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“So, do you know where the nearest police station is?” Nick asked AJ as he glanced out the window; they were still surrounded by nothing but trees and snow.

“No, but we’re fucking screwed.” AJ grumbled as he began to feel the car rumble and slow down.

“What do you mean we’re fucking screwed?”

AJ quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road, “Who the fuck decides to drive up to a lodge to hold people hostage on a fucking empty tank?” he said aloud as he slammed his fist down on the steering wheel.

“Are you kidding me?!” Nick asked, leaning over to look at the gas meter, which the meter indicated that they had indeed burnt up the remaining fuel. “Shit!”

With hope gleaming in his eyes, AJ immediately remembered about his cell phone. He quickly rose up in his seat, fishing his cell phone out from his back pocket. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath, “still no reception.”

Nick craned his neck to look out through the back window, “Well, we’re a few miles away from the lodge.”

AJ sighed heavily, “That doesn’t help Kevin them.”

“You might wanna strangle me for even suggesting this crazy idea, but the only thing we can do now is walk the rest of the way… or at least until we find a place where we can call for help.”

AJ shook his head, slightly chuckling, “Nick, if you haven’t noticed, everything we’ve been doing has been downright crazy, so anything you say to me right now is a fucking genius plan, but please, don’t let my statement get to your head because this is the first AND last time I’m ever telling you that.”

“Who’d ever think, the two youngest of the group, who were mercilessly bashed in the head, are out to save the day?” Nick commented as he got out of the car.

“Why don’t you save that for when we actually save the day.” AJ laughed.

They both packed up the necessities they would need from the car and began their long journey into nowhere, in hopes to find civilization. Their trek had started off smoothly, but then exertion began to catch up with them. Every step they took seemed dauntingly heavy, the snow now seemed like quicksand. Their heads pulsated painfully as they strained to keep focus, keep pressing on in the frigid weather. Finally, Nick’s legs buckled and he allowed himself to fall to his knees on the soft snow.

“Fuck man… I don’t think I can go any further.”

“Are you serious? What’s the matter?” AJ asked in concern as he tried to inspect his youngest friend, putting aside his pain for the moment.

“I don’t know man, my head is feeling worse than before… I guess the adrenaline has died down, leaving the pain and cold to finally catch up to me. I don’t mean to be a downer, but I don’t think I can keep pressing on, at least not right now.”

AJ sighed heavily, “Fair enough,” he said as he too allowed himself to collapse to the snow-covered ground. “Truth be told, I’m in a lot of pain too, more pain than I had felt back at the lodge, just didn’t want to stop us is all.”

“I’m sorry.” Nick replied sheepishly.

“Why you apologizing man? If anything, I thank you for stopping us, cause knowing my dumbass, I would’ve driven us to the point of one of us dropping dead or something.”

Nick glanced worriedly at AJ, “Are you seriously feeling worse than before? I mean, you were bashed in the head, twice, and you’ve also managed to reopen your wound, so I know you must be feeling way worse than me.”

He really didn’t want to worry the younger one, but he couldn’t hide it for much longer, “My sight’s becoming blurry, and I could literally feel my eyes roll into the back of my head every few minutes or so.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before Jay?”

“Because I didn’t want you worrying about me when we should be worrying about Kevin, Brian and Howie.”

“Well, we gotta worry about ourselves too Jay, because Kevin, Brian and Howie are depending on us.” Nick maneuvered himself closer to AJ, “Lemme take a look.”

“You’re just gonna see a bloody mess.” AJ noted as he allowed Nick to look at his wound.

Nick sucked in through his teeth, “Shit man, looks worse than a bloody mess.” Although AJ’s hair was matted with blood, he could clearly see the gash and his scalp. Fresh blood just seemed to be oozing ever so slowly from the wound while the surrounding flesh appeared discolored and flush. “Aside from your head pounding, how does the wound feel to you right now?”

“Stings like fucking hell, and even though it’s freaking cold, it kinda feels hot.”

“Shit Jay, it’s trying to get infected.”

“I figured.” AJ sighed, “Only thing is I don’t think it’s trying to get infected, I think it already is. Thanks though Dr. Carter.” he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood and take the focus off him.

Nick rolled his eyes, “Shutup man.”

“Since you’re done examining my… laceration, perhaps I should take a look at your head too, make sure at least one of us has a fighting chance of making it out here alive to get help.”

“Don’t talk like that Jay.” Nick quickly scolded, yet complied with letting his older friend inspect his wound.

“I’m just kidding Nicky.” AJ chuckled, but deep down inside, he really wasn’t.

Truth be told, he could slowly feel himself slipping away, maybe not to death, but unconsciousness. But he was sure it’ll only be a matter of time till his body succumbed to the head trauma, infection and the cold weather. The only thing that kept him going on though was the thought of saving his brothers, making sure they’d be all right, even if he wasn’t. Everyone knows how much the boys’ mean to him; they are his only brothers, his closest best friends, they are everything to him, and he’d be damned if he were to let anything or anyone harm and take them away from him. And while his mind, heart and spirit was set on a mission, his body refused to catch up and be on the same level.

“Yeah, well I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t joke like that.” Nick grumbled, “We’re both gonna be find, we’re gonna find help TOGETHER, and we’re gonna come back and rescue Kevin, Brian and Howie. We just need a little rest is all.”

AJ nodded as he continued to look Nick’s head over, “You’re right.” he said with a sigh, “And not to be pessimistic or anything, but it looks like you’ll be right behind me with you‘re cut getting infected. It’s kinda red and there’s pus.”

Nick closed his eyes, “This is just fucking great.” he muttered.

“Look, we’ll just rest up for tonight, we’ll need as much energy as we can get to continue on tomorrow. Thinking positively here, nothing will be done until they catch us. We’ll continue on first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Okay… so, where exactly are we gonna rest up?”

AJ looked around; they were surrounded by nothing but towering trees, there was no sight of any kind of makeshift shelter. When he turned around, he sighed heavily and groaned out as he pushed himself up from the ground. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Turn around.” was all AJ said, to which Nick did. Not far off in the distance was the car they had abandoned. “We didn’t even walk half a fucking mile.”

“Sure felt like we had though.” Nick pointed out as he too pushed himself up from the ground, “Seriously felt like we were walking forever when in actuality we only took about… sixty some steps or so.”

“Well, the car will have to do for now. As you said, at least we’re a few miles away from the lodge.”

They both started their slow trek back to the car, deciding that the car could actually benefit them right now.

“Wait a minute,” Nick voiced as they neared the car, “perhaps we should move the car inwards, get it off from the side of this road. Just in case they come looking for us or something.”

AJ nodded as he opened the door to the passenger side to toss in what they were gonna bring with them, “Okay, makes sense.”

“So, just throw the car into drive. You steer, I’ll push.”

AJ gave his younger friend a look, “You don’t wanna steer?”

“Me steer you push?” Nick asked in a pointed manner, “You are in no shape to push a car Jay.”

“Neither are you.”

“I’m in better shape than you.”

AJ chuckled and held his hands up, “You got me there.” It was amazing how during this horrific event, he was able to see how far both he and Nick have came; how much growing they have done, how mature they’ve become. If they were in this situation years ago, both he and Nick would fight till the end with who had to push the car and who got to steer. Now, Nick would weigh out situations and selflessly volunteer himself to do things; as would AJ, but he also learned to not fight back with his youngest brother and just listen.

“Okay, ready?” AJ asked as he turned the key in the ignition and threw the car into drive, his foot pressed down on the brake.

When he saw Nick give a slight nod in the rearview mirror, AJ slowly lifted his foot off the brake and Nick began pushing the car. The car jerked forward, but AJ noticed that Nick was having a hard time pushing the heavy car through the snow. Without thinking twice, AJ jumped out of the car again and aided Nick in pushing the car while he kept his other hand on the steering wheel. With both of them pushing, they were finally able to propel the car forward as AJ tried his best to steer off to the side, bringing them deeper into the snowy forest of trees.

“Okay… I think… this is… good enough.” Nick panted out, turning around to notice that they were pretty far in.

AJ stopped pushing as well and allowed himself to collapse down into the driver seat, “Lets never do that again.”

“Agreed.” Nick snickered as he staggered his way over towards the passenger side, opening the door and dropping himself into the seat. “At least the battery is still in tact, we can use the heater.”

“Yup.” AJ nodded. “I fucking feel lightheaded.”

Nick decided to take it upon himself to search the car for something, anything that would help AJ. He was sure he wouldn’t find anything in this car, but tried to remain positive and search anyway. He opened the glove compartment and began rummaging around through all the papers and other items that were shoved in there. A small smile crept across his face when he felt his hand come in contact with what felt like a small plastic bottle.

He quickly pulled the bottle out and held it up triumphantly. His smile fell. “Pepto Bismol.” he glanced over at AJ, “Got an upset stomach, indigestion or diarrhea?”

“I wish that’s what I had right now.” AJ groaned.

“Pop the trunk.” was all Nick said as he got out of the car.

“Why?”

“Gonna check to see if they have anything in the back.”

“Probably nothing more than car tools.”

“You never know. Think positive Jay.”

Shrugging, AJ pressed the button that popped the trunk open. Nick lifted the trunk door up and beamed upon what he found. “Bingo!” he cried out happily.

“What’d you find?”

Nick held up closed water bottles, “Water, convenient store snacks and…” he held up a white box, “a first-aid kit.”

“What are the odds huh?”

Grabbing an armful of items, Nick closed the trunk and jumped back into his passenger seat. “That’s what positive thinking will do for ya.” he said as he passed a bottle of water to AJ and allowed the packaged snack to fall from his arms.

“Chips, jerkey, cookies… all items for a stakeout?” AJ suggested as he continued to look the items over.

“Perhaps.” Nick shrugged as he opened the first-aid kit. “Gauze, band-aids, ointment… ahh, here we are.” he held a small packet up. “Painkillers.”

“You’re a lifesaver Nick.”

Nick grinned as he tore the packet open, allowing the two pills to fall into AJ’s hand, “Nah man, this car is a lifesaver.”

AJ quickly popped the pills into his mouth and twisted the plastic cap off of his water bottle. He took a long swig; allowing the purified luke-warm liquid to wash down the aspirins, cool his parched throat and quench his thirst. He slightly shook his head, “That’s… not what I meant. I mean you’re an actual lifesaver Nick. I’ll admit, at first I was scared of the fact that I was stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with you, not only that, but we had to go and retrieve help. But you were the one that came up with the idea to take those guys out, and it actually fucking worked. And here you are now, checking up on me and taking care of me, being so altruistic.”

“Altruistic?” Nick laughed, “That’s such a big word, what the hell does that even mean?”

“Selflessness.”

“Oh. Why couldn’t you have just said that?”

AJ laughed, “ANYWAY… what I’m trying to say is… I really don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here with me. Scratch that, I’d probably dig a hole and die in it or something. But… you’re keeping me sane, you’re keeping me focused, you’re keeping me positive, you keep me going… you’re keeping me alive, and just… thank you for that Nick, really.”

Nick gave a genuine smile, “It’s not often you hear the praise and thanks of your eldest brothers, especially your rebellious, badass older brother at that.”

“Yeah, well it’s not often you have the youngest one being the hero. So, thank you.”

Nick continued to stare at AJ, admiring the man at the moment. “So, do you want chips, cookies, jerky…”

“I’ll take the jerky.”

Nick handed him a stick of jerky while he ripped open the small bag of chips for him to munch away on. AJ turned the key in the ignition and put the heater on full blast; he sighed at the cloud of heat that surged out from the vents.

“I’m actually kinda glad we didn’t get that far with our walking… we would’ve been stuck with trying to rest up in the blistering cold.”

Nick nodded as he continued to munch away on his barbeque chips. “Speaking of cold, perhaps you should make like… a makeshift ice bag or something and put it on your head, try to reduce the swelling.”

AJ gave him an amused look, “Are you trying to fish for more compliments here Nick?”

Nick chuckled, “No man, I’m serious. And after you ice it down a bit, I’ll go ahead and put this antiseptic ointment on it.”

“Well, what about you? You better be icing your head down right along with me.”

“I’m all about it.” Nick trailed off as he turned to search for some kind of material in the back seat. The only thing he could find was a black t-shirt, which was crumpled up in a heap on the floor by AJ’s seat. “This will have to do.” Nick said with a shrug as he grabbed the t-shirt and held it in front of him.

“Dude, was that fucking used?”

“It’s not like we’re gonna be wearing it or something.” Nick pointed out as he tugged the shirt down the middle, tearing the material in half.

AJ grabbed the torn material, “You know…” he started as he opened the car door and began scooping up a ball of snow, “I can’t get used to you taking care of me, it’s always been the other way around, with the older ones babying you and whatnot.”

“Well, lets not get used to it.” Nick joked as he too compacted a ball of ice and wrapped the material around it. “I’m sure if the roles were switched right now, with you being better off than me, you’d do the same thing.”

Without saying another word, AJ placed the makeshift ice pack on his head, wincing at the immediate cold that greeted him. “You know what I was just thinking…”

“Hmm, what’s that?”

“We can’t go to sleep, can we?”

Nick gave AJ a look, “Why not?”

“You heard the old man warn us not to go to sleep.”

“As long as we do wakeup checks, then I think we’ll be fine.”

AJ chuckled, “Yeah, and who’s gonna do the wakeup checks?”

“I’ll do it.”

AJ’s eyes widened, “What? No man, you need some sleep yourself.”

“I’ll get some shut eye, I just won’t go into a heavy sleep and all.”

“You… won’t go into a heavy sleep?” AJ asked, his one eyebrow cocked. “Look, just forget I even brought that up. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna go to sleep and have you do the wakeup checks. We’ll both get some sleep, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

But Nick shook his head, “Honestly man, I don’t think I’ll be able to get much sleep anyway. Just… don’t worry about it, you get some sleep and I’ll be checking on you, okay?”

AJ eyed his friend a little longer, but decided not to fight with him. “This fucked up trip has brought us closer to each other, hasn’t it?”

Nick suddenly perked up, “You know… it really has, and I think I just had an epiphany.”

AJ groaned, “Oh god Nick, I’m scared to even ask…”

“Everything from us being bossed around to do things together, to us sharing the bathroom, even to us being the first to escape and having to go find help together…”

“I really don’t wanna know where you’re heading with this…”

“Dude, I think we’re gay.”

“GOODNIGHT Nick!”