| Chapter 6 Diane jerked awake, the last scene of her dream slowly fading from her mind. She blinked her eyes and looked down, feeling something on her ass. She lifted her head seeing Kevin fast asleep next to her, his hand resting on her ass. Maybe I should've slept with A.J., she thought, carefully removing his hand and sitting up. She looked over seeing A.J. sitting between Brian and Nick looking completely bored. It was still dark out, but the moonlight shown through the tent. He looked over noticing her, "Hey." "Hey, what time is it?" she asked. He shrugged his shoulders, "Not sure, my watch stopped working. I guess I hit it in the crash. It's still early though." "How are they?" she asked, moving to sit with A.J. between the two friends. "Brian just fell asleep not long ago. He's really hurting. And Nick's the same," he informed her. Diane nodded, checking on Brian, then looking at Nick. She gently touched the bruise that covered the entire left side of his forehead, letting her fingers trail down his cheek before looking back up at A.J. He half smiled at her, looking down at his hands, "Diane, I need to apologize to you." She gave him a confused look, "For what?" "Well, for making you feel uncomfortable. I'm sorry I've been staring at you and stuff, it's just that ..... well you are hot, and I've been single for a while now. I guess I was just um overdoing it a bit," he fumbled. Diane smiled, "I can't say I wasn't flattered, but I'm just not interested in you like that. Sorry." A.J. shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well, friends?" he asked, extending his hand to her. She took it, "Friends. I like that." They sat in silence for a moment before a moan caught their attention. They both looked down at Brian, realizing it wasn't him. Diane moved closer to Nick, searching his face, "Nick, can you hear me?" He moaned again, but didn't open his eyes. "Is he waking up?" A.J. asked, anxiously. "I'm not sure," she said, taking Nick's hand and squeezing it. He didn't respond. They both watched him for several minutes, waiting for something else to happen. After a few minutes A.J. sighed. Diane put her hand on his knee, "It'll probably take him a while to fully wake up. He's been through a lot and it takes a while sometimes to come out of it." A.J. nodded, looking over at his friend, "I hope he wakes up soon." "So do I," Diane said, "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll stay up with them for a while." "You sure?" he asked. She nodded, "Yeah, I'm wide awake, go on." "OK, I think Howie is next when you get tired," he said, getting up and moving over to the bed he shared with Howie. "Alright, goodnight Alex," she said. He smiled at her, settling under the sleeping bag, "Night Diane." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diane stoked the fire, getting it ready so she could cook breakfast. She had woke Howie just after sunrise and left him to watch Brian and Nick while she got breakfast going. She got up, walking into the other tent and looking through the supplies. She smiled finding a packet of dehydrated scrambled eggs with bacon bits in them. "Thank you Larry," she said under her breath as she made her way back to the fire. She had already started brewing a pot of coffee and the air was saturated with its aroma. She sat down, reading the instructions on the food packet. "Morning," Kevin said, coming up behind her. "Morning," she replied, pouring the contents of the package into a pan. "You're up early," he said, sitting down. "Yeah, couldn't sleep," she said, placing the pan on the fire and stirring. "Nightmares?" Kevin asked. She looked up at him and nodded. "I think we're all having them," he said. "How could we go through that and not?" she asked. "True," Kevin said, "Can I help?" "Um yeah, take that pan over there," she said, pointing to a large pot, "And go down to the river. Fill it up with water and bring it back here. I'll boil it after I finish breakfast and that can be our drinking water for today." "OK," he said, getting up and grabbing the pan, heading for the river. In the few minutes it took Kevin to get the water and carry it back, Diane had breakfast done. She was scooping everyone a plate as he sat the pan down next to the fire. "Here," she said, handing him a plate. A.J. came out of the tent, stretching, "What smells so good?" "Breakfast," Diane said, offering him a plate. He walked over taking it, "What the hell is this?" "Don't ask, just eat it," she laughed, quickly eating her own, then filling two plates and heading into the tent. A.J. took a bite, "Huh, tastes like eggs and bacon, but it sure don't look like it." Kevin laughed, finishing his own, "Just be thankful we have it at all." "Oh I am," he said, sitting down and looking back at the tent. Diane was feeding Brian as Howie sat nearby. Kevin followed his gaze, watching her as she took care of their friend. "We got lucky," Kevin said. A.J. looked at him, "How so?" "We're all alive, we have all this stuff, and we have her," he said, still watching Diane. A.J. nodded, "I'll agree to that. If she hadn't taken over yesterday, we mighta ..." Kevin nodded, "I know. I don't think any of us where thinking clearly then. I know I wasn't." A.J. looked at Kevin, "Kev, do you get the feeling she's not just a flight attendant?" "What do you mean?" he asked. "Well, just that she knows so much about all this medical stuff, and she seems at home with the camping too .... but she really wasn't that familiar with the plane," A.J. said. "You noticed that too huh?" Kevin said. A.J. nodded. "Well right now I really don't care. She's the reason we're all still here," Kevin said. "True," A.J. agreed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Brian, just a little more OK?" Diane urged. Brian held his hands over his face, "I can't, it hurts so bad," he cried. Diane sat the plate down, looking over at Howie, "Can you go get a small pan of water and a wash cloth? Also bring in the medicine we had yesterday." Howie nodded, getting up and going to retrieve the items. Diane gently touched Brian's arm, "Brian, look at me." Brian slowly removed his hands, looking at her with tears in his eyes. "The pain is worse isn't it?" she asked. He nodded. "Still in the same place?" she inquired. "Yeah," he said. She reached up and wiped his tears away, as Howie returned with the items she asked for. She took two pills from the bottle and held them out, "Take these." Brian took the pills in a shaky hand and placed them in his mouth. Diane held his head up so he could take a drink. After he had swallowed the pills she lay his head back down, taking the pan and wash cloth from Howie. She wet the cloth, and looked at Brian, "I want you to take a deep breath and close your eyes." Brian did as he was told. Diane began wiping his face with the cloth, trying to soothe him, "Brian, I want you to try and relax. Just start at the tips of your fingers and move up your arms and down your body, relaxing your muscles." She continued to wipe his face and down his neck, visibly noticing as Brian began to relax. "That's good Brian, now let yourself drift to sleep. Just clear your mind and relax," she soothed. Howie watched in amazement as Brian seemed to drift to sleep, his breathing slowing down and his body relaxing even more. Diane continued to whisper to him and cool his skin with the cloth until she was sure he was out, then she stopped. "How did you do that?" Howie whispered. "It's a relaxation technique. I learned it in school, but I never used it until now," she admitted, "Can you stay with them while I take care of these?" she asked, taking the plates and standing up. "Yeah, sure," he answered. "Call me if he wakes up," she said before leaving the tent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The rest of the day went much as it had started out. Diane spent much of the day either cooking or cleaning the pans she used to cook with. Kevin and Howie began working on some sort of signal to use in case a plane flew over. A.J. busied himself gathering fire wood and helping Diane boil their drinking water and put it in the water bottles they had, all the while, each of them taking turns sitting with Brian and Nick. Brian had woken up a few times, each time in excruciating pain. And each time, somehow Diane was able to calm him and get him to go back to sleep. It was late evening and everyone was sitting in the tent. Brian was sleeping. Kevin, A.J. and Howie where watching Diane as she cleaned and re-bandaged Nick's wounds. She had waited to do his forehead last, knowing it was the worst cut and would take longer to clean. She carefully cleaned around each stitch and along the bruise. Nick moved his head away from her, startling her. She gently moved his head back and continued to clean. Again Nick moved his head, moaning in protest. Diane stopped and looked at him, reaching up and barely touching his eyelashes. Nick squinted his eyes in response, again turning his head. "Is he waking up?" Kevin asked, moving closer. "I think he's trying," Diane said, re-wetting the cloth and carefully washing his face. As she moved the cloth over his cheek, Nick leaned into her hand, fighting to open his eyes. Diane cupped his face in her hand, moving her thumb across his cheek. "Nick, open your eyes," she begged. He tried, opening them for a second before they fell shut again. "Nick, come on man, look at us," Kevin urged. Once again Nick opened his eyes, looking at Kevin for a split second before he glanced over at Diane. He stared at her for a moment, then closed his eyes, drifting back into unconsciousness. Kevin sighed, realizing Nick was out again. Diane finished bandaging his forehead, "It's gonna take a while Kev." "I know, I'm just worried. I've never seen him like this, so close to dying and all," Kevin said. Diane moved over next to him, sitting on �their' bed, "I know, it's a scarey thing, but the fact that he's trying to wake up is a good sign." Kevin nodded, "Yeah." Diane looked at the three men, exhaustion written all over their faces. "Why don't you guys get some rest? I'll take the first shift tonight," she offered. "You sure?" Howie asked. "Yeah, you've had a long day too ya know," A.J. said. She smiled at their concern, "I'm sure. I'll wake one of you in a few hours to take over." The three men looked at each other, silently agreeing to let her do as she offered. Diane got up and turned around hugging Kevin, "G-night." "Night," Kevin said, laying down and getting comfortable. She made her way over to Howie and A.J. hugging them both, "Night you two." "Night girl," A.J. said. "Goodnight," Howie said, as both men settled into the bed. Diane moved to sit in between Nick and Brian, placing her pillow behind her. She watched as the guys fell asleep and the moon rose higher in the night sky. She looked at Brian, then at Nick, sighing, Please God, let them find us soon..... Chapter 7 |