Chapter 7.

Over 30 hours had passed since the gang came to the beach. It was getting dark again, the sun was about to set. Andrea and John, who sat awake right now, watched the beautiful yellow ball sink down into the turquoise water. It was beautiful. Most people would even say it was ridiculously romantic. But being trapped on a deserted island, which seemed to have animals lurking in every bush, and three of their friends were injured, it wasn't that romantic.

They were all hungry and tired. They had only eaten one meal each, and one tiny airplane meal is not really enough for 30 hours. Jill had been sleeping for about 24 of those 30 hours. She was tired, nauseas and dizzy, but she was not getting worse. Jess' foot had swelled to almost twice it's size, and Anna spent most of the time resting, they had run out of morphine a few hours ago, and she was in a lot of pain. The guys tried to stay brave for their girls, and for each others sake, but they were all worried, and the lack of food and fresh water was taking it's toll on them. They had been sleeping in shifts, two people were awake all the time to look after the fire, look up for wild animals, and most of all, look out for any type of humans.

"Oh my God. Look. Andrea, look." John whispered, as a dark shape was walking out on the beach.

"What is that?"

"It… It looks like… a bear…"

"Do bears live in the rainforest?"

"Yes, the sun bear does."

"Is that a sun bear?"

"I think so. I hope so. They eat fruits and insects. Stay still and quiet. They have really bad eye sight."

They sat quiet as the sun bear walked towards them. By the time the bear was just a few feet away, they both held their breaths, and squeezed each others hands tightly. They watched the almost 4 foot animal sit down, just a few feet away. They could easily see the yellow-gray nose of the otherwise black animal. They saw how the animal reached out and grabbed one of the left over, not open, coconuts, and with his big paws with naked soles, he easily cracked open the nut. He drank it, and then took another one, and finished that one too. He then left the nuts on the beach, and slowly walked off. When the small bear was out of sight, Andrea and John let out their breaths, that they almost didn't knew they were holding.

"Oh my God." Andrea said. "That was… that was amazing. I've never been so scared and so mesmerized at the same time, in my entire life." She said, facing John.

"I agree. They are beautiful animals. Truly. And how powerful were those paws? The nut just cracked open like nothing."

"What are you talking about guys?"

John and Andrea turned around and looked at Anna who walked up to them, and sat down besides Andrea.

"There was a bear here, just a second ago."

"You're kidding?"

"No. It was beautiful. He cracked open some coconuts and then walked off."

"Cool. And scary." Anna said, taking a painful breath.

"How are you doing?"

"It hurts so bad."

"Shouldn't you be resting?"

"It's so hard to breathe when I'm laying down."

"I truly wish we could help you any way." Andrea said.

"Thanks. I'll be okay. Just focus on the breathing, right?" She smiled.

"That's right. And soon, someone will come and find us."

"I hope you're right.

"Can I get you anything?" John asked.

"Is there any water left?"

"Yes, some."

John rose to go and get some water, but as he got to his feet, he suddenly felt a rush of nausea go through him. He felt an awful headache, and he put his hands towards his forehead, and with his other hand he tried to grab something, and managed to grab Andrea's shoulder. Andrea looked up and her eyes got wide when she saw him stumbling.

"John? John, what's wrong?"

John slid down on his knees and buried his head in his lap. Andrea helped him lay down in the sand, and as she did, she felt his forehead.

"Oh my God, he's burning! John? John, can you hear me?"

John moaned, still with his eyes closed. Angela noticed him shifting uncomfortably.

"John, are you in pain?"

He nodded silently.

"Where does it hurt?"

"All… over."

"Anna, please stay with him for a second, I'll get Justin."

Anna nodded, and Andrea went up to the shelter and launched herself towards Justin.

"Justin! Justin, wake up!"

A second later, the entire gang was awake, not only Justin.

"What's wrong Andrea?"

"Something's wrong with John. He's got a fever, he's in pain, I don't know… It hit within a second, he was feeling fine, then he just raised and fell over."

Justin and the others were on their feet before she had finished her sentence, and Justin knelt besides him by the fire.

"Hey man. How are you doing?" Justin asked

"It… hurts…"

"Can you tell me where it hurts?"

"All… over."

"Can you try to be more specific?"

"Head… back… muscles… joints…"

Justin slid open John's eyelids, noticing how red his eyes were.

"They weren't that red a few minutes ago." Andrea said, worried.

Justin nodded, and kept looking through John, before he put his things away and sighed.

"Justin? What's wrong with him?"