Night turned into day and the sun had already risen high before Pax woke up. Boovoo sat at his feet closely watching his every movement.

"What are you doing?" Pax's voice was still hoarse from the previous night. He rubbed away the sleep.

"I don't trust you."

"I don't trust you either."

"Humpf!" Boovoo turned her back towards Pax. She venomously looked over her shoulder. "If it were me - and me alone-, I would have let you drown," she said, "but Kain... Kain just had to jump in and save you. That bloody raven!"

Boovoo kicked some dust at Pax before throttling off once again.

Pax clenched his fists. He had never asked to be here. He never asked to be saved. It's not his fault that he was still there. They could have easily called for help. They could have easily dropped him at the nearest hospital.... So why hadn't they already? What were they waiting for?

"If you're dying to get rid of me, why don't you ring an ambulance? One phone call and I'm out of your life for good."

"Don't you think I wouldn't have already done it if it were so simple?!"

"Give me my phone and I'll call them myself."

Boovoo snorted. She dug in the backpack, took out his smartphone and threw it at Pax.

His phone was still damp and its black screen was shattered.

Pax hit the on-button. A dadadam could be heard as the phone booted. The dadadam was followed by a faint beep. One image covered the whole screen.

Dead battery.

Shit.

"You haven't got a recharger by any chance, now do you?"

"Ha!" Boovoo sneered. She circled the admiral blue cape before plumping down, her back towards Pax.

That
was
it.

Where a tsunami gives notice before destruction, Pax's emotions always came without a warning. They raged more powerful than a hurricane and were deadlier than any natural disaster. He couldn't control them once they hit him. He could only drown.

The intensity of his emotions scared him to death, but he was petrified of finding out what he was capable of when his vision turned red.

He clenched his fist. He pierced his skin with his nails and hoped the physical pain would temper the storm clouds accumulating in his brain. He focused on the pain. The sweet agonizing pain, the muting pain.

As the thunder clouds dissolved bit by bit, the red covering his chest, neck and bottom part of his face retreated. Thank goodness it hadn't reached his eyes yet.

Pax's raging bull breaths slowed. His breathing became more even as he finally calmed down.

He opened his eyes and looked around.

That vixen was minding her own business the other side of the camp and no broken bottles or smashed gear surrounded Pax.

No harm done.

Pax sighed relieved, but there was something wrong. Something was missing, or rather someone.

Where was Kain?

Pax put his phone in his pocket and got up, slowly but steadily. He leaned against the tree behind him.

Where could he be?

A soft scraping noise arrested Pax's attention.

He limped towards the noise. The scraping sound grew louder as Pax dragged himself further up a small hill. The sound eventually got lost in the rustling of water.

Slippery rocks led to a wide river.

A variety of snapped off twigs and cut off branches were scattered all over the river bank. In the middle of them sat Kain. He ferociously twined smaller twigs between bigger branches, holding everything together with some rope.

Thank goodness. He's alright.... Maybe he can clarify the "not being in the hospital" situation?

"I was wondering," Pax said as he approached Kain, "why no one has come and gotten me yet. It's been at least a day now. I should be laying in the hospital with these injuries."

"A sprained knee and some superficial cuts and bruises are really not worth the hospital bills. All you need is plenty of rest and your body will heal itself."

"Yeah, but my parents must be worried. When I get taken to the hospital they will call the police and they will inform my parents."

"Then I'll take you to the hospital. We'll go by boat the moment this sweetie here is finished."

"You could also just call 911...."

Kain's face turned red. "Don't have a signal around here, but you too have a phone with you. Maybe you can try to call them?"

"I already tried. Dead battery."

"That's a shame." Kain suppressed a smile. "Well, look on the bright side: in a day or two this boat will be seaworthy, and if my calculations are correct we'll reach civilization in less than five days. Now go give your knee some rest. I've asked Boovoo to take good care of you while I'm arranging our transportation. Hup you go."

There was something fishy about all this. Why hadn't Kain called 911 yet and why was he lying about the reason?

What was he hiding?

The smug smile on his face revealed he already knew about Pax's phone.

Had he done something with it? Was Pax's phone already busted when Kain had found it or did he shatter that phone himself?

Face it: a phone hardly breaks from being thrown in a river together with a body.... Why the hell was Pax thrown in a river anyway? Was it another lie they've told him? Or was it the truth? Did they do it themselves or was it that - Pax shivered.

Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts, happy thoughts.

What the hell was going on?!

Pax was determined to find out the truth. A frontal attack wasn't recommended: his questions had already highered Kain's defense mechanism.

Pax could clearly see how Kain's overall demeanor towards him had changed during the conversation. The soft look in his with black circulled eyes had turned into stone.

As Kain stood up, a threatening aura surrounded him. With every step Kain took towards Pax, its dark tentacles closed Pax in. They slowly suffocated the poor lad.

Pax wanted to run. He wanted to scream his lungs out for help, but instead he froze. It's no time to faint, he kept repeating in his head. No time to fai-

Coincidence heard his prayers and came to Pax's rescue: a small beam of light reflected through the lense of Kain's phone into Pax's eyes. It lasted merely a second, but it was long enough for Pax to realize what it reflected and where the item in question was: in Kain's back pocket.

Pax had to get his hands on that phone, but Kain watched his every movement.... Maybe fainting wasn't such a bad idea after all?

When Kain's back pocket was in arms' reach, Pax did what he had only seen done in movies: he faked fainting.

In the tumult he meticulously caused, he took Kains phone out of his back pocket and slipped his own phone back in. While Kain was focused on trying to get Pax regain consciousness, Pax sneaked Kains phone in his own back pocket.

Soon Pax regained consciousness. Sweat formed on his forehead as he sheepishly smiled at Kain.

"Guess you were right when you said I needed to rest," he said, "I better go lay down. Nah, you don't have to help. I - I can go back on my own. I feel strong enough. Really."

"I'm not letting you go on your own. You just fainted, for goodness' sake! If you don't want me to help, I'll call Boovoo to accompany you."

"Nah, I'm fine. You don't have t -"

Kain's whistle drowned out Pax's words.

Boovoo came rushing to the river bank. "What's wrong?"

"Pax just fainted. Could you please accompany him back to the camp? Don't let him out of your sight again."

Kain's last words sent a shiver through Pax's spine. He had to get out of there.

Now.

No matter how hard Pax tried, he couldn't convince them he could get back to the camp on his own.

Boovoo followed Kain's orders to the letter and escorted Pax back to the camp, watching his every movement with hawk eyes.

When they reached the top of the hill, Pax glanced over his shoulder at Kain. Kain stared back at him. Without breaking eye contact, Kain tapped the side of his nose.

Shit.