Thank you to those still reading this and reviewing. You all are awesome!

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything. By the way the title of this chapter doesn't mean the horror movie that came out. I don't own that nor will I ever even on DVD. I hate horror films.

Chapter 5

Cabin in the Woods

The large group of students trudged slowly on as the air slowly got warmer. Sweatshirts were shed and tied around waists while others pushed up their sleeves. Sunlight fell through the gaps in the leaves overhead casting shadows of branches and bushes across the path. Small animals scurried around unseen amongst the foliage that littered the earth. Suddenly, Mr. Parsy stopped holding his hand to signal for everyone to cease their walking as well. Several students, who were more interested in their feet, bumped into the stationary people in front of them.

"Alright everyone, our first lesson will be learning how to tell how old a tree is. Can anyone tell me one way of doing so?" Mr. Parsy turned to look at everyone with a smile. A hand shot up in the back and the middle aged man pointed towards it unable to see the face to place a name with.

"You can tell by the number of rings in the trunk of the tree when you cut it down." A male voice replied loud enough to be heard up in the front of the group.

"Very good! Yes, cutting down a tree and looking at the rings inside is the best way to tell the age. However, there is a secondary way that will allow us to estimate the tree's age without having to partake in the grizzly task of chopping, or sawing, down nature. Mr. Lectur could you bring me the science bag please?" Mr. Parsy said referring to the last teacher who had come along.

A younger man, possibly in his early thirties, stepped forward with a green backpack. Handing it to the older teacher he stood by waiting for further instructions. Mr. Parsy dug around inside pulling out a tape measure, a calculator, a pad of paper, and a pencil each item being handed to the other teacher. Closing the bag up he set it on the ground and walked over to a tree near the path.

"Now, later on we will be identifying trees but for right now we won't be worrying about it just yet. The first step for this project is to wrap the tape measure around the tree a few feet above the ground. About your waist height will suffice." Mr. Parsy took the tape measure from Mr. Lectur and proceeded wrapping the pink measuring tool around the trunk of the tree. Holding it place he looked back up.

"The next step is to have your partner write down the measurement you took. This is the circumference of the tree. You will need this for the math part later." This response was quickly met with several loud groans. "Yes, yes I know it's math but don't worry this is why we will be providing you all calculators. Mr. Lectur could you please write down 48 inches please? Now once you have the circumference you will need to calculate the diameter. Can anyone tell me how we would do this?"

Tea's hand shot up immediately a grin on her face. Several others began to raise their hands praying they wouldn't have to do the calculations in their heads. Everyone else sat back either too tired to care or not paying attention at all. Mr. Parsy gave a small smile before pointing to Tea.

"You can find the diameter by dividing the circumference by 3.14." The brunette grinned while Joey, Tristan, and Duke gave her a look that said it was too early to be knowing this.

"Very good Ms. Gardner! Now I'm not going to torture you all with having to do this in your heads. So, Mr. Lectur could you be so kind as to tell us the answer with the calculator?"

"Sure can. The diameter of this tree is about 15.3 inches." Mr. Lectur stated after plugging the numbers into the small device in his hand.

"Thank you. Now the final step is to take the diameter and multiply it by the growth factor. For this you'll need to know your trees, however, as stated before we'll be doing this at a later point. Right now most of the trees in this immediate area are going to be Sugar Maples so you'll multiply by 5. Mr. Lectur if you could do the honors once more."

"Your tree is around 76 years old. I would imagine there are several around here that are a lot older." The youngest teacher stated looking up at the class through light brown bangs.

"Yes, a lot of these trees may be into their hundreds of years in age. Now, remember this is only an estimate. The only real way to tell is to either bore into the tree, which would harm it, or cut it down. So, your assignment for right now is to get the estimated ages of ten different trees. You will pair up with your partners and spread out into the immediate vicinity but stay within earshot. When enough time has passed we will blow a whistle and you will all return to this spot here. I will then collect all the answers you have. We will be handing out one set of materials per group so don't lose them. Write down the circumference, the diameter, and the ages on the papers. Please come up now and receive your items from Mr. Lectur or myself."

At this the students slowly formed a line and received their items. Each group wandered off in various directions. Tea and Yugi began taking measurements on a smaller tree while Joey, Duke, and Tristan fought over trying to get the measuring tape around a larger tree that was too wide for the tape.

Clarissa stood with her partner scribbling down the number he had just told her when she looked up feeling something was wrong. Looking around she tried to spot a head of white hair or her roommate. Not seeing either anywhere an uneasy feeling began to settle in her stomach.

"Something wrong?" A male voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I don't know. I got a bad feeling about something Justin." Clarissa gave the area one more look before turning to the shaggy black haired boy.

"Let's finish this assignment and then maybe we can talk about it okay?" Justin replied his blue eyes holding a bit of concern to the odd girl he was paired with.

"Thanks, I'd like that." Clarissa smiled before returning to the task at hand.

Meanwhile, in another far off area, a white haired spirit was glaring down at the girl before him who was still kneeling in the dirt. Serenity hadn't moved or made a sound for the past ten minutes. The crying had stopped when she ran out of tears and now she stared at the ground before her blankly.

"Cyring won't help the situation at all." Yami Bakura growled bitterly crossing his arms. A set of angry brown eyes glowered up at him in retaliation.

"I'm sorry that not everyone can be as emotionless and uncaring like you. Most of us actually have feelings and weaknesses. Excuse me for being one of them. If I offended you by having such things and being a human being then you'll just have to get over that fact." Serenity snapped back standing and brushing her hair out of her face. The spirit before her smirked at her bravery before turning his back on her.

The trek forward was silent neither person wishing to speak with the other. A glance at her watch told Serenity it was starting to get close to noon. Her stomach grumbled about not having eaten lunch yet. She prayed that Yami Bakura didn't hear it lest he get upset that he'd be stopping again. What she didn't know was that Yami Bakura was fighting off the hunger pains as well but was starting to lose. He wished he had thrown in some of the granola bars from the breakfast bar in his bag when he had the chance. Hindsight is a bitch, he growled in his head.

Serenity had shifted her bag so she could continue walking while shuffling through her bag's contents. Pulling out two bags of Chex Mix Muddy Buddies that she had packed before the trip she increased her pace to walk next to the white haired demon. Tapping his arm lightly she nearly jumped out of her skin when he turned dark angry brown eyes to her.

"What?" He all but snarled the hunger getting the best of him. Yami Bakura looked down at what the girl was holding out to him. In his head he began to take back everything he had said to the girl earlier. Too bad it never made it to his lips. "How'd you know?"

"That you were hungry? We both ate about six hours ago and if you're anything like a normal human being, you'd be starving right about now." Serenity put emphasis on normal wondering if he'd catch on.

"I guess I owe you a thank you." Yami Bakura grumbled taking the bag of food and turned back to walking the fake trail in front of him. He barely caught the 'and an apology' Serenity muttered under her breath. Grinning at how the girl continued to amaze him he let his mind wandered back to finding a solution out of the place. His phone had long lost signal and Serenity's was back in her room.

Serenity continued to munch on her snack as they trekked through the forest. The heat had reached it's peak already and she was becoming weary. All the drinking water was with the teachers in a large cooler. The world began to spin a little and her legs shook the more she continued walking. A rest was needed but trying to tell the monster with her wasn't a challenge she felt like taking on at the moment. When the edges of her vision started to go black she stopped and brought her hands to her head. Weak legs wobbled and the girl staggered before trying to speak. Key word, tried.

"Bak-" Was all that Yami Bakura heard before a thud met his ears. Spinning around in slight concern chocolate colored eyes fell on the sight before him. The younger of the two had collapsed onto her side. Rushing back to the girl he placed his rather cold hands to her forehead and throat. Grateful for the pulse he felt a frown appeared on his face on how pale and clammy her skin was.

"You're body would have to pick the worst possible time to react to the fucking heat." Yami Bakura curse. The heat was something he wasn't new to considering his past life. Maneuvering the pink bookbag from the female's back and onto his own wasn't as difficult as he thought. Her bag was light, as was his, and required no extra work to get it on over his. Picking up the fairly delicate girl bridal style was just as easy. "Guess I need to find shelter sooner than I thought."

Clarissa took a sip of water from a plastic bottle as she sat on a fallen tree trunk next to the soccer player that was her partner. Looking up towards the brilliant rays of golden light. Leaves whispered in the breeze and grass swayed along with it. The two had finished their task earlier than most of the students and relaxed while waiting.

"So, did you want to talk to me about something?" The black haired male asked after swallowing a mouth full of the cool clear liquid.

"Hm? Oh, ya. You haven't seen Ryou Bakura or Serenity Wheeler walking around have you? After we left the resort I never saw them again except maybe out of the corner of my eyes." Clarissa glanced around hoping she'd spot her two friends and ease her fears.

"The white haired kid and the big mouth's cute little sister? Sorry, I haven't seen them since we gathered up in the parking lot. I'll keep a look out for them though. Do you want to tell one of the teachers?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, with us all spread out at the moment I can't tell where everyone is. Maybe I just keep missing them. I'll wait until we get back. If Serenity doesn't show up in my room I'll say something. That's the only way for certain that I know they aren't here." Clarissa wrung her wrists nervously before a tanned hand placed itself on hers. Looking up into gray eyes she smiled a little despite the worry that clouded her features.

"Not to make you feel worse, but the only way to know for sure if they're here is to tell them now. We can muster up again after this and then if they're not at the hotel they'll know for sure they're missing. It's best off not holding this in and worrying yourself sick." Justin ran his hand over a paler set before taking them both within his and standing up bring Clarissa up with him. "Come on, let's go now while we still have time."

It didn't take long for the pair to find Mr. Lectur and tell them their story. He nodded and agreed that after the assignment they would take role call again. If they didn't appear they would wait until they returned to the resort before calling authorities. Checking his watch Mr. Lectur held up his hand counting down the number of seconds left for the project. A sharp clear whistle blew for several long seconds. Students hurried to return to the assembling point with different items in hand.

"Alright students, after you've all rogered up please turn your papers in to one of us up here." Mr. Lectur shouted over the heads of the teenagers in front of him. With that he began shouting out names.

Yami Bakura was beginning to believe his day was cursed as continued advancing along the path at a snail's pace. Everything around him looked exactly the same and with all the branches over head he couldn't tell which direction he was heading. A string of curses came out of his mouth and just as he was about to speak in his old native tongue he spotted a shape up ahead off the path. That shape looked big enough to be a cabin.

"It took nearly all the cuss words in the book before that appeared? Someone has a sick sense of humor. Then again, who am I to talk?" Yami Bakura chuckled to himself as he glanced down at the fainted girl in his arms. He wasn't about to admit it aloud, even when no one would be able to hear it, how nice it was to hold her in his arms. Looking up once more Yami Bakura was about to take a step when said girl stirred with a light moan.

"What happened? Oh God!" Serenity nearly shouted as she looked up in Yami Bakura's face who was looking down at her with a raised eyebrow and an amused expression. He set her down before she fell out of his grip but didn't dare take his hands off her waist. Thoughts of keeping her there like that were quickly killed off in his head as he mentally growled at the treacherous things.

"You fainted from heat exhaustion. I've been carrying you for the past twenty minutes. Now, on bright side of all this, there's a cabin up ahead that I was about to make my way to. Since I don't know how steady you are on your legs I'm carrying you still. Last I need is you spraining an ankle or collapsing again. It's bad enough you did it once."

"I'm fine really." Serenity responded just now noticing the pair of hands that were on her waist. She quickly turned pink and tried to remove them but they tightened their hold. Serenity looked up into angry brown eyes before being pulled chest to chest with their owner.

"Do not argue with me. I didn't have to take you all this way by carrying you. Hell I should've left you there if I really wanted to. I'm doing this to repay my debt to you. Now, if you want to risk collapsing again and me not returning to come and get you then by all means walk on your own two damned feet. However, if you want to actually make it to the cabin in the next five minutes you will have me carry you." Yami Bakura's snarls paused when he saw Serenity's face. If there was the was a color darker than cherry red her face was it.

"Okay, I'll let you carry me," was all Serenity managed to squeak out in embarrassment. Swift arms swept her up and off her feet. Another squeal escaped her soft pink lips before her arms came up around Yami Bakura's neck.

They carried on like this for a few more minutes until they stood in front of a run down looking cottage. Two uneven stairs led up to a small porch with an overhang held up by two wooden posts. The stone chimney flute was missing several stone and a couple of the windows in the front were cracked. A large portion of shingles were missing with some barely clinging on to it's siblings.

"Well, it's better than nothing." Serenity whispered as Yami Bakura set her down on the porch, the wooden boards creaking under their combined weight. The two bags on the spirit's back were set next to her before he made his way to the back of the cabin to inspect it. Finding nothing but a few more cracked windows he returned to try and open the door. Surprisingly, it was locked. A swift kick sent the door swinging open and a caused the girl on the porch to flinch.

"Stay out here until I tell you too." Yami Bakura ordered as the Millennium Ring phased through his shirt while he pulled out a long knife from his boot. Serenity nodded wide eyed in fright before watching him vanish inside.

Yami Bakura stepped into a room that from the looks of the moth eaten brown couch and the rickety wooden table in front of it was the living room. The floor boards protested, despite the amount of dust upon them, as he continued to his right into the kitchen which oddly enough had a washing machine and dryer in it. Walking out to the living room he check the last two closed doors. One led to the bathroom and the last the bed room. A queen size bed sat against the wall across from the door with a small nightstand to it's right. The bed had a large green comforter spread out upon it with matching sheets and two pillows. Finally, Yami Bakura swung open the closet door to find nothing but air.

Serenity looked around in worry wondering the same question Yami Bakura had been. Who would lock a run down cabin that appeared to not have been touched in ages? A shiver ran down spine and she nearly screamed when a loud creak sounded behind her. Jumping up she turned to come face to face with none other than Yami Bakura.

"Jumpy are we? The cabin is clean but if you're getting the same thoughts I am, then something is right about it. There's no phone in here either so we're stuck here until someone comes and searches for us." Yami Bakura picked up his bag and turned back into the cabin the auburn haired schoolgirl following close behind.

"Wow, this place is dirty." Serenity muttered as she looked about. Dust and dirt covered everything in several inches. Each step sent up a poof of the mixture and she nearly sneezed several times as she followed the older teen into the bedroom.

"We will be sharing the bed for safety reasons." Yami Bakura made no room for argument with this statement.

Serenity mentally sighed with relief not wanting to be alone in the building. A cool hand pressed against her forehead while a pair of brown eyes gazed into her equally colored eyes. Before she could ask what was going on the white haired demon removed his hand and stepped out of the room.

"You're skin is back to a healthy color and you're looking better. Let's get this placed at least semi-cleaned up before we die from breathing this shit in." Yami Bakura walked into the kitchen pulling out a set of brooms from the space between the fridge and the wall it was against.

Joey was in a panic state after his only sister failed to roger up for her name during the role call. Pacing back and forth, tugging on his hair to the point it nearly came out, the blonde tried to remember the last time he had set eyes on her. When the group was asked when they last saw the pair someone had said they had seen them stop to talk but that was the last sighting. The brother of the missing girl then began saying he felt something was wrong because "Wheelers have a connection" as he stated more than once in his mutterings.

"Joey, I know this is hard, but you have got to calm down. Freaking out about this will not make the situation any better. We only have an hour left in the hike. Let's make the most of it. When we get back to the resort Clarissa said she would come and tell you if she was in the room or not. Let's have hope that she's there or on her way back there right now. Don't forget, Ryou isn't going to let anything happen to her." Yugi tried his best to calm his worrying friend who had stopped pacing a hole in the ground. The blonde gave a heavy sigh before looking down at his shorter friend.

"I guess you're right as usual Yug. Maybe my feelings are a bit off because of the crummy lunch we had." Joey was referring to the ham and cheese sandwiches they had all been given before they had even begun the science assignment. He had only eaten two but was still starving. Normally Serenity carried the snacks but as he couldn't find her at the time he went without the extra food.

With that said and done the five friends walked over to the rest of the group who were still handing in papers. Once the teachers had collected each assignment they made their journey back to the resort. Seven people were crossing their fingers hoping beyond hope that the two people they were looking for were back safe in their rooms.