Survivor
Chapter 9
Nick sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes. He groped around for the flashlight and shined it on Kevin. He could see the sweat beads on his forehead, and he reached over to touch him.
"God, he's burning up," Nick whispered, a sick feeling beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. "What do we do?"
"Think, Bailey, think," Bailey muttered, hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand. "OK, go get the aspirin and some water. We'll give him that for now. And we've got to get these blankets off of him. They'll just hold in the heat and make his temperature go up more."
Nick crawled out of the tent and went to get the medicine while Bailey stripped the covers off of Kevin.
"Kevin," she said soflty. "Wake up, honey."
"Hmmmmm Mama," Kevin moaned. "I don't feel good. I can't go to school today."
"Kevin, it's me... Bailey," she said, feeling choked up. He was really, really sick, and she was scared to death.
"Bailey?" he said quietly, opening his eyes. She stroked his hair back from his forehead as he stared up at her with uncomprehending eyes.
"Yes. Bailey. Remember me?" she said, trying to smile. Kevin shook his head and closed his eyes again.
"Stay with me, Kevin," she said, shaking his slightly. He opened his eyes again, then broke into a coughing fit that Bailey thought would never end. It was a high-pitched cough that was coming from deep in his lungs, and just the sound of it made Bailey even more frightened. Kevin rolled over onto his side and threw up. Bailey cringed.
"Oh God, I'm dying," he moaned.
"No you're not," she said, trying to sound convincing. "We're going to get out of here, Kevin. I promise we'll get out of here. You're not going to die."
"Cold..." he muttered, wrapping his arms around himself.
"I know you are. You've got a fever, and we can't bundle you up in the blankets. It'll make it worse."
Kevin didn't answer. He had fallen back into a fevered sleep. Nick returned with the aspirin and water, and they tried to get Kevin to sit up.
"Nooo..." he groaned, then began coughing again.
"Kevin, drink this," Nick said, holding a bowl-shaped piece of metal to Kevin's lips. Kevin tried to take a drink, but began coughing again and got choked. Nick pounded him on the back.
"I'm scared," Nick said, looking at Bailey.
"Let's just get him to take the aspirin, ok?" she said.
Nick put the aspirin in Kevin's mouth and put the bowl back up to his lips. Kevin swallowed them down without ever opening his eyes. They let him lie back down, and they went out side.
"Nick, he's really sick," Bailey said. "We've got to get him out of here."
"I'll go at daybreak," Nick said. "If they won't find us, we'll find them."
"You can't go out there," Bailey said, shaking her head. "Your arm is broken. You don't have waterproof shoes. You'd never make it. I'll go."
"No way!" Nick exclaimed. "You're..."
"I'm what? A girl? Nick, I'm the only one here who's not sick or injured! Now back off and let me do this!" Bailey yelled.
Nick looked down at the ground and rubbed his arm. She was right. He'd never be able to climb the rocks with his broken arm.
"But Bailey, where will you go? How do you know we're not 50 miles from civilization? We could be stuck in the middle of some eight million acre state park or something."
"I'll just have to take that chance," she said, her eyes set with steely determination. "Listen, if we don't get out of here, we're going to die. It's just that simple. It's just November, Nick. The worst of the winter is yet to come, you know. And winter lasts until about May around here, too. I don't really think we can make it that long, do you?"
Nick shook his head sadly. "You're right. I just don't want anything to happen to you."
"Well, think of it this way," Bailey said, smiling. "The quicker we get out of here, the quicker you can take me out on that boat of yours."
Nick giggled a little. "Yeah. I'll try to think of it that way."
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When the first streaks of morning sunlight crossed the sky, Bailey Townsend set out on a mission. She was going to get them out of there. Or die trying. She put on her red sweater and bright orange University of Tennessee sweatpants over her jeans. Ok, so it didn't match, but it would be easy to spot her from the air in case a helicopter happened to fly over.
"Ok, I'm going," she said, kissing Kevin's hot forehead. Nick walked outside with her and kissed her lips softly.
"You hurry back, now," he said, trying to smile.
"Oh, I will," Bailey said, patting his cheek. "You take care of Kevin."
She grabbed a big stick and her backpack and set off into the woods. She made sure she kept heading west, because that's where Vale was. She guessed. Well, at least she'd be able to find her way back to the crash site. As she walked along in the snowy woods, she hummed songs to keep herself company.
"Ohhhh an Austrian went yodelling on an mountaintop high, when along came a pretty maid interrupting his cry..." she sang. She had been walking for a few hours, and she was getting tired. She went up to the top of a big rock and stopped. She sucked in a deep breath as she looked out over... the most vast area of nothingness she had ever seen. She was on top of a huge mountain, and there was nothing in the valley but trees and mountains and snow as far as the eye could see. No houses. No buildings. Nothing.
"Oh shit..." she muttered. "I think I've made a huge mistake."
Her lower lip began to tremble, and she sat down on top of the rock. As she looked out over the nothingness, she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die. She was going to die, and the animals were going to eat her carcass. She shivered at that thought. She sighed as she opened her backpack. She needed her earmuffs. Her ears were freezing. She happened to catch a glimpse of her cell phone, and she grabbed it quickly. Ok, now those weren't battery bars she was staring at. She had a cell signal! She was so shocked she dropped the phone, and it went skittering down the rock. She quickly jumped for it, nearly falling into the abyss. She slowly crawled back up to the top of the rock and, with shaking fingers, she dialed her daddy's cell number. The signal wasn't very strong, and there was a lot of static, but after only two rings, she heard her daddy's sweet voice.
"Bob Townsend," he said, sounding very grave.
"DADDY!!!!" Bailey screamed.
"Bailey??" Bob yelled. "Bailey thank God you're alive, baby! Where are you?"
"I'm on top of a big mountain. I don't know where I am! I'm so scared, daddy! Please come get me!" she sobbed.
"It's ok, honey. I'll find you. You just stay put, ok? Are you hurt?"
"No. I'm fine. I'm just really cold. Daddy, we have to get Kevin out of here. He's so sick. I'm scared he's going to die," Bailey continued to sob.
AJ grabbed the phone from Bob's hand. "Bailey, this is AJ McLean. Are Kev and Nick ok?"
"Nick's arm is broken, but he's fine. Kevin's really sick, though. I think he's got pneumonia or something. PLEASE find us! Hurry!" Bailey cried.
Bob grabbed the phone back from AJ, giving him a nasty look. "Bailey," he said. "stay on the line. I'll see if we can get a trace on it, ok?"
"Ok, daddy," she sniffled. "I love you."
"I love you too, baby."
"Mr. Townsend," Brian said quietly. "Would you mind if I talked to her for a second?"
Bob looked at Brian and saw the tears in his eyes. He handed Brian the phone.
"Bailey, this is Brian Littrell. Thank you. You just saved Kevin and Nick's lives. You know that, don't you?"
"No. They saved my life," she said. "They're so brave. I would have died the first night if it hadn't been for them."
"Thank you," Brian said again, feeling a sob rising in his throat.
"You're welcome, Frick," she giggled.
Brian sat quietly for a moment, then smiled. "You know, nobody's called me that in a very long time. It's nice to hear it again."
"Hey!" Bailey yelled. "I just remembered to tell you something! There was a helicopter over us yesterday, but they couldn't see us because the snow was blowing so bad!"
Suddenly there was a loud burst of static, and the phone went dead in Brian's hand.
"Damn it!" he yelled. "Ok, that does it. We're going out there to find them right now, if we have to get on snow mobiles and comb the entire Rocky Mountains."
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