Disclaimer: I doo not oown Loost in Bluue. Please dooo noot believe I dooo. I'm getting booored of having tooo doo thiss.

Chapter 5: Tiger!

John and Summer had made it up to the tunnel. John stopped at its exit and shuddered. Summer looked at him knowingly.

"I don't think there are any wolves waiting for us on the other side. They tend to only come out at night," she said as if reading his mind.

John took a deep breath. "Let's hope."

Together they warily exited the cave. The area was void of life, save for the bugs and an occasional squirrel. They walked out and headed for yet another climbable cliff. John scaled up the side about half-way when he noticed Summer was lagging behind.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. How did you do that? I mean how did you get up there so fast?"

"I took a mountain climbing class," he replied nonchalantly. "I learned a lot in it, some basic survival skills, like don't drink still water, and making rope and such."

"Hm," she acknowledged when she made it to where he was.

He started climbing again, but stopped and reached out his hand to her. "Here, let me help you." Summer smiled gratefully up at him and took the outstretched hand.

"You'll have to teach me how to climb and make rope then."

"It's a fair trade," he said as they reached the top. Glancing at her, he realized she was no longer smiling but had a look of horror across her face. "What's wrong?"

"It wasn't the wolves we had to worry about," she said, pointing. John turned and saw an enormous black striped orange cat.

"Oh...my…God…" he whispered as the tiger growled low and flexed its claws.

He took a step back and the feline sprang at John. Summer raised up her spear and hit the animal square in the shoulder. It fell aside and redirected it attack at her. John, sporting his own spear leapt at it. The tiger swung its head around. Before John could get out of its way, the beast clamped its jaws around his leg and trashed him from side to side. Summer let out an animal-like cry and jumped onto the creature's back, burying the head of the spear deep into the fur between its shoulder blades. The cat yowled in anger and pain. It let go of John and tried in vain to dislodge the furious girl from its back. Summer held on for dear life and started to tug at it, pulling it closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Swinging to its other side, she tried to push it over but the tiger swung its head around and grabbed her by the shirt. Summer was pulled away from it and landed near John, knocking the breath out of her. The tiger shook its self and charged her. Summer closed her eyes and waited for its sharp claws and vicious fangs to meet her body. Suddenly, it let out a startled and pained yowl. She opened her eyes in time to see John had driven his spear into the tiger's side. It snarled angrily but decided that it had had enough. It growled one last time, then turned tail and fled.

Both humans sat there panting. They turned, or rather rolled, to face each other. Then Summer started to laugh. Soon John followed suit.

"We did it! We're still alive!" He shouted to the sky above. Summer whooped her agreement. Their laughter died down after a while. Summer got to her feet carefully and made her way over to John.

Before she could say anything, John blurted out, "Are you okay? I thought you were dead for sure."

"I'm fine. But how's your leg? Is it broken?"

"I don't think so," he said moving it slowly. He winced, then added, "No. It's not broken, but it hurts like heck."

"It's probably sprained. We should get back to the cave to treat it. No, no, don't get up. We have to keep as much weight as possible off of it. Here use me as a crutch." Summer helped John get onto his good foot, and they started back.

Back in the cave…

Summer propped John's leg up on his backpack. She had covered it with a piece of cloth that was soaked in the river water to help keep the swelling down.

"How long do I have, doc?" John joked weakly.

"Don't talk like that. You'll have to stay in the cave for quite a while, but I think you'll be able to move around in here well enough."

"I guess that means I'll be totally useless to you," he said looking down.

"Not at all!" Summer said, sharply looking at him. "You'll have plenty of jobs to do around here."

"Like what?"

"Like…Like keeping the fire going! And when I find suitable materials, I'll teach you how to make baskets, and you can help me out by making some so we can catch food easier!"

"Whatever you say."

John still looks unhappy, Summer thought miserably.

"I'm going out to find some firewood and food. I'll be back soon." John didn't answer her, only nodded slightly. Summer sighed and left the cave, thinking furiously of how she could cheer him up.