"Brian? Brian? Ah, come on! Please!" Someone shook me awake.

"Huh?" I sat up. Pain shut through my body. I cried out in pain as Kevin rested his hand on my shoulder.

"Careful." He said.

I looked around, it was dark. The only light was coming from the bus's headlights.

"What happened to the bus?" I ask, holding my head. The van looked as if a giant had come and sat on the top of it.

"We were pushed off the road." Kevin said.

"But…we're in the mountains…we can't get pushed off a road!" I was a little spacey.

"Well we did. And now we're in the middle of nowhere!" Kevin sighed. We had been heading to Saskatchewan from BC.

"Where are the others?" I looked around. The other three were no where in sight.

"I'm right here." Howie's voice came from behind me.

I turned, a little too fast. Pain shot up my spin again.

"Careful B-ROK." Howie came over to me.

"You okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a little shaken. Kevin and I were the only ones who could jump out." Howie sighed.

"What about AJ?" I asked.

"He's resting. He'll be fine. A little out of it though." Kevin said.

"So what else is new?" I joked.

Kevin and Howie smiled shortly.

"And Nick?" I asked.

Nether of them said anything.

"Well?" I asked, fear started to rise in the pit of my empty stomach.

"We…well…" Howie started.

"Brian, we can't find his body. We've called to him…but there was no response." Kevin sighed.

"What?" I was shocked, "Nick?" I looked around at the scene. Broken trees held the van we had been in. Holding it over a rushing stream. Stopping it from falling. We were in a small clearing. I could now see AJ, laying covered with blankets and using a bag as a pillow. We had stored the stuff in the bus.

Where was Nick? He couldn't be gone. Thoughts rushed through my mind.

Finally I forced myself up.

"Brian? What are you doing?" Kevin tried to stop me.

I had already begun to cry, "I'm not going to give up on Nick." I said, then slowly made my way to the bus.

"Brian, that's not going to hold for long." Howie warned.

"I know, I'm not going in." I said as I stopped at the crushed entrance to the bus. After I let my eyes adjust to the dark, I could make out everything, the seats were no longer there, and there was nothing else in the back.

I sighed, emptiness, besides the feeling in my stomach, filled my body as I crawled to the edge and looked over the side. It was a steep hill. I squinted, trying to get a better view of things. A stream, rocks, trees, a hand, some bushes...Wait, a hand?

"Guys!" I called, but then held my head. That had hurt my ears.

"What?" Kevin asked from behind me.

Howie joined us; he had been trying to start a fire with some wet matches he had had in his pocket.

"Do you see that?" I pointed at what I thought was a hand.

"Brian, you're minds playing tricks. It's a tree." Kevin shook his head, he had been hopeful as well.

I looked down at the ground.

"Sorry B-man." Howie sighed and patted my shoulder.

I looked at the tree branch again. "No! It's a hand!" I said, then slowly jumped down over the side, trying hard to keep from slipping on the wet dirt. It had started to rain. So much for Howie's fire.

"Brian!" Kevin yelled, "Get back here!"

"No! Not until I know for sure that it's not Nick!" I hissed then slowly made my way down. Finally I reached the object sitting in the bushes.

I looked down at the body of my best friend.

"Oh my God…Nick!" I sobbed.

"Is it him?" Howie called.

"Yes!" I knelt down beside him. He had landed on his stomach and was almost face down, but his head was lying on his arm. It looked as if he were sleeping.

"Nick?" I carefully placed my hand on his shoulder and turned him onto his back. "Oh no!" I moaned.

"What is it?" Kevin asked as he joined me, followed by Howie.

They stopped when they spotted the problem. A large stick had jabbed right into Nick's side, going right though his body.

"Is he still alive?" Howie asked.

Kevin checked for a pulse. We knelt in the rain for what seemed like forever, waiting for a reply then finally Kevin said, "It's faint, but he's still alive."

New hope rushed through my body.

"Help me." I said as I attempted to pick Nick up.

Kevin helped me and we struggled to the small clearing. Finally we made it.

AJ was sitting up by now and he looked at us.

"Nick?" He asked.

Suddenly creaking and cracking came from the bus. And then it finally dropped into the stream, sliding over the mud, right where Nick had been lying.

"Good thing you spotted him when you did." Kevin said, looking at me amazed.

I didn't say anything. What good was it to save him and have him die later?

"We need a first aid kit." I said.

"We had one…but it just went with the bus." Kevin said.

"Shoot!" I yelled.

Howie and AJ began to collect branches and started to build them into a small shelter.

I looked down at Nick, lying on the ground. I shuttered as I spotted the tree branch and the blood covering it and soaking through his clothes.

Sighing, I went back over to the edge and looked down.

The bus was upside down in the water…we'd have to get it in the morning. I looked back at my friend. He's not going to last that long. I sighed again as I walked back over.

Kevin looked at me, as if reading my thoughts. "We can only prey." He said.

I nodded, then helped Howie and AJ.

I didn't know what time it was when we finished and tried to go to sleep. My watch had gotten broken. The four of us had built a sturdy shelter just enough room to fit the five of us. We had it leaning against the wall of the mountain. It was made from long and short tree branches, grass, mud, tree bark and we were lucky to find a tarp that had fallen from the bus and we rapped it over the wood so we would stay dry. Then the four of us huddled together. Nick was lying in front of us. We didn't want to touch him for fear that if we moved the stick or tried to take it out he'd die. We covered him with almost all the blankets and each took turns checking on him.

I watched slowly as the rain fell from the trees and in front of the opening of the shelter, I listened to the mummer of voices coming from my friends sitting beside me and the sound of the rushing stream. Until finally like the rain my eyes dropped and I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.