"Are you fucking insane?!"

Dylan stood up from where he was sitting and ran right up to Sparna, a shocked and confused look spread across his face. "Do you even remember why we're here in the first place? Me, Eira, Jayed and Hedi almost got killed earlier by one of those fucking monsters outside!"

"We're going to die in here if we don't leave!" Sparna screamed back. "Don't you realize that we're killing any chances of us being rescued or even finding more food and supplies by staying cramped up in a cave? Quinn died because you didn't have any medicine, right? Maybe if your coward ass took one step into the actual outside world you would have been able to save him!"

"Don't talk about Quinn like that!" Jayed yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking as he did. 

"We did all we could, Sparna!" Hedi defended. "He died because he got sick, not because we killed him or let him die!"

"Everybody just SHUT UP!" Marisa shouted, and everybody became silent and just looked at her. She did her best to calm down quickly. "Sparna's right about leaving, and Hedi's right about Quinn, okay? Now can we please actually get something done?"

Sparna looked at Jayed and Hedi, a guilty look on her face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"It's okay, Sparna. I understand," said Hedi. Neither of them smiled, but they did nod at each other. Jayed bit his lip, giving a little tip of the head in acknowledgment. 

Now was the hard part; actually leaving the cave.

Everyone in the group had gotten so used to the place, the thought of abandoning it spooked them. Especially Ty, Nico, and Talon, who hadn't left once since they got there. Of course, they could still use it if they needed to later, but what were the odds that they could all still be alive by the time they needed it again?

Slim, that's what they were.

"Alright," Zeke started. "are you guys ready?"

Everybody looked at each other. They weren't ready, but that didn't matter. They were going anyways.

Zeke, Orion, Marisa and Naya all took their places by the rock, shoving it out of the way with all of the force they could conjure up. After the constant workout of their arm muscles when opening up the "door" to the cave, they had been growing a little stronger, able to know about how hard they needed to push to get it open, which is why it only took half as long as it did the first time to get it open. Even without William.

Nervously, the four slipped through first, followed by Sparna, Lany and Nico. Everyone else slid through until all of the group was out, and they filed around Sparna, Talon in Orion's arms.

"So..." Naya started. "What now, exactly?"

"We start walking," said Sparna.

"Where?" asked Lany.

"Either along the river or by the beach," She answered, then started seemingly talking to herself. "The beach would be better for getting spotted by planes, but that also means it would be easier for the monsters to get us. The water would mean we get a good supply of it, and will never have to leave the group to get it."

"Well, then," Naya started. "Next to the water it is."

Everybody silently agreed, and with Sparna leading at the front, they went on their way.

Hedi and Lany stayed near the back of the group, and once they had been walking for a while, Lany started quietly asking questions. "Who's in my family, again?"

"Your sister and your aunt. You loved both of them so much," Hedi answered. He knew Lany and his family quite well from how much he mentioned them.

"And my parents?"

"T-They died when you were ten."

Lany's face saddened. "Were we close? Me and my parents?"

"Not really."

Lany's face saddened even more. "Oh," was all he said. Hedi placed his hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, you got me, Lany. And your sister and your aunt."

"Not for long."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you realize how slim our chance of getting rescued is?"

"That doesn't mean-"

"I'll never meet my family, Hedi. If I hadn't lost my memories, at the very least I might have been able to remember and treasure the times we had together before I..." He trailed off, sniffing.

Hedi stopped walking, turning Lany to face him. He put both of his hands on his shoulders.

"You're not going to die, Lany," He said. "And your family... you'll see them again. And who knows? Maybe something will trigger your memory again."

Lany pursed his lips, fighting back tears as he shook his head. "They're gone, Hedi," He said quietly, suddenly bursting into tears. "They're gone!"

Hedi pulled his friend closer to him, allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder. After a few seconds, Lany wrapped his arms around Hedi's torso, letting himself cry until he felt better. Hedi stroked his hair, constantly reassuring him to let it all out.

They stood like that for only a few minutes before they realized that the group was gone.

"Oh no," Hedi breathed. Lany let go, turning around to face where the group was. It was far to dark to see anything really, so without even thinking, Hedi started running, Lany right behind him.

However, the group was not the only thing Hedi didn't see.

Right before faint images of people came into view, Hedi felt the sharp pain of something stabbing him in the shoulder, and was so distracted by that that his feet tripped over each other, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Quickly, Lany shouted out their names, and a few people came running towards the two boys. Hedi was still on the ground, wincing and clutching his shoulder in pain.

"Hedi, are you okay?" Zeke asked quickly, grabbing his hand opposite to his hurt shoulder and pulling him up.

Hedi nodded. "Yeah, of course," He answered. However, he still had trouble getting up. He clutched his arm, slowly rotating his shoulder. Jayed looked at it, and noticed the red staining the fabric on his shirt. Zeke seemingly noticed it too, lifting up his sleeve to look at it. 

"Holy shit!" Lany exclaimed. It was worse than he was expecting.

"I'm fine, really," Hedi lied. He pulled his sleeve back down.

"Dude, anyone with eyes can see that you're lying," Zeke said, letting out a sigh. He brought it to the attention of the rest of the group, and while Sparna didn't acknowledge it out loud, she did stop everyone and turned around to face them.

"Okay, first we need to make a signal fire. The more smoke the better," Sparna ordered.

Jayed bit his fingernails. "But the monsters-"

"I don't care about any goddamn monsters right now!" Sparna screamed. She took a breath, then continued. "Our only hope of getting rescued is a fire. Sure, people are probably looking for us now, but who knows? When they find us, we could all be dead. Wait, no. If they find us. We can't take any chances of a boat or a plane or a helicopter coming towards our island and missing us."

"We can set the fire far away from where we are," Marisa elaborated. "We can set up a bunch away from us. And whenever one dies, we can tend to it." 

Sparna continued giving instructions. "Jayed can help Hedi with his wound, and Orion can help Talon to walk again, or at least try. Those are the only people staying behind. It doesn't matter, anyways; no one's safe, no matter where they are." Nico frowned at his sister's negative outlook. If she was going to be a leader, that was not the way to approach it.

"We will split into three groups after that; one group will create the fires around the area-we'll need the fastest runners for that-one will cook the bird, and one will continue looking for more food sources. There has to be more."

"But we can't split up!" Jayed argued.

"We have to!" Marisa said. "If we don't, we won't get anything done! We'll meet back here at sunrise, alright?"

Reluctantly, everyone agreed. Ty raised their hand. "I-I'm fast. I'll make the fires."

"I'll come too," Nico offered. "I'm pretty quick."

While Sparna would have preferred to go with his younger brother, she had to face the facts. She could not run anymore, not after how much she did earlier.

And so, the groups split up. Naya joined Ty and Nico in creating smoke fires, since she was the only one who knew how to do it. Plus, she was rather fast. Lany, Dylan and Zeke-they weren't exactly fast, but could still walk long distance-took the job of looking for food, and Marisa, Sparna and Eira made the meal. Dylan didn't fail to give the group his usual sarcastic comment about how stupid they all were before going, either.

Once everyone went their separate ways, Talon turned to Orion. "You feelin' any better?" She asked. He shrugged. She put her hand on his shoulder. "You'll find someone. I promise. And for now, you have me. Okay?"

He put his hand on top of hers, trying his best to give her a small smile. "Now," She started, changing the subject. "let's get walking!"

***

The two boys sat in a part of the wood that was vacant, only the sound of trees in the wind filling their ears. Talon and Orion were walking a little ways away, which left the two alone. Jayed touched Hedi's shoulder with the piece of sleeve, staying silent. Hedi occasionally winced, but stopped a moment after he did. Jayed tried to focus all of his attention on cleaning Hedi's wound, but his mind seemed to be going other places. Hedi and him had been that close since they had climbed that tree-

Stop it, Jayed. Focus. He's in pain, just help him.

"Does this hurt at all?" Jayed asked finally. Hedi shook his head, even though he continued to wince as Jayed touched his shoulder with his cloth.

"I-I never asked you how you were," Hedi said suddenly.

Jayed made eye contact with him, keeping his arm raised above Hedi's skin. "What do you mean?"

"After Quinn. I meant to see if you were okay, but I guess I never did."

"Oh." Jayed gulped, putting his arm down. His stomach filled up with pain, remembering what had happened no more than four hours earlier. "I-I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Hedi moved uncomfortably, then flinched and looked at Jayed. "Could you..."

Jayed nodded. "Yeah, sorry." Jayed lifted his hand back up and dabbed his cut again. Hedi bit his lip as the two boys sat in silence.

"Hedi?" He nodded. "How come you don't like talking about yourself?"

Hedi raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"You hate talking about your feelings. Actually, anything about yourself. And I don't see why. You're basically perfect. Popular, cool, good-looking..." Did he seriously just say that?

Hedi looked at him, confused. He didn't seem to notice the last part. "Me? Perfect?"

"Yeah, of course."

"I am nowhere near perfect. Look, I don't talk about myself because..." Hedi paused, sighing. Jayed took his hand down from his shoulder. "I'm scared, Jayed. All the time. What people think of me and how I act, it's all pretty terrifying. God, even admitting that was difficult."

Jayed looked at Hedi, trying to hide how surprised he was. He always viewed Hedi as some sort of god, a perfect human being. And he knew he wasn't just blinded by his crush. Lots of others thought the same.

But now that Hedi admitted that to him, Jayed realized that he was just another human being. Flawed and everything.

"I think you should just be yourself and not care what anyone else thinks," Jayed said. Hedi stared at him deeply.

"You really think so?" Jayed nodded.

At that point, Hedi could take no more. He grabbed Jayed's hand that had the cloth in it, and before Jayed could process what was going on, Hedi kissed him.

Jayed was paralyzed for a few seconds, then when he understood what was going on, he dropped the cloth on the ground and laced Hedi's fingers through his own, using his other hand to cup Hedi's face and kiss back.

Knots twisted and untwisted in Jayed's stomach, but every time Hedi's lips touched Jayed's again, they settled down. Everything felt so right, from how Hedi's hand fit perfectly into Jayed's to how coordinated they seemed to be with their kissing, as if they had already planned it or had the same mind.

Jayed released, and looked into Hedi's eyes. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you're gay," Hedi said, letting out a deep breath. "I was so scared for a moment when you froze that I just kissed a straight guy."

Jayed, still in shock, was blushing so hard that his cheeks looked more like firetrucks than its normal pale color. "Actually, I'm pan, but it's close enough."

Hedi grinned. "Do you really think I'm good-looking?" He asked.

Jayed looked down at the ground, embarrassed. He smiled a little. "I didn't mean to say that, but yeah. You are."

"Well I think you're adorable."

Jayed squeezed Hedi's hand, and kissed him again, loosely holding Hedi's other hand with his as he did so-the one that was missing fingers. The two kissed until they couldn't kiss anymore, forgetting anything that was troubling them.

All that there was in the world was both of them. And it was perfect.

***

A/N

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

Are you happy that I actually made a happy chapter without tragedy proceeding the happiness?

Gosh I just said "happy" three times, that is not normal...

Oh, and I found something for Jayed