I opened my eyes, "Yuck! Dog slobber!" I moved away from Cloud's tongue.

Nick moaned as he rolled over. He was using me as a pillow again.

"'Morning." Howie's voice said from over Nick.

Nick blocked my view, "'Morning." I said back, petting Cloud's back. The pup lay down and wagged his tail.

Nick suddenly jerked in his sleep. I looked at him, noticing the sweat running down his face. He was breathing heavy. Having a bad dream. I thought. I argued over the thought of wakening him…he hadn't been sleeping that well but then again…

"Nick." I gently shook his arm.

"No!" He suddenly shot up into a sitting position panting as if he's been running.

I sat up; "You okay?"

Kevin, Howie and AJ watched concerned.

Nick calmed down a little and looked at his hands. Then wiped his face.

"Are you okay?" Kevin repeated my question.

Nick nodded.

"Bad dream?" AJ asked.

Nick, still hiding his face nodded.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked.

"I died." He whispered.

Everyone became silent. I had been having dreams like that as well and by the look on their faces they had all had ones too.

I kept dreaming of drowning over and over again and then not being able to help Nick, so he died as well. Then AJ had slipped into a coma and died because of the cold because the guys hadn't gotten the matches from the first aid kit that I had died holding then slowly Kevin and Howie both died as well. I had tried to forget about them during the day but they'd always returned at night.

"Well, you're not going to die." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently. "We're gonna get home and be laughing about this in about a year."

"I'll never laugh at this." Nick sighed.

"I know." I said, then changed the subject; "I wonder if it's cold outside…" I looked at Howie, AJ and Kevin.

"Haven't been out." AJ shrugged.

"One way to find out." I got up and slowly opened the door. It was a pretty nice day. "Looks good, I think we should start hunting. We're going to need warmer clothing…and from that story we got two choices."

"And they are…" Howie started.

"One of us attempts to kill a moose for it's hide, or we kill a lot of rabbits." I glanced at my friends. Nick winced as if I had just said we were going to kill him.

The others noticed this as well.

"Look, we need to stay warm Nick…and the only way we're going to live is if something else dies." Kevin said.

Nick shook his head; "Fish are one thing…but a moose? Rabbits?" He shook his head again not knowing where to start.

"What about a deer? It's not as big as a moose but not as dangerous either." AJ said.

"That might work, but have you seen a deer anywhere? Even a sign of one?" I asked.

AJ shook his head.

"We'll have to look." Kevin said.

"And the sooner we get started the sooner we're bound to find something." Howie said.

So we got dressed. I only had my pants now that I had given Nick my T-shirt. Howie had his ripped shirt and jeans, AJ had his clothes and Kevin had his.

As the four of us stepped outside into the snow I looked back inside, "You comin?" I asked.

Nick was still staring into the fire, he hadn't moved.

Slowly he shook his head.

"Alright…" I sighed.

Cloud suddenly jumped out of the doorway.

"Cloud, you should stay here with Nicky so he won't be all alone." I said to the pup.

"It might be better if Nick got some time by himself." Kevin said, "And besides, this wolf might come in handy and catch a rabbit."

I thought it over and he was right, about the rabbit anyway. But I didn't think Nick wanted to be alone.

We started out. We had decided to stay as a group until we knew the woods well enough to go out our own. AJ carried the bow as Kevin carried the arrows. AJ had had the only chance to practice as I had been helping Nick with the net and collecting food. And Kevin could only use one arm.

Finally after walking for what seemed like hours we stopped to rest. We had brought food and fresh water to drink. I shared my berries with Cloud and my water with him as well.

Suddenly he stopped eating and his ears pricked up.

"What is it boy?" I asked.

He started to sniff the air then moved around the small area we were in. Finally he took off into a bush.

We heard him growling for a while until finally he trotted back out carrying a large rabbit. It was even bigger than he was.

"Alright!" I jumped up.

We celebrated for a few moments. Kevin even gave Cloud some berries. "Guess ya are good for something after all." He patted the wolf's head.

We walked again for about 2 miles. The sun had started to set.

"Did anyone's watch survive the crash?" I asked.

"Mine did…" Howie suddenly said.

"What?" I turned around, "And you haven't told me?"

Howie shook his head, "AJ and Kevin knew as well…but we didn't want to be reminded of the date."

"The date? What does that have anything to do with this?" I asked, confused.

"Brian, it's almost the 28th." AJ said.

"The 28th?" The number had no meaning to me for a second; I was cold and was tired then it hit me hard, "Nick's birthday…"

My friends nodded.

"Geez! I didn't even remember! Ah man…" I sighed, "Poor Nick…"

The rest of the evening I thought about it. Some birthday. Being stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

By the time we got back it was pitch black. We had caught about 5 rabbits plus the one Cloud caught.

Howie said it was about 3:00 in the morning, the next morning. We had started out at 7:00, yesterday morning. I was so tired I didn't really care about the time.

But then I remembered the look on my best friends' face when I had mentioned killing. "We can't take those inside." I said, indicating to the rabbits.

"Nick?" Kevin asked.

I nodded.

"Alright." He nodded as Howie and him went over and dug into the side of the snow, where the fish was. AJ had built a lid to the hole and Kevin opened it. Howie placed the 6 rabbits inside and closed the door then covered it with snow again.

"Okay then." I sighed and opened the door. "Hey Nick, where back." I said as I crawled in. "Nick?" I spotted the lump under the blanket.

The others crawled in and Howie closed the door.

We were all quietly talking when Cloud suddenly started to whine and want out.

I looked over at the lump under the blanket then at Cloud. Cloud hadn't even gone over to Nick to say hi. Then I glanced at the woodpile. We had filled it before we left so Nick would have had enough…he couldn't have burned that much….

Suddenly an idea popped into my head and I whipped off the blanket to reveal a pile of branched.

"Oh no!" I whined opening the door. Cloud ran out.

"Nick?" I yelled as I stood up.

The others followed me.

"Nick!" I yelled.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom…" AJ started.

"Then why the pile of wood?" I asked, trying to search in the darkness. All the tiredness, coldness and feeling I had felt before were gone. Thoughts ran through my mind like a train on endless tracks. I couldn't see any sign of him. Then suddenly Cloud barked, getting my attention.

"What is it boy?" I asked as I went over to the dog, followed by the others. He barked again and looked into the bushes. It was the trail Nick and I had taken to get berries, and where Nick had found Cloud.

"Look." Howie pointed in the snow.

Footprints of bare feet. Nick's bare feet.

"His clothes were still in the tent…" Kevin started.

"Dammit!" I got up from the ground where I had been kneeling, "Cloud, please! Find Nick!"

With that Cloud barked and ran into the trail.

I looked a little stunned but then instinct took over and I followed him. Howie and Kevin didn't follow AJ and I. Howie couldn't and it was safer for Kevin not to.

"If he's not dead, I'll kill him!" AJ puffed from behind me.

"He's not dead!" I hissed as I kept running. We dodged branches, slid in the snow and were being slowed down from the deep snow.

I stop running. We were in the clearing with all the berries and I had lost sight of Cloud.

"Where is he?" AJ asked.

"I don't know…" I took a deep breath, "Cloud!" I yelled. "Nick!"

AJ and I called for a few minutes. Then finally Cloud ran out of a bush and barked.

"There!" AJ pointed as we started to run again. We weren't on the trail anymore and it was hard to run fast. I couldn't really feel the branches whipping my face; I could feel the blood dripping down my face and the panic rising in my stomach as Cloud lead us further and further into the trees with no sign of slowing down.

Finally Cloud stopped.

AJ and I stopped as well. I was so out of breath I fell to my knees gasping for air. AJ wasn't far behind me. We lay in the snow panting for what seemed like forever. My lungs hurt, my chest throbbed, my head also throbbed and I was hot. Even the snow on my back didn't help. My throat was dry as I stood up and tried to breathe normally but my lungs hurt and I swallowed a few times.

"Where is he boy?" AJ asked, still from the ground.

Cloud sat down and whined.

I looked at the dog. Maybe you haven't helped us…it was all just a wild goose chase.

"Brian…" AJ started.

"What?" I sobbed as I slumped down in the snow. Pain coursed through my body as I panted for air.

"What's that?" AJ pointed toward the mutt.

I looked. "What?" I asked.

"Right in front of him…" AJ said.

I looked; there was something shiny. Slowly I crawled over on my hands and knees and carefully picked up the object. "It's Nick's anchor." I moaned.

"His anchor?" AJ looked confused.

"Yeah, Nick still had it." I sat back and sobbed out loud.

"But where is he?" AJ got up and looked around.

Cloud started whining again.

"What is it? Where is Nick?" I asked the mutt. I felt so stupid for following the dog. But then again he had led us to Nick's necklace.

I hadn't noticed but I was clutching the anchor to my heart and was praying for Nick to be okay.

"Oh…damn…" AJ started.

"What?" I looked at him. He was peering over a bush, right behind me.

"Brian…you better come and look at this…" He shook his head.

I forced myself up and looked. It was a long drop off, and at the bottom was a stream. It was only a trickle of water and was maybe an inch deep. Lying face down in the middle of it was Nick.