He had to keep her occupied, keep her mind off of what was happening...It couldn't be easy to watch your lifelong best friend slowly bleeding to death in the middle of a rainy forest.

Chapter 5

"If I had known we'd be walking so far," Brooke said, glancing at the blisters forming on her feet, "I would have worn different shoes." Flip flops were not meant for long treks.

"We have been going for a while, haven't we? How far do you think we've gone?" Peyton asked.

"I don't know. All of this looks the same..." Brooke said, looking around. "I still can't get a cell signal, can you?" Peyton shook her head. "I hope we find someone soon."

Nathan sat against a tree trunk, feeling the rain running down his face. Haley's head rested on his right shoulder, but he knew his presence was not of much comfort to her. Ironically, Lucas's head lay in Nathan's lap; under normal circumstances, neither of them would have allowed such a position, but the circumstances were far from normal, bordering on dire.

Lucas had begun to shiver, despite the layers of insulation that Haley had placed over him. The loss of blood was obviously getting to him; he was pale, and his lips had taken on a bluish tint. He was still conscious, but only just.

"Brooke, do you hear that?" Peyton asked, stopping. Brooke stopped too, turning to face Peyton and straining her hearing.

"Oh my gosh...is that...it is! That is definitely a car!" Brooke said. Their salvation had arrived.

The two girls stood on the side of the road, waving their arms wildly and yelling at the top of their lungs. When the car showed no signs of slowing, Peyton stepped out into the street, continuing to wave. The driver honked, and then swerved around Peyton. He did not stop.

Their salvation had passed.

Haley felt she could cry no more; she had no more tears left to give. Not that it mattered, because water continued to run down her face in the form of rain. She stared at Lucas's face, unable to look at the wound in his abdomen without feeling ill. She began to recite stories of their adventures as kids, hoping that the memories would encourage Lucas to stay with her.

"Damn it!" Brooke yelled at the car as it passed.

Peyton shook her head, noticing that she was now covered in mud, kicked up by the car's tires. She had not thought it possible that she could get any wetter, after all that rain, but here she'd been proven wrong. She steeled her shoulders, and began walking again. "Come on Brooke, we have to keep moving."

"Aren't there any good Samaritans left in the world?" Brooke asked, as they continued to walk. "I mean seriously, it's not like we're dangerous hitchhikers or anything!"

"True," Peyton said, "But how was that guy supposed to know? I mean, we probably look pretty crazed, walking along a deserted road, soaked, waving and screaming."

"I guess you have a point," Brooke said. "The next car that passes, let's throw a rock through the window or something so that they have to stop."

"If we even see another car," Peyton said. "Think about how long we walked before we ran into that one." She sighed. "I have a feeling we're going to have to walk the whole way."

Lucas was so tired. He could hear Haley talking, and he wanted to respond, but he just couldn't. He wanted to sleep. Just for a little while.

Haley suddenly discovered that she still had tears left to cry. And cry she did, as she saw Lucas's eyes roll back, as he yielded to the warm embrace of unconsciousness.