Ant tried to weigh up his options,as he pulled Decs motionless body into his arms.
He could try and get Dec back to the shelter now and to some relative comfort,but he had no idea where they were,how far inland they'd gone,or how long it would take to get back?especially as he would have to carry Dec with only the light of the moon to guide him.
Or he could wait until daylight,when it would be easier to find the way,but how could he help Dec if they stayed where they were?the truth was,he couldn't,but he still decided that was the better option,rather than risking getting lost.
All he could do was remove his T shirt and lay it under Decs head,then snuggle down against him,to keep him warm as the cool night air got increasingly colder.
Ant didn't know if he was doing the right thing,weren't you supposed to keep people with a fever cool anyway?he thought to himself.
But this wasn't cool,this was cold and couldn't be good for someone as obviously sick as Dec.
"What the hell has happened to you Dec?" Ant mumbled to himself,as he wrapped his loving arms around his friend,pulling him in as close as he could manage,mostly to protect Dec from the elements,but also to warm himself up against the bitter night air as it whipped against his bare torso.
He held onto Dec until he eventually nodded off into a restless sleep.
Just a few short hours later,the sound of the dawn chorus,with various birds and unseen small animals,making their own unique sounds,made it clear that it was time to start the day.
Ant groaned as he attempted to pull his dead arm out from underneath Dec.
In the cold light of day,Ant got a proper look at Dec for the first time and he was shocked to see just how awful he looked.
Decs face was deathly pale,although his skin was red and sunburnt,the sun had obviously broke through gaps in the trees where Dec had fallen and burnt the back of his arms,legs and neck to a crisp,although the front of his body was as pale as always,the side of his face that had been turned towards the sky,looked painfully sore.
Ant thought how much he would have teased Dec about getting sunburn if he'd fallen asleep on a sun lounger by a swimming pool,but this was very different,it was probably a blessing in disguise that Dec was unconscious as it looked incredibly painful,but Ant still had to smile despairingly to himself at how ridiculous Dec looked with his two toned skin.
"Brits abroad" he muttered to himself "this ain't Ibiza"
Ant cursed the fact that they had run out of suncream,Dec was really going to suffer with that sunburn...if he ever came round.
Ant decided to give Dec a quick once over to see if he could find any clues as to what was wrong,sadly Dec was covered in bug bites,with red,angry spots erupting all over his body,he always said he had sweet blood and those pesky little insects were always drawn to him.
"Poor guy" Ant sighed,as he scanned his eyes over the bites,hoping to himself that they really were from harmless insects and not from something more sinister like a poisonous spider or snake.
Then Ant had a thought.
A thought that shocked him to the very core and made his not very religious self pray that he was wrong.
He and Dec had had a fist fight,what if one of the punches he'd thrown at Dec had done some damage...like REAL damage...and caused internal bleeding?
Ant knew this kind of thing was rare,but it did happen,he'd heard of it in the news on occasions,some poor guy being killed by one blow to the head or stomach.
