Heartless Winter
By: Riley
Summary - Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours." ~Robert Byrne
"Oh my god!" Carlos Garcia cried, staring out the window. His wide-eyed, crazy smiled reflection looked back at him as he looked out at the snow. "Dudes, come and look at this!"
Logan Mitchell didn't even bother looking up from his text book. After a few more minutes of looking at it, he turned his head to the side, looking at a notebook, and started to scribble something in it. No doubt, he was doing some homework. "What now, Carlos?" He asked with a sigh, effectively letting his friend know that he wasn't really that interested."
"It's snowing."
"It's been snowing."
"No, man, it's snowing!" Carlos was bouncing up and down on his tip-toes now. There was no way that he could mask his excitement over the fact that it was snowing. Snow was probably one of his favorite things in the world, except his helmet and food of course. "It's freaking coming down!"
Logan finally looked up, frowning. "What're you talking about? I thought today we were only supposed to get a few flurries?"
"Please," Carlos looked offended as he turned and looked at his smart friend. "Those weathermen are quacks, they never get anything right." Logan opened his mouth, ready to contradict him, but was cut off as Carlos started to jump again, not able to be serious for more than a few minutes. "It's. Coming. Down, man."
James Diamond, who was standing at the window on the far side of the room, peeking through the blinds, gestured at Logan. "C'mon, man. Come see this, its perfect snowboard weather."
Logan's frown deepened, then he shrugged and got up; his textbook remained nestled in the palm of one hand. "Man, this better be good: I really need to get my homework finished," he said as he approached the window.
"What homework?" James' eyebrows flew up into his hairline as he turned from the window. "It's the weekend."
"This is next week's homework," Logan replied with a smug smile. "It's better to be safe than sorry."
James looked back at Logan, looking like he was thinking of a few choice words to throw at his friends, and then drew away from the window. "Just look at the snow."
Logan stood in front of the window and parted the blinds with his fingers. Blue-white light spotlighted his left eye, which widened, then blinked repeatedly. "Whoa!" He dropped his book to the ground, the idea of homework forgotten at the look of the blanket of snow.
Carlos cackled. "What'd I tell ya?"
"Looks like it could be a blizzard," Logan sounded concerned. The snow outside was coming down so thick you couldn't see anything past it; it was just one big shifting white curtain.
Carlos stopped laughing, and frowned. "What?"
Logan gestured at the view. "It looks like a blizzard," he repeated. "The way the snow is coming down, we're gonna be under at least three feet by lunchtime..." He shook his head and looked back at the snow.
"What are you turds standing around for?"
Logan, Carlos, and James turned around to see Kendall Knight, their last friend and their 'leader', standing behind him, dressed head to toe in snow gear. He held a phone in his hand and a mischievous smile on his face. "Mom just called, she's not going to be home for a while and Katie's at a friend's house," he paused. "She says 'hi' by the way," he added.
Logan, Carlos, and James were at Kendall's house like they did every weekend ever since they met. Mrs. Knight was never surprised when the front door opened unexpectedly and one of the boys just waltzed in, the Knight house was pretty much all of the boys' house, they came and went as they pleased and she didn't mind. Along with her daughter Katie, Mrs. Knight loved being able to take care of all of the boys. She reveled at the idea of them having a sleepover so she could be mother hen to all of them. It was just the way things were with them and that was that, no questions asked.
"Anyway," Kendall licked his lips, his green-yellow eyes flashing. "It's the snowstorm of the century and you guys are just sitting there staring out the window?" He rolled his eyes and then started to laugh. "Hello! Let's go out there and snowboard or something, there's no reason for us to stay inside."
Logan mentally groaned, seeing that James and Carlos were getting excited as well. Oh great, now they're just going to go charging out there with no idea of the danger this storm can bring. "Kendall, I'm not sure that's a good idea." He stated slowly.
Kendall's lips pulled into a smirk. "Can you tell me why not?"
"Why not?" Logan snorted and waved an arm, gesturing towards the window. "Have you seen the snow out there?"
"I know," Kendall smiled gleefully. "Isn't it great?" He shrugged a shoulder, looking the least bit concerned. "Granted that we're not going to really be able to play hockey, but if we go up to the mountain, we should pretty much have it to ourselves to go snowboarding."
"The mountains?" Logan's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Do you know how dangerous that is? Especially if we have to go driving over the snow and slush?" He shook his head. "No way, dude, this is probably the worst idea that you can possibly have. It's too dangerous. Too risky."
Kendall then took the chance to slap his hand down on Logan's shoulder and give him a look that Logan knew that he was most likely going to be outvoted in the next few seconds. "A life without risk is a life unlived, Logie."
Logan sighed heavily, trying not to get wheedled into Kendall's plans. But as soon as he saw Kendall's lips turn down into a pout, he knew that he had lost the winning battle. Kendall almost always got his way and if there was something snow related that he wanted to do, he was going to do it and none of Logan's very sensible reasoning was going to stop him.
Even if Logan was right.
Logan pushed Kendall's hand off of his shoulder. "I'll go get the first aid kit," he grumbled and went to the kitchen. "I need to get new friends," he muttered under his breath, his words drowned out by James, Carlos, and Kendall's whoops of excitement.
"Woooohoooooo!" Carlos screamed as he raced down the face of the hill, swishing this way and that, bending his knees so his snowboard could take him down safely. But of course, Carlos being Carlos, he ended up hitting something, a rock maybe, and rolled down the hill to a stop.
"Oooh, I give that an 8," James stated as he stood at the bottom of the hill, shielding his face from the snow that was barreling his way. "The jump was good, and he had a great run down, but then he crashed."
"I don't know," Kendall rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I think that the crash gave it more pizzazz, I give him a nine." He grinned and turned to Logan, who was standing beside him. "What do you think, Logie?"
"I think he should get a 7," Logan commented with a smile, but then held a look of seriousness. "For noise pollution." He laughed along with his friends as Carlos got himself up and walked over to them, dragging his snowboard behind him.
As soon as they had gotten to the mountain, the snow had let up, and that also caused Logan's worry to lessen and he actually started to enjoy himself. Kendall was right, there was hardly anyone on the mountain, the last few people had left the house before, and now the four of them were reveling in the fact that they could frolic as much as they wanted to without having to bother someone. But of course with Logan being Logan, there was still a bit of worry in the back of his mind, like something bad was going to happen.
And usually when he had that feeling, something bad did happen.
Don't think about that Logie Logan thought to himself firmly as he shook his head, shoving his hands deeper into his jacket pockets. You're with your friends, you have a first aid kit, and everyone knows not to do something totally stupid.
"Whooo!"
Spoke too soon. Logan added as he let his eyes follow James down the mountain. He was sitting on his snowboard rather than standing on it, and while he had passed his friends, he lay down on his back and stuck his hands and feet up into the air.
The thought had only just crossed Logan's mind before he saw James' board stop, but James kept going, rolling down a few feet, before he came to a stop. But unlike the other times, James didn't get back up. He just laid there.
"James?" Kendall said. His tone was laced with worry and he hesitated a second before jogging down to his friend, Logan and Carlos going after him. "James? Are you ok?"
James moaned as he continued to lie in the snow, his eyes were squeezed shut and his left arm was lying against his chest, his right hand gripping on it tightly. His teeth were clenched together and he sucked in a sharp, whistled breath between them each time he breathed. When Carlos reached him and placed a hand on his shoulder, he winced and shifted away a little bit. He was in pain and if Logan had to guess, just by looking at him, he had probably broken his arm.
"What happened?" Logan demanded, dropping to his knees by James' side.
"I think I broke my arm," James said, opening his hazel eyes, they were laced with pain. "I fell off my board and put my arms out to stop me…"
"You know you're not supposed to break a fall with your hands." Logan scolded as he gently picked up James' arm and started to expect it.
"Well I wasn't going to do it with my face!" James said in reply, his eyes flashing.
"Yeah but-"
"Is he going to be ok?" Kendall interrupted, sensing that an argument was coming their way and it was the last thing he wanted.
"Yes," Logan replied after a few more moments of examination. "He's going to be fine, but we should get him some pain pills and get him to a doctor." He gently placed James' arm back to his side. "I have it in the first aid kit back at the cabin, we can get that and then get to the car and go back to town."
"Come on, buddy," Carlos said as he grabbed onto James' good arm and helped his tall friend stand. "Let's get you to the doctor."
"Can we fix my arm without going to the doctor?" James asked with a charming smile. It was no secret that James hated needles, hated doctors, and hated everything that had to go with it. He turned to Logan and widened his smile. "Can't you fix me?"
"Not without the proper help," Logan said, firmly shaking his head. "We have to get you to a doctor and that's that." He turned to Carlos. "You help him up and Kendall and I'll be right behind you, we have to grab our boards first."
"Ok," Carlos said and he and James gently turned around and started to walk back up the hill.
Logan turned around and spotted his snowboard, quickly grabbing it. He then went over and grabbed James'. He turned t over and sucked in a breath when he saw a large scratched on the bottom of it. His eyebrows furrowed together for a moment but then they cleared as he blinked rapidly, trying to get snow out of his eyelashes. Logan tilted his head back, acutely aware that snowflakes started to fall and looked at the gray sky.
He frowned.
Everything looks so ominous now he mused to himself. Not like before, before everything was so serene, but now…
"Logan, come on."
Kendall was standing at Logan's side, holding onto Carlos' and his snowboards under his arms. Like Logan, he had a worried look on his face, but he didn't say anything, he just tilted his head to the side and turned and started to shuffle up the hill. Logan followed after him. The two of them trudged up the hill the best they could, but halfway up, they had to use their snowboards to shield their faces; blocking the gusts of wind that blew waves of snow in their faces.
"I can't see!" Carlos cried, a few feet ahead of them. He and James had stopped walking and were turning their faces from the wind. "I can't see anything!"
"There's too much snow!" James added.
"We'll walk away from the wind then," Kendall said back after a moment of thought. "We'll walk around the hill and wind our way to the top, that way the snow and the wind will always be at our backs." Then he turned to Logan. "What do you think?"
Logan was surprised.
Never in the whole time that they had been friends did Kendall ever ask him his opinion on a decision that he had ever made. But now, the way that Kendall was looking at him, Logan knew that he didn't really know what to do, but didn't want to panic and cause the others some sort of panic as well, that would just make things worse. But they were in a bad predicament already. The hill was big, and the way that the wind was blowing, it almost knocking the four of them over, and all of the snow that was falling…
They were going to have to make a decision soon or they were really going to be in trouble.
"Yeah," Logan nodded and licked his lips, bringing some snow into his mouth. "We should walk with the wind rather than walking against it, it would be harder to get up, and this way, we're not going directly up the hill that would make it harder on us in the long run." He then looked indecisive.
But going in a straight line is better to get from point A to point B. Oh, make up your mind, Logie!
"Yeah," Logan repeated himself. "Let's go."
Kendall nodded back and moved ahead of Carlos and James, making sure that he wasn't so far ahead that he would leave them behind, and Logan fell in behind all of them and the four of them started to walk up the mountain.
"Kendall honey, we're home!" Jennifer Knight called as she entered her house, her daughter Katie darting ahead of her, pulling off her jacket as she ran up to her room to grab a sweatshirt. Jennifer's eyebrows lowered when she didn't get a reply. "Kendall?"
Silence.
She walked in the living room and looked around, chip bags, couch cushions, hockey magazines, and notebooks were strewn about the place. He and his friends were definitely there before, but where were they now?
Jennifer was never really one to worry about her son, but something, her mother's intuition was telling her that something wasn't right. She hadn't seen his car in the driveway, signaling her that he wasn't home…and the snow was now coming down harder, the wind blowing gusts so hard that she could hear the trees around their house creaking as she walked inside.
"Kendall?" She pulled off her jacket and walked to the kitchen to place it on the back of her chair. "Logan? Carlos?" Jennifer turned to pull her phone from her pocket, just in case she had missed a call from him. A folded up sheet of paper caught her attention and she reached out and grabbed it.
Mom,
Went to go snowboarding with the guys, we'll be back by 5:00 at the latest.
Love,
Kendall
Jennifer looked over to the microwave and saw that it was only 4:25; there was still 35 minutes for them to get home. Relief washed over her and she called Kendall's phone and left him a message telling him that she had gotten home and that she saw his note and dinner would be on the table by the time that they got home.
"Hey mom, where are the guys?" Katie asked as she slipped into the kitchen.
"They went snowboarding, they should be back soon." Jennifer replied as she picked up the stack of mail that one of the boys had gathered before they left and started to leaf through it.
"Ok," Katie shrugged. "What's for dinner?"
"Shouldn't we be near the cabin by now?"
Kendall wiped snow off of his face, letting out a breath of air. Normally he would be able to see the condensation, the cloud that it would make, but now…it was getting dark. He could tell that much, as his face was starting to feel like it was frozen. The sky was a light pink/orange, and darkness was settling in quickly. Carlos was right, they should have been to the cabin by then, but he hadn't seen anything for the past half hour that they had been walking. But he didn't want to say anything, because he knew that it was his fault. He was the one that suggested that they take the long way around to get to the cabin, but to his defense, there was too much wind and too much snow for him to be able to see where he was going if they continued right up the hill. The wind was so strong he was almost blown off of his feet by it, and if the wind could affect him, it was definitely going to affect Carlos and Logan, who were significantly smaller than him and James.
"I was thinking the same thing," Kendall said slowly as he turned around, gauging Carlos, James, and Logan's reactions. Carlos' eyes had steadily widened, but Logan and James stayed silent. "I'm sure we're almost there though, not much longer-"
"That's not really the problem though," Logan interrupted, looking like he was pained to have to say what he was going to say. "It's getting dark, and the temperature is dropping quickly." He hesitated. "If we don't…"
He didn't have to finish his sentence; they knew what he was going to say.
They've live in Minnesota long enough to know that you had the possibility of freezing if you were out past dark and didn't get to some warmth and shelter soon. There had been many news stories about it while they were growing up, people that had gotten lost in the mountains due to heavy snow…
They just never thought that it was going to happen to them.
It's not going to happen to us, Kendall thought firmly as he clenched his jaw, looking around. We're going to get out of this.
It was snowing too hard. He'd never seen snow like this before. He wasn't too nervous; there was food in the car, and they had their cell phones on them if they really ever needed it, but he didn't really like the idea of being in the cold Minnesota night, and the sun was only starting to set. But in the winter, it got dark fast, and it was slow going, the snow was still coming down with no signs of letting up.
There'd be plenty more white stuff before morning.
"Keep going," Kendall urged. "Or we'll never make it."
His eyes stung from the snow that rushed by his face. The icy wind had flushed his cheeks and turned them rosy red. He could only move slowly because his boots were sinking into the deep snow. He pulled his stiff hand in front of his face. As he lifted his glove up, it dissolved, disappearing into the white beyond.
He looked behind him as Logan, James, and Carlos slowly trudged along behind him. His footprints were already covered by a fresh blanket of snow. Shaking and shivering, he turned back around and continued on.
Jennifer paced back and forth in front of the phone, constantly looking at her watch. Katie sat by the front door, looking out the window for any sign of her brother and his friends. It was 6:00 now and the guys weren't home. As soon as 5:00 came and went, Jennifer called the Diamonds, the Garcias, and the Mitchells, but they hadn't seen their sons either. So Jennifer called the police and they now had officers out looking for them. She wanted to help too, to be able to go out and see her son for her own eyes, just to make sure that he was ok. But she had been banished to the house, so she could be on the lookout for the boys in case they made it home.
Katie wasn't doing that well either, sure she made fun of the guys and called them idiots and purposely got their spirits down, but that was what little sisters were supposed to do and she wasn't just Kendall's little sister. She was the little sister to all of them and she couldn't bear the thought that anything would happen to one or all of them.
If I had known that they were going to disappear, I wouldn't have made fun of them so much about their singing voices and their photo shoots and all of that. Katie angrily wiped tears away from her eyes. I definitely wouldn't have gotten into that fight with Kendall.
Katie's and Jennifer's heads whipped around when they heard the phone starting to ring. Jennifer was across the room and had grabbed the phone in the moment it took for Katie's to blink and she quickly put it up to her ear, holding it so tightly that her hands turned white almost instantly.
"Hello?" She asked, trying not to keep her voice steady.
"Mom. . ." a voice at the other end fearfully whispered.
"Kendall!" Jennifer almost collapsed in her relief. "Where are you? Are you ok? What about the other boys?"
"Mom . . . I can't talk long….battery's dying…" Static caused Kendall's voice to crackle, causing Jennifer to press the phone against her ear so hard that her head started to pound along with her pulse.
She strained to hear. "Kendall . . . are you still there? Kendall?"
"Mom," Katie was now at her mother's side, lightly tugging at the bottom of Jennifer's shirt. "Mom, what's he saying?"
"I'm here, Mom. We're fine…James….hurt his arm…we're all cold…it's too dark…snowing hard…wind blowing…"
More static came onto the line and Jennifer desperately tried to hear what he was saying. "Kendall, what about Logan and Carlos? And you? Where are you?"
"Wh- -ie - Oak -cold - - - "
"Kendall?" Jennifer shouted. "KENDALL!"
But the line had gone dead.
"W-w-w-ere you able to t-t-t-tell her where we a-a-a-are?" James asked, standing close to Logan and Carlos to block the wind. His teeth were chattering so hard that his whole body was shaking. Every now and then he went to go and rub his arms, but he would wince and let out a cry of pain.
"I t-t-t-t-told her we're at W-w-w-white O-o-oak, b-b-b-but I d-d-d-don't know if she heard me." Kendall replied with effort. He turned to Logan, who looked miserable, but didn't want to say anything. "What s-s-s-s-should we do now L-L-L-L-L-Logan?"
"Why are you…?" Logan waited until a shudder went through his body. "Asking me?"
"Because you always know what to-"Kendall closed his eyes and leaned forward as another gust of wind blew through the four of them. Instinctively, they all moved closer, until their heads were touching, shivering so hard they never thought that they would be warm again. "What to do. So think genius. It's dark, its cold, and we don't know where we are, and we've been walking for hours!" His voice rose with each word until it echoed across the empty sky and through the bare trees.
After not finding the cabin the first time the guys continued to wander, until they came to the final conclusion that they were lost and didn't know where they were going, so they had stopped and decided to check their phones to see if they had service. Kendall's phone was the only one that had it so they had just called his mother, but now they weren't sure if she knew where they were. So they were stuck in the middle of the woods, somewhere in the mountains, and the snow was still coming down. It was high enough that the boys had to use a lot of effort to lift their feet high enough to keep going.
James let out another groan of pain as he shifted his arm ever so slightly. The tears from the pain had already frozen on his face, and he was scared of crying even more just in case.
"Well whose fault is that?" Logan shouted back, his voice echoing as well. "I wasn't the one that wanted to come out here today! I told you that it was dangerous!"
"Are you saying this is my fault?" Kendall demanded.
"YES, YOU IDIOT, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Logan screamed back with so much effort that his throat immediately went raw.
"No," Kendall shoved Logan in the chest. "This is your fault, you didn't tell me to go back to the top the way you wanted me to." His chest heaved up and down as he moved into Logan's face. "I could see it in your face; you could have saved us BUT YOU DIDN'T FUCKING SAY ANYTHING!"
"Guys-"Carlos piped up, speaking for the first time in a while.
"WHAT COULD I HAVE SAID, KENDALL?" Logan shoved Kendall back. "Do you know how fucking stubborn you are? Do you know how long I would have had to keep nagging you just for you to understand how dangerous this could be! But noooooo," he rolled his eyes. "Kendall Knight always has to get his way!" He shoved Kendall again. "This is your fault!"
"No, it's your fault!" Kendall shoved him back.
"Yours!"
"Yours!"
"Guys!" Carlos pleaded, taking a step closer to his friends.
"Guys, knock it off." James added.
But the pleas fell on deaf ears.
"Yours!"
"Yours!"
"Yours!"
"GUYS!" Carlos leapt forward to break up the fight, but one more shove sent Logan stumbling into Carlos, which knocked him off his feet, causing him to stumble down a small hillside.
James, Logan, and Kendall stared, eyes wide, into nothing as they heard Carlos' screech of shock and then his cries as he rolled down the hill. Their eyes widened even further when they head s distant splash from somewhere below them and then spluttering. James the first one to move; blindly racing down in the direction that Carlos was last seen.
"CARLOS!" James shouted as he ran, holding onto his left arm with his right, trying to keep it from flopping all over the place as he ran. "Carlos, are you ok?"
"Carlos!" Kendall and Logan quickly ran after James.
They stopped when the ground leveled off, just in case they had landed in the same watery area that Carlos had fallen. Logan quickly whipped a flashlight out of his pocket and shined it around. Hearing the sound of water running, he followed it until he spotted a small creek and Carlos standing in the middle, arms wrapped around himself, leaking water, and shivering. Logan's heart ached when he saw that Carlos' lips were blue and that he was shivering so hard it looked like his eyes were rolling up into his head.
"Carlos." James gasped.
"Quick, we have to get him out of his wet clothes," Logan said, moving forward and taking off of his jacket. He immediately felt the cold prick his skin through his sweatshirt as he did so. "Get on the ground Carlos. James, Kendall, help me."
Logan pushed Carlos onto the ground and quickly pulled off his jacket, sweatshirt, pants, shoes, and socks, until he was left in his underwear and undershirt. Kendall quickly removed his jacket and his beanie. He took off Carlos' helmet and slid it over his head so his ears were covered, and then laid his jacket down on top of Logan's.
Kendall looked up as James let out whimpers of pain, trying to move his broken arm out of his jacket. In the light of the flashlight, he could see that James' arm was turning black and blue, but the snow that they had packed on it earlier had kept the swelling down. But Kendall knew, from many broken bones from hockey, that it hurt like hell.
"Try not to hurt yourself, James," Kendall advised.
James nodded, biting his lower lip, and let out a short scream as his arm fell back to his side, and then tossed the jacket to Logan, who laid it down on top of the other two. Kendall looked at Logan, his lips were turning blue as well, and he continued to shiver, his lower lip moving so fast it was hard to see. Kendall was all too aware that he probably looked the same way.
"Ok, now we need to make sure that he has enough body heat to keep warm," Logan sat down on the ground behind Carlos, pulling him up into a sitting position, and shuffled forward, giving Carlos a hug from behind. James and Kendall sat down on the other sides and wrapped their arms around Carlos was well, all too aware that he was shivering so much it was like he was having a seizure.
The four of them sat in silence, holding onto each other for dear life. They had no idea how much time had gone by and they tried not to think of that either, thinkign of the time that had passed would just cause the panic that they were trying to suppress to come out and cause them to all become hysterical. Carlos' shivering had subsided over time, but he still wasn't out of the woods yet. They all knew that after you fell into icy water in the winter you needed hospital attention immediately, but since they were all by themselves…they didn't want to think about what was going to happen.
If Carlos had ever been scared before now he was downright terrified now.
"Guys," he managed to say after a few attempts. "I j-j-j-j-just w-w-w-anted to say….t-t-t-that I l-l-l-l-love y-you."
"Don't you dare say that," Kendall whispered fiercely. "Don't you dare start saying your goodbyes. We're not going to die out here. There's no way in hell I'm going to let us die out here."
"I love you guys, too." James whispered. "You're my best friends in the whole world, you're my brothers."
"I'm sorry Kendall," Logan said, looking at the blonde. He closed his eyes at another gust of wind that creaked through the trees around them. "I shouldn't have said that this was your fault, it wasn't. I should have tried harder to stop you guys from going out here."
"N-n-n-no," Kendall said. He shook his blonde hair from his face, but it stayed glued to his forehead from ice. "No, it's not your fault. It's mine; I didn't listen to you when you tried to stop me. I should have listened to you."
Logan stayed silent; he just closed his eyes and tried to focus on keeping Carlos warm.
All of a sudden there was a mournful cry that filled the air and Kendall, Logan, and James tensed up, immediately crushing Carlos even further in his hug. "W-w-w-w-w-w-what was t-t-t-t-t-that?" Carlos whispered. If it weren't for the situation that they were in, Carlos' fear would have been comical.
"Sounded like a wolf," Logan swallowed thickly. "But don't worry; they don't usually attack humans without being provoked."
Everyone knew that he was lying, but didn't call him out on it.
"Listen guys, I think that I should go and try and find some help," Logan said after a moment. Kendall immediately started to protest, but Logan interrupted him. "No, I know there's a ranger station out here, and if I stay close to the forest edge, I should be able to find it." He struggled to give an impish smile, one that he gave whenever he was doing homework. "I've studied maps and I've read survival books, I know I can make it."
"Logan you can't-"
"I'm going," Logan interrupted firmly and then turned his pleading eyes to Kendall. "You're the strongest one out of us, you need to stay here and support James and Carlos, to try and keep them safe, I know that you can do that, just like I know I can do this."
"Fine," Kendall finally nodded. "Go, we'll be ok."
"Come back soon, Logie." James sounded like a little kid cowering in fear, talking in a small voice. "Carlos and I can't go anywhere, and like you said, if anyone knows where to go, it's you. Just be careful."
"I will." Logan promised and picked up his flashlight. "I'll be back again soon if I can't find anything give me an hour."
"One hour, and then we come looking for you," Kendall agreed.
Logan nodded back and, making the hardest decision of his life, he turned on his heel and walked away from his friends.
Logan didn't know how long he had walked, but he knew that he had passed his hour mark, but he didn't turn around. Somehow, someway, he knew that he was really close to getting rescue for him and his friends. He held his flashlight up in front of him as he continued to make his way through the forest. The wing kept changing direction, causing his movements to effectively slow turn, turning sluggish. His stomach growled loudly and his eyelids began to droop.
He was losing energy and knew that soon he was going to pass out.
No Logan, you have to keep going, you have to get there…for your friends…You can do it…you can do it…you can…
Logan pitched forward into the snow, his head tilted to the side, and his flashlight held tightly in his hand. He opened his mouth, licking his lips.
"Help, Help!" He called and continued to call, until his voice dyed away and he passed out…
When Logan slowly woke up, he was aware that he was staring at the ceiling of a building instead of the sky. He had an oxygen mask over his face, he was bundled up in blankets, and he had an IV in his arm. Logan's eyebrows furrowed together as he thought back about what had last happened.
I remember looking at the sky. It was clear and I could see the sky clearly, even though it was dark. I was lying down on my back, buried in the snow. Where was everyone else? Did they get out too? Were they rescued?
Logan tried to sit up, but his head was pounding, he frantically tried to look around, to see where his friends were.
"Relax Logie, we're all here." Kendall voice said from his right. Logan slowly turned his head and smiled when he looked at him, then his eyes traveled to the other side of the room and it grew wider when he saw that James and Carlos were in the room too. The latter were asleep; they had oxygen masks over their faces as well.
Logan looked back at Kendall and smiled. "Yeah," he croaked. "You are." Logan was suddenly aware of his voice sounding weird, quiet. His lips were swollen and he had a scrape on his cheek.
"You saved us, Logie." Kendall continued to smile. "You saved our lives." Tears started to fall down his cheeks. "You saved our lives."
Logan just shrugged. He wanted to say 'it was nothing' but he couldn't say the words. He knew that it wasn't 'nothing' because if they were ever in the reversed position, if it was him that was hurt, one of his friends would have gone off and looked for help for them as well.
"You'd do it for me," Logan whispered back. "You're my brothers."
"Yeah," Kendall smiled back. "We're buds. We're brothers; we're always going to be there for each other no matter what we say or do to each other. We're always going to be there." He then yawned loudly. "Man, I'm tired."
"Go to sleep," Logan chuckled quietly.
"Ok, Dr." Kendall replied, laughing back, before turning his head back and closing his eyes.
"Oh and Kendall," Logan waited for Kendall to open his eyes again. "You're such a turd."
Kendall laughed.
Logan smiled and closed his eyes.
THE END
A/N: Whew, over 6000 words, this took me all day to write.
I don't know, I don't think I realistically gave them the tension between them as well as the desperation of being found. Hopefully I did, but I don't feel like it. I also don't know why I focused it on Logan, maybe because he's the smartest and would be able to get the guys out of that predicament better than Kendall. I don't know.
I hope you guys liked it, this is the first long one-shot that I have written only about the boys, so…yeah…
Cheers,
-Riles