Author's Note: Sorry about the semi-lengthy update. I have stopped putting specific update days at the end of chapters because I don't want to promise people a day and then end up not updating. Do not worry though, that does not mean I will be leaving it weeks between updates.
Thank you again to all that reviewed. The reviews really do push me to bang out another chapter, so thank you. In response to adamismine69's review about more dialogue, I know what you mean there, I tend to nod off when reading other stories that have no dialogue, so I have tried to incorporate more. However, with these chapters when it's just the four kids stuck in the desert, it's more based on thoughts than dialogue due to the drama of it all. Also, with Seth sick it kind of cuts down the amount of dialogue seeing as that boy can speak more than the other three put together. So hold out for upcoming chapters when there should be a lot more dialogue.
On with the story...
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Chapter 6XXX
Silence. Silence in the air, as no creature inhabited the earth or skies. Silence of the dead engine, as it no longer chugged with life. Silence, as nobody uttered a single word, vocal cords stunned to silence. The dead air was still and eerie, and only added to the horror of the situation.
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"What was that?" Marissa asked the inevitable question, prolonging her words as if she did not want the answer to come.
Ryan swallowed the lump in his throat. He grit his teeth to keep himself from having a complete anger attack.
"Ryan?" Marissa asked again, on the verge of tears.
"We have no gas." Was all that Ryan could manage. He practically whispered this statement, giving his voice a dangerous undertone.
"No...no." Marissa's voice broke as she buried her head in her hands, giving way to tears that had threatened to fall all morning.
Summer spoke no words, her tears just increased in volume. She cried into Seth's hair, as she continued to hold him. She had resulted to resting her right hand on his chest, over his heart, reveling in the steady drum. Her left hand lay on his neck, her second and third fingers pressing into his neck where his pulse was. As long as she felt a relatively steady pulse, she would not panic. However, the fact that Seth was not conscious and lying in her arms completely helpless made it really hard to stay calm.
"Shit." Ryan muttered, racking his brain for a solution to this terrible mess. Two emotional girls in tears and one unconscious brother surrounded him. Things could not get much worse.
"Why the hell didn't you fill up?" Marissa declared, her previous upset turning to anger.
"What?" Ryan's voice rose above his previous whispering tone. "Do you see any gas stations around here? Besides, it wasn't me who was driving for the past four hours and got us lost!"
His anger and frustration got the better of him and he instantly regretted the last words that came out of his mouth.
"Don't you dare blame Seth!" Summer screamed once again. "Don't you dare! For all we know he's dying! There's something very wrong with him, do you think he had tine to think about gas?!"
Marissa turned around, reaching for Summer's hand that lay on Seth's chest. Summer immediately withdrew her hand from Marissa's grasp and placed it back over Seth's heart. Marissa felt nothing but pity for Summer. She knew that if that were Ryan lying there, she would not be holding it together at all.
"Sorry Summer." Ryan muttered sincerely. "I'm just angry and worried as hell. I didn't mean to blame Seth."
"Don't you dare do it again." Summer whispered, hiccuping due to her tears. After a long pause she spoke again. "Ryan?"
"Yeah?"
Ryan turned around in his seat to face Summer. He had kept himself from turning around or looking in the mirror since bringing his unconscious brother back to the car. Now he was seeing his extremely sick and pale brother with his own two eyes, and he almost vomited. It was very clear that Seth needed help and he needed it fast.
"What are we going to do? How are we going to get to a hospital?"
Ryan sighed. Those were two questions he had asked himself over and over within the past few minutes. "Well, we're going to have to pray for a car to pass us sometime soon."
"I haven't seen a car at all since waking up!" Marissa exclaimed.
"Well we haven't been awake long have we? So we don't know the chances of one coming." Ryan argued. "Seth is the one who's been up all night and the only one who'll know the chances of us seeing a car in the next hour, and Seth's..." Ryan hesitated as Marissa shot him a warning look, "...not a lot of help right now."
"So that's it?" Summer asked through more tears. "Our only chance is a car?"
"Well, there's a chance that the emergency services could have tracked the signal to the call and find us."
"I doubt it." Marissa deadpanned. "They'll think it was a prank call."
"Goddamn it!" Summer shouted. "Can't someone go out? Look for something? There must be some sort of civilization around here somewhere!" Her voice now bordered on frustration.
"We're not going to last long out there with no water." Ryan reasoned. "At least in here we have the AC"
"A car will come." Marissa murmured, more to herself than to Summer and Ryan. "A car will come."
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The midday desert sun beat down on the black range rover.
Marissa tipped the final remains of her bottle of arrowhead into her dry mouth.
Ryan tried his cell phone again, cursing when it flashed at him, informing him of the empty battery.
The only sound that could be heard in the quiet vehicle was the sound of Summer's soft sobs from the back seat as she clung to Seth's hand.
"Do you think they'll come?" Marissa asked Ryan with caution, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
Ryan turned in his seat to face her, sweat covering his expressionless face. "I don't know."
Marissa turned her head away from him, resting it against the window, silent tears falling down her face.
The silence of the car was then disturbed as Summer's sobs turned into screams.
"It's Seth! He's having a seizure!"
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Summer's breaths came out in panicked spurts as Seth's body jerked and spasmed in her arms. She screamed in fear of Seth's life and also in fear of the horrible scene that was playing out in front of her. His arms were flying everywhere, and his head whipped back and forth sharply.
"Hold his head steady!" Ryan shouted, climbing out of his seat and shoving his body in between the two front seats in order to assist Summer.
He took Seth's thin arms and pinned him down with all his strength in order to keep Seth from hurting himself or Summer. Worry rose in Ryan's throat like the bitter taste of bile. He looked across at Summer, who was squeezing her eyes shut, unable to look at Seth in the state he was in.
"Oh God." Marissa whimpered from the front seat, not able to look at the scene either. She had only ever witnessed people having seizures on ER, and even then the doctors looked as though they had a hard time controlling the patient. Seth had the unfortunate luck of Ryan and Summer attempting to control him, which really would not help his condition.
After a grueling few minutes of hell, Seth stopped seizing. His body lay perfectly still as if nothing had happened. He looked somehow paler than before, but other than that, his appearance had not altered.
"Shit." Ryan uttered for the second time in several minutes.
"Why? Why?" Summer shouted, thumping the seat with her clenched fist.
She then took Seth's head in her hands and bent her head to touch her lips to his burning forehead in a soft kiss. "It's okay baby, it's okay. We're going to get you help, don't worry. Just hold on for me okay? Just hold on for a little longer."
Tears fell down Marissa's cheeks as she listened to Summer's pleas.
Ryan climbed back into the driver's seat. He turned the key in the ignition again in the hope of some miracle happening, but was met with the same empty splutter. He did not bother wasting any more energy on abusing another part of the Range Rover with his fists, he just simply sighed.
"Sandy and Kirsten have no idea." He muttered to himself as the thought popped into his head.
"We can't even contact them." Marissa added.
"They need to know." Summer offered weakly. "They need to know that their son is sick, they need to know Ryan."
"I know, but we have no way of contacting them. We only brought one cell phone between the four of us, and that cell phone is dead. There's no sign of life anywhere, no cars, we're screwed."
He then chuckled as a thought occurred to him. "If Seth was awake he'd suggest sending a pigeon with a note rolled up in its cute little beak."
Ryan then considered how odd he must have sounded, for one thing the sublime switch in mood from frustration to amusement and also the words 'cute little' coming out of Ryan Atwood's mouth.
Marissa laughed slightly, raising an eyebrow questioningly at her boyfriend, obviously sharing his thoughts on the matter.
"He would suggest something like that." Summer laughed through her tears. "Seth's a fan of the pigeon."
Her laughter then dissolved into more tears. "Don't die on me Cohen, don't leave me here."
The scene was heartbreaking even to Ryan.
XXX
Sandy Cohen sat at the kitchen island that morning, enjoying his sesame bagel and coffee. His eyes skimmed the headlines on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, and after confirming his disinterest, he turned to the sports section.
Unintentionally, he pulled out the Arts and Leisure section, leaving it to the side for Seth to enjoy. He chuckled to himself when he realized Seth would not read the section for another four days, and even then it would most likely be disregarded seeing as it was 'old news.'
Sandy smiled as his wife entered the kitchen in her white robe.
"Good morning, honey." Sandy offered cheerfully.
"Morning." Kirsten Cohen mumbled, before leaning down to kiss her husband good morning.
"Oh! Not such a good morning for you then?" Sandy exclaimed, a grin plastered across his face.
"I didn't sleep well." Kirsten explained, as she desperately reached for the coffeepot.
"Oh no. You're not still fretting over the idea of Julie Cooper now officially filling the role of the evil stepmother are you? Honey, she was playing that role long before she even met your father."
"No Sandy, I was not substituting Julie Cooper into the story of Cinderella."
"Oh, shame. Because that would make for one interesting dream." Sandy chuckled to himself.
"I don't know," Kirsten carried on, ignoring Sandy. "I just had this feeling and it wasn't a good feeling. Like I had to do something."
"Have you forgotten an important date with the Newpsies? Because heaven forbid..."
"No Sandy." Kirsten cut her husband off. "I can't explain it, it was just this nagging feeling."
"Well, everything's fine. No burglars due to doors being left unlocked, no fires due to ovens being left on and no kids causing unruly havoc."
"Speaking of kids, have Seth or Ryan called this morning?"
Sandy took a long drink from his coffee before answering. "No, no word."
Kirsten sighed. "We told them to call us when they arrived. I might try calling them."
"Already tried." Sandy cut in before Kirsten had a chance to pick up the phone. "It just went straight to voicemail."
He noticed Kirsten's worried expression. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure they're partying too hard to remember to call the old people back home."
Kirsten sent Sandy a pointed look. "Oh that makes me feel a lot better Sandy."
"They're teenagers, adults in fact seeing as they're all eighteen now. We have to accept that they're going to be going out drinking. At least they're legal down there." Sandy reasoned.
"I just don't want a repeat performance of last year."
"Don't worry honey. I highly doubt we'll be picking our kids up from a hospital this year."
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"I seriously think someone should go out there."
Ryan sighed again. It had been an hour since the Range Rover had run out of gas and Summer was really starting to piss him off.
"We've gone through this Summer. We'd probably end up with another one of us passing out if we were to go out there and walk God knows how many miles with no water."
"But what good are we doing Seth by just sitting here?! Nothing! If he has another seizure that could be it!"
Ryan preferred the tearful and silent Summer to the frustrated and nagging Summer. Fair enough, she was terribly worried about Seth, so was he! However it was not going to do Seth, or any of them, any good if they continued to shout at one another.
Before Ryan could offer a justified response, Marissa jumped from her seat and out of the vehicle.
"Car! It's a car!"
Ryan and Summer watched in a stunned silence as Marissa ran into the road, waving her arms madly.
Ryan jumped from his seat and stood beside her, leaving Summer and Seth in the back seat.
They all watched in awe as the red pick-up approached them. Smiles appeared on all of their faces as the pick-up truck slowed down to a halt in front of Ryan and Marissa.
Help had finally arrived.
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Please review. Chapter 7 coming soon.
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