"I'm bloody freezing" Ant complained as they cruised through the ocean.
"You might want to put your T-shirt back on" Dec suggested,glancing back at Andys body "no wonder you're cold,you're in nothing but shorts and flip flops.
"I don't think I can" Ant frowned "we don't really want to see him do we?"
"Definitely not" Dec sighed "poor guy"
"I guess we could look through his stuff" Ant replied cautiously.
"Isn't that disrespectful?" Dec frowned.
"I don't know" Ant shook his head doubtfully.
"Well,I'm sure he wouldn't want you to freeze out here" Dec pondered.
"Yeah" Ant agreed "have a look through his bag will ya?might be something useful in there"
"This doesn't feel right" Dec whispered,as he rummaged through Andys belongings.
"I know Decs" Ant sighed "but we really don't have any choice"
"There's a jacket in here" Dec announced.
"Really?" Ant asked,overcome by a moment of excitement.
"Yeah" Dec nodded,while handing the grey item of clothing to Ant "put it on"
Ant took the jacket from Dec and stared at it for a moment.
"I don't think I can" Ant said sadly "it won't feel right wearing a dead mans clothes,especially as he's only recently deceased and still here in the boat with us"
"You're just gonna shiver until God knows when then?" Dec frowned.
"Well" Ant replied "go and put his jacket over him and bring my T-shirt back will you?that's better than nothing"
"Do I have to?" Dec grimaced.
"What?" Ant asked surprised "what do you mean?"
"Well" Dec continued "I'm already a bit freaked out by the fact I'm in a boat with a dead body,I really don't want to see his face"
"Oh for goodness sake Declan" Ant snapped "just go and do it will you?you don't actually have to look at him,just quickly whip my shirt away,then throw his jacket on top"
"I...I can't Ant" Dec stuttered.
"Ok" Ant sighed "you take the wheel for a minute then and I'll do it"
Ant and Dec quickly swapped seats and Ant did the undesirable task of retrieving his black T-shirt.
"Still bloody cold" he moaned,as he returned to the passenger seat.
"Well" Dec smiled "you didn't really think that one flimsy garment would make a lot of difference did you?"
"Guess not" Ant sighed.
"There's some other stuff in that bag" Dec informed him.
"Oh yeah?" Ant answered hopefully "like what?"
"Some snacks and stuff" Dec replied.
Ant quickly took the bag and started looking through it.
"Not that much there isn't" he frowned,as he pulled out a couple of apples,a family sized bag of crisps and a single bar of chocolate.
"Still better than nothing" Dec shrugged.
"True" Ant nodded "we'd better ration it,as we don't know how long it will be before we get rescued"
"You really think we could be out here for a long time?" Dec asked sadly.
"Probably not" Ant assured Dec "but best to be prepared for every eventuality"
"Umm,he's also got one of those two litre bottles of water over there" Dec nodded towards the back of the boat "although he's already drank a lot of it"
"I'll get it" Ant replied and gingerly stepped around Andys body to retrieve the plastic bottle.
"We'll need to ration this too" Ant stated,as he and Dec swapped their seats back,so Ant was at the helm once again.
"Can't bloody believe this is happening" Dec sighed.
"Me neither" Ant nodded "but it'll be ok Dec,I know it"
"I thought boats had radios anyway?" Dec frowned "why the fuck hasn't this one got one?"
"Don't know" Ant shrugged "I thought so too,but apparently not"
"That's bloody ridiculous" Dec snapped "so it's ok just to let people get lost at sea with no way of contacting anyone back on land?that just doesn't make any sense to me"
"Me neither" Ant agreed "but it is what it is,we can't get upset about that on top of everything else"
"Guess not" Dec sighed.
"Do you want to drive for a while?"
"Drive?" Dec questioned "is that what you do to a boat?"
"Dunno" Ant shrugged "what else could it be?steer?pilot?"
"Pilot sounds right I think" Dec nodded.
"Well,anyway" Ant continued "do you want to pilot it now?"
"Guess so" Dec shrugged "I'm worried now it's getting dark though"
"That's a good thing" Ant mused.
"Is it?" Dec replied confused.
"Yeah,course it is" Ant grinned "cos when it's dark,everywhere on land will be lit up,so making it easier for us to find our way back"
"Wow,I never even thought of that" Dec smiled,happy that there was a vague plan in place.
"I'm not just a pretty face" Ant laughed.
So Dec took over the controls to give Ant a break for a while,but unfortunately there was still no light to be seen from any direction.
Ant suddenly thought of the seats at the back of the boat that opened up for storage.
"Back in a minute Decs" he mumbled.
"Find anything?" Dec asked curiously as Ant returned to his seat.
"Yep" Ant grinned "I've got the boats manual"
He nodded towards the thick book tucked under his arm.
"A lot of good that's gonna do us" Dec frowned "we know how the bloody boat works"
"Well" Ant smiled "no harm in looking through it is there?"
"Also found these" he grinned as he held two long,straight objects up in front of Dec.
"Flares?" Dec yelled delighted "set one off quickly"
"Yeah,there's two more back there too" Ant smiled,now much more confident a rescue was in sight.
"Set one off then" Dec repeated.
"You think we should set one off now or save them until we actually see a passing boat or something?" Ant asked.
"Of course we should do it now" Dec replied "there may be boats quite near that we just can't see and we'll still have three left"
"Ok,stop the boat,turn the engine off" Ant instructed,as he strained to read the instructions on one of the flares,now that they were in complete darkness.The boat had an overhead light,but it didn't seem to be to be giving off much brightness.
Ant and Dec watched in awe as the flare sailed into the sky.
"Isla would love that" Dec whispered,as the sky was lit up with an orange glow.
"Don't worry Decs" Ant smiled "you'll see her soon"
"So what do we do now?" Dec asked as he continued to stare upwards.
"Just wait I guess" Ant shrugged.
"Here?" Dec enquired.
"Yeah" Ant nodded "this is where we let off the flare,so if anyone has seen it,we need to stay put"
"Hope they did" Dec mumbled,as he shivered in the cold night air.
"Don't worry kidda" Ant placed a comforting arm around Dec "we were due back hours ago,there'll be search and rescue out looking for us as we speak"
"Yeah" Dec nodded sadly.
"Come on" Ant smiled "snuggle up,we'll keep each other warm"
So the two men,huddled up close to each other as Ant began to browse through the boats manual.
"Oh,here it is" Ant frowned as he stopped at a particular page.
"What?" Dec asked curiously.
"About the radio" Ant replied "apparently pleasure boats under a certain length don't have to have them,this boat comes into that category"
"Well,that's a bloody stupid rule then isn't it?" Dec stated annoyed.
"Yeah" Ant agreed,closing the book and putting it down beside him,now accepting that he probably wouldn't find anything very useful in it.
"Wish they'd hurry up and get here" Dec exclaimed "I'm so cold"
"Me too" Ant replied "come on,snuggle in closer"
Dec did as Ant suggested and as cold as they were,the two men soon started to drift off to sleep.
"What was that?" Ant grumbled as he was woken with a start.
"We bumped into something" Dec yawned as he came out of his uncomfortable slumber.
They both peered intently straight ahead.
"Land?" Dec announced excitedly.
"Yeah I think so" Ant nodded.
It was still pitch black and they could barely see in front of their noses,but they could just about make out the waves gently rolling onto a beach.
"We must have drifted here" Dec stated "I wonder where we are?"
"No idea" Ant looked at his watch intently "I guess no one saw the flare then"
It was now gone 3am and Ants watch told him they must have been asleep for at least a couple of hours,probably more.
"We need to get out of the boat" Ant announced "I'll bring the snacks and stuff"
"What about Andy?" Dec frowned.
"Decs" Ant replied "we're gonna be rescued tomorrow,we can just leave him in the boat until then,then the authorities can take over"
"Ok" Dec nodded,as he jumped into the freezing water "shit,that's cold"
"Just get to the beach as quick as you can" Ant advised him,as he followed Dec into the sea.
A while later,the two exhausted men were sat on a beach staring out into the deep,dark ocean,nothing ahead of them except water,glistening in the moonlight.
"This would be beautiful if it wasn't such a desperate situation" Dec sighed.
"Yeah" Ant agreed,as he gazed out helplessly towards the ocean,trying his best not to let on to Dec just how terrified he was.
"So now what?" Dec asked worriedly.
"Now" Ant replied.
"We wait!"