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"I'll grab the watch, you distract the bear," Ally vocaled, as she tried to stay as quiet as possible. Jake quickly turned to Ally and furrowed his eyebrows at the suggestion.
"Oh, yeah, great content! Let's have Jake being eaten by a bear," Jake said, sarcastically.
"Don't worry. I'll help you once we have the golden watch. I have a plan, trust me!" Ally reassured, hoping that Jake would just go with what she said.
Jake glared at Ally before his face rested a bit. He then remembered that if he wanted to get further in the game, he would have to start trusting people more.
He nodded at Ally, and they both dashed in they're separate ways. He ran a bit until he felt like he was at a good spot.
"Hey, Paddington! Over here!" Jake yelled across the cave just enough to grab the bears attention.
The bear snapped it's head towards the sound, and started snarling at Jake. Jake knew this wasn't going to end well if he didn't start running. He quickly snapped back into reality when the bear began to sprint in his direction. Jake started practically galloping around the cave. He underestimated how fast the bear was.
He turned his head to look at Ally, who had just stood up after grabbing the golden watch. A bit of relief ran over him once he saw the watch obtained with success.
"Ally, help!" he frantically screamed to get her attention. Instead, he witnessed her running in the opposite direction out of the cave. His heart sank with fear as he continued running.
"Ally?!" he cried, hoping to grab her attention somehow, but she had fully exited the cave at that point.
Jake slowed his running a bit to look out the cave entrance. All he could do is stare out in the forest in disbelief as he saw no sight of Ally. It was like his world stopped spinning for a moment. The moment he finally decided to trust her, this is what she does?
Before Jake could think for any longer, he felt a great force crush on top of him, making him snap out of it. The bear had him pinned down to the rough floor and was visibly enraged. Jake started trembling as he felt frozen in that second as his body wasn't receiving any signals to move.
His brain kept telling him to move out the way, but he didn't.
He couldn't.
The bear snarled and growled in Jake's face before opening it's jaw and crunching down on Jake's arm. He screamed with terror as the bear continuously ripped at his shoulder and tore his skin. Jake couldn't do anything but scream, but the screams came out with little to no volume as he just wheezed and coughed. Tears began streaming down the sides of his face as the bear let go of Jake's shoulder.
Jake had his eyes closed shut as if that would help, but he snapped back into reality right when the bear started to move away from him. He didn't know what possessed him to, but he somehow shoved the heavy bear off of him and started making a run for it. He had not realized just how bad his shoulder was hurting, and he slowed down a bit to really take it all in.
The bear realized Jake ran away and lunged at him again. This time, the bear sank it's razor-edged claws into Jake's leg. Jake squealed in pain as the scratch went deeper into his skin.
Eventually, the bear moved it's sharp paw away from his leg but ultimately scratched his face when Jake tried to scoot away. Jake had lost all hope at this point. The tears continued to spread his face and he thought about how he could've avoided this. He could've continued running if he didn't let the pain get to him. How could he be so stupid? This was all his fault. He surely didn't expect it to be all over like this. Dying on a reality TV show. He knew he shouldn't have come back on the show.
He shouldn't be here at all.
He didn't know what lit up in his head to, but he suddenly felt a rough-edged rock about the size of his hand. He didn't know how, but he got the strength to smash it in the bears face. It roared loudly, and backed off Jake's body a bit. Jake felt his heart racing, his body flaring up, this was his chance.
Jake stood up and ran out the cave. This time, he didn't bother looking back. It was like someone was controlling him, he had forgotten all the pain in that moment. The only thing on his mind right now was escaping the bear. He ran not really knowing how he did with all the injuries he had scattered across his body. He didn't feel anything, just one thought.
Running.
His heart raced, he was having a hard time controlling his breathing, but he didn't care. All that mattered now was running until he found help.
He continued leaping through the forest until he caught a glimpse of some figures in the distance. His vison was blurred, probably because he hadn't blinked in over a minute. His heart rate seemed to drop a bit, so he closed his eyes shut and just continued running.
He opened them to see Ally, Riya, and Aiden standing in a line infront of Kristal. It looked like she was talking to Ally with the watch in her hands. As he got closer, Kristal darted her eyes over to see Jake come to a full stop infront of her and Ally.
"Oh, my god! Jake, what happened?!" Kristal shouted, eyes widened at the phase of Jake right now.
The other three contestants looked at Jake in a mix of fear and worry. They watched as Jake could barely keep himself up and saw all the wounds on his body.
"I'm here!" Jake panted, his voice trembling from both tiredness and loss of breath. He frantically tried to tell Kristal the trouble he had went through.
"Ally stole the-! There was a bear... and she-! And the bear-! And I don't..." As Jake couldn't figure out what to spit out, he immediately felt his face heat up and get lightheaded. He felt dizzy and he started to tumble down on the ground. With the final bit of consciousness he had in his head, he heard a faint cry yell out his name. He didn't register who said it, but before he knew it, he passed out.
Jake woke up from what felt like the worst sleep he's ever had. The second Jake opened his eyes, he felt them pulling his eyes back down shut. He felt a tight force around his chest, and couldn't breathe well. He began to register the sounds of leaves swaying in the trees and the wind blowing loudly.
When he fully woke up, he saw himself in the infirmary tent, on a soft bed. It was night time, and he was also covered in bandages. Now that his body was awake, he felt a bit of stinging pain in some of the areas that were bandaged.
He tried to remember what had happened before he slipped out of consciousness, but then he saw a head peek in through the tent.
"Jake, are you awake?" said a very familiar voice.
Jake raised his eyebrows a bit in anticipation, not fully remembering who that distinct voice belonged to.
"Huh.. um, yeah. Yeah, I'm... up" Jake struggle to speak after just waking up, he was still very much tired and was probably going back to sleep soon.
He stared at the entrance of the tent until he saw Aiden walk in timidly inside and stood next to Jake. He noticed Aiden was already wearing his pajamas, which makes sense.
"Hey, are you... feeling okay?" Aiden asked shyly, looking at all the bandages on his arms and legs.
"I.. think? I mean, I feel a bit uncomfortable but that's about it," Jake replied, also looking at the bandages in a bit of shock.
"If he's feeling okay, then he can leave," said a voice from the corner of the tent. "He can take the bandages off in a week, now go," continued the voice.
Aiden and Jake turn their heads in that direction to see Marcus doing something on a desk, and Nina sleeping in a little box right next to him. Marcus had obviously seemed tired from staying awake, trying to patch up Jake. Aiden helped Jake slowly get up from the bed and walk out the tent.
Jake was only slightly limping, but it would probably dissappear in the morning. He walked with Aiden until they got back to camp. Jake was about to head inside the tent when he saw Aiden walk in the other direction near the lake.
"Aiden? Where are you going?" Jake asked, slightly alert.
"I'm just going to the lake to think. You can come if you want but I just.. really need to think," Aiden replied, his voice slightly raw.
Jake watched as Aiden walked off. He was debating whether or not he should follow him. He had already had a rough day with Ally, so maybe him being Aidens company can make him feel better. After all, he's slowly been earning back Aiden's trust.
Jake trotted a bit until he spotted Aiden sitting on a log near the shore. He quietly approached him and sat down on the log next to him. He looked in Aiden's direction to see a frown formed.
"Aiden, is everything alright?" Jake asked politely, hoping to help him in any way possible.
"Yeah, for the most part," Aiden replied, his voice even more raw than a few moments ago.
"What's on your mind? If you don't mind me asking, of course," asked Jake, continuing to feel is heart sink a bit, not knowing what he is truly feeling right now.
"Do you.. even remember what happened before you passed out?" Aiden muttered, kind of hesitating to talk.
"Ehh, not that much. It's kinda... fuzzy?" Jake remarked, scratching the back of his head.
"Do you... remember what caused you to get all those injuries?" Aiden questioned. He started fiddling with his fingers.
Jake then remembered. Remembered how Ally left him there to die just to win the stupid challenge. He felt himself get heated, but calmed down because honestly he was too tired to get mad again.
"Yeah, I do. Ally left me to die in the cave! The bear did all that. I can't believe she's still in the competition! She should be glad I escaped because I-" Jake looked at Aiden and immediately stopped ranting.
Aiden eyes twinkled in the moonlight as tears welled in his water-green eyes. Jake froze up and didn't know what to do.
"A-Aiden? I'm sorry.. did I-" Jake was interrupted by Aiden tightly wrapping his arms around him and beginning to weep. Jake had a lot of emotions going on throughout his mind, but he became unfrozen and returned the hug back to Aiden.
They stayed like that for almost a minute before Aiden sniffled and let go of him. His face was pretty red from his swollen eyes and him rubbing them. He avoided eye contact with Jake for a few seconds before he let any of his thoughts come out verbally.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Jake. I was just really worried about you and I.. I didn't want to think about you being severely injured or anything..! I couldn't believe what had happened to you or-," Aiden burried his head into his hands, "-I was just in disbelief and any thought of you being hurt just... broke me? I don't mean to sound corny but I-I was just-" Aiden blinked as more tears welled in his eyes and streamed down his red cheeks, glistening and reflecting the stars in the scattered sky.
"Hey.." Jake wrapped his arm around Aiden's side, pulling him close.
Aiden's deepened but hushed cries continued to fill the atmosphere around the two. As Aiden layed his head down on Jake's shoulder, Jake slightly brushed Aiden's bi-colored hair through his fingers.
"Come here, it's okay."