A/N Thanks SO much for your reviews guys! I was super busy this week but I promise to reply to all of you asap because it means soooo much to me! I hope you are all likin' this so far!

Sleep seemed like a distant thing to me. I envied Carlos, who was peaceful and dead to the world, held snug in my arms without a care. I wished I could be temporarily innocent like that. But sleep evaded me for hours as my mind rushed with fear. It was all really starting to sink in. We were truly, no doubt about it, lost, with only each other to rely on. We were completely alone. My job was to protect Carlos. That much was for sure, but how? The best I could do was to keep him warm and calm. But what would I do when a few days passed, if the boys never found us? What would we eat, how would we survive the cold? How could I protect Carlos from the fierce elements, let alone keep myself alive?

I wondered what Kendall and Logan were doing right now. They were probably freaking out, most likely. The ranger station was miles away from where we had been, but I knew they probably walked all the way down there even in the dark to report us missing. I also knew that any search parties wouldn't be sent out until the morning, so like it or not, we were stuck here all night. I could only pray that this would be our first and only night lost in the wilderness.

Suddenly, I heard a loud snap in the woods around me. I tensed, my eyes darting around, looking for whatever made that noise while my grip on Carlos tightened. Several moments went by and the woods were silent again, so I slowly allowed my body to relax. I blamed the noise on my mind playing tricks on me, which was bound to happen considering I was paranoid and sleep deprived. But when another twig snapped, I gasped and sat up. Carlos slipped out of my grasp, but I still kept a protective hand on his chest. I could hear a rustle of leaves as whatever was hidden by the trees came closer to our tiny, makeshift camp. I whimpered and glanced to the fire, wondering what I should do. I couldn't remember if fire actually beckons wild animals, or kept them away. Would staying still and silent help, or would it be better to wake Carlitos and run?

When I heard a soft but menacing growl, I really started to freak out, especially since whatever was growling remained unseen. It was definitely not a sweet little deer this time.

"Carlos, Carlos please wake up," I said, shaking his shoulder. My voice was quiet but high pitched and my eyes stayed focused on the trees, expecting something horrifying to jump out at any moment.

"Mmm?" Carlos moaned, sitting up and rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Carlos, there's a monster," I said. My heart pounded in my chest and it was so quiet out here I bet Carlos could hear the rapid thumps.

"Wh-what?" Carlos asked, alarmed. I could tell that I freaked him out.

There was another growl, this time louder, and we both jumped up to our feet in unison, grabbing onto each other's shoulders.

"Ssh," I said, knowing Carlos was gearing to scream at any moment. The Latino muffled the sound best he could. I didn't blame him, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs too, whatever good that would do.

"Where is it, James?" Carlos whispered.

"I don't know," I said. I could hear another growl, followed by a different one, and I realized with a disgusting sinking feeling in my stomach that there was more than one of whatever was stalking us.

"Oh God, James," Carlos whimpered, holding onto my shaking arm tightly. The "monster" finally made its appearance known. A large, black and gray wolf stepped out of the shadows, baring its teeth menacingly, and two more wolves of the same color and stature did the same exact thing.

The wolf in the middle growled again and snapped his teeth viciously. I felt Carlos tugging on my arm, but I was paralyzed by fear.

"James, we have to run," Carlos said desperately. Finally, my body synched up with my brain and we both turned and ran as fast as our legs could carry us. Carlos was struggling to keep up since his legs were so much shorter than mine, and at one point I ended up practically dragging him behind me.

But we were not running fast enough. I felt something tugging against my hold on Carlos, and he let out a blood curdling scream as he was pulled right out of my grip.

"Carlos!" I yelled, stumbling over my own feet to stop running at such a fast momentum. I turned around to see Carlos on the ground with the three large wolves on top of him, attacking him like he was a little ragdoll.

"Carlos, no!" I shouted, horrified. I thought fast and reached into my pocket, pulling out the knife I kept in there. I flipped the switchblade open and ran towards the wolves. Right when one was about to snap its jaws around Carlos' neck, I jumped on his furry, muscular back and, in a swift, strong motion, I ran the jagged blade of my knife across the wolf's neck, severing his jugular. Blood immediately started pouring from his neck and he was dead in an instant. I tossed his limp body aside and started helping Carlos with the other two wolves. His little body was putting up quite the fight, throwing kicks and punches left and right. His small, but surprisingly strong, fist collided with one of the wolf's eyes, and it staggered back with a whimper of pain.

"Get off of my brother," I cried, stabbing my knife in the hind leg of the wolf that was still attacking Carlos, puncturing his muscle. I than punched him in the snout, sending that wolf down for the count.

"James, run," Carlos pleaded, sounding exhausted but terrified. He was gripping his obviously hurt shoulder as tears streaked down his dirty face, and my eyes met with what he was looking at. The wolf Carlos had punched was staring at me, as if he knew I had killed his brother and seriously injured the other. He had a killer gleam in his yellow eyes and looked ready to attack at any second.

"James! Run!" Carlos repeated, only this time he was screaming. It was a demand. As much as I didn't want to leave Carlos, especially when I didn't even know what kind of condition he was in, I obeyed his command and took off with the angry wolf right behind me. The only good thing was that I had distracted the wolf's attention away from Carlos, but it was only a matter of seconds before the canine would bring me down with him. I somehow evaded him, but not for long. The wolf pounced on me, his claws digging into my back. I landed on my stomach, and the blow knocked some of the breath out of me, but I was able to flip onto my back, which was a necessary feat in keeping the wolf's jaw away from my neck.

I just let my legs and arms flail, punching and kicking the wolf just as Carlos had done, anything to keep his massive jaws from clamping around my jugular. But my strength was quickly fading. The wolf was pure muscle and not letting up anytime soon, as he was pretty much uninjured. I couldn't hold him off for much longer.

"Carlos," I cried, struggling to fight the wolf. I caught a glimpse of something near me from the corner of my eye, a medium sized rock. It was a risky move, but I reached behind me and grabbed it. I raised it up and, with all my strength, brought the rock down on the wolf's head. It whimpered and fell to the ground, temporarily dazed.

"Carlitos, where are you buddy?" I cried as I got to my feet. My knees were shaking but my best friend was the only thing on my mind.

Carlos didn't answer me though. I took a step forward to go find him, but the wolf that had attacked me was tough. He growled at me loudly and stood up a bit dizzily. I backed away slowly, wondering how in the world I would be able to survive once more. I was weak and out of weapons.

"Just leave me alone," I pleaded, as if the creature would actually take pity on me and go away. I was his dinner, and he would stop at nothing to kill me. I continued to back up. Unbeknownst to me, though, was that the wolf had chased me all the way to a cliff side. I didn't realize until the last minute that I was running out of solid ground, when a gut instinct told me to stop moving. I looked down and gulped, feeling dizzy. I was right on the edge of a large, rocky cliff. I could see in the moonlight the water rushing around the sharp rocks a good one hundred feet below. I tore my eyes away and look forward at the wolf, who seemed to know I was trapped and was just waiting to pounce on me. There was nowhere for me to go. Certain death waited behind me and in front of me.

Several things happened in the following couple of seconds. The wolf lunged for me in an attack that was sure to have toppled me over the cliff, killing us both. But right as it jumped towards me, a scream that resembled a battle cry could be heard and something small and fast surprised the wolf by tackling him from the side, bringing the angry beast down before it could kill me. I had just enough time to realize it was Carlos who somehow came to my rescue, but it was too late. I had staggered back instinctively and, in a sickening motion, my feet slipped from under me. My stomach rushed to my throat as I felt myself falling. I screamed and flailed my arms, searching desperately for something to hold onto. I was blinded by panic, but my fingers found something solid to grab onto and I held on for dear life, screaming until my throat was raw for help. I struggled to climb back up but I couldn't without assistance. My fingers were slipping. The rocks and rushing water were waiting for me below.

"Carlos, please help me!" I begged. Despite my own panic, I was afraid for him too. If he didn't come to my rescue it would mean the wolf had defeated him. And I couldn't live with that. I might as well just let go of the small ledge I had grasped and fall to imminent death because I wouldn't be able to face life knowing I had pretty much let my little brother die.

I felt like passing out with relief when Carlos' worn, bloodied face came into view. He collapsed onto his belly and reached his arms down, his eyes filled with terror at my predicament.

"Oh my God, James! Hold onto me bro!" Carlos cried. But I found myself unable to move my arms. I was too scared, paralyzed by fear. I made the mistake of looking down again and burst into sobs, pleading for Carlos to help me, even though I refused to hold onto him. My legs felt heavy and my arms were shaking with my weight. Carlos could see my fingers slipping and was getting desperate.

"James, I can't reach you! You need to help me out!" Carlos yelled. "Snap out of it dude! I won't let you fall!"

"I-I can't," I said. I was too terrified to let go of the one thing that was keeping me alive.

"Yes you can, James. You have to!" Carlos said forcefully. "Trust me, Jamie. I promise."

With a whimper, I mustered up enough courage to trust Carlos with my life and let go with one hand. I closed my eyes and reached my hand up with all the power I had left in me. I was sure I was going to die at that moment, but cold, strong fingers closed around my wrist and pulled me.

"There we go, just one more hand!" Carlos said. I chanced opening my eyes for a second to see Carlos' other hand reaching down for mine. I wondered if Carlos really could pull me up, and I had a horrible vision of him slipping and both of us tumbling down the cliff face together. But Carlos' gentle words of encouragement kept me from panicking further.

"You can do this, James. I have you. Nothing is going to happen to you. Just take my hand, buddy," Carlos said. I knew I could trust my brother with my life, so I finally let go of the ledge and grabbed onto Carlos' hand. The younger boy tugged with all of his might and I helped him by trying to climb up the cliff side with my legs.

"You made it, James," Carlos said breathlessly, wrapping his arms around my back and pulling me up with one last heave. I crawled desperately onto the solid ground. Carlos let out a pained cry he had been holding on once I was safe and fell to his side, clutching his shoulder with one hand, while his free arm was wrapped protectively around me, pulling me into his chest. I sobbed into his shirt for a moment, wondering how in the world I had survived that.

"It's ok, it's ok," Carlos chanted, stroking my hair. I wanted to regain my composure to make sure Carlos was ok, but I was momentarily taken over by hysterics. Carlos seemed to understand this and just cried with me until it finally sunk in that both of us were alive.

"Carlitos… You saved my life," I choked out when the sobs finally calmed down a bit.

"You saved mine first," Carlos said. He tried to smile, but I could tell that he was in a great deal of pain.

"Carlos, what's wrong?" I asked, running my hand over his sweaty, tear-streaked cheek.

"That one wolf, it got my shoulder James. It hurts."

"Let me see," I instructed, gently removing his hand from his wound. I gasped, feeling sick to my stomach. The fabric of his coat and thermal shirt had been ripped away, along with a chunk of flesh. This was really, really bad. Blood was gushing out of the bite, staining my fingers and the dirt below us. I feared that the uncovered wound could get infected and frostbitten way too easily.

"It's ok," I said, even though I was certain that nothing was okay. I tore off a piece of my shirt and wrapped it around the bite, tying the ends tightly to stop the bleeding. Carlos started to cry at the intense pressure on the bite.

"It needs to stop bleeding, bro. I'm so sorry, Carlitos. Please don't cry," I said, trying to hush the pain-stricken boy. Instead, he just cried harder. He sounded like a little boy again. It broke my heart. I was in protective big brother mode again and forgot about my own misery to comfort him.

"Come here, 'Los. Cuddle me," I said, gathering the shaking boy in my arms. We were both too exhausted and needed to sleep, but with the cold temperatures and the possibility of shock setting in through the night, we would need each other's body heat to fight off hypothermia.

"It hurts James," Carlos sobbed, his tears soaking the front of my coat. "And-and I thought… James I thought you died! I saw you go over the cliff and I thought you were dead. I was so scared…"

"Oh, no ssh, ssh," I said, running my fingers through Carlos' short, soft hair as he continued to babble and sob. "I'm ok, buddy. I'm here. It's alright. I'm not going to leave you here. Ssh…"

Carlos continued to cry as I clutched him in my arms, until we both fell asleep in a pile of tangled, bloodied limbs.

A/N Please review ^_^ I love you all for reading this! Xoxoxo! Ps, even though I researched pictures of Northern Minnesota, I used the beautiful Witchita mountains and woods which are filled with crazy cliffs for inspiration for this story.

Thanks for reading!