Survive

Nine

Curse words among grumbling and splashes is what woke the sleeping Michael. With a loud groan he rolled over onto his side only to remember where they were. He sat up quickly and looked around seeing only Luke staring at him.

"What's that racket and where are the other two?"

Luke was haunched over poking the burning fire with a weak stick, it snapped the second it came into contact. Luke frowned and dropped heavily down next to Michael.

"That sound you hear is Calum thinking and acting like a caveman, and Ashton went to explore around the lake.."

Michael stood, dusting off his hands and pants. "Oh.. It's getting pretty dark.. Shouldn't they be coming back??"

"God damnit! If a stupid monkey can do it, so can I!" Calum Shouted before he jumped at the water again, splashing loudly while jabbing the spear into the water repeatedly.

"The hell you talking about?" Ashton asked as he made his way back toward Calum after exploring the banks of the water.

"I've seen it on the discovery channel. Those orange monkeys using spears to catch fish. So why can't I?! HA!" Calum jabbed the spear at a moving shadow, missing.

"Oh. You mean orangutans?" Ashton rubbed his chin as he watched the soaking wet Calum fail at catching their last hope for food.

"Don't think you're going to catch something.. "

Calum rolled his eyes and walked toward Ashton, barely being able to see him because of the darkness that was creeping in.

"Come on let's get back to the fire.." Ashton spoke as he already started walking away.

When Calum reached the warm fire he was shivering, "did it suddenly get cold for you guys too?" He asked as he dropped his make-shift spear next to the Blanket that Luke was sitting on.

Luke hugged his knees close to his body again and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah.. We aren't even wet like you but it did get colder.." Ashton mumbled as he threw more wood onto the fire.

Calum was wrapping one of the extra blankets around his wet body when he noticed Michael wasn't where he left him.

"Mike? Where's Mikey?" He asked as he sat next to the fire , trying to warm up.

"Had to pee. Before you ask, I did offer to go with him but he said he was a big enough man to go alone." Luke answered while watching Ashton who was laying out one more blanket for them to lay on.

Michael was grumbling as he paused at a tree. He looked it up and down then glanced back to see if he was far enough away from the camp, he could see the glow of the fire lighting up Luke, Ashton, and Calum who sat near it.

They seemed to be in a peaceful bubble of golden light, the fire casting dancing shadows behind them. The darkness made a creepy cloudiness on everything the bubble didn't touch, which gave Michael the chills but he had to pee.

Michael had what people called a 'Shy Bladder', he needed to be alone to be able to pee. So when he found this inviting tree not too far away he was happy.

With a happy sigh Michael was finally able to relieve himself. The only sound was that of his pee hitting the tree, but that didn't last long. A new sound came from the bushes near him.

The bushes ratted a little, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. It was a small enough bush, so it couldn't be such a large dangerous animal, right? After tucking himself back into his pants and zipping it closed Michael glared at the bush.

He stomped toward it and went to kick it till he heard what he thought was heavy breathing coming from right behind him. Michael felt his body go stiff from fear, his heart feeling like it was going to pound right out of his chest.

"Hu-hullo?" He quietly asked.

The only response was that of warm air tickling across the back of his skin.

"Fuck this shit!"

Michael spun around and nearly ran back to the others. They stared up at him in surprise, it was different to see Michael rushing toward then.

"The dark.. Is .. Really dark.."

With a small blush michael sat between Calum and Ashton, he didn't want to tell the others he could have sworn he wasn't alone out there. He must have been imagining things. Right?