Chapter 9

Ooo its getting long ain't it?

Thanks to all who have reviewed so far! Sorry it took SO LONG!

Ok then on with the fic!

A blind tangle of limbs and wood, hands slipping uselessly on the submerged walls trying desperately to find something, anything to haul herself back onto her feet. Feeling herself being swept along at an uncontrollably fast speed Hilary braced herself for the impact of the deck of the boat.

It never came. Instead she felt herself collide helplessly hard into Ray. His body shielded her from them smashing into the door frame of the cabin.

He knew it was coming but try as he might the Neko-jin was powerless to stop himself. His spine hit the side of the door frame that jutting out squarely to give the door extra strength. Bubbles exploded from his mouth as the water muffled his scream of agony. All air gone from his lungs Ray panicked. Pain pounded through his back and ribs. He couldn't move. Paralysed he felt the water rushing past him, pinning him rigidly to the frame.

Hilary was gone, swept onto the deck. There was no one there to help him. Ray's heart beat faster and faster. He needed air. Trying to lift his head to the surface, a sharp pain shot up his neck. Cursing his body Ray tried again to lift his head higher, slowly… The pain shot through it again, simultaneously jolting down his back. Forcing his muscles to relax he reached out with his arm, fingers fumbling in terror, trying to pull himself round the door frame. Finding the corner to grab onto, Ray felt his strength failing fast. Tensing his arm he started to battle against the current to pull himself out. His mind had almost gone numb, the need for oxygen dulling his thoughts. Feeling himself suddenly choke, Ray swallowed a mouthful of water. Body convulsing in his last efforts to pull himself onto the deck, Ray's vision flickered as his eyes rolled back in his head against his will. His senses slipping away with his consciousness, Ray was barely aware of someone grabbing his arm before he gave up hope and let himself fall away into darkness.

Hilary was swept along helplessly leaving Ray to his own fate. Shooting out onto the almost submerged deck, she scraped harshly along the wooden floor boards in an attempt to stop herself. Elbows, knees and hands now raw and bleeding she kicked up to the surface. Surprised to find that she could stand, Hilary was alarmed to find the bow of the boat almost completely submerged. Tipping violently, the stern of the boat was now aloft and dripping sadly into the water.
Gazing at it, transfixed by the odd sight for a second, she suddenly gasped as various parts of her body began to sting as though they were on fire. Pulling her arms quickly out of the water, ignoring her blazing knee caps, she examined them. Her hands had turned a rather vivid shade of pink, bits of skin flapping painfully in the salt water. But her elbows, Hilary twisted herself round to see. The skin had been almost completely ripped to shreds. Blood ran down her forearms in bright rivers against the pale skin. Giving a disgusted moan she swept the hair from her eyes and ordered her thoughts. Glancing out to sea she caught sight of two figures treading water near the boat. Tyson and Max were waiting with baited breath. Hilary cast her eyes round to find Ray.

"Ray?" she called out, looking round the bizarre landscape, though there wasn't anywhere he could have hidden. Turning back round, she watched the cabin for any signs of life, baffled as to where he could have gone. Suddenly she caught sight of a shape beneath the surface. "RAY!" splashing forwards, she grabbed the boy's arm, forcing her fingers round the door frame against the current and, helpless to do anything else, pulled as hard as she could. To her relief he shot out quickly onto the deck still motionless and submerged. "Ray! O my god I'm so so sorry! Ray! What happened?!" She started to gabble, mind panicking, as though talking at him would bring him round. Grabbing him under the arms she tried miserably to heave his dead weight out of the water. Max and Tyson saw what was going on. Swimming quickly over to the edge of the boat Tyson hauled himself back on board the sinking ship. "HILARY! What did you DO?" he yelled accusingly at the girl. Now shaking with tears and shock she stared helplessly at him "Ray...he…" Tyson waded forwards. Pushing Hilary out of the way he wrapped his arms around Ray and began tugging him towards the edge of the boat. "Give us a hand will you?" he called to Hilary as she stood still in horror, watching him. Rushing forwards she helped lift her friend from the boat and between the three of them, managed to tow the unconscious Ray to shore.

Staggering out of the sea, water falling in torrents off each of their soaked clothes, Tyson and Max pulled Ray up the beach until the sand gave way to shady sparse grass under palm trees. Hilary, with out a life jacket to help her, made it to the sand before collapsing in a heap. Coughing up water she had swallowed mouthfuls of on the way, she struggled out of her coat, heavy with water. Well aware that her favourite pale pink shirt was now completely see through, she thanked her lucky stars that she still had her bikini on underneath.

Leaving her coat on the shore, she made her way as fast as she could to Ray's side. To her surprise it was Tyson doing most of the work. Stripping off his life jacket the navy haired blader quickly set about placing his friend in the recovery position and checking his pulse. "Tyson" Hilary asked in shock "how do you know all that?"
"Well" her friend smiled weakly, once he'd finished "when you have some one like grandpa around, you learn first aid pretty fast"
"O" Max nodded "because he's and old timer he gets hurt a lot yeah?"

Tyson looked uncomfortable, shuffling his knees in the sand. "Sort of…he gets…carried away…I suppose" both Max and Hilary, satisfied with the response, turned their attention back to Ray.

"So what's happening?" Max asked "Why have you put him like that?"

Tyson began explaining that, because Ray was breathing, he didn't need to do mouth to mouth or CPR but he could throw up and that could cause him to choke if he wasn't in the right position. Also it helped general blood circulation round the body.

After a thorough debriefing from the apparent expert, there was nothing more they could do for him. The trio stood up, all looking dejectedly at their friend. "I guess someone should stay here while two of us go explore" Max eventually suggested. "You never know, we could have landed on a populated island, some of these are…" he trailed off dispiritedly, all the deserted island films he had ever see coming back to him.
"O great" Tyson muttered sarcastically "I bet we got the one with the man eating cannibals." He had evidently seen the same films.
Hilary glared at him. "You can stay here then Mr whiny pants!" she declared in her most self important manner. This reminded Max so much of them bickering at home that he burst out laughing. Tyson fired up an instant response leading to a loud squabble between the two as the blond rolled around on the grass in fits.

Eventually Max stopped laughing. This was just getting boring. Sitting cross legged next to the motionless Ray, he whispered a running commentary of the insults the two threw at each other. He glanced at his friend. That was Strange. Ray really didn't look like he was breathing at all…

Guess what happens in the next chapter!

Sorry but you can really tell when I've run out of ideas…if ANYONE has ANYTHING no matter how disjointed or vague, anything to do with the story line please email me…because, as popular as this fic is, I just cant think of anything else to do apart from a character death…so If u don't want that then REVIEW AND TELL ME!!!

…ok breathes rant over