The water they had didn't last long. 

Naturally, everybody wanted some. William, Marisa, Sparna and Liam brought back as much as they could using some baskets that Lany, Nico, and some others made. They weren't the best, but they could carry water, and that's what mattered. 

After the four came back to the cave, others were forced to be chosen to go. They still needed enough people to stick around and help with the weapons and the injured, and they weren't going to rely on the weaker to deliver or risk sending too many people out at once in case something actually did happen. Lanier was chosen-for he apparently saved Quinn and killed the monster-along with Zeke and Orion, whom were some of the physically strongest. Then, there was Naya, someone who volunteered because of pure boredom.  

None of them had even seen a monster.

"Okay; Jayed, Hedi, Eira, and Dylan. You're up," Marisa said after the other four came back, handing each of them a basket.

Jayed's eyes went wide in panic. "Wait, what? Why me?" He was tempted to throw his basket across the cave, but he knew that would be too wasteful.

"You four are the only ones that haven't gone. It's your turn."

"Well, what about Talon and Nico? They haven't gone either!"

"Nico's the youngest here and Talon can't walk," Naya said. Jayed could see Nico's annoyed face in the corner of his eye, Sparna calming him down before he said anything. "Honestly, Jayed, would you send a cripple out in the wild? Even I don't swoop that low." He didn't mention the fact that he still had a slight limp.

"Of course not!" And it was true. He was just terrified. It made him feel like a jerk, but he didn't want to die. Sweat started to cover his hands. "Well, I have to take care of Quinn! He's sick!"

Quinn shook his head. "No, I'm not!" He said, holding back a cough. It made his face turn even paler.

"Stop denying it, Quinn, we all know it," William said, shaking his head.

"Jayed," Hedi started, turning him towards him. "we'll be fine. Everyone else came back unharmed, right? That means that there probably won't be monsters in the area."

He wanted to believe Hedi. He really, really did. But he knew he wouldn't be able to get out if it anyways, not without getting disapproval from everyone in the group. "Fine. I'll do it." Hedi smiled, grabbing Jayed on both of his shoulders and shaking him in approval. Jayed blushed, wiping the sweat on his palms off on his shirt. It still didn't help.

"Now we just need someone to look after Quinn," Hedi said.

It didn't take long for someone to volunteer. In fact, nobody else even got a chance to speak before he did. "Uh, I'll do it," A voice near the back of the cave said. Jayed's head turned to the source, surprised when he found out who made it.

"Lany? You'll really look after Quinn?" Hedi asked. Lany shrugged.

"I mean, yeah. Why not?"

"I just didn't think that..." Hedi trailed off, but before he could continued Lany interrupted him.

"That I, Lanier NightWill, the one who lost all of his poor memories, would be the one to step up? It's just making sure he doesn't die in his sleep, how hard could it be?" Quinn smiled a bit, and Jayed saw Lany smile a little bit as well, but it quickly faded.

"Well, that's not exactly what I meant-"

"Doesn't matter. I'm bored, and I'm doing it." He walked towards where Quinn was sitting and sat down, leaning against the wall. Lany looked straight forward, ignoring Quinn's glances his way.

Jayed took a deep breath, slowly exhaling. He could do this. Right? It wasn't that big of a deal, everybody else came back safe. 

But who's to say he won't be the first to not come back at all?

Eira walked toward Jayed, giving him a side hug. Jayed could tell that she was really nervous as well. 

"Come on, slowpokes," Dylan said, not fooling anyone with his fake enthusiasm. Jayed took one last look at Quinn before stepping out of the shelter, who gave him a nervous smile, but Jayed just couldn't manage to make one himself, and left, Quinn's face staying in his head. That might have been the last time he would ever see him.

***

"This is so boring. We haven't even found any water yet. Is this even the right way?"

"Okay, then where should we go, smart-ass? Or is your brain too preoccupied with all of your complaining?"

Dylan scoffed. "What a dick," He muttered.

The four had been walking around for about an hour in the direction they were pretty sure was the stream, but they had had no luck finding it. 

"Honestly, I would be totally fine with splitting up and looking for it. Not like I care about any of you weaklings."

Hedi's face went red. "Say that one more time. I dare you."

Dylan didn't even hesitate. "It's not like I care about any of you weaklings."

Before Hedi could finish bunching up his fist of three fingers, Jayed stepped between the two. "We can't fight, guys, we have to be a team."

"Screw being a team," Hedi said.

"Do you want to die?" Eira joined Jayed, grabbing Hedi while Jayed grabbed Dylan.

Hedi paused. Dylan didn't answer. Dylan pushed Jayed off of him, brushing his clothes as if Jayed got dirt on them, which the clothes were already full of. Hedi whispered, "You can let me go, now," to Eira, and she did, since there really was no real anger in his voice.

The four of them started to walk again, and Jayed looked down at his feet, thinking to himself. If he was going to die, he at least wanted to know Hedi a little better. He had liked him since the eighth grade, and he still didn't know that much about him. Sure, he knew some things about him, like how amazing his smile was and how lively his personality was, but he didn't know much about his past.

Then he remembered how Hedi reacted when Jayed asked to know more about him. Not well.

But he needed to try. Maybe Hedi would tell him when there are just two people? Maybe he would trust Jayed.

Heart pounding, Jayed inched closer to Hedi, who was looking at his hand that lost two fingers. He prepared what he was going to say in his head a million times, and finally he tapped him on the shoulder.

"H-Hey," He started. Shoot. He already stuttered.

"Hi," Hedi said in a voice that didn't sound very happy. Jayed bit his lip.

"S-So, I-"

But Hedi shushed him. Confused, he looked around, and Dylan and Eira were quiet, too. Then, he heard it. The growl in the distance.

"Tree," Hedi whispered. When nobody listened, he repeated, "Tree!" It took a moment for Jayed to realize what he meant, but when Eira and Dylan started climbing their trees, trying to keep holding their baskets as they climbed, and Hedi grabbed his hand and pulled him towards one of the trees, he understood. He had never been that good at climbing trees, but he tried his best to forget that fact. Hedi was already almost at the top, while Jayed was only halfway. 

Hedi pulled himself to a high branch, biting his lip as he watched Jayed. "Come on!" He whispered. 

"I'm trying!" Jayed whispered back. Sweat pooled on his forehead, his hands aching. As he reached for a branch, his hand slipped, and he yelped, holding on to the branch his other hand was holding with all of his might. He gave Hedi his basket, now able to use both of his hands much more efficiently. He got up a few more inches, but as he was about to reach the top, his knee buckled, his foot slipping from the sturdy part of the tree it was using to get up.

"Hedi!" He whispered, reaching out his hand for him to take.  Hedi bent down, trying to get a grip, and finally his fingers found Jayed's, and he pulled him up.

Jayed swung his leg over one of the larger tree branches, quickly grabbing onto it for his life. He tried to keep his panting quiet, but it was extremely difficult. Hedi tried his best to blend in with the branches and leaves, holding his breath.

The sound of branches cracking and leaves rustling arose from beneath them, and Jayed forced his eyes shut, knowing that wouldn't actually do anything besides settle his nerves a little more. His legs and hands very shaking like crazy and he wished nothing more than for them to just stay still.

It was right under them, probably sniffing them out at that very moment. They were going to die, it was official. 

Jayed's opened his eyes just enough to see Hedi tried to hold back his heavy breathing, tears running down his face and down his neck, and Jayed prayed that they didn't drip down to the ground and give away their spot. After a few seconds, Jayed felt tears of his own, and he wanted to grab Hedi and hold him and squeeze him when he got scared. He needed someone to comfort him in the last few minutes-or possibly even less than that-of his life. 

But after a few minutes, he was still alive. He opened his eyes all the way and looked down, careful not to move any leaves as he peaked through them, and when he saw he was too petrified and scared to even scream. It was a monster alright, but it wasn't the same one as before. This one had two heads, one of them with teeth that almost looked black but each of them were bigger than its already huge eyes and were sharper than a steel blade, and the other head had claws and spikes all over it so sharp that just looking at it made his eyes hurt.

This monster could probably kill Jayed in ten different ways in less than a minute.

After four minutes of the monster being out of sight, Jayed let out his first real breath. Hedi's eyes were still nailed shut, tears drying up on his face and some new ones glazing his face. Jayed whispered, "Hedi," but he didn't respond, his hands shaking. Jayed didn't know that Hedi could be so terrified. He always that he was the scaredy cat, doing whatever was the safest, and that Hedi was popular and brave and confident. Guess everyone had layers.

Jayed repeated his name, this time leaning over and grabbing his hand. Hedi's eyes popped open, gasping as Jayed's fingers touched his skin. "Didn't you hear me?"

Hedi shook his head, mouth still open, deep breaths coming in and out of his lungs. "It's gone, Hedi. But, i-it's not the same monster." Jayed's voice shook as he said that. "I-It had two heads this time."

Hedi's hand shook, fresh tears filling up in his eyes. Jayed did his best to stabilize it, no matter how hard his heart was beating in. "You mean... t-t-there are more?" 

Jayed nodded. "I-I think so."

Hedi's eyes went even wider, something Jayed didn't know was even possible, and he felt himself being faint, his head spinning. No, he couldn't pass out in the tree. He could fall and break his neck and shatter every bone in his body and die a horrible death as the monsters came to feast on him.

As Jayed clutched his head, trying to remain calm and take slow, deep breaths, Hedi moved over to his side of the tree, wrapping his arm around him. Jayed, too caught up in his own thoughts to be embarrassed or surprised, leaned into him, burying his face in his chest. He felt tears of fear come out of his eyes, and tried to make them stop so that Hedi wouldn't pull away, but the boy didn't care, letting out a few sobs of his own.

The two of them sobbed in the tree until someone interrupted them. Quite unnecessarily painfully, to be honest. The torn-up shoe barely missed Hedi's face, catching both of their attention. They looked down at the ground to see Dylan standing below them, Eira just reaching the ground. It wasn't until they saw Dylan that the two noticed that they were holding hands. Hedi and Jayed quickly let go of each other, wiping tears from their eyes.

"Come on, dickheads," He said in a volume that was just loud enough for them to hear but not too loud that anyone-or anything- else would overhear. "Nothing's here anymore!"

"We're coming," Hedi said, annoyed. As he started to climb down, basket in hand, he added, "You know, you didn't have to throw that at us."

"I know," He said, smirking. He quickly ran around to the other side of the tree and got his shoe. "But it's quite difficult to get a loving couple's attention in a time of deep affection."

Jayed felt his face start to burn red, and he knew everyone else could see it too. He couldn't tell if Dylan was teasing him or if he was serious. Either way, he tried his best not to look at Hedi. "W-We're not-"

"Save it, small ass. Now come on."

"We're the same height-"

"Come on!"

Jared did what he was told, scared of what would happen if he didn't. Once he hit the ground, he looked at Eira, who was smirking at him. "Shut up," He said, then realized how rude that was to Eira. He quickly added, "I-I didn't mean..."

But she brushed it off, using her hands to make sure he got that. Then he formed a little smile, looking at his shoes instead of anybody else.

Then, he remembered what he had been crying about. He needed to tell them.

But not yet. It was too soon, they were probably still partially in shock. He would tell everyone at once. Unless, of course, Hedi told them first, which was highly unlikely, considering how sensitive he was about the subject.

Jayed was very nervous walking down there, exposed to any of the dangerous creatures on the island, including possible students that have gone wild and started killing each other for food and carrying a pig's head on a stick. Dylan looked confident, but Jayed could tell that he wasn't actually feeling that way and just putting on a masquerade brave face for them. Wait, no, not for them. For him. Yeah, for him. The one person that matters to him.

Jayed looked over at Eira, who was shaking even worse than he was back in the tree. A few tears fell down her face, which she tried to quickly wipe away. Jayed couldn't stand to look at her like that. He moved over to her and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through his, and when she looked a him, he smiled and squeezed it.

Eira gave Jayed a sad smile, covering their joined hands with her other hand. Her shaking didn't lessen, but he knew she appreciated it and at least didn't feel alone. And neither did he.