Meanwhile…

Summer Bay – Tony and Rachel's House – Living Room/Kitchen

Totally unaware of what Amanda had just revealed in the Pier Diner, Tony was sat talking to Charlie when Matilda walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

"Hi, Mattie." Charlie said as he hadn't seen her all day "Are you hungry? I was going to look at what we could have for dinner. Any suggestions?"

"No, I'm not hungry just seeing what we have that's all." Matilda replied as she closed the fridge.

"Tony just told me about Lucas and Lee. I know I've never been in this situation but I'm your big brother if you want to talk, you know I'm here." Charlie said as he grabbed Matilda's hand.

"What Lucas does is none of my business and I definitely don't want to talk about it." Matilda finished just as Charlie noticed her hands.

"Hang on you still have those red marks on your hand." Charlie said which caused Matilda to quickly pull her hand away and walk towards the sink.

"Yeah, em I told you all this morning that I scraped my hand."

"That's the other hand though isn't it?"

"Leave it Charlie. Please."

Sighing, Charlie changed the topic from his sister's hands: "Mattie, I know we've gone through an awful time lately, you more than most but I promise things will get better. You'll see Tilly we promise. They have to, as I'm pretty sure the town is due for some good luck after everything that's happened lately."

"Your dreaming Charlie." Matilda finally told him.

"We are going to sort this thing out with Lucas and Lee and when the others come home and Rachel gets discharged, things are going to start to get better."

Matilda laughed.

"What?"

"Why do you all keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Pretending like everyone is going to just walk through the door any minute? We can't keep deluding ourselves for ever."

"Mattie." Charlie said.

"No Charlie, we have to face the fact sooner or later." Matilda stated which caused Tony to stand up as he had enough of the conversation between his kids.

"Okay, okay, okay how about we take a little break here? Okay?" Tony suggested "Charlie why don't you and me, go and get some takeout from the diner while Mattie does her homework."

"Fine but are you going to be okay Mattie?" Charlie said defeatedly.

"I'll be fine. Just go." Matilda calmly replied.

With that Tony grabs his car keys then him and Charlie head off to grab food for dinner while Mattie just watches them leave.

(5:25pm) 14 minutes later…

Summer Bay – Pier Diner – Main Area

"I'm sorry," Morag said as she spoke to Amanda "Why haven't you mentioned this before?"

Shaking her head Amanda states: "Because I thought that I would be able to work something out. With all my assets I just figured that someone here would lend me the money, but everyone said no."

"So, what do we do now?" Marilyn asks once she had finished explaining.

Irene, who had entered the diner just after Amanda's news to grab some dessert, spoke: "Well, borrowing is obviously out of the question, maybe we're gonna have to try and pull our funds or something."

"Well, I can lay my hands on about 20,000 the rest of my cash is all tied up with Barry's bail." Morag said to them all.

"I've got about 10 I can access." Alf informed them.

"Yeah, well same here." Irene agreed with him.

"I've got a bit tucked up in my own account that I never told John about." Marilyn replied.

Adding it up in his head, Johnny says: "That buys us one more day. What do we do then?"

"I'm sorry, I've let you all down." Amanda apologises "I feel terrible."

Just then Charlie and Tony walk into the diner along with Ricky and Brax who they bumped into outside.

"I just think you need to let her tell you in her own time about how she's feeling…" Ricky suddenly stops saying to Tony when she notices how quiet the diner was "What's going on?"

Everyone just stares at her as they don't know what to say or how to say it.

At the same time…

In the Middle of the Bush – With the Group

While everyone back in Summer Bay was trying to figure out what they were going to do next in terms of the search. The people who they were searching for were still making their way through the bush looking for more water and help.

The group weren't moving as quickly as they should have been as everyone bar Rocco was now starting to feel the effects of the water they had drank.

Noticing another creek bed, Rocco carefully made his way down into the creek to see if there was any water however, it was just dry land. Behind him the others slowly followed suit, but Kyle accidently tripped over a branch as he got into the creek.

"Are you okay?" Belle asked her boyfriend.

"Ye yeah." Kyle said as he tried to stand up.

Belle watched him get up and noticed he was a little wobbly on his feet but put it down to the water and him being tired not his CKD.

As Kyle went to move, he started to cough and fell back down.

Ryan had noticed so he shouted to Rocco while also dropping to the ground coughing: "Stop!"

Rocco, who was at the front, stopped and turned to look at the others as both Belle and Bianca tried to help Kyle back up again.

"Your sick." Rocco explained to them "But you have to push through it. We have to keep going."

"That damn water." Ryan suddenly said to them all.

"I told you not to drink it."

"I didn't think we had any choice."

"Like you side before, we have to keep going or we're never going to find our way out of here."

"Easier said than done matey. You're the only one who's not sick as a dog." Ryan pointed out to the teen.

"We can't just give up now."

"We told you Roc, we have to stop." Bianca said as she sat down beside Kyle and started to heave like she was going to be sick.

"No!"

"We are tired Rocco." Belle told him "Plus, Kyle needs a rest."

"But I have a girlfriend and baby to get home to. I will not let us give up now." Rocco reminded them which just resulted in a look from Ryan "Please!"

Ryan listened to Rocco beg for them to keep moving, so he forced himself to get up but feel down again.

(5:32pm) 7 minutes later…

In the Middle of the Bush – With Xavier and Colby

Colby had just ripped Xavier's trouser leg a bit further so he could get a better look at his ankle.

Xavier hissed in pain as Colby looked at it: "Sorry."

"I don't think we can wait for Rocco and the others to show up." Colby said as he pulled the bandage back down.

"You don't think they are coming back?"

"Of course they are, but in the meantime, we haven't had any water in over a day and a half."

"Well, maybe tonight there will be some water in the condensation bag." Xavier suggested as he tried to breathe through the pain.

"Xavier, there won't be enough." Colby told the teen "I'm going to have to leave you alone for a while and go out there and try and find some water."

Xavier started to cry due to a mixture of pain and the thought of being left alone in the bush.

(5:53pm) 21 minutes later…

Summer Bay – Pier Diner – Main Area

By now John, Sally, Leah, Dan, Dean and Willow had all turned up to the Pier Diner and were gathered round trying to help figure out what to do about the search.

"You know, if the money that we gather on our own is only going to cover 24 hours we should have a plan for after that." Morag said to no one in particular.

"Well, it ain't going to be easy, fifty grand is a heck of a lot of dough." Irene pointed out knowing it would be difficult to get that amount for more days.

Amanda then suggested: "What if went to the bank with a united front? I mean they've turned us all down individually but if we went as a group…"

"Yeah, yeah that could work." Irene agreed with her.

"There is one other option." Johnny finally said to them all.

Everyone looked at him as they waited for what he had to say.

"We accept that we are fighting a losing battle."

"What?" Ricky asked him not quite sure she had heard what he had said properly.

"I'm sorry. I know your hearts are in the right place, and I'd give anything to have my brother back, but it's been nearly two weeks now guys." Johnny apologised as he didn't want to stop but knew they had to at some point "Two weeks. I've seen the terrain out there it's rough, it's ruggered even some you blokes know that. Look, I don't want it to be true either, but we've been hanging on to our hopes for so long now, trying to convince ourselves it's all going to work out. Maybe the time's come to accept that it's not going to happen."

Everyone was silent as they all knew it was true.

Summer Bay – Pier Diner/The Den – Kitchen

What none of the adults had realised was that as soon as Aden had heard Amanda say the search money was all gone he had sent a group message to the other teens.

They were now all stood listening to the conversation the adults were having from the kitchen in silence as they were all speechless at Johnny's suggestion.