When we arrived back at camp, everyone was feeling defeated and morale was low. I really hoped we could all get back to the way things were. Being away from home after such a traumatic experience had bonded us all together, and this bond was the only thing keeping most of us sane. These past two days had been intense, and they just reminded me of how scared I was to be here and that we'd never be found.
"Cam can you put Cassie down over here? I'm going to check out her head. And can somebody get a fire going? She's still cold and we need to boil more water anyway."
"I can," Jake said.
"No Jake. you need to go and rest. I'll do it," Nathan intervened. Cam complied and placed me gently on my usual rock.
"Thank you for carrying me Cam," I said with a smile as he released me.
"Of course. I'd do anything for you Cass, you should know that by now." He smiled back before walking off to help Nathan with the fire.
I knew he was just looking out for me, but there was something about the way Cam said this that made me think he meant it as more than friends. I obviously cared deeply for all of the guys, but today I realized just how much more Jake meant to me. Today I realized that I was in love with him... even if he didn't feel the same for me.
I was pulled from my thoughts when Derek appeared with some medical supplies.
"Hey sweetie. How ya feelin?" He smiled and set up his supplies next to me.
"I've been better. A little dizzy and kind of nauseous, but I'll live."
"I'm sorry... this is going to hurt, but I need to see how deep this cut is and I need to clean it."
"Do what you need to do. I feel like you've patched me up so many times now that I should be used to this," I chuckled lightheartedly.
"That's true. Let's try and break this habit huh?"
"Yeah that would be nice," I said.
Derek dumped some peroxide onto gauze and pressed it to my head. I sucked in a breath at the sting. "Ow ow ow ow ow," I repeated to try and deal with the pain.
"Here hold my hand. Breathe. The worst is over," Derek soothed as he grabbed my hand in his. "Ohhh crap, I lied. This part of he wound is really deep, and I think it's going to need a few stitches. Just like 3 of them."
I squeezed his hand tighter. I remembered after the crash receiving stitches and how badly it hurt, and this time I needed them in my head again and I was terrified. I could handle pain, but sometimes I work myself up before the fact.
Derek felt me tighten my grip and rubbed the back of my hand with this free one. "Hey it's okay... um... do you want me to get one of the guys to come over here while I do this? I need both of my hands."
"No... it's okay. I'll be fine," I said with as much confidence as I could muster.
"Wow. I totally would have believed you if you weren't trembling again," he smirked.
"Damn. I can't hide my nerves," I shrugged in response.
"I do need you to stop shaking though remember?"
"Is she okay?" Jake asked.
"She's fine. She needs a few stitches so I'm trying to calm her down," Derek answered, "Jake, go lay down... seriously you look exhausted."
"I don't want to leave her until I know she's okay," Jake said, a look of determination plastered on his face.
"Jake I'm fine, really. Thank you so much for saving me today... again. But now it's time for you to take care of yourself. Go rest. Please," I persuaded.
He hesitated a moment before letting out a sigh. "Fine, but if you need me I'll be right in the cave. Seriously, don't hesitate to wake me if you need anything."
"Will do." I shot him a reassuring smile as he turned and headed for the cave.
"Damn, you've got him wrapped around your finger," Derek teased.
"Shut up, I do not," I said as a blush spread over my cheeks, "Just patch me up, will ya?"
"Okay," he chuckled, "Keep breathing. I'll try and be fast and gentle."
I squeezed my eyes shut and held onto Derek's torso as he worked. I let my thoughts drift to ease the pain. It didn't take long, and before I could complain too much Derek had already finished. He wrapped gauze around my head, tying it off in place. He also took the time to clean the wound on my arm from yesterday and replace the bandage with a dry one. I couldn't help but notice we were running low on a lot of the medical supplies and vowed to myself to be more careful.
After I was patched up, I sat down by the fire. I wasn't sure why, but after the events of the morning I was feeling dead tired. Wes sat next to me and I leaned against him as I absorbed the warmth of the fire. Some of the other guys gathered around as well and they began talking about random things. I listened for a while, but eventually let my eyes flutter shut and drifted off to sleep.
*********
"Cass." I heard my name being called but wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not. "Psst. Cassie wake up," a male voice drifted to me.
"Shake her gently Wes. She probably shouldn't sleep that long right now anyway if she has a concussion and dinner is almost ready," Derek said. I was half awake, half still asleep as I listened to them talk. It was very difficult to actually wake up though; Part of which I thought may have been due to my head injury.
I felt a hand on my arm, gently shaking me which helped me come to, and my eyes finally fluttered open. I blushed when I realized I had fallen asleep in Wes's lap. I blinked hard and sat up slowly, looking around the fire noting all of the guys around accept for Jake and Luke. I yawned and stretched, wincing at the throbbing pain in my head.
"Hey Cass. How you feelin'?" Cam asked.
I thought about my answer carefully. I didn't want to worry anybody but they all kept on telling me to be honest with them. "I've been better. My head hurts," I replied honestly.
"Here. I know we don't have any pain killers but try and stay hydrated. It will help," Derek said, handing me some water.
"Thank you. So where are Luke and Jake?" I asked, trying to get the attention off of me.
"They're both really sick. Jake threw up a few times while you were sleeping and Luke went to take a nap complaining of body aches like Jake had," Wes explained.
"Oh no, that's not good. Do you think it's some kind of flu?" I asked. I hated that Jake and Luke were sick. Especially because part of me felt like Jake's illness was worse now that he had to jump into cold water to save me. I remembered how his body shook with the cold which was something very rare for him. He was always hot.
Derek removed a big pot of deer stew from the fire before answering. "I'm not really sure. I hope that if it is, it will only be a 24 hour bug and that nobody else gets it."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" I asked.
"Not really since we don't have any medicine out here. They will just have to stay hydrated and deal with their symptoms. Same as what I'm recommending for you," he answered.
"Hey what about ginger root?" I asked, "Wouldn't that help with their nausea? And if the rest of us use it, wouldn't it help prevent us from getting sick too?"
"Oh yeah. It would help, but who even knows if it grows around here or really what it even looks like," Derek said.
"I know what it looks like!" Cam said with enthusiasm, "I swear I saw some here the other day when we went out hunting and we saw that mountain lion. Over in that area."
"Great! We should go get some," I said.
"Absolutely not. Not tonight. The sun is going down and it's too dangerous to stray from camp right now. We can go tomorrow, first thing," Derek said with a tone indicating that the decision was not to be discussed further.
"What are we doing first thing tomorrow?" Jake asked as he wondered out from the cave, followed by Luke. They both looked terrible. They were pale and flushed and they looked exhausted.
"We're going to go get some ginger root to help you guys with your sickness; and so the rest of us can prevent getting it," Cam explained.
Jake and Luke took a seat at the other end of the fire and Derek began filling up bowls of stew to be passed around. Jake and Luke would share with each other and nobody else.
"That's nice of you guys, but it's dangerous to go off like that now adays. Who would all go?" Jake asked.
I knew where this was going.
"I don't know. Myself, Derek, Cassie, Nathan? Whoever is feeling well enough I guess," Cam explained. Jake shot a look my way that I didn't understand.
He sighed, "Well if all of you are going you should be fine then." He barely finished his thought before breaking out into a fit of coughing. I hated to see him feeling so sick.
"Cass, how are you feeling?" Jake asked me.
"Probably better than you and Luke are at the moment," I replied, "My head hurts a little but I'll be fine."
I looked around the circle at all of their faces and I was just glad that everyone was over their feuding. It was nice to all be sitting here having dinner together, despite injury and sickness. "I just want to say real quick, I know the past few days have been a little rough, but I really want all of you to know how grateful I am to have you all out here, each of you brings something so special to the group, and I'm glad we're all still here to support each other through everything. Sorry, I know I'm being mushy about it," I chuckled.
"You are mushy Cass but I agree. I'm glad everyone is here. Luke, I'm really sorry about everything I said to you earlier... I hope you know how much I love you," Adam said.
Luke let out a sigh and ran a hand across the back of his neck. "Yeah, I definitely placed way too much blame on you, so I'm sorry too. I don't blame you for being here. I know you were just trying to do something nice for me."
"Anddd?" Adam teased.
"And I love you too brother," Luke replied with a smile.
Nathan decided to take the moment for an apology of his own. "Cam, I'm sorry too; I kind of came at you earlier. I think it was just built up tension from everything going on out here, but I care about you man. I hope we can move past this."
"Absolutely. I care for you too buddy. We're all good," Cam said with a smile.
Awe. See now this is just sweet, I thought.
Adam locked eyes with me. "Most of all, Cassie I'm SO sorry again about today. I'm sure we all are. I'm ashamed that we put you in so much danger because of all of our stupid fighting."
"Thank you Adam, but I'm okay; and quite honestly if what's come out of me falling off a cliff is getting everyone to love each other again, I'd do it again," I said with a smile.
"Oh dear god no. You're never falling off a cliff again, not on my watch," Derek interjected. A few of the guys chuckled.
Right as we finished up with dinner the breeze picked up and it began to sprinkle.
"We should head in," Wes said.
I nodded in agreement and rose to my feet slowly. My head was pounding and all I wanted to do was lay down. I was walking by myself to the cave when Jake appeared beside me.
"Hi," I smiled up at him, "You look terrible."
"Well gee thank you," he grumbled, "you really know how to flatter a guy."
"Sorry," I chuckled, "you know what I meant."
"I know," he smiled, "Which is why I think you should probably ask one of the other guys to sleep next to them tonight. As much as I don't like it, I don't want you to be cold and I certainly don't want to get you sick if you sleep next to me."
I sighed. I didn't like the idea of not sleeping next to Jake, but I knew he was right. I didn't want to get sick and I'm sure he wanted a little space if he wasn't feeling good. "I understand," I finally replied.
We got back into the cave where Cam was already sitting down on his "bed." I was thinking about who I wanted to sleep next to now that I couldn't be by Jake, and I thought Cam may be my next best option. Adam and Nathan were complaining earlier that they thought they may be getting sick, so I didn't want to be by either of them, and Cam had the next biggest body mass for warmth next to Jake. I walked over to him hesitantly.
"Hey C." He smiled up at me as I approached.
I chuckled at the dumb nickname. "Hi Cam. Um, so Jake is sick so I can't sleep next to him, and I always get so cold at night... do you think I could sleep next to you? You don't need to cuddle me or anything, I just may need you for some warmth. You won't even know I'm there..." I began to ramble.
Cam cut me off with a chuckle, "Cass slow down. Of course you can sleep next to me. Whatever you need." He peeled back the sweatshirts he was using as blankets and patted the space next to him.
"Thank you," I replied and quickly laid down, getting comfortable for the night.
The rest of the guys came into the cave and settled into their spots. A few of them were having conversations, but some of the others fell asleep rather quickly.
"So tomorrow morning when people go to get ginger root, can you promise not to leave without me?" I asked Cam.
"Of course," he smiled down at me.
"Thank you," I said with a yawn.
Soon after, the guys got quiet, so I closed my eyes, and hoped that sleep would come.
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Hi!
I know not a lot happened in this chapter. Also, I'm not sure really where ginger root actually grows... but let's pretend! I'm definitely not an expert on a lot of the things I'm writing about, but it does make a good story lol thanks for bearing with me and I'd love to hear your thoughts on everything this far!
-Haley