Summary:
The boys get shipwrecked on an island right after the announcement that Zayn is leaving. He gets bitten by a snake and thinks that the rest are mad at him so he doesn't tell them.
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Zayn opened his heavy eyelids, eyelashes brushing the sand away around his eyes. The sun shone brightly down onto the beach making the sand around him scolding hot. He groaned as he pushed himself onto his knees looking around for the rest of his band, well, not his band anymore. Recently the stress had gotten too much for him to handle and it wasn't healthy for him, so he left. He'd stopped eating because he felt like it was the only thing he could control anymore. Honestly Zayn wouldn't be surprised if the boys didn't say anything to him, he's pretty sure they're proper pissed.
He spotted the rest of the boys a couple feet away getting up, Zayn was confused. What'd happened? One minute they were on a boat, he didn't even know why they were on the stupid boat in the first place, and next he's laying on a beach in the middle of nowhere. "Guys?" He heard Niall croak out, all of them responded with a small 'yeah' or a noise to let him know they were there.
"I think the boat crashed.." Harry half spoke to himself.
"Yeah no duh!" Louis spat out sarcastically.
"Is everybody okay?" "Niall, Harry, Louis, Zayn?" Liam called out, worrying like always.
Zayn chose not to say anything, not like his bandmates were gonna listen anyways. They probably hated him for just ditching them out of the blue. He had his reasons for leaving, he just couldn't take it anymore.
"Zayn, you good?" Liam spoke just to make sure, even though Zayn had told them he was leaving, and it upset Liam greatly. Zayn was still his boyfriend, and cared for him a whole lot more then he probably should
Zayn hummed in response, not really wanting to talk because he was positive that he was gonna have a breakdown with all of the negative thoughts flooding through his mind.
***
Zayn trailed behind the rest of them, sulking in his own thoughts and keeping quiet as they walked through the forest looking for a good place to sit and wait until somebody has come to the rescue. Louis' phone was completly dry by some miracle, and after getting an earful from management he was able to tell them what happened, it would just take a while for them to get here because of how far the boys had drifted away from the mainland.
"This is perfect!" Harry cheered as he walked into the small but open clearing slightly inside the outskirts, not wanting to go too deep into the island, after searching for about 10 minutes.
"Okay, now that we found a spot to sit tight in for a while, we stick together. We don't know what lives on this island, its probably dangerous." Liam spoke, being the responsible one. He was known as Daddy Direction most of the time because he always knew what to do.
"I'll be right back, I need a wee." Zayn finally spoke up. He couldn't stand another minute awkwardly standing here with the rest of the boys, and he did kind of have to pee.
"Ok Zee, don't take to long or go to far..." Liam answered softly, feeling the tension between Zayn and the rest of the boys.
***
Zayn walked a little deeper into the island stopping at a muddy-ish pond. He just needed a couple minutes to calm down and think a little, hopefully to lessen the tight feeling in his heart. He glanced at a mossy and decaying log, and sat down not thinking that anything living could be in the decaying log. He heard a hiss and he immediately panicked, he didn't even think that there would be snakes on this island. Good god how stupid is he?!
"Crap.." Zayn uttered out once, spotting the tan colored skin with a brown arch pattern following its way down the snake.
One thing that Zayn did learn from touring around the world, and exploring places that he and the boys shouldn't have, were a bunch of types of poisonous and venomous snakes. He could tell it was a copperhead by the pattern printed on its body, and he had sat down right on it's territory, worst case, it's home.
"Shit, ow, ow ,ow!" Zayn jumped when the snake striked sinking its two venomous teeth into his ankle, sending waves of pain through his leg. He started shaking as he grabbed the sides of its head and removed it from his ankle, tossing it into the marsh-like pond. He looked down to his ankle wincing at the sight, there were two puncture marks already turning red and inflamed, as well as starting to swell.
Zayn slowly stood up as he hissed in pain, putting pressure onto his injured ankle. Now he just had to play it cool, like nothing had happened. There was no way in hell that he was going to tell any of the boys, he didn't want to make them any more pissed then they already were. He regained his posture and dusted off his pants, fixing them so they just about covered up the nasty site of his ankle.
***
"Zayns been gone for a while, don't cha think?" Niall pointed out after a couple of minutes of cracking jokes and talking, killing the time.
"Yeah, I hope he's okay, he seemed a little down." Harry spoke gently, knowing it was a sensitive topic.
"I'm gonna go and try to find him, you guys stay here." Liam spoke, getting up off of the tree stump he was sitting on. Just then Zayn walked through the thick shrubbery, guarding his face so it wouldn't get hit with the mass of branches.
"Sorry I took so long, I.. got a little lost on the way back." He came up with the quick excuse, trying to save himself from sounding like a complete idiot.
"Thought you'd been eaten by something, from how long you took!" Louis exclaimed brushing away the awkwardness that was trying to creep in.
Liam sat back down on the small stump he was on before, while Zayn plopped up against the base of a tree. He seemed like he was exhausted from walking less than half a mile. Liam knew there was something wrong, Zayn never acted like this, and he seemed a slight shade paler than usual. After a minute or two of boredom they were back to laughing a joking about, sometimes even chatting about crazy fans.
Meanwhile, Zayn was hiding the obvious grimace that was trying to take over his expression. He felt himself start to sweat as it just got hotter and hotter, and wiped his sweaty palms on his on his jeans. His leg was starting to go numb, and it honestly scared him, his leg wasn't supposed to go numb according to what he knew. His chest was tight, and his quiet breathing seemed labored, and his stomach had a heavy feeling.
"you cold?" Harry asked, noticing Zayn's shaking as he tried to suppress it.
Zayn swallowed heavily "Y-y-eah just a bit.." His vision was starting to blur at the sides and small but noticeable tears found themselves filling his eyes.
"Zee, you okay, you're looking a little pale..." Liam asked noticing the boy was about to cry. When Liam reached out his hand to feel his forehead, the tears had spilled over his cheeks, Zayn was practically radiating heat. Liam asked the boys to give him a minute knowing that Zayn wouldn't make a peep with them around.
"Zee, babe, what hurts?" Liam asked as he cupped his face and wiped the tears off his hot cheeks.
"Do you guys hate me? I'm sorry, I couldn't take it. I didn't mean to hurt you all." Zayn mumbled on and on about the topic of him leaving.
"Babe, we could never hate you, i'm you're boyfriend, you don't even know how much the boys and I love you. Its okay zee, you don't have to apologize." Liam spoke gently, careful not to set him off. "Now, I can't make it feel better if I don't know whats wrong."
"I-I got bit by a c-copp-perhead earlier, m' leg's all numb now. It's r-really h-hot, m' dizzy and m' tummy feels all sick!" Zayn exclaimed turning slightly childish, tears pouring out of his eyes again.
Liam rolled up zayn's jeans a little and winced at the sight, while the rest of his leg was only swollen a small amount, his ankle was a hot mess being red and extremely swollen.
"Ohh Zee, why didn't you say anything..." Liam noted sadly, he felt bad for the boy, knowing that the copperhead's venom wasn't deadly. But it was going to leave Zayn feeling crappy until he got some medicine.
"m' sorry Li, I thought you'd get m-mad at me.." Zayn whimpered, his stomach was now churning. "Li, I don't feel so g-good." His complexion paled a couple shades green, as he felt bile rise in his throat.
"I know Zee, I know, it'll be ok." Liam whispered into zayn's ear as he got into position, rubbing Zayn's back comfortingly.
"Li, I don't wanna throw up!" Zayn cried as he tried to fight the rising nausea.
"Just let it happen babe, it'll only make you feel worse if you hold it in." Liam spoke, now one hand holding Zayn so he wouldn't collapse and the other starting to gently rub his stomach. And it was as if those words were magic, because as soon as he had said them, Zayn was heaving harshly onto the ground in front of himself.
***
After a lot of worrying, pain, sickness, fussing, brotherly (and boyfriend) cuddles, a long talk, and 3 days. Zayn was back to normal, now just on lots of bed rest. Currently curled up on the couch with his band mates watching finding dory, after Louis fussed about it, wrapped in the fuzziest of blankets. Zayn had learned a lot and that even though he wasn't technically in the band anymore, he knew that they weren't mad at him, and that they loved him, Liam even more the the others being his boyfriend.
" love you guys.." Zayn mumbled as he was drifting off, the battle with sleep lost.
"We love you too." The boys smiled, as Liam kissed his head gently sending Zayn off with the best of dreams.