The evening was relatively quiet for Matt and Jimmy. Again they found themselves around the small campfire that crackled away, the blanket draped over their exhausted bodies. Around midday, the rain had subsided, and the duo had decided to crack on with expanding their tiny camp. Matt fetched larger, heavier logs from the outskirts of the dark forest and dragged them to the lonesome tree they called their home, and Jimmy replaced the current logs with the newer ones, providing them with a bit more space inside. By the time they had finished their work, the sun had dipped below the horizon and the moon was glowing in the sky like a light bulb.

The bandmates were sat close beside each other on one of the logs that had previously given them shelter, their aching bodies slumped against one another. In each man's hand was a small piece of fruit from the bag they had been generously gifted earlier that morning. Their eyes were heavy, their yawns were frequent. A day of hard work had definitely gotten to them.

"Matt?" The drummer asked in a low murmur, his crystal eyes slowly shifting to look at the vocalist. Long strands of raven black hair stuck to his forehead like glue and his face seemed to glisten as the light of the fire reflected off of his sweat-covered skin. Exhaustion was written all over the man's face, his eyes fighting hard to stay open.

"What's up, buddy?" Matt responded, turning his head with a slight hiss. His neck felt like it was burning away, his muscles screaming over the slightest movement.

"You think we'll ever go in there?" Jimmy pointed to the forest with a weak arm, whilst bringing the final remnants of his piece of fruit to his mouth to devour. Matt glanced over at the forest, considered for a moment, then shrugged with a flinch.

"Dunno. Depends. Maybe we won't have a choice but to go in there. Might be our only source of food because, if I'm honest, I doubt someone or something is gonna keep givin' us food like earlier." The vocalist turned his attention to the fire. Beside his feet, a bundle of sticks had been placed. He reached down and grabbed one with a groan, then he prodded the burning pile before tossing it into the flames. "Maybe we'll be found before we ever need to go in there."

"I don't really wanna go in there, Shads."

"Why not?"

"Dude, it's dark as hell in there. These trees are everythin' but normal, haven't you noticed?" Questioned the drummer, who watched as Matt fed the fire.

Matt just shrugged again, enjoying a bite from his piece of fruit. "They're trees, Rev. I don't really pay that much attention."

Jimmy sighed, reaching over his best friend's lap to the bundle of sticks. He grasped one between his fingers and pulled, bringing it towards him. Then, he grabbed each end of the shadow-coloured stick and snapped it in half, revealing an odd interior of the wood; it was onyx black as opposed to the pale colour Jimmy had been expecting, and it resembled burnt wood more than anything. Jimmy also noted that there was a slight purple tinge within the wood. "See?"

The vocalist had never seen anything like it, and admitted that this was just a little bit odd. Since when did a wood like this exist? It was as if the stick had been painted back all the way through with a touch of purple. "...That can't be real."

"Well, it's here now, isn't it? And have you noticed they take forever to burn?" Jimmy asked. Matt shook his head.

"Nope, didn't notice that, but now that you mention it... Yeah."

"Exactly." Jimmy tossed the two halves of the stick into the fire, watching as they were engulfed in the dancing flames. "The trees aren't normal, there's no one here that we know of and I'm startin' to think this might not be a nice place. God knows what else could be here!"

That was a good point. What else could be here? The thought dominated Matt's mind. He wanted to be able to answer that question. Perhaps a rare species of animal? Multiple rare species? People? Riches? Or maybe it was just a weird forest on a weird island. The possibilities were endless. Once more, the big, tattooed man shrugged his aching shoulders and let out an exhausted sigh.

"Well maybe we'll go lookin' someday. Not tomorrow though, my arms and back are gonna kill me. My body's gonna be stiff as fuck after carryin' those logs."

"Good idea. Can I spend the whole day sleepin' tomorrow? I think I'm gonna need it."

"Sure thing, dude. I think we both need it." Agreed Matt, finishing off his fruit and raising to his feet, the blanket sliding off of his body. He could feel his muscles begging for rest as he stumbled into the den and straight into the embedded area in which they were to sleep in. Shortly after, the drummer carefully stamped out the fire and he followed, bringing the blanket along with him. After closing up the den using a few more logs, he settled down beside Matt. He laid the blanket over them and pulled close the small inflatable pillow, while Matt shifted his head again and again, trying to make the waterproofs comfortable for him to rest upon.

"Shads, you can have the pillow if you really want." The drummer kindly offered, propping himself up on his elbows and looking over at his friend. He shook his head.

"No no, Jimmy, you keep that. I'll be fine." Matt insisted. He preferred Jimmy to have a comfortable night's sleep rather than himself. Besides, Jimmy needed it more. He had enough trouble sleeping already, the poor soul, he didn't need anything to make it harder. He was very considerate when it came to his friends. He always put them before himself. Tonight was no exception.

"Well.. Alright. But if you need it, let me know. Okay?"

"...Alright. I'll let you know." Jimmy smiled a his bandmate's response and he snuggled up in his side of the blanket, his head resting upon the pillow. Physically, he could feel Matt shifting and fidgeting about against his back, but he felt another strange sensation. The air had turned cold and a feeling one could not describe sent an eerie chill up and down his spine like electricity flowing without restriction. He brought his knees close to his chest and squeezed his eyes shut, praying sleep would carry him through until morning.

Nothing. His eyes flicked open again.

Well, nothing much, anyway. Perhaps he'd managed an hour or two, signalled by Matt's heavy snoring. There was that chill again. The Rev's gut was internally screaming bloody murder out of instinct. He could sense it, he could sense exactly the reason he wanted off of this island. Something wasn't right. Like a dark evil surrounding them, or something. His heart began to pound. He shut his eyes tight again. When he reopened them, he heard something. The sand shifting. Something besides Matt was moving outside the camp. He sat upright, making as little sound as possible, and he peeked through the tiniest of gaps between the log walls.

A shadow on the sands, caused by a figure and a light source. Nothing more, nothing less. It scarcely moved, but it was there, clear as day. The drummer bit his lip and trembled, but he couldn't pull himself away. He was locked there in fear.

Then came the soft murmuring from near the outskirts of the forest, accompanied by faint, low growls. Jimmy's heart skipped a beat. The gut feeling only raged on at this point. Doing his best to ignore it, the drummer turned his head, his ear positioned to listen through the gaps.

"Yeah, two from Cali... He won't like them at all... I wouldn't worry... We'll see if they live... Just tie him to the tree there..."

Jimmy could only make out one rough, gravelly voice, and even at that it was incredibly difficult to hear all he had to say. What did that mean, though? Who was that person? How did they know where Jimmy and Matt came from? Where they even talking about them? Surely they were; there was no one else on that section of the beach.

The drummer swallowed hard. The light then disappeared, and the rustling of the bushes filled the atmosphere around them both until all fell silent. The sensation died down slightly within Jimmy, but it remained present.With no danger visible, he reluctantly decided to try catch up with some much needed sleep. He laid himself down again, took a deep breath and closed his eyes once more, hoping this time he'd make it until morning.


"Jimmy, wake up buddy! We're in trouble!"

The warning, followed by a vigorous shaking from Matt, resulted in the drummer bolting upright in less than a second. The sun had risen as evident by the light seeping through the gaps, Matt was very much awake, and the pair could hear a loud, aggressive snarling noise coming from outside. The vocalist, crouched beside Jimmy and wielding the large, previously sheathed knife, looked at his best friend in fear. "C-Can you hear that?" He stammered. "There's somethin' out there.."

"Matt, somethin's been out there all night." Jimmy informed him. "I couldn't sleep so I stayed up a bit and I heard someone. He was talkin' about us!" He scrambled over to the bag and dug through it to find a smaller knife hidden within Matt's multi-tool. His arms were shaking like a leaf in a storm, his heart was racing once again and the sensation in his stomach was back.

"Crap... So you were right. We're not alone... Listen, we need to get rid of whatever that thing is out there. I suggest pushin' down the walls and hoping we hit and stun it or somethin'..." Matt advised, raising himself slowly and pressing a hand to one of the logs, applying pressure to see how easily it would fall. Then, he glanced down at Jimmy. "Get ready."

He shoved the log hard. It toppled and fell down to the ground, striking the creature's back. A tremendous roar ripped from within the beast's throat and, after recovering from the shock, it spun to stare down at Matt and Jimmy. It possessed fiery golden eyes that pierced their souls, ivory white teeth with nasty, knife-like points capable of tearing apart flesh in seconds, a stunning sunset orange coat with stripes as black as tar and razor sharp claws on all four paws. The beast was massive, and around it's neck was a leather collar with deadly spikes decorating it and a small capsule dangling like a dog tag.

Matt gulped. The tiger snarled at him and licked his lips. He had found his next meal.

With knife in hand, Shadows bravely lunged at the animal. The tiger pounced at him at the same time, and they clashed in the air. The claws found their way to the flesh of Matt's face, raking down it as much as they could, whilst Matt's blade slashed at the big cat's neck and body. He cried out in agony and crashed down to the ground, dropping the knife on impact, and he laid there as he bled. The beast found himself right in front of a petrified Jimmy, who pressed himself against the rough bark of the tree in the centre of their den and whimpered in fear. His tiny blade was nothing compared to the tiger's claws and jaws of death, and the beast could smell his fear. One step at a time, he made his way over the toppled log and inside the camp. Jimmy swung the little knife towards the tiger in a desperate attempt to frighten the cat, but he came nowhere close. It ripped another roar towards him and bared his teeth and claws. Jimmy froze in fear, dropping the blade.

"M-Matt...!" The drummer squeaked, squeezing shut his eyes once more, utterly terrified. He felt his fate was near, that the blinding light of death was almost here, that this was game over. The beast placed a powerful paw onto his leg, claws sinking deep inside his flesh. The mighty jaws opened opened wide, and then-

---

"Right, so the first guy's 6 foot, muscular, covered in tattoos, has hazel eyes and short brown hair... And the other guy's 6'3, thin, also covered in tattoos, blue eyes and long black hair?"

Early that morning, the search team of Brian, Mich and Zacky arrived at their first destination - The second of five main Holiday Islands. The instant they showed up, they hurried along to a help desk and alerted them on the situation. Soon enough, they were met with officials willing to help with the search,and they gave every detail they could remember.

"Yep, that's right. I've got a picture of them both if that would help." Brian offered with a nod, pulling his phone out from his pocket. He scanned through his extensive photo album until he came across a clear shot of his best friends. The photo was a personal favourite, and right now it was enough to cause the guitarist to shed a tear or two. Sure, it had only been two days, but Brian hated being separated from them. Hell, he missed them even if he was right there next to them.

"Ah, that'll be very helpful. We'll get some guys to help you with your search." The official smiled. "We can get that printed off and we'll give it to the team so they know who to look for. Are you sure they're here?"

Brian shook his head. "No, they fell off the boat and from what we know, they have a life ring. We're not sure whether they unfortunately drowned or if they washed up somewhere. If there's no results here then we're gonna search the other main islands. If nothin' still, then we'll have to search the stray islands."

"I tell you what. I can get some crews on the other main islands to search for ya, save you some time. We'll let you know of the results and if we get nothin', then you'll have to check the stray islands. Sadly, we can't send crews there because we're restricted only to our main islands, but there's not many stray. I'd say three or four, and they're not that big."

Brian beamed brightly. "That's absolutely fantastic! Thank you!" He said. He looked back at his wife and his guitarist, who both returned big smiles. Then, Mich's phone began to ring. She politely excused herself and stepped away for a moment to take the call.

"Hello?"

"Sis, it's me.." Panted Val from the other end of the line. She sounded like she was in pain, breathless. A pang of panic struck Mich hard.

"Val? What's happened? Are you okay?" She questioned in a somewhat shaky tone. She prayed that whatever it was, it wasn't too bad. What if they found the guys, dead..?

"Not really... Last night after you guys left I felt like shit.. This morning I've been feeling really sick.. Thrown up twice with no explanation..." Val explained. Mich expressed a sad frown as she listened.

"Have you been eating and drinking enough?"

"Yeah, but I'm struggling to keep anything down... I'm hoping it will go away soon."

Mich paused to consider the causes and solutions. Racking her brain, all she could come up with was it being down to stress. "Sis, I think you're just a bit stressed out over losing Matt... I suggest anything that will take your mind off of it. Me, Bri and Zack should be back soon as we've got people who are going to search for us, so you stay put and I'll help you as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Mich... I'll see you soon." Her sister said, hanging up shortly after. Mich sighed softly, for she couldn't help but worry over both her sister and the two missing bandmates. It was unusual for Val to fall ill just like that, and she really didn't need the added stress. None of them did really. As she returned to Brian and Zack, her mind raced.


But Val would be fine, right?

Notes