Anna And Eric

"It's Anna and Eric!" Rachel nearly cheered while rushing towards the front door with the two men in tow, she flung open the door and poked her head out, "It's about time, some of us were getting worried!" Rachel yelled out with a smile,

The trio watched as the pair began to jog towards the door lightly and as soon as they reached the door, JJ pushed forward, pulling Anna into a hug, "Fuck me, guys, thank god you're alright," JJ sighed in relief as Anna let out a small giggle,

"Wow, JJ, I never knew how close we were," Anna lightly joked as the jock pulled back,

JJ chuckled and turned toward's Eric, who too was quickly pulled into a one arm hug, "Come back for the first time in months, and you get lose in a fucking blizzard, I should kick your ass,"

"What can I say, James, I'm a sucker for a good view and that tower...phew, man, it was amazing," The brown-haired teen joked back,

"Where's-" Brian began to ask only to be taken over by a girl screaming out in joy and relief,

"ANNA!" Nicole all but wailed from the stairs she was slowly walking down. The blonde girl stepped past the others and entered the lodge just in time for Nicole to pounce at the girl, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, you're okay! You're okay!" Nicole babbled as she squeezed her best friend with all her might,

"Yeah..." Anna groaned as she lightly pushed on Nicole's shoulders, "N-Nikki, you're sorta killing me,"

A small murmuring laugh was shared as Nicole willfully ignored Anna, shaking the blonde either way as she continued to hold her in her arms, "Don't you ever do that to me again! You hear me, ever Anna! We always promised to be together forever, and if you go, then that means I have to go, got it!?"

"Nikki, relax, I was fine, we just stayed in the tower for the night, no problem at all," Anna continued to assure the redhead, "Hey, seriously, it's okay," Anna warmly continued,

Nicole let out a slow breath and gave Anna a swift kiss on the cheek, "Okay," Nicole finally sighed as her grip loosened, "Thank god,"

"Where's Zoey and Kenny?" Brian finally asked while looking at Eric, did you see them on the way back?"

Eric's face turned pale, and Anna felt Nicole's hold slightly retighten on her, "Z-Zoey's not here?" Eric stammered out,

"And Ken's missing too?" Anna all but gasped,

Nicole let out a low sigh and shook her head, "Oh god..." Nicole whimpered before turning around and sprinting back up the stairs,

"Nicole!" Anna called out, not wasting a second in following the girl,

"You didn't see them?" JJ asked Eric again, who could only slowly shake his head while his eyes bugged out. With a snap turn, JJ returned to the closet, "Rachel, you call the Rangers," JJ commanded as he reached in the closet and tossed Brian his coat. As Brian and JJ both quickly dressed, Eric stumbled towards the pair, looking like a lost dog, unsure what he should even be doing. "We'll go out there and find Ken's trail if Zoey's not there with him, or if neither are there, we'll head to the fire tower. Chances could be good that they let out to the tower at first light, maybe trying to see if anyone was still there,"

"Right, if they aren't there then we just start searching the woods, they've got to be around here somewhere," Brian sternly agreed,

"T-They were out there all night?" Eric gulped, "Guys, we didn't see them at all, a-and Zoey ran away during our hike,"

"I don't give a shit about all that, we need to get out there and find them, either they're held up, or they need help, or..." JJ said before pausing and looking down with pursed lips, "No, they're out there C'mon,"

"Let me come too," Eric said while following the pair towards the door, "You'll need the extra set of eyes,"

"If you can do it, then fine," Brian nodded, "But stick close, we can't lose anyone during the search,"

"Let's go," JJ grunted as he pulled open the lodge front door, only he, Brian, and Eric froze as Zoey and Kenny stood in front of them. Kenny slightly jumped as he was mere seconds from opening the door himself while Zoey's eyes locked on Eric's, she had almost no emotion, almost as if she was looking past him. "Ken!" JJ shouted out while yanking his best friend inside, "Fuck! You're alright! I thought you were dead!"

"Kenny!" Rachel chimed in as she jogged back towards the front door, leaning over and planting a small kiss on his cheek,

"You had us scared there, pal, thought you turned into a Clarkicle" Brian joked as he gave the teen a small sock on the shoulder, "Where the hell were you two?"

"In a cave, made a fire and just waited the night out," Kenny replied as he glanced over to Zoey who was still deadlocked with Eric, who was now staring back in worry,

"Um...Zoey?" Eric nervously asked,

"I...I need to take a bath," Zoey mumbled out as she finally took her eyes off the teen, "E-Excuse me," Zoey whispered while stepping past the huddled group,

"Zoey, hey, are you okay?" Eric gently asked as he slowly followed the girl who ignored him completely,

"Shit...is she alright?" JJ asked with a raised brow,

"I mean, we don't know her that well, but she wasn't like that the other day," Rachel pointed out, "Ken, do you know anything? How freaked out was she during the storm?" The college girl asked in concern,

"Uh...yeah, that's probably the issue," Kenny lied while rubbing the back of his neck, "It was a scary situation, she thought we were gonna die,"

"No shit, let's be honest here, I think a few of us had that worry too," Brian muttered before shutting his eyes and letting out a long sigh, "Listen, man, uh...for what it's worth, I'm sorry,"

"Sorry?" Kenny asked in confusion,

"I was the one who made the call yesterday; I had to get the others back to the lodge before the storm overtook us all, I...I was the one who chose to leave you, Zoey, Anna, and Eric outside,"

'Are Anna and Eric back?!" Kenny asked with a set of wide eyes,

"Got back only a few minutes before you did," JJ easily smiled, "Some fucking miracle that you were all safe,"

"No kidding," Kenny agreed, "On top of everything else, the cave we stayed in almost collapsed or something this morning, did you guys feel that earthquake?"

"Earthquake, the hell are you talking about?" Brian asked in confusion while the others looked at the teen perplexed,

"Yeah, the ground shook, we heard a bang, probably a tree of something falling and dust and rocks fell from the fucking cave ceiling,"

"Uh, no, man," JJ replied while an unsure shrug, "We didn't notice anything,"

"Weird," Kenny mumbled back. After a moment of silence, Kenny shook his head, "Right, well, I want to shower off, change, get warm," Kenny listed before chuckling. "Plus, I think I should let Nikki and Mindy know I'm back," Brian's eyes slightly grew for a second, but he remained silent, "I'll be back down in a bit, but at least you can all relax now," He grinned,

"True that man," JJ sighed while giving his friend one more slap on the back.