Okay, okay. I know I said that I wasn't going to update until the weekend. And I wasn't, really truly. But then people were reviewing, and I felt bad that they didn't know what happened, and I felt REALLY bad about what I've done to Adam, and what I haven't done to him yet but will do in the somewhat near or distant future. Of course, now there will really be a delay-ish type thing before the next chapter, since I won't post anything unless I already have at least the next chapter typed. Chapter five is typed, but I haven't even finished writing chapter six yet.
Right now I want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far. And the lucky winners are (*clears throat*): LyssaBoot, crazy steph, Allie, Sassyangel05, fdfdf, Admiral Lily, Laura, fgfggf, hgill, Jessica14, eclectic, and Moonlit-Jeannie. Thanks so much for your feedback and support.
I see that many people are against the idea of me killing Adam off. Even though I must admit that the idea is really tempting, since I have a tendency to kill the hot guys (twisted, huh?), I have to say that I haven't officially decided exactly what I'm going to do with Master Rove yet. I suppose I might partially base my decision on what you guys think. Of course, you could beg and plead with me to spare his life, and I could just laugh in your face and kill him anyways, but even I'm not that spiteful. Well, not very often anyway. It also depends on what kind of mood I'm in when I actually get to that part. Like, if I'm really mad at him for the whole situation with that Iris rhymes-with-witch, I could always just be like, 'oh, you picked the wrong girl, now DIE'. I don't really know yet, though.
In other words, the fate of Adam has not yet been determined. It will be when that time arrives. See, now you guys know nothing more than I do about what's going to happen to him? Nice, isn't it? Or that could be unsettling, since I am the author after all.
Perhaps I should stop rambling now. Yeah, twould be a good idea.
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Soundtrack of Sorrow
Chapter Four: Worries and Wonderings
The three conscious castaways had no clue about what to do. They were lost in a forest, with no idea of how to get back home. Their only means of transportation was split in two, with half of it partially underwater. To top it all off, the fourth member of their happy little group was propped up against a rock wall, bleeding to death.
Joan was by Adam's side once again, her right hand pressing down on the towel covering his wound. Luke sat on the ground, watching his sister, and Grace was perched on the rock where Joan had been seated moments before, staring out at the Trailblazer.
"Well. . ." Grace said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.
"Well what?" Luke asked, turning his gaze to where she was sitting.
"What are we going to do?" Grace asked, sighing.
"I don't know," Luke responded with a shrug.
Grace cocked her head sideways. "I thought you were the smart one."
Luke was quiet for a moment, trying to think. "We can't go anywhere," he said finally, "since we can't move Adam. We don't want him to bleed any more than he already is." Grace nodded, and he went on. "But we can't just wait here, because we don't know how long it'll take for us to be found. So maybe I could try to find the road again, or you could, and-"
"No," Joan stated firmly, looking over at him. "We can't split up."
"But-"
"We have to stay together," Joan said, "it's not safe to send someone off by themselves, so you two would end up going, and I don't want to stay here by myself with Adam. What if he gets worse? Besides, what if help *does* come, and we can't find you two?"
Luke didn't have an argument for that, and from the look on her face, he guessed that Grace didn't, either.
"Alright," Luke said, sighing, "We scratch that idea. But we need a plan."
"What about a signal fire?" Joan suggested.
Grace stared at her incredulously. "And burn the whole place down? Am I the only one who's noticed that we're surrounded by trees? And when I say trees, I mean trees, as in wood."
"Well, wouldn't people notice a fire?" Joan questioned.
"I think your sister's delirious," Grace said to Luke. "Are you sure that she didn't hit her head?"
"She could have," Luke said, suddenly worried, "You don't think-"
"It was just a suggestion!" Joan exclaimed. "You wanted a plan, and I was trying to be helpful. I am *not* delirious."
"Okay then," Luke said, clapping his hands, "we make a new plan, then."
"We have shelter, so that's one less thing to worry about," Grace stated. Luke glanced around uneasily.
"Yeah, but are you sure that this place is safe?" he asked. "What if a bear lives here? We're already in bad enough shape, so we don't need to go up against any wild animals. I mean, look at Adam. He's already gotten into a fight with a windshield wiper and lost."
"Exactly," Grace said, "so what we really don't need is for him to get any worse." She crossed her arms and stared at Luke. "Besides, what are you afraid of, anyway? The Jersey Devil?"
"Of course not."
"So let's just get back to this plan of yours."
Luke nodded. "We'll probably need a fire-"
"Wait," Joan cut in, "I thought you said that was a bad idea."
"A signal fire is a bad idea," Luke explained. "I'm talking about a smaller one. You know, so we can stay warm."
"And how are we going to start it?" Joan asked.
"There's a lighter in the glove compartment," Grace supplied, pointing towards the remains of the Trailblazer. "Well, at least there *was* a lighter in there. The whole off-road adventure thing could have misplaced it."
"We should check for it, at least," Luke said, scanning around for any small branches to burn.
"I'm not going back into the water," Grace said, shaking her head. "I already had to drag Adam through it. You try pulling a person through a river, with shoes on."
"Who's going, then?" Luke asked, confused, "you're not going, Joan can't go, and Adam definitely can't go, so that only leaves. . ."
"You," Grace said, getting up and dragging him towards the river, "be careful, that water is deep."
"But-"
"It was your idea," Grace pointed out.
Luke sighed, and kicked off his shoes. He turned back to Grace. "If I drown, it's your fault."
"Go," came Grace's reply. Luke sighed once again, and swam out into the icy water.
* * *
Grace watched Luke's progress from the bank of the river. She had known that she wouldn't have been able to complete the swim herself. She had barely made it to shore last time. Shivering slightly, she tried to forget finding Adam in the car, and pulling that thing out of his chest, and all of the blood that she had feebly tried to stop with a towel, and then that terrible, long swim, just trying to keep both of their heads out of the water. Then they had reached land, and there was still so much blood, and she had tried to wake him up, but he hadn't responded to her desperate threats or pleadings. Grace had been overjoyed when she discovered the cave, and dragged Adam into it, but he was still out, and still bleeding. After she had pulled off his shirt she had almost regretted it, because it all seemed so much worse when she could actually see the wound. Once again she turned back to towel, but it didn't do much as far as stemming the blood flow was concerned.
Grace quickly peered back into the cave, where Joan was sitting by Adam's side, tending to him to the best of her ability. Joan had barely spoken since seeing Adam, and Grace wondered if she was in shock. It wouldn't surprise her. Grace was continuously shaking, and it wasn't just from the cold.
She glanced back to Luke and saw that he was already almost back to the shore. Within moments he was standing beside her, soaking wet and clutching a small plastic baggie.
"I found the lighter," he said triumphantly, holding up the back, "plus a roadmap, and a packet of popcorn."
"Popcorn?" Grace asked him skeptically. "What are we going to do with it?"
"Eat it."
"How?"
"Well, you have to pop it first. And. . .oh. . ."
"Yeah."
Luke shrugged. "But I do have the lighter. I'm not sure how it got in there, though. . ."
"Who cares?" Grace asked, snatching it from him. "We can start a fire now." They headed back into the cave, and Grace sat down on the other side of Adam, across form Joan.
"Is he any worse?" she asked. Joan looked up at her with a sad expression.
"Not really," she said, "but he has a fever. It's not too bad yet, but it could get worse, and. . ."
Grace nodded, and felt Adam's forehead with the back of her hand. It was a little warm, but there were other things to worry about for now, most importantly all of the blood he was loosing.
"How can we help him?" Joan asked, fear obvious in her voice.
"I don't know," Grace responded truthfully. "I don't think we really can. What we need to do is get him somewhere that he can get help. The most we can do right now is keep him still, and get the place warmed up."
Joan had returned his gaze to Adam's face, but now looked up in surprise. "Luke found the lighter?"
"Yes, he did. And I swam through a raging current to get it," Luke called from the mouth of the cave. "Now I've even braved the wild to gather firewood."
Grace rolled her eyes. "You're full of it, aren't you?" Still, she got up and helped Luke to get a fire going. After ten minutes they got a small blaze going, and slowly fed it to make it larger. When it was burning brightly all three stood around it, warming their hands.
"I feel like we're cavemen," Joan said sarcastically, "creating fire for the first time."
"At least we're warm cavemen," Luke commented. There was a bit of nervous laughter, but the main thing on their minds was the hope that help would come soon.
*TBC*
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Okay, about the Jersey Devil thing, I had to stick that in there. I will give cookies to anyone who actually knows what TV show that's from.
Please review!
~Cop~