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Disclaimer: I don't own TSL.

Chapter 4

"We're lost! What are we gonna do? What if we never get home? I never told mom how much I loved her! I'll never get to go to Harvard.." Cody was pacing back and forth while rambling. Zack started shaking his head.

"Cody," he said quietly. Nothing. "Cody," he said a little louder, but he knew it was no use. Cody was going to ramble until his mouth fell off.

"I knew I should have left a trail of M&M's..or jelly beans..or pennies.." Cody said, still pacing.

"Don't people only do that in movies? I'm sure it doesn't really work," Zack said, folding up the blanket and stuffing it into Cody's backpack.

"Well it would have been more than what you've done! Would it have really been that hard to get a map or something? How are we gonna get back?" Cody yelled frantically.

Zack honestly had no idea, and he knew Cody was right; he shouldn't have rushed into this treasure hunt without thinking about it a little more rationally. But that's what Zack did; he rushed into everything, without thinking. He was so enamored with the idea of becoming rich that he wasn't thinking.

"We'll find our way back," Zack said.

"How? I know I wasn't paying attention to the scenery, so obviously you won't remember which way we came from," Cody said spitefully, grabbing the backpack from Zack and flinging it over his shoulders.

"I remember which way we came.." Zack said in a less than confident tone. Cody looked at him skeptically and Zack sighed. He was getting frustrated.

"Ok, fine, I screwed up! Why do you always have to rub it in my face?" Zack yelled, throwing his hands out to his sides. "You're smarter than me and you could have planned this day better, because you do everything better! That's what you wanted to hear, isn't it?"

Zack stared at the shocked expression on Cody's face. "What, now you have nothing to say?" he asked.

Cody opened his mouth but quickly closed it again. He turned around and sat, leaning up against a rock. He pushed the backpack off to the side and curled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. Zack sighed again and walked over, plopping down next to him. The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Cody spoke again.

"I wasn't trying to put you down, Zack. And I didn't know you felt that way about me," he said with a mix of shock and sorrow in his voice.

"I usually don't care if you do better than me in school. I know you're smarter, but sometimes it gets annoying, hearing about how much better you are," Zack said, twisting his lips to the side. Cody shook his head.

"I'm not better than you. I just put so much effort into school because it's all I have. And sometimes I feel like you would rather hang out with your friends than with me," Cody said, turning to look at Zack.

"You know what's funny? I feel the same way about you," Zack said, returning his brother's gaze. They smiled at each other.

"I guess we both got it wrong, huh?" Cody said. Zack laughed.

"I guess. That's why I wanted to come out here in the first place. I thought it would be like the adventures we used to have. And I thought it would be a good chance to hang out and talk. Guess I screwed this one up big time," he said, looking around. All he saw were trees and rocks.

"It's not all your fault. I wasn't much help either," Cody said, also looking around. After another minute Zack stood up.

"Come on, we can't just sit here all day. I mean, how big could these woods really be? We'll find our way out," Zack said, a little more confidently this time. Cody stood up and grabbed his backpack.

"Let's think about this logically. We just have to go back the way we came. We came from that way, didn't we?" he asked, pointing towards a small opening that led back through the woods.

"I thought it was that way," Zack said, pointing to another opening. He turned and looked around, noticing two other openings that held paths, and they all looked the same.

"Well," Cody said, gulping a little, "you were in the lead, so whichever way you think.."

Zack was less than sure, but he didn't want Cody to see the uncertainty on his face, so he turned his head and gazed at the paths. "I remember, it was this one," he said, walking over to the one on their left.

"Ok," Cody said. He hiked his backpack up higher onto his shoulders, and the two set off down the path, hoping it was the right one.

Two hours later...

Zack was beginning to wonder if he chose the wrong path. They had been walking for two hours now, and he didn't recognize anything they had passed. But the scariest part was that the day was fading, and so was the sun.

"Zack?" Cody asked quietly.

"Yeah?" Zack answered back.

"Maybe we should stop and rest a little. Those clouds don't look promising," Cody said, pointing to the dark gray clouds that were looming overhead. Zack stopped and looked up.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, scanning the area for any type of shelter. He noticed a rocky ledge off to the right and he and Cody walked over towards it.

"You know," Zack said, staring at the ledge for a few minutes. "This is high enough, and it goes over the trees...I bet I could climb to the top of it and see if I recognize anything or if I can spot the beach."

Cody shifted on his feet uneasily. "It's kinda high, Zack, it doesn't look safe," he said, eyeing the ledge.

"You worry too much," Zack said, beginning his climb. "There's even sort of a path to follow," he added. Cody squinted his face up and let out a breath of frustration.

"Well, I'm coming too," he said, walking after Zack. After a few minutes of steady walking, Zack found that they needed to use their hands for climbing a lot more. "This is more steep than I thought it was," Zack said to himself. They were half way up the ledge as he turned around to make sure Cody was still behind him when he felt it; a wet drop on the tip of his nose. He looked up and felt another; and another. There was a burst of lightning, followed by a boom of thunder, and all of a sudden it was pouring rain.

"Zack!"

Zack turned around to see Cody clinging to the side of the ledge.

"Cody! Are you ok?" Zack yelled, barely hearing his own voice over the rain, which was coming down in sheets now.

"I'm stuck!" Cody yelled back. "My foot is stuck!"

Zack could barely see Cody over the pouring rain as he made his way a few feet back to where Cody was struggling.

"What happened?" Zack bellowed, wiping wet hair from his eyes.

"I slipped when the rain started, and my foot got caught!" Cody answered.

Zack looked down and saw Cody's foot wedged between a crack on the side of the ledge. He grabbed Cody's leg and pulled on it, making Cody cry out in pain.

"Stop!" Cody yelled, holding onto his leg in agony.

"I have to pull it out! There's no other way to get it out of there!" Zack explained. Cody closed his eyes briefly and then nodded, turning his head so he wouldn't have to look. Zack grabbed Cody's leg again and counted.

"1...2...3!" he yelled, pulling as hard as he could and breaking Cody's leg free from the crack. Cody fell back with a yelp.

"You ok?" Zack called, wincing slightly at the pained expression on his twin's face. Cody barely nodded, clutching his bruised foot.

"Can you walk? There's a small area over there that's covered by the rocks!" Zack said, pointing to an area up ahead. "We can wait under there until the rain stops!"

"I think I can," Cody said, standing again.

Zack went next to Cody and put Cody's arm around his shoulder to help him walk. They were slowly making their way across the rocks when Zack heard a cracking noise underneath his feet.

"Cody!" Zack yelled, pushing Cody ahead of him just as the rocks gave way beneath his own feet. Zack went to jump towards the ledge that he pushed his brother onto, but he wasn't fast enough. The rocks went tumbling beneath his feet and he was hanging off the side.

"Zack!" Cody yelled, grabbing onto his brother's shirt and trying to pull him up. Zack struggled with his feet, trying to attach them onto something solid, but there was nothing beneath him.

"Hold on," Cody cried, gripping his hands under Zack's arms and heaving him up. Zack started wriggling his legs around to help give himself some momentum. After struggling for a minute, Zack finally got his leg up onto the ledge and pulled himself up, falling on top of Cody.

"Thanks, bro," he said, breathing heavily.

"No problem," Cody said, patting Zack on the shoulder. Zack stood up, helping Cody to his feet, and the two limped over to the shelter they had spotted. Once under the rock ledge, they both fell onto the floor and backed up against the rock wall.

"What now?" Cody asked, looking at Zack and pushing his own wet hair back.

"We wait," Zack said, watching the steady rain falling. He was beginning to wish he had never overheard those two guys talking.

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And? Hope you enjoyed. It was longer this time. Let me know what you think!