Survivor
Chapter 2
"OK. We need to find the radio as soon as possible and see if it still works," Kevin announced, shining the beam from the flashlight around the wreckage. "Let's see. The pilot is over there, so the radio should be nearby."
"Shouldn't the pilot have already radioed for help?" Bailey asked, her eyes beginning to adjust to the dark.
"Yeah," Nick said, struggling to keep the pain from his voice as he gently cradled his broken arm.
"Uh, Nick, why don't you come with me. Bailey, you stay right here. Don't go anywhere, do you understand?" Kevin told them.
Nick walked gingerly behind Kevin as he led them out of earshot of Bailey.
"Nick, I didn't want to say anything in front of her, 'cause Lord knows the last thing we need right now is for her to get hysterical. The pilot is dead."
"Are you sure? Maybe he's just unconscious. That was quite a jolt when we landed."
"Listen, dumbass. We didn't land, we crashed. He is definitely dead because a person's head does not rotate to that degree of an angle. Nick, you've got to help here. Move some of the metal out of the way."
Nick tried to lift some of the debris, but yelped in pain. Kevin sighed in frustration, kicking a piece out of the way. He muttered curse words under his breath.
"Kevin?" Nick said, his voice quiet.
"What?"
"Are we going to die?"
"If I can help it, no. Dammit! It's too dark right now to look for anything. This plane should have a distress box that will send out a signal to the rescue crew. If we have any luck, they should be here in a few days. I mean, someone is bound to miss us. Her friends are expecting her, so someone is waiting."
Kevin shone the light again over the immediate wreckage. He couldn't even begin to fathom the distance the plane had spread as it hit the ground. Hopefully, the pilot had radioed in a 'mayday' as he tried to land and someone, somewhere, had latched onto their signal. He heard Nick's teeth chattering in the cold.
"Come on," he said, placing a hand on Nick's shoulder. "We've still got a few hours before daybreak. We need to be near the fire to stay warm. I don't want to run the battery down on the flashlight, in case we need it later."
"Later? I thought you said someone would be after is soon," Nick told him, his voice cracking with fear.
"Nick," Kevin said, grabbing both of his shoulders, "I know you're used to being babied, but this is not the time or the place. You've got to be a man here. I said hopefully someone will find us soon. You have to know there is the possibility that they won't, too."
"Oh, God," Nick said, suddenly sick at his stomach. The pain radiating in his arm and the sudden news didn't go well together. He stopped and turned around, throwing up.
Kevin waited, understanding. It was hard on him, too. Two babies to look after, he thought as Nick slowly joined him.
"Did you find the pilot?" Bailey asked hopefully.
"We'll talk about that later," Kevin told her. "Right now, we need to save the batteries in the flashlight. Let's go sit near the part of the plane that's burning. It's warm and until the sun comes up, we need to stay as warm as possible."
Bailey followed the two men, hugging herself and trying to stay warm. Kevin drug three of the seats near the fire, silently praying they weren't near the fuel tank. If they were, freezing to death would be the least of their worries. As they sat down, Nick snuggled close to Bailey for warmth. His arm hurt so bad. The quiet of the night was only broken by the crackling of the fire. It was too much for him
"If we had some marshmallows, it might not be so bad," Nick commented, trying to break the silence.
"It's not a fucking campout, Nick," Kevin snapped. "Oh, man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
"Hey, it's all right. I'm used to it," he softly told him.
Bailey was quiet, listening to them. If they turned on each other, what would happen? Surely, they didn't expect her to keep it together. That is Daddy's job. Daddy! That's it, she thought. When the sun came up, he'd have a rescue team there for her.
"Damn, it's cold," Nick complained, shivering. "Kevin, aren't you cold?"
"Freezing my balls off," he stated. "Move over." He sat behind Nick, wrapping his arms around him, trying to share some of his body heat.
"Don't get any funny ideas," Nick joked half-heartedly. "This is a one-time thing. I at least expect you to respect me in the morning."
"Shut up," Kevin told him, burying his nose in the collar of Nick's shirt.
The sun rose over the mountains, shedding light on the severity of the situation. Bailey was awakened from whatever type of sleep she had slipped into. The other two were lightly snoring. She shook herself free of Nick's arms. He moaned as she moved his broken one.
"Fuck, this hurts like hell," he muttered. "Kev. Wake up. Get off me, man."
Kevin fell backwards into the snow as Nick shrugged him off. He stood up, glancing around. Oh, hell, he thought, this is worse than I imagined. Finding himself staring into two pairs of very big blue eyes, he closed his own green ones. Just great. He told Nick to remove his coat.
Gingerly pressing on the bruised and swollen flesh, he knew now that Nick's arm was definitely broken. He'd be more useless than ever. As he saw the tears well up in Nick's eyes, Kevin was hit with a pang of guilt for thinking such a thing. He couldn't just let him suffer.
"Bailey," he said to her, "I want you to look for your luggage. If there's anything left, bring it here. We need to get Nick's arm in a sling."
"You're going to put his arm in one of my suitcases?"
Kevin again closed his eyes, counting slowly to ten. "No, we're going to take a shirt of yours and make it into a sling for his arm to rest in."
Bailey looked doubtful, but decided that he knew more than she did. She went towards the wreckage, searching for her luggage.
"Nick, we've got to find that radio. I have no way of knowing if he radioed for help or not. Then, we need to get a fire going."
"Yeah, it is still cold, even with the sun up," he said, holding his arm.
"That and it can be used as a signal, too. Can you help me?"
Nick nodded and followed Kevin as he went back towards the cockpit.
"What does it look like?" Nick asked, moving pieces of metal around with his foot.
"A CB radio. It's gotta be around here somewhere."
"I found something!" Bailey yelled, waving at them.
They took off back towards her, trudging through the snow. She had found two pieces of luggage that hadn't been incinerated during the night. Kevin popped open one lid, taking out a yellow lace and silk slip. He stood up, eyeing Nick. Somehow, this would work. Nick shook his head as Kevin tried different shapes.
"There's no way in hell I'm going to wear a slip," he stated firmly.
"You're not actually going to wear it," Kevin told him. "You're going to rest your arm in it. If it comes down to it, you will wear some of these things to stay warm. Now, stand still so I can get this over your head."
Bailey stood back, watching Nick resist Kevin's attempts at putting the sling on him. Kevin got mad and yelled a string of profanities at him, throwing the slip on the ground and storming away. She heard a sound, a low rumbling sound, and suddenly grew frightened.
"Are there any bears around here?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah, but they should be hibernating right now. Why?" Kevin was walking back towards Nick, trying to convince himself that strangling Nick with the slip wouldn't do any good.
"I heard this growl," she said, her eyes wider than usual. "Bears aren't attracted to Tea Rose are they?"
"What?" Kevin asked incredulously. "Shh...I heard it, too. It's coming from your way, Nick."
"Yeah. That was my stomach. I'm hungry."
Perfect, Kevin thought, throwing his hands in the air.
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