A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

AJ's POV

When I awakened from my nightmare, I realized it was not a nightmare!

I can't even properly remember how I got to shore.

I got up, not bothering to rub off the sand that clung to my wet shirt. I looked around for my parents. If I survived, they must survive too!

I ran over to the makeshift shelter that a group of men who appeared to be the cruise ship staff had gathered.

I grabbed the oldest looking one, hoping that he was an officer of the ship and could give me information about my parents.

He asked me what my parents' names were. He looked through the list. Yes, they were among those who had gone into one of the life rafts. He remembered my face. He said I had been with them in the raft but that I had been knocked unconscious by something and that they had carried me with them.

Because there were so many passengers that needed medical attention right away, my questions had to be set aside first. In the meantime, I was left on my own to look for them.

I kept walking and walking, looking among the crowd for them. I did not realize that I had walked too far away. I almost stumbled over a motionless body on the sand.

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

When I looked more carefully, the person had a bleeding forehead. I tried to shake him awake. He opened his eyes.

"Can you get up?" I asked.

"I will try," he whispered.

I placed an arm under his neck and helped him to a sitting position.

"I need to get you to that shelter over there where other injured passengers are being treated," I said to the stranger.

The stranger grimaced as he tried to stand up. I knew that I would not be able to bring him all by myself to the makeshift shelter without assistance from another person.

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

I waved to someone who was passing by, looking around distractedly as if he was looking for someone.

The person approached me.

"Hey, could you help me get this guy over there where they can treat his head wound?" I asked the person who approached me.

"Sure," he said, but still a bit absentmindedly.

On the count of three, we propped up the injured passenger and he walked weakly with us as we half-carried, half-dragged him to the makeshift shelter.

It seemed like a long time before we finally got to where we had to fall in line with him before a staff who appeared to be a medical staff helped us to get the injured guy to sit on a fallen log.

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

The staff held a spray bottle that was labeled "wound wash" and sprayed a few times on the bleeding area of the wounded guy's forehead. Then the staff gently dabbed it dry.

The staff took out a small tube of antibiotic ointment from a first aid kit and applied a small amount to the wound area. Then he covered it with a dry dressing and taped it.

"Have you guys had anything to eat yet?" the staff asked the three of us.

"No," the other guy and myself answered at the same time, while the wounded passenger weakly shook his head wordlessly.

"Stay here," said the staff as he went over to another staff who was handing out individually wrapped biscuits to people who were lined in front of him.

In a few minutes, he was back, handing each of us a biscuit wrapped in clear plastic.

I noticed that the injured guy seemed too weak to even unwrap the biscuit. I took it from him and unwrapped it and handed the biscuit back to him before I unwrapped mine.

I noticed the guy who had helped me bring the wounded passenger to the makeshift shelter observing me and the wounded guy, although I noticed that he was observing the wounded guy more than me.

I took a good look at the wounded guy's face myself. I realized that in my intense efforts to get him treated, not once had I thought of looking properly at him.

He was very good looking.

The other guy was chewing slowly on his biscuit and turned his attention from the wounded guy to me. Although he was silent, he seemed to be sending me a message.

No, no way, I wanted to tell him. I saw him first. I only asked you to help me out. That was all. Your business here is finished. Thank you very much. You can go on your merry way.

The staff had instructed us to dispose of the plastic wrappers into a hole in the ground that another staff had dug.

I took the plastic wrapper of the wounded guy and mine and walked over to the hole in the ground and dropped the wrappers there.

When I walked back, the other guy had already propped up the wounded guy to a standing position.

"Hey! Where are you taking him?" I called out, breaking into a run before he could whisk the wounded guy away from me.

"I think you have helped him enough," said the other guy, sizing me up and down. "I believe I am older than you and will be able to help him more than you can."

"You may be older than me, but I am taller and bigger than you," I countered, "I think at this point in time, he needs physical help more than anything."

The other guy gave me a smirk.

"That may be true, but since I am older, I got more experience and more knowledge," he countered.

"I'm feeling dizzy," suddenly the wounded guy spoke up, "I need to sit down."

The other guy and myself quickly brought him to a nearby tree that had wide and low hanging branches. We helped the wounded guy to sit under it.

"I can take over from here," said the other guy. He had a look that challenged me to defy him.

Suddenly I had an idea.

I held out my hand to the wounded guy.

"By the way, I'm AJ," I said, "I forgot to ask your name earlier when I first met you."

I made sure to emphasize the words 'first met you', making the other guy frown.

"I'm Art," said the wounded guy, "thank you for being so kind to me."

"And I'm Mark," said the other guy, holding out his hand to Art.

Art took it saying, "I'm grateful to you as well for helping AJ to bring me to the staff who treated my wound."

I noticed that Mark wasn't letting go of Art's hand.

I put an arm around Art's shoulder.

"Here, lean on me," I said to him.

I noticed that Mark was frowning again. For some reason, that gave me some sense of satisfaction.