I woke up the next morning. I had gotten so hot the night before I had to go outside first before I could breathe again. I got up and walked into the other shelter. Kevin was with Nick at this time. "Any change?" I asked as I walked over to the two.

Kevin shook his head and sighed, "Brian, it might have been too late." He whispered.

I looked at my friend lying in the water. I had been denying the truth but deep down I had known. "I know." I nodded sadly.

"Hey, we tried our best." Kevin said, trying to make me feel better about it.

I sighed, "But our best doesn't matter if Nick dies."

Kevin sighed, "I've gotta get out of here, you gonna be okay?" He asked, concerned. I nodded and he left.

So there I was, alone with Nick. I put my hand in the water; it was beginning to cool off. I grabbed the pot and filled it with some the cooling water then placed it beside the rocks and the fire pit and waited until it got warm again.

It was like that for about a week and some days. No change, nothing. We all just took turns watching him and then working on things we needed to do, like making warmer clothes. Shadow had killed another deer and it didn't bother me as much as the last one. But it still bothered me. It was about 2:00 in the morning on the 20th. I had turned 23 about half an hour ago. I looked down at Nick's face and his closed eyes. Only I stopped breathing for a second because his eyes weren't closed anymore.

"Frack?" I asked and looked at him. He blinked a few times but that was about it. "Guys!" I yelled and ran to the opening of the shelter, "Get in here!" I said, I think I might have even smiled.

"What is it?" Kevin asked as the three entered the room. They had been sleeping and they weren't really awake yet.

"Nick's awake!" I said.

"What?" AJ said as the three leaned over the edge and peered into the water.

"I think you're gonna be okay." Howie said to Nick.

"This is so incredible." Howie was still surprised. We were sitting in the smaller shelter but we had left the doorway to the other shelter open so the heat would keep us warm as well, it would save us firewood.

We all sat around the fire. Nick was still covered with a blanket though it was so hot it was hard to breathe. He was lying in front of me by the small fire that was crackling. Cloud was snuggled up next to him but Shadow stayed out of the way. I felt as though she blamed herself for Nick's condition.

Howie, Kevin, AJ and I all wanted to test to see if Nick was okay, you know, in the head. But all he wanted to do was sleep. I didn't blame him at all but I was nervous about what we'd find out. While he slept we all kept ourselves busy. Howie and AJ were working on another coat.

Kevin was cooking us a meal; I didn't even know what time it was. And I…I wasn't doing much, except staring into the fire. I was just thinking about what else could go wrong. And what I would do if we did lose someone out here.

It was a while before Kevin shook my arm. It was like coming out of a deep trance. I looked up as he handed me a bowl of berries. "Nick's still sleeping. Don't worry okay?" He knew me too well.

I smiled, "Alright." I took the bowl.

"Hey Brian, how many arrows do we have to go through before you actually hit a tree?" AJ asked sarcastically. I was at it again, about a week later, I was guessing it was the 26th of February now. Practicing with the bow and arrows. As you could tell, I wasn't exactly doing too great. But it was keeping us busy and warm I might add.

"We'd better get back soon." I said shivering to myself, okay so it wasn't keeping us that warm. AJ agreed and we went back to the camp. Inside we sat around the fire. Howie was relaxing his ankle in some hot water.

"Where's Kev?" AJ asked as he put another piece of wood onto the fire.

"In the hot room with Nicky." He sighed, as if something had gone wrong. That made me nervous and I couldn't keep it to myself.

"Why, what happened?" I asked, almost yelling.

Both AJ and Howie looked at me funny.

"Nothing happened Brian. Kevin just thinks Nick should stay where it's warm for awhile. Don't flip out on us." Howie said.

"Sorry." I swallowed. I got up and went into the other shelter. Kevin was sitting by the tub. I sat down beside him and found Nick in the tub. He was staring at the ceiling of the shelter. When I peered down he looked at me.

"There you are. I wanted to show you something." Kevin said.

"What?" I asked, wondering.

"Nick, remember what you did before?" Kevin asked, "Try to do it again." He said. Nick slowly lifted his left arm into the air. Kevin held out his finger. Nick touched his finger to the tip of Kevin's then brought his hand back down and touched the tip of his own nose.

"That's awesome!" I smiled. It meant that Nick's accuracy wasn't completely screwed. We'd have to see when he walked though, if he could walk. I was happy that there was some hope now. I just prayed that it wasn't false hope.