Chapter Eight: Fear

Jasper

"Dawn … Dawn!" I yelled again, but she was out of it. Looking at the compass and the darkening sky, I knew it would be a miracle for both of us to get out of here. And even though the idea of getting out and just saving myself looked really appealing, I decided against it.

Sprinkling a little water over Dawn's face, I picked her up, deciding only to take food portions and water with us—not that she was heavy or anything—it was just that I knew this pack plus Dawn wasn't going to work out.

Augie

"Kathy!" I yelled, dropping the backpack and rushing down the mountain. I hoped that it wasn't too late. As I reached the edge of the mountain, I realized that she was already gone. The only thing that I could see was a river, a long streaming one. "Kat!" I screamed again, pulling off my shirt. It was obvious. She was in the water. There was no other place that she could be.

Scott

As I continued to kiss Shelby, I could sense something was different. Maybe I shouldn't have made that last comment about not having sex. I still wasn't ready. I thought I had already proven my love to Shelby by coming back at Morp and not running away like I felt like doing.

"What's wrong?" I asked as Shelby suddenly pulled away, playing with the rocks underneath us.

"Nothing. I'm just tired." She lied, resting her head on my shoulder.

"But two seconds ago you were fine. What is this Shelby?" I wondered, getting a little upset.

"Nothing. Would you chill out? We're going to have another day and a half to figure this thing out. It's getting dark and I'm tired of this wilderness garbage." She grumbled back, turning her back to me and using the pack as a pillow.

"Fine. You stay here, but I want to do some more exploring." I took a canteen, flashlight, and compass with me. Really, I just wanted to get away from Shelby at that moment. I didn't like how she'd changed suddenly.

Katherine

"Au. Augie!" I struggled to scream, but the water kept pulling me under. I couldn't believe that my worst nightmare was coming true before my eyes. I was going to die like my sister—the sister I'd killed.

"Kat! Kat! Hold on." Augie swan further and further into the water, pulling a broken tree branch along with him. "Grab onto this." He held it out, but we were at least four feet away from one another.

"I can't. I can't hold on!" I panicked, thinking about how my sister must have felt at this moment. "Please!" I yelled, flashbacking to how I tried to save her, but I was too late. Just like how Augie was going to be too late. Suddenly, I went under the water. Not caring about what would happen or even trying to fight, I let myself be pulled down by the dark blue waves.

It was almost eerie how calm and quiet everything was under the water. I could barely hear Augie anymore. He seemed further and further away … his voice muffled by the surface. It didn't matter anymore. I was starting to get used to being down here. I wanted this somehow. It would ease me of all the guilt I'd held onto. It would be justice for my sister in a way … she was so—

"Kat!" I heard Augie's voice clearly now as I began to snap out of it. I was no longer entrapped by the deathly calm of the water. I wanted to help him and get back, but I was paralyzed by the river. I could barely think anymore …

Jasper

"Dawn. Come on." I begged as I ran more water over her face, her perfect face. If only she was this sweet in real life. "Snap out of it!" I yelled to myself, vaguely remembering something that Peter had told me about Dawn … her needing to take some sort of something to protect her immune system out here or something … I wasn't really sure. Yet, something was telling me to go back. So I did.

Desperately searching through the pack, I finally stumbled upon a small bottle of pills. These were definitely hers. How would I get her to swallow these? Praying that this wouldn't kill her, I sat Dawn up, placed a pill on her tongue and added water little by little. It would go down eventually, wouldn't it?

Nothing seemed to be happening, so I tried talking to her, apologizing mostly. Anything that I thought would help her to come to. I fell asleep talking and praying over her.

Dawn

"What the hell?" I opened my eyes to see that Jasper was sleeping with his arms around me. What had happened? "Get off perv!" I yelled, shoving Jasper until he woke up.

"Dawn. You're okay." He grabbed my face as if to give me some intimate kiss or something.

"Yeah and why are you touching me?" I rolled my eyes as his grin faded and I tried to stand. "Oh." I fell back down, realizing that the swelling of my ankle had only gotten worse. Great. I'd had a sprained ankle before, but never in the middle of nowhere when I had no idea of where I was going.

"Look. You passed out and I was the one that saved you."

"Well, if you had just let me hold onto the pack, asshole, then I would've been fine." I tried to stand up again, this time succeeding.

"Where are you going?"

"Away from you." I spat out, wondering what really happened. Why was he cradling me like that? All kinds of thoughts began running through my mind about what he could've done to me last night and I just couldn't take it. I couldn't.

"Wait up! I'm not going to let you—Ahh!" Jasper screamed as I turned around to see that a snake had gotten him.

"Don't move." I ordered, picking up both a stick and a rock. With care, I used the stick to move the snake away before crushing it with the rock a couple of times to make sure that it was dead. Good.

"Ahh!" Jasper gasped, reminding me that he was still there. "Help."

Against everything that had happened with us in the past, I did help. "It was a rattlesnake."

"What? You mean I'm poisoned?" Jasper looked back at his leg, already getting weak.

"Yeah. Just hold still." I pulled out an army knife from the pack, taking pleasure in piercing his skin, before starting to suck the poison out of his leg. I didn't really have a choice did I? Whether I hated him or not, it had to be done.

Katherine

"I thought you were a goner." Augie sighed, relieved as I sat up, coughing.

"I thought I was too. Next time there's a body of water near, you handle it." I joked, feeling every inch of my body ache in pain.

"Yeah, well there's good news." Augie smiled. "I know where the next clue will be."

"You were figuring out the puzzle while I was drowning?" I joked as he shook his head.

"I figured it out as soon as I opened it—before I realized that you were in the water.

Jasper

"Thanks." I whispered as Dawn sloshed more water down my throat. This girl did not let up. She had absolutely no sympathy at all. "Could you ease up a little?"

"You want to do this yourself?" Dawn put the cap on the canteen and set it beside me and pouted "I want to know what the hell happened last night."

"You passed out and I saved your ass." I shrugged with a sigh. The last thing I wanted to talk about was anything heavy like me saving her life.

"Why was I in your arms? Did you--" Dawn stopped, looking away as her voice broke. "Did you try anything?"

"Yeah right. Like what?" I shook my head in disbelief.

"Don't fuck with me." Dawn grabbed the front of my shirt with tears in her eyes.

"No, of course not. I just thought that my body heat would help you somehow. I never did anything to you I swear."

"Good." She let go of me roughly, sniffing and quickly wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing. Look, this dumb ass scavenger hunt is almost over--"

"But I want to know why you're like this. Why are you so hot and cold?" I asked.

"You the fuck are you to ask me shit like that? I don't owe your pathetic ass anything."

"Is that the best you can come up with? Two seconds ago, you were sitting over there crying like a baby and now you're cursing me out. You're such a big girl." I snapped as Dawn pushed me further into the tree I was leaning on.

"Don't push me." I warned her as Dawn pushed me again.

"Ahh!" I yelled, pushing her to the ground as we tumbled and rolled her punching and trying to kick me with her good leg.

"Get the hell off!" She yelled as I tried to release myself from her grip.

"Dawn. Dawn!" I yelled as she kept yelling obscenities to me … about how she was going to kill me, castrate me, … anything to get me off. But quickly, I watched her rage soften as her eyes began to tear up. I loosened my grip and suddenly, she was on top. "Dawn." I muttered, leaning in as our lips brushed so briefly that I thought I'd imagined it.

She looked down at me seriously, yet she hadn't moved. I hungrily kissed her again and again as he continued rolling across the dirt on the ground.

"I hate you!" Dawn mumbled, yet she didn't pull away. Our kisses got deeper and deeper as she ripped my shirt open until—

"Are you guys okay? I heard screaming." Scott wondered as Dawn pulled herself off of me, pressing my face into the ground and spitting on me before taking five minutes to stand.

"Where are you going?" I wondered as Dawn hobbled away, flicking me off in the distance.

"Damn. Did I interrupt something?" Scott helped me to my feet as my gaze followed Dawn. All I could think about was how intense those last few moments meant. And I didn't know if I was supposed to still hate her or what.

"I don't even know what the hell just happened dude."

(A/N: It's been over a year, I know but I got so caught up in my "Degrassi" stories—which are confusing me so much right now—and when I picked up something I'd printed out on this story, I fell in love with the idea all over again and instantly remembered where I was going with it. So review! –NL)