By The Campfire

2

"get up, get up, get up, get up, get up!" Johnny said frantically slapping the unconscious Malcolm. Malcolm rubbed his eyes. Everything came flooding back. Malcolm felt a burning pain in his head and shot up. "W-what happened, John?" He exclaimed. John seemed to be serious now. He was covered in blood and tears streamed down his cheeks. "M-Malcolm," He sobbed. "The bus crashed and- bloody exploded!" My jaw dropped open. "What!?" Malcolm yelled. He looked around. There were the bus parts on fire and dead or unconscious bodies. "What the hell!" Malcolm said, tears pouring from his eyes. "Only a few of us survived, Mal." Johnny whimpered. Malcolm's heart stopped. "I-I..what!?" He shivered. Johnny was uncontrollably shaking now. "It's just You, Finch Baggins, Jules Brown, Connor Quinn, Martin Kavanagh and myself." He quivered. "What about..The Bus driver?" Malcolm asked. "Dead." Johnny sobbed. "The Camp Councillor?!" "Gone!" "The other boys!?" "THEY'RE GOD DAMN DEAD!" The two sobbed and screamed. Malcolm looked around at the bodies. "What do we do now!?" Screamed Malcolm. The other boys approached. "We survive." said Connor. Connor's nose was bleeding and he had a big gash through his hip. Jule's lip was cut and he was very bruised, but apart from that he was fine. Finch's leg was broken and he whimpered quietly. Martin's cheek was bruised but he seemed to be alright. "We have no idea where we are and no way of contacting anyone." Martin told the group. "The best we can do is find a place to rest and clean ourselves up in the morning. "We're going to starve!" Yelled Johnny. Connor rolled his eyes. "Would you calm down! There's plenty of food sources around." He said. Malcolm was flustered. "Why are you all so calm about this!?" He exclaimed. "Because if we're not calm, we're going to get ourselves killed, dumb dumb." Jules retorted.

                                                                                    ****

The boys walked through an abandoned field. They were discussing how to survive and gather rations. Malcolm heard Johnny whisper profanities under his breathe and Jules occasionally gave him dirty looks but then giggled when he saw Malcolm try to roll his eyes in return. Which he could not do! After walking through the field the boys approached a forest. "There's normally berries and crap in these things." John said picking at a tree branch. "Let's just find a place to sleep." said Finch. The boys eventually found a bed of heather on the ground. The most injured people got to sleep on the heather and the others had to sleep on the floor. "We'll clean each other up tomorrow," said Connor. "It's gonna be a rough night, but try get some sleep." The boys hummed in response.

Malcolm could here some of the boys sob silently. Some of their friends had just died and Malcolm couldn't imagine what they were going through. After a while most of the boys were asleep. Malcolm couldn't sleep. He kept replaying himself being flung out of the bus in his mind. He had to go out for a walk and clear his head.

The moonlight seeped through the trees and somehow guided a path for young Malcolm. He brushed past branches as he went. He crawled through a bush and approached a lake. It was beautiful. The moonlight reflected onto the dark, crystal water. The lake wasn't massive, maybe the size of a small PE haul. He looked at his reflection. Wow. So vivid. He thought. He looked across the lake. There was a figure staring back at him. Malcolm's heart stopped. The figure had a white sheet over it's head. It looked rather like a 'homemade ghost.' The figure didn't move, .it just stared. "H-hello!?" Malcolm called. The figure did not reply. It started running towards Malcolm, trundling through the water. Malcolm screamed. Suddenly It froze and turned around escaping through the trees. Malcolm turned around to see Jules standing there. "What the hell was that?!" Jules said. Malcolm's  heart was racing. "I don't know." Jules froze. "Maybe we're just sleep deprived or suffering from brain damage." Malcolm implied. Jules shrugged. "Yeah that's probably it." Jules shivered. "What are you doing here anyway." Malcolm said trying to change the subject. "Just came out here to draw." Jules said calmly. "Your Notebook survived?" asked Malcolm, almost convinced it would have burned in the fire. "Yeah," He said. "I guess I was holding onto it when I was flung through the window." Malcolm replayed himself being flung out of the window again. He blinked. "Oh, by the way," Malcolm said. "You're a really good drawer." Jules blushed. "I'm sorry for drawing you it's just-" He started. "Hey, it's okay," Malcolm said shushing the small boy. "Happy to be inspiration any day." Jules elbowed Malcolm playfully. Jules was starting to like Malcolm. He genuinely wanted to find out more about the pale, blonde sassy boy. "Let's get back to the others." Jules said crawling through the bush. Malcolm looked out at the place where he had supposedly imagined the weird ghost 'thingi' and then followed Jules through the bush.

"Do you think we'll ever get home?" asked Malcolm catching up to Jules. Jules smile faded. "I don't know." He whimpered. Malcolm felt a lump at the back of his throat. "I mean, we don't know where we are, we have no source of contact and everyone's dead!" Jules said shouting the last few words. "I don't know." Tears started pouring down Jules face. Malcolm pulled him into a hug. "We'll get through this together." He reassured. Jules wiped his tears. "Malcolm, is it?" Jules sniffed. "Yeah. You're Juley?" He asked. Jules giggled at the miss pronunciation of his name. "It's Jules and it's a boys name." He corrected. Malcolm chuckled. "It sounds like a girl's name," He teased. "And that squeaky little voice of yours sounds pretty girlish too!" Embarrassment flooded through Jules. "Shut up." he giggled. Malcolm snorted with laughter. "Oh, look!" Jules chirped, pointing at the wildflowers. "Sit down on that rock, I have to draw this!" Jules exclaimed, pulling out his notebook. He sketched the wildflowers and Malcolm on the rock. He made sure to carve out Malcolm's sharp jawline and tall figure. "And..finished!" He said, ushering for Malcolm to stand up. "Can I see!?" Malcolm pestered. "Yeah, over my dead body!" Jules said slamming his notebook shut.  Malcolm attempted to roll his eyes. "Come on!" He said. "My. Private. Sketchbook." Jules said, slightly pausing between each word. Malcolm crossed his arms and sighed. "Fine." He exhaled. Jules giggled and the two trotted back to camp, stopping to look at wildflowers as they went.