Survivor
Chapter 10
Bailey could not contain her excitement. The faint voice of her daddy was enough to reaffirm her belief in him and that he would rescue her. He knew she was alive and that she still needed him. It shouldn’t be much longer now. She squealed a loud “whoop!” as she started her trek back to camp.
********************
“Gentlemen,” Bob Townsend, taking his phone from Brian’s outstretched hand, “I think this is the best news we could possibly have. My little girl is alive.”
Brian, AJ, and Howie were about to burst with relief and joy over having heard that their two friends were alive. Finding himself without the ability to put his feelings into words, AJ suddenly grabbed Brian and Howie into a group hug.
“They’re coming home,” he said, voice thick with emotion.
“I know,” Howie said, hugging him tightly, “I know.”
********************
“Nick! Kevin!” Bailey yelled as she came running into the camp. “Kevin! Nick!”
“What is it? Did something happen?” Nick called from his place in front of the fire.
He was sitting beside Kevin, helping to keep him in an upright position. Kevin’s fever had risen and dropped during the three hours Bailey had been gone. Shivering from chills, he looked up at her through blurry eyes. She’s absolutely glowing, he thought. Either that or I’m really going to die and she’s an angel here to get me.
“Nothing is wrong. I talked to Daddy!” She squealed.
“Bailey, baby, of course you did. You’ve been talking to him since we got here.”
Nick had stopped referring to it as “crashed.” He never liked the term in the first place, but Kevin made him call it as it happened. With him basically out of it for the time, Nick was in charge and he could now call it whatever he wanted.
“No, Nick,” she said, squatting beside him, taking his hands into her slender ones, “I really talked to him. He heard me. He spoke back.”
Nick pulled one of his hands from her grasp then placed it on her forehead. Nope, cool as ever. Maybe this was a sign of hypothermia, too.
“Nick,” she laughed, taking his hand, “I’m not hallucinating. I really talked to him. On the phone. I even talked to AJ and Brian!”
“What?!” He jumped up. “How? That can’t be!”
“I did! I stopped to rest a minute out there,” she pointed west, “and I just dialed his number, not expecting it to actually work. But it did! They know we’re alive! Someone will be here soon! I just know that helicopter yesterday was them looking for us! Nick, we’re going to be rescued!”
Nick shouted with joy, grabbing Bailey in a bear hug and swinging her around.
“Ha-ha!” He laughed. “This is incredible! God, it’s been so long, I’ve almost forgotten what they sound like. Tell me, how were they?”
Bailey explained how the reception wasn’t that great and she was able to talk to each for only a few minutes.
“I told them you and Kevin were alive and about your arm. I told them Kevin really needs to get a hospital. Nick, they’ve got to find us soon. Kevin’s getting worse. Aspirin and water will only help so much.”
Nick turned to look at his friend who had fallen asleep again. He had been violently ill right after Bailey had left the camp to look for help. A cutting wind came through the camp, causing them to shiver.
“We need to get him back inside the tent,” he told her, heading towards the fire. “Kev. Kev. You need to get in out of the wind, buddy.”
Kevin pushed him off, raving about something Nick couldn’t understand. He looked at Bailey for help. She had reached him once before.
“Kevin, baby, it’s Bailey.”
He struggled to open his eyes, trying to focus on her. That angel is back again, he thought. Barney. No, that’s not right. Bippy. No, that wasn’t it either. He had just heard her say her name. Clarence wasn’t the right name either. Buffy…Bambi…Bailey. That was it. Bailey.
“Bailey,” he rasped, clutching his chest as he wheezed hard.
“Yes, it’s me. Come on, you have to get out of the snow. It’s too cold out here,” she cooed, wrapping one of his arms around her neck.
Nick slung the other one over his neck, wincing as Kevin’s weight bore down on his shoulder. Together, they helped him into the tent and back on the blankets. After forcing some more aspirin down him, Bailey and Nick returned to sit by the fire.
“What we’ve got to do now is think of a way for them to spot us easily,” Bailey told him, stirring the fire more.
“How? We’ve already got the fire. Other than one of us going to the clearing where we first took out those trees, I don’t know how. I don’t think it’s safe for either of us to be alone out there. You took an incredible chance when you left.”
“But I made contact with them. That’s better than where we were before, Nick. They thought we were dead.”
His eyes widened.
“Well, they didn’t actually say that, but I could tell. If it takes it, I will go back out there and wait. It wasn’t that far. We just can’t sit here and wait.”
Bailey was impatient to do something now. She knew daddy would definitely be looking for them now. He was going to find them and soon.
**********************************
“And we are happy to report today that Kevin Richardson and Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys and University of Tennessee student Bailey Townsend are alive. Plans to step up the rescue efforts were enacted this afternoon after Ms. Townsend was able to get in touch with her father via her cell phone. The exact location of the two singers and the 21-year-old debutante is not known. The only information we have been given is that they survived the plane crash and injuries were incurred. Hopefully by tomorrow, we’ll have more news. We do have a reporter in Vale and we’re trying to get a word from either Mr. Bob Townsend or one of the other three Backstreet Boys.”
*********************
The lights, cameras, and microphones were suddenly in their faces as they stepped out of the ranger station.
“Mr. Townsend, did you actually speak with you daughter?”
“Mr. Townsend, what did she say? Did she tell you where they are?”
“AJ, Kevin and Nick were flying here to meet with you. Do you still plan on continuing your vacation after they are rescued?”
“Howie, did you get a chance to talk with Bailey?”
“Brian, how does it feel now that you know Kevin and Nick are alive?”
“AJ, did you ever think that they didn’t survive the plane crash?”
“Howie, had you given up hope that they would be found alive if they did survive the crash?”
The rangers pushed the media back as the four men made their way to the waiting SUV. They quickly climbed in as more questions were thrown at them and flashes from the cameras blinded them.
“What the hell is that all about?” Bob Townsend asked.
“Us,” AJ muttered.
“A bunch of damn vultures,” Brian added, shaking his head. He raised the pitch of his voice, mimicking the reporter. “‘How does it feel now that you know Kevin and Nick are alive?’”
“It’s going to be worse when they are finally found,” Howie observed as the driver attempted to maneuver around the reporters. “I just hope the hospital has good security.”
“Bailey said that one of your friends has a broken arm and the other probably has pneumonia,” Bob told them as the SUV drove back to the chalet. “I’m calling in one of my private helicopters to assist in searching for them. They need to be found soon.”
**************************
Bailey came back into camp, swinging her stick with three fish on the end of it. She had grown accustomed to catching them. Even cleaning them wasn’t as disgusting as it had been. She looked for Nick and didn’t see him. Tossing the food down, she walked to the tent, wondering if Kevin was all right.
Opening the flap, she saw him curled up in all of the blankets, shaking. She touched his forehead and sighed. He was still very hot to the touch. If there was only some way to tell how high the fever was.
“Bailey!” Nick called, startling her.
“Shh,” she told him, coming out of the tent. “Kevin’s still asleep. I wish there was a thermometer in that first aid kit. His fever really needs to be broken.”
“Check this out,” Nick told her, holding out a box and grinning like a child with a present.
Bailey looked at him, confused. Then she saw the orange words printed on the gray metal. “FLARE GUN.”
“This is what we need,” she squealed, grabbing if from him.
Opening the box, she saw the gun and three flares. She dropped to her knees and quickly put one of the flares in the gun.
“We’re going to wait until we hear the helicopter and fire it. They can’t miss us then! Where did you find this?”
Nick grinned. “I was poking around in the wreckage, looking for something to help Kevin. I don’t know what I thought I could find. But then, I saw this. It was caught between some of the twisted metal. I only wish we had this earlier when those helicopters flew overhead. We would be home by now.”
“Hey, it’s OK,” she told him, standing up and dusting the snow off her brightly colored sweats. “What matters now is that we have it. It won’t be long now, Nick. I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”
Later, as they were finishing their meal, another gust of wind blew through the campsite. Kevin coughed hard from inside the tent and moaned. Nick looked towards the shelter, his eyes revealing how he wished he could take some of his friend’s pain. Bailey gave him a sympathetic smile in the late evening sun. It would only be a few more minutes until it would be dark again. They sat quietly for a little while longer, listening to the crackling of the fire.
A high-pitched scream made Nick and Bailey jump. Both immediately thought something had finally burst in Kevin during a coughing fit. She turned towards the tent, ready to run to it. Nick’s eyes grew wide and he slowly reached a hand towards her.
“Bailey,” he whispered, barely audible. “Don’t move. Don’t even say a word.”
“But Kevin,” she said.
“Shh,” he told her, his eyes narrowing into a hard look, daring her to defy him. “We have a visitor.”
Bailey turned to look behind her, following the direction of Nick’s gaze.
“Oh, my God!” She whispered, seeing the huge mountain lion.
next