Title: Summer Storms, Part 4 of 6

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay on this one. Real life intervened. Thanks for the reviews; judging from the feedback, I guess Ch. 3 wasn't too gory after all. Don't worry, the gang will find shelter soon... Or will they?

Chapter 4: The Fire Tower

As Hamilton cradled Jake in his arms, the last thing either of them wanted was for the others to keep staring at them. So Hamilton let Will, Scout, and Bella walk in front this time, and no one questioned that formation.

But while Hamilton thought he had solved a problem by carrying Jake, he didn't realize that his girlfriend was desperate to avoid exactly what was happening. Despite the pain and fatigue, she'd been fighting to get through this with her masculine persona intact. And that rendered her as easily embarrassed by a display of weakness as any male teenager would be.

Jake had her arms crossed defiantly over her chest as she complained, "Dude, you're making me look bad."

"Chill. We've got to get inside."

Chill, she thought. Great. She'd never been more chilled in her life. Cold ached her bones, almost obliterating the pain in her foot.

What Hamilton couldn't see was that in addition to the aching cold, loss of blood was making her tired and cranky. When she looked up at him again, her mood was dark. She watched him for a moment, and when he looked down at her she said, "You must be loving this."

"What?"

"This is what you wanted, isn't it? You the big manly man, me the damsel in distress?"

Hamilton gawked at her in disbelief. Jake saw the shadow pass over his eyes, and she knew that he wanted to come back at her with something much stronger than what he settled on: "Shut up, Jake."

They continued on in silence, rain pelting their faces. Jake looked up at Hamilton and saw him staring straight ahead, his jaw locked in angry determination. Weak as she was, she had enough presence of mind to see how much she had pissed him off, and only then did she realize how mean her comment was.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Hamilton looked down at her and melted instantly. "No, I'm sorry," he replied. He couldn't help himself now; he lifted her up close to his face and kissed her forehead without even considering whether any of the others might turn around and see him. He kept his face close to hers and whispered, "Just relax, OK? Take deep breaths."

"I can't take deep breaths."

"Why not?"

"Because I've got a corset strapped around my chest, remember? It got even tighter when it got wet."

"Dammit, Jake. Why didn't you mention that before?"

"What am I gonna do about it?"

Hamilton stopped walking. He bent down and gently set Jake on the ground.

Up ahead, the others walked on until Bella turned and noticed, and she put a hand on Will and Scout to stop them.

Hamilton shouted to them, "No, you guys go on ahead. We're just gonna rest a minute."

"We'll wait," Scout called back.

"No, go on ahead."

Scout and Will exchanged another glance, but Bella grabbed their hands and pulled them forward. "Come on," she insisted.

Scout reminded her, "Hamilton's the one who knows where this fire tower thing is."

"I know where it is, I think," she replied.

"You think?"

Will glanced back at Jake and Hamilton. "We shouldn't leave them."

"They'll be fine," Bella insisted.

"Fine?" Scout repeated incredulously. "Jake's lost like a gallon of blood."

Will shook his head at Bella. "Does anyone remember down by the river when I said that I didn't think it was a good idea for us to split up?"

"Congratulations, Will," Bella retorted. "You were right. But we're not splitting up again, we're just giving them some space."

"Space?"

"Privacy." Bella was having a hard time explaining what she meant. "Guys, I think they want to be alone for a sec."

"Well..." Scout mused, "at least they're finally putting an end to the whole charade."

"What charade?" asked Bella.

"Pretending that they're not gay."

Bella shook her head. "They're not gay."

Scout and Will delivered a simultaneous, "What?"

"I don't know. Never mind. Just come on." Bella called back to Hamilton and Jake, "We'll meet you guys up there." She started walking again, and Will and Scout followed after her.

Hamilton breathed a sigh of relief when the three of them finally disappeared into the trees. He turned back to Jake, who had her hands under her shirt but was so weak and cold she struggled to undo the corset. "Here," Hamilton whispered. He reached under her sweatshirt and T-shirt and felt how icy cold her skin was as she guided his hands to the velcro fastening the corset. He tugged at it. There was a lot of velcro. "Jesus."

"Yeah."

He finally ripped the velcro apart, then pulled the corset out with one hand and left his other on her chest, feeling her ribs expand as her lungs filled with air.

"Can you breathe now?"

"Yeah. Much better."

Hamilton ran his thumb softly over the cup of her bra, and then down her stomach to her waist, where he let his hand rest on her cold, wet skin to warm her. She was shivering so much, and there was nothing he could do.

"You're gonna be fine," he assured her, as if by saying it he could somehow erase the dark shadows that were forming under her eyes.

"Yeah, of course," she replied, with a surprisingly firm voice.

She was so pale it terrified him, the fear gripping his chest even tighter than the cold. He couldn't remember ever having been so scared in his whole life. It was only now that he began to realize that Jake's life was in danger. When he opened his mouth to speak, he didn't even know what words were going to come out.

"I love you, Jake. I love you so much, I..." He wanted to keep telling her, but he had to stop before the emotions overwhelmed him.

She placed a hand on his face as she responded, "I know." But before she could tell him how much the sentiment was mutual, he leaned into her, and the one part of their bodies that was still warm - their mouths - met underneath the drenching rain. There were so many feelings that Hamilton could only express by kissing her, and now they all came pouring out -- fear, love, longing, tenderness. It was all there, almost too much for both of them.

But their kiss lasted only a few seconds, and then Hamilton pulled himself away. He was supposed to be helping her breathe, not suffocating her with his affection. And he knew they couldn't stay there, out in the rain, for long. He could feel Jake quivering, and as soon as he released her mouth, her teeth started chattering again. She was already freezing, and now she was getting soaked again by the downpour. He wondered how much blood she had lost. He didn't know how much she could afford to lose before... He shook his head, not wanting to think about it. The one thing he was pretty sure of was that if he didn't find a way to get her warm, she would go into shock. He had worried that that's where she already was, but her response to his kiss assured him that she was still very much with him.

Jake let go of him and tried to wipe the rain off her face. Her hair was matted to her forehead and down around her eyes, and Hamilton thought to himself that there was no way at that moment anyone could mistake her for anything but a girl. She looked up at him, and for the first time he could hear the pain and fear in her voice as she pleaded, "Can we get inside?"

Hamilton wrapped his arms around her and stood up, lifting her with him and cradling her again.

This time she didn't try to be a boy. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pillowed her head against his chest, holding him as tight as she could. Hamilton bent his head and pressed his cheek against her forehead.

"We're almost there, baby," he whispered.

Despite the incessant rain, a large crowd was gathered around the two squad cars parked in front of the main building of Rawley Academy. The police officers wore heavy rain jackets, but Kate didn't even have a coat on as she listened anxiously to her husband and the sheriff's deputy discuss what they knew of the situation.

"We have a pretty good idea of where the boys entered the woods," the deputy explained, "and, assuming that they headed more or less straight for the school, we've pinpointed where to send in the search party. We'll divide up into groups that will radiate outward from there. It won't be easy in the rain, but - "

"I want to go," Kate interrupted. "I want to go with the search party."

"Mrs. Fleming," the deputy began, "I really don't - "

"I want to go, too," said Finn, who stood nearby and tried to hold an umbrella over Kate's head.

As soon as she heard his voice, she turned on him, anger seething in her eyes as she stabbed a finger at him. "You!" she shouted at Finn. "You sent my child out into this!"

Finn was startled, and a wave of guilt washed over him. "Kate, I didn't know about the dam."

"You knew there was a storm coming. You knew that much."

Steven wrapped his arms around his wife and tried to soothe her. "Kate, I'm sure Hamilton's fine. I know you're worried, but don't take it out on Finn." He looked at Finn and said sincerely, "I'm sorry. She doesn't mean it."

"Please, don't apologize," said Finn. And he meant it.

Kate turned to the deputy and said, "I just have to go get my cell phone. I'll be right back."

"I don't want you going out like this," Steven objected. "You're too upset."

"I'll be more upset if I have to sit here thinking about Hamilton lost in the woods in the rain." She pulled away from her husband and rushed off toward their house.

Steven watched her walk away, then turned and said, "Finn, I want you to go with her. Keep an eye on her."

"I don't think she wants my company," Finn replied.

"She's just scared. You know how mothers are. I'd go with her but I need to stay here to keep tabs on the situation. Once word gets out about this, I'm going to have parents calling."

Finn nodded. "Sure, Steven. If that's what you want, I'll take care of her."

"Thank you, Finn. And, um... thanks for not telling her that I was the one who insisted we send the boys out this morning. No sense in rehashing that again."

"Right." And with that, Finn walked off after Kate.

They had reached a clearing of sorts, and Bella looked all around, as best she could while wiping the rain from her face.

"Do you see it?" Will asked.

"We're at the top of the hill," she replied. "It shouldn't be hard to spot."

"I thought you said you knew where it was," Scout whined.

"You know, Scout, you're really not helping."

"Maybe we should go back and find Hamilton."

"No... There it is! I see it!" She pointed toward a round, gray, hut-like structure about two stories high, which, in the distance, almost blended completely into the dark gray sky.

"All right!" Scout shouted. "Sorry, Bella. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"It's OK, Scout. Come on." She waved him onward.

The three of them took off running toward the fire tower. They reached the round stone building and climbed the steps to stand under the wide eaves of the pointed roof, safely out of the rain. Will pulled on the steel door. It didn't budge.

"Alright, so we're here," he said. "Does anyone know how we get in?"

"I thought it would be open," said Bella.

"It's not."

Scout tried pulling on the door. "No way."

Bella walked back down the steps and turned to look up at Scout. "Come down here and lift me up."

"Huh?"

She pointed to the giant screened windows that ran all the way around the tower. "The windows are open."

Scout nodded, stepped down next to her, and bent over underneath the window. "Climb up on my back." Bella did and grabbed the windowsill just over her head. She pulled herself up, kicking at the stone wall with her sneakers until she got a foothold and was able to hoist herself up onto the sill. She pushed on the screen.

"Anybody got a knife?" she inquired.

"Nope," Will replied. "We don't usually need them for crew."

Bella didn't miss a beat. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys, poking one through the screen and ripping it open.

"Not bad," said Scout.

Bella climbed through the hole in the screen and dropped to her feet on the cement floor. The room was about forty feet in diameter, with a supply closet and a large empty fireplace opposite the door. She went to the door and opened it for Will and Scout, who rushed in and started shaking off. Bella went over to the storage closet and searched the shelves.

"Yes! Blankets!" she cried ecstatically as she pulled them out. But then she frowned. There were only two. She turned back to Scout and Will, who were stripping off their wet clothes.

"Good. We can use those to dry off," Will said. "I'm freezing."

Scout grabbed one of the blankets from Bella and said, "You use that one. We'll use this one."

"No, Scout. We leave one for Jake. The rest of us can share."

As Scout shook out the blanket and started toweling off, there was a pounding on the door. Will, already down to his underwear, ran to it and opened it. Hamilton stepped through the doorway with Jake standing next to him, leaning against him for support.

"You made it," Will greeted them.

Hamilton half-dragged, half-carried Jake into the middle of the room, away from the windows, and laid her gently on the floor. "How come the windows are open?" he demanded.

"The rain's not coming in," said Bella.

"But it's cold in here."

"We've got blankets," Will informed him. "Get out of your clothes and dry off, then we'll see if we can close the windows."

Bella saw Hamilton exchange a look with Jake, who was obviously not pleased by this suggestion.

Scout handed his blanket to Will and stripped down to his boxers, urging them to do the same. "Come on, Jake. You'll feel better once you get out of those wet clothes."

Hamilton took the other blanket from Bella, who tried to make eye contact with Jake to see how she wanted to handle this situation. But before Bella could communicate anything, Scout called to her.

"Come on, Bella. You, too. No one's going to look."

Bella shot Scout a look that told him she totally did not believe him, but she said only, "I just want to see about these windows first." She moved closer to Jake, wanting to help but not knowing what to do.

Jake reached for the blanket Hamilton was holding. "No," he said, pulling it away. "If you wrap up in it while you're still dressed, you'll only get the blanket soaked. That's not going to help any." He knelt down next to her on the cold cement and said softly, "You do need to get out of those clothes."

"I can't," she whispered back. She looked up at Bella, then over at Will and Scout.

"You have to," he insisted. Bella nodded.

Jake shook her head, gazing at Bella and then back at Hamilton. With fierce determination in her fading voice, she replied, "You know I won't."

END OF PART FOUR