A/N:

Thank you for the reviews.

Julie: Yeah they should be fine, lol that was funny what you said, thanks for the review.

Chapter 2

In the smallest of things

The sisters have been walking for hours and every part of their body was either aching or covered in mosquito bites.

"Why does this look familiar?" Piper asks as all of it was beginning to blend into each other.

"We are probably just going in circles," Paige replied.

"Prue what do you think?" Piper asks but did not get a reply and she turned around and hope nothing ate her while they were walking. She saw her a few feet behind them just standing there biting her lower lip. "Prue what are you doing?" she asks and her oldest sister of avoided eye contact.

"Are you peeing?" Paige asks while wrinkling her face.

"That would explain the slight warming sensation I just got," Phoebe said.

"Well what am I supposed to do, go in a tree?" Prue asks a little embarrassed.

"No you hold it," Piper replied.

"Stop looking at me, I can't finish if you are looking at me," Prue said and Piper sighed heavily while turning around.

"You know she used to do that in the public pool," Phoebe said as she turned around as well.

"Henry Junior does it in the bathtub, I swear the minute water gets around him, he is like a urinating factory," Paige said referring to her four-year-old.

"Does he get that from his father?" Phoebe asks as Prue made her way back up to them.

"God I hope not," Paige replied.

"Ok lets go," Prue said and got in front of them.

"You know something could have crawled up there you know," Phoebe said.

"That's in the Amazon," Prue said and stopped.

"What?" Piper asks as any sudden stops were usually an indicator of something in front of them.

"It's getting late and we need to find someplace to sleep and start a fire," Prue replied as they looked around. They were standing in waist high water with no dry-land in site.

"Um how exactly are we going to do that?" Paige asks.

"Don't look at me, you guys are the survival experts," Prue said while looking at her two youngest sisters.

"In California Prue not the swamp," Phoebe reminded her.

"Can it be someplace away from the mosquitoes?" Piper said while itching her neck.

Paige began to take in her surroundings and look at the trees that they may be able to take refuge in for the night. She noticed some kind of green moss hanging off of a few. "I think I found a starter and we will need to make some kind of platform so we can put the fire on some mud that will keep it from burning through it," Paige said.

"Ok lets try to get some branches together and mud shouldn't be a problem considering it's in abundance under our feet," Prue said and they split up a little to find some branches.

Piper and Phoebe went together to one side as Paige and Prue went the other way. They pulled out their machetes and began hacking away at any suitable material that they could reach.

"Phoebe be careful were you grab ok," Piper said as poisonous snakes could be hiding anywhere.

"What kind of poisonous things are here anyway?" Phoebe asks as she cut down a branch.

"The cottonmouth or water moccasin for starters," Piper replied.

"Oh good its a water moccasin because were not standing in a lot of water right now," Phoebe said.

"And the Eastern diamondback, but on the bright side it rattles so we should hear it before it kills us," Piper said as Paige came over to them with some branches.

"The Burmese python but its not native," Paige added.

"You and pythons don't get along," Piper said as she felt a sting on her arm. She immediately looked at it thinking she just got bit by something they just mentioned but when the bee flew away, her concerns did not diminish.

"Piper you ok?" Paige asks nervously.

"Um not really," Piper replied and leaned against a tree she was cutting branches from.

"What – what happened?" Phoebe asks coming over to her.

"All the things that could have got me and its a dam bee," Piper replied while trying to keep herself calm.

"Shit," Phoebe said under her breath.

"Guys we need to move a little quicker then this," Prue said as she walked over to them.

"Prue Piper got stung by a bee," Phoebe said while running her wet hands through her already soaked hair.

"We need to call them," Prue said as Piper was allergic to bees.

"Nope," Piper said defiantly.

"You cannot be that stubborn?" Prue asks as she looked at her arm that was already swelling where the sting took place.

"The hell I can't," Piper replied as she could feel the area around it get tighter.

"Maybe we can make it to the medical beacon?" Paige suggested.

"Which we can't see until nightfall and that is a few hours away," Prue replied as that that was not an option.

"Honey we don't have a choice," Phoebe said as she tried to pace but the water made it extremely difficult.

"Let's just give it a few minutes maybe they're not as bad here," Piper said and gave a weak smile.

"Hay we need a heal!" Prue yelled as she could see Piper starting to struggle a little with breathing.

"Prue," Piper said as she hated the Elders and most of all hated asking for help from them.

A elder orbed in and was just above the water line. "Yes," he said.

"Piper needs to be healed," Paige said and held up Piper's arm.

"I see, I will give you a choice, either the shot that will not count towards your one heal or I do the other that will."

"Heal please," Prue said as Piper was leaning heavily on Prue and was about to pass out.

"No shot," Piper struggled to get out.

The elder opened his hand and there was a syringe in it. Phoebe took it out and opened a small package as Piper was gasping.

"Here give me your arm," Phoebe said and Piper ready herself for the shot. She felt the quick sting and then a warming in her arm. "There are you ok?"

"It will take a minute Pheebes," Prue said as the elder orbed away.

"Ass," Piper said through her teeth.

"Paige help me finish up the platform, Phoebe you need to keep Piper awake until we are done," Prue said and Piper was beginning to feel nauseous.

Paige went with her oldest sister as Phoebe leaned Piper against the tree.

"I don't understand she's had the shot, shouldn't she be okay?" Paige asks while Prue found a tree that would support all four of them and had low large branches that almost made a saucer pattern.

"No technically we are supposed to take her to the hospital even after the shot," Prue replied and used some vine she found earlier to start tying the branches as she stretched them a crossed the tree.

Paige looked back over to where Phoebe was rubbing Piper's back and wish she would have waited a little longer to check on her. Piper vomited into the dark water as Phoebe held up her hair. "Ewe, maybe we should call him back and have him do the heal?"

"If she gets any worse I will," Prue said but if the shot did its job then they could save the heal for later if it was needed.

Piper began to feel slightly better after throwing up but she was still dizzy and weak. All she wanted to do was sleep and get out of the damn water. It took Paige and Prue almost an hour and a half to finish the platform and the sun was setting quickly. Paige reached down reluctantly and began to pull some mud up with her hands that had all kinds of debris and even some creepy crawlies mixed in. Nothing was poisonous from what she could tell but it made her skin crawl. Phoebe helped Piper over to the disturbing treehouse and Prue helped get her up to the platform. Paige finished making the mud barrier that would protect the fire and them during the night.

"Going to need a lot of firewood," Prue said as Phoebe got up with Piper and made her lay down on her back with her knees up.

"Piper just try to relax ok," Phoebe said while holding her hand.

"Your right, this place sucks," Piper's voice was barely audible as her eyes closed.

Paige and Prue gathered as much wood as they could that was not soaked and climbed up to the platform while Phoebe checked her pockets and found the striker that she has used before. The moss was extremely dry and the sparks caused it to go into flame quickly.

"This stuff is great," Phoebe said as she never had a easier time lighting a fire in her life. Once the mud was dry enough, she moved the fire from where she started it and put it on the dried mud.

"We know the routine, so who is first?" Prue asks as she tried to get comfortable but it was tight quarters and the branches were not compatible soft with skin.

"I will," Phoebe said as she was a night owl to begin with.

"We need to boil some water," Paige said and then leaned down over the platform to fill her canteen which was not going very well because of all the debris that flowed into it.

"Here," Prue said and took off her shirt," you need to filter it first," she said and handed it to Paige.

"Will it filter the sweat," Paige said as she took it out of her hands.

"Just use it," Prue said and smiled a little.

Paige filled all the canteens and put them near the fire to boil so they would have clean drinking water in the morning and needed to give some to Piper as she was already dehydrated.

"Look," Prue said as the beacons came into view in the night sky.

"They're scattered in all directions, god forbid they put them close to each other," Paige said as one was West, one was South. The other two were North and East.

"We need a way of marking them and then we can make a decision in the morning which one we want to go for," Prue said and Phoebe used her striker to mark the tree they were in and used W for white and did the same with the others.

"Ok its done," Phoebe said and went back to Piper who was already asleep but her chest moved in and out to rough for their liking.

"Keep an eye on her Phoebe," Prue said while laying down on her side.

"I will," Phoebe said and put Piper's head on her lap to make her more comfortable. Piper's right arm was still slightly swollen but the shot should keep her from going into shock.

They were soaked, mosquito bitten, hungry and already had their second close call and this was just day one. The beacons look far in the distance and it was impossible to get any kind of bearing of how long it would take to get to any of them. She was already missing her children and her husband and definitely her comfy bed. She did hear odd noises as the creatures of the night started their hunt. Some she could recognize as owls, crickets and frogs but others were alien. Occasionally she could hear something large swim underneath them and she was thankful to be out of the water as it was probably a large alligator. It was impossible to see past the fire as even the flames did not want to shine as brightly in this dark place.

To be continued...