"Quick, we gotta flag down that helicopter!" Mike yelled and started running through the trees.
"Mike! The beach is the other way!" Cody shouted after him.
"Right!" Mike started running the other way.
Cody, Noah and Scott stared at each other. "Should I go with him?" Cody asked since Scott was holding Dawn and Noah was holding Dave. Noah and Scott nodded and Cody took off through the trees, following Mike.
"I hope that helicopter sees us," Mike panted once Cody caught up to him.
The two boys reached the beach after a minute of sprinting through the woods and looked into the sky. It wasn't just any helicopter, it was a rescue helicopter. There must have been a search party for them. The helicopter was almost at the island. They started shouting and jumping and waving their arms to try and get the attention of the pilot. A light started flashing on the front of the helicopter and a man popped his head out of the side door and started waving at them to signal they had seen them. The helicopter lowered towards the sand and the man started speaking through a speaker attached to the side of the helicopter and said: "Remain calm, we are here to rescue you. Are any of you hurt?"
"O-our friends are!" Cody shouted back and pointed into the trees, "There are others!" Sand blew into Mike and Cody's eyes and they both rubbed them.
The man called back. "We are going to land on the sand, please step twenty feet away."
The helicopter started to land and the boys backed away a good distance. It landed and three men stepped out, carrying a gurney. Mike and Cody showed them through the trees and led them to where the group had settled down. Scott, Dave, Noah and Dawn were all back, but Dawn and Dave were still in shock and terrified. The three men lifted Topher onto the gurney and started carrying him away, with one placing something over his mouth to give him oxygen. Scott carried Dawn, Mike carried Zoey, Noah carried Dave and Cody carried Sky since they were all injured in some way or too terrified to move. Ella stayed with Topher and the three men. Mike suddenly stopped walking because he felt it again.
No wind.
No birds.
No sound at all.
He saw the fog come out of his mouth when he breathed. The temperature had dropped a good 20 degrees or so.
"Mike?" Zoey looked up at him with concern in her eyes.
He squeezed Zoey tighter and looked around. He knew the shadow person was out there. He heard a whimper from someone and turned around. Dawn's eyes had grown wide with fear and was clutching Scott's shirt tighter.
"It came back…" She said quietly.
Scott looked down at her and then back up at Mike. He let out a growl sound and quickly glanced around, holding Dawn tighter as he did. Ella had stopped walking, noticing that Mike and Scott had too.
"What's going on?" She called.
Mike was about to answer, but suddenly a black shadow burst out of the trees, wrapped itself around Ella's waist and snatched her back into the trees.
Everyone screamed.
The two men carrying Topher came to a halt and turned around with fear in their eyes.
"What the fuck was that?!" One of them cried out and almost let go of the gurney.
"Ella…" Topher mumbled, his voice tight.
"Keep going!" Noah called out, "Get Topher onto the helicopter fast!"
The two men looked confused and scared, but they obeyed and started to hurry their pace away. Noah then whipped around to Cody, with Sky in his arms.
"Cody, you get Sky and Dave to the helicopter as well," he ordered and set Dave down on his feet. Dave wobbled a bit but Cody caught him. He threw Sky over his shoulder and wrapped his other arm around Dave's shaking shoulders and started on, locking eye contact with Noah, but then continuing his way.
Noah turned back around to Scott and Mike, with Dawn and Zoey in their arms.
"You two get both of them to the helicopter too," he told them.
"But what about you? What are you gonna do?" Mike asked.
Noah pointed into the trees just as a scream rolled through the forest. "I'm going after Ella."
"Dude, no," Scott said, "you shouldn't go alone, we'll come with you."
Noah shook his head. "No. You both need to get Zoey and Dawn to the helicopter."
Mike and Scott looked like they wanted to argue, but shut their mouths and walked on.
"Be careful, Noah," Mike told him as he walked passed.
"I will…" Noah said and then ran into the trees.
"Hey!" Cody called out when Mike and Scott came out of the trees and onto the beach where the helicopter was. "Where's Noah?"
Mike and Scott glanced at each other.
"He went after Ella," Scott said.
"Alone?" Cody looked alarmed.
"He said we had to get Zoey and Dawn to the helicopter," Mike told him.
Cody looked back at the trees. "I should go help him…" He said quietly.
"Go, we'll go find you after we get everyone safely on the helicopter," Mike said.
Cody nodded and started to run back into the forest. He called Noah and Ella's name multiple times, but never got a reply.
Who knew Noah could actually care about someone else for once. Cody thought to himself.
He heard someone scream, most likely Ella, and started running towards the sound. He called out again, but still got no reply. Then, he came to a sudden halt and gasped in horror when he saw what was happening.
The shadow person had itself wrapped around Ella, and was pinning her against one of the trees. It was doing something to her, black smoke was coming out of Ella's mouth and eyes. Below them was Noah's mangled body lying in a pile of rocks.
Cody slapped his hand over his mouth to stop him from screaming. The shadow saw him and let out a screech. It dropped Ella and came barreling towards him.
Now Cody screamed.
He dodged the shadow and started scrambling up a pile of boulders. The shadow screeched again and dove into one on the boulders, and then reappeared in front of Cody's face. Cody screamed again and jumped around it. He got to the very top of the pile and looked around.
The shadow was gone.
He let out a huge breath and wiped his sweaty palm against his forehead. But then another screech came. Cody whipped around just as the shadow launched itself through his body. Cody was thrown off the boulders and smashed onto the ground. He felt a sharp pain zip through his rips and he let out a cry of pain.
The shadow came at him again. Cody rolled away from it and stood up.
The shadow was leaning over Noah, and it had its hand pressed against Noah's chest. Cody let out a angry scream. His legs wobbled and his head spun, but he charged at the shadow.
He did it for Noah. The boy he was in love with.
He dove into the shadow. It disappeared and Cody landed on the ground beside Noah. The shadow reappeared and screeched. Cody stumbled back, protecting Noah. The shadow held up its hands, inches away from Cody's face. But then, Cody felt his hand press against some sort of button on the ground.
Patches of the ground opened up under each and every tree in the forest. The trees then disappeared into the holes.
The shadow screeched as sunlight shone down on it. Its body started melting away. Then, it leapt at Cody one more time, but completely melted away before it got to him.
Cody breathed hard and stared at the open space. Literally all the trees on the island were gone. He turned around to Noah, and rested his hand on his cheek.
"Noah… Please be ok…" He whispered.
Noah flinched and opened his eyes. He looked at Cody, and then at his hand on his cheek. Cody took his hand away and blushed.
"Sorry… I was just-" Cody started, but was cut off when Noah pulled him onto his chest and kissed him.
The kiss went on for a couple of minutes, when Cody pulled away and gasped.
"Oh my god, Ella!" He rolled off Noah and rushed over to where Ella was. But she wasn't hurt. She was smiling at them.
"Nice to see you two finally got together," she teased.
Cody blushed and smiled. He turned back around where Noah was just getting up. He rushed back over and wrapped his arm around Noah's shoulders.
"You're hurt!" Cody said.
Noah shook his head. "Just a little. You are too." He pointed to Cody's bloody shirt.
"Oh, I didn't even notice. I was too distracted from protecting you," Cody smiled.
Ella came over and also wrapped her arm around the other side of Noah. They all made their way back to the helicopter. It was easy to find since there were no more trees.
"So that's why the shadow never appeared at the beach. If it got exposed to sunlight, it would die," Cody said as Mike and Scott rushed over to help them.
Ella climbed into the helicopter first, then helped Noah inside. Then Cody, Mike, and Scott all climbed on as well.
"Topher?" She asked once they were all settled in.
"He's back there," Zoey pointed behind the seats.
Ella squeezed behind the seats and saw Topher, his eyes shut and his shirt stripped off, lying down with a man kneeling over him, aiding his wound.
She knelt down beside him and took his hand.
"Oh Topher…" She mumbled, a tear slipping from her lashes. "Don't give up on me now."
She felt his hand squeeze hers back. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. A grin creapt across his lips.
"As if I would give up on you when we haven't even gone on our first date," he choked out.
Ella giggled and hugged his arm as he ran his fingers across her cheek and brushed away her tear.
The pilot called from the front for everyone to take their seats and buckle in. Ella pulled out a seat in the back and strapped in, still holding Topher's hand. The man leaning over Topher sat Topher up and gently buckled him up.
Ella looked over at the others sitting in the seats in front of her. Zoey was resting her head against Mike's shoulder. Scott had his arm wrapped around Dawn's waist. Noah and Cody were holding hands. Sky and Dave were smiling at each other. Ella also noticed Sky's wounds had been treated because they were all bandaged up.
Ella kissed Topher's fingers and smiled as the helicopter rose off the ground.
They were going home.
The End
I am so sorry I didn't update this story for such a long time! I was really stumped on how to continue it, but now I finally came up with something and finished it. I know it wasn't the best story, there was a lot of spelling mistakes and sometimes there were some really lame parts, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. :)