This fanfic contains a lot of swearing, smoking, violence and various other mature themes.

Jasper, Peridot, Lapis Laszuli, Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Peedee, Kiki, Gunga, Onion, Sadie and Lars are the property of Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network.

This is an AU where gems differ slightly from canon in that they have a measurable heart beat as well as other small changes that you will likely notice, I'm not mentioning all of them here because spoilers and I'm lazy. Mask Island is much bigger than canon version.

Day 6 of this story is the day of "Super Watermelon Island".

This fanfic is written from the perspective of E. K. Brooks who spends a lot of time alone before any canon characters are introduced. Thou hath been informed-ETH!

Chapter 3: Treasure

Day 7

I woke up and stretched the stiffness out of my limbs. The storm had abated. Today was Thursday, which marked my first week on the island. After my morning bathroom adventure I went to check if I had caught any fish. As I approached the second net, something glimmered in the waist high water and I dove under the surface to pick it up. At first I thought it was gold, but it was a stone, shimmering fiery orange, red and yellow. Like a trapped flame. It had a curious angular, pendant like shape, not natural at all. There was a crack down the middle. Maybe it had been part of a necklace? Discarded by someone who no longer wanted it, because it was broken? Or, and the thought sent a shiver down my spine, it could have been part of a buried pirate treasure. I looked around eagerly for more loot, but found nothing but half of an old bottle, its jagged edges polished smooth by the sand and waves. Looking at the orange stone more closely, its sides were not exactly sharp, but it didn't look as if it had spent, let's say, hundreds of years in the ocean. The realization that it couldn't have been part of some dashing pirate's ill begotten booty made me frown slightly in disappointment, but it was still a cool find. I put it in the pocket of my swimming shorts, put the string bag between my teeth and swam back to shore.

I gutted and cleaned the fish on the rocks and threw the guts to the gulls, they gobbled it up like it was the food of the gods. I strolled to the fire pit; the coals were still glowing and were the perfect temperature to slowly bake my catch. The fish's purple and silver scales shone in the sunlight. I wanted to have a swim. I took off my sodden swim shorts and sports bra and put them to dry on the rack by the tent. The idea of being outside naked had gone from being uncomfortable to extremely liberating. It was so strange, being outside, naked and exposed and yet feeling so safe and secure. There was no one else but me on the island, no one could see or judge me for what I looked like without clothes on. Finally, my body was just for me and only had one job – to function well enough to keep me alive. And keep my blood and organs on the inside.

I splashed into the crystal clear water and let out a shriek of happiness. As I dove under the surface my body felt sleek and almost oily. It was a moment of blissful peace and freedom and I smiled to myself, wishing it would last forever.

Day 10

The day began with a glorious peach sun rise, an equally amazing cup of Samir's instant three-in-one coffee mix and a breathtaking hand rolled cigarette. I felt terrifyingly dapper as I lounged in the sand, tanned to a t and wearing nothing but my ratty old baseball cap on my messy hair. I toasted an imaginary bystander with my tin cup and said "Shaken, not stirred" in an awful attempt at a Scottish accent. I snickered to myself as I got up and put on my swimming shorts. Lighting another cigarette, I slouched down to the water and started my morning check on the nets, to see what delicious little mask wearing sea creature I would be eating today. The first and second nets held nothing, but the third yielded four and a half medium purple fishes and a crab, which had been eating the fifth fish. Score! The crab would be a feast this evening. I had just made my way back to the shallows, wishing I had some dill, when my pocket started to vibrate. My first thought was "Who the fuck is calling at this hour?" before I realized I hadn't had a phone in my pocket for more than a week. There was a strange noise and my shorts ripped apart as the orange stone rose in the air by itself?! It was glowing and emitting a keening sound. I dropped everything, including my chin, the cigarette stuck to my chapped lips. The light from the stone increased so much my eyes hurt, the only thought flying through my head was "That's it, I've lost my mind". What happened next was over in a flash, but out of the stone came a shape, like a sketch of a person, a HUGE person. Details sharpened and hair appeared, color flooded it and then, for the briefest moment, it hung suspended a meter or so over the water and then it dropped with a massive splash and a grunt.

"W-water?!" more splashing happened as the enormous person stumbled around and then scrabbled onto the beach on all fours. Their insanely long beige hair was all over the place and they panted for a second, before lying down on their side, facing away from me.

I stood frozen for what could have been a life time. Then my brain kicked into gear.

"Holy shit fuck!"

The person flipped over faster than I could imagine anything that big would be able to, got to their feet and took on a threatening stance.

I looked into widened, piercing yellow eyes. Her face, because this was certainly not a man, had a red stripe across it and a set of full lips that parted to shout "Who are you!" – It wasn't a question, it was a command.

"E-Erica Katheryn Brooks" I stammered, taking half a step back, stunned.

"Where is Lapis!" she barked, taking a step closer.

What did she say?

"What?" I asked my voice raspy.

"Lapis Laszuli!" she looked around, eyes darting everywhere. I made a motion to take the cigarette out of my mouth and her gaze snapped back to my face.

"They were here! All of them! They…" she swayed dangerously and stumbled a few steps forward.

Despite the weirdness of this situation and the fact that she could squish me with one hand, I took a concerned step forward, and then three more to catch her as she sagged. I felt my feet sink inches into the sand as my shoulder took her weight. "Oh fuck balls!" I grunted through clenched teeth.
I was almost six feet weighing close to one eighty, but this woman towered over me and must have outweighed me by at least a hundred pounds. My knees hit the ground and I forced her to the side so she wouldn't crush me. Panting from the effort, I looked her in the face. Before her eyes closed she managed to force out "Why… are you naked".

My hands flew up defensively, covering myself whilst blushing furiously. I had completely forgotten I wasn't wearing a shirt. Looking down I saw the right leg of my swim shorts hanging in shreds from the elastic waist band.

"Oh fuck me!" I exclaimed and stood up. Awkwardly sprinting over to my tent I threw on a sports bra, the Studio Ghibli t-shirt and changed into my green cargo shorts. I grabbed a bottle of water and the first aid kit and walked back to the giant woman. Approaching cautiously, I took in the state of her. She seemed unharmed, no cuts or bruises. She seemed to be breathing regularly. My first aid skills were a bit rusty, but weren't you supposed to try to wake people up? Did I even want to wake her up? I touched one heavily muscled shoulder. Nothing happened.

"Hey" I shook the shoulder gently. No reaction. She was lying on her back, hair streaked across her face and splayed around her like wings. "She must be more than seven feet tall" I thought, then remembered the next step in first aid. I started to push at her right shoulder and rib cage to get her into the recovery position, but couldn't shift her, partly because of her size, partly because my feet kept slipping in the sand. I grabbed her right hand, which was nearly the size of a hub cap, and stepped to the other side, trying not to step on her hair. I gritted my teeth and pulled hard. After a few seconds I managed to move her onto her side. I positioned her arms as best as I could remember. I noticed that she had red streak like markings on her arms too, the left lower arm completely red. It wasn't blood colored, maybe it was tattoos? "Rather strange way to get tattooed" I thought. All of a sudden the reality of what had just happened hit me and my knees gave way.

"What does it matter if it's tattoos?! She came out of a stone! WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE - !" then I noticed – the stone was her nose. Not covering her nose, it WAS her nose. Still the fiery color, still with the crack down the middle. "What the hell is going on here" I said out loud.

"Is this what going insane feels like? Am I hallucinating?" I grabbed the water bottle and took a long drought, figuring I might be dehydrated or something. I looked up at the sun still close to the horizon. It couldn't be sunstroke, could it? I wasn't on any medication that could cause this, was I? No, not for years, I reassured myself. This wasn't a dream, I was sure, because I'd been able to taste the coffee and feel the water, which I would never be able to do in a dream. My best friend always had full sensory dreams, which made me insanely jealous, but this wasn't the time to get sidetracked! What else should I do? Check breathing, check pulse – pulse! I hadn't done that, god how could I have forgotten to do that, that was like the most important thing. I placed two fingers across her massive wrist, but couldn't feel anything. Panicking, I reached out for her neck. Her skin was unexpectedly soft. My fingers moved around a bit to find her pulse, but then suddenly there it was, a slow beat. I exhaled a breath I didn't know I was holding. Her face was so relaxed now that she was out cold. It was hardly recognizable in this state, so calm and serene, so… beautiful. Her jaw was very strong and angular. Oh god, that was a gorgeous jaw line. I brushed the wet hair away from her face. She made a deep grunting whine like sound as the back of my hand brushed her nose and I froze up, terrified she would wake up. Blushing, I tore my eyes away from her face and got up.

"She's not dead" I said aloud to no one in particular. "That's good… right?" I had no idea. Was she gonna wake up and kill me? Should I maybe tie her up? No, she would be able to break out of anything I used, and it would be a shame to waste good para cord. She was too big for me to move into the shade, and the sun would start getting annoyingly bright soon. I'd have to make some sort of parasol to give her shade. It was a relief to reach that conclusion; it gave me something to do. I always thought better if my hands were busy.

I threw some more driftwood on the fire and set the two of the fish to baking and stuck the crab in the big pot. I spread the other fish out to dry in the sun. Hopefully they wouldn't be stolen by the gulls. I grabbed some cord, the spare tarp, my utility belt and a couple of stands of bamboo and carried it all over to the giant woman. She was still out cold. I began to construct a very simple three point shelter around her that would give her shade during the day. When I was done, the sun had reached its zenith and the smell of baking fish made my mouth water. I settled down by the fire to have a brunch consisting of one baked fish, a cup of coffee, some ships biscuits and another cigarette. Finally my thoughts were in order.

I had placed a bottle of water and some food next to the stone woman's head. I was going to stay away from her as much as possible, but check on her regularly to make sure she was still breathing and take her pulse. If she hadn't regained consciousness by sundown, I would call Fernandez on the satellite phone and she could arrange transport. Hopefully, when she did wake up, she would realize I could have done worse things to her than provide her shelter and give her some of my food. It was going to be fine. We just had to use common sense. My thoughts spun away on a tangent around how common sense might not be the right word for this, or even the right concept. I was exhausted. I really wanted a nap. Well, if I was asleep, the worst thing that could happen if she was the one to wake up first was that she could kill me. Yes, very comforting. I fell asleep anyway.

I opened my eyes and thought I had gone blind, because it was dark. I glanced at where the fire should be, but saw no embers. It had gone out completely. Shit, I must have slept for a really long time. I was still wearing my belt and scrabbled around until I found a flash light. Just as I was about to turn it on, the moon slid out from behind a cloud and bathed the ocean in its silvery blue light. My breath caught in my throat at the beautiful scene before me. The moon was high in the sky, so it must be the middle of the night. Shit fuck, it was too late to call Fernandez. Shit balls! The stone woman! I stood up too fast and a powerful head rush made me stumble. I took a deep breath, steadied myself and then strode toward the dark shape thirty or so yards away from my tent. What if she was dead now? Fuck, fuck, fuck! I started running, calling out "Hey! Are you awake?" there was no response. I reached her and noticed she had turned over to her other side, but the food and water lay untouched. I managed to take her pulse on the wrist this time and could clearly see her chest moving, taking slow and steady breaths. Her skin was cool, had it been that way before? I couldn't remember. I started to dig an elongated fire pit a few yards away from her and then piled my entire stockpile of driftwood into it, lighting it with my fire steel. I felt quite proud, I had become better and better at making fires. My stomach growled and I went to pick up the big pot, which had the crab still inside. It waved a reproachful claw at me as I lifted the lid to check. I grabbed a ripe mango from under the food tarp and traipsed back to the stone woman's shelter. I wasn't going to go hunting for more firewood in the middle of the night.

"Sorry, little fella" I mumbled as I stuck my knife into the crab's belly and then its head. "At least you won't boil alive". I put it back in the big pot.

The fire crackled and snapped as I sat in the sand, waiting for my dinner. I looked up at the brilliant stars. It was strange how their light sometimes made me feel safe and how it at other times, like now, it made me feel incredibly small and alone. I hugged my knees and scooted closer to the fire. The fact that I could hug my knees now, without having a huge belly in the way, brought me comfort. I turned to look at the stone woman. She was the biggest person I had ever seen. Compared to her I was small. A weird sting of regret bloomed inside my chest. What if I had seen her when I was younger? Maybe I wouldn't have been so obsessed with how big I was compared to everyone else. Maybe she had gone through something similar? Or maybe she was a small version of… whatever she was. It hit me again that I really had no idea what she was or where she had come from. Was it magic? Like a genie in a bottle type deal? No, that'd be ridiculous. A humanoid creature which could exist as a stone, but could grow a body? I had never run across a person or creature or spirit or whatever the fuck in all my years of escaping into fantasy worlds through books and movies. My love had always been dragons and magic, elves and unicorns. Maybe she was some kind of Terry Pratchetty troll thing? They were silicone based lifeforms. But their bodies were made completely out of stone, but the woman looked, well, like a big human and she had a pulse and breathed air. Perhaps she was an amazon? My skin tingled at the thought. She was obviously a warrior of some kind, but she hadn't pulled out a gun or any other kind of weapon. Maybe she'd lost it. I dabbled in sci-fi from time to time, but that wasn't nearly as close to my heart as… Wait… Could she be an alien? I sat up straighter. A silicone based Amazonian warrior alien? I felt my cheeks burning.

I tried not to stare at the way her powerful chest moved up and down. That was way too creepy of me to do. She wore a skin tight, red black and maroon jumpsuit with a bright yellow mark at the middle of her chest, like a diamond from a card deck. Her arms were uncovered though, and the skin that wasn't red was tanned to the point of being orange.

I decided it had been long enough and pulled out the crab from the pot and used the lid as a plate. Now it just had to cool. I ate the mango in the meantime.

What was it she had said before? "Where is Lapis Laszuli"? It sounded like a name. And then "All of them were here" or something. That must mean that there were more people on the island! Or, had been at some point. Maybe that was what all that ruckus a few days back had been about? Had they had a fight? Were the others as big as this stone woman was? My thoughts started to spin out of control. Oh, fuck, I felt a panic attack coming on. I hadn't had one of those in years, and I hadn't thought to pack any benzos in my medicine kit! Fuck balls! I remembered the way I used to deal with panic attacks before I got in contact with a doctor, but cutting myself seemed like a very bad idea under the circumstances. Then I recalled the sanctioned way of dealing with this. I dragged in a shaky breath and exhaled. With a very hoarse voice I started to sing.

"Sometimes… Some crimes… Go slipping through the cracks. But these two, Gumshoes, are picking up the slack" I took a sip of water to clear my throat, trying to steady my shaking hands. I forced myself to sing louder.

"There's no case to big, no case to small, when you need help just call, Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale's, rescue rangers! Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale, when there's danger! No, no it never fails once they're involved; somehow whatever's wrong gets solved! Fresh prints, not since, Watson and Mr. Holmes, have two minds, so fine, looked under every stone. When you need some help to save the day, they're never far away. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale's, rescue rangers! Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale, when there's danger! No, no it never fails once they're involved, somehow whatever's wrong gets solved!" my voice was way more steady now, and I took a huge breath and belted out "Grey skies – it's trouble, bad guys – see double, when they're around, the chips are never down. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale's, rescue rangers! Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale, when there's danger! No, no it never fails, they'll take the clues and find the wheres and whys and whos! Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale's, rescue rangers! Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale, when there's danger! Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale…" I panted from the effort, but it had had the desired effect. My mind was calmer and I could think straight again. To an outside person, I'm pretty sure; it must have seemed like a super weird thing to do. Singing in public was something crazy people did. I didn't know how the Rescue Ranger's theme song rated on the crazy scale; did it add or subtract crazy? I had learned not to be embarrassed over the years, but I had never dared sing it at the top of my lungs before. Before, if I was out among people I would mumble it under my breath and hoped no one heard me. If I felt a panic attack coming when I was home, I could sing it out loud. My best friend was the only one to have heard me sing it, well, until now. I don't know if the stone woman counted, since she still seemed to be out cold. That was a bit of a relief to be honest.

I lit a cigarette and tried to think rationally about the situation. If there had been more people here, I hadn't seen them, even though I had explored a fair bit of the island. I hadn't found any signs of someone else living on the island, no fire pits, no structures, no camp sites. I hadn't seen any boats or helicopters either. I knew from the satellite pictures of the island, that there was another beach on the other side of the jungle, but I hadn't got that far yet. Maybe that's where the stone woman and the others had their camp? Or, if they were aliens… maybe a ship? Had they crashed on this island? I had so many questions rolling around in my head. I needed answers. And I wasn't gonna get any until the stone woman woke up. If she ever woke up. I glanced over at her again. Such a mystery, I was so curious. And hungry. I began to eat the crab. The white meat was deliciously salty and it absorbed me for a full fifteen minutes. I had saved the claws for last, since they were my favorites. I smashed one with a rock and stuck it in my mouth to slurp out every last bit of crab meat.

There was a grunt from the other side of the fire and I nearly choked. My eyes went wide with fear and anticipation as I slowly turned my head to look at the stone woman.

She seemed to struggle to raise herself onto her elbow, before she opened her eyes. With a gasp, she threw herself backward, into the tarp and got tangled, roaring like a trapped lion. I heard a ripping sound. I spat out the crab claw and got to my feet, anger taking over and guiding my steps. My tarp!

"Are you fucking serious!" I bellowed and kicked sand over the struggling heap of tarp and bamboo.

"Stop destroying my shit you fuck wad!"

There was a grunt, and the whole mess stopped moving around so frantically.

"Peridot?!" the stone woman demanded.

"What?! Who or what is Peridot?!" I was getting into my stride now.

She growled and started to try to free herself again, but only managed to entangle herself further. She was getting pretty close to my tent and I had had just about enough.

"STOP!" I yelled with as much authority as I could muster. To my big surprise and delight, she stopped moving.

"Stay still and I'll get you out" I approached cautiously, flicked out my knife and with a pang of guilt, I sliced through both tarp and para cord. As soon as she was able to move her arm, she ripped the tarp apart with ease and got to her feet, backing away from me and the fire and into my camp, stomping all over my tent and food store!

"Watch it!" there was a crunch of metal and plastic before she hit the wall of the cliff, hanging onto it for dear life. My stomach felt as if it was full of ice. The only thing in my camp able to make that crunching noise was the container for the satellite phone.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the stone woman. Was this the thanks I got? Now I had no way of contacting anyone and Fernandez wouldn't be back to resupply me for another twenty or so days. Who knows how much of my food supply had been crushed? I was so angry and so scared at the same time.

"Get out of my camp before you destroy the entire thing you shit head!" I said and was surprised at how low and menacing my voice was. The feeling seemed to echo in her face, as she looked down, apparently realizing what she had been trampling and stepped a few yards away, still holding on to the cliff. Then something weird happened. She… glitched. That was the only word to describe it. Like a glitch in a video game. It was only for a fraction of a second, but she grunted as if it was painful.

"What on earth are you?!" my voice was steady, although I could feel my hands shaking again.

There was a tense silence. It clashed so hard with the serene sound of waves from behind us.

"I'm not from… this garbage planet" her voice was hoarse.

So she was an alien! Ha, I was right! Then realizing what that meant - shit! I was right! Did she just say garbage planet?!

"What shitty planet are you from then?" I demanded, bristling at having my so far undiscovered planet pride insulted by a hot alien.

She glared at me, then, not appearing to be able to stand up any longer, she slid down the cliff wall. She grunted as she hit the ground.

"What are you doing here?" my voice was going softer, despite my anger. Curse my heart. All I got in response was a grimace.

"Answer my questions damn it! I've been looking out for you all day and this is what I get? My gear destroyed because you stupid alien ass has never seen fire before?! Jesus fucking Christ!" my voice rose again out of frustration.

"I know what fire is, you little shit! Just wasn't expecting to wake up with one close to my face and a fucking human with a mouth full of claws glaring at me!"

It hit me like a shot – she had been afraid! Of me! I couldn't help myself. I started to laugh. She looked as if I had just spit in her face.

After I had caught my breath I stepped a bit closer to her, holding out my hands palms up to show her I didn't mean any harm.

"But seriously though. Where the fuck are you from?"

She glared at me suspiciously. I let out a snicker.

"If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead. And if you wanted to kill me, I'd be extremely dead. So, no one wants to kill anyone, agreed?"

She gave a non-committal shrug.

"Where is Lapis?" the stone woman asked again.

"I have no idea who or what you are talking about" I stated, and she made a 'tch' noise and looked away from me. "Is that a friend or yours? Were you in a fight, is that what happened a few days ago?" I was eager to know.

"Days?!" she exclaimed. "They could be anywhere by now!" she dragged her hands through her mane of beige hair, wincing. She frowned and touched her 'nose'. "Tell me human" she paused. I could see it took a great deal out of her to ask me this. "Is… Is my gem cracked?"

"Your gem?"

"Yes, my gem!" she snapped and pointed to her 'nose'. "This!"

I stared at her. So it was important, was it? "I'll answer your questions if you answer mine" I said and crossed my arms.

She made another 'tch' sound and grumbled "Fine".

"Where are you from?"

There was a pause before she begrudgingly answered. "The gem home world, from another galaxy". Another galaxy… This was huge. A completely new life form, intelligent, capable of human speech was here, right in front of me.

"Now tell me, is there a crack in my gem?"

"Yes" I stated, my mouth feeling very dry all of a sudden.

"How big is it?"

I held up a hand. "It's my turn. Why are you here?" I felt my shoulders tense up, studying her face closely.

"I was sent here to make contact with – "I interrupted her, "Liar!" her face had completely changed from the last time she spoke. This time she was looking me right in the eye. I knew that was one of the ways humans behaved if they were lying. The liar needed to see the lie be believed. She was shocked at my accusation.

"Fine! I was sent here as an escort for a Peridot technician with the informant Lapis Laszuli!" she barked. "How big is the crack!"

"I'm gonna have to come closer to look" I said.

"Fine" she repeated.

I approached slowly so as not to startle her. The moonlight wasn't enough to make out any fine detail on her face. "I need to use my flashlight", I indicated a pocket on my belt. She grunted assent and I took it out and turned it on while I was a few yards from her, pointing it at the ground. She shielded her eyes from the sharp white light. I stepped closer. It felt like I was stepping into the lion's den. She kept her face turned away. "Turn this way" I said. She looked up at me, eyes apprehensive and filled with defiance. I inspected her gem in the light. It was about three and a half inches long and the crack ran nearly end to end, with a smaller crack splintering off to the left. I held out a finger to compare and tried to see how deep it was. It was really hard to tell even with the flashlight. If I remembered correctly the gem was about one and a half inches thick at the widest part, where the nostrils would usually be. The deepest crack might have been a quarter of an inch. I stepped back and shone the light on my hand to show her.

"It's this long, has a smaller crack on the left and seems to be this deep in the middle" I pinched my thumb and forefinger together to show the distance.

Even with the sparse moonlight, I could see that was not what she wanted to hear.

"I'm going to kill that brat!" she exclaimed and thumped her fist on the sand. I stood my ground; there really wasn't any other choice as I hadn't had time to move. Our eyes met and I swear I could see the stars reflected in them, but I couldn't remember if I could a moment ago. Was she… about to cry? My insides couldn't decide whether they should be tightening up in fear or squirm with awkward sympathy.

"I-it's bad, isn't it?" she looked away and frowned. I took that as a yes. "Is that gem… you?" the expression on her face clearly said that was also true. "If that gem is destroyed, will you die?" she looked back at me, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"How could you possibly know that!" she roared at me from barely a foot away. It made my ears ring. I didn't dare move a muscle, but something inside me was egging me on to continue.

"Deduction" my voice was barely a whisper. She glared at me with fire in her eyes.

It was so hard to remain calm, with this beast of a woman almost frothing at the mouth with anger. But she didn't attack. Even though her disdain for me was obvious and despite her own more than superior strength and size, she hadn't hurt me. Why not? I stared at her, my mind working faster than it ever had. I decided, there and then, that I didn't just not want to kill her, I already knew that. I didn't want her to die, period. This was too important. She was too important. How much could we learn about the universe from her kind? The possibilities were endless.

"What is your name?" I asked, she drew in a breath but before she could speak, that glitching thing happened again, this time her face warped and for a moment three eyes glared at me. I didn't have time to react, it passed so quickly.

"Jas – ", she grunted and sagged lower against the cliff before finishing " – per". Jasper. I had heard that before. It was the name of a precious stone. Wasn't that a bit on the nose? Her eyes flickered shut and her chin dropped to her chest. My eyes widened in surprise and concern. Was she dead? After a few seconds there was a hugely familiar, but extremely unexpected noise. I gaped - she was snoring! Snoring people were not dead. Relief flooded my veins.

My knees gave way and I slumped to the ground. I looked around bleary eyed. My mind was racing again, but I was suddenly so, so tired. I turned around to see a rosy tint to the horizon, dawn must be approaching. I crawled over to my wrecked tent, pulled out a miraculously undamaged sleeping bag, wiggled in and promptly fell asleep.

Rescue Rangers intro: watch?v=JSPG9NPj73E