flu?” Kevin asked as he gazed past me at the bathroom door.

“No, I kinda told her about the live feed on the major networks and she sorta freaked on me.”

“Nice one Nick. Hey, how come you didn’t get your hair back to the regular color? I thought management would have specified that already.”

I raked a hand through my hair. “I dunno, I guess I kinda like my natural light brown color.”

Lizz emerged from the bathroom, not looking any better than what she did the last time. I took one arm and Kevin took the other and we led her down towards the greenroom so she could lay back on the couch.

“You really don’t have to go through this if it’s making you so upset,” I stated as I knelt down beside her on the couch.

“Nick, this conference is really for you guys, not me. Besides, I really don’t want to barf on national television. I’ll be with you in spirit right here, safe on the couch,” Lizz stated as she patted the couch.

I looked at her, worried that she had more than stage fright. “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?”

“Just peachy, don’t worry go get your make up and stuff done,” Lizz insisted.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Peachy? Yeah, right.”

“Seriously.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“And......three......two......one.”

“Roughly six weeks ago, Backstreet Boy band member, Nick Carter was delcared dead at an Oklahoma City Hospital. His funeral was televised on Mtv, thousands of fans lined the streets....”

I shifted nervously in my seat as I listened to Katie Couric drill on about the false events that had happened over six months ago into the camera with the flashing red light. I glanced at Brian out of the corner of my eye, he didn’t look any better than what Lizz had after I left her. He appeared almost gray and chalky looking, wanting to throw up at any given moment.

“The last that the Backstreet Boys had been seen was at the time of Carter’s death when band member, Kevin Richardson held a press conference on Mtv to explain the events leading up to Carter’s death.”

As Katie droned on about the details over the past few months, a camera with a flashing red light slowly started panning. First AJ....then Howie.....then Kevin.......I baced myself as it panned on Brian and then suddenly the red light shut off. God, miracle from heaven! I caught Kevin’s look at me out the corner of my eye. I think he was wondering if I was going to wig out on him on live television. I gave him a slight “thumbs up” to indicate that I was fine. He nodded ever so slightly and focused his attention back to Katie.

“Okay, Kevin, you’ve got some news to tell the world about Nick Carter’s death?” Katie queried, almost leaning forward in her chair. “I’m assuming that you’re planning on a comeback?”

Kevin laughed nervously. None of us spoke a word or uttered a sound at this point. Katie’s question hung thick in the air. Kevin was placed on the spot and I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I never died,” I blurted out.

I couldn’t believe it, but there actually was gasps coming from the stagehands as well as from Katie.

She looked me up and down as if in disbelief. “Excuse me? Did you just say that you didn’t die?”

I nodded slowly. God, I wanted to jump off the couch and run somewhere to hide. I swallowed hard before I continued. “You see, there was this guy named Marcus and he was looking for revenge when his sister became paralyzed because of me. He had told us that he wouldn’t rest until I died and he even threatened to start picking on fans and hurting them. I was in a coma and Brian and Kevin decided the best thing for everyone was for me to have a false death to give the authorities time to pin Marcus and have justice served. So for my protection and the other girl that was involved in all of this, Lizz, we went into hiding, getting false identifications and having our looks altered. Marcus is dead, so it’s safe to come out of hiding.”

“Don’t you think that was mean to tease your fans into this?” Katie bristled. “It was all over the press that after your death was announced, at least four teens commited suicide.”

“That wasn’t proven that those deaths were because of Nick,” Kevin interrupted. “We did what we felt was necessary. Marcus was a nasty, evil man and he would not stop at anything for revenge.”

“Not all of us had the privledge of knowing that Nick was alive all that time either,” AJ interjected. “Howie and myself went through the whole funeral thing and the weeks afterwards thinking that Nick had died in the hospital, so it wasn’t an exclusive thing to trick the fans or something.”

“And so where are you going to go from here?” Katie asked to no one in particular.

“A well deserved stress-relieving vacation,” I winked.

My eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when Nick announced that he had never died. The camera focused on him and his nervousness doubled. I didn’t even have to feel it that time, I could read it all over his face. While he explained it the camera scanned the other guys and the people in the room. The looks on their faces sent another wave of nausea through me and I jumped up and bolted for the bathroom.

“Sick.” I muttered after splashing water on my face. My face was beyond pale and I looked like death warmed over. I was relatively okay when I woke up this morning, but the more I woke up the more I started to get nervous. Then when Nick told me about the live feed I freaked. I guess it was the thought of not knowing how everyone was going to react to all this. I was almost shocked at how hard this was effecting me. I never threw up from being nervous and actually, I rarely even got nervous. Even back in highschool I had pretty big parts in school plays and I never got nervous. But of course this was different. I had just come out of hiding with a guy that was presumed dead and the truth was just getting announced to the whole world.

By the time I made my way back to the couch the conference was over. That suited me just fine cause I didn’t know if I could watch much more of it, not to mention there was nothing left in my stomach. People started filing back into the green room and I noticed Brian duck into the restroom, not looking any better than I did. Then Nick rounded the corner and I pang of guilt hit me. He looked a little overwhelmed as he came over and sat on the couch that I was curled up on.

“You ok?” I asked quietly.

“Peachy.” He muttered.

I hung my head. “I’m sorry, maybe I should have gone on so you wouldn’t have been as alone or something.”

Nick looked at me and then smiled. “Like I wanted you puking on me. It’s okay Lizz, it could have gone a lot worse.”

“I guess.” I said reluctantly. “Is Brian okay? He looks like shit run over twice.”

“Thanks.”

I know I turned red and Nick smirked at me when I looked up to see Brian standing over me. I scrunched up my face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, well you do, but...”

“You didn’t mean for me to hear it.” Brian finished with a smile.

I laughed. “Yeah. Are you okay?” I scooted over so he could sit down too.

“Yeah, glad that’s over with. My nerves are kind of shot with this whole mess.” He sat down on the other side of me.

“No joke, I got sick like four times and I never do that!” I exclaimed.

“Wuss.” Nick teased.

“Shuddup doorknob.” I elbowed him in the side.

We both cracked up and Brian looked as us funny. Of course that made us laugh harder. A long time ago during one of Nick and I’s online conversations he jokingly called Brian a doorknob. I about fell off my chair I started laughing so hard. Honestly, I don’t really know what was so funny about that, but I thought I was going to split my sides laughing. Ever since then that word would sneak into my vocabulary. And of course whoever I would call a doorknob would bust up too just cause it sounded so funny.

“You don’t wanna know.” I gasped between laughs.

“You’re probably right.” Brian shook his head at us.

“Well, you look a little better. You got some color back at least.” Kevin observed, a somewhat amused smile on his face as he strolled up.

“Color?! Try beet red!” Nick observed.

“Shuddup already!” I elbowed him again.

Kevin glanced at Brian and they both shook their heads like we were totally crazy. Who knows, maybe we were.

“So, Nick, where did you have in mind for a vacation?” Kevin changed the subject.

“I dunno, somewhere far far away.” Nick shrugged.

“That helps. I think that’s a good idea though, we all need a break. Figure out where y’all want to go and we can start making the plans for it.” Kevin suggested.

I looked at Brian and then Nick. “O--klahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plai--” I started to sing.

“Ugh!” Brian groaned as Nick clamped his hand over my mouth. “Lizz, don’t even go there or I might just send ya there on the end of my foot!”

~*~*~*~

I awoke with a start. My eyes scanned the room somewhat frantically, but I relaxed when I realized that everything was okay. My attention caught the 3:29 on my alarm clock and I groaned. These nightmares weren’t slowing down at all. In fact they had almost gotten worse. Every night I dreamed that Marcus came back. Sometimes it was Terri and scenes of the plane crash. Or what Marcus almost did to me. I knew I was safe now, but tell that to the dream demons. Even during the day it haunted me sometimes. At least I didn’t wake Nick up this time. I had already woken him up four times in the past week since the press conference.

I sighed again. The past week had been a long one. The world was pretty much in shock to discover that Nick had never died. Then the fact that I had gone into hiding with him raised a lot of questions. The reality of what Nick used to tell me a long time ago had hit full force now. About how your life is totally aired into the public and there are no secrets. Although, no one knew about Nick and I sharing that kiss. Or the few that had followed after that. Neither Nick, nor I mentioned it and as far as I knew, the guys didn’t even know anything about it. I think we were both having fun with it, being sneaky and actually getting away with it. I knew we were going to get caught eventually, but for now we just pretended like nothing was happening. Of course, people had their suspicions.

I was playing around on Nick’s computer just a couple days after the conference and I started surfing around some fan sites. Some of the ones I used to check out occasionally were still running so I checked them out. I nearly died when I saw a picture of myself. I yelled out some obscene words and Nick burst through the door seconds later. One look and “oh shit.” I couldn’t believe some of the information people had managed to gather on me and the whole situation. We must have surfed websites for hours, repeating “oh shit” many times. The worst was one girl that had a friend that worked at an American Eagle in an Oklahoma mall. The friend claimed that she saw the incognito-Nick and Lizz shopping one morning. I thought Nick was going to completely flip out, but then I noticed there was no mention of his seizure. That made us both feel a little better. The main topic whenever both our names were brought up was what was going on between us. Nick seemed to be a cross between frustrated and amused. I was just overwhelmed.

The rest of the week was full of interviews and trips to the PT for Brian and Nick, not to mention about a million other things. I had always known they had psycho hectic lives, but now I really appreciated it. Health-wise we were all doing a lot better. Brian was stronger every day and was in good spirits. Nick was still a little sore where he was shot and still under restrictions of what he could lift, but he was doing a lot better too. His voice was still pretty scratchy sounding, but it too, was sounding a lot better. I caught him singing one day in the other room and I must have just stood on the other side of the door for almost an hour listening. The cut that ran across me was looking better. The doc said it would probably scar a little, but in time it would fade so it would barely be noticeable. I had just gotten the bandage off of it and I was enjoying that new freedom. The bruises from getting smacked were nearly gone too and I was almost starting to feel normal again.

The best and probably most patience-trying thing about the week was trying to decide on a vacation place. Everyone had suggestions and then reasons why a particular place wouldn’t be a good idea. Nick and I both argued for a beach. I knew the ocean had the same peaceful effect on both of us. That was one major drawback to living in Oklahoma. I used to bitch almost weekly about it to Nick during chats. “I need an ocean,” I would say. Finally everyone settled on Fiji and I thought I was going to die. I had always heard about how beautiful it was there.

3:58 Too early to wake up Nick? If I valued my life, I’d let him sleep. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep. Today was the magic day. Today we were going to Fiji. Nick and I went shopping already to get approriate clothes. Actually I went shopping while he moaned and groaned about having to carry my bags. After the first store I was ready to go home, but Nick gave me the bread-box look and ushered me into another store. I guess I wasn’t quite used to being able to buy more than just a few articles of clothing at a time. College students didnt exactly enjoy shopping sprees very often. Our suitcases were packed and by the front door already. My backpack was on the floor by the bed waiting for a few last minute things. I had just bought it from the Gap and it was ocean green and waterproof. Nick had asked me if I was going swimming with it. Smartass.

Sleep was totally out of the question so I parked myself in front of one my 6 windows. The sun was getting ready to come up and I couldn’t think of a better way to start a totally perfect day. I couldn’t help but sit there and grin like an idiot. As stressful as the week had been, I had a lot to be thankful for. Everyone was okay, Nick was letting me stay with him, and we were going to Fiji!

Finally, the sun shining bright in the sky, I couldn’t wait any longer. I ran and took a quick shower, dressed and wrapped a towel around my wet hair. Then I went to the kitchen and set the coffee on to brew. Back up to Nick’s room and of course there were no signs of life coming from the other side of the door. I grinned evilly. This was going to be totally unexpected. He knew full well of my incoeherence in the morning and my inability to get up early without major help. What he didn’t know was the one thing that could easily wake me up and have me in a great mood was a vacation. All growing up, the morning I would be leaving to start a vacation, I was wide awake and beyond excited. This morning was not an exception. I rubbed my hands together, almost feeling little red horns poke through my head.

“Time to wake up, Nick.” I whispered.

“Nick?” Lizz whispered as she quietly approached the bed.

I heard someone’s voice, but chose to burrow down further into my bed, drawing the blankets up tighter to my chest.

“A-hem, Nick?”

God, this person was persistent. It had to be Brian. I grabbed a pillow and flung it towards the general direction of the offending voice and put the other pillow over my head. I winced when I head the distinct sound of something crashing onto the floor.

“Hey nice one dork, you broke the picture frame!”

I quickly threw the pillow off my face and sat up, staring at Lizz’s face. Looking over her left shoulder, I saw the picture frame that once held a photo of my sisters and brother, now laying in pieces on the deep blue carpet.

“Aww, shit! That was one of my favorite pictures,” I mumbled as I threw the covers off and stood up. I looked at the time on the alarm clock after I slipped my glasses on. “4:15?!” I narrowed my eyes at the red numbers on the clock and then looked at Lizz. “4:15 am? Are you insane?”

“I, um, I couldn’t sleep,” Lizz defended. “Anyways, we should be getting ready to leave. Kevin told us we had to be ready by 5 am, no excuses.”

Groaning, I threw myself back across the bed, closing my eyes, wondering if we couldn’t post phone leaving for another four hours or so.

“So, anyways, I’m gonna go back down to my room and watch the sunrise. My bag’s already packed,” Lizz announced cheerfully. She glanced over towards the closet. “I take it you’re already packed too?”

I groaned again. Packing was not one of my favorite things to do. Packing, unpacking. Just the basic idea of living out of a suitcase. Needless to say, I planned on packing light and would go out buy the things I would need while we stayed in Fiji. All of us were pretty much unknown over there so shopping, eating out or just doing anything for that matter was nothing that had to be preplanned or supervised with bodyguards.

“Okay, so you didn’t pack?” Lizz questioned, her arms folded across her chest.

“I will.... I will, just go on and watch the sun rising, I can do this with my eyes closed, been packing for years.”

~*~*~*~

“And as usual, we wait for Nickolas to arrive,” AJ announced in a sarcastic voice.

“Give it a rest, jar head,” I snapped at AJ.

“Guys, come on, let’s make this an enjoyable trip, please,” Kevin directed to no one in particular.

As we walked towards the chartered private jet I suddenly realized that I had forgotten one important item for this trip, make that the only important item for the trip. I stopped in midstep, causing Brian to run into my back.

“Something wrong, Nick?” Brian asked from behind.

I could feel the panic rising in my body. “I can’t go.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Brian asked as he stepped around to face me, the concern evident in his face.

“I forgot my Dramamine.”

“It’s all in your head Nick, you’ll be fine or just do what I do and toss a few down on the flight,” AJ suggested.

“AJ, getting Nick wasted isn’t gonna help him on the plane,” Kevin remarked in a stern voice. “Okay Nick, all the shops are closed, the plane is running and we basically don’t have the time to run to a 24hour store, I suggest getting on the plane and taking a nap.”

“Besides, I’ll be beside you all through the flight,” Lizz added.

I smiled a tight lipped smile. This was not gonna be easy. I hated flying with a passion. I’ve flown more miles than I care to think about and I never got over the idea of how a big hunk of heavy steel could stay suspended in air, traveling up thousands of miles above the earth with only four small engines doing the work. A crash was always waiting to happen and if the flight had turbulnence, forget it, I would be one sick puppy.

Part of me wanted to kiss the tarmac before I got on the plane, but the macho testosterone levels in my bloodstream wouldn’t allow it. I glanced over at Lizz and tried my best to cover my nervousness as I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded for her to get on ahead of me.

We each took an upright seat in the middle row and I strapped my seatbelt on as tight as I could. Lizz reached out and squeezed my hand.

“Don’t worry, I got ya covered,” she whispered.

I managed to smile a lopsided grin. “You gonna protect me when it plummets into the ocean?”

“NICK!” Lizz reprimanded.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it but I really needed my motion sickness meds,” I whined.

Before anyone could reply to my outburst, the plane’s engines started to make that awful sound associated with the increase of speed as it started to taxi on the runway. I closed my eyes and gripped the armrests, silently praying that this would be a smooth flight without turbulence. As the plane leveled off, I eased my death grip on the seat. It didn’t help out too much with AJ making sounds of planes screaming downwards and then ultimately crashing.

“AJ! Could you knock it off? Can’t you see that Nick is a little nervous here?”

“Lizz, just ignore him, I don’t need you fighting my battles with him, he’s not worth it,” I quitely scolded.

With that being said, it seemed that AJ was losing interest in picking on me and got up and left his seat and walked over towards the wet bar.

Lizz didn’t back down. “Yeah, but still, that’s pretty mean.”

“If you don’t have a problem, I usually listen to music and try to relax during a flight, so would it be okay if I.....” I gave Lizz the sad puppy dog eyes as I held up the headphones.

“It’s ok, do what makes you relax, I’m gonna get up and get a soda, do you want anything?”

I shook my head as I slipped the headphones over my ears. Soon I was listening to Nirvana and I could feel my body almost instantaneously relax and I drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~

I woke up when I felt Lizz’s hand grab mine in a tight grasp. I was disoriented at first but after a few moments, I got my bearings and looked around the plane. When I looked at her, I could see she was nerved up about something.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I slipped the headphones off with my free hand.

Before she could reply, I felt the plane take a big dip. My heart literally lept into my throat. AJ was screaming like a banchee and I glanced over at Brian, his face looked pale and he was never unnerved about flying....ever.

~*~*~*~*~

“We’re going down.” I told Nick, my voice shaking.

Nick’s head whipped back around, his eyes wide with fear. “Wh-what?”

“We were hit by lightning. It hit an engine.” Then for added emphasis lightning flashed again, illuminating the small cabin of our plane. Not even a second later a crash of thunder ripped through the angry sky. The plane shook again and made another sharp dip.

“Oh god...” Nick whispered. “We’re- we’re going to crash?” He looked around frantically.

“No, emergency landing.” Brian said hurriedly, gripping the arm rests.

“Emergency landing my ass!” AJ shouted over the racket. “No fucking way we are going to land in the middle of the ocean and live.” He turned around and glared and Nick and I. “It’s all your fault! You guys attract trouble!” He yelled erratically.

Before either of us could respond, Howie laid a hand on AJ’s arm. “Man, you gotta calm down. We need to keep our heads.”

“He isn’t thinking clearly.” Brian assured us. I wanted to laugh. Not ha ha funny laugh, but delirious, petrified, looney laugh. How the hell did this happen? This was supposed to be our vacation and now we were going to make an emergency landing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a tiny plane in a raging storm. I felt Nick panicking next to me and I had to admit I wasn’t too far behind.

For a brief moment my mind drifted back to a family vacation. We were on our way home and there was quite a bit of turbulence on the plane. I was loving every minute of it. I even put on my walkman and started jamming to the turbulence. Ever since I could remember my dad had always recorded the theme song to all the movies we watched on a cassette. The Beetlejuice theme song was perfect for the harsh rocking of the plane. Everyone around me was slightly nervous about it, yet there I sat, bouncing all over my seat to Beetlejuice. I snapped back to reality and I ridiculously wondered if I could play the Beetlejuice song, everything would be okay.

Kevin stuck his head out from where the cockpit was. I think he had disappeared up there almost immediately after take off. “Put your head between your knees and try to cover yourselves the best you can. Wrap your arms through the seat covers, now! We don’t have much time. Make sure you are buckled in. The only chance we have is to try to skid the jet across the water. When it hits, it’s going to sink fast. And I mean fast! The pressure is more than likely going to break some of the windows and they are going to immediately flood with water. We need to get the emergency door open as fast as we can before the water pressure makes it impossible to open. Then we need to get out and get as far away from the jet as possible. Did everyone get all that?” He shouted above the racket.

We all nodded numbly and began doing as Kevin instructed. He went back up with the pilot and I looked at Nick. Neither one of us said anything, but we didn’t really need to either. Not that either of our brains were functioning clearly enough at this point to come up with something coherent to say. Instead, I shifted my crossed arms so I could grab Nick’s, holding it in a death grip. Another pocket of turbulence and this time the plane dipped sharply to the left. I heard stuff fall and screaming. I’m sure I was one of the ones screaming. The next thing I saw will forever be etched into my memory. If I survived this, that is. Lightning flashed once again and now with the tilted plane, the ocean looked like it was less than 50 feet below us. The waves crashed and reflected the lightning as it rushed to meet us. I stared out the tiny airplane window with sort of a morbid fascination. This was it. I squeezed Nick’s hand tighter, shutting my eyes. I didn’t want to see this. In seconds, it would all be over and I didn’t want to see the destruction it left in it’s path. I could barely hear anything anymore above the noise. I wondered what everyone was saying. Shouting out their good-byes, praying, or merely screaming wordlessly.

There was one last shudder and then a massive crash. My scream was cut off when my head was thrown forward. It hit something and I lost consciousness.

When I came to, the only thing I was aware of was a strange sensation of
weightlessness. Almost like I was floating, or perhaps sinking. Everything
was dark and all sounds were muffled. Was I dead? Was this what it was
like? I started to open my mouth to call out to someone, anyone. I didn’t
want to be alone. Unfortunately that was a big mistake and suddenly I felt
like I was choking. That caused me to panic and try to scream, but I was
suffocated even more. Just when I felt like everything was getting real
distant, something grabbed me. It renewed my will and somewhat fueled my
panic and I thrashed against my attacker. Was this hell? I really couldn’t
have been that bad, could I?

The attacker strengthened their hold and I felt myself moving up. After a
few seconds I broke surface and suddenly I could breathe again. Sort of.

“Lizz, stop fighting me! It’s me, Howie!” A strangely familiar voice
called out. Then reality hit and my eyes snapped open. I gasped as I took
the scene in around us. The storm was still raging and there was debris
everywhere. I turned my attention back to Howie, panicked.

“What? Where-??” I stammered, still coughing and choking on the inhaled
salt water.

“LIZZ!”

I whipped my head around and saw Nick swimming frantically towards me.

“Oh god...” I choked as he wrapped an arm around me.

“Are you okay?” His eyes traveled up to the side of my face. I reached my
hand up to the outside corner of my eye, right in front of my left temple.
When I drew it back, it was covered in blood.

“Just a scratch.” I gasped, wincing. “What about you?” There was blood
just under his hairline and it looked like it traveled half way down his
forehead.

“I’m fine, my god, I thought you drowned!” He tightened his grasp around
me, trying to keep us both afloat.

“Did you find AJ and Brian?” Howie yelled, his eyes darting skyward as
another flash of lightning made everything light up.

“Yeah, AJ sprained his shoulder or something and Brian got trapped under
some of the wreckage, but they are both okay. They are trying to help Kevin
get the raft inflated.” Nick shouted back. “We need to get around to
them!”

The three of us started to swim around a some wreckage, but a huge
wave sent tore us apart. I started to panic from being separated, but
immediately was faced with another rolling wave. I couldn’t see Nick or
Howie and if I didn’t think quick, I was going to get slammed hard by it.
Still winded from my near-drowning, I took the deepest breath I could and
dove into the wave. Growing up in California and spending time at the beach
had taught me how to handle waves coming at you. Although I had never had
one this big and it sent me coughing and sputtering again.

When I broke through, I saw Nick fighting the wave that followed mine. I
swam as hard as I could towards him and thankfully he saw me and grabbed my
arm just before the wave hit. This time, we didn’t let go.

“Howie!” I cried, looking around after breaking through.

“He’s fine, come on!” Nick yelled back, keeping me with him.

Everytime the sky lit up, I gasped at the site of everything. The jet was
gone except for some of the pieces that were still scattered and floating.
Avoiding those were difficult, but slamming into one of those sharp edges
would have meant instant death. After what seemed like forever, the raft
came into sight and that gave us an added boost of adrenaline to get there.
Kevin and Brian leaned out from the inside as Nick and Howie helped in from
the water. I all but collapsed into Brian’s arms, and we both fell back
against the side. A moment later Nick was in the raft and I grabbed him in
a tight hold.

“Is everyone okay?” I whispered, looking around the small raft.

“All of us except Jason. The windshield exploded and he died instantly.
Miraculously, Kevin didn’t get hit. None of the rest of us were seriously
hurt.” Nick explained, his voice somber. “I don’t know how the hell it
happened, but we are all okay.”

I finally pulled back and looked around. The storm has weakened
considerably and the waves were calming down. It was dusk and the setting
sun peeked through the parting clouds. It glowed a deep red and cast an
amazingly beautiful glow across the water. I studied everyone carefully.
Unbelievably none of us were seriously hurt. A lot of scrapes and bruises,
but we had all escaped without anything that was too bad. I was filled with
sorrow for the pilot, even though I hadn’t known him. Why was he killed and
the rest of us okay? How did we survive something like that when the
chances of survival for that sort of thing are between slim and none?

My eyes filled with tears. It was nothing short of a miracle. Of course
that started a chain reaction and I wasn’t the only one crying. Between the
relief, shock and exhaustion, I think we were all beyond overwhelmed.
Finally after a little while, we had all calmed down and the reality and
graveness of our situation started to sink in.

“Now that we survived that crash, we have a big problem.” Kevin started.
“We’re stuck on a raft, out in the middle of the Pacific. I know Fiji
wasn’t far from where we were, but God knows how far the storm carried us.
Bigger problem, we have no food or water. We’ll die without water.”

“Well maybe when it rains again, we can get water that way?” AJ suggested,
tipping his head back against the raft edge. He was cradling one arm in the
other.

“And what? Open our mouths for a few drops?” Nick rolled his
eyes.

“Shut up ass.”

I laid a hand on Nick’s arm and Brian gave them both a disapproving look.
“Guys, please don’t fight. Things are bad enough.”

“Ya know, it could be worse. It could be in the middle of the winter. At
least it’s somewhat warm.” Brian offered.

I looked at him and had to smile. Somewhat...I was smooshed between him
and Nick, my head on Nick’s shoulder. Shivering.

“Aren’t there a bunch of uncharted islands around Fiji?” Howie asked, his
eyes scanning the horizon.

I followed his gaze, but in the darkness, I couldn’t see anything. Every
once in awhile some object would float by. Usually a small piece of the
plane or part of a seat or something.

“Yeah...” Kevin trailed off.

“Maybe in the morning we’ll see something. There’s no chance of seeing
anything near us in the dark.” Nick pointed out.

“We should take turns staying awake just in case.” Brian suggested.

I was trying real hard to pay attention to the conversation, but the
exhaustion had caught up with me. My eyes kept falling shut and then I
would jar myself awake.

“Give it up, Lizzard. Go to sleep okay?” Nick smiled down at me.

“No.” I mumbled, my eyes shutting again.

I heard them chuckling at my expense, but was too out of it to tell them to
stuff it. Before I knew it, I was out like a light.

Surprisingly I slept really well through the night. The gentle rolling of
the waves was soothing and the fact that we were okay helped too. When I
woke up, I was relieved to see that it wasn’t really sunny. That would have
been murder on my sensitive eyes. The sky was overcast and the air was
warm. I couldn’t help but smile. The amazing fact that we had survived
encouraged me and I figured it was for a reason. That made me confident
that a plane would spot us or that we would somehow get rescued. I shifted
against Nick, but immediately regretted it. I didn’t want to wake Nick, not
to mention I was kind of stiff and sore. Instead I looked around the small
raft and saw that Brian was the only one awake.

“Mornin.” He whispered.

“Morning to you too. It’s beautiful isn’t it?” I grinned at the water.

“Sure is. Hopefully we’ll get some help though so this wont be the end of
getting to see it.” Brian said wryly.

“See anything at all?” I asked hopefully.

“No, except some more wreckage.” Brian sighed.

“Crap.” I sighed too. We fell into silence, not wanting to wake everyone
up. I kept my eyes trained on the water. After a good half hour, I saw
something sticking up, sort of a greenish color. When I saw what it was I
gasped.

“What?” Brian looked at me sharply.

“My backpack! It’s got our meds in it!” I uttered, my mouth agape.

Brian stared at me, mouth agape. Right before Nick woke up, when we found
out the jet’s engine was struck, we put all of the meds in the backpack. I
don’t know why really, because I think we all doubted we would survive.

“I have to get it!” I started to move and it rocked the whole boat. Kevin
and Howie barely moved and AJ groaned, but Nick woke up immediately.

“What the hell?” He growled, sleepily.

“Look!” I pointed.

He squinted out to where I was pointing. “What? More plane debris? You
woke me up for that? Lizz, we’ve been seeing it all night!”

“No, dumbass. It’s my backpack! And that has all our meds!” I exclaimed,
exasperated.

“Holy shit!” Nick looked at me, then out at the backpack. Then he
scrambled up and then jumped into the water.

“Hey, I found it first!” I yelled, jumping in after him. I vaguely heard
Brian laughing before I hit the water. It felt good when I jumped in, but I
didn’t take time to enjoy it. Nick was already ahead of me so I started
swimming as fast as I could to claim my “prize.”

“Beat ya!” Nick hollered out, holding the backpack triumphantly over his
head.

I started to fire back a reply, but something in the distance caught my
eye. Something moving back and forth on the other side of Nick, about 30
feet away. My breath caught in my throat and my heart started pounding. I
was almost halfway between Nick and the raft, but closer to Nick.

“Lizz?” Nick called out, perplexed by my sudden weird behavior.

“Oh god. Nick! Don’t move!” I cried back, my voice laced with fear.

I whipped my head around, afraid to move either. “Brian? I called.

I heard him swear softly and I turned back around to Nick and very slowly
started to move towards him. His eyes were darting back and forth between
the moving fins and me.
“What do I do?” He said quietly, a hint of terror seeping through his
voice.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” I kept muttering under my breath. The thought of me being some shark’s breakfast didn’t appeal to me at all and I was scared shitless not to mention the visions of having a big hunk of my body torn off wasn’t helping matters.

“Lizz,” Brian half whispered, quietly yelled, “don’t move any further, any movement will draw the shark towards you!”

“Let’s try to paddle the raft towards them,” Howie suggested in a whisper.

“AJ you just stay sitting,” Kevin advised as he caught AJ out the corner of his eye, still cradling his hurt arm.

“Hold up guys, it’s okay,” I yelled out triumphantly.

By the looks I was getting from the raft and Lizz, I guess they thought I’d pretty much lost it. The fin was only five feet away from me now and I got a closer look at my attacker.

I started laughing looking at their shocked faces. “It’s a dolphin!”

The vision relieved me and I smiled in spite of myself. I remember when I was about eleven or twelve, we were at a beach at Ana Marie Island and a bunch of us kids were playing in the water when some parents started to scream and holler at us to get out of the water. We ran out in a big hurry, sort of reminescent of the movie Jaws and I recall seeing about four or five fins jutting out of the gulf water. Almost on cue, the fins leapt into the air and there were dolphins out playing in the water. They have that way about them where they can be mistaken for sharks.

As quickly as the dolphin appeared, it disappeared again, swimming off. Hanging onto the prized green back pack, I swam towards the yellow raft, Lizz swimming ahead of me. When we reached the raft, I heaved the backpack into the boat and then helped to shove Lizz up into it with Brian and Kevin grabbing her by the arms, pulling her in.

Me getting into the raft wasn’t as easy and AJ started off on a stream of curse words as his side of the raft lifted up on his side. After three or four tries, I managed to drag myself over the edge and laid on the bottom of the boat once I was aboard.

“Nick can you take your meds without water?” Brian asked as he fumbled through the bag.

“It doesn’t matter, he’s going to have to,” Kevin stated in a stern voice.

I shot a dirty look over at Kevin.

“Nick, we really don’t have the time or the facilities right now to take care of your butt if you having a seizure, do we?”

“Okay, alright, I’ll take the damn thing without water, but if I choke, it’s your ass buddy,” I sputtered.

“Good idea,” Brian replied as he popped one of his water medications into his mouth. The irony struck me as being odd, him taking a “water pill” without water. Brian needed to take that pill every day for the rest of his life. Because of his heart condition, his body wasn’t able to get rid of fluids effectively and without taking the pills he would swell up and the risk of his lungs filling up with fluid was always hanging in the balance.

“Gimme mine,” I ordered as I held my open hand out towards Brian.

“Here you go,” Brian remarked cheerfully as he handed the backpack over towards me. I dragged my body over towards the edge of the boat and propped my back against the side. All was quiet for the time being, the only sounds were the water lapping against the sides the raft.

Breaking the “ice” Howie started calling out in a British accent, “Is anyone out there?..... Is anyone alive?”

Lizz playfully smacked Howie in the shoulder. “Watch Titanic much?”

~*~*~*~*~

Startled, I was awakened by AJ’s yelling.

“LAND GUYS! I SEE LAND!”

I narrowed my eyes towards the direction he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a spot of green roughly a mile away from us.

“Yeah! We’re saved!” Lizz and Brian cried out.

“I hope there’s a McDonald’s there, cause I’m starving,” was the only observation I could think of.

“You and your stomach Nick, honestly,” Kevin reprimanded.

Almost on cue, my stomach growled in reply. “Well, I am, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but I try not think about it,” AJ snapped.

I glared at AJ and mouthed his words back at him with the ugliest look I could put on my face. He raised his hand up to flip me off, momentarily forgetting about his injured shoulder and quickly howled in pain when the movement caught up to his brain.

“Ha ha.”

“You sonofabitch!” AJ growled.

“For christsake, would you two just knock it off for a day!?” Kevin and Howie said in unison.

As we drifted closer towards the island, I couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t look like there were any buildings or signs of life dotting the landscape. It looked like it was covered in a dense forest. The aquamarine colored water provided a nice backdrop to the sandy beach that outlined the island.

By the time we reached the island, it was growing dusky, night would be setting upon us soon. When we got close enough, Brian, Howie, Kevin and I jumped out of the raft and towed Lizz and AJ towards the shore. I could tell by Lizz’s reaction she wanted to jump out of the boat and kiss the sand.

“Guys, I have the weirdest feeling that this island is desserted,” I observed.

Howie made light of the predicament we were in as he started singing the theme song to Gilligan’s Island.

“Howie! This is serious!” I reprimanded.

“Nick chill out, would ya? I’m sure they will be looking for us, I mean we crashed a plane out in the freakin ocean,” he replied with a stupid grin on his face.

“Nick, I think we should get some wood and build a fire,” Lizz quietly suggested, taking ahold of my arm.

I looked at the shoreline briefly, listening to the squawking gulls overhead.

“Nick?”

I blinked when I realized that she was waving her hand in front of my face, breaking me from my trance. “Oh, shit, yeah and I’m not going to have a seizure either so get that thought out of your head!”

“I didn’t,” Lizz sighed. “Come on, let’s go get that wood.”

“I’ll help you,” Brian happily offered and joined us as we walked into the woods.

It almost took my breath away. As green as Oklahoma was, nothing compared to this. I’d even been to the Bahamas and Hawaii when I was younger, but this seemed to have more of an effect on me. Of course I was a lot older now so that would naturally help me to appreciate it more. The sand was the whitest I had ever seen and the water the most amazing color. Without any sort of transition, the sand suddenly turned into a dense forest. Some of the trees were tall and made a canopy over the smaller ones and everything else. The trees made it even darker, blocking what was left of the now red sun. The sky was clear and I could only imagine how the stars and moon would stand out.

“Lizz, slow down already!” Nick called out, a twinge of amusement showing through his voice.

“Sorry!” I called back, slowing my pace down. The forest was thick and yeah, a little intimidating, but my mind was more focused on the beauty of it. The potential danger didn’t even cross my mind.

“This sucks! Everything is still damp. We’ll never get a fire started with damp wood.” Nick grumbled.

“Maybe underneath what is on top will be dry?” Brian suggested, kicking at the fallen branches at the ground.

“It was a pretty viscous storm, but hey, at least it’s not cold or anything.” I remarked.

“Yeah, we are probably going to have a hard time finding much that is going to be dry.” Brian agreed.

“What kind of animals do you think live in here?” Nick asked, looking around.

“Not a clue, but I am sure we will find out eventually.” Brian followed Nick’s gaze.

“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” I called behind me in a song-song voice.

“Haha, Dorothy. Although, we aren’t in Kansas anymore.” Nick snickered.

“It was Oklahoma dear, not Kansas.” I teased.

“No, Dorothy was from Kansas.” Nick argued.

Brian started laughing. “Do you two ever give it a rest?”

“Nope.” Nick and I both said in unison. I turned around to give him a mock glare, although he wasn’t laughing anymore.

“Shhh...” He said softly. “Don’t move.”

Brian, only a few feet ahead of Nick, froze too. “What was that?”

Suddenly I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end and I wished I hadn’t decided to walk ahead of Nick and Brian. There it was again, a rustling not very far in the distance. I threw a look back to them, fear building.

“Shit! It’s all around us!” Nick hissed, his eyes frantically darting around.

The rustling grew louder and I was felt like I was paralyzed. It was on all sides of us and my heart was pounding like one of those huge drums that weighed more than I do. Suddenly there was a whooshing noise and something flew in front of my face. I let out a scream and jerked back. More came and I whipped around when Brian let out a yelp. I gasped in horror when he grabbed at his arm. Sticking out of it looked like a tiny arrow. Without thinking twice he grabbed it and pulled it out, wincing sharply.

“Brian?!” Nick cried.

“It’s okay, it was small and I don’t think it went that deep.” Brian gasped.

Suddenly several silhouettes appeared from around the trees. My heart dropped as they all raised spears at us. They kept appearing and within seconds we were completely surrounded. My attention was torn away from them when I heard a gasp behind me.

“Oh god...” Brian suddenly moaned, dropping to his knees.

“BRIAN!” Nick yelled, vaulting forward to his best friend, catching him before he collapsed all the way.

“Dizzy...everything’s spinning...the arrow...” Brian gasped, already breaking out into a sweat.

“Poison.” I jumped at the voice that appeared behind me. I turned slowly to see a man standing before me, spear held to my heart. My eyes grew at his appearance. He was deeply tanned and had what looked like some sort of an animal skin around his waste. That was all he wore. What scared me the most was the feral look in his eyes. Well, that and the spear.

Brian let out a soft moan. Then Nick’s panicked voice, “Brian, no! Come on buddy! Stay with me, come on!”

I looked up at the man. “Please, you can’t let him die.” I whispered.

The native grunted and thrust the spear closer to me. Nick gasped and I could almost feel the panic grow.

“Poison. He dies.” He stared back at me, no emotion in his face.

“Please, I’ll do anything. You have to do something!” I was totally shaking now and I think the native seemed amused by me fear.

The other natives moved in closer, still holding their spears up at us. The man in front of me appeared to consider what I said. Then he turned and pointed to the closest man next to him.

“Lako mai eke.” He barked in a sharp voice. The other guy immediately moved towards the one in front of me.

I risked a glance behind me. Nick and Brian were both on the ground, Nick’s arms protectively around Brian. I looked at Brian and my heart skipped a beat when I saw that his eyes were closed and his breathing labored. My eyes met Nick’s and he looked as scared as I felt. I jumped again at the angry tone in one of the men’s voices. The other one flicked his hand towards us and gestured deeper into the forest. Then they both grew quiet and turned to look at me. Then their gaze shifted to Brian and Nick.

Without warning the man that I guessed to be the leader, the one that I had begged for Brian’s life from, started to yell out to the other natives. Several of them moved to Nick and Brian. One of them leaned down to take Brian away from Nick.

“NO!” Nick hollered. Before he could resist further, two others grabbed him from behind. I started to run to them, but I was grabbed too.

“Wait! What are you doing?!” I cried, frantically. I struggled against the iron grip, but it was pointless. The man had my arms twisted behind my back and was shoving me forward. I whipped my head around to see two more pushing Nick in the same direction. Another was carrying the now unconscious Brian. Seeing that we had no choice and not wanting to anger them further, I stopped struggling. Nick must have had the same thought because he ceased his struggles too.

After walking for a good 20 minutes the sky was almost completely dark. The men had let Nick and I go, probably knowing we wouldn’t escape. Neither one of us would be going anywhere without Brian. Not to mention, they were the only ones that could help him. The natives were moving so fast and I had a hard time keeping up. I kept stumbling on raised roots and just about anything else. Nick had to grab me to keep me from falling more than once.

“Where are they taking us?” I finally asked Nick in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know, their village?” He suggested. “God, what if they won’t help Brian.”

“They have to.” I whispered back, my voice choking up. The pain in his drove a stake through my heart.

“What if it’s too late?” Nick sounded choked too.

I shook my head in the darkness. “We can’t think like that. We have to have faith. Brian’s strong, he isn’t going to give up.” I believed what I was saying with everything that was in me, but I was so scared. This was even worse than all that shit with Terri and Marcus. Now we were on some island, no one knew where we were, and totally helpless against these natives. There was just something about this situation that made it seem more threatening.

“Lizz, look!” Nick hissed, shaking me out of my thoughts.

The forest suddenly opened up into a clearing. Huge torches were stuck in the ground all around the clearing. My jaw dropped at the sheer size of it. It was almost like we were in a completely different world. I couldn’t even see to the other side of the where the forest began again. There were tons of small hut-type things scattered all around. More natives were strolling around, gazing at us with hard faces. My stomach clenched.

We were led to the left, toward an area that seemed to be more brightly lit than anywhere else. The man carrying Brian disappeared into one of the hut things.

“No! Where are you taking him?!” Nick cried, rushing towards the hut.

“Shut up!” One of the natives snarled at Nick, grabbing him roughly.

“Nick!” I cried, but before I could move, another pair of arms yanked mine behind my back. I was propelled forward. Torches lined a path up to a huge stone chair. Natives were gathered on both sides, watching with those cold eyes. Seated in the chair was a man dressed like everyone else except for an animal skin draped around his shoulders. He held some sort of lance in his hand.

I gazed at him in awe, power and intimidation seemed to flow from the man. I quickly surmised that he was the leader. He had a strong jaw and several scars marred his dark face. A stunning blow suddenly came down between my shoulder blade and I dropped to my knees, gasping. Almost immediately afterward Nick dropped next to me in the same fashion. I felt him wince next to me.

I started to look up, but a rough hand shoved my head back down again. I moaned softly, shit that hurt! I guess we weren’t supposed to look at him either.

“Do not anger the chief!” A voice hissed in my ear and I flinched involuntarily.

I looked at Nick out of the corner of my eye. Our eyes met and it gave me a little strength. I turned my attention back at the ground, not wanting to get hit again. Just when I was wondering what was going to happen next, the chief started to talk, his voice sending shivers down my spine.

~*~*~*~*~

AJ angrily tossed a seashell across the beach towards the direction where Nick, Lizz and Brian had headed, in search of wood for a fire.

“Really nice of them to just take off like that,” he sputtered angrily.

“AJ, calm down, they’re probably not having good luck finding wood, just chill dude, stressing out over this won’t make the wood come any faster,” Howie reasoned.

“Well, if Brian wasn’t with dumbass, I would seriously wonder about it,” AJ added.

Kevin shook his head as he looked over at AJ, resting against a palm tree, cradling his hurt shoulder. “Why don’t you just relax, take a nap and when they come you’ll be feeling a little better.”

AJ nodded, his eyes focused on the green backpack laying across from Howie. “Yeah, they shouldn’t be gone too much longer, they need to take their meds.”

“See, exactly, so just calm down and get some rest,” Howie reassured.

“We do not like preditors on our island!” The chief’s voice boomed. I flinched when he started to talk. But when he continued I was beginning to think that this was all a practical joke created by Brian or Howie. “The posion was meant for you and the girl, not the short one.”

I couldn’t stay on my knees like a sitting duck. I jumped to my feet only to be knocked back down with a sharp blow to my stomach. Trying not to cough, I failed as I tried to catch my breath, the blow knocking the wind out of my lungs.

“Nick!” Lizz yelped.

I cast a quick look over at her and hoped she read my mind when I was trying to convey that she needed to stay quiet.

“Why not him?” I managed between gasps for air.

“Our population is getting too closely bred and we need new breeders and he looked like something we would be interested in,” the chief boomed.

My head whipped upwards as did Lizz’s.

“Breeders?” we asked in unison.

“Yes.”

“Whoa, man, not Brian, he’s not the type,” I corrected. AJ’s face popped into my head and I quickly brushed the image away. “You’re crazy to think you could get someone to do something like that.”

“Then I shall take you both in exchange for that man’s life,” the chief replied with authoriety.

“You can take us to save Brian’s life but we’re no way in hell going to do something like that!” I managed a sideways glance at Lizz and I could see her face had grown pale. She was just as sickened as I was about the whole thing.

“You have decision to make, you either do as I ask or you will become slaves in exchange for his life, working from sunrise to sunset as our workers.” After the chief made his statement, he clapped his hands together, loudly. Four natives rushed towards our side and put a tight grip around my arms, forcing me to stand.

“What about Brian? He can’t die!” Lizz gasped.

“The light haired one will be taken care of, he will not be disposed. You must have your decision by sunrise. I will expect one option or the other. He can still be poisoned if we have to as well as you.” With a nod of his head, both Lizz and I were ushered off, past the hut where Brian was and then shoved into a small hut three places away.

I landed onto the packed dirt floor, hard, knocking the wind out of me.

Fun, twice in one day.

I looked over just as Lizz hit the ground, she cried out in pain and quickly rolled over and sat up, blowing on her skinned knee.

“Shit, we are in a world of shit,” I stated as I looked around the hut we were thrown into.

“You can say that again, what the hell are they thinking about breeding? Are we animals or something?” Lizz snapped.

I nodded absently.

“Okay Nick, what are you thinking about?”

“The green backpack and our meds.” As I answered Lizz, I heard her gasp. “Yeah, not a very good situation, is it?”

~*~*~*~*~

Lelani knelt quietly beside her charge in the medicine hut. Her mother was a skilled medicine woman and Lelani had learned all of her trades from her mother shortly before she died. She had practiced on removing the poison from animals many times and was successful, but working on a man proved to be a greater challenge for her. He was sweating profusely, softly moaning.

“You must drink this,” Lelani stated in a soft voice as she offered the man a drink made from banana tree bark. She placed the bowl next to his lips and slowly tipped the bowl towards him.

As Brian tasted the mixture, his face scrunched up from the foul tasting liquid. Some of it went down his throat causing him to start up in a coughing jag.

Once Lelani was satisfied that the man had drank the proper doseage she placed a cold compress on his forehead and quietly left the hut to gather more ingredients for the next step that she had been instructed to do on the man.


~*~*~*~*~

“Do you feel like we walked on the set of a bad movie?” I muttered to Nick. We were both sitting side by side against the wall of the hut.

“Ya think?” Nick managed a half smile for my benefit.

“Ya know, this is the kind of thing I would expect to find deep in the Amazon jungles or something.” I thought outloud.

Nick gave me a funny look. “Amazon jungles? Where you getting that?”

“Seriously, this kind of stuff exists. They have these native Incan tribes out there that most people never see. And the ones that do usually never make it back. Before this trip I looked up all kinds of stuff about Fiji on the internet. I’m glad you finally got a new laptop by the way and shocked it hasn’t been thrown across the room yet. Anyway, like ancient Fijians were really savage. They sacrificed people and were kinda violent and stuff. That was hundreds of years ago. Maybe these guys are descendants or something.”

“Probably, because normal Fijians are supposed to be really nice and hospitable. Unlike these freaks.” Nick rolled his eyes.

“Maybe they aren’t even Fijians. Who knows? Fiji’s main language is English, but they also speak Hindu and Fijian. I had a good friend that lived in India for awhile and she would tell me stuff in Hindu and what that native leader guy yelled out wasn’t Hindu. So maybe it was Fijian?” I continued.

“Lizz, you’re giving me a migraine. Where do you get all this crap?” Nick said wearily.

“Books.”

Nick snorted. “You and Kevin and your damned books. We are still up a shit creak with no paddle. The guys are probably worried sick about us and we need our meds. And the natives are going to come for us by sunrise for an answer.”

I sighed. “We don’t have a choice. We can’t let Brian die.”

“I know.” Nick bowed his head forward on his knees.

I rested my hand on his back. “What?”

“They’ll make us slaves. Maybe they will trade him for just me. Even though you got the lung transplant, you still have to be careful. Working from sunrise to sunset will make you sick.”

“And you don’t think you’ll have problems with that? Especially without your meds. I don’t think they will go for that anyway because he said the trade was for both of us. Besides,” I added quietly, “I am not leaving you.”

“So what do we do?” Nick lifted his head and looked at me.

I sat quietly for a moment. “Okay, I got it. We make the trade, Brian gets healed, and do what they say. Soon the rest of the guys will find us and rescue us. Then we get out of here and get rescued by search planes.”

Nick shook his head. “You got it all figured out, don’t ya? I don’t think it’s going to be that cut and dried.”

“Have faith Nick.” I smiled.

Again he shook his head, but concern filled his eyes now. “You’re acting sort of funny. Like you should be freaking out here and you aren’t.”

I shrugged. “I guess I must be in shock or something. It doesn’t feel real to me.”

“It’s real, Lizz.” Nick said somberly.

~*~*~*~*~

Lelani returned to the hut and back to her charge. The man was asleep now, but it wasn’t a restful sleep. He tossed and turned and moaned softly. Even sleep wasn’t an escape from the pain of the poison. Lelani rested a hand on his forehead. A frown appeared on her delicate features. She didn’t want this man to hurt and the fever was still strong.

Whispers were rippling through the village about these strangers. It was being said that her light-haired charge was desired for mating. The two others, a darker-haired taller man and a smaller blonde woman were with him. They objected to the chief’s decision and were left with the choice of taking the light-haired man’s place. Lelani secrectly hoped that the other two would not accept. Even though she was quite a few years younger than this man, she still hoped that she would get to be his mate. The other two were younger than this one, but still older than her. It was a possibility since her mother had been of the same blood as the chief.

Brian moaned again and blinked at the cool hand on his forehead. When his eyes focused he saw a young dark-skinned girl standing over him. “Where am I?” He whispered.

The girl’s face lit up. “I will heal you. Do not worry, you are safe. What is your name?”

“Brian.”

“Brian.” She repeated softly, liking the sound of it.

“My friends?”

Lelani dropped her smile. “I do not know. It is up to my uncle.”

Brian shut his eyes again, uneasy. He wasn’t sure what was going on and he was worried about Nick and Lizz. Not to mention he felt like crap.

~*~*~*~*~ “This isn’t right.” Howie observed.

“Yeah, the sun set hours ago and they haven’t come back. What if they are lost? What if something is wrong?” AJ added. He hadn’t moved from his spot against the palm tree. His arm had settled to a dull throb and his anxiousness over the missing three was making him even more irritable.

“They don’t even have a flashlight or anything. Maybe we should look for them. Kevin?” Howie glanced up at the eldest.

“I don’t know!” Kevin exclaimed, exasperated. He had been pacing back and forth for the past half hour it seemed. “If we go look for them, we could get just as lost. Dammit, why did I let them go off?!”

“Don’t blame yourself Kevin, it isn’t your fault.” Howie said reasonably.

“Sure, how the hell do they always manage to get into so much trouble?” Kevin grumbled.

AJ just sighed. Hadn’t he already said that?

Suddenly Kevin froze in his tracks. “Did you guys hear that?”

“What?” Howie and AJ asked at the same time.

“A noise.” Kevin said, his voice hushed.

He turned his head towards where the trees started. AJ and Howie followed his gaze, holding their breaths. Without warning something whooshed through the trees and flew overhead.

All three gasped and then AJ started laughing. “It was a bat! Holy shit are we paranoid or what? It was a damned bat!”

They all laughed nervously at their jumpiness. That is until a ring of light quickly surrounded them. Lights that eventually became torches. Torches that were held by people. People that didn’t look very friendly.

I didn’t know I had started to doze off until Nick shifted and I jolted awake. I was leaning against his shoulder, but now I sat up quick.

“What?”

“Listen.” Nick whispered.

I fell silent and strained to hear what he was talking about. Sure enough, in the distance there was a faint commotion. It was steadily growing louder and I jumped up. I started to peel back the heavy cloth that served as a door to the hut, but Nick pulled me back. He peeked his head through.

“Shit! Fuck!” He hissed. He turned around to face me. “Well, here comes our rescuers.”

I pushed around him and looked towards a bunch of moving torches. Sure enough, in the center of a group of natives was Howie, Kevin and AJ. Two of them were walking with Kevin, one had ahold of each arm. “Shit. What’s their deal with Kevin?”

“I don’t know. They probably have their eye on him too. Maybe they can tell he is related to Brian.” Nick suggested grimly.

The natives marched the guys right past our hut and over to the same place in front of the same stone throne where the chief sat before. I squinted in the darkness and recognized the chief as he approached his throne. Kevin started to yell and all three guys were pushed down to their knees like Nick and I were. Kevin kept yelling and one of them struck him, causing my stomach to wince with him. The arguing continued, but I couldn’t make out any words. Suddenly several heads shot in Nick and I’s direction.

“Oh, that can’t be good.” I muttered, backing away from the flap. Nick stood upright too and backed up with me. I started to get beside him, but he pushed me behind him again.

“Lizz stay behind me.” Nick ordered.

Normally I would have argued, but a wave of fear washed over me as I heard the angry voices grow closer. Suddenly it didn’t seem so fake anymore and I started to shake. That sole factor alone unnerved me even more. I never shook, ever. Unless of course it had to do with that bond Nick and I shared. I remembered talking about it with Brian one day and I sort of discovered that I never ever shook. I could be on the brink of total hysteria and I still didn’t shake. Except now, when it had to do with Nick, I shook. I had a death grip on the back of his shirt now, backing up and pulling him with me. Like that was going to do any good. Right, Lizz, keep dreaming.

The natives burst through, grabbing ahold of Nick and prying me away. I screamed and threw a fist out, panicking. It connected somewhere and one of them started yelling, probably swearing in Fijian. There was just enough light to barely see the fist coming and I tried to dart away. The blow landed just below my collar bone and I dropped like a fly. Rough hands picked me up and hauled me out of the tent. I heard Nick struggling against them too and we were dragged before the chief. Both of us were thrown to the ground, again. Did they enjoy that? I was almost beyond the pain from fear now as I stared up at the angry face of the chief.

“YOU DECIDE NOW!”

~*~*~*~*~


As I was being dragged towards the chief, my eyes scanned the surroundings quickly. The group of people that stood holding torches, were comprised of men, the women appeared to be resigned to a section of the meeting grounds, further back. I quickly decided that the men were held in higher esteem. I decided I would use this to my advantage.

“I WANT YOUR DECISION! NOW!” The chief’s voice boomed.

“GO TO HELL,” AJ shouted. His reprimand was a swift blow to his stomach, causing him to collapse onto the onto the ground in a coughing fit.

“YOU SPEAK ONLY WHEN SPOKEN TO!”

“I’ve made my decision,” I hoped that my voice didn’t sound as shaky and unconvinced as I felt at the moment. I was sort of afraid to meet the chief’s gaze but I was guessing at this point I really had nothing more to lose. “It’s a deal I want to make with you, but I would prefer to talk to you in private.”

“Nick!.... don’t!” Lizz warned quietly.

Two men grabbed me by the arms and I was ushered over towards the chief’s quarters. I could hear the rumbling of the crowd as they were trying to decide what I was going to do. I managed a glance back towards my four friends, kneeling before the stone altar. Kevin threw me a wary look and I quickly looked away for fear I would lose my nerve to do what was necessary.

Once inside the chief’s quarters, I was again forced to kneel onto the straw mat that covered the packed dirt floor. One of the men pushed my head forward so that I wouldn’t be able to make any eye contact with their head leader. I swallowed nervously when I heard the rustling of the seed necklaces that the chief wore around his neck.

“Your decision?”

The calmness in his voice took me by surprise, I was prepared to hear the shouting. I decided to sound submissive, thinking that this would be the way to get him to agree with just about anything I wanted to propose. I quickly licked my lips. “Permission to look up?”

“DENIED.”

Shit, that was all I needed to hear. I wanted to make eye contact to get my point through to him. I decided to plunge into my proposal. “I want to save my friends and I want to make a deal with you. I am willing to be not only a breeder for your group, I’m willing to become a slave if this will ensure their lives.”

It was too quiet for me. I was beginning to worry if this man would be impossible to reach. Suddenly, he spoke some words that were complete jibberish to me, but the quick movements of the men that escorted me into the chief’s quarters led me to believe otherwise. Before a verbal answer was given, I got a physical answer when shackles were clamped onto my wrists and then my ankles.

“I accept you offer but your friends will remain kept here until I have seen your williness to be an acceptable slave or breeder,” the chief stated in an unusually quiet voice.

The details about me backing out on the breeding thing would happen when the time came, I had that part of the deal figured out. My primary worry was over Brian at the moment.

“Before you lead me away, can I see my friend that was shot with the poison arrow?”

“That request is usually denied, but I don’t see any harm in it. Take him to the hut to take a look at his friend and then to the worker stables.”

The chains clanked nosily as the men helped me up to my feet. There wasn’t any way I was going to make eye contact with my friends at this point knowing full well that they wouldn’t agree to the arrangements I had just made. We made our way out of the chief’s hut towards where Brian was being held. I kept my eyes focused in front of me but I know I distinctly heard AJ mutter ‘what the fuck’ as I was led by them and Lizz’s cries asking what I had done to deserve that type of punishment.

The hut that I was led into was very different from the chief’s hut. This one had lit candles lining two shelves, incense burning and a small bed covered in dark blue down-filled blankets. Although the bed was small, Brian’s body looked dwarfed by the down blankets. His face was glistening in sweat, a soft moan escaped his lips breaking the deafening silence in the hut.

As I reached a hand up to gesture my desire to go over towards Brian, the chains clanked loudly and Brian’s eyes quickly opened. His eyes shifted back and forth until they finally focused and rested on my face.

“Nick?”

Brian blinked, sure that he was hallucinating. “Nick?” He asked again.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Nick said softly, a lump forming in his throat. Brian still didn’t look very good, but Nick had to trust that the natives would keep their word and pull Brian through this. “How are ya feeling buddy?”

Brian managed a small smile for Nick’s benefit. “I’ve been better. What’s going on?”

Nick hesitated. He knew full well that Brian wouldn’t like the decision that he made, but he wanted to be the one to tell him, not some native.

Brian immediately picked up on Nick’s hesitation. “Nick, what did you do??”

Nick sighed. “I, uh...” He stopped and took a deep breath. “I traded myself for everyone else. I’m going to be their breeder or slave in exchange for your lives.”

Brian opened his eyes wider and tried to sit up. “Nick you didn’t!”

Nick gently pushed Brian back down onto the blanket. “There was no other choice. Don’t worry, I’m working on figuring something out.”

Lelani watched as the two men talked quietly, their words no longer audible. She was absolutely seething at the new change in plan. She wanted so bad to be the one that would get to mate with Brian. And now this other man had ruined it! The more she thought about it, the more her blood boiled. She would have to make him pay for taking her Brian away. Lelani thought furiously for ideas. This “Nick” obviously didn’t care that much about himself since he just sacrificed himself. Causing him physical pain wouldn’t be the most effective, although satisfying. His weakness appeared to be his friends. He cared too much and was willing to destroy his life over them. Something that could easily be exploited. Lelani noticed immediately that he was very close to her Brian. Of course she would never hurt her Brian just to get top Nick. Then her eyes lit up as she remembered the young woman that was with Nick. He was quite protective over her. In fact, this other girl was supposed to have been part of the deal and somehow Nick had managed to save her. Lelani smiled. This was a weakness of his that could be exploited much more easily than causing harm to her Brian.

Nick jumped when a young girl appeared out of the shadows of the tent. She gave him a hard look before turning to the natives that were accompanying Nick. She said something to them in a rather harsh tone. Nick observed, with mild shock, that they immediately obeyed her words. She must hold an important role in the tribe. Before Nick could resist, they grabbed him and started to pull him out of the tent.

“NO! Wait, I wasn’t ready yet!” He struggled against them. Brian also voiced his protests from inside the tent.

The girl stepped out of the tent and stopped in front of Nick, glaring at him coldly. Nick stopped his struggles and looked at her expectantly.

“Know your place slave. You will pay for your decision.” She told him, her voice low.

Her words chilled Nick even though he didn’t what she meant. Although, he figured he would find out soon enough. The men that were restraining him began to drag him away and just before they rounded a corner, he saw her head towards the chief and where the rest of his friends were. It gave him a sinking feeling in his stomach. Not even ten seconds later he heard Lizz scream for him, followed by more yelling. He tried to turn around, but the natives increased their grip, forcing Nick further away.

I quieted somewhat when I realized that they were taking Nick to see Brian. But my fears were renewed when the chief returned from his quarters and regally sat down on his throne. There was no noise at all among the people around us, even the guys were silent now. I kept my head down, but tried to watch him at the same time. He didn’t speak, only shifted his gaze from us to the tent where Brian and Nick were. Only a moment later several natives emerged with a struggling Nick. A girl that looked to be maybe 17 or so, stepped out of the tent. She said something to Nick and then the natives started to drag him off. She started her way over towards us, looking a cross between angry and smug. A streak of panic jolted through me and I jumped up.

“WHERE ARE YOU TAKING HIM?!” I screamed. Without any warning, I broke out into a run towards where he was taken. I made it about 10 feet before I was grabbed from behind. Panic-fueled adrenaline was pushing me now and I lashed back at the man, kicking him fiercely in the groin. He immediately let go with a howl and I kept running. I was certain they were taking Nick away to kill him. Just the thought of it took my breath away and I tried to push the panic down. I had to get to him. Another arm grabbed at me and I jerked back when a force yanked against my shirt. Before I could struggle, something was slammed into me and I crashed hard into the ground. My head connected painfully and stars spread in front of my face. A man had completely flattened me to the ground, making it hard to catch my breath. A flickering shadow from the torches loomed over me and I craned my head up. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that it was the chief. He looked pissed.

“THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!” He boomed. The native that had me pinned jumped up, not wanting to be near the angry chief. I curled up in a ball, still gasping.

“Where did you take Nick?” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“He traded his life for you and your friends. He is a slave now.” The chief started, glaring down at me. I heard the gasps of the rest of the guys behind me. I wanted to cry. Partly from relief that they didn’t kill him, but also despair.

“Although, things have changed now. We have found another specimen that has captured our interest.” He pointed and I turned my head in the direction of his finger.

I gasped and Kevin looked alarmed. I whipped my head back around to the chief, wincing at how the action made it throb even more. “You can’t! Let me take his place then!” I yelled, thinking fast.

The chief laughed, a loud mocking laugh. Then his face turned hard. “Unfortunately you are not in the position to bargain. You have angered me and your actions have determined your fate.”

I felt the color drain from my face. That girl was standing several feet behind him, a smug smile on her face. What the hell was going on here??

The chief shook his head. “You should have just let the dark-haired one spare you. Now, your life is mine!” He clapped his hands like he had before and two men picked me up. I didn’t struggle this time, too shocked at what had just happened. The guys’ protests in the background barely registered and I felt the world slipping away.

~*~*~*~*~

Lelani smiled as she watched the young woman get dragged away. Things couldn’t have gone more perfectly. The girl had dug her own grave already by angering the chief as bad as she had done. The chief was not one to forget his anger quickly, much to the disadvantage for that blonde little fighter. Lelani was almost impressed that anyone would act so boldly in the chief’s presence, but decided it was just recklessness. A recklessness that would get her killed. Lelani smiled wider when she thought of how her Brian’s friend, Nick, would react. He had tried to save his friends, tried to save his little fighter. And failed.

~*~*~*~*~ “Get off of me!” I yelled as I struggled against the native that pushed my body against the wall of the dark cave.

“You like trouble, you get trouble,” the man spat as he shoved me in the back, causing me to literally fly head first into the cave. I quickly turned myself around and watched in despair as the men placed some type of crude bars across the front and rolled a large boulder in front of it.

The bantering and the laughter of the two men as they left me in the damp cave served only as a fuel for the anger I was feeling about the situation we all were in. When I stood up and looked around the dark cave, I rubbed my arms as the dampness crept in. Searching the cave walls, I was half expecting to see tracings of buffaloes being followed by stick figures with spears. The only thing I saw was were jagged edges of the cave covered in a light, dewy mist.

I trained my ear towards the distinct sound of dripping water. I was surprised to see what looked like a tunnel in the darkest corner of the cave.

As I walked over to inspect the tunnel, I was torn away by the commotion that was going on outside the barred entrance. My heart lept into my throat as I saw Kevin being roughly escorted by three muscular men.

After hitting the ground hard, Kevin started coughing as he gasped for air. I glared at the men when I knelt down beside my older brother. “Kev, are you alright?”

It took him a few moments to get his bearings and he finally managed a slight nod. He looked around the cave, the bewilderment mixed with anger showing in his eyes.

“How come you’re in here, I made arrangements with---”

“Well your plan didn’t go like you wanted to Nick,” Kevin interrupted.

“What happened?”

“They told us about the slave deal, but I guess you weren’t enough to suit their needs and their chief wanted me thrown in as part of the package.”

“That’s not what I specified ----”

“Ask for a fricken refund then Nick. We’re dealing with natives on some damned island in god knows where, I think they have their own rules.”

I narrowed my eyes at Kevin. “I heard Lizz screaming, what did they do to her?”

Kevin sighed. “She kinda lost it when she saw you being dragged out of Brian’s hut and tried to run after you. She got stopped and stopped hard. The chief got pissed at the way she was carrying on and Lizz tried to take my place when he picked me as another one of his slaves. He said that her life belonged to him now.”

I stared at Kevin, stunned. All my laid out plans were coming unraveled. This wasn’t suppose to happen. I was to be their slave and the rest of them were supposed to be taken someplace like a quarentined area or something. I tried to protect my friends and I wound up making a bigger mess.

*~*~*~*~*~

Howie, AJ and Lizz were led to a secluded area that had a large hut with two natives that were keeping guard of them. Howie and Lizz sat on the straw mat, and rested their backs against the wall as they watched AJ pacing the floor.

“Okay, I can see where Nick would have done that sacrifice thing to save Brian’s ass, but for the life of me I don’t understand why the hell they would pick Kevin for another breeder. KEVIN? They shouldof taken me. God, I just don’t understand this whole set up,” AJ rasped as he paced.

“I guess they just don’t view the package and appreciate it like your fans do,” Howie teasingly suggested.

“I know, they aren’t very smart people, that’s for sure,” AJ replied, not taking Howie’s comment as a joke but rather the truth.

Lizz and Howie cast sideways glances at each other.

“AJ, I think we should worry about more important things at hand here,” Lizz suggested.

AJ stopped and turned to look down at Lizz. “Such as?”

“Such as helping Brian, Nick and Kevin you moron,” Howie snapped.

“Oh yeah, shit,” AJ replied.

“Shit is right,” Lizz added in agreement.

Just as AJ sat down to discuss plans, one of the natives appeared in the entryway of the hut. He pointed a finger at Lizz.

“You.... you come with me, medicine woman needs you,” the dark haired man commanded.

Lizz obediently stood up and walked with the man that had a firm grip on her arm. AJ tried to follow her but was stopped short when another man stepped between AJ and the exit.

As they neared the hut where Nick had been led from earlier, Lizz’s heart skipped a beat. She knew immediately that this was the hut where Brian was. The only thing that was slowing her down was the native’s grip on her arm. She wanted to run into the hut and wrap her arms protectively around Brian.

The man stopped outside of the drape that covered the entrance to the hut. The man spoke the language quickly and waited until the girl inside the hut replied before he drew the drape back and pulled at her arm to indicate his desire for her to go inside.

Lizz could feel her heart beating in her throat as she slowly entered the hut. Her eyes immediately focused on Brian. Fear tugged at her heart when she looked at him. His pale face was drenched in sweat, his lips were tinged light blue. His body was wracked with a coughing fit when she entered the room.

“Oh my god, he’s dying! You’re supposed to save him! What have you done!?” Lizz cried out as she ran towards Brian.

“I’m doing all that I can,” Lelani snapped.

“He has a heart condition, he needs meds, you’re killing him! His body is going to drown in it’s own fluids.”

At first the look on the girl’s face was one of authority, but once Lizz’s words flew out of her mouth her look took on a different expression.

The young native girl’s expression went from anger and defiance to one of shock and distraught. I’m sure I had to have read that last one wrong. Distraught?!

“I- I don’t know how to fix that...” The girl stammered.

“He needs his medicine. It’s in a green backpack, probably still laying wherever you people kidnapped the other guys from. If he doesn’t get those meds soon, he is going to die.” I spoke quickly and harshly. I turned back to Brian. His eyes were shut now and breathing labored.

“Then you better go find it.” The girl ordered.

I glanced towards the flap of the hut. “What?! I don’t have a freakin clue where the hell we are or what direction our raft washed up! Not to mention it’s dark. You need to send some of your native friends that knows this jungle. Brian doesn’t have time for me to get lost going in circles out there.” I yelled, pointing a finger at her. I was so angry and so scared for Brian. I don’t think he even looked this bad back when Terri and her whacked up family kidnapped us.

The girl glared back at me before turning around and going out the flap doors. I heard quiet words being exchanged, but of course I had no idea what they meant. I focused my attention back to Brian.

“Hang on, hun. We’re getting your meds so you can’t give up okay?” I rested a hand on his forehead, almost gasping at the heat that radiated from his skin. There was a bowl with what looked like water sitting on a small shelf. Next to it was a piece of cloth. I folded it like a washcloth, dipped it in the water, and laid it over his forehead. I slipped my other hand through one of his and squeezed it gently. “God, I wish Nick were here.” I said softly.

“Well he’s not and you aren’t going to stay either.” The girl reappeared back in the hut.

I whipped around. “I can’t leave him! He needs to know that someone is here with him!”

“I’m not going to be going anywhere.” The girl stated flatly.

I snorted. “Somehow I don’t think your presence is going to bring him any comfort.”

She bristled. “How dare you speak to me in that manner. You have yet to learn your place Fighter. You no longer are allowed to speak so freely. You have angered and defied the chief, why he has let you live, I do not understand. But mark my words, Fighter, the chief owns you now.”

I swallowed. “And what exactly does that mean?”

The girl laughed. “You will find out. Maybe you will learn to wish that he would have just killed you. You and your dark-haired friend, Nick, right? He tried to take Brian’s place? His plan failed didn’t it? The tall one is a slave now and you...” She broke off into a laugh.

“Why do I get the feeling that you had something to do with what’s happened to me?” I narrowed my eyes at the younger girl. The angry look that had flashed in her eyes when she mentioned Nick’s name caught my attention. Why would she be so angry towards Nick especially?

The girl stopped laughing, a dangerous glint appearing in her eyes. “Watch your mouth Fighter. You will be leaving now.”

I tightened my hold on Brian’s hand. “I need to stay with him.”

The girl shook her head disapprovingly. “You need a lesson on what your place is and how you are to talk. Triaz!” She called towards the entrance of the hut. One of the natives appeared a moment later.

“Lelani?” He nodded, respectfully.

Lelani spoke to him in their native tongue and gestured to me. The native started towards me, smiling. Another followed directly behind him.

I shrank back, suddenly afraid.

“Lizz?”

I looked down to see Brian awake and looking at me. I could tell he was disoriented, but read the fear in my eyes, plain as day. “It’s going to be ok, Bri. They’re finding your meds and you are going to be fine. Hang on for us okay? Do it for Nick, he’s counting on you.” I tried to keep my voice as calm as I could as to not upset him, but it wasn’t doing a whole lot of good.

“Wh-what’s...going on? Where-?” He was cut off by another fit of coughing. I tried to go to him, but the native pulled me away. Lelani stepped between Brian and I.

“You will learn.” She said smugly. Then she looked at both natives and spoke in English. “After you are done, take her to see her friend and the tall one. Palo knows where they are being kept. Then they will learn too.”

“Wait!” Brian called out, the weakness in his voice making me wince.

“It’s going to be okay. You just worry about getting better.” I called out, frustrated at how my voice betrayed me. It was shaking. The native shook me and barked something in his language. I understood it to mean “shut up” so I did just that, my stomach clenching up for whatever they had in store for me.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lizz struggled against the men as they tore her away from Brian and literally dragged her out of the hut. Seeing Brian’s face drenched in sweat from the fever and the sounds his lungs made when he coughed sent alarms ringing off in her head. He was slowly drowning in his body’s fluids and if Brian didn’t get his meds soon he would get pneumonia - if he already didn’t get it.

One of the men, Triaz, released his grip on Lizz’s arm and hurried ahead of her towards the hut where she, Howie and AJ were being held. He roughly insisted that the tattooed one come out from the hut. Moments later, AJ emerged, his face red with anger.

“I don’t know what kind of fucking games you people are playing---”

“SILENCE!”

Lizz took a chance and spoke out of place. “AJ! Brian needs our help, he’s getting worse!”

Triaz spoke after casting a sharp gaze at Lizz. “You will accompany us to the beach and grab some sort of green bag that has medicines. You won’t do anything stupid because if you do, she will pay for your insolence!”

Lizz struggled against the other man’s grip. “Just let me go with you instead, leave AJ back here!”

Palo shoved Lizz towards the cave and pushed her inside. “Women are weak and we need a man to do a man’s job.”

As much as she disagreed with the statement, she had to bite her tongue from saying anything to piss the men off. She could tell that they had stroked AJ’s ego and she was going to leave it alone for the time being. She watched with Howie as the three of them walked off, Triaz reminding AJ that he must not try to escape or serious harm would come to the others.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I strained to peer around the huge boulder that had been placed in front of the entrance of the cave but was unable to see anything outside because of the darkness. As I started to investigate every nook and cranny in the, I could feel the staring of Kevin’s green eyes trained on me.

“Nick, there’s no way out but the front,” he reasoned.

“There has to be another way out, I heard water dripping noises coming from that one spot and it’s too fricken dark in here to find it,” I shot back. “You’re content just to sit on the floor and let it all happen, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m trying to come up with some type of plan,” Kevin calmly replied.

The calmness in Kevin’s voice only made my panic rise. How could he just sit there doing nothing when his friends were not only separated from him but probably having some type of punishment being dished out at them.

“Deep, slow breaths Nick.”

My shoulders sagged. He knew me like a book. “I am calm!”

“Deep, slow breaths,” Kevin replied.

Before I could protest again, the boulder suddenly started rolling back. I quickly stepped away from the entrance, ready to spring on whoever it was that was waiting on the other side.

“Nick,” Kevin quietly growled.

There’s that damn “read me like a book” syndrome coming out again. How the hell did he know what I was thinking 24/7?

Three men entered the cave and grabbed Kevin. I was surprised when he didn’t struggle against their grip, but calmly walked out of the cave entrance.

“Where are you taking him?” I waited for an answer but no one replied. They kept busy with their charge and started rolling the boulder back across the entrance. “Dammit! Where are you taking him! Answer me!”

My shouts at the men went unanswered. I was left in the darkness to wait for Kevin’s return.

~*~*~*~*~

Lelani looked at Brian apprehensively as he continued on another one of his coughing fits. The poison was out of his system but now this other problem that she couldn’t handle was being just as effective in extinguishing his life as surely as the poison would have. His hands and face looked like they were starting to look a little fuller from the edema and Lelani was concerned that his throat could possibly swell shut. She dipped the cloth in fresh cool water and replaced the one that was laying across his forehead.

Brian’s eyes slowly opened. “Momma?”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Lelani soothed. The fever wasn’t coming down quickly for her satisfaction and he was growing more disoriented from it.

Brian’s unfocused eyes shot wildly around the room. “Wha... where’s...” He started coughing again and his eyes fluttered shut as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

*~*~*~*~*~

AJ stumbled along the moonlit path, holding his hurt arm. Every jolt from a miscalculated step caused pain to shoot through his arm and radiate through his body. After what seemed to take forever, they emerged from the forest onto a wide open beach area.

“Find the green bag,” Triaz ordered.

Trying to remember what they did with the bag when they landed the raft on shore, AJ’s eyes scanned the area. He went over the events recalling Brian taking a waterpill and then making one of his dumb jokes about water. “Shit! I’m not sure where to start looking,” AJ moaned, panic starting to set in. He glanced over his shoulder at the two men that accompanied him to the beach.

“I could use a little help in finding it guys.”

“We don’t know what it looks like.” Came the reply.

AJ stopped where he was and narrowed his eyes at the men. “Well, ah, let’s see.....it’s a bag..... and it’s FUCKIN GREEN!”

The angry glare that he threw at the men did it’s job. They immediately started to walk the beach looking for the bag. After a few minutes, one of them started yelling triumphantly.

“I FOUND IT!”

Looking over in the direction of the shouting, AJ was relieved to see the green backpack being hoisted into the air.

~*~*~*~*~ I looked around the dark cave. “This is nice. We’ve been demoted to a cave.” I said with a wry smile.

Howie laughed. “I’m blaming it on you. You’re the woman and you are the one that got them all mad at you.”

I swear, if I were a cat, my hair would have stood up. “Yeah, what’s that shit all about? ‘Women are weak, blah blah blah...’ He can kiss my weak ass.” I wandered restlessly around the entrance of the cave. The native that was guarding the entrance of the cave turned around and glared at me. Instinctively I backed away.

Howie gave me a stern look. “Why don’t you come back here? I think you have about pushed them to their limit.”

I didn’t argue as I moved back further into the cave where he was sitting against the wall. “Howie, I think I am in for some serious shit when they come back. The medicine girl, she was looking at me like she wanted to kill me. And when I mentioned Nick’s name, she really looked like she could have. I said something to her that she didn’t like and she told me I was going to learn my place. That I was going to learn how to talk and what my place was. Then she said afterwards that that one big guy is supposed to take me to wherever they took Nick and Kevin so they can learn too. What does that mean?” I looked at Howie with uneasiness.

Howie’s face twisted into concern. “When did this happen? When you were in with Brian?”

I nodded

. “How is he?” Howie asked softly.

I took a deep breath. “He’s not doing so good. When I went in there he...he...” I stopped, choking up.

Howie didn’t say anything, just put his arm around me. I took another deep breath. “If he doesn’t get his meds soon, he...” Dammit! I felt like I had a golf ball in my throat and I couldn’t keep talking. A few tears slipped out. “Pray they find the backpack.” I whispered.

~*~*~*~*~

AJ immediately started running towards the native holding the backpack. Almost immediately he regretted it as it jarred his arm. “Nick and Lizz also have meds they need to take that are in that bag.” He said to Triaz.

Triaz shrugged. “What is your point?”

AJ threw his head back in disgust. “What are you people?! STUPID?! All three of them need the meds that are in there or they could die. Shit, first you pick Kevin over me. Kevin! Then you don’t get my point when I tell you that they need those meds!”

Triaz stopped in his tracks, causing AJ to stop behind him. The other native glanced at Triaz, waiting his approval to discipline the marked one. Triaz raised his hand to hit AJ, but stopped before he made contact. AJ stood frozen.

“You were told not to do anything stupid. Your insolence will not be tolerated. We warned you and now there will be consequences.” With that, Triaz turned on his heel and strode down the beach, towards the forest. AJ was relieved at first that Triaz didn’t attack him, but instantly realized that Triaz never said that any harm would come to him if he messed up.

“Oh shit.” He groaned, running after the native. “Wait, please, I’m the one that fucked up. Don’t hurt-” AJ pleaded, only to be cut off by Triaz.

“You were warned.” He said simply before turning back around.

The other native stepped up beside AJ, narrowing his eyes in a warning to AJ to not do anything else. AJ’s heart thudded in his chest when he realized that his smart mouth just caused harm to his friends. And now there was nothing he could do to stop it. Nick’s heart was racing as he watched Kevin’s form disappear along with the three natives. He had been ready to attack them, but Kevin squashed his plan before he could act. He paced back and forth, worried sick about his friends.

He pictured the look in Brian’s eyes when he had been allowed to see him. He was scared and there wasn’t a damn thing that Nick could do about it. He had managed to sacrifice himself for Brian, but what the hell good would it do if he didn’t get better. He wanted more than anything to know if Brian was okay. What was going on. It was tearing him up that his brother needed him and he was locked away in a damned cave

. Next he thought of Lizz. He wasn’t sure what Kevin meant by the chief owning her, but it didn’t sound good. He could almost picture Lizz losing it when she must have thought the worst about what was going on with him. When she got upset enough, she sort of lost all rational thought. He wanted to know where she was and what was happening. He set his jaw when he thought that they might try to hurt her.

Nick finally sank down to the floor, putting his head in his hands. How did everything go so wrong? He tried to save his friends, but it didn’t do any good. He was still a slave and evidently so was Kevin and Lizz too. If that was what was meant by the chief owning her. Nick sat very still, wishing he were anywhere but where he was at that moment.

The distant dripping of water caught his attention again. It nagged at him like it did before. “There has got to be another way outta this cave. Why else would there be water running in here?” He mumbled. It was dark outside so he started to slowly make his way deeper into the cave, feeling his way along the damp cave walls. After rounding a corner, the light from the torches outside and the moon faded and Nick started to wonder if it was such a good idea to have gotten himself into this. The pitch-blackness wasn’t helping either.

~*~*~*~*~

“How deep do you think this cave goes?” I asked Howie. We were sitting up against the damp wall. I found myself looking deeper into the cave several times. Something almost compelled me to go deeper into it.

He shrugged, then looked at me warily. “Lizz, what are you thinking?”

“I don’t know, I can’t just sit here! Brian is in trouble and we don’t even know what is going on with Nick and Kevin. Maybe we should just check it out.” I pressed.

Howie sighed. “Will you eventually give up if I say no?”

I grinned. “Nope.”

He laughed . “I think it would be better if we just stayed here.”

I shook my head. “Come on, they have to know that if they are just going to leave us in a cave we will want to explore it.” I rationalized.

“Alright let’s go.” Howie relented.

Ten minutes later we were deeper into the cave and in pitch-blackness. My freakish fear of walking where I can’t see had taken a firm hold of me and I had a death grip on Howie. The cave sort of went uphill in some places and then back down. That didn’t help me to be any more comfortable in the darkness.

“Lizz, I can’t really feel my arm anymore...” Howie whispered.

I smiled in the darkness. “Sorry.” I said sheepishly, easing up. We rounded yet another corner and I saw light ahead. It was really dim, but light nonetheless. I broke away from Howie and moved as fast as I dared towards the light. When I got closer I saw that up really high was sort of an opening. The moon and the stars were right above. The beauty of it took my breath away. The stars were so bright and the moon was a sharp crescent. “Howie.” I breathed.

He followed my gaze up too. “Wow.” He looked over to the left and I followed his gaze. When I looked closer to the wall of the cave I saw that it wasn’t really a wall, but a bunch of huge rocks that had fallen to make sort of a barrier. I stopped cold suddenly, grabbing Howie.

“Did you hear that?!” I hissed.

“Yeah, shhh.” He whispered back, gripping my arm.

On the other side of the barrier there was noise. Someone moving. I held my breath. Then I heard the sound of crumbling rock and a curse of “dammit!”

“Nick?!?!?” I cried.

“Lizz?! Oh god, Lizz! Are you okay?” Nick called back.

“Yeah, are you?!” I couldn’t keep the emotion out of my voice. I turned to Howie. “We gotta get over there!”

“Who’s with you?” Nick asked.

“It’s me. They sent AJ out to look for the backpack. What‘s going on with you?” Howie replied.

“They took off with Kevin. What about Brian?” I heard the anxiousness in Nick’s voice clear as the ocean water out here and I didn’t know how to tell him that things didn’t look very good.

“He’s hangin in there hun.” My voice wasn’t as convincing as I would have liked. In fact it was sort on the shaky side. I turned to Howie. “I can see a break in these boulders. I want to try to get to him.”

“I don’t know how safe that would be.” Howie looked a little worried.

“Lizz, you don’t need to be climbing these boulders. They might slip. Hell you might slip.” Nick warned.

“I need to get to you.” I said almost inaudibly. I needed to see for myself that he was okay and then make sure it would stay that way.

“Lizz...” Nick said with a worried sigh, knowing it was a losing battle. “Be careful okay?”

“Always.” I got the best grip I could, Howie helping me up. The top of the pile was about 15 to 20 feet high. When I got to the top I could see Nick. He looked fine, just worried as hell. I turned back around and looked down at Howie. “How are you going to get up now?”

“Shit.” Came the soft reply.

I chuckled. “I’ll come back in a few minutes. If they find us different than how they left us, we might get in trouble.”

“Okay.”

I started to carefully climb down Nick’s side. I decided to jump the last ten feet, Nick half catching me so I didn’t land as hard. As soon as my feet were on the ground, I threw my arms around him, hugging him fiercely.

“Ooof.” He said softly.

I had to laugh. Another online joke from way back when. We were talking about meeting for the first time and I said I would give him the hugest hug. To tease me he replied with “ooof” and it cracked me up. I really appreciated how he did that. Made me laugh no matter how bad I felt.

I had my eyes shut, but when I opened them I nearly panicked. Torchlights, I could see the shadows of them flicker against the walls around the corner. I didn’t let go of Nick, but nodded my head towards the moving lights. He stiffened and looked back at me, eyes wide.

“Oh shit.” He murmured.

Not but two seconds later six natives were staring at us. Six very angry natives.

~*~*~*~*~

Kevin stumbled along the path that the three men led him down. He wasn’t too sure what they had in store for him and his mind was running in fifty different places trying to come up with a plan to save all of them from their fates.

They finally came to a stop at an area that contained a huge pit. Inside the pit were rocks of different sizes. Kevin narrowed his eyes as he looked into the torchlit pit, the flickering made the pit look more eerie and deeper.

“Into the hole,” one of the men growled at Kevin as he gestured with his torch.

A million thoughts popped into Kevin’s head as he looked at the natives and then at the pit. Was this place intended for him to be killed at? One of the men grew impatient at his unwillingness to immediately cooperate with the order he had been given.

“Get into the hole now!” He jabbed Kevin in the side causing him to half-slide down the side of the pit towards the bottom.

Holding protectively to his left side, Kevin stared back up at the natives once he reached the bottom.

“You are to take the rocks out of the pit and pile them here,” the native stated with authority as he gestured towards a new pile approximately 40 feet from the hole.

Kevin looked warily at the rock pile and then at the crude wooden steps that led out of the hole - steps that looked like they were about ready to collapse or fold up at any given time.

“But why? And why during the night?” Kevin demanded.

“We need a ceremonial temple for the Princess and night is much better on workers because day is very hot,” the man explained. “If you decide to make this difficult, you will be punished by going into the pit during the daylight hours.”

With that answer, Kevin shrugged his shoulders and looked for the smallest boulder he could find - one that would be at least under one hundred pounds.

Triaz entered the hut after Lelani gave him permission. He dragged an unwilling AJ in with him.

“I have the medicine bag,” Triaz announced happily.

Lelani gave Triaz a look of approval and cast a glare over at AJ.

Almost on cue, Brian started to moan and toss and turn his head back and forth. His eyes locked onto AJ’s. AJ’s mouth dropped open when he looked at his bandmate laying on the blanket. He looked like anyone but Brian. AJ could tell that Brian’s lungs were filling up with fluid, he could hear the wheezing with every breath he took.

“You stupid sonofabitch!” AJ turned and lunged at Triaz, successfully putting his hands around the man’s neck. “He’s dying, he needs those meds! Give me that backpack!”

An angry Triaz managed to pull AJ off his throat and threw him like a rag doll against the wall of the hut.

“Triaz,” Lelani said with a warning glare in her eye, “get the medicine that this man needs to save his life.”

Triaz nodded in reply and dumped the contents of the backpack onto the floor. Brown prescription bottles spilled out and rolled in every direction. Triaz grabbed the bottle that was nearest to his feet.

He thrust the bottle towards Lelani. “Here.”

“You jerk, you don’t even know what you have there!” AJ spat.

Triaz gave him a look that pretty much said “why would I care?”

“No, it could kill him or just plain no do anything at all,” AJ urged. “Please, I beg you, let me get out what Brian needs.”

Brian started mumbling words, it was difficult for anyone to make them out.

Lelani knelt next to Brian. “What did you want?”

This time his words came out more clearly: “Let me die.”

“He asks to die,” Lelani stated as she stood up, looking down at Brian.

AJ rushed towards Brian’s side. “NOOOOOO!”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Hey what are you guys doing in there? Did you drop her Nick?” Howie teased from the other side of the pile of boulders. “Guys? You know that’s not polite to ignore me.”

Lizz and I stood staring at the six natives, frozen in our tracks, afraid to move or even breathe for that matter. We were busted, screwed, S.O.L., you name it, that was us. It didn’t help matters any with Howie calling out from the other side of the rocks. I winced when he started calling our names again.

“Yo Nickay and Lizzard!”

“Come with us now,” the leader of the group growled at Lizz and I. We had no other choice but to follow them out of the cave. Howie definately heard the command because I heard him say ‘oh shit’ after we got our orders.

“Where are you taking us?”

“You will find that out when you get there,” a short, stocky man grunted as he stabbed me in the back with a dull stick, trying to encourge me to press on.

We were led to a big campfire, it looked like their whole group was assembled around it. My eyes swept the crowd looking for AJ, Kevin or even possibly Brian at this point. The Chief was sitting at a ornate throne, palm branches at his feet, two people at either side of him fanning him with palm branches. He clapped his hands and immediately two of the natives tightened their grips around my arms. My first instinct was to fight them, but I decided it would be best to just let them lead me to where they wanted me to go.

As I stood in front of the chief, someone pushed my head so that I was looking down at the sandy ground. These people were very weird about eye contact, I was learning that pretty fast.

“You have traded your life for your blonde friend’s life so that he may live. You have told us you are our slave. You shall be treated as one, marked as one.”

I decided that I really didn’t like this man or his voice or where this conversation was heading. I tried to lift my head to look him in the eye, but pressure on the back of my head kept me from looking up. When I heard Lizz scream out, I managed to break free of whoever was holding me down. First I looked over at Lizz, to see what was wrong. Then I saw what she had been screaming about and my heart took a deep drop.

“Oh shit,” I gasped.

There were now at least four men that physically picked me up and dragged me closer to the fire, closer to the long stick with the glowing ring at the end of it. They quickly turned me around and it was then that I heard Lizz’s screams, my own, felt the hot scalding fire on my shoulder blade and smelled my own flesh burning.

When they finished with branding me, I could feel every pore open up and sweat ran out of my body. They let me go and I could have been free to run, but I had no energy. It took all I had within me to keep from crying out from the pain. It made me fill with anger and hatred more than anything. Anger from being branded and hatred for what they were doing to my friends.

After letting me be for a few moments, they took Lizz off to god knows where and they led me down another path towards a large pit. I looked down and saw Kevin moving huge rocks up a path towards a pile nearby the pit.

“You are to move the stones across the cavern over to the other side and start building the wall to the fort,” one of the men stated in a monotoned voice as he clamped shackles onto my ankles.

As they led me towards the pile, the chains clanked noisily with each step I took. I noticed that they didn’t have Kevin bound. “Hey how come I have to have these on?”

“We own you, to us you’re like an animal,” came the reply.

They made me pick up a rock and then they walked me down a path towards what looked like one of those rope bridges you see on Trazan movies. The ones with the vines that looked like they could barely support any weight. The dizziness from the heights that the bridge was suspended over made me want to throw up.

“Walk,” a man grunted, poking a stick into my back.

“Oh shit,” I whispered as I slowly inched my way towards the bridge.

I know I blacked out. The pain that was radiating from my shoulder was so intense that my vision went black. I don’t know how long I was out for, but when I came to, I was being carried. The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the agony. The next thing was a horrible smell. I had never smelled burning flesh, but I immediately recognized the acrid odor. There was nothing else it could be. My forehead had broken out in a sweat and I moaned softly.

The native that was carrying me stared down at me, a hard look on his face. I bit my lip, not wanting to make anymore noise that would anger him. My mind drifted back to when I was getting my second tattoo. It was on my left shoulder blade and whatever they just put on my was on my right. The tattoo barely hurt. In fact when they were filling it in, I nearly fell asleep. And like the first time, the tattoo artist was greatly amused and proceeded to tell dirty jokes to keep me awake. I remembered he called me Red. I’m not sure if it was because of my personality, my formerly reddish hair, or what.

God this hurt though. I was barely aware of the tears that were streaming down my face. It didn’t seem to matter how I struggled, the natives had pinned me down and I was totally helpless. Right before they pinned me I stole a glance towards Nick and saw that they were dragging him to the fire as well. I think that might have been when I started screaming. I was scared now, I didn’t know where Nick was or if he was okay.

“You awake. You walk.” The native snapped and dumped me out of his arms.

I hit the ground hard and my tears became sobs. I felt so weak and the pain of the branding was coursing through my whole body. I heard the native curse and I knew there were others that were walking with us. They all stopped now and I tried to curl up.

“You are needed in here!” A native called from a short distance and I looked up. The tears had blurred my vision, but I made out a large form and a smaller one. I thought I recognized the smaller one.

“Lizz?!”

“AJ.” I choked out, my voice barely above a whisper.
He ran to me and dropped down beside me. “What the hell’s going on?”

I felt his hand move across my charred skin and I screamed. He jerked back, his eyes wide.

“Shut up!” The native that still stood above me shouted, giving me a kick.

AJ glared up at him and gently turned me so he could see what was causing me such pain. I heard him gasp and I ducked my head, shamefully. If the pain wasn’t bad enough, the humiliation of being marked like an animal and treated like a nothing was. More tears fell.

“Fuck.” He breathed. I immediately recognized the look in his eyes as he glared up at the native that towered over me.

“NO, AJ! Don’t make him more angry!” I gasped.

He carefully pulled me to my feet, steadying me. I was grateful because I probably would have collapsed otherwise. “Brian’s really bad, Lizz.” AJ whispered, leading me back to the hut. I finally recognized it as Brian’s.

“What do you mean ‘really bad‘?” I whispered back to AJ.

“He wants to die.”

I stopped cold, my heart skipping a beat. “No.” I choked out. He couldn’t die. He couldn’t. Who was going to keep Nick and I in line? My heart fluttered again when I thought of if Nick knew and how to even tell him. This would kill him.

I pulled away from AJ’s support and pushed through the flap of the hut. The other natives that were accompanying me and that were already here glared at me, but I ignored them.

Lelani turned around sharply when she heard me come in. Her look of concern changed to a look of gloating and her eyes turned to ice. “I said that you would learn, did I not? How does it feel to be nothing? To have the mark of a slave?” She said, a cutting tone in her voice.

I glared at her. “Bitch.”

Lelani evidently knew what that meant and her eyes flashed. She stepped closer. “This is only the beginning of how you will suffer.” She laughed unexpectedly. “I am actually surprised that you continue with such insolence, but Fighter, it will only cause you more pain.”

I shut my eyes. The sounds of the pain in Nick’s voice kept haunting me, not to mention my own shoulder still burned. “Why did you bring me here?” I said, trying to stay calm.

“Brian is going to die.” I looked up sharply when she said that. “I do not know what else to do for him. I can tell that you care something for him, so you must suffer as he does. You will stay with him, watch him die. I cannot.”

My jaw dropped at her words. Something strange caught my eye though; the look in hers. As much as I didn’t doubt that she wanted me to suffer, it seemed like she was distraught for Brian. “Let me see him.” I said, my voice choked.

Lelani glared at me, but stepped back. She turned towards AJ and the other two natives that occupied the small hut. “Out. Now.” I watched, mildly surprised as everyone filed out of the hut. Slowly, I walked over and knelt down by the edge of the bed. A lump formed in my throat as I gazed at my friend. He didn’t even look this bad back when Agnes poisoned him with that medicine. I rewet the cloth on his forehead and straightened his blankets. He moaned and stirred restlessly. I wondered if he even knew I was here.

“Brian?” I said hoarsely.

He moaned again and opened his eyes. He looked at me a moment, seemingly confused. Maybe even a little scared too. My heart ached something fierce and the tears I hadn’t realized stopped, started all over again.

“Let...me...die.”

I laced a hand through one of his. “Brian, I know, this hurts. I can’t even imagine what you must be going through, but please fight this. You can’t give up. I need you. God, think of Nick. You know it would tear him apart to lose you. It would kill him. Lelani is letting me stay with you and I am not going to let you give up okay? I know you are strong. You are one of the strongest guys I know and you have been though so much. Don’t let this win. You have helped me so many times and encouraged me not to give up when I thought I was at the end of my limit. And Nick, he wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. We need you. And Kevin and Howie and AJ, they are all waiting for you to get better. Have faith, you always tell me that and it always helps. You can get through this. Please, please don’t give up Brian.” My words came out rushed and desperate. I leaned my head forward on the edge of the bed. After a minute or two, I felt a weak squeeze on my hand.

My head shot up and I locked eyes with Brian. He squeezed my hand again and my eyes teared up yet again. I knew that look. It was a look of determination.

“M--, meds...”

I nodded and scanned the small hut. On the floor towards the side of the hut, it looked like someone had kicked all of our pill bottles. I let go of Brian’s hand a minute and crawled over to them. I clenched my jaw fiercely as the sudden movement sent pain through my back and right arm. I breathed a quick prayer of thanks that Brian was too out of it to notice what they had done to me. It would only upset him.

It took me a minute to sort through them all. I gathered all of Brian’s bottles and crawled back to Brian. I picked up a cup of water and proceeded to give him the pills, one by one, holding the cup to his mouth. Just that little bit of effort exhausted him and he slipped back into unconsciousness within minutes. I kept one of my hands wrapped in his and leaned forward against the bed again. My thoughts immediately went to Nick. I tried not to picture him being branded, but the image of them dragging him to the fire wouldn’t go away. That was all I really saw because I felt the hot metal in my skin and that was all I was aware of until I passed out. I turned my ahead against the edge of the bed until I was gazing at all the pill bottles. My heart lurched when I realized that it had been too long since Nick had taken any. I hadn’t either for that matter, but I was more concerned about Nick. He needed to get them. I started thinking furiously for a way to get them to him.

Then it hit. If this worked, it would serve several purposes. I stood up, wincing again, and eased my hand out of Brian’s. He was sleeping restlessly and I was afraid to leave him. I had to though. I leaned down and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Stay strong for me okay?”

With that I slipped out the flap and looked around. A native immediately noticed me and strode over in front of me. “What are you doing out of the hut?” He demanded.

I took a quick glance around. “I need Nick. I think it would make a difference in whether Brian will be able to pull through this. They are very close and I think that seeing Nick will really help Brian.”

The native looked skeptical. “I don’t know...”

“You know that Lelani...” I stopped when I felt his hand connect with the side of my face. I nearly tumbled to the ground, but I managed to regain my balance, hand on my cheek.

“You are not to refer to her by name Slave.” He said coldly.

I nodded, slightly shaking. I was going to get myself killed if I kept it up. “I’m sorry.” I said, ducking my head. What the hell was I supposed to call her?

“Continue.”

“It would displease her greatly if Brian died.” I whispered.

The native sighed. “Find him, and bring him back. Do not try to escape.”

Escape? Right, sure. Dumbass. “I won’t. Thank you.” Before he could change his mind I started running. Running probably wasn’t my smartest move, but I didn’t have much time. I wasn’t sure where to go, but I had a good idea. It was late at night so I didn’t see any other natives, thankfully. Finally I saw some lights ahead that looked like it might have been where the campfire thing was. I stopped to catch my breath. The torches kept it bright enough that I could see some movement a little ways down a worn path. When I got further down it I saw a large pit. The closer I got the more all the lumps became clear. The lumps were rocks.

“Lizz?!”

I jumped a mile, but let my breath out when I saw that it was Kevin. I threw my arms around him tightly. “Are you okay?”

When he returned the hug I couldn’t help but cry out when he hit it. He drew back instantly, his eyes wide. “Shit, they got you too?” His voice was full of dismay.

I nodded, gasping.

“Are you okay?” He returned my question.

I shook my head, to shake off the dizziness that had been with me on and off since it happened. “Not really, but I don’t care about that now. Brian is in trouble.”

Kevin frowned. “I thought they were healing him.”

“The little healer girl said that she couldn’t help him anymore. They only just found all the meds and I just gave him some, but I don’t know if it’s too late. He said he wants to die.” I choked up.

Kevin’s voice visibly paled.

“I thought if he could see Nick, it might help. If he doesn’t start turning around, he won’t make it. I’m so scared for him. Not to mention Nick needs his meds. I thought it was also a good way to get him some.” I rushed on.

Kevin nodded quickly. “Last I knew he was on the other side of the bridge. How are you here without getting in trouble??”

“One of the natives let me go. I don’t have any clue where Howie and AJ are. AJ was with Brian, but they made him leave. That was about an hour ago, I dunno maybe more.” I looked nervously at the native that was watching us.

Kevin eyed him too. “I can’t go with you. Just follow this path to the bridge. You should run into him. Be careful!”

I nodded, before turning and jogging down the path. I thought of Kevin’s words and looked for a bridge. I needn’t have looked. Straight ahead of me was the beginning of a rope bridge. My mind immediately flashed back to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This rope bridge looked almost exactly like it. My heart started beating really fast and my stomach clenched up fiercely.

I had no problem with heights, none at all. Skydiving, any day. Parasailing in Hawaii, sky coaster many times, bungeed head first off a platform barely big enough for both of my feet. This bridge was another story. My fear came with the unstableness. I could climb the highest mountain if I had a secure rope around me. Give me a tall ladder to climb that was a little wobbly and see me break out in a sweat. This bridge was definitely unstable. And they were making Nick cross this thing?! I pushed my fear back and started to walk hesitantly across. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I looked down. Empty cavernous nothing. Hundreds, maybe thousands of feet. The bridge wobbled and my knees nearly buckled. I’m sure my knuckles were white as I gripped the sides. I could see movement just a little further down the bridge.

“Nick?” I called out, hopefully.

“Lizz?!” The surprised voice returned.

I let my breath out in a whoosh and started to move towards him.

“Lizz? I don’t feel right.” Nick called, a new tone to his voice.

“Oh god.” I whispered. “Hold on hun, I’m coming.” I picked up the pace, but I didn’t reach him in time. I saw his body start to tremble and he started to fall towards the rope edge.

“NO!” I screamed, launching myself at him. I grabbed him before he pitched over the edge, yanking with all my might. My shoulder cried out at me from the strain. We both fell against the crude wooden bridge floor. The seizure was already over, but he was barely conscious.

Before I could even move I heard a sickening crack. Sort of a splintering sound that made me freeze. The sound was followed by several more and I saw immediately knew what was happening.

I strengthened my hold on Nick, my panic building. “Nick! Nick, please wake up! Oh God! KEVIN!!” I screamed.

Lizz squeezed her eyes shut as she heard the distinctive sounds of splintering wod. Almost as quickly as the noise had started, it stopped leaving only the sounds of the wind whistling and an occasional crackling of the ropes that held the bridge together.

“Nick! Come on! You have to wake up!” Lizz urged in a half-whisper, afraid to make any loud noises as if it would cause the bridge to start to unravel. Feeling weight added at the opposite end of the bridge, she turned to see Kevin trying to inch his way towards them, his face showing the nervousness he was feeling.

“Sit tight, I’m coming,” Kevin stated, the uncertainty in his voice crept in. As he inched his way closer to them, the bridge groaned in protest.

“God, Kevin, I don’t think you should come any closer. I just need Nick to wake up, then we can get over to the edge where it’s safe.”

“I don’t think that bridge can hold for much longer,” Kevin decided out loud as he watched a board break loose and flutter down towards the bottom of the cavern.

Trying to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat, Lizz felt a surge of adrenaline and grabbed Nick’s arms and started dragging him, inch by inch towards the other side, away from Kevin. As she was pulling Nick, Kevin was inching his way back towards his side of the bridge. Suddenly Nick’s body stiffened as another series of seizures struck.

“Oh shit, not this, not now,” Lizz cried out.

~*~*~*~*~

“AJ, tell me again, just slow down before you speak,” Howie stated as he watched his band mate pace the dirt floor of the cave.

“It just doesn’t make any sense at all. They bring Lizz into the tent to see Brian, make the rest of us leave. I should be in there too!”

Howie looked out the doorway in the direction that AJ was staring off into.

“Well, maybe it was a little too crowded,” Howie offered.

“Crowded my ass,” AJ sputtered. “I just don’t trust them at all.”

Howie clamped a hand on AJ’s shoulder. “Well, I’m sure with Lizz in there now, Brian will be getting better and they’ll probably be bringing him down here in a little while.”

AJ spun around and faced Howie. “You just don’t get it, do you?” Brian is dying, he wants to die!”

Howie rolled his eyes. “Oh come on---”

Aj grabbed Howie’s shoulders, looking him squarely in the face. “No, he said it D, he said he wanted to die.”

Howie’s face took on a shocked expression as AJ’s words finally registered. He slumped against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor.

~*~*~*~*~

Lelani stared at Brian. She felt helpless in this situation, none of her charges had ever died before and now this man was slipping away before her eyes. His body was soaked in sweat, his face was pale and his labored breaths were interrupted only by the coughing fits he would have every so often. He had taken the medicines that the girl companion had offered so Lelani wondered why he hadn’t gotten any better.

She knelt down beside Brian and placed the cloth she had rewetted with cool water back onto his forehead. Brian stirred, his eyes fluttered open. Lelani took a quick breath when she looked into his crystal clear blue eyes.

Brian looked at the young girl for a moment, trying to decide if he knew her or not. “Where’s Nick?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

“He’s out working,” Lelani replied, not offering any more details. Brian’s eyes shifted back and forth as he was letting the information register. He certainly was attached to the man named Nick.

“What day is this?”

“S-h-h-h,” Lelani softly admonished. “You ask too many questions.”

“How long have I been here?”

Before Lelani could answer Brian’s question, he broke out into another one of his coughing spells. She could hear the fluid moving in his lungs as he coughed. She was certain that pneumonia had settled in.

Quickly jumping to her feet, Lelani rushed over to the cabinet that held all of her medicinal herbs and tree roots. Doing a mental recipie in her head, she grabbed the items she would need to blend a formula to take the cough and hopefully the fever and pneumonia away.

Brian drifted in and out of consciousness while she mixed the potion, sometimes he would call out for the man called Nick and there were calls for someone named Tyke which puzzled Lelani.

Lelani knelt next to Brian again once the formula was blended. Holding a wooden mug, she placed it next to his lips. “Brian, you have to drink this for me please.”

Brian did as she asked, but when the dark liquid entered his mouth, he started coughing and then clamped his mouth shut.

“Please, Brian you must drink the medicine to get better.”

Brian kept his mouth drawn shut.

Out of despiration, Lelani came up with an idea. “Brian, if you drink all of this for me, I will have Nick come and see you.”

With that comment, Brian readily accepted the mixture and drank the entire mug.

“Kevin?!” I called, my voice shaking. “What do I do?!” I had dropped to my knees next to Nick. He was still seizing and I felt the bridge straining to keep itself intact.

“Shit!” Came the reply.

“Well you’re a lot of help.” I muttered. We were about ten feet from the other side. I squinted in the darkness towards Kevin and he wasn’t moving either. When I looked back down at Nick, I saw that he was laying very still. “Come on honey, you gotta wake up. This thing is going to go any second.” I gently shook him. He only responded with a soft moan.

“Lizz, you’re just going to have to keep dragging him.” Kevin called, still not moving.

I groaned. “That idea doesn’t make me all that comfortable.”

“Try to move as carefully as you can. Go quick though.” He offered.

I stood up slowly, but almost immediately there was a harsh crack. I whipped my head around just to see about ten boards that made up the bridge floor go falling into the cavern. It was almost exactly between us. I sucked in a breath as the whole bridge swayed. All that was in the place of those boards was a huge black hole. Running along both sides of the bridge were two ropes that stretched across the bottom. The ropes on the bottom were (or weren’t) secured to the boards that served as the bridge floor. About four feet higher was another set of ropes that served as the handrails. More ropes were sort of interwoven to make a “wall” to keep people from falling off or I guess these rocks from rolling off.

“Careful!” Kevin called.

“I’m trying!” I hissed back. Again, I took Nick’s wrists and began pulling. We made it about halfway when there was another crack. I didn’t even need to see what was happening, I heard it. The floor of the bridge was collapsing. I knew I had to hurry because there was no way I could support my weight and Nick’s on those ropes if the floor collapsed.

I took another step and let out a short scream when my foot went through the board. I could feel myself falling, but grabbed a rope, stopping short with a grunt. From the waist up I was laying across the rest of the boards, my feet dangling. “Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod...” I breathed.

“Lizz?!” Kevin called anxiously. “Can you pull yourself up?”

“Do I have a choice?” I called back. With that I used every ounce of strength I had to hoist myself up and out of the hole. I leaned against Nick, breathing hard. “I’m okay, but we have another problem. How do I get Nick over this hole now?”

“Can you go around it?”

“No. It was only one board that broke, but it was the whole thing.” I explained.

“The only choice you have it to just go over the hole. If it’s only one board, its not big enough to fall through.” Kevin said reluctantly.

My eyes grew. Didn‘t I almost just fall through it? “And if more boards break?!”

“Lizz, pretty soon there will be a lot more than just one board missing in front of you.” He reasoned. To mark his words there was a bunch more cracks.

I took another deep breath, my heart pounding. I eyed the hole warily and kicked at it a few times before attempting to cross it. It didn’t budge so I began to pull Nick. I knew that if something happened and he went through, I would want to go right after him. Either we both made it, or neither one of us did. Amazingly enough we made it over the hole and we almost to the edge. The cracks of the boards and the crackling sounds of the ropes were almost constant now. As soon as we made it to the steady ground, my knees gave out and I wrapped my arms around Nick.

“I’m actually kinda glad you are out, cause if you would have seen how close we came to falling, you would have had a heart attack.” I whispered. Finally when the shock had let me move again, I crawled over to the edge again. “Kevin?”

“Got a problem here.” I heard the faint voice and my heart flip-flopped in my chest. It was hard to see with it being so dark, but it didn’t look like he had even moved.

“Kevin? Why aren’t you off the bridge?” I questioned.

“I didn’t want to move and risk it collapsing before you two got off.” He replied.

A knot formed in my throat. He risked himself so we could get off. “And what’s the problem?” I called, my voice quivering.

“There’s no more boards and the ropes on my side are about to break.” He said flatly.
My eyes strained to see and sure enough, all that was left of the bridge was the both sets of ropes on either side. Kevin was clinging to the ropes on one side, not moving.

“Can you sort of inch your way back off the bridge?” I asked hopefully.

“I would if I could. The rope in front of me is about to snap. If I move, it will.” I heard the nervousness in Kevin’s voice and it made me even more scared for him.

“If you don’t move, it’s going to break anyway. You just got done telling me that!” I cried, a frantic note hitting my voice.

“I’m going to try to move.” Kevin said quietly.

I kept my eyes on him like a hawk. He didn’t was about 6 feet from the edge when a sickening crack was heard. I watched in horror as the rope that he was clinging to snapped and he started falling.

“KEVIN!” I screamed, racing to the edge of the ropes.

I could barely watch as he swung down and into the wall of the cliff. He hit hard, but somehow managed to hold on to the rope. The entire bridge seemed to sag a little with one whole side broken now. “Kevin! Say something!” I pleaded, fear wrapping around my heart.
“I...can’t...hold on...” I heard a faint voice.

“God, Kevin, hang on please! I’m coming.” I yelled. I risked a glance back at Nick and sure enough he was still out of it. Damn it, now I wish he was awake. I carefully stepped onto the bottom rope and held tightly to the top one. My heart was racing and my breath was coming in short pants, but I forced myself to keep going.

“No! Lizz...it won’t...hold you!” Kevin gasped from the other side.

I ignored him and inched across the ropes, willing myself not to look down. Of course whenever you aren’t supposed to do something, isn’t that always the first thing you want to do? Bad, bad move. It almost completely made me panic, that black abyss below me. The panting turned into gasping. Kevin, think of Kevin. I shut my eyes and moved as carefully as I could. “I’m coming! You just hang on!” I yelled, my voice trembling.

“I...can’t.”

I winced at the sound of his voice. He must have hurt himself and it was probably taking everything he had to hold on. I prayed for strength for him and for me to not fall off and to get to him before it was too late.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!”

The voice made me jump and I nearly let go of the ropes. I whipped my head around to Kevin’s side of the bridge to see several men with torches. A mixture of fear and relief surged through me. “Please! Kevin’s below you! Help him!” I begged.

One of the natives peered directly below to see Kevin struggling to hold on. He said something in his native tongue and immediately several others started to work on getting Kevin up. I clung to my spot in the middle of the ropes, above sheer nothingness. Finally after an eternity of waiting, they managed to pull Kevin up. I heard him cry out when they grabbed him and I knew for sure he was hurt. As soon as he was safe, I let my breath out.

“Slave, do as you were. Continue coming this way.” The one that appeared to be in charge yelled to me.

“I can’t! Nick is on the other side and he had a...he’s sick! I can’t leave him.” I cried, already moving away from them.

“If you do not obey, your punishment will be even more severe.” He threatened.

“Punishment?! For what? I had permission to come here.” I yelled back, aghast.

“Punishment for destroying the bridge. You are a woman, therefore the fault lies on you.” The native stated flatly.

I balked. “What?! Wasn’t this bridge built by men?! Furthermore, why would I break this bridge with my friends on it with me?!” I was incensed.

“Return to this side immediately!” He bellowed.

“I can’t leave Nick! Please, you have to understand! He can’t be left alone for however long it takes for you people to get to this side!” I pleaded, knowing either way I was screwed. Either way I was in for a punishment. As was Kevin probably for leaving his work. If I left Nick, who knows what could happen to him. If I stayed, the punishment would be worse, but at least I could make sure Nick would stay okay. Suddenly I became very aware of the small bottle in my pocket. Before leaving Brian’s hut I had made sure I had one dose of every pill that Nick needed in the smallest bottle. I knew what I had to do. I only had to face a very angry Nick when he would discover what I had done.

“I understand the consequences of my actions. I need to stay with Nick and I will take responsibility for that choice.” I said, hoping my voice wasn’t betraying my fear too much.

“Fine, stay in that place until we come for you. After you are disciplined along with the dark one, you will be returned to the medicine hut to take care of your charge. If the other slave is still sick, he will join you in the hut.” The native said, sternly.

I bristled. The other slave? They couldn’t even refer to Nick by name? Then again they hadn’t called me by name either. At least Kevin had gotten ‘the dark one.’ I watched as the torch lights faded. I could only see shadows and I couldn’t tell if they were carrying Kevin or if he was walking. I thought of the last thing the native had said, how I would be returned to the hut to ‘take care of my charge’. My heart sank. That had to mean Brian wasn’t doing better if Lelani was making me go back. She had said she didn’t want to watch him die so I had to be the one to be there. I felt sick and miserable and my stomach was clenched in anticipation for whatever they were going to do when they reached us. I had finally made it off the bridge, but was too heartsick to be happy about it.

I looked at Nick and he was still out. After a seizure like this, he would more than likely sleep for awhile and be weak for the next day or so. Tears sprung to my eyes and I curled up by his side and rested my head on his shoulder. I shut my eyes, praying till I fell asleep.

“Get in here!” one of the men that was escorting Kevin stated gruffly, shoving him into the opening of the cave.

Kevin winced when the man’s hand made contact with his back. The punishment that he received was harsh but he never gave them the satisfaction of crying out when the torch seared the skin on his back. He took a few faltering steps into the cave and then collapsed onto the ground, overcome with the pain.

“Dammit! Kev? What the hell?” AJ’s voice rasped out in the darkness of the cave.

“Don’t touch me,” Kevin whimpered, his voice barely audible.

“What did they do?” Howie cried out.

“I was punished,” Kevin replied softly.

“Punished for what!?” both AJ and Howie asked in unison.

“Long story and it’s overwith,” came the short reply.

That was always Kevin, once it’s done, the matter is finished, closed for conversation. A light from one of the outside torches cast a orange toned glow into the cave, enabling AJ to get a little bit of a better look at Kevin’s back. His breath drew in quick when he saw the destinctive marks of large, angry looking blisters covering 1/4 of his back.

“Christ Kev, what the fuck did they do to you?” AJ mumbled.

*~*~*~*~*

Lizz sat up quickly when she felt poking at her back. She was shocked to see a group of natives had formed a circle around herself and Nick.

“Get up! You come with us now!”

Lizz cast a glance towards a sleeping Nick, who seemed to be oblivious to the situation at hand. “I can’t leave him, he’s still sick!”

“We will take care of him, you must come with us now!”

Lizz narrowed her eyes at the one she figured was the leader of the group. “You don’t get it! I told you I’m not leaving him!” She quickly placed her hand to where the native had backhanded her face.

“You insolent bitch! I told you to come with us or else!”

She decided that now wasn’t going to be the time to argue with the men, it would be a losing battle and they were slowly losing their patience. She was, however, afraid that they would leave Nick where he was at. Although he had gotten all the meds he needed to be taking, it would or could be hours before he would respond and he could possibly have another seizure in the mean time.

“Can we at least take Nick along?” Lizz pleaded.

Her answer was only the natives clucking back and forth in their native tongues. Suddenly, one man came forward. He reminded her of one of those Sumu wrestlers. He bent over and scooped Nick up and threw his lifeless body over a shoulder.

“Follow Tsu!” Came the order with a sharp shove on her back.

They walked down a narrow path that led away from the delapitated bridge, farther and farther away from the cavern’s edge. This was answering her question of how they were going to get back over to the other side since the bridge was out. The path took an unexpected turn when Lizz found them back at the cavern’s edge but instead of an “Indiana Jones Style Bridge” greeting them, they were met with a narrow, moss covered tree trunk.

“You gotta be kidding me,” she stated as she surveyed the dangerous predicament she found herself and Nick in.

*~*~*~*~*

Brian woke up suddenly, expecting to find himself in a hotel room. He looked around to get his bearings. “What kind of hotel is this?” he thought outloud.

As he started to lift his body up from the cot, he was overcome with a wave of dizziness and nausea. He decided to lay back down. “Nick?... Howie?....... someone?”

Lelani rushed into the hut when she heard Brian’s voice. “You’re awake!”

Brian narrowed his eyes as he looked at her, “Do I know you?”

The young woman shook her head. “No, but I’ve been trying to keep you from harm. What do you remember last?”

Brian thought for a moment. “I.. I guess.... I don’t know,” he sighed.

“You don’t remember anything at all?”

“Not until a few minutes ago, no.”

Again he tried to sit up, but the symptoms prevented him from doing so.

Lelani gently placed her hand on Brian’s shoulder. “Just lay down, you need to keep still.”

“Where am I? Where are the guys?”

Before Lelani could reply, Tsu came lumbering into the hut with Nick draped across his shoulder. With a quick sweep, Tsu knelt onto a mat and lowered Nick onto the floor. Brian stared at what was occurring with disbelief. “What’s wrong with him!?”

As he tried to get up from his bed, Lelani forcefully shoved him back down. “You need to lay still!”

Brian’s eyes shifted from Lelani’s face to Nicks. Suddenly, Lizz burst into the room, ushered by an angry looking native.

“Lizz!” Brian cried out. The native had a rough hold on her upper arm. Lizz struggled against his grip to get to Brian. “LET GO OF ME!” she shrieked.

Fighting the dizziness, Brian managed to get up and half-walk/half stumble towards Lizz. He literally fell into her arms, taking all the strength she had in her small body to keep Brian from falling to the floor.

*~*~*~*~* “Brian!” I gasped as my knees buckled and we sank slowly to the dirt floor. I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug.

“Nick?” He whispered.

“He had two seizures. I managed to get him to take his meds and hopefully now the natives will the see the importance of letting him take them when he needs to.” I explained quietly.

“And you?”

“I’m okay. They are letting me stay in here for awhile. That fat one said as soon as Nick is better, I will be joining him in whatever work they are making him do. I guess they figure that you will be in okay enough condition that I am not needed here.” I said with a trace of anger.

Brian turned his head up to me, confused.

“When you said you wanted to die,” I started, my voice catching, “Lelani couldn’t handle it so she said I was to stay here until you did. I guess now that you seem a little better they won’t let me stay much longer. How much do you remember?”

“Not much. A lot of nightmares.” He shuddered in my arms and I hugged him tighter.

I heard a snarl and when I glanced up, Lelani had fixed her cold gaze on me. I almost flinched at the hatred that flowed from her. She snapped something to Tsu and he walked over to us. Without a trace of gentleness he leaned down and grabbed Brian. He yelped, but could do nothing in the fat man’s iron grip.

“TSU!” Lelani barked.

Tsu turned, Brian still in his grip, and looked at Lelani. The look on his face shocked me. Surely a man of his size shouldn’t fear that little girl. But he did. Lelani spoke more angry words in her native tongue, gesturing back and forth between Brian and I. Tsu nodded and gently set Brian back down on his cot. Then he marched back over to me and grabbed my arm, yanking me up roughly. Evidently his roughness was supposed to be directed at me and not Brian.

“Time for your punishment!” He growled at me.

I felt the color drain from my face.

“No! Lelani?” Brian sat up quickly and grabbed her arm.

Lelani beamed at the attention. “It has to be done, Brian.”

“No, Lelani, please. Please don’t hurt her.” Brian pleaded, visibly distressed.

“Ok, alright, for now. Just stay calm please!” Lelani said anxiously. “She will be spared the reprimand for now. Just relax okay?”

Brian nodded and sank back onto his pillow. “Thank you.” He whispered.

Tsu made a disgusted noise and released me. Lelani walked over and stood directly in front of me. “Brian spared you for now, but don’t think you will be so lucky next time.” She hissed. “You will be allowed to stay in here for the remainder of the day, but tomorrow at sunrise you and the other slave will be sent back out to work.”

I nodded, keeping my head low. With that, Tsu and Lelani left.

Brian was fighting so hard to stay awake and losing the battle. I walked over and knelt down by his cot.

“Let it go, Bri.” I said softy, resting my hand on his forehead. It wasn’t as hot as it was last time I had felt it. His fever must have broken sometime during the night. That was a relief, maybe now he would start pulling out of this.

“Mmffph.” He mumbled, eyes falling shut.

I smiled. “Whatever you say dude.”

Satisfied that Brian seemed to at least to on the road to recovery finally, I scooted over to Nick. He was still asleep, but didn’t appear to be in any distress. Part of me wanted to wake him up, but of course I wouldn’t. He needed to rest as much as possible. I curled up on the dirt floor, but didn’t fall asleep. The sun was just starting to come up and I felt too wound up to sleep. That was how the rest of the day was spent. I eventually fell asleep, but of course that couldn’t last. Nick woke up several times during the day and each time seemed a little more alert than the last. Brian also seemed to be doing better when he woke up. The natives left us alone and as relieved as I was, I was also a little worried about it. They had let AJ come in once during the evening. He wouldn’t go into detail, but I know it had something to do with Kevin. Lelani was with him and gave him a cloth and a small jar of something. I tried to ask him what they had done to Kevin, before he could tell me, Lelani told him if he talked to me, we would both be punished. After that, the rest of the evening and night passed without event. I tried to stay awake so I could make keep an eye on things, but sleep finally won out.

“Get up slave!”

I jerked awake when I felt a rough kick in my side. Light streamed through the hut and I squinted.

“GET UP!”

I whipped my head over to see another native kicking at Nick. “Hey! Don’t do that!” I protested.

I struggled to my feet, my body stiff from sleeping on the dirt-packed ground. Nick opened his eyes, looking totally disoriented. Brian was also waking up.

“Wha--” Nick looked around. When it clicked where he was, he narrowed his eyes.

“The medicine woman has a job for you.” A burly native stated in a monotone voice.

He held out a leather bag, the size of a standard purse. I took it hesitantly. He stepped back and held open the flap that served as the door to the hut. Lelani stepped in, smiling coldly.

“Pay attention, both of you.” She commanded, holding a large leaf out for us to see. She nodded to the bag I held. “Open that.”

I held open the top, wondering where this was going. She held the leaf over it and snapped the thick stem. Then she took her fingers and pushed it down the stem, squeezing a milky liquid out of it. “You are to fill this bag. It is used to make one of my salves and I am nearly out.” She said simply.

I groaned. “You know how long that will take?!” I peered into the bottom of the bag and that leaf had barely left anything at all.

Lelani glared at me. “You will stay in the forest until it is filled. Do not worry, you won’t be alone.” She sneered at Nick. “He will join you along with the dark one.”

“Lelani, please! That could take forever. Nick isn’t in the condition to be on his feet in a forest all day!” Brian protested, sitting up.

Lelani’s pretty face twisted, almost as if in pain. “It is not your concern. You only need to worry about yourself and getting well.”

“It is my concern. This isn’t something that either one of them should be doing. And Kevin? I know he was punished. I can’t lay in here all day and get better when I will worry about them the whole time.” He argued.

Lelani bit her lip. “You will join them.”

“NO!” Nick and I both cried out at the same time.

“No, I have decided. Brian, you need to learn to appreciate how I have been taking care of you. I have nursed you back to health. Maybe if you are treated as a slave for a day, you will learn to appreciate me. You will join them for this day.” Lelani said. She turned away, visibly upset. “Do not return until it is full.” She said in an angry, choked voice.

“Lelani...” I said hesitantly. “Our meds. We need those before we can leave.”

She ignored me and left the hut. I glanced at a native and he just jerked his head at me. I grabbed the green backpack and started pulling out bottles as fast as I could. By now I was used to who took what so I put several doses of each med into a bottle and shoved it in my pocket. Then I passed the backpack to Nick so he could take his and then he passed it to Brian. The native stared at us impatiently, shaking his head.

“So we’re druggies, big deal.” I muttered.

“Lizz...” Brian only shook his head. We shuffled out of the hut, Nick steadying Brian at first. Even though the previous day had let both of them gain their strength, I could tell they were both going to have a tough time with this. I slung the leather bag over my shoulder and we all followed the natives out of the hut. I kept glancing behind me, knowing this was the first time in a few days that Brian had even been out of the hut. Nick looked exhausted, but was hiding it well, as he always did.

We stopped in front of the cave entrance that I had stayed in for awhile before. Kevin was laying on the floor of the cave, on his stomach. It was hard to see because of the shadows but it looked like something was wrong with his back. I glanced at Nick and he returned my concerned gaze. Brian went up to the bars.

“Kevin?” He called, distressed.

“Move!” The burly native barked, shoving Brian out of the way. Brian stumbled and nearly fell before Nick caught him.

“Ass.” He growled.

“What did they do to him?!” Brian cried.

The native rolled the rock away that stood in front of the bars. “Get out here slave.” He ordered.

Kevin grimaced and stood up slowly. AJ and Howie also stood up. Before they could even protest, they were interrupted.

“Both of you, back up. You don’t want to cause your friend any more harm do you?” The other shorter native directed to AJ and Howie.

Kevin turned and said something to them quietly. They both nodded and backed up like they had been told. As he turned I saw his back, the sun falling on it and giving me a perfect view. I gasped.

“Sonofabitch.” Nick swore.

I could immediately feel my heart start to pound as I knew Nick’s was. “No, Nick. It’ll only make it worse.”

Kevin joined us, glancing at each of us in turn, his gaze resting worriedly on his younger cousin. “Brian?”

“What happened?” Brian whispered, staring at Kevin’s blistered back.

“It looks worse than it is. What the hell is going on? Why are you up?” Kevin brushed off the concern, more worried about how pale Brian was. He turned to Nick. “You really don’t look much better.”

“Thanks.” Nick rolled his eyes. “I’m fine though.”

“’I’m fine though.’” I mimicked, smiling lightly at Nick.

“Shuddup.” He returned.

“Enough!” The native butted in. “You are to go through those trees. I caution you to not pick the wrong leaves. That will result in severe punishments.”

We nodded and filed off into the trees. As grim of a situation we were in, I still couldn’t help but notice the beauty of the forest. The sun was bright, but only shone through in patches through the tops of the trees. The ground was uneven and covered with more smaller plants and brightly colored flowers. It nearly too my breath away. Even in books I have never seen anything like it. My gaze fell onto Kevin’s back, who walked in front of the rest of us. The blisters were raw and looked really painful. Then realization hit me with a gasp.

“Lizz, what is it?” Brian looked at me worriedly.

“Th-that was the punishment I was supposed to get. Oh god, Brian, you stopped it. If you hadn’t said anything, they would have done that to me too.” I said, my voice shaky.

Nick stopped dead in his tracks. “Punishment? What the hell did I miss? You were supposed to get that too? What did you guys do?”

I sighed. “After your seizure, the bridge started to collapse.” I left out the part about him nearly falling off, knowing it would shake him up even more. “Kevin came to try to help and he ended up getting punished for not having permission to leave his work. They were going to punish me because they said the bridge breaking was my fault. Cause I’m a woman. And then it did collapse and Kevin almost...anyway they told me to go back to their side, but I said I was staying with you. So I was supposed to get an even worse punishment.”

Nick narrowed his eyes. I knew he knew that I was leaving things out, but fortunately chose to not press me about it. “And Brian got you out of it?”

“He begged Lelani to not do it.” I shuddered, thinking of how close I got to going through the same agony that Kevin was forced to endure. Then I shuddered again, hating that Kevin had to go through it. He was putting up a brave front, but I could tell he was in pain.

We walked for what seemed like forever before we found several huge tress that bore the leaves we needed. They looked relatively easy to climb with all the branches and limbs.

“This is insane. How the hell many leaves are we going to have to milk to get that white shit to fill up the bag?” Nick groaned, looking up.

“A lot. I’m going up.” Kevin stated flatly.

“No, Kevin!” Brian stepped in front of him. “You’re in enough pain as it is. I don’t think it’s a good idea that you do it.”

“Well are you going to?” Kevin returned, gesturing up.

Brian followed his gaze and visibly winced. “Uh...”

Kevin laughed softly. “Didn’t think so.”

“I’ll go.” Nick announced, pushing past both of them.

“NO.” Kevin, Brian and I all said at once, quite emphatically. He turned and looked at us all with a wide-eyed expression.

“Nick, you could have a seizure. Then what, fall out of the tree?” I reasoned.

“Shit.”

“Yeah, I guess that leaves me. It’s no problem, really. I used to climb trees all the time.” I decided.

“No, Lizz. I have to be the responsible one here and I’m not about to let you go climbing up and falling out.” Kevin argued.

“Besides, you’re a klutz.” Nick added.

“Hey!” I protested. “Seriously, it makes the best sense for me to go.”

“I’m going and that’s it.” Kevin said sternly. With that he held out his hand for the bag. I reluctantly shrugged it off and handed it to him. He gave me a grim smile and started to climb.

“Careful.” Brian called nervously.

I held my breath as he climbed, knowing he was in considerable pain and frustrated with myself for not pressing it. It would have been better if I had gone up. A few minutes later he was perched on a thick branch about ten feet away from the trunk. He began pulling off leaves.

“Maybe it would be easier to drop the leaves and the bag and while you pull them off, we can start milking them.” Nick called up.

“Good idea.” Kevin called back. “Hold on, let me get to a better place. The leaves look a little thicker over there.” He inched his way out further across the branch. He was almost where he could reach some really good handfuls when his foot slid.

“Kevin!” I yelled at the same time Nick yelled out, “oh shit!” Brian only gasped. Kevin regained his balance, but the leather bag slipped off his shoulder and fell onto a branch just below him.

“Sonofabitch!” He yelled.

“Are you okay?” Brian yelled back.

“I’m fine, but the damn bag is out of reach and the branch it’s on won’t support my weight.” The frustration shone through Kevin’s voice.

“I’ll get it.” I said, moving towards the tree.

“No, dammit Lizz. I don’t want you to go up there.” Nick locked eyes with me.

“We don’t have a lot of choice. You might have a seizure and there’s no way Brian can go up there. That leaves me. Besides I’m small enough that the branch should hold me. We have no choice, we need the bag.” I reasoned. I squeezed his shoulder and started to climb. My tank top and shorts weren’t really the best for tree climbing, but I was fortunate enough to have on tennis shoes. Usually in hot weather I could only be seen in flip flops or barefoot. The tree was pretty easy to climb and I reached the branch that the bag was stuck on. My heart was going pretty good, but I made myself concentrate on the task at hand.

“Go slow Lizz.” Kevin coached from just above me.

I nodded, inching my way towards the bag. When I reached it, I slung it over my shoulder very carefully.

“Can you toss it up to me?” Kevin asked.

“Ha. And lose my balance? No thanks, I’ll bring it up.”

“Alright, be careful then.”

“You guys okay up there?” Nick called anxiously.

“Yup. Here, have some leaves.” I called, yanking a handful and letting them flutter to the ground.

I heard them both laugh and I grinned too. Slowly, but surely I made my way up the short distance to Kevin. I was more nervous than I let on, but I was okay as long as I kept a death grip on the thicker branches. “As long as I am up here, why don’t I help you?” I suggested.

“Lizz you never give up.” Kevin rolled his eyes at me.

“I learned it from Nick. Seriously, Kev, you are in a hella lot of pain and the faster we pull off those leaves, the sooner we can go back down.” I pointed out.

“Okay, but be careful.” He pointed a finger at me.

“Yessir.” I smiled. I busied myself yanking off leaves and dropping them.

Who knew how many it was going to take? There was only a few hours left before the sun started setting and we couldn’t go back until it was full. We’d probably get punished for taking too long anyway. After ten minutes of dropping leaves, I had tossed the bag down to Brian and Nick so they could start milking. Looking down made me dizzy, but I had to laugh at the pile of leaves that surrounded them as they sat, milking them.

A rustling sound caught my attention and I slowly turned.

“Oh god.” I whispered, panic filling my chest. A snake had lowered itself between Kevin and I. I had moved past him a bit ago so I was on the outside of the branch. It was thinner so it made sense that I went out further since I weighed less. The snake was huge. It had to have been almost six inches in diameter and who knew how long. I felt myself start to shake. There was nothing behind me and only a snake in front of me. It was almost equal distance between Kevin and I.

“Kevin. Don’t move.” I hissed.

“Wha-”

“Don’t move!“ I said again, afraid to agitate the snake. It was dangling between us, barely moving. “Oh god...”

”Shit,” Kevin breathed as his eyes caught the image of the big black snake dangling between the tree and himself and Lizz.

“Hey are you two on a coffee break up there or what?” I called out when I noticed no more leaves were dropping down. I smiled in spite of myself as I broke open another leaf. “Bri I know how we could fill that bag up faster!”

Brian glanced up when I spoke and his eyes grew wide for a second and then they just as quickly narrowed. “Nickolas! Don’t you even dare think about that!”

I shrugged my shoulders. “So we got ahold of some overly ripened leaves, who’s to know?”

Lizz stared at the snake that seemed to be content to stay where it was for the moment. She was growing a little impatient with the fact that Brian and Nick hadn’t looked up at them to see if they were doing okay. She looked up at Kevin and she could see that he was looking down at her but at the same time shaking his head - no doubt at Brian and Nick.

“Guys can you drop some more leaves?” I hollered as I broke open the forty millionth leave and dumped a teaspoonful of white liquid into the leather bag. “Coffee break is ova..... oh shit! Brian!”

I threw the bag down and jumped up to my feet when I saw the snake hanging in the tree between Kevin and Lizz. I quickly scanned the forest floor looking for anything to throw at the snake. My eyes fell on some coconuts and I ran over towards them.

As I scooped one up I quickly aimed for the fat snake and threw it as hard as I could. My heart sank as the coconut missed it’s target and I heard Kevin let out a yelp.

“Sonofabitch! Dammit Nick, let Brian throw it,” Kevin stated in an extremely stern voice.

I watched Brian aim and I also saw his lips moving.

“Good god Brian, just throw the damn coconut and say your prayers later!” I yelled.

I cast a look over at Lizz after I yelled and I knew that sort of bugged her that I would yell at Brian for praying but sometimes that got on my nerves and I couldn’t help it. I mean, I admire the guy for his deep faith and stuff, but judas, sometimes it was a pain in the neck at the wrong time.

It seemed to be a sheer miracle when the coconut not only made contact with the snake, it hit the creature directly in the head and it dropped to the forest floor instantly.

“You got it Bri!” I yelled triumphantly. Brian seemed pleased with trace of pure panic still etched in his face.

Lizz and Kevin quickly scaled down the tree and hurried over to the spot where Brian and I stood.

“That really sucked, didn’t it?” I asked, trying to break the ice as I wiped my face off with the bottom of Brian’s shirt.

“Do you mind Nick? My shirt isn’t a handi wipe here!” Brian scowled as he looked at the wetness on the bottom of the shirt where I wiped my face off.

“Well we better get back to filling that bag if we’re ever gonna get out of here,” Lizz remarked as she walked over towards the piles of leaves. “Where’s the bag at?”

I narrowed my eyes as I searched for the black bag to be laying down in the midst of green. “Hey here it is. Oh shit.”

“What?” the trio asked as I bent over to pick the bag up.

“I um, well I knocked the bag over when I jumped up when I saw the snake.” I turned the bag over for the dramatic emphasis. “It’s all gone.”

Kevin grabbed for the bag. “It’s gone? You mean to tell me at least six hours of hard labor went into the ground?”

“Kev, I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“We’re never gonna get the hell out of here---”

“Okay,” I started out as I threw my hands up in the air. “I did it intentionally, I wanted to spill it cause I fuckin love to be here in this damned forest.”

“Guys, stop it!” Lizz cried out.

“Well, what do you suggest when fat boy wakes up and wants to know why our bag is empty?” Kevin spat.

“We don’t,” Brian replied quietly.

“We don’t? What do you mean we don’t?” I questioned.

“I have a plan.”

~*~*~*~*~

AJ watched from his vantage point in a dark corner of the cave as a young native girl stood outside the bars. He glanced over at Howie and was a little disappointed to see that he still was curled up, asleep over in another corner of the cave, his arm tucked under his head.

“Psst, hey, darlin, what’s your name?” AJ quiried, trying to turn his charm on full force, quietly approaching the bars.

The girl looked quickly to her right and then to her left before she turned to face the voice that questioned her. “My name is Sasha.”

AJ cocked his head to one side. “Sasha? That’s not a very native sounding name. How did you get that name, oh and it’s pretty by the way.”

“I was the product of an improper breeding and because of my red hair, the colony said I was an abnormal bred so the donor was able to name me instead of the woman that was said to be my mother, the fair skinned, red haired girl replied.

“God, that sounds so awful,” AJ stated. “You aren’t abnormal, you’re a very pretty young woman.”

Sasha blushed. “Oh thank you, but I’ve been told otherwise.”

There was a few moments of akward silence, only the sounds of a crackling campfire pierced the stillness of the night.

“How old are you?” AJ asked.

“I’m eighteen. How old are you?”

AJ softly chuckled at the question. “Too old, old enough to know better.”

Sasha smiled. “No, really how old are you?”

“I’m twenty-three.”

She peered into the cave and looked at Howie sleeping on the dirt floor. “How old is that one?”

“Man, he’s really old. He’s twenty-seven.”

“What about the dark one in your company? How old is he? He seems to be your leader,” Sasha pressed.

“Oh let’s not talk about Kevin, let’s talk about us,” AJ tried to change the subject.

“I really want to know because I was told I am to begin breeding with the dark one. They think he would make pretty babies with me.”

AJ’s mouth dropped open at the innocence of her remark.

“What’s wrong? You seem to be upset about this. Don’t be, it is my duty. I am to breed to produce a strong, hardy stock of more slaves. It is my job.”

“Why the hell was Kevin picked to breed and why didn’t they even pick me?” AJ questioned.

“AJ, for crying out loud, would you just let it go? Man!” Howie yelled as he stood to his feet.

“No, I’m not letting it go, I really want to know!” AJ persisted.

“Well, if you need to know, it’s your build. You are not very muscular and we need strong slaves. We feel that you would only produce girls and they are weak stock.”

Howie couldn’t stifle the laugh that caught in his throat.

“Hey, you weren’t picked either smart one!”

As Howie opened his mouth to respond, a shout in the native language caused himself, AJ and Sasha to freeze in their positions. Suddenly an unusual noise escaped into the air and a cry escaped Sasha’s lips before she slumped to the ground.

~*~*~*~*~*~ “Go on.” I encouraged, anxious to distract Nick and Kevin from glaring at each other.

“We escape.” Brian said simply.

I know my jaw dropped and Nick blurted, “what?!”

“And where exactly are we going to go?” Kevin gestured around him.

“Yeah, in case you hadn’t noticed, we are on an island.” Nick added, crossing his arms.

Brian sighed. “They won’t be looking for us any time soon. They have to know that it is going to take forever to fill up this entire bag. We can use that time to disappear into the forest.”

“What about Howie and AJ?” Kevin asked. “How are we going to set them loose?”

“Wait! That cave had a hole on the top. When Howie and I went exploring we came to a place that was walled up by boulders. Straight up was an opening. We could try to sneak them out through there.” I burst out, starting to get excited.

“That might work...” Nick said slowly, thinking. “But say we get all get away, then what?”

“We won’t have much time, but I remember Lelani saying something about an island nearby. Sometimes they go there to get other resources. I don’t think it’s inhabited.” Brian told us.

“We could steal one of their boats!” I exclaimed.

“Whoa whoa whoa. This is way too risky.” Kevin shook his head.

“Kev, staying here is going to get us killed. If we can get to the other island, we might actually have a chance.” Brian said quietly.

Kevin sighed in resignation. “I hate to say it, but I think you’re right.”

With less than two hours till it got dark, we weighed our options and planned our escape. Our biggest obstacle was getting our meds. Brian wouldn’t last very long without his considering he wasn’t back to his usual self yet. Nick wouldn’t be able to go long without a seizure and there was no telling how long I could go. The longer I went, the sicker I could get and the bigger chance my body would start rejecting organs. The other problem was the possibility of getting caught and the consequences that would bring. Kevin was laying that out for us when we heard a noise in the distance. It was followed by several more.

“Shit, it’s them!” Nick hissed.

“What do we do?” I whispered, fear seizing me.

“If we try to run, they’ll hear us. If we stay here, we’re gonna get our asses busted.” Kevin said quietly.

“I say we make a run for it.”

I looked at Brian in shock. I never knew him to fly by the seat of his pants. That was something more along the lines of what Nick or I would say. In fact, I agreed with him. “Brian’s right. I’m not looking forward to another punishment for not having the stupid milky shit.” I said quickly.

Brian shot his head around to me. “What do you mean ‘another punishment’?” He said, his eyes wide.

“Later! Let’s go!” Nick interrupted, grabbing my hand and pulling me after him.

“Split up!” Kevin said in a harsh whisper. We’ll meet back here as soon as we can.” He took off with Brian in the opposite direction that Nick and I were running.

“Come on Lizz!” Nick gripped my hand, keeping me with him. I focused all my concentration on not tripping over anything in my path. The forest was pretty dense and I wasn’t the most graceful person on the planet.

The natives started yelling when they got close enough to see that we were trying to escape. Fear-fueled adrenaline made me increase my speed, but we didn’t get more than ten feet before there was a sick sounding thwack behind us.

“Kevin!” Brian’s horror filled voice rang out. Another thwack and a pain-filled scream from Brian.

Nick and I both skidded to a stop calling out for our friends.

“STOP!” Natives roared from behind us. I barely saw one of them raise his arm and pull his other one back before a force crashed into me.

“Lizz!” Nick cried as he knocked us both to the ground. My head hit hard and it knocked the wind out of me. Nick was half on top of me, covering my body.

“Put it down, we surrender. Please. We won’t try anything, please.” Nick was saying to the natives that stood a short distance from us. It was then I realized that he was trying to shield me from whatever the natives were aiming at us. Gasping, I tried to sit up.

“Stay down, Lizz.” Nick whispered.

I didn’t argue, but sank back onto the ground, my head ringing. The natives didn’t say anything, only gestured for us to follow them. I guess they knew we weren’t going to try anything else seeing as how they just nailed half of our escape party. Nick stood up slowly and gently pulled me up.

“What did they do to Kevin and Brian?” I whimpered, scared to death of what had happened to them and what was going to happen to us.

“I don’t know. Shit.” Nick swore. He glanced down at me. “Are you okay? I;m sorry for flattening you like that.”

I managed a weak smile. “I’m sure that’s better than whatever was going to hit me.”

“I swear, they better be okay or I am going to fucking kill them!” Nick growled.

I nodded, regretting it when it made my head ring some more. I gasped when we got closer to the other half of the natives. Kevin was laying prone on the ground and Brian was kneeling beside him, his hand on the back of Kevin’s head. There was blood on Brian’s hands and some on the ground underneath Kevin. When we got closer I saw more blood on Brian’s shirt near his heart.

“Oh my god.” Nick gasped, running towards them and dropping down on the other side of Kevin. I was right behind him.

“You bastards! You killed him!” I cried, glaring up at the natives. Tears filled my eyes and my a lump formed in my throat.

“He isn’t dead, slave.” One of the natives said, his tone almost bored sounding.

I looked down at Kevin and sure enough, his chest was rising and falling steadily. I looked up at Brian.

“It was a sling shot. It hit him in the back of the head.” Brian said, wincing as he spoke.

“Oh god, you were hit too.” Nick exclaimed, reaching his hand out towards the blood that was seeping through Brian’s shirt. Without warning he jumped up and whirled around. “You fucking asshole!” He spat at the one holding the sling shot.

“NO!” I cried, grabbing Nick’s arm before he could lunge at the native. “Don’t!”

The native only shrugged. “Be glad I showed mercy. Any harder and it would have been instant death.”

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” AJ screamed at that native.

Howie didn’t say anything, but could only stare at what caused the young girl’s collapse. AJ followed Howie’s gaze to a small pebble that lay near the bars. It shined with the fresh blood and his stomach flip-flopped.

“What the fuck?! Answer me!” AJ bellowed.

The native ignored AJ and spoke to another native that had appeared by his side. “Dispose of the body.” He said coldly.

“No.” AJ gasped, feeling like he had been punched.

“She’s dead?!” Howie cried, disbelieving.

The native smiled and walked up the bars that imprisoned the two young men. “Women are nothing, but objects to do with what we please. If one displeases a man, he may take her life. This slave was too free with her tongue and paid for it with her life.” He said simply before walking off.

Howie couldn’t help but think of how easily Lizz could land herself the same fate if she wasn’t more careful. They had made her a slave and had made it pretty clear they weren’t too fond of her. On top of it all, she had a smart mouth. He glanced at AJ and his heart dropped. AJ looked stricken.

“It wasn’t your fault man.” Howie said softly.

“Yes it was. If I hadn’t tried to get her to talk to me, she wouldn’t have gotten into trouble. God, they-they...” He choked up, unable to finish the sentence.

Howie couldn’t say anything to comfort his friend, only put an arm around his shoulder in a half hug.

~*~*~*~*~

The first thing I noticed when we reached the camp was that everyone seemed to be in really good spirits. It almost mocked my despair. There was almost an excited buzz about the place and I wanted to ask what was going on, but I didn’t dare. Brian and Kevin were taken to the infirmary and I was led to a different hut. My stomach was in knots. The natives that were escorting me tapped on the flap of the hut. Seconds later an older woman slid stuck her head through. They exchanged some words and then the native glared down at me.

“You obey or die.”

I nodded, my heart fluttering. What the hell was going on?? The older woman ushered me into the hut. Inside were several more women. Two of them were old enough to be my mother and three more couldn’t have been much older than me. I was shocked to see that one of them had light skin like me. Her hair was a little redder than mine used to be. She gave me a sympathetic smile. I tried to return it, but I was getting more and more nervous.

“Tonight is the night of the games!” One of the women told me, smiling broadly. She looked like she was in charge.

“You and your friends almost guarantee an interesting show.” Another added. They started talking in their native tongues and I glanced at the white girl, my face questioning.

“Your friends will fight.” She said quietly.

I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Great beasts.” She leaned forward. “It is very dangerous. Everyone will gather in a great circle. Your friends will be inside a big ring of torches. They will have to fight for their lives.” She said quietly.

I gasped. “Oh my god. No...”

“They will tell you to distract the beasts, you must not. You will die as well.” She whispered.

I shook my head in disbelief. “What can I do? You have to help me!”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do anything.” She said sorrowfully. “They could hurt me or my sister, Sasha.”

I nodded, understanding.

“Your bath.” One of the older woman interrupted. I glanced at the large metal tub, steam rising from it. It almost looked like something you would see out of a western movie. “It is heated.”

I wanted to run screaming from the hut, but that would only get me and possibly the others in trouble. I would have to come up with something. I had to do what I could to keep whatever these “beasts” were away from the guys. Even if that meant I would die.

Self-consciously I peeled my clothes off and sat down in the tub. I had to admit, the hot water felt really good on my sore and aching body. Two of the young natives started to bathe me and I protested. They ignored me so I just sat there until they were done. They gave me a large cloth to dry off with. The woman in charge smiled as she held she gestured to the small table behind me. My eyes grew wide.

“Ohhh no, you aren’t getting me in that!” I balked, drawing my makeshift towel closer around my body. I couldn’t believe this little “outfit” that was laid out for me. I didn’t even own a skirt that was as tiny as the piece of fabric that was as tiny as this one. The shirt was beautiful, I had to admit. The material had to have come from some animal and had been dyed a deep turquoise. Although, it too, was a little skimpy for my tastes. “What the heck?!” I demanded.

“Distraction.” The woman said as if that were an explanation.

“What, these beasts are supposed to see me in this and suddenly stop attacking my friends?!” I cried indignantly.

“No, that is for the men to admire.” She explained, smiling. My heart dropped and I felt even more uneasy. “The cape is to distract the beasts.” She pulled a folded cape from a cupboard and my jaw nearly hit the floor. It was even prettier than the shirt-thing. Like the shirt, it was made out of the skin on some animal. It was almost like soft leather and dyed in a swirl of bright bold colors. I supposed, to be able to get the attention of whatever animals were going to be in this ring. As quickly as I could, I put the clothes on and one of the natives put the cape around me. Next, to my surprise, they sat me down and took out a bunch of tiny little pots filled with more colors. They started expertly putting it on my face while another started to mess with my hair. Not but ten minutes later they put a piece of a broken mirror in front of my face. I gasped. I figured whatever they were doing to me was going to make me look like a freak show, but it actually looked really neat. Like make up, only more ornate. My smile was short lived when the head woman ushered me out of door of the hut. I looked around, shocked that the place was totally deserted.

“Where is everyone?” I asked her.

“Waiting.” She smiled at me.

My stomach tensed back up as I was led a different direction than I had ever been. The closer we got to our destination, the louder it got. I almost felt like I was going to be sick. The other natives that accompanied us were chattering excitedly in their native tongue. The only one that was quiet was the light-skinned girl I had talked to. Finally we reached the entrance of a cave and I looked questioningly at the old woman. This wasn’t what I had expected.

“You are to follow the path of the cave. It will go in a steep slope downhill and go back up. You will be at the side of the ring. They will release the beasts and you are free to try to save yourself or your friends. I will tell you a secret, you will want to please your crowd.” The woman stared deep into my eyes as she said this.

I nodded, my heart pounding. I started to walk towards the cave entrance, but stopped when I heard a soft “wait.” It was the red-haired girl. “Here.” She said softly, before turning and rushing to catch up with the rest of the women. I looked down at what she pressed into my hand.

A slingshot.

I said a quick prayer of thanks, putting it in my waistband and hoping this small weapon could give me a little bit of an edge. The cave was lit by torches along the walls and I hurried through it. The sun was just starting to go down and the sky was a splash of reds, oranges, and purples. It made the cave full of shadows. When I reached the end, a huge piece of cloth covered the opening. I said a quick prayer again before stepping through the curtain. I could almost see Nick shaking his head at me.

I was greeted with a large roar of approval and I instinctively stepped back, stunned by what I saw. I had come up through the side of the ring and it was freakin huge. A tight circle of torches made sure that no one could get out, animals included. All around the ring, it was almost like an arena. Cleary it was something that slaves had built. There were about six giant steps all on top of each other completely surrounding the ring. They were huge and the natives were packed like sardines to watch their entertainment. The noise grew louder and I unconsciously pulled the cape tighter around my body. My gaze traveled to the rest of the ring and on the opposite side, all five guys stood. I could make out a white bandage around Kevin’s head and Brian had a different shirt on. It looked like one a native would wear so I hoped that meant they fixed him up too. Then I noticed something else and my heart sank.

They had no weapons.

I wanted to run to them, but I had a feeling that the heavy piece of black cloth that was stretched across the ground was something significant. It was almost directly between us and I was surprised that I didn’t hear the noises that were coming from it before. The crowd must have drowned it out. A rope stretched across the ground, one end on the cloth, the other in the hands of a native. He yelled something out and the crowed roared back in approval. The man yanked the rope and the cloth gave way to a huge pit. The growling grew louder and my knees started to feel weak. Under the cape, I rested my hand on my small weapon and took a shaky step forward. A bunch of cheers followed and I took a deep breath. My whole body was trembling, but I was going to do everything in my power to keep these beasts from hurting my friends. Even if that meant I was going to become dinner for one of them. Any moment now they were going to come out of that pit and unleash their hell.

As we stood inside an area full of boisterous natives, my stomach flip-flopped. No one had told us anything about what was expected of us, just that this was our just dues or something to that effect. I narrowed my eyes at the slight figure that appeared at the opposite end of the arena. Without my glasses or contacts, I was pretty blind.

“It’s Lizz,” Brian whispered weakly.

“Where the fuck is that growling coming from?” AJ quietly demanded.

“I’m guessing that black thing in the center,” Howie decided.

All eyes trained on the man standing in the center of the ring as he shouted native words causing the crowd to errupt in an enthusastic roar. He set about his tendious task of removing the black cloth, appearing fearful of stepping too close to the edge of the hole.

“Okay, this doesn’t look good to me,” Kevin breathed, still dizzy from the blow to his head.

Brian glanced upwards at his cousin and gasped when he saw fresh blood staining the white cloth that covered the wound on his head. “Any ideas on how to get out of this mess?”

“I say we fuckin’ run,” AJ suggested.

“Okay, yeah that’s a good idea... abandon Lizz? Are you crazy!?” I threw a look over at AJ. It figures he would just run and not think this thing out.

“Oh yeah, well, make a run for Lizz and then run?” AJ tried to correct his idea.

Something dark reached out from the pit and grabbed the native man’s legs and pulled him into the hole. A sudden yelp came from the man before he disappeared. The growling increased in it’s intensity and the crowd seemed pleased that the man had become a sacrifical meal for the beasts that were in the hole. They started chanting. I gulped.

“What the hell are they saying!?” AJ shouted to no one in particular.

A name became clearer as the chanting continued.

“It sounds like Beadios or something like that,” Howie replied, his head cocked to one side, trying to decypher the words.

“How about dead mother-----”

“LOOK!” Brian cried out, interrupting AJ, he pointed a finger towards the pit.

My mouth dropped open as I caught the sight of Lizz slowly inching her way towards the pit. She was clutching something in her left hand.

“LIZZ STAY THE HELL BACK!” I screamed as I started running towards her, pushing away from Brian’s weak grasp.

She froze in her tracks momentarily but then a blank look became fixed on her chalky white face as she ignored my plea.

“LIZZ, PLEASE.... DON’T, GOD, PLEASE!” I begged as I continued to sprint towards her.

In something that seemed to be played out in slow motion, I managed to not only leap and grab Lizz around the shoulders, I pulled her to the ground and we rolled away from the pit. The crowd errupted in cheers, pleased at what had just happened.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked after we rolled to a stop in the dirt, the dust still filtering the sun from us.

“I have to do this Nick, they want one of us to die,” Lizz whispered, her eyes set with determination.

“Oh god, Lizz, don’t be stupid. None of us have to die, we’re gonna get the fuck outta here,” I replied as I pulled a strand of hair away from her mouth.

“How? We’re surrounded,” Lizz asked as she looked around the arena.

“I’m working on that one,” I replied as I got up from the ground and held my hand out for her to take.

The crowd started to boo as Lizz and I hurried around the pit back towards the guys. They were evidently not happy that both of us escaped, unscathed. I was growing more irritated by the minute and I could tell by the look on AJ’s face, he was ready to blow.

“What the hell do those assholes want?” AJ seethed as he looked wildly around the packed arena.

“Death,” Lizz replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Well it ain’t gonna happen Lizz, so get that thought outta your head, okay?” I tried to reassure her and AJ.

“Nick’s right,” Brian added. “We’re in one heck of a mess but we’ve come this far not to get defeated.”

“Okay, we gotta think fast cause it looks like raptor or whatever the hell that thing is is tired of waiting on us,” Howie stated, nervously.

All eyes riveted back towards the pit to see a black lizard, something that looked like a prop from a Jurrasic Park movie, struggle to climb out of the pit. It’s red, forked tongue kept slithering in and out. The creature appeared to be over twelve feet in length and it’s body was a thick, sturdy mass of leathery alligator looking black skin.

“Ah shit, we’re gonna get killed by freakin Godzilla?!?” AJ moaned.

“Yeah and it’s got it’s eyes on me,” I stated as I looked directly into the reptile’s yellow-green eyes. “Okay, here’s the plan, you guys run towards the tunnel we came out of and I will distract raptor until you get there and then----”

“Whoa, whoa Nicky, wait on a minute, you’ll do what?” Kevin asked, his eyes darting back from the lizard to my face.

“I will distract that thing there and while it’s worried about my butt, you guys run for the tunnel and then once I know you’re safe I will run like hell to the tunnel,” I replied, semi-confident in my decision.

Lizz started shaking her head. “I’m staying with you.”

“Like hell you are,” I snapped as I gently shoved her towards AJ. “You can’t run very fast with your bum lungs and I sure as hell don’t want to be responsible for picking up your severed parts when Spike here gets ahold of you.”

“Spike? And what the hell do you mean by bum lungs? I had a transplant,” Lizz protested.

“Spike the lizzard and I ain’t arguing with you anymore! Now GO!”

“Wait, what if you have a seizure?”

“You worry too damn much, I’m fine, good god just go you guys!”

I watched after them for a moment as they took off towards the tunnel and then i quickly turned around in time to see the lizard out of the pit. A bloodied part of the man’s clothes that fell victim to the animal’s wrath, hung on the back of the lizard. I cringed at the sight realizing I could very well be adding to the live clothing rack if I didn’t think my moves out quick enough. Thank god the crowd was roaring, because I was screaming my fool head off, scared to death.

Hearing my screams, the lizard hesitated for a moment and then seemed to be angered and started to lunge towards me.

“OH SHIT,” I yelled out as I started to freak out at the sight of the giant reptile moving towards me, it’s mouth opening, showing a full rack of large, sharp, pointed teeth.

As I turned to go, my confidence was short lived as I felt a sharp object dig into my left ankle. I looked back to see the lizard had it’s mouth locked down around my leg. I tried desperately to shake the beast from me only making it more madder at me, causing it to clamp down harder.

“GET THE FUCK OFF ME!” I cried out.

Suddenly, I could feel my body starting to be dragged towards the pit where the animal came from. I twisted my body around and clawed at the sandy ground, trying to get ahold of something to stop the beast from taking me into it’s home. I thought my heart was going to explode in my chest, random stupid thoughts were filling my head. I wasn’t thinking clearly I was pretty much writing myself off, deciding that maybe this will be a quick death once the animal had me in it’s den. I looked over towards the entrance way where I had sent my friends and semi relieved to see that they had managed to scale the fence that was blocking the tunnel.

Hearing the crowd in an intensified cheering frenzy, caused AJ and Brian to look back to where Nick was left at to see what was happening.

“Oh sweet God,” Brian gasped as he saw the creature starting to drag Nick towards the hole in the center of the arena.

“Oh fuck,” AJ muttered. He quickly grabbed a heavy steel rod off the ground and scaled the fence, running full speed towards Nick and the reptile. “HANG ON NICK!”

“AJ, GO BACK! GO BACK,” I yelled frantically as I saw AJ running like he was being chased by a crowd of crazed fans. For some reason he wasn’t listening and I saw a heavy rod tightly gripped in his hand. He started swinging the weapon before he even got close to us.

“LET GO YOU BASTARD!” AJ grunted as he heaved the rod up into the air, bring it down repeatidly in a hasty attack.

I squeezed my eyes as I waited for the metal to connect with my leg. Everytime AJ hit the beast in the head, it bit down on my leg harder, almost in reflex. I kept hearding the sickening thud of the bar hitting the animal over and over again, the growls from the beast were strong at first but were slowly dying out as the thuds kept coming. Finally, I heard the bar drop to the ground.

“Hold still Nick, lemme pry this off your leg,” AJ calmly stated.

I looked back at my leg to see AJ prying the dead animal’s mouth off my leg. I then glanced back to see that we had been only a mere five feet from the pit. I suddenly became dizzy, but tried to remain calm.

“Oh shit...” AJ gasped, his face turning a shade of white. He swallowed and then quickly regained his composure, he was never good at the site of blood. “It’s not that bad.”

Okay, I don’t know if I could trust his words on that, but I was figuring he was trying to convince himself that it wasn’t bad. I looked at my leg and all I saw was blood - blood on my tattered pant leg, blood soaking into the sand, blood on AJ’s hands. I quickly looked away.

“Yeah, just a flesh wound,” I tried to joke.

“Oh my god,” Lizz cried out as she sank to the ground beside me.

“It’s okay, I’m a bleeder, really,” I again tried to joke.

Clenching her fists, Lizz stood up and faced where the leaders of the island were seated. The crowd was quiet, a soft buzz from small conversations about what they had witnessed floated in the air. Their mighty warrior, the beast, had been defeated.

“OKAY, YOU ASKED FOR DEATH, THE CREATURE IS DEFEATED, NOW YOU MUST RELEASE MY FRIENDS AND I,” she shouted.

A hush fell over the crowd and I sucked in my breath in determination. I desperately wanted to make sure Nick was okay, but I didn’t dare turn around. Instead, I kept my gaze on the chief. The seats for all the important people and the chief were directly in front of me. The chief was talking to the two natives that sat on either side of him. Finally he stopped talking to them and looked at me.

“NO!” He shouted. “You and the others have not earned your freedom.” He stopped and stared up at the sky. I risked a glance behind me to see Nick trying to sit up. AJ was holding the piece of my torn cape around Nick’s leg. Further back I saw Brian, Kevin and Howie on the other side of the fence. I turned back around to see the chief still staring up at the sky. I could barely see his lips moving and then he stopped suddenly, holding his hands out to the crowd. The crowd fell silent as a tomb and my stomach twisted.

“The gods wish for a human, slave sacrifice. It shall be the injured, slave.” The chief announced, staring right past me at Nick. The crowd erupted in more cheers and the noise became deafening. The chief nodded to several natives that stood around the edge of the arena and they advanced towards us.

“NO!” I screamed, looking around wildly. They were going to kill Nick over my dead body. Then I remembered the slingshot I gripped tightly in my hand. Quick as a cat I dropped down, picked up a decent sized rock, aimed and fired it.

The rock shot like a missile through the air and hit the chief in the face. He let out an agonized scream and covered his face with his hands. Immediately blood starting seeping through and the crowd stopped hollering and stomping their feet. The native on his left was trying to help him. The much larger native on his right was glaring at me. I gulped and tried to tell myself to run, but it felt like my feet were stuck in cement.

“Lizz, come on!” AJ yelled in my ear, grabbing my shoulders. Shaking me out of my trance, he broke out into a run, pulling me after him. He raced behind Nick and started to pull him up. Nick let out a pain-filled cry and AJ tightened his grip.

“I can’t walk on it!” He gasped.

“You’re going to have to. They’re coming after us.” AJ hissed. Together we pulled Nick to his feet, or foot rather. “Come on, put your arm around my shoulders and use this like a crutch.” AJ instructed, handing the metal rod to him. Nick had his jaw clenched and his face was nearly white. My stomach was twisting with the pain I knew he was feeling.

We started making our way to the gate as fast as we could. It didn’t prove to be fast enough because several natives closed in on us. Instinctively I held the sling shot up at them. I don’t know why I did because that shouldn’t have made an impact on them, but all four of them stopped dead in their tracks.

“She struck the chief. She has the power of the gods!” One of them shouted in English, probably for our benefit. I snorted at the idea of me having the power of the gods.

“What kind of shit is this?” I said over my shoulder.

“If she can bring the chief down, she can destroy us with a mere look!” Another native yelled, spreading his hands out.

“I always knew there was something about you.” Nick joked quietly.

“Hahaha.” I retorted.

“Lizz, use it to get us clear!” AJ said urgently.

“Like how? Holler out Oooga Booga and hope they all cower in fear from the Big Bad Bitch?!” I snapped sarcastically.

“Just keep waving the sling shot around and look pissed off.” AJ suggested.

“Yeah, I’ve seen some pretty mean-ass looks out of you.” Nick added.

“Thanks, but I know you deserved them.” I smiled sweetly before turning around and facing the natives that had made a reluctant circle around us. My smile dropped as the seriousness of the situation sunk in. “BACK OFF ASSHOLES!” I screamed. “The god’s have got my back and I have been given permission to strike down anyone that gets in my way. You saw what happened to your chief, NOW LET US THROUGH DAMMIT!” I waved the sling shot around, mustering up the most hateful look I could.

The natives backed away, a trace of fear flickering across their eyes. Every sense told me to run as fast as my legs would carry me, but no way was I going to separate myself from Nick and AJ. They could only move so fast on the account of Nick’s chewed on leg.

“What are you doing? Go after them!” One of the natives that had been seated next to the chief shouted. He started yelling in a mixture of English and their tongue.

Several natives advanced on us until I glared at them threateningly and brandished my slingshot again. “I mean it, I will put a hole in your face. Back the fuck off!” I snarled.

They hesitated and looked at the native who seemed to be in charge. He yelled back something in response and they started to advance again.

Barely taking the time to think of what I was doing, I tipped my head back and started screaming like a banshee. Then I dropped to my knees and grabbed a handful of rocks, slinging them at random. All the while, screaming a bunch of gibberish and acting like I had totally lost it. When I finally looked up, I almost laughed at the look of horror on the native’s faces. I could only imagine how I looked. I’d been told I had expressive and even piercing eyes all my life. Now they had to have looked wild and possessed. And despite the crappy lungs I had been born with, I could be pretty loud if I wanted to. Now with new lungs, that seemed to help, even if it was just psychological. Of course the fact that I had Nick’s blood all over me probably made me look even more dangerous.

My aim was true and several natives were rolling around on the ground in a mixture of pain and fear. I knew that the rocks alone wouldn’t have brought them to the ground, but the fear that the rocks might have been cursed by me or something. I didn’t care so long as they got out of our way.

“Hold on Nick, we’re almost to the gate.” AJ coached. By nothing short of a miracle, we made it to the gate. There was a lot of angry screaming behind us, but no one dared get too close. Getting Nick over the gate wasn’t easy, but we were all going on pure adrenaline, him probably the most since he got attacked by Spike. Of course, I was now the cursed chief-slayer.

“How the hell are we going to get out of here? It’s a damn maze.” AJ grumbled.

“I think we’re going the right way.” I ventured.

“Lizz, you said that 10 minutes ago and we’ve turned around twice.” Brian smiled.

“Come on Howie, don’t you remember when we were exploring down here when we found Nick?” I asked him.

“No, actually I was more worried about how we shouldn’t have been wandering around and if I remember right, we got caught.” Howie returned.

I groaned. “That was when we got marked.”

“Marked?” Brian glanced at me.

“Nevermind, Howie does this look familiar?” I ignored Brian’s question. He was in Lelani’s hut when Nick and I had been branded and I didn’t want to be the one who got to tell him what was done to us.

Brian narrowed his eyes at me, knowing that there was something going on. Thankfully he chose to drop it, for now.

Howie looked towards the direction I had pointed. “I don’t know. It kinda does, but this whole cave looks alike to me.”

“No look, there’s light.” AJ whooped and took off in the direction where it was coming from. It cast an eerie glow towards us so that meant the moon had to be pretty bright and the sky clear. At least that would make it easier for us to travel in the dark.

As we all stood below the opening in the top of the cave, talking about the best way to do this, Nick sat down on a rock. I broke away and sat down next to Nick.

“How is it?” I asked softly.

“Hurts like a bitch.” He admitted.

“At least it quit bleeding. Are you okay though? I mean really, you had a pretty close call.” I said softly.

“Peachy.”

“Okay Nick, what else is on your mind?” I looked him straight in the eyes.

“Our meds. We managed to escape, but what does it matter if we don’t have our meds? We won’t last any time at all. Lizzard, we’re screwed.” Nick said somberly.

Standing up, Lizz offered her extended hand to me. “Well, we’ll just get out of here and back to safety before any bad effects happens to either one of us.”

I reluctantly took her hand, nearly pulling her down when I tried to pull myself up. I forgot about my leg for a brief moment, putting it down but I quickly drew it back up when the “pins and needles” pain reminded me of the injury. I could see Lizz out the corner of my eye, analyzing my moves. “Lizz, please don’t worry, I promise I won’t have a seizure, okay?”

“Like it’s something you can control,” she scoffed.

“I’m gonna do my best,” I defended.

“Come on you two, we have to get ahead of them!” Kevin urged as he tossed an annoyed look back at us.

“Any ideas of where we go then ‘O Wise Elder?’” I mocked. I was getting so damn sick of Kevin’s authoritative attitude. It got us nowhere lately and here he just up and takes charge of everything like he even has a clue of what we can do to save our skin at this point.

“Take a left here!” AJ yelled, cutting off the glare in Kevin’s eyes when he addressed my challenge.

With Lizz on my left side, the steel bar propped on my right, I hobbled along as best as I could, knowing that we were losing our group because of my inablility to run. When I stopped suddenly, it took Lizz by surprize when she took several steps without me at her side.

“Nick? What’s wrong?”

I leaned against the wall. “I.. I can’t keep up the pace. You run and catch up with the rest of them. I will be okay, you find a way out and then you can come back for me.”

“You must have lost it, Nick...listen to yourself!” Lizz insisted as she stood there staring at me, her hands on her hips.

“I can feel it coming,” I whispered.

“Feel what?”

“Those seizures. I mean it’s not gonna happen right now, but I can tell something’s gonna happen eventually and I don’t want to drag everyone down with me and the burden I’ve been saddled with because of stupid choices I made in the past with the overdose.”

I wasn’t looking at Lizz but I knew she was staring at me and giving me those sad puppy dog eyes. “Lizz, don’t try to talk me out of this. I want you safe, just go.”

“Oh yeah, okay....leave you to have a freakin seizure and possibly die right here in this fricken cave? Are you nuts?”

“I guess I must be cause you’re going,” I demanded.

“I’m getting Kevin, he can’t be that far ahead of us,” she stated as she quickly turned around.

I was shocked to see her turn and run. This wasn’t a typical Lizz reaction, but then again what has been typical from the beginning of this trip? Pulling myself back up, grabbing the bloodied pole, I turned myself around and headed back in the direction that we came from. I was going to ensure my friend’s safety and the only way I could do that was talk the natives into leaving us alone for good.

Using the wall as a brace along with the rod, I inched my way along the sandy path, literally following the blood stains - my blood - as the guide back to the pit.

“STOP!”

Looking wearily over towards the direction of the voice, I was met with the stern look of the Chief, a man that looked extremely pissed off with dried blood on his forehead and cheeks.

“Take me and leave the others alone!” I requested in a shaky, yet determined voice.

“And your sudden change of heart tells me what?” The chief asked.

“That the creature has already gotten a taste of me, and you needed a human sacrifice and once you get that you will leave them alone. I’m only slowing them down and you would have caught all of us eventually so I’m making this easier on you. Take me.”

A smile played across the chief’s broad, tanned face as he clapped his hands several times. Two natives grabbed me on either side and hurried me along the path.

“Okay, I said I was coming willfully, you don’t have to push,” I snapped.

One of the men replied to my comment in his native tongue.

“Booga booga to you too, fella,” I mumbled.

I was expecting to be led into the packed arena, but instead they took me to the medicine woman’s hut. The chief exchanged hasty words to Lelani and she nodded and took a large bowl and started to dump carefully measured powdered ingredients into it. After pouring a measured amount of water into the the mixture, she stirred it methodically and then placed it above the fire in the hearth.

I sat there watching her busy herself with other mixtures, wondering where this was going to be leading to. I was thinking that maybe she was making a salve for my chewed up leg so I was definately surprized when she poured the liquid into a mug and then held it out for me to take.

“Drink this!” She urged.

I stared at the greenish colored liquid with what looked like grass clippings floating ontop. I looked back up at her. “I don’t think so.”

“YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD, SLAVE!” the chief boomed.

Okay, remember how your parent’s always give you that lecture about not taking drinks from strangers at parties? I had that sick feeling as I took the mug from Lelani and took a sip of the bitter tasting liquid.

“ALL OF IT!” the chief boomed again.

Screwing my face up, I closed my eyes and gulped the liquid down. I was praying that this was something to heal my leg. I was beginning to realize that this was something other than that when I started feeling dizzy and weird.....

Standing up, Lizz offered her extended hand to me. “Well, we’ll just get out of here and back to safety before any bad effects happens to either one of us.”

I reluctantly took her hand, nearly pulling her down when I tried to pull myself up. I forgot about my leg for a brief moment, putting it down but I quickly drew it back up when the “pins and needles” pain reminded me of the injury. I could see Lizz out the corner of my eye, analyzing my moves. “Lizz, please don’t worry, I promise I won’t have a seizure, okay?”

“Like it’s something you can control,” she scoffed.

“I’m gonna do my best,” I defended.

“Come on you two, we have to get ahead of them!” Kevin urged as he tossed an annoyed look back at us.

“Any ideas of where we go then ‘O Wise Elder?’” I mocked. I was getting so damn sick of Kevin’s authoritative attitude. It got us nowhere lately and here he just up and takes charge of everything like he even has a clue of what we can do to save our skin at this point.

“Take a left here!” AJ yelled, cutting off the glare in Kevin’s eyes when he addressed my challenge.

With Lizz on my left side, the steel bar propped on my right, I hobbled along as best as I could, knowing that we were losing our group because of my inablility to run. When I stopped suddenly, it took Lizz by surprize when she took several steps without me at her side.

“Nick? What’s wrong?”

I leaned against the wall. “I.. I can’t keep up the pace. You run and catch up with the rest of them. I will be okay, you find a way out and then you can come back for me.”

“You must have lost it, Nick...listen to yourself!” Lizz insisted as she stood there staring at me, her hands on her hips.

“I can feel it coming,” I whispered.

“Feel what?”

“Those seizures. I mean it’s not gonna happen right now, but I can tell something’s gonna happen eventually and I don’t want to drag everyone down with me and the burden I’ve been saddled with because of stupid choices I made in the past with the overdose.”

I wasn’t looking at Lizz but I knew she was staring at me and giving me those sad puppy dog eyes. “Lizz, don’t try to talk me out of this. I want you safe, just go.”

“Oh yeah, okay....leave you to have a freakin seizure and possibly die right here in this fricken cave? Are you nuts?”

“I guess I must be cause you’re going,” I demanded.

“I’m getting Kevin, he can’t be that far ahead of us,” she stated as she quickly turned around.

I was shocked to see her turn and run. This wasn’t a typical Lizz reaction, but then again what has been typical from the beginning of this trip? Pulling myself back up, grabbing the bloodied pole, I turned myself around and headed back in the direction that we came from. I was going to ensure my friend’s safety and the only way I could do that was talk the natives into leaving us alone for good.

Using the wall as a brace along with the rod, I inched my way along the sandy path, literally following the blood stains - my blood - as the guide back to the pit.

“STOP!”

Looking wearily over towards the direction of the voice, I was met with the stern look of the Chief, a man that looked extremely pissed off with dried blood on his forehead and cheeks.

“Take me and leave the others alone!” I requested in a shaky, yet determined voice.

“And your sudden change of heart tells me what?” The chief asked.

“That the creature has already gotten a taste of me, and you needed a human sacrifice and once you get that you will leave them alone. I’m only slowing them down and you would have caught all of us eventually so I’m making this easier on you. Take me.”

A smile played across the chief’s broad, tanned face as he clapped his hands several times. Two natives grabbed me on either side and hurried me along the path.

“Okay, I said I was coming willfully, you don’t have to push,” I snapped.

One of the men replied to my comment in his native tongue.

“Booga booga to you too, fella,” I mumbled.

I was expecting to be led into the packed arena, but instead they took me to the medicine woman’s hut. The chief exchanged hasty words to Lelani and she nodded and took a large bowl and started to dump carefully measured powdered ingredients into it. After pouring a measured amount of water into the the mixture, she stirred it methodically and then placed it above the fire in the hearth.

I sat there watching her busy herself with other mixtures, wondering where this was going to be leading to. I was thinking that maybe she was making a salve for my chewed up leg so I was definately surprized when she poured the liquid into a mug and then held it out for me to take.

“Drink this!” She urged.

I stared at the greenish colored liquid with what looked like grass clippings floating ontop. I looked back up at her. “I don’t think so.”

“YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD, SLAVE!” the chief boomed.

Okay, remember how your parent’s always give you that lecture about not taking drinks from strangers at parties? I had that sick feeling as I took the mug from Lelani and took a sip of the bitter tasting liquid.

“ALL OF IT!” the chief boomed again.

Screwing my face up, I closed my eyes and gulped the liquid down. I was praying that this was something to heal my leg. I was beginning to realize that this was something other than that when I started feeling dizzy and weird.....

“Kevin... guys! Wait!” Lizz gasped as she tried to reach the rest of the group.

“Hey, where’s Nick?” AJ questioned when he turned around.

“I think he’s having trouble, we need to go back and help him,” Lizz directed.

Without hesitating, they turned and followed their steps back.

“What’s wrong Lizz?”

“I don’t know for sure but he mentioned that he was thinking he was going to have a seizure, he said he could feel it start to come on.”

Howie stepped up his pace and was running ahead of the rest of them. Lizz’s heart sank when they turned the corner and discovered that Nick wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“He was right here when I left him, look, see there’s the blood right there,” she pointed down to the ground with reddish tinge.

“I see blood and I also see about five different sets of footprints, but only four going back, meaning that he didn’t leave alone,” Kevin observed.

“Dear lord,” Brian whispered.

~*~*~*~*~

After a few minutes had passed from drinking the medicine, I was beginning to realize that I was in a world of trouble. My thoughts were clouded and I could no longer distinguish between good and bad. It had totally effected my judgement. I just laid back and listened to the lies that were being fed to me and I didn’t argue with them - I couldn’t argue with them - it all seemed right to me.

“Nick, you know that girl that was with you?” Lelani questioned as she paced the hut.

“Yep,” I replied. I noticed that my voice sounded thick, like my tongue weighed four pounds.

“She wants you dead. She told me this,” Lelani lied. Before I could comment on her thoughts, she continued. “And the rest of the men, they also wanted you dead. They want you to suffer for your actions. They told me they never liked you, in fact they hate you. You realize Nick, that we are your only friends. They are the enemy! You must protect yourself!”

I slowly nodded in agreement. I was open to anything Lelani suggested to me. If she had given me a plate of worms and told me that these were good for me to eat, I would eat them without question. It was as if I had no control over anything anymore. I knew what she was telling me was wrong, but it was like I couldn’t fight it. I had to agree with her.

Lelani smiled at me. “Good boy Nick, I knew you’d see it our way.”

Her face suddenly grew serious. She said something to one of the men in the hut in the native tongue and he quickly turned and left. While he was gone, Lelani offered another drink to me. I accepted it this time, without question. It was sweet tasting. I drank the entire contents of the mug and threw it down onto the floor when I was finished.

I reached out and gently grabbed Lelani’s arm, taking her by surprise. She turned towards me, her eyes shifting as she was obviously trying to figure out what my intentions were. Without hesitating, I pulled her close to me and captured her mouth in a kiss. My conscience was replused by what I was doing. This was so very wrong. I had no control over what I was doing, my mind was screaming to stop but my hands seem to disregard me.

“Oh Nick, now, you will just have to wait until you fight your war and protect us from the enemy,” Lelani stated as she pushed herself away from me. “After you win, I will give myself to you freely, but you must wait until then. A true warrior does not mate before a battle.”

I grabbed Lelani again and I forced myself onto her. Her cries were muffled when I kissed her. Before I could go any further, some of the natives that were assigned to protect rushed into the hut and pulled me away from their princess.

“It’s okay, he is just ready for battle now. Give him his weapons and send him to the edge of the village,” she commanded as she tried to regain her composure. “I will be waiting for you when you return Nick. Remember....they are evil and must be stopped.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Okay this path is longer than I rememer,” AJ grumbled.

“Well, I can see that we’re getting closer, look can’t you see the light from the firepit?” Howie pointed out.

Lizz stepped up the pace, anxious to find Nick and put this nightmare far from her memory. She could see how it was taking it’s toll on each of them including herself. Kevin looked like he was going to collapse if he had the opportunity to, Brian looked still worn from the after effects from the posion and AJ had been guarding his arm in the same position for days, complaining that it would have to be broken again when they reached civilization because it was going to be healing wrong. Only Howie had escaped the natives wrath up to this point.

“Hey, look AJ we’ve finally reached the village, I guess now we look for---”

The sudden noise ripping through the vegetation in the dense forest caught everyone by surprise. Howie’s words were quickly silenced and then a sickening thud followed by his gasping escaped into the air.

“OH MY GOD!” AJ yelled as he raced to Howie’s side, the shaft of what appeared to be a thick arrow from a crossbow driven into his chest, straight into his heart. “HOWIE?!” AJ yelled as he grabbed his friend and cradled his shoulders gently onto his lap. AJ’s cries weren’t answered, he was met only with Howie’s eyes staring vacantly into nowhere.

“WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU YOU COWARDS?” AJ demanded as he looked around him.

Suddenly, the sickening sound of the vegetation began again. This time the target was AJ, hitting him squarely in the back. He slumped forward off to the side of his fallen friend.

This was all surreal to me, I knew this was wrong but I couldn’t stop it from happening. It was as if I had something that I had to do and I couldn’t rest until the mission was carried out. I stepped out from my cover onto the path where the rest of them stood.

“NICK! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Kevin demanded.

I didn’t say a word to any of them. I gripped the weapon in my hand and I was prepared to use it to stop the evil. I know they saw the threatening look I cast towards the remaining three because they all stopped in their steps.

I placed another arrow into the set and took steady aim at Kevin. As I aimed for his heart, I squeezed my eyes shut tight and swallowed. I could hear Lizz and Brian’s screams but I didn’t seem to care anymore. It was like I had no more feelings left inside of me.

“NICK NO! WHAT IS HAPPENING? PLEASE GOD, NO!”

I opened my eyes to see Brian standing in front of Lizz. He had a mixed look on his face. One of bewilderment and sadness. “You have to take me but spare her life Nick, please don’t do this.”

I don’t know why, but I started crying. I was feeling the effects of the drink Lelani gave me and it’s effects were starting to grow dull. I still had the pressing urge to finish my mission. I still felt that Brian and Lizz were the sources of evil and had to be stopped at any and all costs.

Taking a straight aim at Brian I swallowed hard, pushing back all the memories of him and of Lizz. I wrapped my index finger around the trigger and just before I squeezed, I whispered two final words to my brother.

“I’m sorry.”

The arrow sailed true to it’s target. Brian was hit and the arrow went through him and into her. He had made an attempt to push her away from him, but the arrow was faster than he anticipated and they were both hit. The look in his eyes before he finally let death wash over him was agonizing. I dropped to my knees when the reality of the carnage sunk in.

I killed my friends.

There was only one way out of this now. The potion had lost it’s hold on me and now I realized what I had done. I had taken lives. I had killed my friends. With the last arrow I had. I placed it in it’s holder. I propped the crossbow against my legs as I laid down, aiming the arrow towards my chest. I squeezed my eyes shut as I pulled the trigger with my foot, trying three or maybe four times to hit the trigger.

Suddenly, I was rewarded with a searing pain for my efforts, the wind being knocked out of my lungs.

“Nick....stay with us hun.”

I quickly opened my eyes upon hearing the female voice. I was coughing and she was rubbing my back and trying to strap an oxygen mask on my face.

“Wha.. wha?” I sputtered as I looked wildly at my surroundings.

“Nicky, calm down, slow your breathing down dude,” Howie soothed.

Howie? Is this what dying is like? Howie’s dead. I don’t understand this.

“How long has he been like this?”

“I dunno for sure, I went to the cafeteria for a bite to eat and when I came back he was freaking out in bed,” Howie replied to the woman.

“Nick, you have to calm down, you’ll rip your sutures out in your chest,” the woman stated with urgency.

“What the hell is happening?” AJ rasped as he entered the room, arms full of magazines and a couple of bottles of coke.

Now I was beginning to realize something was different. AJ’s arm was broken....wait, AJ’s supposed to be dead too.

“I’m going to have to get a sedative, he’s not calming down,” the woman sighed as she turned and rushed out of the room.

“Nicky calm your ass down or they’ll lock you up,” AJ said as he placed his face inches from mine.

“Wha... where am I?”

“In the hospital, remember? You were shot in the chest?” Howie and AJ said simutaneously.

They seemed to know it wasn’t registering when my face became a twist of bewilderment.

“We got Marcus, he’s dead? Anything yet here? You almost died on us, come on you didn’t get amnesia too, what are you trying to pull on us?” AJ snapped.

I laid my head deeper into the pillow. I looked around the room. There were flowers in every available space and balloons dancing in the draftiness of the room.

“God, I... I do remember. Oh god I had the worst dream of my life,” I said as I closed my eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Howie offered.

I shook my head. “I only want to see Brian and Lizz. I will be okay when I see them.”

“Man, something’s got you really shook. What happened in the dream?” AJ asked.

“Everyone died,” I replied, afraid to go any further into details.

My heart literally skipped a beat when Kevin, Brian and Lizz stood in my doorway, lost in their own private conversation about the ‘did you see that cute little girl on the elevator’ conversation.

Igorning the pain in my chest, I sat up in bed, pulled the oxygen mask off and outstretched my arms.

“Group hug guys,” was all I could say.

Everything was okay now. It’s all good.

The end.................