"Um…there was no door…" AJ looked at me then we both glanced at the other two.

"Not again!" Kevin sighed and got up.

The three of us raced out of the shelter. It had gotten pitch black and we couldn't see anything. Kevin stuck his head back into the shelter then went back in. He came back out with a torch. We looked around until we spotted a swishing tail and we heard purring. The fire blazed over the cat. She was looking up. We all followed her gaze. She had cornered Nick and he was in a little crevice in the side of the mountain's wall, above our heads by a few feet. He had his feet dug into the sides and his hands propped him up.

I had done that in the hallway at home when I was younger. I always climbed the wall.

Nick was breathing hard and struggling to keep himself up there.

"Nick, it's okay, she won't hurt you." AJ called and reached up but Nick moved, climbing a little higher.

"Common Nick! We don't need this right now!" Kevin called up after him. Nick wouldn't take his eyes off the cat.

"Brian, get that thing out of here." Kevin suddenly said.

I sighed, "Common girl, ya gotta learn to leave Nick alone." I said as I pulled her back over to her shelter and blocked the doorway with my body. "Okay." I called back.

"It's safe now Nick." AJ said. Nick let go of the wall of the mountain and fell to the ground where he stayed crouched.

"Common." Kevin carefully grabbed his arms and pulled Nick to his feet. Nick could barely walk he was shaking so bad. After Kevin and Nick were inside AJ stood at the door waiting for me.

"You stay here." I said to the cat, "Night." I said and got up then went in after AJ.

Kevin was in his usually spot and Howie was in his. Nick was sitting beside Kevin, he had been covered with a blanket and Kevin was trying to calm him down. He was still shaking and tears streamed down his face.

I had never seen Nick that scared before. I felt really bad about it. Even as I tried to sleep Nick was still shaking and wide-awake. Even as the others slept and the sun rose Nick never slept.

The next morning I awoke. I was stiff and sore. So was AJ. "It was all that work." AJ said when everyone was awake. I nodded in agreement.

Kevin started to make breakfast. He had put water into the pot and put it over the fire then dumped a bunch of berries into the boiling water. While we waited another problem arose when the cat caught the sent of the food.

She meowed and whimpered from right outside the door. And every time she made a noise Nick would cower further back until he was almost against the wall of the cave.

Suddenly the door to the shelter was ripped off and the cat bounded in. Nick screamed startling all of us.

The panther sat down right beside me then laid down and got comfy.

"Nick, calm down kid." AJ said, trying to keep Nick calm who was growing more terrified by the moment.

"Nick, are you afraid of big cats or something?" Howie asked, kinda like he was annoyed.

Slowly Nick nodded, not taking his eyes off the creature staring back at him.

Kevin sighed as I got up to fix the door. She had just opened it not torn it off its base. I closed it again then sat back down. "Nick, she's not going to hurt you. She's really friendly." I said. And proved it by sticking my hand by the panther's mouth. She began to lick it.

Nick looked as if he were going to pass out.

"Better get used to it Kaos." AJ shrugged, "If this cat does what Brian thinks she can do with the deer and everything we'll be keeping her." He said.

Nick didn't say anything. He hadn't since, "Please don't eat me."

When the meal was done we were all handed our share on pieces of wood that AJ had carved into bowls. I did share mine with the panther but I knew she was still hungry. I noticed Cloud taking some of Nick's and I hoped that the panther didn't notice that as well. She might begin to think that she could do the same thing. The exact same thing. Taking it from Nick.

My fear came true. She slowly got up and I saw the look that crossed Nick's face. He stopped moving and completely stopped breathing as she crept closer. He closed his eyes as she started licking the bowl sitting in Nick's hands. Cloud barked at her but she ignored him. Howie grabbed the bowl from Nick's hands and threw it over to the empty spot beside me.

Nick slowly started to breathe again and he opened his eyes.

"Here." Kevin handed him his own bowl that he had refilled but Nick refused.

"She didn't hurt ya. You're still alive." AJ said. I didn't think Nick cared if he was still alive. He was probably thinking if he was still going to be tomorrow. If only I had known.

When we were full enough AJ and I took the cat and began finishing the shelter for her. AJ talked about his talk with Kevin. Kevin had thought that an add-on was a good idea and that Nick would have to get used to the idea.

As we were in the middle of the building, the shelter door slowly opened. Kevin had gone back down to fish and Howie was sitting fixing the rabbit skin he and AJ had left to be dried the day before.

Slowly Nick looked around and spotted the panther over by us and slowly looked back into the shelter. He patted his leg to call Cloud. Cloud bounded out as if he had nothing to worry about. He glanced up at Nick and knew that his master was worried so he looked around at anything that would worry him. He spotted the panther then pulled on Nick's pant leg in the opposite direction of where the cat was.

"Don't be gone too long Frack." I said to him, he was only wearing his jeans and his worn runners, he'd get cold pretty fast. He didn't reply just followed Cloud down the path toward where the berries were.

"What're you gonna name her?" Howie suddenly asked.

I shrugged, "I was thinking Shadow." I said.

"Shadow? Pretty good, where'd ya come up with that?" AJ asked.

"Last night when she had Nick put the side of the mountain." I said, "We couldn't see her and she blended in so well. So…I thought Shadow would be a good name."

It didn't take us long to finish the shelter. And it looked good.

Kevin had come back and he thought it was pretty good too. "I saw two deer down by the stream today. That means we might be able to get food sometime this week." He said. He went into the shelter then came out again, "Where's Nick?" He asked.

"Took Cloud for a walk." Howie answered.

"While he's gone I think we should make this add-on." He said.

"Alright." AJ and I were still in the building mode. It kept us warm and it kept us busy. We tore down the one wall then tore down the other one in the new shelter. Then we smoothed the rough places. We had been lucky because the part where we tore down had no branches in it. It was just mud and grass that we had used. And we hadn't built a wall on the other shelter. It was just leaning on the old one. An opening was already there. We began to cover up the entrance hole to the new shelter but then I wondered about something.

"What if she had to get out in the middle of the night?" I asked.

"She could just come into our part of the shelter and wake one of us. I mean Cloud does it."

"True." I nodded and continued covering the hole.

It took us all day to finish everything. That night I was starving. The same as my friends. We ate a great supper. And Shadow was welcomed into the family.

"I don't see why Nick's so scared of you." Howie said, patting her on the head.

"Where is Nick?" Kevin suddenly asked.

"He never came back from the walk…" I looked at the shelter door as if he'd walk in any minute with Cloud trailing behind him.

"Great. If he ran off again…" Kevin started as he got up. He opened the door. Cloud suddenly came in. He was frozen stiff. He collapsed on the ground by the fire. Shadow got up and went over to him. She licked his face trying to wake him up. It didn't work so she laid beside him to keep him warm.

"All right, where's Nick?" AJ asked. Checking to see if Cloud was still alive. He was.

"If Cloud's that cold imagine what Nick's going through." I got up and followed Kevin out the shelter door.

"I don't want to." AJ said as he followed us. Howie stumbled out as well.

"Nick!" I called out. If Cloud was there Nick probably wouldn't be far. "Nick! Common where are you?" I yelled.

"Maybe he's hurt…" Howie began.

"Yeah…I mean, Cloud could've been coming back to get us but he got too cold…" AJ started.

"Ah man." My heart jumped into my throat, "Nick!" I yelled louder, "Please answer me!"

"We gotta go look for him. Howie ya gotta stay here man. Just in case Nick comes back." Kevin said to our friend.

Howie nodded. "Good luck." He said then went back inside. Shadow came out.

"You think she can help us?" I asked.

"Worth a try…I mean Cloud can't help." Kevin sighed.

I knelt down in front of the panther; "You gotta find Nick girl." I said. She licked my face. AJ ran into the shelter to get a torch. When he came back out, we started down the path Nick had taken.

"Did it snow?" I asked. It looked like it had freshly fallen.

"It still is." AJ sighed. I turned and I could see the snow falling in the light.

"Shoot. We'll never find him." I cursed to myself.

"Just follow Cloud's tracks." Kevin pointed to the paw prints in the snow.

We sighed and began to walk a little faster. We followed them for about three hours, yeah three. As we walked we kept calling Nick's name. Finally we came to a clearing. By this time I was freezing. We all were. My jaws hurt from my chattering teeth.

"Bri, does this place look familiar to you?" AJ asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. It was the place we had found Nick after he had ran away. We still didn't know why he had left the wood.

I went over to the drop off, expecting to see Nick lying face down in the little stream that had been there before. But to my surprise it wasn't a little stream anymore. It was a big stream.

"Wait, look right there." Kevin said as he slid down the drop off and stopped at the bank of the stream. AJ and I followed where he went. He had knelt down and was looking at tracks in the sand.

"They're definitely Nick's." He said then stood up, but they go right into the stream…" His voice trailed off.

I sighed and looked at the rushing water. Then slowly, because of a hunch, I stepped into the cold water. When I say cold, that's an understatement. It was FREEZING!

I walked for a few feet. It got colder and colder and colder…

"Brian, what are you doing?" AJ asked.

"I'm singing, what does it look like I'm doing?" I hissed, "I'm checking if the current is strong enough to sweep someone away if they try to cross."

"Oh…" AJ said.

I walked a few feet and almost fell in. It was really strong and the rocks at the bottom were slippery. I didn't want to think of Nick falling in and being swept along with the stream. It probably ended up at that waterfall he almost went over last time!

Suddenly my foot landed on something soft.

"Okay." I stopped moving.

"What?" The two asked at the same time.

"I just stepped on something. If it's a body I'm gonna scream. If it's something else, I won't scream." I took a deep breath and stuck my arm into the cold water.

"Gee, thanks for the warning. What is it?" Kevin asked.

I quickly pulled it up, "It's a shoe." I said, looking at the object in my hands. I quickly made my way back over to the other two.

"That's Nick's." AJ gasped.

"God, I hope he made is across." Kevin looked across the stream.

"To tell the truth…I don't think so…" I sighed. We had to face the truth. "The current was pretty strong."

AJ gave a few choice words. "So this is it then? After all we've been through?" His voice quivered.

"Common, let's go back to the shelter." Kevin patted AJ's shoulder. I could hear how choked up Kevin was. I didn't want to believe it either but there was no way Nick could have survived it. The water was strong, the rocks were slippery and it was cold. And it was all my fault.

"Common Shadow." I sighed as I followed AJ and Kevin. But Shadow wouldn't come, "Alright, stay here then. I'm cold." I complained as we set back to the shelter.

"Did you find him?" Howie asked when we had returned. None of us answered. We didn't have to. Howie saw the shoe and got the picture.

As we warmed up we were all silent. Until I broke it, "It's all my fault." I sobbed.

"No Brian. You didn't know Nick was that afraid." Kevin said.

"It doesn't matter! I shouldn't've brought Shadow back with me." I said. I was still holding Nick's shoe. I couldn't believe that he was gone. I mean it hurt so much to think about. My worst fear had come true. "God, and I had promised him that we'd all make it home!" That was it. Tears flowed from my eyes and I started crying.

"No Bri. It's not your fault!" AJ patted my shoulder. "You didn't know."

"Then who else can we blame? Nick? I can't blame him and what good would it do anyway? He's dead!" I moaned. It wasn't fair my best friend was dead.

Everyone went silent. Even me. We had never actually said the word. Nick was dead. The word was too final. Too chilling.

"Common Brian. We've gone through this stuff before. We can get through this too." Kevin said gently.

"No. Nick was my best friend, my little brother, our little brother." I sobbed. We were all silent for a few minutes again. Giving a silent moment.

"Hey, remember that time Nick put itching powder in my pants before that one concert." AJ remembered. I tried not to listen but it was hard. The image of AJ standing up on stage, trying to sing, itch, keep control and kill Nick all at the same time almost made me want to smile.

"What about that time when he stole all of my clothes out of my dressing room and threw them into the pool that was outside." Kevin smiled.

"You got so mad." I whispered.

Kevin shook his head; "He did it the next week after it too."

"It wasn't fair you guys." I whispered again.

"We know." Howie said comfortingly.

"Hey, let's get some sleep. We'll try to find his body tomorrow." Kevin said. We all lay down and got ready to sleep. But I knew I wasn't going to sleep. I kept glancing at Nick's empty bed and thinking of how cold he must have been.

Suddenly a wet nose poked its way along my back.

"Cloud." I turned and hugged the injured pup and let him lay under the blankets, "You must miss him too." I patted his head as he closed his eyes, "What happened out there huh?" I asked him, then covered him up and tried to go to sleep.