15 Days of One-Shots

Lost

15 Days of One-Shots (13/15)  

Zayn and Niall are lost in the woods. And everything goes to hell. 

“Fucking hell,” Niall muttered, from where he sat on a tree stump, head in his hands, “God fucking damn it to the fucking hell of a mother fucker.”

“Classy,” Zayn muttered, from where he sat on a tree branch, ten feet off the ground as he held up his cellphone, searching for mobile service in the remote forest he and Niall were lost in.

It’d all started out rather innocently, a bonding experience for the boys to unite, before they were shipped off the Judge’s houses, where they’d have to be a band. The past couple of weeks had been well spent, as the five of them had tried to force lifelong bonds, but they had needed this.

Niall and Zayn had paired off, after Liam, Louis and Harry had gone through the exercise, and had been led to a random forest, where they’d been left and instructed to follow the map, to get out.

Only, after half an hour, Niall had dropped the map into a running river, and now they were both stranded, without cell service to call the boys and inform them they were probably going to die, if they didn’t get help.

Well, that was a bit over dramatic, but still, they were lost, without food or water, in an unknown forest, without service.

“You know. I saw this in a movie once. These American college students were hazing these pledges,” Niall rambled, as Zayn slowly shimmied down the tree, wincing as he caught his trousers on a branch, ripping them and slashing his thigh, “You know what happened to them? They died.”

“Lovely,” Zayn replied, brushing off his pants and walking over to Niall offering him a hand and pulling him off the trunk, “Come on. We have to get a move on, if we want to get out of here before dark.”

Niall’s eyes widened and he looked around aimlessly, at the trees that towered over them, “And which way do you propose to go?”

“Well,” Zayn shrugged, “I don’t really know. You want to just guess?”

“They guessed in the movie,” Niall muttered, shaking his head and adjusting the hat on his head, “You know what happened to them? They died.”

“Right.”

Zayn sighed, walking off through the trees leaving Niall to hurry behind him, tripping over the branches and twigs that littered the ground as he trudged the wilderness.

The two walked in silence for what felt like hours, stumbling along, Zayn trying to remain calm as the sun began to sink lower and lower in the sky. Niall was doing enough freaking out for both of them, though Zayn had a hard time blaming the kid.

“You know, in that movie, they end up getting lost at night,” Niall hissed, as darkness began to overtake the sky. “You know what happened to them? They-“

“Died. Yes. Thank you mate. I got that one,” Zayn groaned, stopping in his tracks and sliding down against a random tree, leaning his head against it and staring up, through the branches and leaves, at the night sky where stars were beginning to emerge. “Fuck.”

Niall sighed and sunk down next to Zayn, eyes wide, as he wrapped his arms tightly around himself. “Zayn, this is bad.”

The older boy snorted and nodded, glancing at Niall, who wasn’t dressed for the cool night ahead. He slowly shrugged out of his own jacket and wordlessly handed it to Niall.

“You’ll need that pretty soon, yeah?”

Niall shook his head, but after a bit of insistence accepted the jacket, zipping it up and following Zayn with his eyes, as Zayn began scrambling for wood and leaves.

“I was in scouts,” Niall whispered, as he watched Zayn attempt a fire, he’d seen accomplished on a TV show once. Niall wordlessly crawled over to where Zayn had crouched with a handful of twigs and leaves, and held out his hand for the lighter he knew Zayn had in his pocket.

So half an hour later as the sun set completely, and a cold wind began blowing, Zayn and Liam huddled near their makeshift fire, still completely lost and stranded, defenseless against anything that may come in the night.

“They had a fire in that movie. You know what happened to them? They died.”

Zayn groaned.

“They also had friends searching for them, like the boys are probably doing. You know what happened to them? They died.”

Zayn clenched his eyes shut in frustration.

“Two of the boys woke up at night to piss. You know what happened to them, they-“

Niall was cut off by Zayn, launching himself at Niall and pulling the boy against him, cramming Niall’s face into his shoulder.

“Just, shut the fuck up,” Zayn muttered into Niall’s hair, clinging to the boy, “We’re fine. We’re not going to die, don’t be dramatic. The boys are probably-“

As if on cue, Zayn’s ears picked up on voices, calling he and Niall’s name, and he grinned down at Niall, who’s eyes had widened at the sound.

“Would you look at these two,” a familiar, high, voice rang out and Zayn rolled his eyes, still clinging to Niall, as he turned to Louis, who had a large flashlight in his hand, eyes still crinkled at the edges with worry.  “I found them!”

Liam and Harry, as well as Harry’s step-dad, suddenly appeared, both mirroring each other with panic stricken faces and Zayn smiled in relief, pulling a now trembling Niall into a tight embrace before slowly pulling back.

“See mate, what did I say?” Zayn asked, and Niall shrugged, still pale, wrapped in Zayn’s jacket. He stood, but remained clinging to Zayn’s arm, and Zayn didn’t comment on it as he followed Harry and Liam, down a short path, out of the woods.

“It was that easy,” Niall muttered and Harry laughed, earning a smack on the head from Louis. Niall sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly, “I should’ve known. In that movie they only get lost a mile or so from their houses. You know what happened to them-“

“They died,” Zayn replied and Niall grinned up at Zayn, their twinkling eyes meeting.