Chapter 4 Rolling Around

It's been a few minutes since the boys noticed Logan being sick and all of their food to be left in the car. Kendall has started to search for a cell phone to call for help, while James is getting ready to head to the car.

'Guys, I can't find any of our cell phones. I thought we brought them with us?'

'They're probably in the car somewhere. I'll see if I can find them.' James adds, strapping up his bag.

'I still don't think it's a good idea for you to go back alone.' Carlos tells him. 'What if something happens?'

'Nothing is going to happen, Carlos. We're alone out here and I can take care of myself.'

'Right.' Carlos answers back.

'You know what? Carlos is right. Maybe you shouldn't go alone. I'll come with you. Between the two of us we can carry more stuff anyway.' Kendall suggests.

'If you want to.' James adds as he starts to walk with the map in hand. Kendall sighs, but follows him.

'Carlos, we'll hopefully be back in an hour. Try not to get into trouble and take care of Logan.' Carlos looks annoyed at the remark, but nods.

When the two are gone, he grabs a sleeping bag and puts it down with a pillow. He then helps Logan into it.

'No, I don't need to lie down. I'm fine.'

'You're not fine, Logan. Just lie down. I'll get started on putting up the tents.' Logan reluctantly lies down in the sleeping bag.

'By yourself? Maybe you should wait for Kendall and James to come back.'

'I can do it, Logan. I can actually do things myself!' Carlos tells him.

'That's not what I meant…' Logan starts, but Carlos has turned his back towards him and is unpacking the tents, ignoring him.

An hour later…

'I thought you said to take a left turn here.' Kendall complains.

'Yeah, that's what the map says.'

'James, it's been forever. We haven't found the car, we haven't even found a way out of these woods yet. Give me the map.' He tries to take the map, from James, who pulls away.

'No, I can read it.' Kendall sighs.

'James, give me the map.'

'No!'

'Give me the stupid map!' Kendall takes one end of the map. They start a tugging war and soon the inevitable happens, the map rips in half.

'Now look what you did!' James accuses.

'Me? If you had just given me the map in the first place, none of this would have happened!' Kendall shouts back.

'Oh, so now this is my fault? Maybe if you had been a good leader, we wouldn't be out here at all.'

'What is that supposed to mean?'

'It means you haven't been leading this group like you should have. Gustavo keeps giving you the responsibility and you suck at it!' James pushes Kendall, who gasps.

'Oh, that's it!' He jumps on James and they wrestle to the ground. Suddenly they are moving on their own. They didn't notice the hill they were standing on and are now rolling down painfully as they graze rocks and bump into fallen trees.

Kendall then notices they are heading straight for a river. He grabs hold of a fallen tree and comes to a sudden stop.

'James, watch out!' James is still rolling fast, before hitting his head painfully on a large rock. Dazed, he doesn't see where he is going and can't stop, resulting in him falling into the river.

The current is very strong, pulling James with it. Not to mention the bag he is wearing is weighing him down heavily, making it difficult to keep his head above the water.

'Kendall, help!' He asks, before disappearing under water. Kendall's eyes are wide as he sees his friend moving through the water fast. He jumps up and sees one tree with a branch hanging over the water. He quickly gets on it and waits for James to move towards him. He reaches down as low as he can, holding out his hand.

'James! Grab my hand!' James looks up and tries to reach, but then a wave of water makes him go underwater again.

Kendall tries to go lower, suddenly hearing creaking below him. He ignores it and reaches for James again.

'James, grab my…' He starts, before the branch he is on breaks. He screams as he too falls into the water. The heavy current drags him along as he comes up for air.

'James! Try to grab something!' He looks around, searching for James. He sees him right in front of him, going down again.

'James, lose the bag!' James faintly hears him and tries to get rid of the bag. As it finally loosens, James feels a lot lighter. But as the bag goes down, his foot is caught in one of the straps, dragging him down to the bottom.

Kendall is scared when he sees his friend go underwater and not come up.

James fights the strap underwater. As he finally gets his foot out and almost reaches the top, a branch falls into the water, landing on his head. He loses consciousness, floating freely in the water.

'James!' Kendall screams for his friend as he sees him coming up, out cold. 'Someone help! Help us!'

Meanwhile back at the campsite…

Logan watches with interest as Carlos sets up the two tents with ease. His eyes are scrunched in concentration. He swears as one of the poles falls down again.

'Let me help you.' Logan offers and starts to get up.

'No! I can do this. Just stay down there and get better.' Carlos warns him in a stern voice. Logan is confused at his tone of voice, but listens quickly as a dizzy spell washes over him.

Suddenly he hears a faint cry in the distance.

'What was that?'

'What was what?' Carlos asks him. Another cry.

'That.' Logan mentions.

They listen and faintly hear someone crying out for help. Then their eyes widen.

'Kendall!' Logan tries to get up again.

'No, Logan. I'm going.'

'Carlos, if they're in trouble..' Carlos walks up to him.

'Stay here, Logan!' He says it in such a hard voice, that Logan immediately lies back down. Carlos makes a run for it, trying to listen where the sounds came from.

After running through the woods a while, tripping over some branches, Carlos reaches the sounds of a raging river. The cries are louder. He runs faster and then finally reaches the river.

He searches the water, suddenly seeing Kendall, who is trying to hold an unconscious James above the water.

'Kendall, hold on!' He tries to find anything to hold onto and reach out for them. He panics as he can't find anything. He does the only thing he can do and prepares to jump into the water.

'Carlos, no!' Kendall shouts as he sees Carlos jumping in. There goes their final chance at being saved.

Carlos tries to swim against the current, using his skills as a certified rescue diver. He looks around and sees some branches, which are armed around a thick tree next to the water. He makes a swim towards it. He is almost there when the waves crash him into the rocks on the side. He screams out in pain, as he painfully hits the sharp edges with his back, heading his head with a thud. He shakes his head to clear his vision and tries to reach the vines.

Kendall's arms are getting tired. The weight of James is pulling him underwater. He tries to look for Carlos, but panics, as he can't find him. James pulls him under again. He swallows a handful of water and coughs as comes above again. But his body is slowly shutting down on him. He tries hard to fight it, but his vision starts to darken. Right before he loses consciousness he becomes aware of losing the weight holding him down and then two arms grabbing him before he can reach the bottom.

More trouble has started for the boys. Will they make it? Read and review to find out!

Thank you and love, Baxxie