Survivor
Chapter 6
“I don’t care how much it costs or what kind of trouble you will be in. There has been enough time for something…anything…to be found. We are going up with you when you start searching again.”
Howie’s voice was calm and even, his eyes hard. He had had enough of being jerked around, being told to wait, that an immediate retrieval was virtually impossible. They didn’t understand, their best friends weren’t the ones lost in the snow somewhere.
“We just cannot let you on the helicopter. There is too much of a risk involved,” the sergeant in charge of the search told him.
“Did you think there’s no risk to those people lost out there? My God, man, they’re probably seriously injured and in dire need of medical care. What the fuck are you being paid to do besides sit on your ass while my friends are caught in a snowstorm?”
AJ softly touched Howie’s arm to get his attention. He had never seen him so determined before.
“Howie, maybe we can call that girl’s father. Surely he’s got something going on with his end of this,” AJ suggested.
“Yeah. That’s an idea. What was her name again?” He asked, turning on the sergeant once more. “You have all the information. Give us his number.”
***************
The wind whipped hard around the blanket that sheltered them. The rocks seemed to be doing their job, holding the covering down. Despite the makeshift tent and the extra blankets, it was still cold. Bailey woke up warm between Kevin and Nick. She snuggled further down underneath the blanket, wiggling, trying to find more heat from one of them. Nick was throwing off some serious BTUs, so she edged closer to him.
Nick smiled in his sleep, dreaming of a warm beach. He had a beautiful girl with him as they lay on the sand. Reaching out a hand, he stroked her long blonde hair as he gazed into her big blue eyes. This gorgeous creature pressed her body to his as his hands found their way to her breasts. Fondling them, he closed his eyes, listening to her whisper his name.
“Nick. Nick. Your hands.”
“Mmm, yeah, baby. Just tell me what you want me to do with them,” he murmured.
“Move them.”
“Anything you say,” he agreed, moving one to her back and down to her ass. In his dream, his arm was not broken, but it still smarted a little. The pain got more intense as he groped the girl more.
Somewhere in his deep subconscious, he knew this wasn’t right. She was soft and smelled like a girl, but she felt different.
“Nick,” she whispered again, this time more urgently.
Kevin opened one eye, his head still foggy by sleep. He heard Bailey calling Nick’s name. He remembered going to sleep with her sandwiched between them. He was probably squashing her now. Stretching his arms over his head, he noticed an extra hand on him. Glancing down, he knew immediately.
“NICK!”
He woke with a start, groaning as he jerked his arm.
“What? I was on a beach with a girl,” he drowsily told them. “Oh, wow, things were about to get hot, too.”
“A little too hot for me, buddy. Jeez, hornball, can’t you keep your hands to yourself?” Kevin was sitting up, as far away from the two as possible.
Nick looked from Bailey’s big blue eyes to Kevin’s narrowed green ones. What the hell was he talking about? Was the mind the first thing to go when someone was dying? If so, Kevin didn’t have long. He wasn’t making any sense.
“I’m hungry,” Bailey complained, trying to not think of what just happened. First off, no one would believe that she had survived a plane crash only to be felt up by a Backstreet Boy in a tent before his hands roamed to his friend who happened to be wearing her clothes. It was almost funny.
“Yeah, well, unless we go catch some more fish, there is nothing to eat,” Kevin told her, his voice icy cold.
“If that’s the case, I’m all for it,” Nick announced, standing up.
Bailey looked up at him; the telltale sign of his dream almost eye level. She almost laughed out loud but was able to play it off as a cross between a cough and sneeze.
Kevin noticed a fraction of a second before she did.
“Nick, why don’t you come outside with me to see how much snow fell last night? We need to check on the fire as well. Bailey, stay in here where it’s a little bit warmer. We’ll be back in a minute.”
Kevin followed Nick into the cold morning air. He motioned for them to get far enough away from the tent so she couldn’t hear them.
“Damn, Kev. I didn’t think anything worked in this cold weather,” Nick commented, casting a leering glance at him.
“What? Damn,” Kevin muttered, suddenly realizing Nick wasn’t the only one who woke up happy. “If you had kept your freaking hands to yourself…What the hell did you call yourself doing back there?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Nick said, his eyes wide and serious.
“You,” Kevin shouted. He lowered his voice, looking around. “You felt me up. Nimrod.”
Nick looked at him, confused, then laughed. THAT explained a lot.
“Was it good for you?” He teased, batting his lashes.
Kevin stared at him, going over again the reasons Nick needed to make it out alive. It would be too easy to convict him if his fingerprints were found around Nick’s neck. A thought came to him. He tilted his head back, and looked down his nose at Nick.
"I think it was better for you, Nicky, judging from your current state.” He gave him an evil smile, turning to walk away.
“Huh?” Nick asked, running a hand down his stomach to his crotch. Well, that’s just lovely, he thought. Sooo glad no one else is around for this moment in history.
**************
“What did he say?” Brian asked as Howie hung up the phone.
“He said that if Kevin and Nick hadn’t insisted his daughter ride with them, she would be alive. He made it sound as if they forced her into the plane at gunpoint. He is one son of a bitch. Said that the rescue people told him that first off, the odds of them actually making it through the crash were astronomical. Second, the longer it takes to find them, if they are still alive, the chances of them making it diminish with each hour.”
“They’re out there,” AJ said, staring out the big picture window that overlooked the Rocky Mountains. “We’ve got to go with them. I don’t care how much we have to pay in fines or how many nights we have to spend in jail. I want to be there.”
*************
“I’d say about seven inches from the time we went to sleep,” Kevin announced, looking up at them. He was kneeling, measuring the snow depth with a branch that had fallen during the night.
“How long has it been?” Bailey asked. She was so tired and so cold.
“I don’t have any idea,” Nick told her, wrapping a blanket around himself. He had his seat directly next to the fire. “I don’t even know what time it is. My watch broke when we crashed.”
“I don’t wear one,” she said.
“Mine got waterlogged and quit working when I took that swim,” Kevin told them, sitting beside Bailey.
He held an arm out, inviting her to come closer. She wasn’t as bad as he had first thought. She had helped Nick with his arm and graciously allowed him to wear her clothes while his was drying. If nothing else, he was glad to be back in his own clothes.
Nick sighed heavily, causing them to look at him. Bailey had snuggled close to Kevin.
“What’s on your mind, Nicky?” He asked, wrapping his arm tight around her.
“I was just thinking of all the things I haven’t done yet. What if I don’t get a chance to do them?”
“What could you possibly still want to do? Haven’t you done it all by now?” Bailey asked.
“There’s still a lot I want to do. I want to be in love. I mean real love, the kind you know is for the rest of your life. I want to have kids. Maybe. I want to be taken seriously every once in a while. I want to see my family again and tell them that I love them.”
“They know you do,” Kevin reassured them. “You’ll get the chance to do it all.”
“I want to learn to play the accordion.”
Kevin and Bailey laughed. She could see him with his arms wrapped around the instrument, biceps bulging as he pumped it. Now, where did that come from, she wondered.
“I need to confess something.”
“Do I look like Brian?”
“I’m serious, Kevin. If we don’t make it, I want you to know that I’ve enjoyed our time together. You’ve looked out for me and tried to keep me in line. Do you remember a few years ago when that girl you were seeing suddenly dropped you? Well, I sort of had something to do with that.”
Kevin looked over Bailey’s head at him. Nick was looking down, pulling on the edge of his shirt.
“What did you do?”
“I banged her.”
“Nick!” Kevin threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t worry man, I knew that. It’s all over and done with and done with. Besides, you weren’t the only one. AJ did too. Of course, she had the best first, so it didn’t matter about the rest of you.”
“You two are incorrigible,” Bailey told them, shocked at their dialogue. “Here we are, God only knows where, and you’re talking about some girl?”
“Bailey’s right,” Nick conceded. “So, what’s left that you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Actually, I do, but you’ll just laugh.”
“No, we won’t,” Kevin said, squeezing her.
“We promise.”
“It’s kind of dumb. I want to be seen as something more than a spoiled, WASPy sorority girl. I want to have friends like you. I mean, I want friends who care for me like you care for each other. I want my Daddy to quit giving me everything I want and realize I just want his attention, not his presents and money.”
The two men were silent, unsure of how to respond.
“You know, Bailey,” Nick told her, “I think after this, he will see you in a whole new light.”
“Definitely,” Kevin agreed.
******************
The TV was on, the sound muted. There still had been no news on the search efforts. The latest venture had been postponed due to high winds. Disheartened, AJ, Howie, and Brian were in the chalet, silent. They looked at each other at the sound of a helicopter.
“What the hell?” Brian said, going to the window. “It’s landing outside!”
Howie and AJ almost knocked each other down in a race to see. A tall man emerged from the helicopter, ducking low to avoid the rotating blades. He tapped his watch, then waved to the pilot as the helicopter took off again.
Howie was at the door before the man had time to knock.
“I’m Robert Townsend,” he said, entering the chalet. “My daughter Bailey is with your friends. After we spoke, I realized you’re right. There is still the chance they are alive and I think it’s time we do everything we can to find them.”
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