"Oh God!" I pushed passed the bush and slid down the side of the drop off, the same path Nick had made. AJ followed me. I stopped at the bottom and got up, rushing over to Nick.

As I reached his body my heart jumped into my throat. Nick's nose and mouth were under the water. Who knows how long he had been like this? It hadn't snowed all day; his tracks could have been made hours before.

I knelt down in the stabbing cold water. I ignored the pain in my body and moved Nick so his face wasn't in the water. Even in the dark I saw the blue. The moon shining on the snow around us helped with light. Nick's lips were blue, his face pale and around his eyes were dark.

"No!" I cried out loud as I picked up his lifeless body and held him in my arms. "No!" I sobbed again as AJ came up from behind and fell beside me.

"Did you try CPR?" He asked.

I shook my head. I couldn't form words.

"Brian! You know it! Try it!" AJ urged.

I sighed. It couldn't help. Nick was gone, Nick was dead! But I tried it anyway. I pressed on his chest five times, then breathed air into his mouth. I repeated this for what seemed like hours. Until finally Nick coughed up water and started to move.

"Oh my God!" AJ and I jumped back.

Nick moaned and turned his head away from us. That's when I spotted the bloody gash on the back of his head.

"Nick?" AJ asked, crawling over to him, "Are you alright?"

Nick didn't reply.

"Is he still breathing?" I asked, sitting back in the water.

AJ nodded. "He's unconscious." He sighed.

Dear Lord, please, don't take Nick away from us. Not this way. I prayed.

"Let's get him back." AJ said as he stood up.

I slowly stood up then walked over to the body. He had no shirt and scratches ran like a crisscross pattern on Nick's chest. His face was the same. I probably look the sameI sighed as I picked him up.

"How are we going to get up that?" AJ asked as we stood staring up the drop. Nick lay limp in my arms. His hair still dripping with water.

I sighed, trying to look for away. Then spotted what looked like steps made from mud.

"There." I pointed with my head.

AJ nodded as he spotted it, and slowly we started the long steep climb almost straight up. I slipped dozens of times and every time I had to check on Nick.

Finally we reached the top of the drop off where AJ had first spotted Nick's body. We fell to the ground in total exhaustion.

"When we get back to camp, and when I fall asleep, don't wake me up until the year 2020." I moaned as I stretched out in the snow.

"I can do that, because I'll still be sleeping." AJ sighed. We couldn't stay long and I was trying to keep a mental clock in my mind counting the seconds. We had rested for about two minutes, then I sat up. "We better get Nick back to camp." I tried to stand up, but then fell back beside Nick.

"You okay?" AJ said as he stood up.

I nodded. My legs were like JELL-O. I could hardly feel them. I tried again and stayed standing but my legs were shaking. Slowly I bent down and picked Nick up again. He was heavy.

"Do you…ah…know where we are?" AJ suddenly asked.

I looked around. Everything looked the same. And we couldn't see our footprints it was too dark and it had started to snow again. I sighed.

Cloud suddenly barked.

"Guess all we can do it follow him." I said as I started to walk toward the mutt. AJ followed.

As we followed Cloud back to camp I tried to make out how far we had run. When we finally stepped into the clearing all my mind was doing was calculating, I don't even remember what happened next. All that was in my mind was 7 in a half miles away from camp. That's how far Nick had gone and that's how far AJ and I had run.

The next thing I remember was sitting beside the fire drinking hot water. I looked around me. The tent was nice and warm. Kevin and Howie were quietly talking to AJ who looked as confused as I was. Wrapped in blankets was Nick. I looked back at my cousin.

"You feeling better?" He asked.

I nodded, "What happened?" I asked.

"We saw you guys coming up carrying Nick. When we reached you, you handed Nick to Howie then fell to the ground. You were totally out cold." Kevin said.

I sighed, then looked at AJ, "It's not 2020 yet, is it?" I asked.

"Nope." He shook his head.

By the looks on their faces Howie and Kevin didn't get it.

"Ah, you're too old to understand our jokes!" I laughed but then stopped from my throbbing head. Every part of my body was stiff. I looked at my friend, "Is he okay?" I asked.

"We don't know." Kevin sighed. "He hasn't moved at all. Who knows how long he had been out there."

I sighed and started to think back, "It probably wasn't that long." I said.

"How'd you figure that?" Howie asked.

"Well...AJ told me to do CPR…I did and Nick started breathing again." I said.

"So?" AJ asked.

"AJ, you saw him, his mouth and nose were under the water. If he had been there for a longer length of time we wouldn't have been able to revive him." I said.

"He's got a point." Howie nodded.

"What could have made him run off like that?" AJ asked.

"Maybe something scared him…" Howie suggested.

"But what about the wood…I mean…he had set it up." I said.

The others were silent.

I sighed and moved over behind Nick and laid down right beside him. I rested my arm around his body and rested my head gently on the side of his, then slowly closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

The next time I woke up it was finally daylight. The door to the shelter was open and it looked pretty warm out. I could see my friends skinning the rabbits. I looked at the mess.

No wonder Nick wasn't too thrilled with the idea. I yawned as I looked down at him. He hadn't moved at all.

Carefully I pulled the blanket off from around his head and moved his hair on the back off his head until I found the gash I had spotted earlier. It was pretty deep.

"Why'd you run away like that Frack?" I asked Nick in a whisper. I knew I wasn't going to get a reply.

Something must have scared him. Or maybe he went looking for us. But the wood! It doesn't make sense.

I wasn't about to try to make sense of it either. Sometimes Nick could be so weird and confusing!

I got up and pulled on my pants. Then I went out and joined the others.

"Yuck." I said as I looked at the mess. It didn't look any better from closer up.

"It may be gross but we'll live. Feel this fur." Kevin handed me a drying pelt.

The fur was really nice and soft. It would probably keep us warm. Wonder what the meat tastes like… I looked at a bloody chunk of meat. Second thought…

I'd stick with fish.

A thought suddenly came to me and I looked around the camp. "Where's Cloud?" I asked.

"Wasn't he with Nick?" Howie asked as he worked on a rabbit pelt.

"No…" I hadn't seen him with Nick either. But then again I hadn't really been looking either. I turned and went back into the shelter.

I couldn't see the pup anywhere. Then spotted a shaggy tail sticking out from under the blanket Nick was using. I knew it wasn't Nick's.

I sighed then crawled over to the woodpile that Nick was lying in front of. As I grabbed a log I heard a moan. I quickly looked behind me. Nothing had changed.

I went over to Nick with the log still in my hand. His eyes were still closed.

"Nick?" I asked in a whisper. "Common…please answer me…"

He moaned again.

"At least we know you're alive." I sighed and through it on the fire. "But for how long?"