Everybody crowded together beside the boy, including Hedi and Nicholas, two people that Karimah Leya knew weren't in the best health. Sparna rushed up beside her, gripping her hand. His breathing pattern was something around the lines of heavy and light, and his eyes suddenly popped open.

"L-Lany?" Karimah Leya asked, remembering his name once she saw his eyes. She didn't know that he was on the plane to begin with, being too preoccupied to take note of every survivor.

All eyes landed on her. "You know him?" Sparna asked. Karimah Leya nodded.

"We've met a few times." Lany was a sophmore, and even though she was a junior herself, they had come in contact with each other during swim tryouts the year prior. She got extremely nervous and wanted to quit, but Lany pushed her-quite literally-into continuing to the point where she stayed all the way through tryouts. However, they hadn't seen each other since, which is probably one of the reasons she didn't recognize him at first. He looked really different, even only after one year.

Lany sat up a little. He looked around at everyone, a confused look bestowed on his face. "What's happening?" He asked, sounding a little frightened as well. "Who are you people?"

Everyone was silent, except for Naya. "The plane crashed. We all thought you were going to die, since you had been asleep so long."

Karimah Leya sighed. Naya was really blunt, wasn't she? A few people looked at her with annoyed faces but she shook her head, asking what she did wrong. Lany's eyes opened wider than it should be able to go, his jaw dropping. "What?"

"Don't listen to her," Karimah Leya said, trying to take some attention away from Naya to make people stop looking at her like she did something wrong. "You obviously just needed rest. We... just don't know why-"

"Since you seem to be in perfect health," Zeke interrupted. Except for his wrist-which was already sprained before the crash-Zeke was right. There were no real injuries. So why was he asleep for so long?

Lany didn't seem any more satisfied, though. "But..." He started, but trailed off, looking around some more. He started to stand up, pushing away everyone that tried to help him. Karimah Leya didn't like to see him struggle, and even though she barely knew him, for some reason she wanted to make sure that he was alright. Healthy. Both physically and mentally.

"Lany, are you alright?" Karimah Leya asked. She expected him to turn around to see her, but he didn't. "Lany?"

Finally, she came over to him and touched him on the shoulder, making him face her.

"Hello? Why aren't you answering me, Lany?"

"Lany?" He asked. She nodded, not understanding why he would ask that question.

"Yeah?"

He looked at her, still puzzled. "Who's Lany?"

She was shocked, too shocked to notice the rest of the group coming up behind up. "'Who's Lany?'" She replied, mouth open wide. "You're Lany!"

There was a moment of silence before Lany broke it. "Really?"

"Yes!"

More silence, as if he was pondering what Karimah Leya had told him. "Oh," He said, backing up from her and everyone else. He honestly looked... scared, Karimah Leya thought. Like he thought they were lying or something. Suddenly, he turned around again, jogging away and going towards the ocean.

She was still gaping when Sparna put her hand on her shoulder, a few others coming towards her. "What just happened?"

***

"I'm going to ask you again; what's your name?" Lany cracked his knuckles, keeping his mouth shut. "You have to answer me. I'm just trying to help."

He shook his head. "Look, if you don't try, then I don't know what I can do," She said calmly.

He didn't want to answer. The girl whose name was supposedly Karimah Leya was treating him like a kindergartner, babying him and making him feel like there was something wrong with him. He was already frightened enough, not being able to remember anything, but the fact that she was constantly rubbing in his face just made him want to be alone more than ever.

What was his name?

He had to answer, or she would never leave him alone, even if it was an answer he didn't know was true.

"Lanier NightWill," He mumbled, keeping his head down. He couldn't look into her fake-caring eyes.

"Hey," She started. "Don't be nervous. I know, it's quite scary when you wake up somewhere that you've never seen before. I felt the same. We're all in the same situation. Now, do you remember anything about your life?" Is she serious?

"Why do you care?" He snapped, moving his head upwards so that he could face her. She looked alarmed.

"I-I want to help you," She promised.

"Here's something for you to remember; my life is none of your business. Okay?"

He started to stand up and walk away, but Karimah Leya grabbed his wrist.

"Lany, I'm sorry. I'm here for you, I just want to try to understand."

"Well, then, stop trying!" He snapped, yanking his arm away from her and running away.

···

Almost everyone was asleep. Apparently it was nearly morning, but-as Karimah Leya had told him-they hadn't got much sleep for a while, so everybody was exhausted. Not Lany, though. He was wide awake.

Lany put his hand to his head, closing his eyes and wincing as he pushed himself to think. Think, Lany, think. Who's your parents? What's your middle name? What's your address. Come on, Lany, it's not that hard.

But it was. His memories were so close, yet so far. Like when you're on a rock climbing wall and you can almost reach the peg, but you just can't and that distance stops you from continuing up.

But the peg was so far away that he didn't even know if Lanier was his real name.

***

Marisa looked forward, trying to ignore who was right beside her. He just wouldn't stop complaining, whether it was the fact that it was too dark, too cold, whatever. She tried to focus on her steps and breathing, but his obnoxious voice couldn't stay out of her brain.

"God, it's so dark I can barely see anything. Why did these brats had to run away, anyways? They're wasting my valuable time. Why couldn't a bear attack just them already so we don't have to deal with them anymore?"

"Why would you say that?" Elliot asked, offended

"It's the truth," Dylan replied. "You know you wish that, too."

"No, I do not! Poor Sparna, I bet she's so worried."

William quickened his pace, appearing at Marisa's side. "Dylan's got to work on his people skills, right?"

She smiled, chuckling a bit. Elliot continued bickering with Dylan, who continued to defend himself in a not-so-polite way, and Marisa was quite surprised that she wasn't the one doing it instead of Elliot. Maybe it was just that she was so focused on getting the younger kids to safety that she didn't want to pay attention to any of the crap that he had to say.

But one thing bothered her. They had already been out for so long; why was it that neither of the groups have found Ty and Nico yet?

"Okay, let's go this way," Elliot said. "Obviously this route isn't working."

"Hold up," William contradicted. "What if we're getting close to them? If we turn around now, then we could be going further away."

"Well what if it's the opposite? There's no way of telling!"

"We have a good plan, Elliot, don't try to fix it if it ain't broken!"

"Woah, woah, woah," Marisa said, pushing them away from one another. "Calm down. We'll just follow the path we already planned. It is the most likely route for success, seeing as it probably covers the most ground."

Elliot rolled her eyes. "Of course you're siding with him," She mumbled. It was obnoxious, like that group couldn't go one second without fighting. Arabella was the only one that didn't get involved, which was a smart move when the two people fighting were Elliot and William.

"Where are you, you little shitheads?" Dylan called, cupping his hands to his mouth. He started walking in front of everyone else, looking up near the sky. Marisa quickened her pace, thinking that she saw something coming up. Was she going crazy, or did she really see what she thought she saw? It was hard to tell, since it was so dark already.

She got a closer, and after a little bit of walking, she gasped. Dylan was still looking up when Marisa, without thinking, grabbed his arm and flung him backwards, putting her arms up to prevent anyone from passing her.

"What the heck did you do that for?" He snapped, standing up and coming towards her as if he was about to punch her in the face but she pushed him back again, keeping everyone away. He swore, but when he finally got a clear view at what she was looking at, he understood. If Marisa hadn't pulled him back, he would have fallen down the huge cliff that was right in front of them.

"You should have let him fall," William whispered to Marisa, and she almost slapped him. Sure, she couldn't stand Dylan, but that didn't mean that she was going to let him die. No one deserved to die.

Arabella put her hands to her mouth, stepping backwards. It was frightening, it really was. What were they to do? Go back to the others? Keep looking?

"Yeah, bye," Dylan said, and started walking away before Elliot grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back. He snapped at her, dusting his shirt and telling her to keep her hands to herself.

"S-should we go back?" Arabella stuttered, chewing on her fingernails.

"But we haven't found Nico!" Elliot contradicted, not mentioning the other missing kid.

"We can't go looking all night," Marisa said. "I bet the other group already found them."

"But they would have told us," William said.

"Look: we're tired. We're hungry. And it's obviously dangerous out here. We won't last another minute."

Eventually, everyone agreed. Arabella bundled up her arms near her chest, shaking as she walked behind everyone else. She swore she heard something out there. Not something normal, like an owl (though she didn't even see or hear any animals anyways) but a noise she had never heard before. And the eyes in the bushes, glowing eyes. It might have been hallucinations from exhaustion, but something didn't feel right about that place.

She just couldn't put her finger on what it was.

***

A/N

Sorry this chapter is so short. Hope you still enjoyed it, though! As you probably noticed, it takes a while for me to update, mostly because it takes a while to write. I am trying to write a lot, but with school starting again it was hard to find the time.

Oh, and by the way, the action will definetly be starting soon. Don't worry.