That night Kevin and I froze. We didn't want to lave, just in case something were to happen and they'd pack up and leave, taking Nick with them.

When the sun finally rose, the snow began to melt. Leaning in the mush was making me feel older and I had hardy slept during the night.

With each passing hour my mind began to slow down, I couldn't think straight, or see clearly. The world seemed to spin in front of my like the world was falling off its axis and taking everyone on earth with it.

I closed my eyes to stop the spinning. When I opened my eyes again I found I was lying down, and I was warm. Slowly I sat up and looked around, I found I was back in the shelter. Had I been dreaming? Was Nick just outside with the others? Was Cloud still alive? Was Shadow alright?

I looked around more clearly and spotted Howie feeding Shadow on the other side of the fire. I hadn't been dreaming. I could see the blood stained on the cloth that was used as a bandage. Howie looked up and saw me awake.

"How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know." I sighed; I could barely feel anything even though I was warm. I was too scared to feel anything. "Where are Kevin and AJ?" I asked, hoping Howie would say they're with Nick getting firewood.

But Howie shrugged, "Kevin brought you back and then he and AJ left to go wherever you two had come from. What happened Brian? Kevin didn't say anything." He looked at me.

I looked down at the fire; "Cloud's dead." Were the first words out of my mouth.

"What?" Howie looked a little surprised, "How'd that happen? And where was Nick?"

"Nick was there. He was tied up and gagged, Cloud was trying to protect him, but the creep shot Cloud. Right in front of Nick." I told Howie the rest of the story about how the other guy had grabbed Cloud and dropped him into Nick's lap. How they had knocked Nick out when he had flipped out and about the cage they had put him in.

"They are going to try to get rid of him too. I don't know how and I don't know when, but Rodney or whoever said they were going to." I sighed.

Howie sighed too, not knowing what to do. I kept wishing I was just having a bad dream, that all of this was something in my head. I was really back on the tour bus sleeping soundly in my bunk. Kevin and Howie were talking quietly because it was about midnight, AJ and Nick were trying to have a quiet game of Nintendo but AJ, some how kept beating Nick at the game and Nick was getting angry.

But of course, I wasn't dreaming. There was no Nintendo. AJ was off with Kevin, hopefully rescuing Nick. And I was there with Howie. Nothing ever seemed to go my way.

"How's she doing?" I was almost scared to ask. We'd already lost Cloud; I didn't want Shadow to die too.

"She'll be okay." Howie nodded patting Shadow's head. "The bullet just grazed her." He said. At least something was good. At that moment Shadow got up and came over to me. She rubbed her nose against my arm.

"Hey girl." I said scratching behind her ear, suddenly I started talking again, "They have a radio, we could radio back home." I said.

"That's good. But how will we get a hold of this radio?" Howie asked.

I sighed, I hadn't thought of how we'd do it, I had just thought of doing it. Then an idea slowly began to open up in my head, "Nick." I said.

"Brian! Get down!" Kevin yelled in a whisper. I sat down quietly, but quickly. I had gone back out to find Kevin and AJ. I had found them, and with me I had brought Shadow and Howie. I had told Howie my plan, and I began to tell the others.

"It might work. But we have to tell Nick." AJ whispered. "He has to grab the radio."

I smiled, remembering the look on Nick's face before, "I think he already knows." I said, but was silenced as the group woke up and started to pack up. It was still dark and by Howie's watch it was only 4:00 in the morning.

We watched in silence as they packed everything and got set to leave. Rodney went over to the cage where Nick was sleeping. One of his hands was still lying through the bars, resting on Cloud's neck. Rodney kicked it. Waking Nick up. Nick quickly withdrew his hand and checked to see if it had been broken.

"We'll head to the river." Rodney announced, "Where we saw that bus." He said.

"Our bus." AJ hissed in a low whisper.

"We'll get rid of him there." Rodney said as he knelt down and looked into the cage, he grabbed Nick's hair and pulled him toward the bars so Nick was slammed up against them. "You better enjoy your last moments of life." He said.

Nick just glared at him, then when Rodney moved his hand slightly; Nick sunk his teeth into the part between the pointer finger and the thumb. Rodney screamed and tried to pull away but Nick wouldn't let go. When Rodney pulled, Nick bit down harder. Blood dripped from Rodney's hand and down Nick's chin.

Finally one of the others came over and pointed a gun at Nick. He shot and Nick let go, moving to the back of the cage. I couldn't see if he had been hit. Rodney was in the way. Rodney held his hand, "God, let's get rid of him now! Let's load the cage and we'll get to the river." He shouted orders as four of the guys loaded the cage onto the back of a snowmobile.

"Did he get hit?" Howie asked.

"Yeah." Kevin nodded; he had had a clear view of what had happened. "His leg I think. All I saw was the blood." He whispered.

"Brian, is this plan going to work." AJ asked, looking at me as the group left.

I nodded, "We have to hurry and get to the river before them." I said, but Shadow got my attention. The group was gone so she went over to where the cage was and sniffed around it. Then she spotted Cloud and sniffed his body.

As we watched, she nudged the lifeless body, then began to whine.

"She doesn't understand." Kevin said.

"Yes she does." I said, as Shadow picked Cloud up and brought him over to us. She gently laid the small body in front of me. "She wants us to bury him." I said.

"AJ and I'll take Cloud's body back to the shelter. You and Kevin got and save Nick." Howie said as he took of his shirt and wrapped Cloud's body in it.

The four of us split up. Shadow followed Kevin and I. We never stopped moving and we made it to the river by dawn. The group had gotten there before us and Nick was out of the cage. We hid in the bushes across from the group, having a full view of everyone and everything. I could see Nick limping as Rodney pushed him toward the river. I spotted the blood running down his leg from his thigh.

Two of the other men came up on either side of Nick. One of them began to tie his ankles together. His hands were still tied behind his back, but the gag was gone and now, Nick was giving them a piece of his mind.

As they finished tying a large rock to the ropes around his feet Nick shouted, "You stupid son of a bitches! Fucking go to hell! Fuck, murdering bastards! I hope you fucking get caught and are locked up for the rest of your fucking lives! Dammit! Fucking on tie me! Leave me the hell alone! Fuck! Screw you! Don't touch me!" He continued.

I snickered as I heard him yell as loud as he could. Kevin hit my shoulder. I stopped laughing and continued to watch. Howie and AJ joined us about an hour later. Nick was still yelling, but now he was getting scared.

"Alright! That's enough!" Rodney suddenly yelled. He marched over to Nick lying in snow. "Any last words?"

"Yeah." Nick looked up, then took a deep breath, "Go find a sharp branch and fuck yourself!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as the guy with the radio came over to hand it to Rodney. But Nick was quicker and tripped him. The radio went flying and landed a few feet away from us.

I jumped up and grabbed it.

"Brian!" Nick called out.

"Shit, there's more of 'em!" One of the guys moaned.

"Who cares? Let's get rid of this one first!" With that Rodney grabbed Nick's arms and pulled him to his feet. Another guy came up and helped Rodney drag Nick through the water. When they reached the deep drop off they stopped.

"How 'bout you go fuck yer self." Rodney hissed, then pushed Nick forward. With a splash Nick disappeared under the water.

Before I could stop her, Shadow bounded out of the bushes and dove into the water. She knew that Nick wouldn't surface with the rock tied to him.

"That was the animal!" Rodney said in disbelief. "We've gotta get her!"

I threw the radio into the bush and saw Howie get it. I ran over and saw Kevin and AJ come out from the bushes behind Rodney and his gang.

"Geez, how many are there?" The one who had helped Rodney push Nick into the water said.

I could see that AJ was carrying a stick with dried fish on it. He was leading something from the bushes. The group bunched together as a bear followed close behind AJ. Kevin threw a net full of dead fish onto the group, dousing them with the smell.

The bear immediately went over to them and stood on its hind feet. They were frozen in fear. Kevin and AJ rushed over and grabbed a few of the guns and threw me one. To tell you the truth, if one of them had done something, I wouldn't have known what to do! But nobody moved.

Howie came out of the bush and Kevin handed him a gun too. "I called for help." Howie said. "Where's Shadow and Nick?" He asked.

"Oh geez!" My eyes went wide as we all turned toward the lake. I saw Shadow pulling something from the water. I ran over as Kevin and AJ tied the group of them up. "Nick!" I shouted checking to see if he was breathing. He wasn't. I began to do CPR and every time I did water would come out of his mouth, but never air.

"God Nick! You even think about dying on us now I'm going to kill you!" I suddenly slammed my fist down onto his chest.

"Ow!" Nick moaned, coughing up water and then taking deep breaths. I was shocked, but wrapped my arms around him. "What are you trying to do? Break my ribs?" He asked.

I laughed as I untied his hands, then his feet. "Thanks Shadow." I patted her head then helped Nick to his feet. Nick picked up the gun I had put down and limped over to the group.

"What are you doing?" Howie asked.

Nick didn't answer just glared down at Rodney. He took the safety off the gun, making a click-click sound. Then he put his finger on the trigger and pointed the long shot gun at Rodney.

"You're not a killer. You can't do it." Rodney sneered.

"Wanna bet?" Nick asked, then shot the gun. Rodney screamed, followed by a few more words. We all looked. Nick had shot Rodney in the shoulder, knowing it was going to kill him. Nick then handed me the gun, "Now you can suffer too." He said and limped away from then, going over to a tree, where he threw up.

It wasn't long before we heard the beating of helicopter blades and we saw two helicopters begin to land. I was over whelmed with emotion; we were going to go home.

Nick limped back over to me, "Where's Cloud?" He asked.

I looked at him; didn't he remember that Cloud had died? "He's dead Nicky." I said.

"I know." He nodded, "I meant, where's his body?"

"Back at the shelter." I said.

"I wanna get him." He said. I noticed how pale he was. I out stretched my arms as Nick fell forward. Shadow took off in the direction of our camp.

"I'll get him, don't worry." I said as Nick passed out.

Two men from the 'copter brought over a stretcher and got Nick onto it, then loaded him into the bay. Kevin, Howie and AJ jumped in as well. "Brian! Come on, we're going home!" Kevin yelled over the beating blades.

"I know! I gotta get Cloud for Nick!" I shouted.

"We can't wait all day." One of the men shouted at me.

"Please! This is really important." I said, then looked back at the direction of where Shadow had gone, "Come on Shadow, hurry up." I said.

"Are you the Backstreet Boys?" One of the other guys yelled.

"Yeah." Kevin shouted back.

"God! We've been searching for you for about three months!" The man yelled again.

"What's the date?" AJ asked. We had only checked the time.

"March 25th!" The guy yelled as a black streak came flying from the bushes and over to me.

The men all pointed their guns at Shadow. "No! It's okay!" I said, standing in front of her, when their guns were lowered, I turned back to her and took the bundle from her jaws. "Thanks girl." I said, then looked at her. I couldn't take her with us, could I? I sighed and knelt down and hugged her.

"Ah, what the hell? Come on girl, we'll do this some how." I said as we both jumped into the bay beside the guys. I sat down and saw that Nick was awake. He had an air-mask on. He reached out for my hand. I took his and squeezed it, telling him that we were going to be all right. We were going home.