After the Crash
Chapter 4: Recovery
"The heavy rains last night were able to help firefighters completely put out the flames caused by the crash. Firefighters, police, officials, and medical personnel have finally been able to gain access to the site early this morning, but sadly their reports aren't very comforting. The fire has made it almost impossible for them to identify the passengers; therefore, they also cannot determine if any were lucky enough to be able to get out of the plane. But search parties have been deployed desperately hoping to find some survivors."
Touya and Fujitaka listened intently to the reporter on the news. Their faces had grown pale from lack of food. They had gotten a little sleep the night before, but their sleep was plaqued by horrible nightmares.
They suddenly heard a knock on the door, but neither of them moved. They paid no attention as someone slowly opened the unlocked door and walked in. It was Kaho and Eriol. They stopped as they saw the two men staring almost unemotionally at the TV.
Kaho hurried over to them, worried at their appearance. Both looked very pale and very ill. Eriol, meanwhile, closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the source of power he had felt earlier in the Kinomoto house.
"Is Yue here?" he asked.
Fujitaka looked slowly up at him. "He left to go look with Keroberos."
*eriol* This power…it kind of feels like the cards but they seem a little weak.
He slowly walked toward the source of the power, looking back to see Kaho trying to help the two. I'm also worried about her…
He came to a stop when he reached Sakura's room, then slowly walked in. The book was on top of her bed, closed. He hesitantly opened it. His eyes widened as he saw all the cards inside. But why are they here? I'm sure she took them with her to Hong Kong. So how did they get back?
He picked up the top card, feeling its weak power. Now I'm really worried. If they're this weak, then…
He sighed and closed the book. There was nothing he could do. He sadly walked back down to the living room to find Kaho trying to force Touya and Fujitaka to eat. It wasn't working.
She looked up as he came into the room. "The cards have returned here," he told her.
She gasped in surprise. "But why?" This had even got the attention of Touya and Fujitaka who had finally turned away from the TV.
"Didn't she take those things with her?" Fujitaka asked weakly.
Eriol nodded. "I don't know why they came here." He looked away. "And they are much weaker than normal."
"What does that mean?" Touya asked quietly.
Eriol looked at him sadly. "The cards' power is directly related to Sakura's power. If they are weakening, then…" He stopped.
Touya's face fell even more. He looked back to the TV. Fujitaka stood up and began slowly walking out of the room. He weakly walked up the stairs and made his way to Sakura's room, looking at the cheerful interior. He dropped slowly to his knees and cried.
***
Syaoran was the first to wake up the next morning. He looked over at the still sleeping Sakura, smiled, and then got up and washed his face in the stream.
He walked back over to Sakura, and looked at her watch. It was already almost noon.
I've never slept that late before.
"Sakura…" he said, shaking her gently. She groaned softly, then slowly opened her eyes.
He smiled at her. "We should start searching for a way out now."
She looked at him confused. "What?"
Syaoran laughed gently. "You're still not awake yet are you."
Sakura sat up and looked around. "Oh yeah." She yawned. "I'm hungry." He grinned.
"Yeah, me too," he said. He quickly handed her half a sandwich and then split the last one in half for himself. "We only have half a sandwich left now. We have to find a way out of here today."
They slowly finished eating and began their walk again.
"How long do you think this stream is?" Sakura asked.
"Who knows," he said.
Suddenly Sakura coughed loudly, making Syaoran jump. He frowned as she continued coughing, each getting worse than the one before.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said.
"Maybe you should drink something," he suggested.
She followed his suggestion and knelt beside the stream, cupping some of the water in her hands. She drank slowly. What's wrong with me? My throat hurts…
Syaoran looked worriedly at her. She was pale. We have to get out of here soon.
The rest of their day passed slowly as they continued walking along the seemingly never-ending stream. Sakura's condition slowly worsened and Syaoran's worry grew.
Meanwhile, the other survivors were also worsening in condition. The doctor could only do so much for their injuries, and they had already run out of the medical supplies he had found on the plane.
"I hope they get some help for us soon," the doctor said, looking sadly at the group.
The others sighed.
*masato* They probably haven't even gotten out of the forest yet.
Suddenly, they heard voices in the distance walking toward the stream from the other side. The group exchanged glances excitedly.
They all began yelling as loud as they could, hoping that whoever was out there would find them.
Soon, a large group of people emerged out of the trees on the other side of the stream.
The doctor went over to meet them as they crossed the stream.
"Are you guys from the crash?" they asked incredulously.
"Yes, we are," the doctor replied ecstatically. "I am so glad you found us." He quickly led them to the others.
The injured were quickly attended to by the few medical personnel that had come along with the search party.
"We need to get these people out of here," one of them said.
"Do you know of any other survivors," another asked.
"There are two others who went to go look for help," the doctor told them. "They should be along the stream somewhere down that way." The doctor pointed in the direction Sakura and Syaoran had left.
The head of the search party quickly radioed in their discovery. "They are going to send another couple of search teams to look along the stream. How did you escape?"
"The two that left and I were able to find some survivors and pull them away before the explosion. We decided it wouldn't be safe to stay near the plane because of the fire so we walked here. We thought the stream would help separate us from the fire," the doctor explained.
"So the other two that left are uninjured?" one of the medics asked.
"The girl had a really large gash on her arm that needs to be treated, but she could walk so she decided to go. The other one, a young man, only had a few cuts."
"Well, you guys certainly are lucky," the head of the search told them.
Meanwhile, Keroberos and Yue had finally reached the site of the plane crash but both were too exhausted from the journey to even try to search for their mistress. Keroberos sighed sadly. She better be okay…
***
End of Chapter 4
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