"Step by Step, Brother "

By Lorrie

Chapter 5 – Lost and Alone

Disclaimer: The following story is based on the characters of the TV Series "Drake & Josh". The characters belong to the creators and Nickolodian, but the story is mine. ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY. (No copyright infringement is intended.)

Walter re-read the note. "Two hours! They've been gone too long." He pulled himself to his feet, grabbed his crutches and hobbled to the campsite entrance to find a Park Ranger.

After quite an uphill struggle, he reached the entrance and was greeted by a Park Ranger. "Can I help you?" The Ranger asked, helping to steady Walter on his crutches.

"My boys are missing." Walter blurted out.

The Park Ranger pulled out a chair and helped Walter sit down. "Easy, sir. Now what do you mean, your boys are missing?"

"They left me this note." He handed the note to the Ranger. "They went hiking and were only going to be gone a couple of hours, it's been over four now and its beginning to get dark."

The Ranger pulled out a notebook and began taking down information. "How old are the boys?"

"They're both sixteen."

"Names?"

"Drake Parker and Josh Nichols." Walter replied. "We have to get out there!"

"Sir, I need for you to calm down. They've probably just got a little turned around on the trails or took a little longer at the falls than they meant to, or for that matter, they're sixteen year old boys, they could have met up with a couple of girls."

Walter nodded his head, hoping that the Ranger was right.

Meanwhile, Drake stayed close to Josh as he led them through the dense forest. "Do you know where you're going?" He asked, a shiver overtaking him as the air began to grow colder.

Josh stopped. "No, not really." He turned and saw Drake shiver again. "You really should have worn something a little heavier than a t-shirt."

Drake wrapped his arms around himself. "I didn't know we were going to be gone half the night."

He looked around and then pointed up towards a steep-graded embankment that lead to an area where the treeline seemed to divide. "That looks like a clearing, let's try to make it up there."

Josh looked to the spot where Drake was pointing and then looked back at Drake. "You've gotta be kidding. There's no way we're going to get up a grade that steep."

Drake began to climb. "Why not? It's just like the rock climbing we were doing this morning."

"Not exactly." Josh said sternly. "We had safety harnesses on then and there were actually rocks to pull yourself up on. Here, we're facing a wall of dirt and debris."

Drake wasn't paying any attention to his brother. His concentration was on where to place his hands and feet and on how to pull himself upward with his movements.

Dirt sifted down from Drake's climb and landed on Josh's head. "Hey, watch what your doing!" Josh looked up just as Drake scampered over the top of the embankment.

"Now it's your turn. You can do this. The footholds are there, you just have to look for them." Drake coached.

"Aw, alright." Josh replied and began his climb. When he reached the top, Drake helped pull him over the edge, scraping his stomach on the ground in the process.

Josh lifted his shirt to survey the skin damage to his stomach. "Oww." He cried out as he touched the pinkish red scrape.

"Sorry." Drake said, recoiling at the thought of how much the scrapes must burn.

"Sorry doesn't cut it Drake. We're out here in the middle of nowhere with no food, no water and nothing to make a fire! It's dark and we have no idea what kind of animals might be lurking, let alone how we're going to keep warm when the temperatures drop tonight. You're always so good at getting yourself out of jams, well, get us out of this one!"

Drake threw a rock off of the embankment and started walking in the clearing, away from Josh.

Josh watched him go. "I'm not coming with you this time! I'm going to stay right here until someone comes to rescue us!" Drake kept walking. "Do you here me, Drake? I'm not coming with you!" He looked in the other direction, away from his brother. "He'll be back."

Drake mumbled to himself as he walked, the clearing illuminated by the rising full moon. "It's not my fault we're lost out here. Josh wanted to go hiking too. If he knew we weren't on the right trail, why didn't he say something?"

Suddenly the ground beneath him gave way and Drake half slid, half tumbled down the steep grade, bumping into trees and rocks along the way. He finally came to rest, hard against a tree.

Josh looked back down the clearing and quickly jumped to his feet when he didn't see Drake anywhere. "Drake!" He called out as he began to walk in the direction Drake had taken. "Drake!" He neared the spot where Drake had slipped and his eyes grew wide as he realized that Drake had fallen.

"Drake, can you hear me?" Josh called out, unable to see Drake, who lay unconscious against a large tree. "Awww, I guess I'm going to have to climb down there." He flattened himself to the ground and held to a treeroot, sliding down until his feet found something solid to support him. Then he slowly began to descend, calling out to Drake every few minutes.

Drake was vaguely aware of someone calling his name. His head was pounding and he ached all over. He heard his name again and tried desperately to open his eyes, but fell back into the darkness of unconsciousness.

Josh stopped when he reached a large, flat rock. The moon lent enough light for him to see a smear of blood. He reached down and gasped when he realized that it was fresh and most likely belonged to Drake. He began to call to his brother frantically. "Drake! Drake, where are you? Please answer me!"

Drake tried again to open his eyes as he heard his name being called. "Josh." He tried to speak, but his voice came in a hushed whisper.

Looking beyond the rock that he was now standing on, Josh spotted a slight movement about 100 feet from him. "Drake!"

"Josh!" Drake's voice was a bit stronger.

"Drake! I'm coming!" Josh called out as he heard Drake's voice.

Walter had managed to pack their camping gear back into the Jeep before hobbling back to the Park Ranger's office to once again ask for help in finding the boys.

The Park Ranger was just about to lock the door for the night when he saw Walter approaching. "So, what were your boys up to?" He asked.

"I don't know. They haven't come back!" Walter practically yelled.

The Ranger's jaw dropped and his cavalier attitude changed. "Come on in. I'll get a Search and Rescue team assembled and we'll begin a search immediately."

The Ranger sat down at his desk and began to get a team together to begin their search for Drake and Josh. "Now, they've been missing for approximately four hours now, right?"

"Yes." Walter answered. "There's no way they'd be gone this long if something weren't wrong."

The Ranger nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't get this going when you were here earlier, but I really thought they'd be back by now."

"Ranger, the temperatures are supposed to be pretty cool tonight, aren't they?" Walter asked.

The Ranger nodded. "Not only that, there's a pretty large storm brewing just north of the mountain and if it hits in here now, we have a good possibility of getting snow before morning."

Walter sat, unmoving and then slowly pulled out his cellphone to make the dreaded call home to Audrey and Megan.

Josh took it slow making his way to Drake, not wanting to end up another casualty of this trip. When he finally reached his brother, he steadied himself against two large pine trees, so as not to tumble down the embankment. "Drake." He said softly, his eyes surveying Drake's obvious cuts and bruises.

"Hey." Drake whispered. "How much further to the bottom?"

Josh looked beyond the trees that were holding them. "It's still a pretty good ways down."

"I can't climb up." Drake whispered.

Josh nodded. "I know." He squatted down next to Drake and moved his blood matted hair out his eyes. "You probably shouldn't try to move at all."

"That bad?" Drake asked.

Josh nodded. "You have a nasty gash on your forehead and a pretty good goose egg just behind your right ear. You may have a concussion."

Drake shivered as the wind began to pick up. "I'm c-c-cold."

Josh took his windbreaker off and placed it over Drake. "I know. Just lay still Drake. I'm sure dad has the Park Rangers looking for us by now."

"What do you mean they're lost!" Audrey yelled into the phone.

"Honey, I sprained my ankle when we were climbing this morning and they boys wanted to go hiking. I didn't want to hold them back, so . . ."

"So you just let them go off by themselves into the woods!" Audrey yelled.

Walter adjusted himself in the chair. "Audrey, they're sixteen. There's no reason they couldn't hike a short trail alone."

"No reason, except they're lost." She was almost crying. "Walter, we're on our way up there."

"No! There's a storm on the way in. It would be too dangerous for you and Megan on the road."

"No more dangerous than it is for Drake and Josh out there alone on that mountain." Audrey slammed the phone down and cried freely.

Megan bounded down the stairs. "Who was on the phone?" She asked and sat down next to her mother when she noticed that she was crying. "What's wrong?"

Audrey tried to compose herself. "Honey, your brothers are missing."

"Missing? They went camping, how can they be missing?" Megan asked.

"They went hiking this afternoon and they haven't come back." Audrey explained.

Megan shook her head. "The big boobs." She thought. "Can't even follow a simple hiking trail." She looked at her mother. "Where's dad?"

"He twisted his ankle this morning rock climbing, so the boys set out hiking alone." Audrey said.

"But the Park Rangers are looking for them, right?" Megan asked.

Audrey nodded. "They're beginning their search now, but there's a strong storm coming in from the north and it's hampering the search."

Megan wrapped her arms around her mother and hugged her close. "They'll be fine. Drake always manages to get himself out these kinds of things. They'll be fine." She hugged her mother tighter. "They have to be." She thought.

"Drake! Come on, wake up!" Josh lightly patted his brother's shoulder. He knew that the proper way to wake someone who had lost consciousness was to lightly pat their cheek, but Drake's cheeks were both bruised. "Come on, Drake. I don't like it out here by myself."

"That's where you would have been if I had of kept walking." Drake whispered through his somewhat parched lips.

"Don't do that to me!" Josh yelled. "Geez, I'm worried sick about you and . . ."

Drake drew his knees closer to his chest and panted slightly, trying to ease the pain that he was pretty sure was broken ribs.

"Easy Drake." Josh lightly rubbed his arm and back until the pain eased up. "It's getting cloudy." He said, looking up towards the moon and seeing the heavy clouds begin to overtake it.

Drake nodded wearily. "Yeah . . . pretty soon . . . no light at . . . all." He drifted off again, leaving Josh alone and in the dark.

To be continued . . . .