A/N: Sooo sorry it took so long to update. My computer simply quit on me and we're in the process of getting a new one. But be happy to know I now have three chapters for different fics I caught up on that I need to type ^_^
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Val yelped and woke with a sudden start, nearly falling out of her tree. Refusing to sleep on the ground, for fear of the millions of bugs and other creepy crawlers that were bound to be swarming all over her, she had climbed up a nearby tree and made herself comfortable on a low hanging branch. Of course, that had not stopped the spider, which had found a nice perch on the back of her hand. She quickly brushed it off, cringing in disgust as the arachnid, probably the size of a quarter, fell harmlessly to the forest floor below. "I hate the outdoors!" she lamented to herself. "There was a reason I was never in girl scouts."
Climbing down from her tree limb, she lost her footing on the bark, slippery with a mixture of sap and dew, and slid the rest of the way down, ripping a hole in her sweater and skinning her elbow. "Stupid tree!" she kicked it, to no effect, then looked around helplessly. Everything looked exactly the same. How could she be expected to find her friends in this?
* * * * * * * *
"It's no use," Caitie shrugged. "We're lost. We'll never make it out of here alive."
"Well, not necessarily..." Hank fought desperately to maintain their moral. "There's got to be some way to tell which direction we're going."
"And we'd better figure that out," Jason agreed. "Because we could be walking due north. And if we did that, we'd just be walking straight through the middle of the Appalachians, all the way up through Canada..."
Hank noticeably blanched. "Okay...I know! What side of the tree does moss grow on?"
Everyone cast silent, worried looks at each other, but nobody said a word.
Finally, Jamie spoke up. "Erm...the...outside?"
"Oh, brilliant," Jason smiled sourly.
"We're screwed!" Caitie threw her arms in the air, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands.
Hank ambled off to the side, thinking to himself. He had never considered the fact that they could be traveling parallel to the mountains. If that were true, they'd never find a way out of the wilderness! His hand absentmindedly made its way into his pocket, and his fingertips brushed against the small collection of berries he still carried with him. His rations were running low, but surely he could find another bush of them. He popped a few more in his mouth, then turned back to the others.
"I can't believe you guys don't know what side of a tree the moss grows on," Jason shook his head.
Caitie cocked an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me? You're complaining about US not knowing? I don't remember seeing you shouting out the answer."
"Well, hey, I'm just a musician, you guys are the EMT's, you should know these things."
"Why should we know?" Tyler snorted defensively. "Emergency medical technicians are trained for MEDICAL EMERGENCIES, not 'lost in the woods expeditions!'"
"There's not even moss growing on any of the trees anyway, so I don't see why we're all fighting over it," Jamie pointed out.
Everyone sullenly agreed.
"Now what?" Caitie asked softly.
"Keep going," Tyler shrugged. "The Appalachian Mountains aren't uninhabited. We'll HAVE to run across SOMETHING eventually. C'mon." He picked up a long, sturdy branch to use as a walking stick, then began leading the way through the woods yet again, followed by Caitie, then Jamie, then Hank, and last, but certainly not least, Jason, who was walking backwards...
* * * * * * * *
"I hate the outdoors!" Val was still muttering to herself as she tramped through the underbrush. "I have no idea where I am, or where everyone else is...I'll never find them!" Tears of frustration brimmed her eyes. "I'll never get out of here, I'll never be saved! Everyone thinks I'm dead! I might as well be! God, this is hopeless!" Now, everyone knows that whining is not such a good trait to have, and even whining to ones self should be avoided, as this situation proves. You see, if she had not stopped then, her ears would not have picked up the barely auditable noise.
At first she thought she was imagining it, but when she heard it a second time, she paused in her tracks, holding her breath and trying to be as quiet as possible. Yes! It came again, growing louder each time; a steady jingling accompanied by a muffled thumping.
Footsteps.
Her heart leapt with joy! She would be found! Saved! Judging by the sound, it seemed to be heading straight towards her.
And just a she was pondering this, someone burst out of the bushes in front of her.
"Jason!" She exclaimed in both surprise and delight.
The chains on his belt kept swinging back and forth, clinking against each other, thanks to centrifugal motion, as he came to a sudden, abrupt stop. The look on his face could not have been more shocked as he stared speechlessly at the blonde girl in front of him.
"Thank goodness I found you!" Val continued, overlooking the fact that Jason didn't look too thrilled about stumbling into her. "Or at least, you found me...Do you know where my friends are? Or any other survivors?"
But Jason didn't answer. He only shook the look of disbelief out of his eyes, then turned and darted back into the trees.
Val stood there for a moment, looking puzzled, then she started after him. "Jason? Jason! What are you doing?! Wait for me!" She almost lost him when he dodged and ducked between groves of trees, but she did her best to keep up with his zigzag pattern. "Stop! Jason! Stop! Will you stop?!"
But he only shot her a dirty look over his shoulder and ran faster. Finally, he took a sharp left behind a couple of tall sycamores, and by the time Val reached it, he had vanished.
"Jason?" She called out several times, but there was no reply. "Well, this is perfect. I finally run into somebody and he runs away. What the heck is his problem anyway? He really is an odd character..." She ambled off, still calling out his name, as well as those of her friends.
Jason sighed and shook his head. That had been a close one. He had not anticipated her to wake up so soon, or to pop up so unexpectedly like that. No worries though. He had dealt with it, quite cleverly, if he did say so himself. Of course. He did his best work under pressure. He jumped down from the tree branch and dusted his clothes off. The little bitch could run, he would give her that, but she wasn't fast enough to see him swing himself up into that tree. Nor was she smart enough to have looked up. Jason knew this. "So predictable," he smirked. He had led her back to her little group of friends, though, just like she had wanted. They would find each other soon enough. Which was a good thing; they would be a lost easier to take care of if they all stayed together. And he didn't need them splitting up and surprising him again.
Reflex squinted his eyes as he glanced up at the sky. Those stupid morons couldn't survive in the wilderness to save their lives...which, again, was a good thing. So maybe there wasn't any moss on the trees to help them find their way. But there was more than just one way to figure out direction in the woods, such as the position of the sun or stars. He would have to work fast though. That Val would more than likely tell her little friends she had seen him. By now they surely would have noticed he was missing. They might start after him...or then again, maybe not, maybe they would just dismiss him as a nutcase and go their own way...But Jason didn't think so. They would at least try to follow his trail. He knew this. That's why he was going to leave a good trail for them to follow.
He pointed himself northwest, aided by the sun, and hurried off to find the tire tracks. It was fairly easy to retrace his steps, and soon he had reached the twin rows of flattened grass. Yes, this would be a lot easier than he thought.
* * * * * * * *
"Ow!" Caitie found herself suddenly face down on the ground. She spit out the couple of leaves that clung to her lip, and tried to get up. Her foot had just gotten caught on an upraised root, that was all, but when she moved it, a sharp stab of pain shot up her leg.
"Caitie, are you okay?" Jamie quickly jumped to her rescue.
"It's my ankle...I think I twisted it..." She winced as he bent down and gently touched it.
"Well, you certainly picked the right people to do it in front of," he smiled lopsidedly. Caitie untied her cloth belt from around her waist and Hank helped him wrap it firmly around her left ankle. "How's that? Now, need help getting up?"
Tyler watched jealously from a distance, silently cursing at Jamie as Caitie wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his around her waist, helping her to her feet. He couldn't just extend a friendly hand and pull her up that way, of course not. They had to go all touchy-feely on him, rubbing in the fact that Caitie was alive and Val was not. Jamie knew full well how he felt, how could he not?! He had just lost his girlfriend, how else could he be expected to feel? The least they could do was show a little sympathy; show a little discression with their romance instead of shoving it in his face like that.
"Can you walk?" Jamie asked, letting her lean on him.
"Yeah-ow!" As soon as she put her weight on it, her knee buckled.
"Okay, apparently not."
"No, no, I can-"
"Caitie, look at you! Just get on my back or something-"
"No, Jamie, I'm fine," she protested.
Tyler, meanwhile, closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to slow his rapidly waning patience.
"C'mon, Caitie, I can carry you. You're not so heavy."
"No, I can limp, it's okay."
"Caitie!"
"Jamie!"
Tyler snapped. "Would you two just shut the hell up already!"
The playful smiles instantly faded off their faces, and Caitie no longer resisted as Jamie bent down to help her onto his back. They were silent for a while, then Hank spoke up, changing the subject in hopes to relax the tension.
"Hey, what happened to the pin cushion?"
"Jason?" Jamie looked around. Sure enough, the blonde-haired stranger was gone. He couldn't remember exactly the last time he had seen him, but hadn't just been there a moment ago? "Where'd he disappear off to now?"
"Who cares?" Tyler muttered, turning away and starting their hike again, motioning for them to follow.
"Well, gee, I didn't like the guy much either, but...leaving him to die in the woods?" Caitie asked. "Is that really okay? The least we could do I search around the area a little for him-"
"No," Tyler said without turning around.
"But Tyler...we five were the only survivors of a plane crash! And you're willing to let that number slide down to four? Don't you think Jason deserves to be saved too? I mean, how would you feel if you like...stopped to go to the bathroom or something and your party just left you - "
"I said NO." He stopped and turned around, glaring at her threateningly.
Caitie shrunk down, giving up speech and resting her head submissively on Jamie's shoulder.
* * * * * * * *
"Jason! Tyler! Hank!" Val continued calling out her friends' names. This was her last resort, the only hope she had was that somebody would hear her screaming...if that didn't work...
Tyler stopped dead in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat. He could have sworn he had heard somebody yelling his name, and the strangest thing about it was that it sounded so much like Val's voice... He was hallucinating. Oh boy, this was not good. Sure, it was sad that she had died, and he had every right in the world to be grieving his loss, but he really needed to pull himself together. He did not need to be seeing her or hearing her everywhere he went. He would lose his mind (what was left of it anyway).
He wanted to continue walking, to will his mind to forget about his insanity...but a quick glance at his other three friends and his heart soared. They all wore the same expression of puzzlement, with their heads cocked in disbelief. In other words, they had heard it too.
"Is...is that...Val?" Caitie raised her head, straining her hearing, unable to tell for sure.
"But...but...I thought she was dead?" Tyler said breathlessly, hesitant to get his hopes up.
"Well, somebody's out there," Hank nodded, "and it sure doesn't sound like Jason."
"Hello!" Tyler shouted into the wilderness.
Val felt her pulse quicken at the answering voice, and she couldn't help the relieved grin that spread across her face. "Hello! Hello!" she yelled with renewed vigor. "Can you hear me? Where are you?"
"Yeah, we can hear you!" Tyler started in the direction of the voice. "Keep yelling! We'll come find you!"
"Okay!" She did as he instructed. "Tyler, is that you?"
The former football player sped up his pace. He was close; the voice was louder than ever, and it sounded so painstakingly much like her's... "Va...l...?" His breath caught in his throat as his eyes fell upon the lean form of the blonde cheerleader. "Val...is that really you?" he croaked. Did he dare believe that the girlfriend he had given up as dead was really alive? Was he hallucinating again? He found himself thinking of all the stories he'd heard, about people who got lost in the desert or some place, and they started seeing visions and stuff...what were they called again? Mirages? Was Val a mirage? Yet there she was, standing right in front of him, looking so incredibly real...
Her cute nose wrinkled as she smiled back. "Tyler, of course it's me."
He stood there staring for a moment, then he rushed forward, pulling her into a big hug and spinning her around once. "I'm so glad you're alive..." was all he could say, over and over again.
"Don't tell me you thought I was dead?" she rolled her eyes. "How does a paramedic make a mistake like that? Didn't you even examine me?"
"Well, I..." Tyler's blood ran cold. No he hadn't, because Jason had told him he had already checked, and she was dead...could it have just been an honest mistake because he didn't know what he was doing? Or... he quickly shrugged off the feeling of nervousness. Of course it was just a mistake. Jason had just missed the signs of life she still possessed, which though seemed rather obvious to him, wouldn't be so to someone unskilled in the medical field. "Well, Jason told me you were..."
"Speaking of Jason, I just ran into him back there." She jabbed over her shoulder with her thumb. "But he saw me and just took off again..."
"Really?" Tyler thought this over carefully. He wasn't sure just what Jason was up to, but he didn't trust him at all...
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Val yelped and woke with a sudden start, nearly falling out of her tree. Refusing to sleep on the ground, for fear of the millions of bugs and other creepy crawlers that were bound to be swarming all over her, she had climbed up a nearby tree and made herself comfortable on a low hanging branch. Of course, that had not stopped the spider, which had found a nice perch on the back of her hand. She quickly brushed it off, cringing in disgust as the arachnid, probably the size of a quarter, fell harmlessly to the forest floor below. "I hate the outdoors!" she lamented to herself. "There was a reason I was never in girl scouts."
Climbing down from her tree limb, she lost her footing on the bark, slippery with a mixture of sap and dew, and slid the rest of the way down, ripping a hole in her sweater and skinning her elbow. "Stupid tree!" she kicked it, to no effect, then looked around helplessly. Everything looked exactly the same. How could she be expected to find her friends in this?
* * * * * * * *
"It's no use," Caitie shrugged. "We're lost. We'll never make it out of here alive."
"Well, not necessarily..." Hank fought desperately to maintain their moral. "There's got to be some way to tell which direction we're going."
"And we'd better figure that out," Jason agreed. "Because we could be walking due north. And if we did that, we'd just be walking straight through the middle of the Appalachians, all the way up through Canada..."
Hank noticeably blanched. "Okay...I know! What side of the tree does moss grow on?"
Everyone cast silent, worried looks at each other, but nobody said a word.
Finally, Jamie spoke up. "Erm...the...outside?"
"Oh, brilliant," Jason smiled sourly.
"We're screwed!" Caitie threw her arms in the air, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands.
Hank ambled off to the side, thinking to himself. He had never considered the fact that they could be traveling parallel to the mountains. If that were true, they'd never find a way out of the wilderness! His hand absentmindedly made its way into his pocket, and his fingertips brushed against the small collection of berries he still carried with him. His rations were running low, but surely he could find another bush of them. He popped a few more in his mouth, then turned back to the others.
"I can't believe you guys don't know what side of a tree the moss grows on," Jason shook his head.
Caitie cocked an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me? You're complaining about US not knowing? I don't remember seeing you shouting out the answer."
"Well, hey, I'm just a musician, you guys are the EMT's, you should know these things."
"Why should we know?" Tyler snorted defensively. "Emergency medical technicians are trained for MEDICAL EMERGENCIES, not 'lost in the woods expeditions!'"
"There's not even moss growing on any of the trees anyway, so I don't see why we're all fighting over it," Jamie pointed out.
Everyone sullenly agreed.
"Now what?" Caitie asked softly.
"Keep going," Tyler shrugged. "The Appalachian Mountains aren't uninhabited. We'll HAVE to run across SOMETHING eventually. C'mon." He picked up a long, sturdy branch to use as a walking stick, then began leading the way through the woods yet again, followed by Caitie, then Jamie, then Hank, and last, but certainly not least, Jason, who was walking backwards...
* * * * * * * *
"I hate the outdoors!" Val was still muttering to herself as she tramped through the underbrush. "I have no idea where I am, or where everyone else is...I'll never find them!" Tears of frustration brimmed her eyes. "I'll never get out of here, I'll never be saved! Everyone thinks I'm dead! I might as well be! God, this is hopeless!" Now, everyone knows that whining is not such a good trait to have, and even whining to ones self should be avoided, as this situation proves. You see, if she had not stopped then, her ears would not have picked up the barely auditable noise.
At first she thought she was imagining it, but when she heard it a second time, she paused in her tracks, holding her breath and trying to be as quiet as possible. Yes! It came again, growing louder each time; a steady jingling accompanied by a muffled thumping.
Footsteps.
Her heart leapt with joy! She would be found! Saved! Judging by the sound, it seemed to be heading straight towards her.
And just a she was pondering this, someone burst out of the bushes in front of her.
"Jason!" She exclaimed in both surprise and delight.
The chains on his belt kept swinging back and forth, clinking against each other, thanks to centrifugal motion, as he came to a sudden, abrupt stop. The look on his face could not have been more shocked as he stared speechlessly at the blonde girl in front of him.
"Thank goodness I found you!" Val continued, overlooking the fact that Jason didn't look too thrilled about stumbling into her. "Or at least, you found me...Do you know where my friends are? Or any other survivors?"
But Jason didn't answer. He only shook the look of disbelief out of his eyes, then turned and darted back into the trees.
Val stood there for a moment, looking puzzled, then she started after him. "Jason? Jason! What are you doing?! Wait for me!" She almost lost him when he dodged and ducked between groves of trees, but she did her best to keep up with his zigzag pattern. "Stop! Jason! Stop! Will you stop?!"
But he only shot her a dirty look over his shoulder and ran faster. Finally, he took a sharp left behind a couple of tall sycamores, and by the time Val reached it, he had vanished.
"Jason?" She called out several times, but there was no reply. "Well, this is perfect. I finally run into somebody and he runs away. What the heck is his problem anyway? He really is an odd character..." She ambled off, still calling out his name, as well as those of her friends.
Jason sighed and shook his head. That had been a close one. He had not anticipated her to wake up so soon, or to pop up so unexpectedly like that. No worries though. He had dealt with it, quite cleverly, if he did say so himself. Of course. He did his best work under pressure. He jumped down from the tree branch and dusted his clothes off. The little bitch could run, he would give her that, but she wasn't fast enough to see him swing himself up into that tree. Nor was she smart enough to have looked up. Jason knew this. "So predictable," he smirked. He had led her back to her little group of friends, though, just like she had wanted. They would find each other soon enough. Which was a good thing; they would be a lost easier to take care of if they all stayed together. And he didn't need them splitting up and surprising him again.
Reflex squinted his eyes as he glanced up at the sky. Those stupid morons couldn't survive in the wilderness to save their lives...which, again, was a good thing. So maybe there wasn't any moss on the trees to help them find their way. But there was more than just one way to figure out direction in the woods, such as the position of the sun or stars. He would have to work fast though. That Val would more than likely tell her little friends she had seen him. By now they surely would have noticed he was missing. They might start after him...or then again, maybe not, maybe they would just dismiss him as a nutcase and go their own way...But Jason didn't think so. They would at least try to follow his trail. He knew this. That's why he was going to leave a good trail for them to follow.
He pointed himself northwest, aided by the sun, and hurried off to find the tire tracks. It was fairly easy to retrace his steps, and soon he had reached the twin rows of flattened grass. Yes, this would be a lot easier than he thought.
* * * * * * * *
"Ow!" Caitie found herself suddenly face down on the ground. She spit out the couple of leaves that clung to her lip, and tried to get up. Her foot had just gotten caught on an upraised root, that was all, but when she moved it, a sharp stab of pain shot up her leg.
"Caitie, are you okay?" Jamie quickly jumped to her rescue.
"It's my ankle...I think I twisted it..." She winced as he bent down and gently touched it.
"Well, you certainly picked the right people to do it in front of," he smiled lopsidedly. Caitie untied her cloth belt from around her waist and Hank helped him wrap it firmly around her left ankle. "How's that? Now, need help getting up?"
Tyler watched jealously from a distance, silently cursing at Jamie as Caitie wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his around her waist, helping her to her feet. He couldn't just extend a friendly hand and pull her up that way, of course not. They had to go all touchy-feely on him, rubbing in the fact that Caitie was alive and Val was not. Jamie knew full well how he felt, how could he not?! He had just lost his girlfriend, how else could he be expected to feel? The least they could do was show a little sympathy; show a little discression with their romance instead of shoving it in his face like that.
"Can you walk?" Jamie asked, letting her lean on him.
"Yeah-ow!" As soon as she put her weight on it, her knee buckled.
"Okay, apparently not."
"No, no, I can-"
"Caitie, look at you! Just get on my back or something-"
"No, Jamie, I'm fine," she protested.
Tyler, meanwhile, closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to slow his rapidly waning patience.
"C'mon, Caitie, I can carry you. You're not so heavy."
"No, I can limp, it's okay."
"Caitie!"
"Jamie!"
Tyler snapped. "Would you two just shut the hell up already!"
The playful smiles instantly faded off their faces, and Caitie no longer resisted as Jamie bent down to help her onto his back. They were silent for a while, then Hank spoke up, changing the subject in hopes to relax the tension.
"Hey, what happened to the pin cushion?"
"Jason?" Jamie looked around. Sure enough, the blonde-haired stranger was gone. He couldn't remember exactly the last time he had seen him, but hadn't just been there a moment ago? "Where'd he disappear off to now?"
"Who cares?" Tyler muttered, turning away and starting their hike again, motioning for them to follow.
"Well, gee, I didn't like the guy much either, but...leaving him to die in the woods?" Caitie asked. "Is that really okay? The least we could do I search around the area a little for him-"
"No," Tyler said without turning around.
"But Tyler...we five were the only survivors of a plane crash! And you're willing to let that number slide down to four? Don't you think Jason deserves to be saved too? I mean, how would you feel if you like...stopped to go to the bathroom or something and your party just left you - "
"I said NO." He stopped and turned around, glaring at her threateningly.
Caitie shrunk down, giving up speech and resting her head submissively on Jamie's shoulder.
* * * * * * * *
"Jason! Tyler! Hank!" Val continued calling out her friends' names. This was her last resort, the only hope she had was that somebody would hear her screaming...if that didn't work...
Tyler stopped dead in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat. He could have sworn he had heard somebody yelling his name, and the strangest thing about it was that it sounded so much like Val's voice... He was hallucinating. Oh boy, this was not good. Sure, it was sad that she had died, and he had every right in the world to be grieving his loss, but he really needed to pull himself together. He did not need to be seeing her or hearing her everywhere he went. He would lose his mind (what was left of it anyway).
He wanted to continue walking, to will his mind to forget about his insanity...but a quick glance at his other three friends and his heart soared. They all wore the same expression of puzzlement, with their heads cocked in disbelief. In other words, they had heard it too.
"Is...is that...Val?" Caitie raised her head, straining her hearing, unable to tell for sure.
"But...but...I thought she was dead?" Tyler said breathlessly, hesitant to get his hopes up.
"Well, somebody's out there," Hank nodded, "and it sure doesn't sound like Jason."
"Hello!" Tyler shouted into the wilderness.
Val felt her pulse quicken at the answering voice, and she couldn't help the relieved grin that spread across her face. "Hello! Hello!" she yelled with renewed vigor. "Can you hear me? Where are you?"
"Yeah, we can hear you!" Tyler started in the direction of the voice. "Keep yelling! We'll come find you!"
"Okay!" She did as he instructed. "Tyler, is that you?"
The former football player sped up his pace. He was close; the voice was louder than ever, and it sounded so painstakingly much like her's... "Va...l...?" His breath caught in his throat as his eyes fell upon the lean form of the blonde cheerleader. "Val...is that really you?" he croaked. Did he dare believe that the girlfriend he had given up as dead was really alive? Was he hallucinating again? He found himself thinking of all the stories he'd heard, about people who got lost in the desert or some place, and they started seeing visions and stuff...what were they called again? Mirages? Was Val a mirage? Yet there she was, standing right in front of him, looking so incredibly real...
Her cute nose wrinkled as she smiled back. "Tyler, of course it's me."
He stood there staring for a moment, then he rushed forward, pulling her into a big hug and spinning her around once. "I'm so glad you're alive..." was all he could say, over and over again.
"Don't tell me you thought I was dead?" she rolled her eyes. "How does a paramedic make a mistake like that? Didn't you even examine me?"
"Well, I..." Tyler's blood ran cold. No he hadn't, because Jason had told him he had already checked, and she was dead...could it have just been an honest mistake because he didn't know what he was doing? Or... he quickly shrugged off the feeling of nervousness. Of course it was just a mistake. Jason had just missed the signs of life she still possessed, which though seemed rather obvious to him, wouldn't be so to someone unskilled in the medical field. "Well, Jason told me you were..."
"Speaking of Jason, I just ran into him back there." She jabbed over her shoulder with her thumb. "But he saw me and just took off again..."
"Really?" Tyler thought this over carefully. He wasn't sure just what Jason was up to, but he didn't trust him at all...