Stranded with Magcon

Chapter 3

As the tiger runs toward me, Nash takes my body and covers it with his. My knees are squished to my chest, and my hands are balled up on my cheeks. Nash's arms are circled around my body, holding my hands together.

I hear a scream and look up and see Nash screaming. His mouth is right up to my ear and it makes it ring.

His screams are antagonizing. I feel like screaming with him. I watch as blood drips down his arms and drips into my shirt and down my arms.

I don't know what the tiger is doing to Nash, but whatever it is, it is very painful. I think that it might be that the tiger is scratching it's claws against Nash's back. That, or the tiger has dug it's teeth into Nash. I'm really hoping that it's the first option, that way we can save him. I don't want him to die.

Wait Grayson! You sound like you actually care for Nash. The person who was mean to you and who pushed you into a pool. You can't like him. But he's still a person, and I don't want anyone to die out here.

I hear someone tackle the tiger. More than one person. I guess the rest of the boys heard Nash's screams and came to where we were.

I watch in the corner of my eye as Cameron stabs the tiger once in its paw with a sharp stick. The tiger hisses once and creeps back into the jungle.

Nash's body collapses back into the ground and I immediately stretch out of my crammed position. I look back and see long, bloody slashes across Nash's back. His shirt is tattered so much that it only covers the front part of his body. It doesn't look that bad. Not bad enough to kill him.

I sigh in relief. Seriously? Again with sounding like you actually care about Nash?

I watch as the boys lift Nash and carry him away. Hayes runs up to me and wraps me in a tight hug. I wrap my arms around his neck and hide my head in his shoulder, shaking with fear.

"It's going to be okay. You're safe now, I've got you." Hayes says over and over again. He lets me go and we walk back together to the beach.

When we get to the beach, I see that the boys have made a small hut, made of vines and leaves that weave in and out of each other. The roof is like a dome and it's wide enough to fit all of us.

No one is on the beach, so I guess that they all carried Nash into the small hut.

"Here, let's get this blood off of you." Hayes says and leads me into the crystal blue water.

He sits me down at about waist deep and begins to wipe away the blood in my hair. He places one hand on my shoulder, and the other is scooping up water and dripping it through my hair.
Next, he rubs the blood off my arms and hands while I ring out my shirt.

We step out of the water and Hayes sits down with me on the sand.

"Are you okay?" Hayes asks me. I nod my head and glance at the hut. I hear and see nothing.

For the next thirty minutes, I find myself glancing back and forth at the hut. I can't help but know if Nash is okay or not. But I guess if he wasn't the guys would come out and tell us.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Hayes asks me mid-glance. "Oh, uh no." I say and turn away.

"You keep looking back and forth at the hut. Are you sure you're okay?" He asks me. I nod my head and actually see Hayes quickly look at the hut, then back at me.

"You can go in there if you want." I say, wanting him to go in there instead of me, in case they had to undress Nash.

"No I'm fine. I don't want to leave you out here alone."

I smirk. "Go," I say. "I'll be fine."

Hayes smiles at me and stands. He brushes the sand off his pants and walks over to the hut. Then he disappears behind the door.

I find myself actually starting to miss his presence. Seconds pass, which turn into minutes, which turn into hours. Hayes hasn't come out of the hut yet. Not one person has.

The sky begins to darken and I wonder how long it's been since the tiger attack. I hear my stomach grumble and I grip my shirt.

My eyes begin to get heavy, and I lay down in the sand, using my arm as a pillow.

I watch the waves curl up, then explode onto the sand. I don't feel very safe sleeping so close to the jungle, but I don't have much time to think about it until I'm under a deep sleep.

+++
I walk around in the jungle, my vision blurry for some reason. I can't see anything. Only shapes of things. A tree there. A bush there.

But there's something else there. It looks like a man's figure. As I draw closer, all I can see is the face of the person. It's Hayes. He smiles at me.

"Hayes," I smile. My voice is vibrating. His smile turns to a scream as he suddenly drops to the ground, his body crumbling to the ground.

I scream as I'm whisked to the side and rushed forward. In front of me, is Cameron and Shawn. They fall to the ground as Hayes did. I can see their arms twisted in different ways. I watch as all of the Magcon boys die. Taylor and Matt dissolve together.

Then there's one more.

It's Nash.

He looks at me and slowly crumbles to the ground, whispering my name.

I don't know where I am, or what's going on, but I see everyone's bodies. The constant repeating of my name, all saying it in sync. I cover my ears and yell a blood curdling scream.

They keep saying my name.

"Grayson."

"Grayson."

"Grayson!" Hayes screams, waking me up from my nightmare.

I jump up and grip his arm.

"You were screaming when I came out here. You were screaming our names." Hayes says, stroking my hair.

I catch my breath and see everyone but Nash standing above me. The sky is so bright it hurts my eyes. It looks about around ten o'clock.

Hayes helps me stand up.

"Nash wanted to see you." Hayes says. I smile a little.

No! Wait Grayson! You can't like him. But you can just accept that he's alive and you should be happy.

I walk towards the hut and slowly open the door. Inside, there is one big room and in the corner, Nash is laying on the ground.

I walk over to him and watch him sleep. His hair is brushed to the side and his chest slowly rises then falls. He looks sorta cute.

I kneel down beside him as his eyes flutter open.

"Hey Gray." He whispers.

"Hey," I say sweetly, "I want to thank you. For saving me."

"No problem." He says. I have to disagree with him.

"Nash, you almost died!" I say worriedly.

"But if I didn't save you, YOU would have died." He say breathlessly. I stroke his hair as he reaches up and grabs my hand.

Maybe I do have something for Nash. But I doubt he actually likes me.Out of four thousand girls he can choose from, he wouldn't choose me.

"I wouldn't mind." I smile. Nash strokes my hair and I close my eyes and let his hand caress my face.

"Your beautiful." He says. I snort.

"I've been in the wild for three days. I doubt I look good." I say.

"Your beautiful no matter what." He says. I smile and let go of his hand holding mine. His eyes close and he falls back asleep. I stand up and leave the hut, a smile still lingering on my face.