"EW GROSS! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU... OH GOD!"

Frank and Gerard had been so distracted by each other, they hadn't noticed the young man lying a few yards away, completely awake, sitting upright and a sickened expression on his face, that was until he spoke. Confused, their heads snapped to where the voice had come from, but it wasn't like it could have been anyone but Mikey, unless Bob and Ray had returned earlier than expected.

Gerard tried to explain themselves. "Uh... It's... We were... It's not what it looks like?"

Mikey continued to stare with the same expression of disbelief and distaste.

Frank gestured to their bodies. "I should probably..."

Gerard nodded. "Yeah..."

Frank climbed off of the body beneath him as Gerard's face suddenly reddened, embarrassed and half-pitying his brother, since Mikey had to witness that.

"How much did you um... see?" Frank questioned and bit down on his lip ring.

"Enough," Mikey replied with disgust. "I mean I know you guys might never have the chance to fuck ever again, but you could have like, gone into those bushes or something. What if I had woken up five minutes from now? Who the hell knows what you would have done? Do you even know how much fucking therapy that would take? No! No you don't!" He finished without giving them a chance to reply.

"Chill the fuck out, man," defended Frank. "I mean it's not like we were going all the way."

Gerard joined him. "Yeah, really. You're completely over-reacting."

Mikey shook his head. "No I'm not. And I'm sorry but there are really fucked up images in my head right now, thanks to you."

Gerard and Frank bit back smiles but said nothing as Mikey pressed his palms into his eyes. Frank, to avoid conversation and occupy himself, plucked blades of grass, one by one, from the earth and lay them parallel to each other, for no reason really, in a patch of dirt while Gerard suddenly became fascinated with a dead leaf.

"Admit it," Mikey said softly when Frank had organized an army of grass blades, "One of you would totally be getting it up the ass right now if I hadn't intervened."

Gerard pulverized the leaf into dead-leaf-dust in his fists. "You know what? Just drop it you little fucker. And no. We were not going to."

"Yeah you were."

"Actually," Frank corrected, "I was thinking something more along the lines of a blow job."

Gerard grimaced. "What the hell? Whose side are you on?"

Frank shrugged and grinned foolishly but with nothing more to say while Gerard continued to scowl.

The quietude returned again, still as cumbersome as before. Frank was combing through the earth for odd-shaped stones while Gerard drew with his fingertip in the dirt. Mikey refused to even look at the other two, but did use the silence as an instrument for thinking, wanting to consider what this meant as far as the relationship between Frank and his brother, but of course all the wrong thoughts about them was really the only thing his innocent little brain could process at first. What did this even mean for them? Were they back together again, or was it simply lust? It was understandable that there would be no real love involved, especially with the chance that this may be their last relationship, not implying that they married each other but rather, as dark as it may sound, died before they found anyone else. That was if they ever broke up. There was a chance, a good one, actually, that Gerard and Frank would end up staying with each other if they survived this. They had been deeply in love before, so it wasn't just lust.

If they were again in love and there was a real relationship between them, or at least one in the making, then there was no doubt that Mikey approved. He would most definitely be relieved to see his brother over-coming depression with his love for Frank. Kisses replaced cutting, affection for hatred, comfort instead of loneliness, even the drugs and Gerard's alcoholism were gone, and Mikey couldn't deny thinking that sex had to substitute for something. Yes, Mikey approved of their relationship, so long as Gerard himself was happy, and judging from what he had seen, as much as he didn't want to see it, the two were happy. The only question was, would Ray and Bob share the same opinion?

Ray and Bob...

Where the hell were they, and how could he have been so oblivious? He had been awake long enough that he should have noticed two fifths of the group missing. Did neither of the other two say anything at all on purpose?

"Hey you guys?"

They both glanced at him, eyebrows raised.

"Does anyone mind telling me where the hell Bob and Ray are?"

"Oh right," Gerard began, "They're just out-" But an elbow into his bicep stopped him mid-sentence. He flashed a frown at his attacker.

Frank dropped his voice to something just above a whisper. "Gerard, I think that... that I'd better tell him." He paused, waiting for him to show some flicker of understanding. "If you want, that is."

"Uh... Okay? I guess." Gerard continued to frown until a faint grin crossed his lips with and understanding of Frank's scheme.

Frank drew a breath then released it to steady himself, then took another before speaking. "Mikey... They... They're dead."

"WHAT?"

"Nah, they're scavenging for food."

"You son of a bitch."

"You're so gullible."

"This really isn't a time for jokes, Frank. And that wasn't funny, either."

"I thought it was pretty damn hilarious."

He turned to address the both of them. "But you guys just let them go off on their own like that? What the hell? Do you even know where they went or how far or when they'll be-"

Gerard silenced his fits of laughter long enough to get a word in. "Relax, dude. They're fine. They went-" His index finger extended in the direction they had left, to his right "-that way and they've only been gone-" He consulted his watch, to find that he didn't actually own a watch, "-for like five minutes or so." A likely estimate.

Mikey scowled at Gerard. Gerard scowled at Mikey.

Until the younger of the two said, "Okay fine. But don't pull that kinda shit again, Frank."

Frank, tired of standing, sat cross-legged in the dirt and lit the cigarette that hung from his lips. A tendril of smoke. "Not my fault you're so damn gullible."

"They could have easily died! What was I supposed to believe?"

"That I was just messing with you, stupid fuck."

Gerard threw him a okay-that's-far-enough-don't-insult-my-little-brot her-like-that glare.

Frank noticed and placed his back against a tree. "Whatever."

"So," began Mikey, when Frank had stubbed out his cigarette and fought boredom by sculpting a miniature snowman with what little ice crystals he could find, and when Gerard had grown tired and his head found a comfortable position atop Frank's shoulder, "How long do you think they'll be gone?"

In response to Gerard, Frank's arm found its way across the vocalist's back with its fingers through his hair. To Mikey he said, "That's a good question."

"Dammit, Ray, for the last time! Pinecones are not edible!"

Ray and Bob had been skulking, or at least trying to skulk, which isn't easy when you're not actually quiet, through the forest on high alert for the past fifteen minutes, gathering anything that looked remotely edible. Or more like Bob was, and Ray stumbled ten feet behind and collected poisonous berries, pinecones, and various dried leaves. He let Ray keep the berries, leaves and what not to feel at least useful, but pinecones? That was where he drew the line, and considered demanding Ray return to the other three and handle this situation himself, but kept in mind that if they happened to encounter a carnivorous beast, he might need someone he could outrun at his side. And, hell, Ray couldn't find his own dick if he had to. What made Bob think he would make his way back to a camp God-knows-how-many miles the opposite direction. Not to mention, the flowers, berries and- was that a dead beetle of some sort?- may be of some use to... certain members of the group. Damn vegetarians.

"Now get your ass up here! They're counting on us, man."

Ray resumed his place behind Bob, still as loud as ever, but this time without the pinecones.

"I hate to break it to you man, but pinecones? Really. They're not edible."

Ray eyed his feet. "Just trying to help."

"I know, but no more pinecones, okay?"

"Alright."

"Let's keep moving."

Ray nodded and they set out again.

Five minutes of scaring off any game in a five mile radius, including Bob flinching whenever Ray stepped on a stick, Ray losing his balanced and falling onto a bush which Bob sometimes hoped had thorns or was the residence of a poisonous snake, and Bob cursing at Ray when the above two scenarios happened got them nowhere. At last they both grew hopeless.

Bob threw himself down on the rotting body of a fallen tree. "This is pointless."

Ray sat beside him. "I agree. We should just go back."

"As much as I want to, we really can't. Gerard, Mikey, Frank... They need us.

"But we can't-"

"Dammit man! Did you see how ready Gerard was to just lie down and die? Do you want that to happen? Do you want any of them to die? They. Need. Us."

Ray consented with a slight nod. "Okay, alright. But we haven't even found anything."

"Well, I wonder why? Maybe if you weren't so obnoxiously loud we might have."

"Me? Obnoxiously loud? I'm not the one yelling!"

"Yes you are!"

"Well you were first!"

"So?" Bob stood. "Dammit, Ray, you should've stayed behind. You're just... in my way!"

Ray flinched at Bob's asperity with another step back. "Well- Well fine, you dick. I'll just go then. Not like I wanted to be stuck with your sorry ass anyway. Good fucking luck. I hope you, like, get attacked by a bear or something. I mean a really, really angry one. Also very large and intimidating And when it tears your heart out, I hope you're-" Turning to the feel of cold, callused fingers into the fleshy part of his biceps made him forget the latter, more insulting portion of his paragraph. He stopped, puzzled and retraces his ninety-degree turn to face Bob once again. "The fuck do you-"

"SHHHH," Bob hissed sharply.

"What is it? What do you-"

Bob planted a single massive palm over Ray's lips; an effective form of shutting him the fuck up. If that wasn't enough, he added, "I said shut your fucking face!" with much asperity. He didn't release until Ray realized that his meek struggling was of no use.

Ray stepped away from Bob, massaging his jaw where Bob had possibly bruised it, though in truth he was simply being a baby. "Okay, okay," he snapped quietly enough to please Bob. "You don't have to freakin' manhandle me. The hell is it? What's so damn important you have to dislocate my jaw?"

Bob silently, slowly, and too dramatically lifted an arm and extended his index finger toward the object of interest, and while it took a strenuous moment of squinting and straining his eyes, he did indeed see what was intended to be.

Not more than seven to ten feet away on the edge of a dense thicket lie a small and furry figure, measuring the length of adult's palm plus a half or less of that. At first glance, it appeared motionless, but upon closer inspection as the pair took another couple of steps forward it flinched and twitched uncontrollably.

Then casting his shadow directly over the creature, Bob kneeled to further examine it. "It's a rabbit."

Ray appeared at his side but stood. "Why doesn't it run away?"

"Might be injured." Bob, seeing into his observation, took into his hands the nearest twig, but stopped to look again. The rabbit, with commonly colored grey and white fur, was laying on it's left side with no visible external injuries. It was breathing heavily and rapidly, it's stomach vibrating in a way that reminded him of hummingbird wings, and looked close to full grown, but not quite there yet. It had a face that made hard-hearted Bob almost feel sorry for it, with marble-sized black and pleading eyes; the look of a prey animal that knows it's over. With the twig in hand, he lightly pressed it against the animal's right thigh. Immediately, it began to violently twitch spazzed about along the ground, kicking masses of dirt and mud into the air. Bob, startled, retracted his arm and waited until the both of them had calmed before trying the same again and getting less of a reaction.

Ray decided to now kneel down next to the other. "So now what?"

"Now..." Bob began, and reached behind him and under his jacket to expose for the first time an object that made Ray choke on his breath as he gasped, then fall backward against a bush, still thoroughly aghast at Bob's action. He pointed and stuttered, never quite finishing an entire word. The whole sight would have been comical, from someone's besides Ray's perspective, if it were not for the fact that Bob had just revealed from the back of his jeans a loaded Smith & Wesson .45 semi-automatic Cheif's Special handgun. "We kill it."

Then Ray laughed.

Bob glared. He didn't find a weapon capable of killing most organisms from great distances with a single pull of a trigger so amusing. "What? What the hell are you laughing at?"

"Your gun! It's so freakin' tiny man! Like a little baby gun!"

Bob allowed another moment of laughter for Ray. "Seriously? I mean no 'Holy shit you have a gun?' or 'Where did you get that?' or anything like that?"

Ray was laughing too hard to respond.

"Okay, really. It's not THAT funny."

Between fits of laughter, Ray fit in a, "Yes it is."

"Screw you. Anyway, let's deal with this rabbit thing and get back to, well, base camp."

"Base camp?" Ray was smirking, and Bob was not yet sure whether it was from 'base camp' or 'tiny gun."

"Yeah, it sounds cool. Don't judge, okay?"

"Yeah whatever."

Bob shook his head, then without further notice cocked back the hammer of his handgun and aimed it at the rabbit's skull.

Ray's eyes became saucers. "WAIT! ARE YOU A FUCKING IDIOT?"

Considering Ray's hand was now between the barrel and the rodent, Bob didn't fire, otherwise they would have the bloody mess of a decapitated rabbit at their knees, Ray with one less limb, and three other scared shitless men a mile away.

Bob re-aimed his gun, preferably in a position where Ray wouldn't have his fingers scattered across the forest floor had it been fired "I could be asking you the same thing. You're lucky your hand's still intact, you half-wit."

"You're going to shoot it?"

"No, I'm going to invite it to my fucking house for tea. Yes I'm going to shoot it!"

"Isn't that overkill?"

"It's humane."

"Okay, go ahead. And we'll just notify every predator in the whole damn forest who wants to rip our guts out our whereabouts. Then have fun hiding it from Gerard, Frank and Mikey. Unless they all went deaf recently, that won't happen. You think Frank's going to be happy about that? Freakin' vegetarians man. He's gonna flip. Gerard's gonna want to shoot it; who knows how Mikey's gonna react, and just so you know-"

"Okay, okay! I get it! I won't shoot the damn rabbit!" He returned the hammer, then the pistol. "Well, how do we bring it back to... base camp?"

"You're saying we're going to eat it?"

"Really, Ray, you gotta stop this redundant questions thing."

"But- But that's-"

"You think we have much of a choice? It's kill or die." He stripped off his jacket and wrapped the rabbit in it, to avoid contracting rabies if it tried to bite. From the way it kicked beneath the fabric, he concluded there would most definitely be biting had he carried it in his bare hands. Without word or notice, he began to walk back.

Ray submitted followed. "So... where did you get the gun anyway?"

"Does it matter?" Bob was not in the mood for conversation. Finding the way back was frustrating enough already; he didn't need the constant drone of Ray's voice in the background.

"I guess not." He was silent for a moment. "You've been carrying that around this whole time without telling any of us?"

"Ray, look, it's not a big deal okay? Can we end it?"

"Yeah, sure... I just feel like, and don't take this offensively, but, like I can trust you less."

"You know, that doesn't work with all cases."

"What doesn't?"

"Saying 'no offense' then flat out insulting somebody."

"Sorry... Just don't tell anyone, okay? I mean about the gun."

"I'm not."

"Is there anything else you've been hiding?"

"You said we could end it."

The rest was silent.