The Price of Friendship Chapter 5
Chris was beginning to grow frustrated with each minute that slowly passed. He felt caught in the middle of a situation that had no easy way out. Here he was, holding onto one of his injured friends while the others were wandering about, possibly lost, through the forest behind him.
�I hate being me right now,� he said aloud as he carefully shifted his weight against the tree that he was leaning on in the vain attempt of finding a more comfortable position as he wrapped his arms around Joey�s chest and held him close to his body. His movements elicited a slight moan from Joey and a twitching of his arms, which lay limply on top of Chris�s thighs.
�Joey? Joey?� Chris ran a hand through his friend�s hair, trying to awaken the young man, but apparently, this groan had been just like the others that he had periodically heard for the last hour or more�all false alarms�false hopes. Chris looked down at his friend�s face and touched the black, blue bruise that was a stark in contrast from Joey�s pale features.
�Looks a little better than it did yesterday when we first woke up,� he murmured quietly. �You and Josh really gave us a scare when you hit the deck of the boat�had that actually been two days ago?� he asked himself in disbelief as he stared at the ocean in front of him. He remained quiet, lost in his own thoughts for several minutes before another slight groan from Joey brought him back to the present.
�Come on Joey�you really need to wake up right about now�I�m getting pretty worried about you�� Chris said meaningfully gently ran his hands over Joey�s features but there was no response from the young man nestled against him.
"I really hate being me right now.�
With a groan, Chris laid his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. He tightened his grip around Joey�s chest as he allowed his mind to return to the previous morning when he had first awakened on the beach.
The first thing that Chris noticed when he came to on the beach was the silence. No storm�no wind�no�screams�from the crew�no�cries from�the guys.
The guys! Chris�s eyes immediately opened to see blue skies above him. He turned his head to the right and saw nothing but sand stretching endlessly�no guys. Frantically, he turned his head to the left and saw his friends.
�Thank you,� he whispered in relief.
Chris then brought himself up to his elbows so that he was half reclining on the sand. To his left, Chris saw that Lance was lying within a foot or two on his right side, awkwardly, facing him. He had scrapes along his arms and there was a small cut along his jaw line. Lance�s legs were sporting several bruises, which was really no surprise to Chris since Lance did seem to bruise so easily most of the time. Chris watched Lance carefully and saw that his breathing seemed deep and even�not labored.
Chris let out the breath that he had been holding before sitting up further to see that Joey was lying on his stomach about 5 feet just beyond Lance. Chris winced at the large bruise that had spread across Joey�s forehead from his striking the decking of the boat. He gazed carefully at Joey and saw that his back was rising and falling evenly with each deep breath he took.
Chris then allowed his gaze to go up and down Joey�s still body, noting that his arms and legs were also covered in abrasions, but other than that, he seemed to be okay.
Next to Joey, lay JC, but Chris was not able to see how well he was doing since the young man was lying so far away. He could see that there were several cuts and abrasions on what he could see of JC�s legs and his feet were bare, but other than that, he would have to wait until he was able to actually get up and go over to JC.
Finally, Chris brought his gaze to Justin. He sat up as straight as possible and what he saw made his head begin to swim�blood was covering half of the young man�s face. Fear shot through Chris as he began to frantically fumble with the rope tying him to the others, but as his movements became more urgent, a tunnel formed at the end of his vision.
�No�stay awake�stay�awake�st�� Chris felt the darkness rushing up to meet him and he fell back helplessly against the sand. No sounds�no voices�just silence was heard.
Chris was brought out of his thoughts in an instant when Joey suddenly let out another low groan and moved his head slightly against Chris�s chest, giving the older man hope that he would soon be waking up.
�Joey? Joey? Come on man�I�m getting pretty scared here.� Chris gently rubbed Joey�s face, but found that once again, he was not going to be waking anytime soon.
�I feel so helpless,� Chris said, his voice reflecting his words. He let out a sigh and once again allowed his mind to return to his previous thoughts.
With those memories replaying in his mind, Chris fell into a fitful sleep as he waited for Joey to awaken and for Justin, JC and Lance to return.
Meanwhile, unknown to Chris, Davis and Marco, helpers of the Johnson�s, had been quietly watching him caring for Joey from the shadows of forest further down the beach. They had earlier taken great pains to ensure that the curly haired young man would be spending more time in the forest than he had anticipated and now they were waiting for the other blond and thin, dark haired young man to show up. Mr. Johnson had been accurate so far in anticipating every move of the group of young men, save the collapsing of the largest of the 3 dark haired ones. Now, they just needed to wait patiently for the right opportunity in order to put the rest of Mr. Johnson�s plan into place.
Some time later, Lance and JC slowly returned to the beach. JC had his right arm wrapped around Lance�s waist, supporting his weight and speaking words of encouragement to the young man.
�Almost there Lance�I see Chris� head on the other side of that pile of brush,� JC said, his voice strained with exertion as he pointed in Chris�s direction, about 100 yards away. Lance merely nodded his head, swallowing a groan of pain as he continued to hold his right arm tightly against his side while JC supported most of his weight.
He and JC had been excited about their find of fresh water about a half mile from the beach, but their enthusiasm had been dampened when Lance had been forced to reveal his injuries to JC. The aftermath of that incident had not been pretty and Lance was fairly sure that JC would never let him forget what had happened�ever.
After several more minutes of strenuous effort, JC and Lance finally made their way around the brush pile and what they saw alarmed the pair.
�Chris�what happened to Joey?� asked JC as he carefully helped a pale and shaking Lance sit down on the sand at Joey�s feet.
�What?� was Chris� tired reply since he didn�t even bother to open his eyes until he felt himself being shaken by a frightened JC.
�What�Joey?� Chris asked in confusion as JC�s shakes caused him to jerk awake from his light sleep. Chris opened his eyes and found himself to be looking up at JC�s face, not a foot away from his own.
�Chris�what happened?� JC asked, his face and voice etched in concern. He then brought his hand down from Chris� shoulder and reached down to Joey�s face, before standing back up.
�Are you okay Chris?� Lance called out quietly from his prone position on the sand.
Chris struggled to shift his position slightly as he began speaking.
�Man, I am so glad that Justin finally found you two.� Chris� relief was quite evident in his voice, but that was short lived when he saw Lances� very pale appearance and his pained expression.
�What happened Lance?� Chris asked.
�Wait�we asked first,� said JC in near frustration.
�Huh?� Chris looked up from Lance to JC.
�What�happened�to�Joey?� JC�s voice became louder with each word he said as his frustration grew.
�Man, JC. You didn�t have to yell,� Chris winced and rubbed his right ear. �Joey passed out about 2 hours ago.�
�Two hours ago�that�s not good is it Chris?� JC sank to his knees in the sand then gently reached over and grasped Joey�s chin with his hand to turn it in his direction. He looked over his friend�s lax features then brought his gaze up to Chris� face, seeing discomfort written across his features.
�Here, let me help you lay him down on the sand,� JC said in an apologetic tone of voice.
�You look like you need to get more comfortable.�
JC grasped Joey�s shoulders and pulled him forward as Chris supported Joey�s head.
�Thanks,� murmured Chris as he slipped out from under Joey�s limp form while JC continued to hold Joey up in a slumped, seated position. Once Chris was clear of Joey�s form, the pair then slowly lowered Joey back down onto the sand.
�Where�s Justin,� asked Chris, who then stood up and attempted to stretch the kinks out of his back before walking over to Lance�s side and kneeling down.
�We didn�t see him,� Lance answered as he moved trying to find himself a slightly more comfortable position in the sand.
�Did you send him out to look for us or something, Chris?�
�Yeah, I did, Lance�about 2 hours ago.�
Chris ran a hand through his hair then stood back up�his face was etched with worry, as he looked both left and right down the long, empty beach�no Justin.
�Don�t worry about Justin, Chris,� Lance said quietly, trying to sound confident as he watched Chris, but the older man�s worry was beginning to rub off on him.
�Yeah, Chris,� JC said from his position by Joey. �We�ll give him a little more time. I mean�we walked around for about 4 hours�hey�we found water by the way.�
�Yeah, that�s good news,� Chris admitted before questioning Lance.
�What happened to you? Side bothering you?� Chris looked down at Lance to see the blonde looking in JC�s direction. He then glanced over at JC and saw his face had darkened somewhat.
�Wanna tell me what happened?� Chris asked, knowing that there had to be a story behind the look that JC was sporting.
�Better sit down,� said JC as he lowered himself from his knees to sit on the sand as he remained at Joey�s side.
�That bad?� Chris raised his eyebrows and sat down as JC began telling him a little about that part of their trip through the forest.
�How are you doing?� JC looked over his shoulder at Lance, who was walking slowly behind him. They had been searching for fresh water for more than an hour now and had not had any success yet.
�Pretty good. Do you think we could take a break?� Lance stopped walking and leaned heavily against a nearby boulder. The pain in his right side had been gradually intensifying to the point that he was wondering if he would even be able to make it back to the beach once their search for water was over. He knew that he should tell JC, but just didn�t feel up to the lecture that was sure to follow his revelation.
�Yeah, you look beat�want some water?� JC made his way back over to Lance�s side to offer him the bottle of water when his foot accidentally caught on some undergrowth, causing him to stumble. Lance�s first instinct was to reach out to steady JC and prevent his fall, but his muscles and side screamed in protest to the sudden movement. JC�s arms flew out in front of him in an effort to stop his fall and unfortunately, for Lance, JC�s hands made a grab for his side. The next few minutes were just a hazy blur for Lance. He could remember screaming in pain as JC crashed into his right side then, instantly seeing the edges of his vision begin to gray as the pain intensified in strength. He could barely recall JC quickly releasing his hold on his side to land heavily on his knees. JC must have recovered quickly from his fall because some of his last waking memories was of JC standing over him asking, �Lance�what did I do? What hurts Lance, what hurts?� Then Lance felt JC putting his arms around his shoulders and pulling down to sit on the ground. Lance remembered whimpering something about his side as another jolt of pain hit him. Then, the tunneling of his vision became even stronger and JC�s voice seemed to be coming from far away until he heard it no more.
�I�ll be honest with you Chris, I have never been so mad and so scared in my entire life.� JC made it a point to be looking directly at Lance with that comment and was rewarded with the young man giving him a look of shame.
�How many times do I need to tell you I�m sorry?� Lance practically whined as he rolled his eyes and raised his hands in frustration. He had apologized over and over again after awakening from his brief period of unconsciousness to see JC with tears of fright streaming down his face.
�I�ll let you know later.� JC got up and walked over to Lance�s side then bent over and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He wasn�t one to hold grudges against his brothers and starting now certainly wouldn�t help their situation.
�Well, back to Justin�and Joey�what do you think we need to do?� Chris asked as he once again heard Joey stir. He didn�t become overly excited with the sounds movement, thinking that it was just another false alarm. JC and Lance, on the other hand, quickly scrambled over to their friend�s side.
�It�s just another false alarm guys�he�s been doing the same thing for the last 2 hours,� Chris said, slightly irritated with Joey and the whole situation as he kicked at the sand under his feet before continuing his search for any sign of Justin.
�Chris�Chris�look at�� JC looked up, trying to gain the older man�s attention and saw him shielding his eyes, once again looking up and down the beach.
In exasperation JC stood up and yelled, �Chris!� before grabbing at his arm and pulling him down to the sand beside him.
�What?� Chris said in an irritated tone as he pulled his arm from JC�s grasp only to see JC and Lance grinning widely and pointing at a now awake, but confused looking Joey.
�Joey!� Chris launched himself at the young man who smiled weakly at his friends.
Now, their only worry was Justin.