Survivor

12| First Night

"I don't think a lot of us could have made it this far without each other," Derek added.

Cam nodded in agreement before speaking, "We don't know how long we will be out here for, but there's 8 of us. I think if we all stick together and help each other out, we're going to be okay."

"Let's have a moment of silence for everyone that died today," Luke suggested.

We all got very quiet, aside from from sniffling from the men around me. Everyone here was putting on a brave face, but we were all shaken by the events of today. I wiped a fallen tear from my eyes, and listened to the sounds of nature. I thought about the people on the plane, their families, my family, and the people sitting around me. The fire crackled and the trees rustled in the cool wind.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard the howling of coyotes erupt in the distance. Startled, I turned to look around and instinctively grabbed Cam's arm. It was dark out now, and for some reason it felt kind of eerie sitting out here.

"It's okay Cassie, they're far away." Cam placed his hand over mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "God, your hand is so cold."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry, I just got startled," I admitted and released my grip on his arm. I had to stop doing that to people.

"We should head in anyway, it's getting kind of chilly and I don't know about everyone else, but I'm exhausted," Jake said while standing up.

Derek stood up and spoke, "Yeah me too. I'll put out the fire if you all want to head inside."

Cam and Luke stood up and both dropped their hands down to me. Feeling awkward about who's hand to grab, I set my hands in both, and let them both pull me up. It was Luke who picked me up though, and headed towards the cave.

Once inside, I noticed 8 makeshift beds on the cave floor made out of sweatshirts and the minimal blankets that we had. The guys must have done this when they were out of the water.

"Here we go Cassie, this one is yours." Luke set me down on top of a thin blanket covered with two big sweatshirts. Everyone else only had one sweatshirt and some didn't have a blanket.

"Thank you Luke," I yawned and quickly wrapped myself up in the fluffiest sweatshirt I had.

"Of course," he smiled and walked over to another one of the beds.

Jake and Cam were standing by the cave entrance, and Wes, Adam, and Nathan came inside and took their spots on the cave floor. Derek came in after putting out the fire, and joined Jake and Cam at the entrance. The 3 of them worked together to roll the rock into place. It got dark instantly, but I heard rustling as the guys settled into their spots for the night.

"Okay, so tomorrow we hunt and try and get as much food and water together as we can. We can survive right here until somebody comes for us," Nathan said.

"The only problem is that nobody is even going to begin looking for a month... this was a survival trip with no contact. Nobody is expecting to hear from any one of us for at least that long. Plus, even when they figure it out, our pilot said he was off course so they will be searching in the wrong area." Adam pointed out. I felt tears prick my eyes at this realization. I quickly brushed them away and tried to fall asleep as they spoke.

"If we all stick together, I really believe we will get through this, no matter how long it takes," Jake encouraged.

"Me too. We're safe here in this cave, so let's just all try and get a good nights sleep tonight. Goodnight everyone," Cam said.

"Goodnight," myself and a collection of other male voices said in unison.

I dozed off shortly after this conversation. I wasn't sure for how long exactly because every time I closed my eyes, I saw the plane, the fear in the eyes of now deceased passengers, and the blood that was leaking around my body. I shuddered hard in my sleep as hot tears rolled down my cheeks, and tried to calm myself down. I glanced around the cave, and although it was pitch dark, I could tell that everyone was asleep. All was still and quiet aside from the heavy sleep breathing that filled the silence. I felt safe with all of them surrounding me, and was finally able to doze off again.

What felt like an hour later, I woke up yet again, but this time it was not because of the nightmares. It was because I was absolutely freezing. My entire body was quaking with shivers and my teeth were chattering. Coming from Arizona and being acclimated to 100 degree weather was a curse now that we were stuck in night temperatures of 45 degrees. I curled myself into a ball to try and trap some body heat but it didn't seem to work. My body felt frozen from the inside out.

I glanced around to see if anyone else was awake and feeling cold the way I was, but everyone seemed fine and was still sleeping heavily. I noticed how most of the men were sleeping around each other and I was further away by myself. They probably didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable being that I was the only girl, but that also could be why they weren't feeling the cold like I was. I tried to warm myself up by rubbing my arms up and down, but it wasn't working and I couldn't stand feeling so cold anymore. As I've mentioned before, I HATED the cold.

I searched around and noted the closest guy to me was Cam, but next to him was Jake. I felt much more comfortable around Jake because I met him first, and had spent the most time with him so far. He also was the biggest of the men, so I figured he'd have the most body heat. I quietly crawled over to Jake, being careful not to disturb any of the other men. I paused as another wave of shivers racked my body and my teeth chattered again. I finally made my way to his sleeping body and hesitated to wake him up, but when I shivered hard again I decided I didn't have much of a choice if I wanted to warm up.

"Jake..." I whispered. He didn't move, so I decided to give his shoulders a little shake. "Psst... Jake ww-wake up," I pleaded with him in a hushed tone. Finally, he stirred and blinked hard a few times.

"Cassie? Are you okay?" He asked as he sat up.

"I'm fff-freezing," I shook out, "ccc-can I please lay www-with you fff-for a bit?" I couldn't hide my shivers as another wave shot through me. I was so cold I wanted to cry.

"Of course! Get in here," he said as he pulled back the sweatshirt he was using as a blanket and opened his arms to me. I quickly crawled into his arms and let him situate the sweatshirt around us. I curled into his chest as a teeth chattering shiver wracked my body again. Normally, I'd be nervous to be cuddled close to someone so attractive, but quite frankly I didn't give a shit about anything else besides heat in the moment.

"Holy shit Cass you're freezing. Why didn't you come to me sooner?" Jake asked as he pulled me tighter and began rubbing my back up and down to create more heat. His body was really warm and the scent of fresh pine and musk that was radiating off of him soothed me.

"I was sssss-sleeping for a while and then I dd-didn't want to www-wake you," I explained. I tried to curl myself deeper into his chest as I just couldn't stand being cold anymore. He must have sensed what I was doing because he pulled me tighter to him and intertwined my legs with his for more full body coverage.

"Don't ever worry about that. I don't want you getting sick out here," he whispered.

"How are you sss-so warm?" I asked.

He let out a slight chuckle. "I'm not sure. I guess I just run hot? I'm also a lot bigger than you."

"Mmmmm... it's nice. Thank you Jake," I said with a yawn.

"Of course. Try and get some sleep, you'll warm up soon," he said as he continued to rub slow steady circles on my back.

I shivered one more time and nodded my head against his muscled chest. I'm not sure how long it actually took me to fall asleep after that, but Jake was still rubbing my back when I finally did. Falling asleep in Jake's arms felt safe. The cold didn't seem to come back, and neither did the nightmares.
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Hello all!

Personally, I like the ending to this chapter and the budding romance/tension with Jake and Cassie. What do you guys think of the characters?

They have a place to stay and the tragedy is over, now the story can begin! Please feel free to leave comments and ideas! The story isn't fully written yet so I'm open to suggestions!

-Haley