A/N Hey guys! Did everyone survive Big Time Monday? I barely did. Lol. Thanks to everyone who is reviewing and reading this story, it means a lot to me! I hope you're lovin' it so far because it's one of the funnest stories I am writing right now. Love ya'll1

I was sleeping deeply, but a pain in my back and something shaking in my arms woke me up slowly. I moaned and tried to get comfy on whatever hard surface I had been sleeping on. Sunlight blared through my eyelids harshly. I reluctantly blinked them open, trying to get used to the bright glare.

"Owww," I groaned. Sharp pains shot through my back and when I rolled onto my side to relieve the pressure, I realized it was Carlos who was shaking violently in my arms. His face was pale and as soon as those dark, chocolate brown eyes opened and blinked warily I could see the agony reflected in them. Memories of last night came flooding in as I sat up and looked around. Now that it was daytime, I could see the beauty of the cliffs that stretched for miles. It was hard to believe that they were the same cliffs that nearly took my life last night. In the darkness, this place had seemed like a nightmare, but in the sunlight you could see it was a beautiful place of mother-nature.

Several yards away laid the body of the wolf that had nearly mauled me last night. Blood was pooled around its head and mangled body. I wanted to vomit at the sight, and the horrible memories of what happened last night sent chills down my spine. I turned to Carlos, who was rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Dang, Carlos, what did you do to that thing?" I asked, impressed.

"I beat him up," Carlos said in a "duh" voice. "He was about to kill you. I wasn't going to let that happen."

I couldn't resist the urge to gather Carlos in my arms tighter and hug him to my chest thankfully for what he had done. He saved my life. Without him I would be dead right now. "Thank you, 'Litos," I said sincerely. Carlos just shrugged like it was nothing.

"Are you alright, Carlos? How's your arm? You're shaking like crazy," I said pulling away from the tight embrace and checking his shoulder before assessing the more superficial injuries he had attained from the attacks. The bite wound had stopped bleeding profusely. I could tell he had lost quite a bit of blood. The sleeve of his coat was soaked in it, and he was extremely pale and weak looking. He would need food, water and warmth soon.

"It stings pretty bad, and I'm cold," he admitted.

"Well the sun will help warm us up soon. You're just in shock, but we're safe now," I said, running my fingers over his forehead and cheeks, which were scraped up. I wondered if any part of Carlos' body wasn't marred from last night's attack. "Does anything else hurt?"

"No, not really. I'm just sore," Carlos said. "Are you ok?"

"My back hurts," I said. "But it's no big deal."

"Lemme see."

"No, Carlos it's fine-"

"James let me look," Carlos said, not taking no for an answer. I sighed and gingerly took off my coat for a moment. Carlos crawled behind me and lifted up my green thermal shirt. He hissed with sympathy and I felt his cold fingertips ghost over my injuries.

"Your back is pretty scratched up, dude. Did they bite you at all?"

"No, I don't think so," I said truthfully. Carlos lowered my shirt and helped me put my coat back on. "They just got me with their claws."

"Same here," Carlos said, lifting up the front of his shirt and coat to reveal several red, angry looking scratches on his belly. Dried blood was stuck to his shirt and caked around the small wounds. "It could be worse though. We got out of being attacked by three hungry wolves with just scratches, bruises, and one bite. We should be dead right now."

"I know," I said, rubbing my forehead. I honestly did not know how we were alive right now. Some kind of higher power had to have been looking out for us.

"Jamie?"

"Hmm?" I asked tiredly.

"Will help come for us today?"

"I-I have no idea, buddy. I'm sure it will," I said, offering him a small smile. "Let's eat something and get something to drink, ok? You don't look so good."

Carlos nodded and we both stood up before something dawned on us at the same time.

We had left all our supplies behind when we ran from the wolves, whatever direction that had been. All of our stuff, everything we needed to survive out here, was lost somewhere in the middle of the woods. It could be anywhere. Neither of us had any idea where we were or how far we had run.

I turned to Carlos, who was pale white, panic etched on his face. I opened my mouth to speak, but he took off in a run towards the vast amount of trees.

"Carlitos, no!" I said, reaching out for his arm, which slipped out of my grasp. I took a heavy breath to fill my lungs and ran after Carlos. He was too injured and weak to run very fast, so I easily caught up to him and grabbed him by the waist before he got both of us any more lost than we already were.

"Carlos, stop, your only taking us further out of the way!" I cried. Carlos shook his head, his dark eyes filling up quickly with tears.

"No, I gotta find our stuff, James! We-we'll freeze to death and starve to death without it!" Carlos cried. I tried to ignore the fact that he was probably right and focused on consoling him. He struggled to escape my arms but I held him firmly in place and pressed him against my chest, resting my cheek on the top of his head and stroking his hair gently. Finally, his tiny body quit struggling and relaxed against me, letting his tears flow freely, which only made me tear up.

"Listen, it's ok, Carlos," I said. My voice cracked and I sniffled a bit. I had to stay strong for Carlitos.

"We'll die out here, Jamie. What if we die? They'll never find us and we'll be out here forever!"

"Ssh, don't think like that Carlos," I soothed. My hands were trembling with fear as I continued to stroke his soft hair. "Neither of us is dying out here, I promise you Carlos. I'm going to protect you. I'll keep you warm, and I'll find us food, whatever it takes. Nothing is going to hurt you out here. And help will come for us. They'll find us, ok buddy? And you know Kendall and Logan; they will never give up on us. We just have to be brave and strong 'til they come."

"I can't," Carlos said. His tiny body gave a violent shudder and I held him even tighter.

"Then I'll be strong and brave for you, Carlos. You don't have to worry, baby bro." I squeezed my eyes shut to block the flow of tears that threatened to escape and took in a shaky breath. I had to keep telling myself that this was real, we were in a life or death situation and nobody was around to take care of us. Carlos was younger and smaller than me, and more innocent. I was in charge, I was responsible for both of our lives, and that thought terrified me as much as these woods did.

"Carlos, I have an idea," I said, steadying the emotional turmoil that was going on inside of me for both of our sakes. I gently pulled the crying boy away from me so I could look in those dark, scared eyes of his. He wiped his wet cheeks and looked up at me with full dependency.

"I don't have a clue where our stuff is, and I don't want to keep going deeper into the woods. We are completely hidden by those giant pine trees in there. I want us to stay close to the cliff and follow the water. The water has got to lead us somewhere, right? We're lucky we found these cliffs. We can be seen clearly and if we can somehow get to the water, we'll have plenty to eat and drink, right?"

Carlos nodded, his eyes brightening a bit. At least we had a plan.

"But what if we get cold, James?"

I smiled and reached into the side pocket of my navy blue cargo pants, pulling out a silver zippo lighter. "Well then we'll light a fire."

Carlos sighed with relief that I had kept our lighter in my pocket and not our bags.

"Come on, let's go try to get to that water," I said. My throat was dry with thirst and I wanted to wash Carlos' wound with clean water since we didn't have our first aid kit anymore.

After a quick "bathroom break" we were both headed along the cliff side, praying it would lead us to much needed clean water. We kept our ears open for the sounds of helicopters or search crews calling our names, but everything around us was quiet.

Carlos walked without complaint like a little trooper, even though I could tell just by looking at him he was in pain. His pink lips formed a tight, thin line and, despite the cold temperatures, beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Once in a while he would rub his shoulder and cringe, but when he would catch me staring at him worriedly, he would just give me a small smile and stare up ahead again, voiding his face of any emotion, as if he could hide how scared and hurt he was from me. I saw straight through it.

Every couple of hours, we would take a break for a few minutes to rest. During our midafternoon break, Carlos' head drooped to my shoulder and his weary eyes fluttered shut. I allowed to him sleep for a bit and watched the water rushing below us. The water was flowing faster the further we got. I wished we could somehow climb down there safely and just drink from the stream all afternoon. I was getting really thirsty now, not to mention hungry. My stomach growled unhappily and I rubbed it absentmindedly to soothe it. I wondered if catching fish to eat was really as hard as it was in the movies. Knowing my luck, it would probably be even harder. The only one of us who ever had caught a fish in boy scouts was Kendall but that was only because he had a combined strength and patience that neither of us possessed. I chuckled as I remembered Carlos, knee high in water with his khaki pants rolled up to his thighs and a big wooden spear clutched in his two small hands back in fifth grade. He had been determined to beat Kendall at this badge, but he had given up quickly when the fish kept swimming quickly away from him. Finally he had just belly-flopped into the water and tried catching them with his hands, which didn't work out too well. Logan was too scared to get in the water because he was convinced leeches would suck him dry, and I had refused to get in the water because I didn't want to ruin the designer pants my mom had given me for my birthday. I shook my head fondly at these memories. That year in boy scouts was definitely not our most productive.

Suddenly, Carlos awoke with a start, breaking me from my memories. I looked down at him, concerned. He glanced around nervously, his bottom lip quivering. My first instinct was that he had had a nightmare.

"It's ok, Carlos. It was just a nightmare," I soothed. Carlos shook his head and zipped his Northface coat further. The zipper was touching his chin now and his cheeks were a rosy red from the nipping cold, which was a lot better than the ill, pale white color he had achieved earlier. At least his poor body wasn't in shock anymore.

"No, it wasn't a nightmare. I had a dream we were home, in bed," Carlos admitted sadly.

"I'm sorry," I said in sympathy. Carlos waved me off and got to his feet. I had a sinking feeling for a moment that he might be mad at me, but he offered me a hand to help me up off of the cold, leaf-covered ground and gave me a crooked smile similar to Logan's. I felt a little pang in my heart. I really missed Kendall and Logan. Not that I wanted them to be going through all this with me and Carlos. It was bad enough Carlos had to endure the hunger, fear, and cold temperatures. I just wished we were all in the apartment playing video games and eating junk food again. I would do anything to get Carlos back in his warm bed again.

"You're so quiet," Carlos observed as we walked on.

"So are you," I said, feeling the corners of my mouth turn up in a smile.

"Yeah," Carlos said, staring at his boots that crunched on dead leaves and twigs with each step. A bone chilling gust of wind whipped at us, stinging our eyes. We turned our backs to the wind and cringed. Carlos even let out a tiny giggle at the crazy winds.

"It feels like a tornado," he said with a shiver.

"I swear it just keeps getting colder as the day goes on," I said. The wind finally let up and we turned back around to continue walking.

"Usually you can't shut up about cuda man spray or upcoming modeling projects," Carlos said, continuing the subject where we left off. "You ok?"

"I'm fine," I said. "That stuff just isn't important right now. What about you? Usually you can't shut up about how to train monkeys or what world record to break next."

"That stuff isn't important right now," Carlos said, copying my words. I chuckled.

"Really though James, what are you thinking about?" Carlos asked me. I sighed and glanced at my friend, who had slowed down his steps a bit and had his gaze fixed on me rather than his boots. His curiosity was still the same, even when he was so hungry and exhausted.

"I don't really want to talk about it right now," I said. I wasn't interested in sharing the guilt ridden thoughts that kept circling around my mind all day.

"Ok," Carlos said simply. I smiled gratefully. He patted my back and we walked in silence for a few more hours. It was late afternoon and nearing dark, but we still were on the cliffs, and precious water was far below us. I realized we weren't going to have anything to eat or drink tonight.

"Carlos we need to set up camp buddy," I said.

"But I'm hungry and thirsty," Carlos said, holding his stomach. His voice sounded harsh and dry with dehydration. It was the first time that Carlos admitted hunger, and he sounded like a little kid. I wished there was some way to get him something to at least drink. An entire day of walking without food and water was taking its toll on us.

"I'm sorry, Carlos. But the sun is about to go down. We need to get some rest. We'll make it to the stream tomorrow, I promise."

Carlos looked at me like he was considering arguing with me for a moment, but he stayed silent.

"You can sit down and rest while I gather kindling for the fire," I said. But Carlos didn't sit down. He had a familiar, defiant glint in his eyes, similar to the one he got whenever Gustavo told him to do something, only it wasn't as playful.

"I think we should keep walking for a while," he said softly.

"There's no reason to," I said, gesturing to the cliffs and the trees. "We aren't going to find anything different and we only have about an hour before the sun goes down. I know you're hungry, I am too. But walking at night is dangerous."

"I'm not spending another night out here," Carlos said.

"Dude I know you're scared but we don't have a choice. We're stuck here whether you like it or not. Carlos- where are you going?" I asked. He just walked right past me as if I weren't even there. I sighed. I was too tired to deal with this right now.

"Carlos, come back here!" I said, going after my younger friend. Carlos ignored me. I took his uninjured arm but he yanked it away and started walking faster.

"I'm going home tonight! I'm not sleeping out here!" Carlos said.

"Are you nuts?" I asked rhetorically. "Look around! There's nowhere to go! Quit walking and we'll build camp."

Carlos suddenly whirled around, his little hands balled up into fists. I stepped back, surprised.

"What puts you in charge?" Carlos asked bitterly. He waited for an answer. I tucked my hair behind my ear and bit my lip. I wasn't exactly prepared to have Carlos turn on me like this.

"Carlos, you're hungry and cranky. Please just lie down and I'll make a fire and we can sleep it off, ok?" I said desperately. My stomach growled loudly and my patience grew thinner. Our low blood sugar was blurring our judgment.

"Cranky? Of course I'm cranky!" Carlos yelled. I flinched and crossed my arms. Why was Carlos suddenly being so mean? "You got us lost in the middle of the woods in Minnesota! Why would I be happy?"

My stomach growled even louder. "Um, excuse me but I recall you're the one who couldn't wait 'til camp to go pee and got us lost!" I yelled, covering up my hurt feelings with anger.

Carlos turned on his heel and marched away from me again. "Yes, I know, it's my fault! But I'm too hungry to waste any more time! It does no good to sleep when we could be doing something productive like, I don't know, finding food and water so we don't die!"

"Well then you shouldn't have fallen asleep this afternoon, we could have been looking for a way to get down to the stream while you were napping!" I yelled after him. I immediately felt bad for making him feel guilty for being tired but he just ignored me anyway. "Carlos, come on dude. Let's take a break. I'm tired, I hurt. We've been walking all day and frankly, you're acting kind of crazy. Your blood sugar is just way too low."

Carlos just stomped on, showing no signs of stopping. I followed him, hoping that he would eventually cool down or tire out, whichever came first. My stomach twisted with hunger and my legs ached terribly. I just wanted to sit down and eat something.

"Carlos… Please," I said, resting my hands on my knees and leaning over, panting for breath. "I can't walk any longer."

Carlos finally turned around, scowling at me. When he saw me so weak, his features softened and he inched closer to me. I sat down and put my face in my hands, willing myself not to cry. I felt so stupid for feeling the need to cry so much, but I figured being lost and starving in the middle of the woods was a good excuse to cry.

"James…" Carlos said. He kneeled next to me and I could feel his eyes on me, trying to figure out what to do. "Don't cry, please."

"I'm not crying," I said, even though my wavering voice gave me away. I sniffed loudly and scrubbed my tears away. My eyes felt puffy and raw. I probably looked ridiculous, but Carlos apparently didn't care how I looked because he wrapped his arms around me in a forgiving hug.

"I'm sorry, James. I don't want to be mad at you. I'm mad because I'm cold and I am hungry and I don't feel well. Please, I am sorry Jamie. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"Carlos I'm not mad at you," I said, hanging onto his arms that were clutched around my neck. "It's ok. I understand. First thing tomorrow, I'll find us food, ok? But it's too dangerous to walk at night and we need our rest. Can we get through one more night?"

"We have to, don't we?" Carlos asked, releasing his hold around my neck to wipe away the fat tears beneath his eyelashes.

I started to nod when I caught a flash of red nestled in some bushes out of the corner of my eyes. "Or maybe we can eat tonight," I said.

"What do you mean?" Carlos asked, following my gaze, which was fixed on a bush covered in bright little red berries.

We looked at each other before stumbling to our feet, practically tripping over our shoes. We ran desperately to the bush and skidded on our knees. Our scraped up hands reached for the berries and took them off the branches greedily. I shoved a handful into my mouth and moaned as the cold, bitter-sweet juice exploded over my tastebuds. Carlos was giggling as we stuffed our mouths full of the berries. I chuckled as I watched my little brother get so delighted over our makeshift meal.

"Mmm, my tummy is so full," Carlos said several handfuls later. He patted his satisfied stomach and curled up next to me. I gathered up some kindling for a fire and lit it with my lighter. We sat close to the flames, shoulder to shoulder.

"The stars are really pretty," I said, pointing at the velvet black sky above us, which twinkled with silvery bright stars. Carlos let out a content sigh and leaned on my chest to watch the night sky. It wasn't long before his breaths became short and heavy, indicating he was fast asleep. I gently laid him on the ground and scooted in close to him, wrapping my arm and leg around him protectively.

"Good night Carlitos," I whispered before falling asleep.

A/N Awe, cute bromance moments. Of course that means something bad is going to happen very soon ;) Please review!