“We’re we headed again?” Chris asked, placing his bag unto the cargo area of the small airplane.

“Fiji, or some other island near Fiji.” Justin shrugged, looking at the plane ticket that Johnny gave him.

“I thought it was Guam or the Bahamas.” Lance added.

“The point is, we are headed to an island where there’s a beach and sand, and we can all relax and take a break.” Justin sighed.

Justin was right, the guys have been working hard and performing nearly every other day, luckily Johnny told them that they deserved a break to a tropical landscape away from managers and the press. At least two weeks in a tropical getaway was all they needed.

“This plane is a little small isn’t it?” JC wondered.

“It’s good for the five of us and that pilot guy that’s gonna fly us.” Joey replied.

JC nodded slowly and greeted the pilot who was standing at the entrance, wearing a small smile on his face, he was a middle-aged man, didn’t really speak much, just a simple hello.

“Doesn’t the pilot guy look a bit weird to you?” Chris whispered.

“I thought I was the only one that noticed he looked odd.” JC told him.

Justin sighed “You guys are overreacting; the pilot probably doesn’t know English and can only say a few words.” He took a seat next to the window, and Lance sat next to him, placing his bag on the overhead.

Chris and JC just shrugged and took a seat behind them, with Joey following closely behind. They fastened their seatbelts and saw the plane’s propellers turn on, it started off as a sputter at first, but then it went on full blast. The plane started to ascend and drifted into the clouds.

About twenty-minutes into the flight, Lance told the guys “How long is the flight anyway?”

“Um, about maybe two hours I believe.” Justin said typing away in his laptop and adjusting the glasses on his eyes.

Joey was sitting behind them munching on a bag of chips and laughing at the movie he was watching, which was “The Goonies.”

Chris was playing Tetris on his Gameboy, while JC was sleeping.

Just then, the plane started to tremble.

“What’s going on?” Chris asked, jumping out of his seat and looking out the window, and saw an ocean, that is all, just an ocean.

Joey turned off the movie and also looked out the window, the plane was still trembling.

“I’m gonna go see the pilot.” Justin added, the other guys followed behind him, grabbling onto the seats so they won’t lose their balance.

When they reached the cockpit, to their surprise, the door was unlocked. They peeked inside and saw that no one was there, the pilot wasn’t even there.

“What the hell?!” Chris yelled.

“Where’s the pilot? Who’s flying this plane?” Lance asked a worried look on his face.

JC looked for a button that had auto-pilot on, but there was nothing. “We’re gonna have to fly this plane.” He said his voice a little shaky.

All five of them frantically looked for the necessary buttons to stop the plane from trembling, but nothing was working. The plane started to descend into the waters.

“Nothing is working on this plane!” Joey shouted.

“We’re losing altitude.” JC said, trying to keep calm.

“It’s out of control!” Justin replied, pushing more buttons, but for some reason, the plane wasn’t responding to any of them.

“I knew that pilot was up to no good.” Chris muttered angrily.

“Chris, this is no time to point fingers, what we have to do is try to gain control of this plane.” Lance added, flipping the pages on the manual.

Buzzers started ringing on the plane, and they were descending quickly into the deep blue ocean.

JC was still trying to fly the plane, but nothing. He felt a hand on his shoulder, looking back he saw that it was Joey, his eyes were a bit watery. He took Joey’s hand and squeezed it, and then Joey held Justin’s hand. They all held hands and hugged eachother tightly waiting for whatever will happen. Shortly after, the small plane submerged into the water and everything went black.

Chris

Chris was choking on the water that was in his mouth, everything was a blur to him, he looked around frantically, trying to regain his vision, and he saw tons of debris floating on the surface. Searching for a sign that his friends were okay, he didn’t see anything, or anyone for that matter. He started moving the debris around, and swimming trying to get the feeling back in his legs. He called out for help to see if anyone could hear him, but there was no answer. Gazing around the debris field and the ocean, he saw an island in the distance, thinking that he should swim there, but was having second thoughts.

“What if the guys are around here somewhere and they need help?” Chris thought to himself.

Sighing, he called out the guys names again, the only sound was a seagull that was flying above him in the sky. Looking at the island that was in the distance, it didn’t seem far, so he decided to swim to it. He tried so hard not to cry, it pained him that he was leaving the debris field behind, he couldn’t stand the fact that they were injured or worse. Trying to think positive, he thanked God for surviving the crash, and if he survived this, then that meant that the guys survived it, wherever they were.

JC

JC groaned and winced at the sudden pain on his head, he opened his eyes and stared in front of him, apparently he still had his hands gripped on the gear of the small jet, glancing around slowly, he looked around the cockpit to see if the guys were alright, he let out a gasp when none of them weren’t there, in fact there was nothing at all. The whole back of the plane was gone, the only thing that was there was a trail and trees.

“How is that possible?” JC spoke out loud; he was thinking all of the things that may have happened to the guys, his best friends, his brothers, for that matter.

Getting up from the seat, and trying to regain consciousness on his wobbly legs, he wondered if he could try to get help, he saw a voice recorder on the dashboard, picking it up, only to realize that it had been damaged from the crash. Frowning, he placed the broken voice recorder back, and walked down the trail in search for the others. The pain that he had on his head, seemed to throb with every walk he took, he was afraid that he could just pass out right in the middle of the trail and no one won’t even know anything. But something made him keep going, he was determined that the guys were okay. He picked up a branch and started to hike, and later found a small stream. The stream was clear and cool, it felt nice in his hands, in the reflection of the stream, he could see the bruise that was on his head. Carefully, he picked up some water from his hands and gently washed his face, digging to his pocket to see if he had some sort of napkin, he was surprised that he actually had one. Dabbing the napkin into the water, he placed it on his forehead, and decided to keep it there while he hiked the trail.

“This oughta do for now.” JC said to himself.

He picked up the stick from the ground and started to follow the trail, wherever it lead.

Justin

“This has got to be some sort of freakin miracle.” Justin muttered to himself.

He was on top of a palm tree, with an injured foot, “I don’t know how I got into a tree but I’m not complaining.” Blinking his eyes rapidly and pinching himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, he frowned when he realized that he was alone, glancing around nervously to find his friends, his heart sank when he saw the debris plane field in the distance floating on the ocean. Looking around, he actually had a pretty good view, he was surrounded by trees of all kinds, that’s all he saw thick shrubs and the ocean. Maybe he can try to spot any of the guys if he was up here. He tried to stand up, but realized that his foot wasn’t cooperating. He was only wearing one flip-flop, and had no idea where the other one went.

Slowly, he tried again. His idea was to climb down the palm tree to find some help. The only problem with his foot was that it was swollen, and a minor cut on it. He decided to use a palm leaf, to see if he can tie it around his foot, so that way, it won’t get infected or worse than it already was

“Well, it doesn’t look like a doctor’s bandage, but this would do for now.” Justin said.

He managed to climb down from the palm tree, slowly yet cautiously, careful not to poke his eye out with the pointy palm leaves. After with much difficulty, he let out a relief when his feet touched the warm moist sand. The sand felt good on his foot, he decided to walk barefooted since he was on the sand.

“Walk this way.” He silently sang to himself. Thinking back when they all performed with “Aerosmith” at the Superbowl. While he was walking down the sandy trail, he frowned again; thinking about the guys, and really hoped that he would be able to see their dorky faces again.

“That performance was just last year.” Justin said to himself. He kept thinking that maybe he can try to walk up to where the ocean was, before nightfall; he called out their names, to see if they were around. All he had in return was the sound of a bird in the distance.

Sighing he continued to walk, he was limping when he was walking, but nothing or no injury was gonna stop him from finding his friends.

Joey

Joey laid floating on top of a cooler, he was cold and damp, and felt like bait and looked like he was just waiting to get eaten by a shark. He sneezed and felt empty, he thought that he had lost all of his friends and was the only survivor. But he decided to remain positive, and try to figure out what to do next. From a distance, he could see a small cave, and it wasn’t too far from where he was. Using the remaining of his strength, he paddled with his feet towards the direction of the cave. After what seemed like hours, he finally reached the cave, the cave had a few rocks and water came in, but if he moved deeper into the cave, the water wouldn’t reach that far.

“This looks like a good spot.” Joey said, placing the cooler down the sandy ground.

He opened the cooler, surprised that there was plenty of food in it, he opened up a bottle of juice and drank from it. Placing the bottle inside the cooler, he sighed and looked outside from the entrance of the cave. From the looks of the weather, it looked like it was gonna rain and thunder, and the ocean looked a bit rough. He stood outside to looked around once more to see if he saw any sort of movement or heard any cries for help.

Sighing again, he crept back inside the cave and sat down on the sandy ground.

“Tomorrow I’m gonna take a walk on the wild side.” He said to himself and tried to find a spot so he can sleep, there wasn’t much to do now that it was starting to get dark and gloomy. He just prayed silently to himself that everything was gonna be alright.

Lance

Lance tried to squint into the darkness. “Where the heck am I? I can’t see a thing.” He felt a strong wind coming from both ends from somewhere; he used his hands to see if he can find anything. He felt seats, and buttons, and he realized that he was on the plane.

I’m alive?” He whispered, and thanking God that he was, he froze and thought about his friends.

“Were they okay? If they were, then where were they?” Lance tried to figure it out, and sat down on a seat when he felt something beneath him, getting up quickly, he tried to make out what it was, picking up the black object from the seat. Realizing it was a flashlight, he couldn’t believe his luck.

Flicking the button switch to on, a shimmer of light cast an eerie shadow on the plane, he let out a gasp that it wasn’t even the whole plane. In fact, the cockpit and the tail was missing, and he was smack dab in the middle with all of their luggage.

“Who knows where they ended up?” Lance asked himself and thinking sad thoughts, he plopped down back on the seat and stared at the broken plane window, all he saw were trees and darkness. The only source of light was the flashlight, and at that moment, he felt really scared.

“Someone would find us, I’m sure they will.” Lance stared at the window once more and prayed that morning can come quickly, so that way he can try to find the guys or some sort of hope that they were okay. He also thought about their parents, let alone, his parents.

“I hope they aren’t taking it too hard.” Lance said. He sighed and tried to close his eyes to see if he can catch some sleep, and waited the long hours until morning.

Chris

Chris groaned when he felt something salty in his mouth, spitting it out, he realized that he was sand, lying face down on a sandy island.

“Did I fall asleep here or something?” He asked looking around and trying to remember what happened the day before.

I was trying to swim for shore when something grabbed my ankle, and pulled me below the surface, in a panic, I tried to escape the invisible force, thrashing and kicking the murky sea waters around me, I must’ve swam really fast that I managed to rise up to the surface and swim the rest of the way.

Chris cocked his eyebrow and looked at his ankle; a chunk of seaweed was wrapped tightly on it.

“This must’ve been what brought me down, seaweeds can be stubborn, the more you pull at them, the harder they bring you down.” Chris said to himself.

Sighing he tried to take the seaweed off his ankle, he managed to pull it off, and tossed it aside. Getting up from the spot he was sitting on, he looked around the island, it was more sand then anything, just a few palms here and there.

“Maybe if I go deeper into those trees, I may find some fruit.” Chris thought.

Looking at the ocean in front of him; he couldn’t find the debris field anymore, it probably sunk during that storm last night, it’s funny, cause he didn’t even remember the storm, he must’ve been asleep through the whole thing.

Thinking that the island he was on was gonna be his substantial habitat until search and rescue came, he decided to give it a name, a sign of some sort. Placing his hands on his sides he decided to put that stubborn seaweed on an old log that he found. The log wasn’t that heavy so he managed to stand it up on a nearby palm tree.

“There.” He said, looking at the old log with the seaweed hair on it, he decided to carve his name on the log as well, just in case the guys would show up, he still had that hope.

“Chris was here.” He carved out his name using a sandy rock and put it next to log.

He then backed away from the log and headed to the trees to look for some fruit.

JC

JC had been up really early, which was odd for him cause he was not a morning person, but he couldn’t really sleep cause he had a million thoughts running through his head. The trail he had been walking on, was just endless with deep shrubs everywhere, no sign of sand, beach, or anything. Just a few ponds of water here and there, and some wild birds calling. Probably watching his every move, ready to attack him. He walked at a faster pace and carried a stick in his hands.

“I bet you it’s nothing, and it’s just my imagination running wild again.” He gave a nervous chuckle.

He looked behind him to see if anything or anyone was following him, was someone calling his name? He decided to run; he was a pretty good runner after all.

Justin

“JC!” Why is that guy running for?” Justin groaned and ran behind him. “Man this kid is fast.”

JC! It’s me Justin!” He managed to call out, but the thick shrubs of the trees drowned out his calls.

The pain on his foot was unbearable, and he couldn’t really run fast enough to reach him. He let out an angry cry.

“Damn it!.” He cursed and sat down on a rock, he looked at the trail that JC was on, getting up from the rock, he had to reach him, somehow, he had to, pain, or no pain.

He called out JC’s name again, louder this time, he whistled, to see if he could hear him, Justin prayed that he hoped he did, at least he knew that he was alive.

Joey           

“Okay.” Joey sighed and ate a muffin that was in the cooler, he decided to only eat small portions, just in case the guys were around, he didn’t wanna be greedy and eat all of the food. He woke up feeling positive and he felt that this was gonna be a good day. Morning sunlight poured into the cave he was in. Drinking a carton of orange juice, he headed out of the cave, and carefully walked on the rocks, so he won’t slip on them.

The ocean was a bit rough this morning, perfect to go surfing, he smiled to himself, and thought about Chris, who loved to surf, and once surfed through a hurricane. Sighing he managed to get his feet on the sand and walked the direction of the trees.

Lance

Lance made a mental note so he wouldn’t forget where the plane was, after all, even though that both the tail and the cockpit were missing, he had luggages still, with first aid kits, and extra clothing. These things were important, on the floor he saw a cellphone, practically leaping to it, he grabbed it.

The screen was cracked, but maybe he would be lucky, and it would turn on. Looking it over, he realized that it was Joey’s cellphone; he pressed the power button and waited for the screen to light up. To his surprise, it did, and the picture of Joey’s dorky face came into view, even though the screen was cracked. Checking the battery, he saw that it had three bars left, that was enough to call for help. He went outside to see if he can get a reception, and frowned when the screen said no signal.

Looking at the screen, he saw a few missed calls from his parents, his sister, and even Johnny. Deciding the cell phone would become in handy, he put it in his pocket and decided to walk and go see if he can find something to eat, either a banana or a mango or something. After all, this was an island, I’m sure there was food around. Using a water bottle that he found on plane, he splashed water on his face, and took a sip of it. He didn’t care whose water bottle it was, and he didn’t realize he was so thirsty. Putting the top back on the bottle, and Joey’s cell phone in his pocket, maybe walking a distance can get the phone working again. Leaving a trail, so he can make his way back to the plane, he embarked on his journey.

Chris

Chris squinted at the tree with a bright orange and juicy mango, he didn’t realize how hungry he was, and this tree was full of mangoes. Climbing the tree, he managed to grab a few mangos, and he took a big bite out of it.

“I feel like some sort of wild animal.” Chris chuckled to himself, tearing the skin off the mango and sucking on the juice.

He didn’t care if his hands were all sticky, cause he was sitting down on the tree enjoying them, Chris didn’t know if his eyes were playing tricks on him or what, but from where he was at, he could see someone walking through the path of trees in the distance. Standing up on the tree to get an even better view, he uttered a gasp when he realized who it was, it was JC running through the trees like he was in some sort of race.

Chris wanted to fly to him, but that wasn’t possible, and he managed to call out his name, JC! JC! HEY! He shouted frantically, being careful not to fall down from the tree, thinking quickly he climbed down from the tree and landed on his feet. Trying to figure which direction JC went, he called out his name again.

JC

“Ok, this time I heard that.” JC said, he finally stopped running and let out a whoosh of air trying to ease his breathing and heart rate. He decided to listen again, and he heard someone calling his name. He listened hard, and realized that it was Chris.

Chris?” He whispered, looking around frantically. Chris! CHRIS! Are you here? Where are you?” He shouted, it looked like Chris had heard him, cause his voice was coming closer and louder.

JC called him again, he wanted to cry tears of joy and reach out to him, but it seemed that this was taking forever, and then out of nowhere, Chris appeared in a shrub of bushes and just stood there for a moment looking at JC.

“JC” Chris whispered.

“Chris, is it really you?” JC choked out, trying to hold back the tears from coming.

“Of course it’s me you dweeb.” Chris joked.

JC let out a cry that sounded more like a laugh, and he ran up to him and gave him a big hug.

“I thought I was never gonna see you again.” JC said softly.

“Same goes for me, I thought I was the only survivor, I didn’t know what to do, I ended up in the water, I really thought that I-Chris didn’t realize that he too, had tears coming, and JC let the tears come in. It’s not everyday that Chris cried, so this was a moment between the two of them.

“It’s okay Chris, it’s alright.” JC reassured.

“I’m glad that I found you, heck we found eachother, what were you running from anyway?” Chris wondered, pulling away from their embrace.

JC laughed, “You saw me running? How?” Did you get superpowers from that plane crash?”

“No, I was in a tree, indulging myself in mangoes, and that’s how I saw you.” Chris noticed that JC had a bruise on his head.

“It was far worse before, I put some water on it and I covered it with a napkin.” JC said, he could see that Chris was a bit worried, but maybe he was right, it did get him this far., so he shouldn’t be worried.

“Maybe salt water is good for that.” Chris asked him.

“I haven’t found any source of water besides dirty old marshes.” JC said with a laugh.

“The beach is back there.” Chris replied simply, pointing to the direction where he was before.

“You’re serious?”

“I’m serious.” Chris said with a smile and motioned him to follow him.

JC saw that Chris was carrying a mango in his hand, “Um Chris, may I have that mango?”

Chris just chuckled and said “Sure Jace, I forgot I had it, and I’m gonna go show you where I got it from.” He gave JC the mango and watched him devour it.

“This is really good.” JC said with a satisfied grin.

“Yeah it is, it’s sweet, totally different than the ones they have in supermarkets.” Chris replied with a chuckle.

JC agreed and finished up the mango, he then said “Hey, do you think that we’ll find the others, or someone would look for us?”

Chris thought for a moment, “Well, we found eachother, and if we made it out alive, then they probably did as well, I’m sure of it.”

JC nodded, and he was glad that Chris was there, and Chris felt the same for him.

Justin

As Justin was trying to embark the trail that JC had just ran, he didn’t know where he was at that moment, he tried calling out his name, but no luck. Justin sighed and found a stream nearby, he was suddenly very thirsty, and cupped his hands to drink the cooling water. The water felt good when it passed through his mouth and down his throat. After washing his face, he found shoeprints near the stream, they weren’t his, and so it either could’ve been JC’s shoeprints or someone else. The shoeprints led down a wooded marsh away from the stream, and it looks like they have been running, and so he decided to follow them.

Eating an orange that he found on a tree, and following the footprints, and he noticed that they stopped, and he saw another pair of footprints. But it was somewhat dryer than the ones he found earlier at the stream. He let out a long low whistle to see if anyone was nearby, all he heard were the usual sounds of creatures. Sweat trickled down his forehead, and he wondered what time it was.

He called out the guys names again, nothing. Sighing, he saw that the two pairs of shoeprints walked away together and it led down to a wooded clearing. He followed it, and it led him to a beach, a sandy one at that. And Justin didn’t know if his eyes were playing tricks on him or what, but what he saw were Chris and JC, trying to make a fort together.

Justin gasped and called out. “CHRIS! JC, HEY!” And he ran up to them, he really hoped that this wasn’t some sort of sick joke.

“So you place this here, and then I’ll go get the rest of the fruit.” Chris asked JC.

JC nodded when he stopped and said, “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That, listen.”

JC and Chris listened, and he was right, someone was calling them; they looked to the direction of where the sound was coming from, and sure enough, it was Justin, running to them.

They both dropped what they were doing and ran up to them as well.

“JUSTIN!” They cried.

“Oh my god it’s really YOU!” Justin responded, the tears streaming down his face.

“I thought we were never gonna see you again!” Chris explained, giving him a bonecrushing hug.

“Dude, where were you, I got lucky that I found Chris, we’ll explain that to you later.” JC said.

“I ended up in a freakin palm tree, and look my foot is injured.” Justin replied showing them.

“It looks infected.” JC told him.

“I cleaned it up with water, and wrapped it up with some leaves I found, but I guess that didn’t work out so well.” Justin frowned and looked at JC. “Dude, do you know I saw your running?”

“I thought I’d heard something, but I got scared and so I ran, and then I found Chris.” JC explained.

“I was calling you and everything, but you just flew away.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” JC said quietly.

Chris just burst out laughing.

“That’s not funny.”

“It sure is.” Chris chuckled then turned serious, “Ok ok, um we have to get this tent thing up before nightfall.

“That’s not a tent Chris.” Justin joked.

“Well, let’s pretend it’s a tent Curly.” Chris said, motioning him to go sit down before his foot gets even more infected.

They completed the task and the sun was beaming down on them, it was really hot and they haven’t really drank any fresh water.

“I’m so thirsty.” Justin said, smacking his lips, “I did find a stream back there, but I have no idea where it is now.”

“I think I know which stream you’re talking about, I passed by it the other day.” JC responded.

“But do we have something to carry it in, like a jar or something?” Chris asked, looking around the sandy dune. All he saw were shells and rocks.

“Justin, I don’t think you’ll be able to walk right now, until that foot of yours is healed, or until we receive some assistance, if you want me and Chris can go get the water, maybe we’ll find something on the way, I don’t think it wasn’t that far.” JC explained.

“Yeah you can monitor the tent.” Chris joked, “and be on the lookout for search and rescue.”

Justin nodded and sat down on the sand, eating an orange.

“Unless Chris can go by himself, he has great survival skills you know.” JC added. JC didn’t really wanna leave Justin alone, but he didn’t wanna leave Chris alone either.

Chris saw what was going on, “Jace, it’s okay, I’ll go, you stay here with him.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want nothing to happen to you.” Justin said.

“Pssh, I’ll be fine.” Chris asked, walking towards the trail.

“Be careful okay?” JC called out to him.

Chris gave him a salute, and headed onto the trail of the wooded area.

Joey didn’t how long he had been walking, he’s been eating fruit for the past hours, I mean, that’s what he thought. He started to whistle a familiar tune when he came across something, from a distance he could see the cockpit of a plane.

“Could it be the plane that they were all on?” Joey thought to himself, he ran up to the cockpit, his heart sank when he didn’t see anything, or anyone for that matter.

“This is where we all were before we crashed.” He told himself quietly.

Sighing he looked around the cockpit area to see if he could find anything, no luck; that is, until he heard something rustling in the trees, he grabbed the nearest branch for protection.

“Who’s there?” Joey called out.

The rustling in the trees grew louder.

“Hello?” Gripping the branch and waiting for the creature to jump out of the bushes.

When it did appear however, he almost knocked the person out cold.

“Joey wait! Put that down!” Lance frantically shouted.

Joey let out a gasp and barely choked out words, “Lance?” He whispered.

Lance sighed when he saw that Joey put the branch down, “Yes Joey, it’s me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Joey blurted out.

“I didn’t know, at first I thought I was hearing things, but then I figured it was you.” Lance explained.

The fright on Joey’s face was soon replaced with a smile. “I-I thought I wasn’t gonna see you again.”

“I thought so too.” Lance said, pulling him into a hug, then stopped when he saw that he was near the cockpit.

“You found the cockpit?” Lance responded.

“I guess I did, but didn’t find anything in it, I can’t even find the radio.” Joey explained.

“Well you are in luck, cause I did find the other half the plane with all of our suitcases, it’s back there.” Lance replied pointing to the trail behind him.

“Really?” Joey beamed.

“Yep.”

“That’s awesome dude, oh by the way, in case you are wondering where the cooler is, I have it safe and sound in a cave back there.” Joey explained.

“In a cave, you sure no wild animal is gonna eat it?” Lance asked.

“Hopefully not.”

“Oh that reminds me, I found your cell phone, the reception is not that strong, so I just brought it with me just in case.” Lance replied.

Joey smiled at him, and asked Lance if he wanted him to take him back to the cave to get some food.

“I would love that, thanks.” Lance grinned.

After a few seconds of walking, Joey told Lance, “Any words from the others, have you heard anything?”

Lance shook his head sadly, “No, nothing, I’m sorry.”

Joey frowned for a moment, but at least he had Lance.

“Don’t worry Joe, I’m sure they are around somewhere.” Lance said, giving Joey a half-smile.

Joey nodded and continued walking with him, explaining the stories of his journey, and Lance also explained his stories as well.

“Wasn’t the trail back that way?” Chris muttered to himself, he was sure that this was the trail that he had just walked on, why did it feel that it was taking so long to reach back to the shore. Carrying the two jars of water in his hands, he continued to walk the trail to see if he did find the island, only he didn’t.

“Weird.” He looked down at the trail to see if he found some sort of marking, he knew that he left a mark using the branch he was carrying, but he didn’t see it on the way back, and looking around, it was the only trail he walked on, it was like something or someone had erased the mark that he walked on.

Muttering to himself, he continued to walk but stopped when he heard the sounds of waves crashing, he let out a sigh of relief thinking that he had found the island where JC and Justin were. When he arrived there, he didn’t see anything, just a lot of rocks and a cave, and the waves crashing in. He wondered what was inside the cave, peeking, he saw a cooler, it was closed. That cooler looks really familiar to him, he gasped when he saw food and drinks in it.

“This is our cooler!” He told himself out loud, “so that means, that one of the other guys are still okay.” He grabbed a Capri Sun and drank from it, it felt so good down his throat, and took a bag of chips and started munching on it. He then heard voices coming from outside the cave, he wondered if they were vandals trying to steal the cooler, or maybe he was just overreacting.

“He walked towards the voices and jumped when he saw who it was.

“Guys?” Chris whispered.

“Chris?” Joey and Lance asked in unison.

“I really hope that you aren’t a mirage or anything, cause that’ll be a problem.” Chris rambled.

“No, its really us!” Lance explained.

Chris started to grin then let out a whoop and ran towards them, gave them a big hug.

“I thought you guys didn’t make it.” Chris said, wiping the tears from his face.

“We did.” Joey replied with a smile.

“We are all together again.” Chris asked them.

They let go of him and gasped, “You mean, you found the others?” Lance told him.

Chris nodded, “yeah we all found eachother, it was really something, cause see? I left them on an island, cause Justin injured his foot, and he told me to get some water for him, JC stayed with him cause he didn’t want to leave him alone, and so I tried to find my way back to the island, but now I can’t find the trail.”

“Wow.” Joey said in a whisper.

“I found something too, the plane is back there with all of our suitcases.” Lance asked.

“Really?” Chris gaped.

“Well, maybe some of them, I believe so, I did find Joey’s cell phone, I couldn’t find yours or mines for that matter, and there’s no reception out here either.” Lance continued.

“So do you think we can take the cooler and the suitcases back to the island, where JC and Justin are?” Chris asked them.

“Yeah why not, but let’s bring the food first for them, then we can come back and get the rest of the bags.” Joey explained.

“I have a better idea, how about if we can try to take as many bags as we can, while bringing the cooler.” Lance told them.

They thought for a moment and agreed, and Joey grabbed the cooler and walked towards the trail of where the plane was, while Lance and Chris followed him.

When they reached the plane Chris was surprised that the bags were still around, luckily they weren’t all that heavy, so they managed to grab a few bags.

“I found my bag.” Chris said happily, he zipped it open to see if anything was still missing, and found his vitamins.

“My Flintstones vitamins!” Chris responded waving the jar of vitamins in his hand.

Joey chuckled and checked his bag, then he checked JC’s bag, to see if it was heavy, he decided to bring his as well.

Lance then found his bag, it had a minor tear on it, but nothing serious, he was relieved to find some clean underwear in them, and all of his necessities, next to his bag, was Justin’s duffel bag, it wasn’t that heavy either, so they all agreed to carry them all, and hopefully it wouldn’t be that long of a walk to join the others that were waiting for them on the other end of the island.

“Justin, it’s getting late, do you think Chris got lost?” JC said, using the wood to light a fire.

“I hope not, I mean maybe he found some help or something?” Justin replied, swatting a mosquito on his arm.

“Yeah but it’s been a while since he left, and it’s almost getting dark, lightning bugs are already coming out.” JC told him, looking into the woods.

Justin was gonna say something when he heard rustling in the nearby bushes, and flashes of light bouncing around. “Do you hear that?” He whispered.

“What are those lights? Do you think there flashlights?” JC asked.

“I don’t know, its hard to see into the thick shrubs, Justin quickly got up from his spot on the tree and went to where JC was sitting, they stayed quiet for a moment and tried to listen, they heard whispers.

After what seemed like hours the flashlights flashed in JC and Justin’s faces, “Guys!” Chris shouted over the darkness of the forest.

“Chris?” Justin choked out.

“Sorry I took so long, guess who I found on the way back here.” Chris said grinning, flashing the lights over Joey and Lance’s goofy faces.

“Joey!” JC shouted.

“Lance!” Justin said.

Joey and Lance smiled and ran up to them giving them a hug.

“It’s so good to see you both.” Justin responded giving Joey a tight squeeze.

“You guys looked scared at first when Chris arrived.” Joey joked.

“Well, I thought it was someone else or something, you know search and rescue?” JC said with a nervous chuckle.

“I was just glad that we are together now.” Justin beamed.

“Yeah, and we brought food, Joey had it, he was in cave and everything, and look Lance found our bags as well, so we brought them all here.” Chris explained.

“Food?” Justin asked.

“We have to divide what we eat first you know.” JC told him.

“We know that Dad.” Justin scoffed.

He opened the cooler and took out a Little Debbie cupcake and took a bite out of it, “Oh I missed you.” Justin murmured happily.

“I brought some extra water.” Chris added, tossing them in the cooler.

The guys all sat around the glowing fire and ate what they can that was inside the cooler, careful not to eat the rest, and were each telling stories about how they each found eachother.

After a while, the guys unpacked their bags and picked out the items that they needed.

“I need a shower.” JC muttered.

“Dude, we all need a shower.” Joey added.

“Maybe we can all take a shower at the beach, we have soap.” Chris said getting a bar of soap from his bag.

“We’re lucky that Lance found our bags.” Justin said with a laugh.

“So who wants to go for a swim?” Chris joked.

“I’ll go first.” JC volunteered and grabbed the towel and a bar of soap from his bag.

“Try not to get sand in your pants.” Justin said with a laugh.

“Shut up Curly.” JC smirked.

“Don’t go too far either, be careful.” Lance called out.

“Tomorrow we should go find a body of water that contains fresh water instead of salt water.” JC called out.

“JC just get in the water and stop complaining.” Chris joked.

“Ok, ok.” JC put his toes in the water, it was surprisingly warm, he walked in until the water went up to his neck, it felt really weird swimming at the beach at night, and he could see the guys in the distance laughing about something. Grabbing the bar of soap and using its suds, he washed himself, and dipped his head into the dark waters; he felt something at the bottom of him.

“Was it jellyfish?” He thought and decided to get out of the water before anything worse happens, this time he felt a sharp pain on his ankle.

“Ouch!” JC cried.

He managed to get out of the water and reached up to where the guys were.

“Did you enjoy your shower?” Justin asked.

“Something pinched me.” JC said quietly looking at his ankle, a red bumpy rash appeared on his skin.

“Here, let me take a look.” Lance said.

All the guys huddled around JC’s ankle.

“Does anyone have some ointment?” JC told them.

“I got something in my bag, hydrocortisone something, that’s all.” Chris said.

“Guys, jellyfish are poisonous.” JC replied softly.

“Did you see the jellyfish though?” Joey asked.

“No, but it felt sharp and stringy, so that’s what I thought it was.”

JC saw that Chris was digging into the cooler, “Here, take this jar of milk, it’s still good.”

JC took the milk and drank from the jar, “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry Jace, I’m sure its nothing, maybe it was a seaweed or something, but drink the milk just in case.” Lance added.

JC nodded and finished up the rest of the milk.

“There’s no way I’m going for a swim in that water at night.” Justin frowned.

“Might as well wait until morning then.” Lance told them grabbing a sleeping bag.

After the guys finished up with their necessities and saying prayers, they each grabbed their sleeping bags and waited for the fire to die down, it was cool night, there was no moon, just and endless view of  stars.

“It’s a beautiful night.” JC said softly.

“Yeah it is.” Justin said with a sigh.

“I wonder what time is it?” Joey said.

“According to my watch it’s a little after ten.” JC told him.

“Wow, I thought it was like seven or something.” Joey chuckled.

“Alright guys, you all have a good night, we’ll see eachother in the morning hopefully” Chris responded snuggling into the sleeping bag.

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite now.” Justin joked.

“Very funny.” JC added.

The other guys laughed.

“But they’re bedbugs out there you know.” Justin said in serious tone, “You all put on insect repellent?”

The guys said “yes” in unison. After a while the guys drifted off into a dreamless sleep and waited until morning.

Bright sunlight poured over Justin’s face, shielding his eyes and uttering a slight yawn, he took a look at the other guys, noticed that Joey’s spot was empty, thinking that something had happened to him, and felt relieved when he spotted him coming back from the woods.

“Joey where were you?” Justin asked.

“Taking a crap.” Joey grinned

Justin made a face, “what did you use to, you know.” Using his hands to gesture..

“Banana leaves; it’s the law of the jungle.” Joey chuckled.

“What’s the law of jungle?” Lance asked sleepily.

“Joey just finished doing the number two.” Justin joked.

“Haha!” Chris called out.

“I’m gonna go for a dip now at the beach, gonna wash myself.” Joey said playfully and headed towards the beach.

Chris looked over at JC was still sleeping soundly, “the dude even sleeps on a freakin island, without the proper accommodations of a hotel room.”

“Check his ankle.” Justin asked.

Chris went over to check his ankle, it was slightly purple for some reason, and frowned when he saw it.

“How does it look?” Lance told him.

“It’s purple, was it purple last night?” Chris wondered.

“Not that I know of.”   Justin said.

“Maybe we should put more ointment on it, maybe that’ll work.”  Lance added.

Chris nodded and checked the bag for some ointment, got a Q-tip and dabbed it on the ankle, JC jerked a little bit and mumbled.

“Hey, you awake?” Chris told him softly.

“I am now.” He mumbled, “What are you doing?”

“We were putting more ointment on that ankle of yours, does it look infected to you?” Chris added.

JC sat up and looked at his ankle, “It doesn’t look bad, but put more on it to make sure.”

“Does it hurt when I touch it or move it?” Justin told him.

“It stings a little, but nothing serious.”

After they put the ointment on, Justin gave him a bandage to cover it with.

“Here you go Jace.”

JC took the bandage and placed it over the sting, “Thank you.” He told the rest of the guys and saw that Joey was just coming out of the water.

“Enjoyed your shower Joe?” Lance joked.

“I did.” He grinned.

“See? Joey went to the woods later and he-

Chris felt an empty box of soap land on his head. “Hey!” He shouted.

“Shut it Chris.” Joey joked.

Chris stuck his tongue out and took his towel and headed towards the water to take his shower.

“Now it’s my turn to go for a dip.” Chris smirked.

After all of the guys took their morning showers, JC decided to take a swim again, he hated the fact that he was all sticky, he found some sunblock and put it around himself, then the guys treated themselves with some fruit and what was left in the cooler, they had a few essential items, that would last a few more days, then that was it.

By the time it hit noon, the sun was beating down on them, they felt like eggs being fried, they had to stay at the beach for a good amount of hours, trying to keep themselves cool.

“Look I found fish!” Chris shouted.

“What kind?” Lance said.

“Tropical clown fish, the ones you see in pet stores.” Chris continued.

They wandered off into the deep end of the ocean, and found some real nice things, like starfish, seahorses, and they did find a few jellyfish, careful not to swim near them, they then happened to swim near a coral reef, which was where all the wonderful creatures were coming.

“This is really neat.” Joey said, peering into the clear blue waters.

“Yeah, if you are at an aquarium you have to pay for this, and over here we can see all of this for free.” JC added.

They guys all nodded yes in response, after a while, they managed to swim back to shore. When they got there, they decided to make a house, it was Chris idea.

“Chris, we can’t make a house.” Justin said.

“Sure we can, all we need is canvas and straw, it’ll be fun, come on, we’ll be just like “The Blue Lagoon.”

“But why are we making one, its not raining.” Justin continued.

“We gotta be prepared Justin for anything, God knows when people would find us.”

Justin was silent for a moment, “What are you saying Chris?”

“I am saying that we have to build one, just in case, no one comes.” Chris added.

“Chris, people are gonna find us, don’t say that.” Lance said.

“In the movie, the people never came.” Chris said quietly.

“That was a movie, that wasn’t real.” Joey told him.

“I know that guys, but still, help me out, come on.” Chris took some canvas and started measuring how the wooded house was gonna be.

“I thought you were the positive one.” Justin replied, kneeling next to him and taking the straws and untying them.

“I’m not saying that just to make you guys feel bad, I just wanna be prepared that’s all, it’s been four days already.”

“Have you been counting, I thought JC was the one that worried.” Justin said.

“I think it has been four days, I don’t know, maybe three.” Chris continued.

“Come on Chris, everything is gonna be cool, you said so yourself, that we have to be on the lookout for search and rescue, where did that positive attitude go?”

“It’s still in there.” Chris replied.

“Exactly, come on, I’ll help you build a fort or whatever you are building.”

“We’ll all help.” Joey added.

“Here take this.” JC said, giving Chris some logs to set it up.

They all worked together throughout the day, taking breaks when needed, and by the time evening hit, they managed to make a little hut, that was just perfect for the five of them.

“Are those coconut bowls Lance?” Chris said with laugh.

“Yes I had a ceramics/pottery class in high school, so I know a thing or two, I made one for each of you.” Lance responded with a smile.

“Thanks.” JC said, taking the bowl in his hand.

The temperature dropped suddenly by the time nightfall came.

“Why the heck did it get so cold?” Justin said, wrapping his arms around himself.

“Beats me, I still don’t have connection on this phone.” Joey frowned.

“Nothing?” JC asked.

“Nothing.” Joey repeated, and my battery is gonna die soon.

“Great.” Justin sighed.

“Chris got a match and lighted a fire on the log, and a small pan was heating up some Chef Boyardee.

After it was ready, they used the coconut bowls that Lance made, and some plastic spoons that was found in the cooler, and they all ate in silence, it was really quiet for some reason, it was cold and quiet, like something was in the air, but they didn’t know what, there was no moon, no stars, like the previous night, just big thick clouds, it didn’t look like it was gonna rain, so whatever the weather might bring, they all hoped that they were prepared for it, as Chris had predicted.

“Lance, Lance wake up.” Joey muttered.

Lance let out a yawn, “What, what’s going on?” He mumbled.

“Look outside.”

Lance groggily peered out of the hut and looked at a sea of white, he squinted to make sure.

“Was that snow?”

Sure enough, it was snow, a white blanket covered the whole island where the sand used to be.

“How is that possible?” Lance asked out loud.

Chris then peered out of the hut, “Ha! I was right!”

“What do you mean Chris, you knew this was coming?” Joey wondered.

“I did say that we had to prepare for the worst, so there, Jack Frost visited last night.” Chris joked.

Lance just shrugged and wondered himself, it was kinda cold last night, but did that mean anything?

Joey headed back inside the hut, along with Lance who followed, Chris was munching on cereal from the coconut bowls, Justin and JC were still asleep in their sleeping bags.

“I just thought of something.” Lance said in a whispered tone.

“What’s that?” Chris asked

Joey, who also looked at him, went to get a bowl so he can get some breakfast.

“We packed for summer clothes, all we have are swimming trunks, sandals, sunblock, we do not have sweaters, boots, or anything prepared for this.” Lance explained.

Chris was silent for a moment, Lance was right, it looked like a winter wonderland, the sun didn’t even peek into the sky, and if it didn’t come out, the snow would take longer to melt.

“We can always build a fire.” Joey told them.

“Yeah that could work, but it’ll be hard looking for firewood in that snow, especially if all we have are sandals.” Lance said.

“Hold on, let me check how deep the snow is.” Joey got up from and went outside, a cold chill blasted into his face, and he put his socks and sandals into the snow. It was ankle deep, he took a look at the beach in the distance, it had a cold shade of blue and from the looks of it, was rough and choppy.

Joey then went back into the hut, “Kinda nippy out there, the snow is ankle deep by the way.” He took his wet sock off and placed it in a corner to dry.

“What are you guys whispering about?” Justin said with a yawn rubbing his eyes.

“Christmas presents.” Chris joked.

Justin stared at Chris confused, “What do you mean?”

“There’s snow outside Curly.” Joey replied.

“You’re serious?” Without waiting for an answer he peered out of the hut and gazed at the Winter Wonderland, “Holy- He put his hand over his mouth and stared.

Heading back inside he stared at his friends, and looked at JC who was just emerging from his sleep, he had a serious case of bedhead.

“What’s wrong Justin? You have a look of shock on your face, did you lose something?” JC said simply.

Justin shook his head slowly, “No, I just find it weird that there’s snow outside, and we are on an island.”

Now it was JC’s turn to have a shocked look, and he too headed outside to see for himself.

“Wow.” He whispered, heading back into the hut, almost the same reaction as Justin.

“So much for the relaxing vacation of sun, beach, and sand.” Lance said with a sigh.

Chris chuckled a little bit at that, “well, we may not have a sunny week, but we can always go out there and make a snowman, maybe Search and Rescue will notice it.”

“Yeah maybe.” Justin said quietly, “So you got any more food in that cooler?”

Joey looked and frowned, “There’s only two little boxes of cereal left, we are out of milk as well, then there’s water and ice.”

“Wait, we’re done?” Chris asked, running towards the cooler and surprised that the food in it, was almost gone. Besides the cereal, they only had a bag of frozen peas.

“Great.” He muttered, “That means we are gonna have to search for food.”

“Bur Chris, its freezing out there, do you the think the fruit from the trees are ruined cause of the snow?” JC replied.

Chris thought for a moment, he was right, the sudden change in weather could’ve destroyed the fruits that were from the trees.

“And besides, there’s no way we could go out there without a jacket or some boots, we weren’t prepared for this kind of weather.” JC continued.

“At least we have a bag of frozen peas.” Lance said, trying to lighten the mood.

“This is ridiculous, someone was supposed to come and rescue us by now, was this some sort of plan to get rid of us or something?!” Justin argued

“It’s already been a week right?” Joey said softly.

Chris nodded, “I think so Joey, do you still have your cell phone?”

Joey reached into his pocket and pulled it out, and turned it on, only it didn’t turn on. “The battery’s dead.”

Chris groaned.

“Maybe we can try to dig through the snow, and find some firewood maybe?” Lance asked.

“All we have are sandals.” Justin responded.

“I have one pair of sneakers in my bag, I can try to make my way and there, so that way we can make a fire tonight.”

“That’s a good idea, but it’s too risky.” Chris said, “I should go, let me borrow your sneakers.”

Lance agreed and dug into his bag to search for the sneakers, it was an old pair, so it was okay for him.

“Here you go.”

Chris took the pair of sneakers and put them on, it was a kinda big for him, but the socks that he wore made them tighter, so it’ll have to do. He then took a Tshirt from his bag and a light denim jacket, it wasn’t gonna warm him much, but it was something.

“Be careful Chris.” JC said.

“I won’t go far, don’t worry, I’m sure there’s a pack of wood right at the corner.” Chris replied with a smile.

And with that he headed out of the safety of the warm hut, and into the cold freezing snow, luckily, it wasn’t snowing, but he didn’t want to wait for that chance, his plan was to get the firewood, bring it back, and light it up, hopefully, on a cloudy mid-morning, someone should’ve seen the source of light from the sky.

At The Search and Rescue Center, Clearwater, Fla

“We are doing all we can okay?” The ranger asked Justin’s mom Lynn, who was tear-streakin of what happened, when she heard the news in Memphis, Tennessee, she flew all of the way to Clearwater. Chris’s mom Bev, was also there with Joey’s parents, they lived in Orlando, so they had to drive all the way to Clearwater, to sort everything out. JC’s parents flew in from Chicago and Lance’s parents from Mississippi. Johnny kept tabs to make sure nobody thought the worst.

“So this is where the plane took off.” Erica, one of the workers at the station pointed the giant computer screen in front of her, “this is where we lost the transponder, so somewhere between here and there, that’s where their location is.”

“But Erica, that’s all water, they can be anywhere.” Johnny explained.

“I realize that sir, but we have to try.”

Johnny let out a sigh, everyone could tell that he was worried, after all, this was *NSYNC they were talking about, media already got out that they have been missing ever since that plane crash, and it’s been a week, or four-five days at least.

“How’s the weather to fly down there?” Mark, one of the chopper pilots said, who was in the dressing room putting on his gear.

“According to the map here, it looks like a big piece of ice is in the area, I don’t know why is that though, its rare for it to snow in these waters.” Erica continued.

“Ok, I’ll go get Tim so we can suit up and prepare the chopper for flight.” Mark went to the parents of the *NSYNC guys and tried to comfort them, they looked just as worried as Johnny, but they kept telling themselves that everything was gonna be alright.”

“You have to fly safe okay guys?” Erica called out to them as they headed to the backlot where the chopper was waiting, with some other rescue people.

“Will do Erica.” Mark gave her a salute and headed into the chopper, and everyone watched as the chopper slowly lifted into the air and flew over the waters of Clearwater, Florida.

Meanwhile at the island

Lance came back into the warm hut carrying a few logs in his hand, “these are all I could find guys.” He set them on the ground and tried to get warm.

“Thank you Poofoo, don’t worry, I’m gonna set this off tonight, it gets colder at night then now.” Chris explained.

Lance just nodded, while JC was just staring into blank space.

Justin caught that look and asked him if he was feeling okay, “Oh yeah, I’m fine, I’m just thinking you know?”

Justin sighed, he knew that JC worried a lot, and if he did, it made him worry too, and he didn’t want that.

Justin scooted over next to him and placed an arm on his shoulder, “Everything’s gonna be fine okay? Someone is gonna have to find us.”

“I’m not worried about that though Curly.”

“Then what are you worried about?” Justin asked.

“I’m worried about the food, what if we run out before Search and Rescue comes.”

JC was right, Search and Rescue could find them a tad little too late, and that would be awful news to the world.

“Whatever happens, we are all in this together.” Justin told him quietly, then looked over at Lance, Joey and Chris who had solemn expressions on their faces, but agreed of what Justin said.

Chris tried to lighten the mood by telling a few jokes, they had water and soup left, canned soup. That was all they had, so that’ll be dinner until the snow melts, if the snow melts.

Nearly four hours into the flight, it was the afternoon, Mark and Tim were just above the tiny islands of Guam, they were plenty of other islands and water everywhere, so they had to pinpoint where the plane crashed.

“Do you see anything down there?” Tim asked him.

“Nothing.” Mark said.

“Hopefully we’ll find something before nightfall, if not, we have to try again tomorrow morning.” Tim responded.

Mark nodded and continued maneuvering the chopper towards the other islands, he looked at the cold blue waters below, he spotted something white floating.

“Hey what’s that down there?”

Tim looked to where he was pointing. “That looks like pieces of the plane am I right?”

Mark squinted into the water and scooted the chopper over it, he used the radio to phone the station back in Clearwater, Fla.

“This is Mark, pilot number one, contacting radio control, over.”

Erica frantically took the call and listened, “Mark, Tim?”

“Erica, we found some plane debris on the ocean, near Guam, but that’s all we found, we think it’s the same plane they were all on. We’ll gonna bring some of the pieces back to do an investigation.”

“Ok, thanks for the info guys, I’ll go tell the family.” Erica turned off the call and went to where the family was.

“Hey, we have something, Mark and Tim said they found the pieces of the plane off the coast of Guam, but nothing else was found, that is all we know for now.” Erica said biting her lip.

Lynn started to cry again, while Chris’s mom Bev tried to comfort her.

Roy, JC’s dad, let out a sigh and went to go hug Karen, who also had a few tears in her eyes.

Johnny was keeping the fans updated on their fanclub, he was typing away furiously, letting them all know what the news is.

“They are gonna bring the pieces of the debris to do a further investigation.” Erica continued.

“Thank you for telling us though.” Lance’s dad, replied.

Erica nodded her head and went back to the office and waited for the rest of the news.

Joey didn’t know what time it was, it was cold that’s for sure, trying to get his eyes to focus, he saw the others still asleep, he went over to Lance who had a jacket over him, he noticed something strange in the way he looked.

“Lance?” Joey whispered, he was surprised on how warm his hand felt, he felt his forehead, which was also warmer than usual.

“Dude, you’re burning up.”

Joey headed to the cooler to go get some ice, tripping over Chris’s feet in the process.

“Joey, what’s wrong?” Chris said, his a voice groggy.

“Lance has a high fever.”

Now it was Chris’s turn to head over to Lance.

Joey was right.

“Here put this on his forehead.” Joey gave Chris the ice and wrapped it on a cloth.

Lance mumbled something then it became a bit clearer, “My eyes are stinging.”

“It’s gonna be okay buddy, I’m sure the fever would go down.” Joey said, trying to remain calm.

He scooted over next to him.

JC and Justin already woke up from the noise.

“Then that means that we are all gonna get this.” JC added.

“What makes you think that?” Chris replied.

“Well Chris, it’s so simple, one thing are immune systems are dangerously low, and we are out of food, the snow doesn’t look it’s gonna melt anytime soon, and the flu spreads like wild fire.” JC rambled.

The guys watched as JC rambled on and on, than it was his turn to panic.

“JC, calm down!” Justin said, trying to comfort him.

“How can I calm down Justin?! We are never gonna get out of here, people are gonna find us, and it’ll be too late.” JC sobbed.

It was rare for JC to break down like that, but he probably already reached his breaking point.

Chris looked at Justin and JC, then to Lance  and Joey, they were in a rather difficult situation.

“If we go, we go together alright?” Justin said, his voice breaking a bit.

“So what, we are just gonna sit here and wait?” Chris snapped.

“I guess so.” Joey said quietly.

“Might as well go back to bed.” Chris mumbled to himself and went back to his spot.

All was silent for a moment until Chris broke the silence again, “I’m sorry guys, I didn’t mean to snap like that.” He went to hug them.

Lance spoke up, “Can we just stay like this? Huddled together?”

They all nodded and waited for the time to come, if it came.

Search and Rescue Center

“Alright Tim, this is where we left off yesterday.” Mark asked.

“Yep.”

Mark and Tim were on their morning mission, trying to find some sort of hope. The debris that they brought back for investigation was indeed the plane that the *NSYNC guys were on. But that was all they found.

After few hours into the morning, they arrived at the island, and did a thorough investigation on the area.

“Mark, we have been flying since seven in the morning, it’s already two in the afternoon.” Tim asked, his face solemn.

Mark had a puzzled look on his face, he hated that missions fail, but something in him urged him to keep going.

“Let’s just continue to the last area over there.” Mark said, pointing to the foggy island in the distance.

Tim sighed and agreed, looked out the window. Just then, after a few moments into the foggy island, he noticed something.

“Hey, what’s that?” Tim asked, a bit of hope in his voice.

“It looks like a hut, do you think-?

“Get down there, now.” Tim urged.

Mark didn’t hesitate and tried to pull the chopper into the sandy area, what was weird, is that the sandy area was covered in snow.

“Snow?” Really?” Tim said.

They landed the chopper and left it on autopilot, hovering, Mark and Tim made their way to the deep snow, it felt like the hut was getting farther away from them, finally they reached the hut and they peered inside.

Mark and Tim let out gasps of shock, the guys were barely awake, Tim was barking orders saying that they found them.

Mark went up to Lance first, who looked as sick as the rest of them, “Take this one in the chopper.” He asked Tim.

Using the first aid kit that was provided to them, they tried to get JC to focus.

“Don’t lose this battle kid.” Tim told him.

JC just stared at him blankly, his vision was starting to blur, he tried to look over at Justin, but for some reason, he couldn’t move.

Chris had his eyes closed, but heard everything, he heard muffled voices and encouraging words, it kinda frightened him, but he felt himself being lifted up, he still couldn’t open his eyes, no matter how hard he tried, he just hoped that whatever was happening, he hoped that they would take him to someplace warm.

At the hospital

Joey

Joey felt something warm in his hand, it felt nice, he opened his eyes a little bit, to see his parents crying tears of joy.

“Mom? Dad?” He croaked.

Joey’s parents had no words to say they were just so grateful that he was okay, they comforted him and coaxed him.

Joey sighed and saw tubes on his arms, “What are these?”

“Those are the necessary nutrients you needed sweetie.”

Joey nodded and then wondered, “Um, mom, dad, where are the guys?” Afraid of what the answer might be.

Phyllis looked at her husband then to Joey, “JC had a serious case of shock, it took him a while to come back, as for the rest of the guys, you would all be joined together in one room.”

Joey looked at his parents then on the sheet in front of him, he plopped his head back on the pillow, he felt safe, now that he was with his parents.

Lance

Lance felt the coolness of the room, he woke up and stared at the lights in the ceiling, he pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, realizing that he wasn’t. He was so happy to see his parents coming into the room with some clothes in a bag.

“Lance sweetie!” Diane rushed to her son, tears streaming down her face.

“Mom, I missed you so much!” Lance sobbed through the shirt that she was wearing.

He felt a strong pat on his shoulder, looking up, he saw his dad gazing at him, he had no words to say, and the hug said it all.

Justin

The bright lights seemed to bother him, he opened his eyes and everything in the room was bright, “was he dead?” He first thought, looking around he saw a plate of food next to him, after checking himself to make sure, he sighed with relief, he caught eye of his grandmother asleep on the small sofa next to him, she was snoring soundly.

He really needed to use to the bathroom, so he slowly managed to get up from his bed, he was connected to some tubes, so he decided to bring the machine with him, it looked mobile. His grandmother heard the noise and slowly awoke from her slumber.

“Justin?” She croaked.

His grandmother quickly got up from the sofa and ran to him, she called out to his parents who were just outside the room, Lynn who had happy tears flowing freely down her cheeks, hugged Justin like there was no tomorrow, his dad was also giving him hugs.

“I miss you guys too, but I really need to use the bathroom.” Justin joked.

Lynn wiped her tears away and let Justin go do his business.

“The nurse would be here soon okay to check on you.” Justin’s grandmother said.

“Ok.” Justin replied.

After the nurse finished checking him, he seemed okay, and was worried about the rest of the guys, and were all gonna be put in one private room.

Justin was looking forward to see them; it felt weird not having them around. He was wheeled down the hall on his bed, his parents on his side, with his mom checking him every five minutes.

“Mom.” He whispered, “I’m okay, really.”

“I know baby, I just wanna make sure, I just can’t believe that you all survived this horrible ordeal, I don’t know what I’ve would’ve done if we lost you.” Lynn replied, she was about to cry again, but the dad comforted her.

Justin sighed and waited to be put into the next room.

Chris

“Ow! My head.” Chris groaned, and the first thing he saw were four empty beds in one giant room, his heart sank when he thought what had happened, “What if he was the only sole survivor, how the heck was he gonna tell his fans about this, how was he gonna move on if it weren’t four other guys to back him up, he couldn’t face that fact, he couldn’t face that cold reality, he got so frustrated that he let out a piercing scream.

His mom and four sisters came rushing in, as so the nurses and the doctors.

“Chris! Chris! What happened? What’s wrong?” His mother, Bev said with concern.

“My friends, my best friends, they are gone, it was my job to look after them and I failed!” He sobbed uncontrollably.

“No, no Chris, they are okay, they survived!” Molly, his youngest sister replied.

“What?” He sniffed.

“I said they survived, they made it through the night.”

“Really?” Chris’s voice came out tiny.

“Yes really, sweetie.” Bev consoled him.

At that moment, Justin made his way through the room, he smiled brightly at Chris. The nurse put him across from him.

“Justin.” Chris said.

“Hi Tricky, I sure missed your old face.” Justin joked.

Chris just smiled at him, he was happy that he saw at least one of his friends.

“The others would be here shortly okay?” The nurse said.

“Would you like anything to eat?” Beverly asked Chris.

“A banana maybe.” Chris joked.

“Ok, just make sure you keep those tubes on you for now, those are the essential nutrients you guys are getting.”

Chris agreed and sighed with relief, he laid back down on the bed and waited for the doctors to be finished with Justin, making him sure he was comfortable.

JC

“My notebook, where’s my notebook?” JC frantically searched for the bag that was carrying his clothes and his notebook, he knew for sure that it didn’t get wet, so where the heck was it.

“JC honey.”

“What is it mom? I’m looking for my notebook, I have songs written in there, my life’s work is in that book!”

“Calm down sweetie, I’m sure your bags are still at the inspection station, the Search and Rescue came and took all of your belongings, you would get them soon.”

JC groaned, his legs were weak from exhaustion so he sat down back on the bed.

“Come on, your friends are waiting for you in the private room.”

“My friends?”

“Yes, Chris, Justin, Joey and Lance;” Karen said, hoping that JC didn’t develop any sort of amnesia from that shock he had earlier.

“They made it, they survived?” JC couldn’t believe it, his expression softened when he heard this wonderful news, he gave his mother a small smile and nodded for her to take him to the room, eventually his friends, were more important to him than his notebook at that moment.

“I want some McDonalds.” Chris whined.

It was now the next morning and all five guys were in their rooms, just making light conversation with eachother, they fell a bit better than the day before, after a few tests, they would be able to go home so they can fully recover.

“Johnny said that he kept our fans up to date with everything.” Joey said, taking a sip of his tea.

“That’s good to know, I don’t like seeing them worried.” JC replied.

“No seriously, I want some McDonalds, isn’t there one near here?” Chris repeated.

At that moment, Chris’s mom walked in carrying McDonalds bags for all of them.

“I love you mom.” Chris beamed, taking the bag from her and indulging some fries.

“Love you too sweetie.”

Beverly stepped outside for a minute and went to talk to one of the nurses at the desk.

“Its been forever since I had one of these.” Joey said in between mouthfuls.

“Mmm hmm.” Justin nodded in response.

Beverly came back inside the room, “Good news! You guys can go home soon.”

“Really?” Lance asked.

“Yep, you just gotta do individual checkups and you’ll be good to go.” Beverly replied.

“So when can we officially leave?” JC told her.

“This afternoon, you can make recoveries at home.”

“That is great news.” Chris replied, eating the last bit of fries.

“I’m gonna go get the rest of your parents and let them know, see you boys later.” Beverly kissed Chris’s forehead and waved to the rest of the guys.

“Wait, so are we heading back to the Orlando house or what?” Justin wondered.

“I guess so.” Lance shrugged.

“Johnny would inform us hopefully, he has everything under control.” Chris smiled.

They all nodded in agreement, shortly after the guys got dressed, and started packing their things, Johnny came along with the parents and told them that they were a load of fans waiting for them.

“I told them that you can’t sign any autographs at the moment, but they are just eager to see your faces.”

“They are suffering from withdrawals.” Chris joked.

“You guys ready?” Johnny asked.

“We were born ready.” Justin told him.

The guys headed out of the hospital and into the parking lot onto the tourbus, they can listen to the cries and screams of the fans, saying that they loved them and would do anything for them. They were amazed that their fans would do this much for them, such devoted they were.

Lance called out to them, “We love you guys!”

That made the screams get even louder, it was an amazing experience.

A month later

*NSYNC has announced that they were gonna come back and do a tour for their fans, and were gonna play in selected cities. All of the tickets were sold-out, meanwhile backstage, the guys were gonna sing one final song, they decided to do a cover of the Beegees: Staying Alive, which is what they have all encountered while struggling to survive on that island.

“Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk , I'm a woman's man no time to talk

Music loud and women warm , I've been kicked around, since I was born

And now it's all right, it's okay and you may look the other way,

We can try to understand, the New York times' effect on man

Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother, You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive,

 Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin, 'Stayin' alive, stayin' alive, Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin'

alive, stayin' alive Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive.

Well now, I get low and I get high and if I can't get either, I really try, got the wings of Heaven

on my shoes, I'm a dancin' man and I just can't lose

You know it's all right, it's okay, I'll live to see another day, we can try to understand, the New

York times' effect on man

Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother, You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive, feel the

city breakin' and everybody shakin'Stayin' alive, stayin' alive, Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin'

alive, Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive

Life's goin' nowhere, somebody help me, somebody help me, yeah, Life's goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah, Stayin' alive…”

“You guys have been a wonderful crowd!” Justin called out.

“We love you guys!” Joey shouted.

They exited the stage area and headed backstage, and the crowd continued to cheer, they were posters, signs, the glowsticks, and the energy in that room was incredible. This is what *NSYNC was made to do, and they proved that in nearly all of their performances.